Chapter 21 Where the Poison is
Li Yueyao thought today's bamboo shoots were well cooked, and after eating another piece, she said:
"Chunshan is in the southern suburbs of the capital, not that far away. If you miss me, I'll be back as soon as I say so."
The emperor put down his chopsticks and said, "I must fulfill my father's important trust. Your marriage..."
When Li Yueyao heard this, she immediately turned to look at the emperor and said with a stern face, "Stop, if you keep talking, I'll leave now."
After hearing this, the emperor picked up his chopsticks, sighed, and continued eating.
After thinking for a while, he said, "I have thought about what you said yesterday about the Right Prime Minister. You can try it.
After all, my aunt, you always see people differently from me.
If we can convince him, then it will be easy to deal with the Left Prime Minister in the court.
Zhaoqing's situation is not a cause for concern. After all, she is a member of the royal family, and her subordinates are mainly responsible for making money. She has no one with military power or guards.
My aunt can handle her alone."
Li Yueyao thought for a moment and said, "Xian Fei, stabilize the harem for the time being. I will deal with Zhao Qing first in the next few days, and then use the Right Prime Minister to contain the Left Prime Minister.
After dealing with these, I will have time to deal with the Xie family."
The emperor nodded after hearing this and said, "Well, before that, the Queen will leave it like this for now, and the Crown Prince will be trained normally and carefully. This will at least stabilize the Queen and the Xie family for a while."
Li Yueyao nodded. The frequent events in the past two days had made the emperor pay more attention to the court.
The fact that he could come up with a way to deal with the Xie family showed that he had been dissatisfied with the Xie family for a long time.
After the two of them had their meal, Li Yueyao continued to take the emperor's pulse.
Li Yueyao discovered that the emperor's pulse had been fluctuating. It had clearly been much lighter this morning, so why had it gotten worse again at noon?
Li Yueyao turned to look at Sun Fu and asked, "Your Majesty, please show me your diet and schedule for today."
Sun Fu turned around and took the paper that recorded the emperor's diet and daily routine in detail.
Li Yueyao looked at the paper and asked, "Have these diets been tried by others?"
Sun Fu quickly said, "Your Highness, I have personally tried all the things today."
Li Yueyao was confused for a moment. After thinking for a long time, she began to wonder what the emperor had done.
Sleep, wake up early, eat, go to court, eat, go to the toilet, sleep...
Apart from this, there is nothing unusual.
Li Yueyao took the emperor's pulse in detail again. Since she could find that the toxicity was recurring and fluctuating greatly, it seemed that the emperor had been exposed to this drug for a long time.
Li Yueyao looked at the list in her hand again, stood up and walked towards the emperor's bed.
He looked around the couch for a long time, then said, "Sun Fu had the couch dismantled."
The emperor stood aside and his face changed suddenly when he heard this.
Sun Fu waved his hand, and several people came in from outside and started to dismantle the emperor's bed.
But I saw that the bed board was made of a whole piece of golden nanmu wood.
"Split the bed board." Li Yueyao said.
General Feng, who was outside the door, heard the sound of someone coming in and used the black iron sword in his hand to split the bed board as easily as cutting mud.
"Your Highness, there is powder here." Feng Qing exclaimed.
I saw this complete board with a long vertical hole in the middle, which was filled with white powder.
Li Yueyao stepped forward, picked up some of the powder and smelled it.
Then he said, "Sun Fu, collect all this powder."
When the emperor saw this unknown medicinal powder hidden under the bed where he had been sleeping, his face turned black as if covered with a layer of soot.
Li Yueyao thought for a moment and said, "General Feng, go find a hound with a keen sense of smell."
Not long after, General Feng came in with a yellow greyhound.
"Let it smell the white powder, and then look for it somewhere else in the Taiji Palace."
Feng Qing did as he was told. After the greyhound smelled the white powder, it was the first to rush to the bed.
Li Yueyao said, "Come here, take this bed out and clean this place up."
After the bed was carried out and carefully cleaned, the greyhound continued to wander around the palace.
After a while, it stopped at the desk where the emperor reviewed memorials every day, and barked at the chair where the emperor usually sat.
