Concubine Liang leaned on the pillow, her face pale, her chin pointed to the bone.

Chu Jinyao saw Concubine Liang's appearance and sighed in her heart: "Madam Concubine Liang, your body is your own, you should take care of yourself."

Concubine Liang looked miserable, she clutched the little red clothes in her hand, tears rolling down again: "It's only two months... I am unlucky and don't have the qualifications to give birth to the heir. If he was born in another concubine's belly, it wouldn't be like this."

Concubine Liang cried while holding the little red clothes, and Chu Jinyao, a bystander, felt very sad. Chu Jinyao couldn't say words of comfort like "You are still young, you will have chances in the future". They both knew very well that Concubine Lian's favor was all due to the child. Since the prince had a miscarriage, the emperor had come to sit for a while on the first day and never came again. The emperor was amorous, and the women in the harem were eyeing her covetously. Concubine Lian had no chance to have a second child.

Not only did she lose her own flesh and blood, but she also had no way out for her future life. Who could accept such a thing? Concubine Lian's eyes were red from crying. Chu Jinyao sat with her for a while and comforted her softly: "Concubine Lian, you are weak after giving birth, be careful not to hurt your eyes from crying. People always have to look forward. If the Fourth Prince is still in heaven, he certainly doesn't want to see you like this."

Concubine Lian was still in a daze, not sure if she heard it or not. Chu Jinyao paused for a moment, and simply started with the small clothes in Concubine Lian's hand: "Your Majesty, are these clothes made by you?"

"Yes." Concubine Lian looked at the delicate and small tiger clothes in her hand, her eyes were gentle and sad, "This is the way our hometown is made. I have been in the palace for too long and I can no longer remember the details. I can only rely on my memory to figure it out."

Chu Jinyao asked Concubine Lian about her hometown, slowly guiding her, and asked many details before and after the miscarriage. Concubine Lian also knew that she had no family background and could not compete with these powerful children in the palace, so she was very careful since she became pregnant. She would not go out if she could, and she was also very careful about the things she brought in. Chu Jinyao listened for a long time and really did not find any omissions.

Chu Jinyao looked at an incense burner in the corner of the inner hall, so she asked, "Empress Concubine Lian, what kind of incense do you usually burn?"

Concubine Lian followed Chu Jinyao's gaze and saw the incense burner in the corner of the room. She shook her head and said, "I'm not used to the smell. I don't use it very often. After I got pregnant, I never used it again."

Concubine Lian was not a lady from a wealthy family, so how could she have the habit of burning incense? Chu Jinyao nodded thoughtfully. She talked to Concubine Lian for a while, then got up and said goodbye so as not to disturb Concubine Lian's recovery.

Concubine Liang was about to stand up to see her off, but was stopped by Chu Jinyao. The maid helped Concubine Liang slowly lean back on the bed. Concubine Liang covered her mouth and coughed twice, then said to the maid beside her: "Thanks to the Crown Princess for still remembering me, I can't stand up to see her off. Guiyan, you go and see the Crown Princess off."

Guiyan was probably one of the few capable people around Concubine Liang. Guiyan bowed to Chu Jinyao and then led Chu Jinyao out. Chu Jinyao's mind was full of questions now. Because she had no idea about the witch, she tried to find a breakthrough from Concubine Liang, but after chatting with Concubine Liang for a long time, she became more confused. Just listening to Concubine Lian's description, it seems that Empress Xiao Qi has no chance to take advantage of. However, even with such careful protection, Concubine Lian still fell into the trap and had a miscarriage, narrowly avoiding death.

Chu Jinyao vaguely heard something from Concubine Lian's words, but this flash of inspiration was fleeting and she did not catch it.

When she went out, Chu Jinyao happened to meet a palace maid. The palace maid was carrying a pile of clothes to the backyard to wash. When she saw Chu Jinyao, she immediately knelt down in fear.

