Chapter 102 Chapter 102 Concubine Shu's Fifteenth Day
In the side hall, Ji Chen sat at the top.
Qian Ji said: "The maid Yingchun was seriously injured on the back of her head, with a bloody wound as big as a bowl. She can only recover in the Imperial Hospital, but her statement is here, please read it, Your Majesty and Empress."
He handed the paper to Ji Chen, who read it and then handed it to the queen.
The Queen said, "Since we have Yingchun's confession, we just need to find the maid with the red mole on her wrist. However, there are so many maids in the palace. If we eliminate them one by one, someone might get the news and erase the red mole. As for the maid who knows martial arts, I suggest that we eliminate those who entered the palace at a young age. This way, we can find her faster."
Upon hearing this, Concubine Xian became spirited: "I second the motion."
Ji Chen glanced at Qian Quanzhong and said, "As the Queen said, this matter will be handed over to you to investigate."
Qian Quanzhong said yes and walked out.
Lan Xiurong saw Qian Quanzhong walking away and said, "Your Majesty, after paying respects at Kunning Palace today, the road leading to Chengqian Palace was splashed with oil, so Concubine Shu took a detour, which led to what happened next."
The queen nodded: "It is true."
"After hearing the news, I ordered Qingyu to investigate the matter. During the time of paying respects, there were 23 palace maids who passed through that palace road. I am still investigating them one by one."
Concubine De listened attentively, while Concubine Xian lowered her brows in disinterest.
As soon as the Queen finished speaking, Lan Xiurong said, "I can't hide the truth, so I won't beat around the bush. Before paying my respects, I saw Concubine Xuan's maid coming behind Concubine Xuan. The maid looked panicked, so I had to suspect that the oil on the palace road was related to Concubine Xuan."
Defei's eyebrows jumped, and her bad premonition became even stronger.
Half of the concubines in the palace came from prominent family backgrounds. Since the emperor no longer held beauty contests, some prominent families could not send their daughters to the palace. She wanted to win people over in advance, but failed.
In addition, having lost Concubine Chu and the Chu family behind her, she could not help but make more plans for the Third Prince.
Among the people in the harem whose family background was respectable enough, Concubine Xuan was one of them.
Concubine Xuan had plans but was not as lucky as the empress. She had high aspirations when she first entered the palace, but after five or six years, her character has been worn down.
So she asked Li Guipin to win over Xuan Jieyu.
Now, Concubine Xuan and the palace maid with the mole on her hand were both involved in this matter, so she had to prepare for the worst - Li Wanyi secretly teamed up with Concubine Xuan to make Concubine Shu have a miscarriage.
But Li Wanyi just thought that everything would be fine if she could persuade Shi Liu, but she didn't understand that it was extremely difficult for her to hide the truth last time, and any mistake would expose her completely.
Concubine De didn't know what to say about Li Wanyi. She was simply brave but not wise, and not vicious enough.
The last incident had made the Emperor wary, and he should not have done anything before Concubine Shu gave birth. If Concubine Shu gave birth to a princess, he would not have to do anything. If Concubine Shu gave birth to a prince, a small child could easily die. At worst, there were thousands of ways to prevent Concubine Shu's child from having a chance to become Emperor.
But Li Wanyi chose the time when Concubine Shu was most alert.
He even wanted to use the death of a concubine to scare Concubine Shu, but if Concubine Shu could be easily frightened into miscarriage, she would have died in the palace the moment she became the favorite.
Putting aside what happened before, Concubine Shu was frightened and all the people around her were dispersed. At this time, whether she asked the palace servants to hit Concubine Shu's sedan chair or made the eunuchs carrying the sedan chair slip, it would cause Concubine Shu to have a complete miscarriage or even cause her health to deteriorate.
But Li Wanyi didn't do any of these.
What is left is a situation with simple means and numerous loopholes.
Defei knew that Li Wanyi could not tolerate Shufei, but why was she so anxious?
When Concubine De saw the palace maid with a red mole on her wrist, the first person she thought of was Shi Liu. Shi Liu had been with her the longest, and she knew that she was very skilled, so it would be easy for her to deal with the two powerless women.
When Concubine De came back to her senses, the Emperor had already ordered the rest of the concubines to be summoned.
Many concubines knew that oil was poured on the palace road, and there might be other clues.
In addition, Wang Ding, who had always been with the emperor, followed the queen's palace servants to find the eunuch who first discovered the oil being poured on the palace road.
There is no way to check something like oil that can be stored. Not to mention that the palace servants in charge of the oil can intercept some of it, the imperial kitchen and the small kitchens in each palace use a large amount of oil. It is easy for someone with ulterior motives to keep some of the oil.
