Ning Yuxi continued, "The symptoms of the First and Second Princes are not considered poisoning. Instead, they inhaled a spice called Sha Hua, which is extremely rare. At least, we don't have it in our Great Jin."
After he finished speaking, Gu Qilan asked, "So the lotus was scented with this spice, and the first and second princes fell ill after inhaling it? Then why did only they two fall ill after inhaling it?"
Ning Yuxi looked at Gu Qilan and continued, "Your Majesty, this is exactly what I want to say. The spice alone is not enough to make people sick.
If you inhale both of them together with Yiwei Zhenyan for a long time, it will cause lung disease, which will affect the human body and manifest externally as a cold."
"Zhenyan? But it's one of the raw materials for making Zhenmo?" Gu Qilan asked.
Ning Yuxi nodded: "Exactly."
Zhenmo is extremely valuable and only the royal family and a few high-ranking officials and nobles can afford it. The eldest and second princes use Zhenmo for their daily calligraphy and homework.
At this time, the palace maid who had gone to get the ink also arrived. Ning Yuxi said to the emperor, "Your Majesty, you can ask the imperial physician to use the Zhenyan in the Zhen ink and the spices to study it together."
At this time, the queen suddenly said, "The lotus has withered. Where can I find the spice?"
"Yes, where can we find it?" Ning Yuxi repeated.
Concubine Xin said angrily, "Concubine Yi, stop playing tricks on me. The lotus has withered and the spices are gone. There's no evidence at all. How can we investigate?"
Ning Yuxi sneered, "Aren't you curious why that flower withered overnight? It was blooming just yesterday. The other flowers in the palace are still growing well in their jars. They should last at least another ten days before withering."
"This..." Concubine Xin was speechless for a moment, and then suddenly thought of something: "You must have done something when you came yesterday, deliberately killing the flower to destroy the evidence!"
"Whether I did anything wrong or not, so many people and so many eyes in Chonghua Palace could have seen it yesterday. Since you said so,
Then everyone who came to Chonghua Palace yesterday is a suspect. We just need to ask the palace servants to come out and ask who was near the lotus yesterday, and we'll know who did it."
Concubine Xin gritted her teeth and was speechless. Gu Qilan directly ordered people to call out all the palace ladies in Chonghua Palace and question them one by one.
Ning Yuxi actually already had a guess in her mind. The only ones who had come to Chonghua Palace yesterday were her, the emperor, the empress, Concubine Xin, and... the palace maids from Concubine Rong's palace.
The Empress and Concubine Xin were both under house arrest, and they would not harm their own children, so it was even less likely that the Emperor would do so. So it could only be Concubine Rong, the palace maid who came under the guise of delivering ginseng.
Soon, Song Qu came in with the results of his inquiry. He said to the emperor respectfully, "Your Majesty, I have asked the palace servants of Chonghua Palace. The only person who approached the lotus yesterday was a palace maid who changed the water for the lotus...."
Having said this, he glanced in Ning Yuxi's direction with complicated eyes, and then said: "Apart from that palace maid, the only one left is Concubine Yi."
As soon as he finished speaking, Concubine Xin couldn't help but jump out and said sternly: "Concubine Yi, what else do you have to say? It's you who killed my Second Prince!"
Before Ning Yuxi could say anything, the emperor spoke first. He said with a sullen face, "Xin Fei, if you can't stay here peacefully, then get out of here and go back to your Jingyang Palace!"
Concubine Xin was frightened by the emperor's words and immediately shut up and dared not say another word.
Ning Yuxi glanced at the emperor in surprise. The emperor seemed to understand her gaze and explained, "If it were you, then there would be no need for you to say so much."
Okay.
Ning Yuxi returned to the original topic. She looked at Song Tong and said, "Eunuch Song, did you ask the palace maid who saw me approaching the lotus why I approached it?"
"This..." Eunuch Song looked hesitant, but he really didn't ask.
Seeing this, Ning Yuxi said directly: "I approached the lotus because I found that the color of the lotus was different from before. It became extremely bright and there was also a faint fragrance, which was different from the original fragrance of the lotus.
That's why I went to see it out of curiosity. Now I think the reason why the lotus looked like that was because of the spice that was added to it."
As she spoke, Ning Yuxi took out a light pink handkerchief from her sleeve, with something wrapped inside.
As she opened her handkerchief, she said, "Your Majesty, this petal is the withered petal I picked up from the lotus pot yesterday. Please see."
She handed the petals and the handkerchief to the emperor. Gu Qilan took the petals and saw that they were indeed brightly colored. When he smelled them carefully, he could smell a faint fragrance.
Ning Yuxi said, "Your Majesty, now that we have the petals of the quilted sand lily, you can ask the imperial physician to examine it."
After a pause, she continued, "Also, I think the maid who changed the water for the lotus should also be investigated. What do you think, Your Majesty?"
Seeing Ning Yuxi looking at him with confident eyes, Gu Qilan felt a strange feeling in his heart. He looked away expressionlessly and raised his hand to signal Song Qu to do it.
At this time, the eldest prince who was sleeping in the room suddenly started coughing violently. The queen didn't care about her etiquette and immediately ran to the inner room. She looked at the eldest prince with eyes full of heartache and helped him to breathe.
Seeing this, Gu Qilan turned to Ning Yuxi and asked, "Now that you've figured out the cause of Cheng Xuan and the others' illness, do you have a solution?"
Ning Yuxi frowned. She knew about this rare spice because she had consulted many ancient books a while ago in order to make perfume for the empress dowager, and accidentally saw the spice "Shahua" in one of them. That's why she knew about it.
Yesterday, she took the two petals back and studied them, only to find out that it was that spice. As for the method to break it, she really didn't know. After all, she only learned some medical skills out of interest and was not proficient in it.
She told him the truth, and Gu Qilan had no choice but to place his hopes on the imperial physicians, hoping that they would be able to develop an antidote as soon as possible after knowing the cause of the disease.
More than half an hour later, Song Qu returned and said to Gu Qilan, "Your Majesty, the imperial physician has determined that the illnesses of the first and second princes are due to the fragrance from the lotus and the smoke from the ink."
Hearing this, Concubine Xin, who had been silent for a long time, asked anxiously, "Has the imperial physician developed an antidote?"
Song Qu said regretfully, "The imperial physician hasn't developed an antidote yet, but Wang Yuanpan said they've made some progress and will be able to develop one in twelve hours at most."
Despite this, Concubine Xin still found it difficult to relax. No one understood this disease, and there would be temporary danger if it was not cured immediately. Who knew what harm it would cause to the body over time? As a mother, she couldn't help but worry.
But at least there was some clue, and Gu Qilan quietly put down the snacks.
Song Qu continued, "Also, I checked on the maid who changed the water for the lotus and found something else in the water. The imperial physician said that was probably the reason why the lotus withered."
Hearing this, Ning Yuxi asked, "Have you interrogated that palace maid? What did she say?"
Song Qu replied: "After questioning, the maid was found to be completely unaware of the situation. She simply fetched water and then went to change the water for the lotus, without coming into contact with anyone along the way."
Ning Yuxi raised an eyebrow. Did Concubine Rong's people do this so secretly? If so, then there is no evidence for this matter.
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