Gui Yan didn't take this matter seriously at first, but Chu Jinyao stopped curiously and asked, "Is this Concubine Lian's clothes?"

The little maid who was doing the laundry found that the Crown Princess was asking her, and she was suddenly shocked and scared, and could hardly speak: "Crown Princess, these are the Queen's clothes."

Gui Yan looked strange: "Crown Princess, is there something wrong with this maid?"

"Nothing." Chu Jinyao shook her head and smiled, "I just asked casually."

Gui Yan was skeptical. After Chu Jinyao brought Linglong and others out, Chu Jinyao sat on the sedan chair and whispered to Xiao Qianzi: "You should find a way to go around Concubine Lian's backyard and secretly take out a piece of Concubine Lian's clothes."

Huh? Xiao Qianzi was obviously stunned for a moment, but he didn't ask anything and obeyed the order absolutely. Linglong, who was standing nearby, also heard it. She hesitated all the way and waited until she returned to Qide Hall before she secretly asked Chu Jinyao: "Crown Princess, what are you going to do with Concubine Lian's clothes?"

Some eunuchs in the palace have special hobbies, so they like to secretly take away the clothes of the palace maids. But why would the Crown Princess take Concubine Lian's things?

Chu Jinyao also felt that this matter was very embarrassing. She just felt it was not good to ask in person, so she asked Xiao Qianzi to take it privately. Chu Jinyao couldn't explain it now. She shook her head and said, "I have another use for it."

She needed to use Concubine Lian's clothes to confirm her guess.

That day, Empress Xiao Qi returned home in defeat, and Qin Yi learned about the witch that night. Qin Yi was simply annoyed with Empress Xiao Qi. She was like a fly that could not be killed, but kept buzzing around, using some mean and unpresentable tricks. Because the witch's matter was not confirmed, it was still a matter of the harem, and Qin Yi could not intervene directly, so he left a lot of people to Chu Jinyao to be at her disposal. With Qin Yi's help, Chu Jinyao immediately found it much easier to do things, and before long, Xiao Qianzi brought her what she wanted.

Chu Jinyao picked up the fabric and sniffed it, and sure enough, she smelled a faint fragrance. Linglong stood aside and watched, becoming more and more puzzled: "Crown Princess, what are you going to do?"

"Concubine Lian said she didn't like to use spices, and she completely stopped using them after she became pregnant. I felt vaguely that something was wrong at the time, but I didn't realize it. Later, when I met the little palace maid who was washing clothes, I suddenly realized that Concubine Lian said she didn't like to use incense, but the few times I saw her before, she was always surrounded by a faint fragrance. It's just that incense is burned everywhere in the palace, so no one noticed it." Chu Jinyao carefully searched along Concubine Lian's dress, and when he touched a place, Chu Jinyao looked solemn, and said to Linglong, "You guys take needles and thread, and remove all the threads in this place."

Linglong also realized the seriousness of the matter, and turned away in a hurry. Chu Jinyao directed several maids to untie the pattern on Concubine Lian's chest bit by bit. The embroidery in the palace was rich, and all kinds of flowers and birds were embroidered with pure gold thread and cotton thread, which was pressed into gold thread. Chu Jinyao picked up the untie gold thread, looked around, called Xiao Qianzi in, and whispered something to him.

After a while, Xiao Qianzi came back with a serious face and whispered to Chu Jinyao: "Reporting to the Crown Princess, your guess is correct, there is indeed something wrong with the gold threads. My master said that the gold threads smell of musk, safflower and other things. I'm afraid it was prepared with a special method. It's just that the ladies like to fumigate their clothes with incense, which conceals the smell of the embroidery."

Chu Jinyao felt that it was as expected, and at the same time, a chill ran down her back. The Queen must have bribed the embroiderers of the Shangyi Bureau to treat the embroidery with special spices. This little fragrance must not affect anything, but it is scary enough to wear it for years. Especially the ladies in the palace love to compete with each other in luxury. There are embroidery everywhere on their clothes, even on their underwear. With such close contact, it is no wonder that no one in the harem can get pregnant after decades.

