The eldest princess' birthday soon arrived. Ning Yuxi was not the protagonist nor the organizer of the banquet, so she naturally didn't need to go too early. She slowly took Cheng Zhao to Changle Palace while enjoying the scenery along the way.
Because of this delay, she bumped into the Empress who was the last to arrive.
She hurriedly brought Cheng Zhao forward and saluted: "Your Highness, I pay my respects to the Empress."
Little Chengzhao also saluted in a formal manner: "Your son pays his respects to the Queen Mother."
The Queen glanced at her calmly and said, "It's Concubine Yi. Get up."
"Thank you, Queen."
The Queen looked at the little Cheng Zhao standing beside her and said with a smile, "I haven't seen the Third Prince for a long time. How are you doing recently?"
Little Chengzhao replied in a baby voice, "Mother, I am fine."
Cheng Zhao will be two years old in just over three months. Although he can speak clearly, he is still a little kid after all. This little adult look really made the queen laugh.
She smiled and asked Ning Yuxi, "The fire in Qingzheng Hall must have scared the child, right?"
Ning Yuxi heard this and pretended to be scared: "Your Majesty, that's right. Cheng Zhao couldn't sleep well after returning home. I was also scared half to death."
The Queen suddenly looked at her and said in a gloomy tone, "Has Concubine Yi ever wondered how this fire started?"
Ning Yuxi's heart skipped a beat, and she looked puzzled: "What does the Queen mean?"
The Queen suddenly shook her head and sighed, "It's a pity that your son was almost killed by someone and you were kept in the dark."
"What?" Ning Yuxi was surprised. She asked, "Your Majesty, are you saying that the fire was set on purpose?"
The queen didn't say anything, but her expression was full of determination.
Ning Yuxi's face was filled with anger as she demanded, "Who is it? Who wants to harm my Cheng Zhao?"
"Think about who was the first to discover and rescue your son."
Ning Yuxi thought for a moment and said in surprise, "The eldest princess? That's impossible. If she wanted to kill Cheng Zhao, why did she save him?"
The Queen sneered and said, "Before the fire, she had the palace maids use my name to try to trick the two wet nurses who were looking after the Third Prince away. But your nanny was cautious and didn't fall for it. Without giving her a chance, she went all out and set fire to the side hall.
Unexpectedly, not long after the fire started, a palace maid passing by saw it and immediately called for help, and soon someone came to put out the fire. Her plan failed, so to avoid being exposed, she had to pretend to be the Third Prince's savior in order to gain a good reputation.
"Tsk tsk, she's indeed worthy of being the daughter of the Liu family. She's so cruel and ruthless at such a young age."
Ning Yuxi pretended to be furious after hearing what the Queen said: "How could this be? I have never offended her, yet she wants to kill my son!"
"You haven't offended her, but her maternal family fell because of your mother's family, and you were the only one who went to the cold palace when Liu died. She must think you killed her mother."
Having said that, the Queen looked up at Ning Yuxi's expression as if inadvertently.
Ning Yuxi didn't let her down. She said with shock on her face, "The Liu family's crimes are proven beyond doubt. As for Liu's death, I had nothing to do with her. Your Majesty knows this too. Otherwise, why didn't you hold me accountable?"
"The emperor knows? Do you mean that the emperor knows the cause of Liu's death?" The queen suddenly said with a slightly excited expression.
Ning Yuxi sneered inwardly when she saw this. Sure enough, her guess was correct. It was the Queen who killed Liu. She pretended to be ignorant and said, "I don't know either, but since the Emperor didn't blame me, I guess he must know."
The Queen was terribly flustered upon hearing this. Had the Emperor discovered this? No wonder the Emperor hadn't given her control of the harem back even after nearly a month of house arrest. Hadn't Zhou Yi said everything was handled properly?
She was filled with confusion and had no intention of sowing discord between Ning Yuxi and the eldest princess. She said a few words absentmindedly and led her men inside.
Looking at the backs of the Queen and her entourage, Ning Yuxi slowly raised the corners of her lips.
After the fire at the palace banquet, not only Ning Yuxi was investigating, but the Queen was also investigating. After all, it was she who hosted the banquet. She was also punished with house arrest and lost the power to assist in managing the six palaces.
But she didn't find out much. After all, only Ning Yuxi noticed the oil stains on the eldest princess' body and the rosin oil poured on the side hall. Later, Ning Yuxi asked Luoying to continue the investigation.
Finally, she found out what the eldest princess was planning. As for why she didn't find any record of the eldest princess receiving too much rosin oil in the Imperial Household Department's receipt records, it was because she later found out that the eldest princess had a maid who used to work in the Imperial Household Department's Manufacturing Office and she knew how to make the rosin oil.
Therefore, Ning Yuxi had someone inadvertently reveal these things to the Queen's people, so Ning Yuxi had already known what the Queen had just said.
The Queen could have taken advantage of the eldest princess' birthday party to do something to regain the power to manage the harem. Ning Yuxi's move made her even more careless and would also make her more hostile to the eldest princess.
This way, maybe she wouldn't have to bother dealing with the eldest princess, and maybe the queen would take care of her.
The Queen just wanted to instigate a fight between her and the eldest princess, but she didn't know that Ning Yuxi had already figured out all this and had even outmaneuvered the Queen.
She didn't know whether the emperor later found out that Liu was poisoned by the queen, but she had already made the emperor dispel his suspicion of her. As for whether the queen could be found out, Ning Yuxi didn't care.
It would be great if she could find out, but if she couldn't, what she just said would be enough to make the queen panic for a while.
Ning Yuxi was in a good mood. She carried little Cheng Zhao into Changle Palace leisurely, ready to watch the big show.
This was just an appetizer, the main event will come later.
Ning Yuxi's sitting down did not attract everyone's attention because she had just been delayed at the door with the queen. The emperor was already there, so the concubines' eyes naturally followed the emperor and had no time to pay attention to her.
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