Seeing this, Feng Qing chopped the chair with his sword.
Sure enough, white powder was found in the chair again.
The greyhound turned around and finally barked wildly at the emperor's desk.
Li Yueyao asked people to move everything on the imperial desk and prepared to chop the table down.
Who knew that after the things were moved away, the greyhound also ran away, and went straight to the pen holder where the imperial calligraphy was placed.
Seeing this, Li Yueyao asked someone to place the five pens on the ground separately.
Sure enough, the greyhound was barking wildly at one of the pens made of purple bamboo.
Feng Qing reached out and broke the pen, and sure enough, there was medicine powder inside.
The little dog patrolled for a long time and didn't bark again, so he was led out.
Li Yueyao brought the emperor to the west wing hall. The emperor looked at Li Yueyao and put the white powder into some strange bottles, added water and roasted them.
After a while, Li Yueyao asked, "Your Majesty, when were the bed, table, and chairs replaced?"
The emperor thought for a moment and said, "The bed was changed this summer because I wanted to cool down. I'm not sure about the chair."
After a while, Qian Lou appeared at the door. Seeing that His Majesty was there, he waited cautiously by the door.
Li Yueyao naturally saw him. Qian Lou went to investigate the imperial concubine's background, and he came at this time, so there must be news.
After a while, Sun Fu came in and said, "Your Majesty, the Taiji Palace has been cleaned up."
The emperor nodded without saying anything.
Li Yueyao said, "Qianlou, go and call the virtuous concubine over."
After hearing this, the emperor sat up straight as if unintentionally.
When Concubine Xian came in the morning, she was wearing a sky-blue dress, but this time she was wearing a blue dress.
The emerald hairpin in her hair was replaced with a white jade one.
The string of beads in her hand is still the string of jade beads.
After entering, she bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to Her Royal Highness the Grand Princess."
The emperor looked at the virtuous concubine dressed like this, and felt a little strange since they had not seen each other for five years.
He was in a daze for a moment, then cleared his throat and said, "No need to be polite."
After the virtuous concubine stood up, she walked straight towards Li Yueyao without even glancing at the emperor.
When the emperor saw Concubine Xian come in and didn't even look at him, he was very angry. He looked up at her and was about to scold her.
But he saw a beam of light shining on Concubine Xian through the carved window lattice, and the emperor looked at Concubine Xian in the light and shadow.
She is still as beautiful as ever. Time seems to be particularly kind to her. Five years have passed, and she seems not to have changed at all.
No, she has changed. She has become cold and no longer cares about herself.
The emperor thought again of himself as he looked in the mirror this morning. His face was haggard and sickly, and he no longer had the vigor and vitality he once had.
Thinking of this, the emperor sighed and said nothing more.
The virtuous concubine always acted casually in front of Li Yueyao, just like she did at home.
He found the nearest stool, sat down casually, and asked, "What's up?"
Ever since Concubine Xian came in, Li Yueyao had been looking at the two of them with an expression of anticipation.
Finally, seeing the emperor's eyes, she realized that Concubine Xian had won this round.
Hearing the question from Consort Xian, he smiled and said, "Your Majesty has already found out that the drug powder is hidden in the bed board, the chair, and the pen holder.
I guess it should be the same in Concubine Shu's palace. You should arrange for someone to go with Qian Lou and bring people and dogs to check with Concubine Shu.
Take the dog with you and walk around the harem to see if anyone else has been affected."
Upon hearing this, Concubine Xian was slightly surprised: "They actually used this method to poison someone. The Supervisor of the Imperial Household must be involved."
"Yes, General Feng has gone to the Shaofu Supervisor to get the person." Li Yueyao nodded.
The virtuous concubine asked again: "Are the empress and the imperial concubine still investigating in the palace?"
The emperor suddenly said, "Investigate everything thoroughly."
The virtuous concubine lowered her eyes to the ground and said to the emperor, "I obey your order."
Seeing that Concubine Xian still refused to look at him, the Emperor asked dejectedly, "Weiyang, are you really unwilling to look at me again?"
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