Chapter 121 The Lin Family
The two women greeted each other, and Lanwu asked someone to offer them seats.
The hall fell silent for a moment.
Lan Wu looked at Yue Zhaorong, then glanced at Mu Xiurong indifferently.
Mu Xiurong's expression was somewhat tense. Lan Wu's glance made her particularly uncomfortable. She said crisply, "Sister Yue said she was coming to visit Consort Zhen today. I met her in the Imperial Garden and came with her."
Yue Zhaorong tried to cover for her, saying, "We just happened to run into each other in the Imperial Garden. She's a very innocent person. As soon as she heard that I was coming, she said she also wanted to come and see Your Majesty, and that she wanted to apologize to Your Majesty for what happened last time."
Lan Wu had no problem with Yue Zhaorong, and as for Mu Xiurong... although she was quick to speak, she didn't have any grudges against her.
She wouldn't target Mu Xiurong over such a trivial matter.
"There's no need for an apology. The matter is over, and besides, I scared her. It's not worth mentioning."
Seeing that Lan Wu did not show any anger, Yue Zhaorong and Mu Xiurong both breathed a sigh of relief.
"Is Your Majesty almost fully recovered?" Yue Zhaorong asked gently. "I brought some ginseng to nourish your body. Although Your Majesty doesn't lack these things, please accept them. It is my way of showing my appreciation."
Lan Wu didn't stand on ceremony and told the person to accept it.
"You told me before that there was a palace maid in the late emperor's harem who was skilled in making incense and served the two empress dowagers. Do you remember this?"
Yue Zhaorong nodded: "Your Majesty, do you have any questions for me? I will answer them without reservation."
"I wanted to ask you about this palace maid," Lan Wu said, glancing at Mu Xiurong. "If Mu Xiurong knows anything, please tell me as well."
Most of the concubines were daughters of court officials. For example, even though Mu Xiurong was not favored after entering the palace, as long as she did not cause trouble in the palace, Chu Mingheng would not refuse to give her face and would not promote her rank for a long time because of her family's influence.
But that's about all the rank he can get.
Lan Wu herself was unaware of the infighting in the late emperor's harem, but powerful and influential families might have heard of it.
"What does Your Highness wish to ask?" Yue Zhaorong asked, looking at her.
Do you remember what that palace maid's name was?
Yue Zhaorong shook her head slightly, somewhat helplessly: "It's been so many years. I only heard about it briefly back then and didn't investigate further."
"Is it..." Lan Wu was about to speak when she saw Mu Xiurong's puzzled expression.
"Is she a palace maid named Ziming?" she asked.
Lan Wu turned to her: "How did you know?"
This is a long story.
The Mu family's daughter participated in the late emperor's harem selection and was chosen to become one of the late emperor's concubines, but she was not very favored. That person was Mu Xiurong's aunt.
It was by chance that Mu Xiurong learned about the palace maid named Ziming.
“When my aunt was still a child, she had a friendship with the Lin family girl for a few years. They studied together at school. At that time, the Lin family girl had a slightly older maidservant by her side. The maidservant was inseparable from the Lin family girl. Later, during the imperial concubine selection, both the Lin family girl and my aunt were selected and became concubines.”
"Several years later, when my aunt went to Kunning Palace to pay her respects to the Empress, she happened to see that maid. At the time, she thought she had remembered it wrong and didn't pay any attention to it."
"Later, I heard that the palace maid went to Consort Qiao's palace and eventually arrived at Wanshu Pavilion. She even went to Wanshu Pavilion to take a look. Although her memories of what she saw when she was young were no longer accurate, my aunt recognized at a glance that this person was the personal maid of the Lin family girl."
"Then the incident happened at Kunning Palace. My aunt was so frightened that she dared not leave the palace and did not pay attention to the current situation of the palace maid named Ziming."
“I have loved to talk since I was a child, and I am always eager to ask about everything. My aunt was bored and lonely in the palace, and she would talk to me every time I entered the palace. I have a good memory since I was a child, and I have remembered these words over and over again.”
After listening, Lan Wu couldn't help but lower her eyes and reach for the teacup on the table. Her fingers touched the cup, which was clearly not hot, but she felt as if her fingertips had been burned.
"So, Ziming was originally a maid in the Lin family, and later entered the palace," Lan Wu said quietly after a moment of contemplation.
Speaking of the Lin family, one cannot help but mention Prince Wei.
The Lin family girl that Mu Xiurong mentioned who entered the palace was the late Emperor's Consort Hui. Back then, when Lady Wen caused chaos in the harem, Consort Hui's son was carefully protected and grew up without dying or being injured. He became the current Prince Wei and married a Lin family girl as his princess. Consort Hui had passed away a few years ago.
The Lin family, Prince Wei...
But why did Zhu Qing kill her in her previous life? She had never known any members of the Lin family, nor had she ever met the Prince Wei.
After seeing off Consort Yue and Consort Mu, Lan Wu began to write and draw on paper.
She tried to sort out the relationships and find out why Zhu Qing killed her.
Zi Ming is also known as Zhu Qing, which is related to the Lin family, who are supporters of the Prince of Wei.
What does King Wei want to do?
Could it be that he's planning a rebellion?
Lan Wu stared at the paper on the table, her face almost scrunched up.
Just then, a familiar voice came from outside the palace gate.
Lan Wu looked over and saw Aunt Danshan.
She put down what she was holding, got up, and went to greet the person.
"Aunt, please get up quickly." Lan Wu smiled. "I'm still not used to you being away from the palace for several days."
A gentle smile curved Dan Shan's lips as she said softly, "I've heard that Your Highness has been taking her medicine very readily these past few days, without needing anyone to urge her."
Lan Wu dared not be displeased. If she slowed down even half a step, Chu Mingheng would have to feed her the medicine spoonful by spoonful. As the saying goes, a short pain is worse than a long one, and drinking the medicine spoonful by spoonful was torture.
"Why did it take you so long to come back, Aunt? Did the Censorate order you to stay behind?"
Danshan shook her head and said, "It was His Majesty who instructed that a palace maid who escaped after the fire at Kunning Palace has been caught and is now being interrogated by this servant."
Lan Wu was startled, her temple throbbing violently.
It was not that simple after all. She originally thought her death was just a scheme by the concubines in the harem, but the deeper she investigated, the more she found. Prince Wei, the fire in Kunning Palace... what else was involved?
“Aunt, this afternoon Consort Mu came to my palace and said that she had heard Consort Mu mention that the palace maid named Ziming was once Consort Hui’s personal maid.”
Lan Wu showed Dan Shan the paper she had just written on.
"I think Aunt once served Empress Dowager Jingwen. Did you notice which concubines Ziming had contact with on a daily basis? Did she say anything to the Lin family?"
Danshan stared at the paper, her hand tightening slightly. It seemed she had already guessed the result, yet she also seemed incredulous. Hearing Lanwu's question, she gathered her thoughts after a moment and shook her head after thinking for a while: "Ziming is usually very low-key. If it weren't for... if it weren't for what Your Majesty said about Consort Mu accidentally seeing and recognizing her, I'm afraid we wouldn't have been able to find out that she has any connection with the Lin family."
As she spoke, she suddenly looked up: "Your Majesty, this matter should be reported to His Majesty—"
Lan Wu naturally wanted to tell Chu Mingheng, but Chu Mingheng wouldn't let her go out. She could only wait until Chu Mingheng returned to tell him, or...
"Aunt, please go and report this matter to His Majesty."
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