However, this also gives people an inspiration. It would be easier to get some oil above the main seat, and Concubine Xuan was just a concubine. Even if the oil spilling on the palace road was related to her, she was definitely in collusion with others. She alone could not find enough oil to make people slippery and take a long time to clean up, forcing the concubines to take a detour.
Now, apart from the three concubines Shude, De and Xian, the only concubines above the rank of mistress in the palace are Lan Xiurong and Li Guipin.
Ji Chen turned the beads in his hand, looking exceptionally calm.
Watching Wang Ding leave, Concubine De was anxious but she could only remain calm. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, she couldn't ask anyone to pass the message to Li Wanyi.
I just hope Li Wanyi doesn't think that she can rest easy just by using pomegranates.
Soon, the concubines came to Chengqian Palace one after another. The concubines who had heard about this matter and were open-minded, shed a few tears and then lowered their heads to listen to the development of the matter.
In addition, there were concubines who stayed quietly from beginning to end.
Li Guipin stood next to Concubine De. Concubine De glanced at her but said nothing in the end.
After Xuan Jieyu arrived, she heard Lan Xiurong's words and said indignantly, "I am wronged. My maid Huanyun was just trying to get my bracelet back. She was late and looked flustered because she ran so fast and was out of breath."
After Concubine Xuan appeared, Lan Xiurong did not look at her, but observed Huanyun beside Concubine Xuan. After Concubine Xuan explained, she said, "Your Majesty, Empress, I only remembered when I saw this palace maid that there was a dark oil stain on her skirt this morning. Otherwise, why would I pay attention to a palace maid? And she clearly changed her clothes. I think people who pay attention to this can also see it."
Concubine Xuan refused to give in and said, "What Empress Xiurong said is correct, but Huanyun fell down when she was getting something back. It was dark at the time and she couldn't see clearly. She was in a hurry to come back and report to me, so she didn't notice that she was stained with oil, nor did she find that the palace road was splashed with oil. I was only able to connect the dots after I knew all these things."
After Concubine Xuan finished speaking, she glanced at Huanyun.
Huanyun stood up and said with lowered eyebrows: "It is indeed as the master said. There are still wounds on my legs from falling to the ground. I changed the dirty dress to avoid offending the master."
Huanyun followed Shehe, who was beside the queen, to check the wound behind the screen.
Concubine Chen patted the back of Lan Xiurong's hand soothingly and went behind the screen to take a look herself.
Soon, Cai He came out to report: "Your Majesty, Empress, Huan Yun is right. She does have a new wound on her leg. The wound is on the knee, as big as a teacup lid, and is bleeding."
Concubine Chen covered her lips with a handkerchief and said suddenly, "The maid was so badly injured, but Concubine Xuan didn't ask a female doctor to take a look. Instead, she took the maid on a long journey to Chengqian Palace."
She said in a light voice: "It's not like Concubine Xuan didn't know that this palace maid had a leg injury."
Normally, when someone is injured, they should be allowed to rest instead of being ordered around. And Concubine Xuan has more than just Huanyun as a maid.
Concubine Xuan paused and said, "It was my fault for not considering it carefully."
At this time, Qian Quanzhong came back and reported: "I have screened the palace maids, but I have not found any palace maids who meet the requirements and have red moles on their wrists..."
Concubine De secretly breathed a sigh of relief, while Concubine Li beside her remained quiet.
Qian Quanzhong immediately changed the subject: "However, there is indeed a maid who got up early and walked around the palace with a new wound on her wrist. She is Shi Liu from Concubine De's palace. However, I have checked and found that although Shi Liu's figure is similar to what Ying Chun described, she does not know martial arts and is not strong enough."
He moved to the side, came out, knelt down, and looked at the honest and obedient Pomegranate.
Concubine De clenched her fingers and looked at Shi Liu with complicated eyes. Shi Liu was hers, but Li Wanyi had ruined her.
Even though she knew it was to settle today's matter, she still felt unhappy.
The fact that Li Wanyi was able to mobilize Shi Liu showed that she did it through the Li family. The Li family was also very easy to understand. They were dissatisfied with her usually mild-mannered approach and wanted to eliminate all those who threatened the Third Prince's ascension to the throne as soon as possible.
She should have realized that something was wrong when her family became estranged from the Chu family, instead of allowing the family to go astray.
I'm afraid the Li family also wants to take action against Concubine Shu and her unborn baby because the Third Prince's limelight was stolen by Concubine Shu.
If she had known earlier, she would have stopped them, so they avoided her.
Defei felt dizzy and could only stay standing by pinching her palms to feel the pain. To her, what Li Wanyi and the Li family did was no less than a betrayal, and all her hard work became a joke.
But the most important thing now is to remove Li Wanyi and her from this matter.
