Chapter 106 An Lingrong 47
As soon as Xiao Xiazi walked in, everyone's faces started to show excitement.
He was holding a box, followed by He Ronglu holding Yunjin, and Baojuan, standing beside him, looked down and agreeable.
"Didn't I just ask you to get the Jinbao Brocade?" The Queen looked at him sternly and said, "Why did you bring the servants from Concubine Yi's palace as well?"
Xiao Xiazi glanced up at the emperor, then quickly knelt on the ground and said, "Your Majesty, I went to Noble Lady Yi to get the Jinbao brocade. The material is intact and has never been used. It's just that I ran into this palace maid on the way..."
"She looked panicked at the time, saying that Concubine Yi had someone hiding under her bed..."
"What?!" All the concubines were shocked, not to mention the Empress Dowager and the Emperor who were at the top.
Without waiting for that ambiguous look to glance at the still bewildered Concubine Yi, Xiao Xiazi finished speaking in one breath: "I took people to check and found that there was no one under Concubine Yi's bed, but a... person, a doll."
As he spoke, he quickly opened the box. Inside, there was indeed a white doll, still wearing palace attire, with a triangular talisman hanging around its neck, though for some unknown reason, it was tattered.
What’s even more terrifying is that the puppet’s head, limbs, heart, and abdomen are all densely packed with silver needles.
"This is... a curse!" The Queen slammed the table and glared at Ling Rong. "How dare you, An, perform such an evil technique in the palace!"
An Lingrong's face showed even more genuine shock than the Empress's, tinged with fear and embarrassment. After all, this involved a crime as serious as witchcraft, punishable by the death of nine generations of her family. If she acted too calmly, it would only arouse suspicion.
Ling Rong knelt heavily on the ground with a thud, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I am innocent. I would never dare to perform such a poisonous technique. Please, Your Majesty, investigate!"
Yinzhen didn't care about the Queen's sudden attack for the time being. He saw that there seemed to be writing on the talisman paper, so he took it off the doll, opened it, and quickly stopped the Queen who was about to continue blaming him: "This matter has nothing to do with Concubine Yi."
"Your Majesty, this..." The Queen unexpectedly found the puppet under An Lingrong's bed. The Emperor was actually trying to excuse her. She was unwilling to speak, but the Emperor had already thrown the talisman paper on the table in front of her. It was written on it:
The ninth day of the second month of the Dinghai year, at the hour of You.
It was exactly An Lingrong's birth date.
The Queen's pupils dilated uncontrollably for a moment, and a proper smile appeared on the corners of her mouth reflexively, but her eyes turned and fixed on An Lingrong, meeting her innocent and frightened eyes.
"...So, someone is trying to harm Concubine Yi and the dragon fetus in your belly. I have wrongly accused you."
Lingrong seemed to have not yet reacted, and looked at the emperor helplessly.
Yinzhen received her pleading look and immediately helped her up, comforting her distressedly: "The note contains your birth date and time. Someone must be jealous of you and wants to murder you. The Queen was too arbitrary in this matter, and you have been wronged."
The emperor only presented the note to the empress dowager and the queen respectively, and then ordered the note and the doll to be burned. He then asked Baohua Palace to send someone to Chengqian Palace to perform a ritual to exorcise the evil spirit for Concubine Yi.
Ling Rong glanced at the somewhat embarrassed Empress and bowed quickly, "This matter is of great importance and involves the palace. Your Majesty is the mistress of the six palaces, so it's understandable that she's anxious for a moment."
The Queen Mother nodded in satisfaction. No matter what the outcome, the Queen was always the Queen. If the concubines below were to ask the Queen to admit her fault whenever they were wronged, wouldn't that undermine the dignity of the Imperial Palace? Concubine Yi handled the situation appropriately:
"Well, you're still pregnant, and you've been left here with so much suffering. The Emperor and I will not tolerate this. We will definitely give you and your child an explanation."
"Thank you, Queen Mother, Your Majesty, and Your Majesty the Queen."
