The Queen whispered, "That's right. I also think Brother Hao's analysis is correct. Given Concubine Xian's meticulous mind, if she did it, she would be found out immediately. She would never do such a thing as trying to cover up the truth. Besides, we have been laying the secret for so long, she may not know so much."
"Mother, do you mean to ask the Imperial Concubine?" asked Princess Cheng.
The Queen glanced at her son and nodded, "I suspect it was her. She was impulsive and she had her reasons."
Prince Cheng stood up and walked around twice. "What do you mean, mother? Is it Concubine Xiang's people who rescued Hu Niang when Meng was in Hanyuan last time?"
"I think so. What do you think? You've also found out that the Second Brother has been keeping an eye on the West Six Palaces and has even been to that abandoned palace twice himself. It's not easy for him to go there often, so Xiang's secret agents naturally have to search for him. I'm afraid that when we were chasing Hu Niang that night, we were discovered by the Xiang family and thought we had obtained something from Hu Niang, so they protected her."
Prince Cheng nodded. It was possible. One night during the time Meng lived in Hanyuan, they finally caught the person exchanging signals with the person in the tree and followed him to the courtyard next to Hanyuan. However, they didn't find anything, but they discovered a woman. After their men chased them into several abandoned courtyards, two extremely skilled martial artists appeared and led their men into a fight. When they returned, the woman had disappeared.
Later, after a long time, the identity of the woman was locked on Hu Niang, who was beside the virtuous concubine. She was a very skilled kung fu master. Through identification and the creation of an accident, her figure was very similar to the running figure.
When his men captured Hu Niang and tortured her severely, she refused to admit that it was she who was there that night, let alone what she had discovered. However, not long after Hu Niang was dealt with, before Concubine Xian could investigate and take action, his secret informants were taken down. Those who knew about the situation were inexplicably poisoned to death, and their bodies were dumped in different abandoned courtyards of the West Six Palaces, causing him heavy losses.
As luck would have it, those courtyards were all ones that Prince Duan had previously paid attention to, which made him suspect that Prince Duan was responsible. As for that Hu Niang, she might have secretly sided with Prince Duan. After all, how many people in this palace could truly remain loyal, no matter if they were lured by benefits or coerced by other means?
He had originally thought that he would give Prince Duan a hard time, but before he could do anything, the Emperor angrily scolded the Empress after a headache, saying that she did not manage the harem well enough, and that some people were missing or dead, but she did not report or make inquiries.
The Queen watched Concubine Lian massaging the Emperor, and quickly knelt down to confess her guilt, but pretended to be ignorant. After all, the treatment of Hu Niang and those people she implicated was carried out in secret, and even if the Emperor heard it, he would only have a vague understanding.
But the emperor stared at her with bloodshot eyes, saying that he was not dead yet and asking her to be aware of the situation and not to assume that he knew nothing. He then called out to the chief eunuch of Chengtian Palace, Lu Baocheng, in front of her, and told him to find someone to go to the West Six Palaces and clean up the mess.
This actually scared the queen. Some things, especially those in the six western palaces, could not withstand investigation. The emperor said he was going to deal with it, but everyone knew that he must have heard rumors and was going to investigate something.
There was no other way. Time was too tight. Several people had died, and the matter had to be dealt with thoroughly before the emperor could investigate. However, she couldn't stop Lu Chengbao. So, the queen had no choice but to ask her son to find a secret medicine and bring it in. This caused such a shock.
Fortunately, whether the emperor suspended the investigation out of consideration for the relationship between husband and wife, or believed that she was indeed hit, he finally gave Prince Cheng time to clean up.
"Is everything done?" The queen lay back down.
"Yes, those who know have kept their mouths shut." Prince Cheng sat on the edge of the bed.
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