Thinking of this, Chu Jinyao was shocked. The clothes in the harem are all made by the Shangyi Bureau. How long has Chu Jinyao been wearing such clothes?

Linglong and others suddenly found that Chu Jinyao's face was not right. They were startled and asked quickly: "Crown Princess, what's wrong with you?"

Chu Jinyao's face turned pale, and she managed to calm down: "Go and take out all the clothes in my box, quickly!"

Linglong did not dare to be careless, and quickly sent Jiegeng to get the clothes. Chu Jinyao felt dizzy when she stood up, and Linglong quickly supported herself: "Crown Princess?"

"I'm fine." Chu Jinyao asked someone to spread the clothes on the couch, and she personally checked them one by one. It was a blessing in disguise. Chu Jinyao was dissatisfied with the tailoring of the clothes from the Shangyi Bureau, so she didn't like to wear the things from the Shangyi Bureau. Instead, she took the fabric herself and directed the maids to make them herself. Since she cut the clothes herself, she was naturally embarrassed to send them to the Shangyi Bureau for embroidery, so most of the embroidery on Chu Jinyao's clothes was done by the palace maids around her. In this way, her contact with musk is very short, and it should not harm her offspring.

Linglong and several maids saw Chu Jinyao hurriedly taking out clothes, and immediately figured out the reason, and their faces turned pale with fear. Kikyo said anxiously: "Crown Princess, how about calling the imperial physician to come and take a look at you?"

"No." Chu Jinyao shook her head, "The Queen of Qi is hiding very deeply, and it is not appropriate to make a move now. If the imperial physician who comes secretly colludes with the Queen of Qi, it will be bad."

When Qin Yi returned to the East Palace today, he keenly discovered that the atmosphere was wrong.

The servants in the palace were still waiting respectfully, seemingly the same as usual, but Qin Yi inexplicably felt much calmer. Qin Yi remained calm, but he kept observing Chu Jinyao silently during the meal. When the meal was over, he understood where the problem came from.

After the meal, the palace maids cleared the cups and Qin Yi took Chu Jinyao to the inner room. Chu Jinyao was in a bad mood all night. Qin Yi pulled her to sit next to him and asked, "What happened today?"

Chu Jinyao was surprised: "I have tried my best to hide it. Is it obvious?" "

It's not obvious." Qin Yi looked into her eyes and said, "It's only obvious to me."

Chu Jinyao was angry: "I haven't thought about how to say it yet. I tried my best to hide it, but I didn't want to affect your interest in the meal. In the end, you still saw it."

"What's wrong?" Qin Yi softened his voice and asked softly.

"It's about offspring." Chu Jinyao still felt uncomfortable when she thought of this. She couldn't help but think that she hadn't gotten pregnant yet. Was it because of her physical condition or because Empress Xiao Qi's plan had worked?

Chu Jinyao knew that it was not a good idea to think this way, but she couldn't control herself.

Chu Jinyao paused and said with some difficulty: "Your Highness, I asked someone to investigate something today. Let's start with Concubine Lian."

Concubine Lian was also a pitiful person. No one in the harem had gotten pregnant for many years, but Concubine Lian, who was favored once, got pregnant with a prince. Originally, everyone in the harem thought that Concubine Lian was lucky, but now thinking about it, Empress Xiao Qi also contributed.

Empress Xiao Qi's move was really vicious. Everyone was on guard against food and use, but who would think of clothes. The fabrics in the palace were all tributes from various places. The Imperial Household Department distributed them to the palaces, and then the Clothing Bureau cut them into ready-made clothes. When local officials presented tributes to the palace, they would not dare to tamper with the tributes, so there would be no problem with the fabrics, but the problem was with the Clothing Bureau. The embroiderers

in the palace were famous for their skills, and there was a maid in the Clothing Bureau who had particularly outstanding skills. Many favored concubines liked to let her embroider patterns. But who would have thought that this woman was the queen's person. She used specially treated thread to embroider flowers, and there was a faint fragrance after embroidery. However, the palace loved to burn incense, so this sweet fragrance did not attract attention. This went on day after day, and Chu Jinyao didn't know how many embroiderers Empress Xiao Qi had developed in the Shangyi Bureau, but the concubines who were unaware of it paid the price for Empress Xiao Qi's jealousy.