After completing the transformation from suspect to victim, An Lingrong leisurely sat back in her seat, gazing with interest at Baojuan, who was shaking like a sieve and as pale as ash in the hall, and smiled playfully.
"You two, tell me exactly what happened."
Baojuan fell to her knees with a thud, her whole body limp. She didn't dare look up at the Empress and Lingrong above her. She stumbled and said, "This servant, this servant was cleaning the bed for the young lady today. I saw the young lady's pet Sanbao crawling under the bed, so I wanted to chase him out. But... next to the bird, this servant was scared and bumped into Eunuch Xia."
Although her words were halting, everyone understood her meaning. Xiao Xiazi beside her nodded, "When I lifted the bed, Sanbao was holding the talisman paper on the doll in its mouth. I had to use a lot of strength to snatch it from its mouth. During the struggle, I found that the doll must have been stuck to the bed board, and Sanbao pecked it off before the palace maid discovered it.
The emperor checked the back of the doll and indeed felt some sticky glue.
"Isn't Sanbao the blue-purple bird raised by Concubine Yi? Oh, no wonder people say that all things have spirits, and animals have clean eyes. It is called Sanbao, so it discovered that there was something dirty under Concubine Yi's bed. It is protecting its master." Concubine Xin and Concubine Jing beside her bit their ears excitedly, their eyes flashing with love for these gods and ghosts gossip.
Jingpin, who was standing beside her, naturally wouldn't ruin An Lingrong's plan. Upon hearing this, she agreed: "Perhaps it's because Concubine Yi is pregnant with the dragon fetus and blessed by her ancestors, so she's naturally immune to all poisons."
The emperor, who had been somewhat apprehensive about this matter, felt much more at ease after hearing this: "Yes, Concubine Yi is blessed by the divine bird, so she will be safe and sound, and immune to evil."
"But there are people in the palace who actually practice such evil magic to harm others. Their methods are so vicious that I cannot tolerate it! Su Peisheng..."
"Your Majesty, this is a family scandal after all. The royal family's reputation cannot be damaged. Moreover, the Empress is the head of the six palaces. Now that the Princess and Concubine Hua are involved, it is more appropriate for the Empress to intervene."
Seeing that the matter was finally coming to an end, the already weary Empress Dowager glanced at the subdued Concubine Hua, the Empress who was a step behind, and then at the even more favored Concubine Yi and her group. She felt that all her previous schemes for the Empress had been in vain. What a great opportunity to win them over, now completely cut short. Fortunately, it seemed that they were only concerned with self-preservation and did not want to cause any further trouble.
Then he looked at Zhen Huan, who looked very much like Chun Yuan, and said in a softer tone, "And Concubine Wan, she has also suffered today. Your Majesty should comfort them."
"I will naturally obey the Empress Dowager's words."
Finally, she looked at Concubine Hua: "I thought that although you are young, you are decisive and fair. Now it seems that you are a little rash."
"Empress Dowager..."
"The Empress is in poor health, and she's also investigating the witchcraft case. I'm afraid she's too busy to handle everything. But the affairs of the harem must be managed. I think Concubine Jing is very reliable, and Concubine Wan seems to be smart and intelligent. I heard it was your idea to paste the windows with paper, which shows that you are a frugal and kind person. You should also help Concubine Hua with the management."
"My concubines are but small, how can I take on such a great responsibility..."
"You are talented enough to achieve such success in such trivial matters. You are still young, so if you don't understand something, just ask Jingpin and Huafei. I believe they will not be unwilling to teach you."
"Yes, I will teach you everything I know, as long as you don't think I'm stupid." Jingpin didn't expect that such a good thing would come to her without her doing anything. Feeling unworthy of it, she quickly stood up and took Zhen Huan's hand in a friendly manner.
"Then my sister is bothering me."
"Well, since you are all concubines, you should serve the emperor in harmony and not let the emperor have any peace in the harem."
"Your Highness/Your Highness will follow the Queen Mother's instructions."
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