“If you don’t talk, I’ll beat you until you do. Consort Li said you’ve been in contact with the Sixth Prince’s medicine. Do you dare deny it?” Consort Mei said.
"This servant...this servant did not, this servant is innocent!"
Just then, Huang Bai arrived.
After entering, Yan Nangui asked, "Do you know Tao'er?"
Huang Bai knelt down: "This servant knows her. Tao'er and I are from the same place. We didn't know each other before, but we found out after Tao'er entered the palace the year before last."
Huang Bai remained calm, after all, he had nothing to hide.
“It is fitting to send these two people to the torture chamber,” Consort Ke said.
"Since there's a problem with Consort Mei, naturally we'll interrogate that Tao'er first. I know my people well," Yan Nangui said calmly.
“This servant dares not, this servant dares not. It was Huang Bai, it was Huang Bai who gave this servant a pill, saying that if it dissolved in the Sixth Prince’s medicine, it would… it would cure him. This servant thought that the Sixth Prince was weak, and this was a good thing. This servant felt sorry for the Sixth Prince. So this servant let it go. This servant just thought that Consort Chen was so favored, so the things from her must be good.”
Tao'er cried.
Yan Nangui simply smiled. His words were riddled with flaws.
"Then let me ask you, when did I give you the pills?" Huang Bai asked.
Tao'er was taken aback: "Just a few days ago, three or four days ago."
"Three days or four days? When will I give it to you? Where will I give it to you? What kind of medicine?" Huang Bai pressed on relentlessly.
"You yourself are still the subject of doubt, yet you're in such a hurry to question others," Consort Yi suddenly said.
"Your Highness, Consort Yi, please understand. It was this peach that bit me, that made me the suspect. If her words are not true, then I have been wronged," Huang Bai said calmly.
“Yes, Tao’er, you should explain yourself properly. If you can’t explain yourself clearly, then you are slandering Huang Bai, and that means you are implicating Consort Chen,” said Consort Xiangxian.
"This servant...this servant gave it to me four days ago, around noon...in the Imperial Garden." Tao'er swallowed hard. "Of course, Her Highness the Consort can't believe what I'm saying, but even if Her Highness's people testify for Huang Bai, we can't believe them! They're all on our side! Huang Bai, you actually gave me poison; it must be Her Highness's doing. So even if someone testifies, we can't believe them, we can't believe them!"
"Actually, there's no need to go to such lengths to prove whether Huang Bai is innocent or not," Yan Nangui said with a smile.
"Your Majesty, perhaps you should wait a moment and investigate Tao'er's family background. She only entered the palace two years ago. When she was assigned to Consort Mei's quarters, she was only a third-class maid. Now she's only a second-class maid. For a mere maid to dare to implicate me, she's quite bold. Her words are full of loopholes and are obviously lies. However, we must find out who has the audacity to instigate her behind the scenes."
"If she succeeds, the Sixth Prince's life will be in danger. Once the Sixth Prince is gone, who can say for sure what will happen?"
"Yunji, send someone to investigate," Shu Chengfeng said.
"Tang'er, don't worry, I trust you completely," Shu Chengfeng said.
"Take this lowly servant away and interrogate her properly, but don't let her die. Lock Huang Bai up for now. There's no need to torture her."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Yan Nangui said.
"Huang Bai, stay put and make sure you have everything you need. I'll have Jiang Xiang deliver it to you. As long as you're innocent, I certainly won't let you suffer any injustice," Yan Nan Gui said.
"Yes, Your Majesty, this servant would never dare to disappoint you." Huang Bai kowtowed and was then led away.
"Tao'er's matter still needs to be investigated thoroughly. But, is it Nanny Li?" Yan Nangui looked at the nanny kneeling to one side.
The wet nurse trembled: "This servant is Li..."
"Who else is around the Sixth Prince? Come here." Yan Nangui looked at Shu Chengfeng and said, "Your Majesty, since it is now my concubine and Sister Xiang who are managing the harem, then I will decide on the matter of disciplining the servants."
"Okay." Shu Chengfeng smiled.
"Consort Mei, you have no objections, do you?" Yan Nangui asked again.
"I have no objection. Even if Your Majesty doesn't care, I will still deal with them." Consort Mei was angrier than anyone else.
Regardless of what happened to Tao'er, the fact remains that the wet nurse and the other maids were lazy.
The sixth prince was attended to by two wet nurses and four maids.
Because the sixth prince has not been completely weaned yet, but now he drinks less, the two wet nurses take turns serving him day and night.
Tonight, I'll be serving Nanny Li.
The four maids were rotated among themselves, two during the day and two at night.
However, at this moment, all four maids and two wet nurses arrived.
"My first question is, Tao'er, as a second-class maid, is someone who serves Consort Mei. Even serving Consort Mei personally is not guaranteed. How could she have taken the Sixth Prince's medicine?"
Li, the wet nurse, was taken aback and lowered her head without saying a word.
"Li, would you rather talk this out properly, or go into the torture chamber to talk?" Yan Nangui asked calmly.
"This servant...this servant had a stomachache, so...so I went to the toilet. I asked Tao'er to watch over me for a while...who would have thought something like this would happen..." Li was quite frightened.
“Everyone has to relieve themselves sometimes, so this isn’t a crime. But why are you the only one looking after the Sixth Prince’s medicine?” Yan Nangui asked again.
"Because...because it was around dinner time..." A maidservant lowered her head cautiously, "This servant and Chun Tao went...we just ate a bite, it was only a quarter of an hour. We came back just as Nanny Li returned. Who knew that Tao'er..."
"Consort Mei, you have been in the palace for many years and have been favored for many years. Yet you have been so lenient in managing your subordinates. Fortunately, His Majesty noticed that Tao'er was not right today. Otherwise, your son would have been poisoned to death."
Consort Mei knelt down: "It is because I am incompetent."
"You're too lenient. The wet nurses of the princes and princesses, and the servants, are all shirking their duties, going to the toilet or something. You let a second-class servant like Tao'er arbitrarily tamper with the master's medicine. And to make matters worse, you even had her personally bring it in. You two, as servants, went to eat before the master's medicine was even ready. Are you more noble than the master?"
Chuntao and Biye were so frightened that they begged for mercy.
"Come on, drag him out and beat him to death," Yan Nangui said calmly.
"I am now temporarily in charge of the inner palace, and I haven't even held anyone accountable yet, but you dare to make baseless excuses. It's clear you don't respect your mistress. Take them away and fight them, so as not to alert the Sixth Prince." Yan Nan Gui looked at Consort Xiang Xian: "Does Sister have any objections?"
"No, it should be like this," said Consort Xiangxian.
Then someone came, gagged the two girls, and dragged them out.
"And you, although everyone has to go to the bathroom sometimes, were you so anxious that you couldn't wait for anyone else to come? Even so, when the medicine was finally ready, you all slacked off, even sending Tao'er to deliver and feed the medicine. His Majesty was still here, and you dared to be so lazy, which shows that you don't usually care. As a wet nurse, your crime is even more serious. But wet nurses are different from palace maids. I will spare your life. You will be given eighty strokes of the cane and expelled from the palace, never to be used by her or her family again."
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