Concubine Ling was a palace maid, and even after she became the emperor's favorite, she was not canonized, so she was naturally not qualified to have clothes made by the Shangyi Bureau, so she escaped and became pregnant. Later, Concubine Ling's pregnancy was exposed, and it was no wonder that Empress Xiao Qi couldn't suppress her anger. Empress Xiao Qi certainly couldn't tolerate Concubine Ling, so she deliberately put heavy materials in Concubine Ling's clothes when she was eight months pregnant, causing Concubine Ling to miscarry quickly, and took a strand of Concubine Ling's hair, burned it and left it in the backyard, and used the purple and emerald petals to lead people to the East Palace. Later, if Empress Xiao Qi followed her plan, she should have "accidentally" dug up the Wulong puppet under the purple jade flower in the East Palace. The doll had a bulging belly, which was very obvious, not to mention that Concubine Lian's birth date was pasted on it.

Unfortunately, Empress Xiao Qi buried the thing under the flower, but Chu Jinyao discovered that the flower withered and discovered Empress Xiao Qi's plan in advance. One wrong step led to another. Empress Xiao Qi failed to dig out the Wulong in public, and she could not accuse the East Palace of deliberately harming the unborn prince in order to consolidate its position. Because Chu Jinyao took the things out on her own initiative, the evidence was not sufficient. Empress Xiao Qi insisted that Chu Jinyao had made the witch, but Chu Jinyao refused to admit it. The two were equally convinced, and the emperor was not sure what was going on.

Later, Chu Jinyao went to find Concubine Ling, and Empress Xiao Qi deliberately left a strong secret to ensure that Concubine Ling would have an abortion, so the fragrance on Concubine Ling's clothes was particularly strong. Chu Jinyao had always felt that something was wrong, until she saw Concubine Ling's clothes that day, she finally figured out what was wrong.

Concubine Lian said that she never used incense, but her clothes were fragrant. Concubine Lian and the palace maids were careless and thought that the clothing department had prepared the fragrance in advance. They never thought that Empress Xiao Qi was trying hard to kill Concubine Lian. The more

Qin Yi listened, the darker his face became: "She actually dared to tamper with the clothes?"

"It was the embroidery." Chu Jinyao corrected.

These all seemed the same to Qin Yi. Qin Yi's mind was working very fast. No wonder Chu Jinyao was in a bad mood tonight. Did Empress Xiao Qi's evil plan affect Chu Jinyao? Qin Yi didn't care about the emperor's women, but he couldn't do anything to Chu Jinyao. His face was terribly cold, and he immediately called Xiao Linzi over: "Go and ask Dr. Gao to come."

Chu Jinyao did not stop him this time. She did not dare to ask the doctor during the day because she could not guarantee the doctor's camp, but since Qin Yi asked, it must be his own people.

Dr. Gao had not come yet, Qin Yi held Chu Jinyao's hand with a little too much force, and Chu Jinyao was hurt. But Chu Jinyao would rather bear it than remind him. In this situation, only he by her side can make people feel at ease.

"It's okay."

Under the light, Qin Yi's eyes were amazingly bright, as if there was endless power hidden in them, and there was also a deadly danger lurking around the corner. Chu Jinyao looked into Qin Yi's eyes, and suddenly her nose felt sore: "Hmm."

She really didn't dare to think about what she would do if she was really harmed by Empress Xiao Qi and had no hope of having an heir, but at this moment, Chu Jinyao was willing to go all out and believe in Qin Yi.

Qin Yi would not let anything happen to her.