Chapter 124 Discovers Consort Wu's Malicious Intent
The newly favored Consort Ru was chosen by the Third Prince based on the Empress's appearance; she was a spy planted by the Third Prince beside the Emperor.
She hadn't been in the palace for long, but she had heard about the vicious things Consort Wu had done and was quite wary of her.
She was happy to have some peace and quiet these past few days since the emperor hadn't come to see her.
When the Third Prince left the capital, he sent someone to deliver a message to her, instructing her to keep a close eye on the Emperor and Consort Wu, and to send someone to inform him as soon as there was any news.
Consort Ru always remembered the Third Prince's words.
She got up early today to prepare her makeup and dress up before meeting the Emperor.
There were many rouges and face powders on Consort Ru's table, but one of them was one she used often. Without thinking, she picked up that box of rouge and prepared to apply it.
However, just as she picked up the box of rouge, she discovered that a large spider was crawling on her hand.
"Ah!" Consort Ru screamed and stood up abruptly, throwing the rouge box in her hand to the ground.
The red rouge box shattered in two on the ground, spilling all the pink rouge powder inside.
A palace maid nearby hurriedly came over and asked, "Your Highness, what's wrong?"
Consort Ru quickly pointed to the ground and said, "Spiders, there were just a lot of spiders."
The palace maid looked down and saw the rouge box lying on the ground. She asked with a puzzled look, "Your Highness, there are no spiders on the ground."
Consort Ru was startled and quickly looked down. "That's not right. I clearly saw it just now."
The palace maid picked up the rouge box from the ground and looked around. "Your Highness, I really don't see any spiders."
After calming down, Consort Ru patted her chest and said, "It probably ran away when you came here."
The palace maid looked at the broken rouge box and said regretfully, "Your Highness, this rouge is probably unusable now."
Consort Ru accepted it with a pained expression, "I brought this from outside the palace. It would be difficult to buy another one."
She looked at the shattered rouge powder, and suddenly frowned. "Something's not right."
The palace maid asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
Consort Ru pointed to the pink rouge and said, "Look, the powder is obviously much coarser than the rouge I used before."
The palace maid looked closely, then smelled it. "Your Highness, there's something wrong with this rouge."
Consort Ru frowned, took a cup, poured a little rouge powder into the water and dissolved it, then took out her silver hairpin to try it.
Before long, the silver hairpin gradually turned black.
The palace maid was horrified. "Your Highness, there's poison in this rouge!"
Consort Ru quickly tossed the silver needles aside. "Xia'er, who has come to my palace today?"
The palace maid shook her head. "No, Your Highness."
Consort Ru slowly rose and looked at the window not far away beside her.
She walked towards the window and found a leaf from outside stuck inside. She picked up the leaf and said slowly, "It seems someone has sneaked into my room and replaced my rouge."
The palace maid was shocked. "Your Highness, could it be Consort Wu?"
Consort Ru tossed the leaf aside, her face cold. "If it wasn't her, who else could it be!"
The palace maid's face immediately turned deathly pale. "Your Highness, what should we do?"
After pondering for a moment, Consort Ru said, "Put this box of rouge away and pretend nothing happened. Also, from now on, I will have to have my food, clothing and other necessities checked repeatedly."
The palace maid nodded and took out a handkerchief to wrap up the rouge on the ground.
Consort Ru, with a cold face, looked in the direction of Consort Wu's palace and continued, "If the Emperor comes to see me, tell him I am ill."
"Yes, Your Highness," the palace maid replied hastily.
With Consort Ru falling ill, Consort Wu had already succeeded in her little scheme and was smugly enjoying herself in the palace, frequently going to see the Emperor.
The Emperor is now so focused on pretending to be infatuated that he has no interest in Consort Wu and is gradually finding her annoying.
Consort Wu was not seen for several days.
Consort Wu was so angry that she went to the Emperor's palace in the middle of the night, only to be driven out late at night.
Perhaps she had been lucky lately, because when she returned to the palace late at night, she accidentally missed a step and fell straight down the high steps, getting a cut on her face from a sharp stone.
The wound wasn't deep, but it bled quite a bit.
When a group of palace maids saw Consort Wu's smiling face, they shouted that she was disfigured.
Not long after, rumors spread in the palace that Consort Wu's appearance had been ruined.
This made the emperor even less interested in seeing Consort Wu.
Consort Wu was so angry that she almost killed those talkative palace maids.
Consort Ru wrote a letter to the Third Prince, who was far away in Changliu Village, about these matters.
The Third Prince stayed in Changliu Village for a month. Now, besides planting vegetables in the fields, he cooks at home every day.
Aunt Zhou wanted to go to the vegetable garden, but he carried her back with her vegetable basket.
Du Wanchun was drying flowers at the door when she saw Aunt Zhou being carried back. She secretly smiled and said, "Mother, you shouldn't go to the fields. Just leave it to Father."
Aunt Zhou looked at the Third Prince, who had taken a hoe and gone back to the vegetable garden, and she was both amused and exasperated.
"He underestimated me too much."
Du Wanchun smiled and said, "Mother, he was just worried that you were working too hard."
Aunt Zhou smiled and looked down at Wanchun's slightly protruding belly. "Wanchun, your belly is showing now. Can you feel the baby moving?"
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