Because of the news brought back by Qian Quanzhong, the atmosphere in the palace became tense again. The Empress and Concubine Xian slowly glanced at Concubine De.
This atmosphere did not last long. Wenxi came in and saluted after reporting: "Your servant greets the emperor, the queen, the ladies and the masters. I am the eunuch beside the Empress Shufei, and I have important matters to report. Because the Empress Shufei likes to go to Sufanting, and the Empress is pregnant with the heir, it is of utmost importance. The servants dare not neglect it, so they check on Sufanting every day."
"After He Cairen's body was taken away, I led people to inspect the area around the lake and found messy footprints on a trail. After careful inspection, we found that those footprints belonged to one person. It rained last night and the trail was muddy. We can be sure that they were left this morning. However, that person was too meticulous and destroyed all the footprints when he returned afterwards."
"But I lived up to everyone's expectations and finally found a complete footprint. I should be able to compare it to who the murderer is."
Wenxi's voice was neither loud nor low, but everyone in the hall could hear it.
Concubine De frowned. When she wanted to understand someone, she would review all the methods the other person had used in her mind.
The last time, Concubine Shu tricked the imperial physician out of her because of witchcraft, and this time Wenxi showed up early and chose such a time, so he must have met Concubine Shu in the meantime.
De Fei realized something was wrong and suddenly looked at Shi Liu, only to see black blood oozing out of Shi Liu's mouth. She raised her head and said, "I did everything, there is no excuse. I have a grudge against Shu Fei in my heart, and I know I can't escape it. Even if I die, I will die in Chengqian Palace."
Before dying, Shi Liu no longer called herself a slave, and her last words were very simple.
Her eyes were calm and peaceful. After giving up her martial arts, she became indifferent to life and death.
However, Wenxi's words broke her calm, and he said excitedly: "Miss Shiliu is very careful. Although I found the footprints, they were severely damaged. I couldn't find a single clear footprint. I just wanted to trick you. I'm really sorry."
Pomegranate's eyes suddenly widened.
Wenxi said again: "Hey, the poison used by Miss Shiliu is very similar to the poison that the maid Feicui who died beside Concubine Lin was poisoned with that day."
Qing Gu, who was beside the queen, stepped forward and opened Shi Liu's mouth. She had experience and deliberately avoided the poisonous blood. After checking, she said, "Shi Liu first bit out blood in his mouth, and then the poison in his teeth was crushed. It is undoubtedly a poison that takes effect when it sees blood."
At that time, Feicui died from the poison that was fatal on contact with blood.
Pomegranate was emotionally agitated, and the poison took effect faster, and soon he was dead.
She finally looked at Concubine De. If she looked more carefully, she would clearly see Concubine Li Guipin beside Concubine De.
De Fei closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she looked at Ji Chen: "Your Majesty, I don't know about this."
Ji Chen's eyes were cold: "She is your maid, how could you not know?"
Li Guipin, who had been invisible, stood up and said, "Your Majesty, it was I who did it."
She had to stand up because it was impossible for a palace maid to accomplish these things, and Shi Liu's words only proved her loyalty.
If she didn't stand up, the matter would only be blamed on Concubine De.
Everyone looked at Li Guipin in surprise. Given Li Guipin's usual behavior, who would believe it was her?
Xian Fei said bluntly: "Sister Li, although you are the cousin of De Fei and have always protected De Fei, how can you take the blame for something like this?"
"Nails are nails, rivets are rivets, even if you both have the same last name, Li, it won't work."
Li Guipin ignored Concubine Xian and said, "I am the biological mother of the Third Prince. The Third Prince was not favored by the Emperor. If the baby in Concubine Shu's belly was born, the Emperor would probably not pay attention to the Third Prince, so I took action to harm Concubine Shu."
"Shi Liu is a child of the Li family. Not only is she under the control of Concubine De, she also listens to my orders. Your Majesty, isn't she curious as to why Shi Liu was able to destroy the red mole on her wrist and abolish her martial arts while Concubine De was under surveillance in Chengqian Palace? Because this is exactly what I ordered."
"The oil on the palace road was also caused by me. I could not use up all the oil in my quota, so I accumulated it and had someone pour it on the palace road today, forcing Concubine Shu to pass by Sofanting."
"I originally wanted to use oil to start a fire in Chengqian Palace, but the patrolling guards were so tight that my men could not enter Chengqian Palace, nor could they get close to Concubine Shu's palace. I also learned half a month ago that Concubine Shu often went to Sufangting, so I had an idea."
"I plead guilty to all the crimes." Even as she pleaded guilty, Concubine Li remained calm.
The Concubine Shu was not hurt at all, but if a man named Li were to be replaced, it would be enough to save the life of Concubine He.
As long as Concubine De is kept alive, Concubine Shu will not always be the winner after many years.
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