Little Swallow crouched down, looked at the Seventh Princess dressed as a little eunuch, and asked, "Seventh Princess, what did you see?"
"After Father Emperor left Yanxi Palace this morning, I wanted to go play with Mother, but I saw a stranger in Mother's room, so I hid to the side and watched..."
She saw the masked man grab her mother's neck, feed her poison, and instruct her mother to plead for the Empress when the guards found the villain hiding in the Empress's palace, but her words had to convince Emperor Qianlong that the Empress was the one who did it!
"I know you are all incredibly powerful, please, please save my mother."
Little Swallow comforted her, "Don't worry, Little Seven, we will definitely find a way to save your mother!"
Xia Ziwei had the Seventh Princess taken away. "Seventh Princess, you go and rest first. We need time to discuss what to do. If we need your help, we will definitely call you over, okay?"
Seventh Princess nodded and obediently went down to rest with the others.
Then, Xiao Yanzi looked up at Xia Ziwei and asked, "Ziwei, is it safe to bring Xiao Qi here? If someone is monitoring Yanxi Palace, wouldn't they know she was brought here?"
Yongqi said helplessly, "If that masked man can come and go freely in the palace, how could he not know that Xiaoqi was eavesdropping outside?"
Xiao Jian sighed, "Yongqi is right. I'm afraid our current actions are all being monitored by others..."
Fu Erkang frowned and asked, "Who exactly is behind this?"
Little Swallow took a piece of paper and drew a sketch. "Currently, the Imperial Concubine Noble Consorts in the palace are Consort Ling of Yanxi Palace, Consort Shu of Chengqian Palace, and Mother of the Nurse in Yonghe Palace..."
"Consort Ying is in Chuxiu Palace, Consort Wan and Consort Yu are in Zhongcui Palace, and Consort Qing is in Xianfu Palace..."
Xiao Yanzi marked the residences of all the concubines in Qianlong's harem. "Consort Qing has always stayed quietly in the palace, mostly just keeping the Empress Dowager company. She doesn't have any children, so she doesn't seem like someone who wants to seize power..."
"Consort Ying and Consort Yu have no reason to vie for power..."
After a step-by-step analysis, it seems that no concubine had any reason to harm the Empress and Consort Ling.
Little Swallow frowned and said, "Could there be something we've overlooked?"
"Or perhaps we're heading in the wrong direction, and the person behind this isn't a concubine in the harem, but some prince?"
Yongqi frowned and said, "Could it be Yongcheng?"
After all, the deaths of Consort Shujia and Yongxuan were partly their fault. If Yongcheng held a grudge against them...
"Yongqi, I think we should put on another play..."
Everyone looked at Xiao Jian and listened to him explain his plan.
After listening to Xiao Jian's suggestion, Yongqi thought it was a good idea and immediately went to discuss it with Emperor Qianlong.
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When Emperor Qianlong saw Yongqi arrive, he immediately ordered Xiao Luzi to take him away.
"Yongqi, come here and play the next game."
"yes."
The father and son played chess and discussed the day's events. "Yongqi, in your opinion, who is behind this?"
"Does Father Emperor mean that he believes Mother Empress is innocent?"
"I believe the Empress would never do such a thing, nor do I believe Consort Ling would frame her. So there must be something else going on here. Have you and Xiao Jian come to any conclusions?"
"The night before last, Xiao Yanzi and I overheard someone say, 'The things are all set up, just waiting to watch the show.' We got a chill down our spines, thinking it was directed at us. So yesterday we searched Yonghe Palace and Shufangzhai, but found nothing amiss. But unexpectedly, today we found that villain in the Empress Dowager's palace..."
"Ziwei brought Xiaoqi here disguised as a eunuch. Xiaoqi said that she saw someone feed poison to Consort Ling, and that Consort Ling was forced to secretly accuse the Empress..."
When Emperor Qianlong heard that Consort Ling had been poisoned, he immediately became alarmed. "What?"
Yongqi quickly said, "That man was able to escape the pursuit of so many guards and disappear outside Yanxi Palace, which shows that he is highly skilled in martial arts. If that's the case, how could he not know that Xiaoqi was eavesdropping outside?"
"You mean, that person deliberately let Xiaoqi overhear this, and then had Xiaoqi tell you?"
Yongqi nodded, "Very likely!"
"Then tell me, what's the point of all this?"
After placing a white piece, Yongqi said, "Either a concubine in the harem is plotting to become empress, or someone from the previous dynasty is trying to usurp the throne!"
"After all, it is no small matter for the Empress to use witchcraft to curse the reigning emperor. If Father Emperor were to depose the Empress because of this, it would definitely cause turmoil in the entire court!"
Emperor Qianlong continued, "So what are your plans?"
"We'll be setting off for the Summer Palace tomorrow, so let the Empress Dowager and Consort Ling rest in the palace. Let everyone know that you no longer trust them..."
"Regardless of the mastermind's motives, they will always strike again after we leave the palace. Perhaps it's poisoning, perhaps it's murder. As long as we can catch them, we can interrogate them to find out the final result and know who the culprit is..."
"If the Empress Dowager and Consort Ling knew about this plan, they would definitely agree to it, since neither of them has any intention of harming you."
"On the contrary, if it really was one of them who deliberately framed the other, then even in our absence, they would definitely have taken some action!"
"If we let them come with us, there will be too many people around, and they won't dare to do anything!"
Yongqi and Qianlong discussed the matter until 4:45 PM, when Qianlong finally allowed Yongqi to leave, saying, "Let's do it your way!"
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The next morning, Emperor Qianlong issued an order for Consort Ling and the Empress to remain in the palace to reflect on their mistakes, and not to leave without further permission.
Their children were also taken away by Emperor Qianlong.
On the surface, Yongqi and Xiaoyanzi, along with other young people, all went to the Summer Palace with Emperor Qianlong. In reality, Yongqi and Xiaoyanzi had stand-ins impersonate them and continue their journey to the Summer Palace, while the two of them remained in the palace.
Kang Wei and Xiao Qing were keeping an eye on the people around Qianlong, hoping to find some clues.
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"They're all gone. Shouldn't we move on to the next step of our plan?"
"No rush, let's wait a few days. If we act now, they'll realize something's wrong!"
Seeing that the woman was still downcast, he comforted her, "Xuan'er, don't worry, I promised you, and I will definitely keep my word!"
The woman called Xuan'er frowned and said, "But how easy is it to follow the path you're talking about?"
He laughed and said, "Now that we have the help of the Fourth Prince and the Eleventh Prince, we naturally have nothing to fear from them!"
"Besides, even if they outnumber each other, it doesn't mean they're united. If arranged properly, they'll split up sooner or later."
"We have people following them, so we can act according to the situation!"
Xuan'er then asked, "But are the Fourth Prince and the Eleventh Prince reliable? Could they betray us?"
He smiled smugly, "The deeper their feelings for their mother and Yongxuan, the more they hate Yongqi and Xiaoyanzi!"
"As long as they continue to hate, they can become our pawns in dealing with Yongqi and Xiaoyanzi!"
"Even if Yongqi and the others find out something, it will ultimately only point to the Fourth Prince and the Eleventh Prince, and it won't involve us at all!"
"I've arranged everything; they won't come after us!"
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