"Xinyue, follow me to the Queen."
Xinyue was a little scared: "My Queen, why are we still going to Renming Hall?"
"I'm holding the Queen's child. The Queen might be angry now. Let's go and apologize to her."
Concubine Mu took out a black box from under the bed, opened it, and found a small green porcelain bottle inside. Concubine Mu put the porcelain bottle in her sleeve.
"My queen, what do you want to do?" Xinyue was startled.
Concubine Mu looked vicious. “Remember, when we get to Renming Palace later, while I’m feeding the little prince, find a chance to distract them.”
"My queen, what if we are discovered?" Xinyue was terrified.
Mu Guiren grabbed her and said, "Then you will die with me! Do you understand?"
Xinyue nodded tremblingly.
Zhu Lian's health finally recovered well. She held Zhao Xin in her arms and hummed a lullaby.
"Noble Lady Mu is here!" The palace maid outside delivered the message.
"Empress, I'm here to see you." Concubine Mu strode in with her maid Xinyue.
Zhu Lian subconsciously hugged Zhao Xin tightly: "Noble Lady Mu, what are you doing here?" His tone was not as kind as before.
Concubine Mu bowed gracefully, "Please forgive me, Your Majesty. The other day, I was so ignorant that I took the little prince away. I don't know the deep love between mother and child. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!"
Zhu Lian has always been soft-hearted and didn't know how to answer for a moment.
Concubine Mu bowed her head and wept, "The Crown Prince is gone, and the country is without an heir. Every time I think of you, I feel heartbroken. Fortunately, the Empress was blessed with a little prince, but because I cared too much about him, I became distracted. I didn't care about the Empress's mother-son relationship, and that's why I broke the rules. I beg for your punishment."
Zhu Lian was skeptical, but seeing so many palace maids and eunuchs around him, and the emperor's decree, he didn't dare to act rashly.
"Get up." Zhu Lian was merciful after all.
Concubine Mu was overjoyed and hurriedly stood up to look at Zhao Xin in Zhu Lian's hands: "You slaves, why don't you go and prepare some porridge? The little prince is hungry."
Zhu Lian gradually felt relieved when he saw Concubine Mu's expression of great concern for Zhao Xin.
Soon, the palace maid brought a bowl of jujube flower porridge and fed Zhao Xin spoonful by spoonful.
Concubine Mu was standing behind the palace maid. While she was feeding her, she pushed her on the back. The palace maid lost her balance and the porridge in the spoon spilled out.
Noble Mu said from behind: "You useless thing, you are so clumsy when it comes to feeding. Let me do it!"
The maid was about to argue when Concubine Mu pushed her away and took the spoon and bowl from her hands.
Xinyue, who was sitting below, snatched the tray from another palace maid and held it in her hands.
Concubine Mu fed Zhao Xin two spoonfuls of porridge, then turned around and gave Xinyue a look.
Xinyue screamed "Ouch!" and the tray in her hand fell to the ground.
"Bang!" With a sound, everyone's attention was drawn over.
Mu Guiren quickly opened the porcelain bottle from her sleeve and dripped a drop into the porridge bowl. When everyone turned around, the porcelain bottle had already been put back into her sleeve. It was so fast, so fast that it was like a thief stealing bells and making a noise.
Concubine Mu stirred the porridge, took a spoonful, put it to her mouth and blew gently, and when it cooled down, she passed it to Zhao Xin's mouth.
"Stop!" A cold voice said outside the palace gate, Zhao Huan.
A group of people followed Zhao Huan, including the Tiger Yamen, the palace guards, and Hua Tuo from the Imperial Hospital.
Mu Guiren's hand trembled and the bowl in her hand fell onto the quilt.
"Your Majesty!" Zhu Lian exclaimed in surprise and joy.
Zhao Huan grabbed the bowl of porridge and brought it to Mu Guiren's mouth: "Eat it."
Mu Guiren was shocked: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty."
"Eat it." Zhao Huan said coldly.
Xinyue beside him was trembling, and Mu Guiren's face was pale. He took the bowl of porridge with trembling hands.
The emperor issued an order, and not eating was disobeying the order. Concubine Mu knew the consequences of eating, and the prince was a living example.
Mu Guiren's hands were shaking. She put the porridge to her lips but didn't dare to eat it.
Zhao Huan said in a cold tone, "Come here, feed Concubine Mu."
Two guards grabbed Concubine Mu, and a eunuch pried her mouth open.
Mu Guiren was so frightened that he was scared out of his wits: "No, no..."
After drinking a bowl of porridge, Mu Guiren fell to the ground trembling all over.
Zhao Huan squatted down, grabbed her wrist tightly, and took out the porcelain bottle from her sleeve.
At this point, Concubine Mu didn't dare to say anything more.
"Your Majesty, what's going on?" Zhu Lian looked at the porcelain bottle in Zhao Huan's hand.
Zhao Huan held up the porcelain bottle and said, "This is the Ice Lotus from the Western Regions, grown in extremely cold places. It's not poisonous by nature, but if you pour boiling dew on it, it will turn into a freezing poison, beyond the reach of even gods. Unfortunately, this kind of cold poison doesn't take effect immediately, but takes half a month or even longer. Put this in the porridge you give the prince."
"What!" Zhu Lian was inexplicably furious. "It's you! You killed my Chen'er!"
Concubine Mu was so frightened that her face turned pale, not only because Zhao Huan knew everything, but she was even more afraid that she would drink the ice lotus porridge.
"You, how did you know?" Suddenly, Concubine Mu raised her head and looked at Zhao Huan viciously.
Zhao Huan said coldly, "You underestimate me too much. When the Queen gave birth, the Tiger Yasi informed me of Mu Wengan's collusion with Liang Shuhang. But at that time, I had no evidence, and I didn't even know you knew about the poisonous Western Region Ice Lotus. But you also underestimate Sai Hua Tuo. Sai Hua Tuo, explain it to her clearly."
Sai Hua Tuo stepped forward and said, "As you wish, this Western Region Ice Lotus may appear indistinguishable from typhoid fever at first glance, but with time, one can still distinguish the symptoms. The Western Region cold poison is extremely toxic, and its effects are intense in the later stages, unlike typhoid fever, which develops gradually. Careful observation will reveal the differences. However, I was foolish, and even though I suspected it at first, I didn't dare to imagine that anyone would dare to harm the Crown Prince. It wasn't until Your Majesty reminded me that I was able to conclude that the Crown Prince had been poisoned."
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