Chapter 48 Chapter 48 Palace Maid's Forty-Eight Days
Ji Chen still trusted Wang Jigui's ability to do things, so he asked Qian Quanzhong and Wang Jigui to investigate together.
Qian Jize stayed beside him, and was hesitant to speak just now. Not only Shen Qing saw it, but Ji Chen and Wang Jigui also knew it.
Wang Jigui didn't care what Qian Ji said, he just took the order and went out.
Qian Ji glanced at Shen Qing, and Shen Qing stepped forward to avoid him.
But Ji Chen said, "You don't have to go, just talk."
Qian Ji paused for a moment and whispered, "The first time we found cinnabar, it was not in the flowerpot in the courtyard, but in Miss Shen Qing's room."
Shen Qing, who did not leave but quietly approached and heard this, said: "???"
The murderer was me?
This is of course impossible. Shen Qing quickly explained: "There is absolutely no such thing in my room. Where did you find it? Maybe there is a misunderstanding. Someone must have deliberately framed me!"
Shen Qing was anxious, her little face full of panic and inexplicable grievance.
She is just a palace maid, why did they frame her? This is not a clever trick at all!
"Your Majesty, you have to trust me." Shen Qing said desperately. There was no queen here, so as a second best option, the emperor would do.
When people are in a hurry, they will not deliberately pretend to be sympathetic.
It was the most natural reaction, so Ji Chen said without hesitation: "I believe it."
After saying this, perhaps feeling that it was not sincere enough, he repeated: "I believe in you, don't be afraid."
After getting the guarantee, Shen Qing slowly got rid of his panic.
Qian Ji pursed his lips and said: "Actually, I believe it too." Otherwise, why would he report it in private? Of course, the bigger reason was that he could guess the emperor's intentions. Based on the emperor's mind, he certainly didn't want Shen Qing to be isolated and helpless, and even then, extending a helping hand might make people more loyal.
But the emperor disdained this.
Ji Chen gave Qian Ji a glare and told him to experience it for himself.
Qian Ji calmed down a lot, and answered Shen Qing's question seriously, "It's in the box where the girl kept her gold."
"That is my treasure. I open it every day to look at it." Shen Qing looked at Ji Chen and said angrily, "Why did you put something that could harm people in my box?"
There is a special kind of charm in a beautiful woman when she is angry.
Shen Qing was so angry that she almost put her hands on her hips and cursed. In her anger, she did not forget to inform him: "I just checked it at noon today, and he has not returned to his room since then."
The scope was suddenly narrowed down to the afternoon and evening time periods.
Ji Chen winked at Qian Ji, and Qian Ji went out to pass the news to Wang Jigui. As for why he didn't tell his master, it was naturally to help others to the end and help Shen Qing cover up something.
He would never disobey or go against what the emperor likes.
Only the emperor, Shen Qing, the mute eldest prince and several palace maids from the Palace of Heavenly Purity were left in the room. As the eldest prince was in good health and the cinnabar was discovered early, there was no time to find a chance to feed it to him.
So although Ji Chen looked furious at this moment, he was actually in the mood to joke with Shen Qing: "My things are naturally in your treasure box, right?"
Shen Qing's mind went blank.
"...Of course, the emperor's things must have been treasured by me. I can't wait to admire them every day." Shen Qing blinked, trying to make himself look sincere.
But how could it be possible? If she had Ji Chen's personal belongings in her box, who would be so bold as to put cinnabar in her box to frame her? The gold hairpin Ji Chen gave her was a good thing, but it had its own box, made of golden nanmu, so Shen Qing put all his things into the golden nanmu box and put it in the bottom of the box.
Having seen so many people, Ji Chen knew at a glance that Shen Qing was guilty.
But it doesn't matter. Once Shen Qing said this, it meant that his things could go into her treasure box from now on.
He continued, "The purse I wanted has been in the works for half a month, so it's already a semi-finished product."
Shen Qing gritted his teeth and said: "Of course, your majesty is really a prophet." In fact, not a single needle was moved, and everything was kept in the bottom of the box.
"Bracelet..."
Suddenly, a message came from the courtyard: "The Queen has arrived!"
Shen Qing forced herself to maintain her expression so as not to cry with joy. She carefully picked up the eldest prince, knowing what the queen was most worried about when she saw the imperial guards surrounded outside, so she held the eldest prince at the door to greet her. She did not go out because there was no underground heating outside, and she was afraid that the eldest prince would be frozen in a hurry.
The queen came in with a cold and anxious look on her face. When she saw the eldest prince, her eyes were already glued to him: "Can'er!"
Shen Qing handed the eldest prince over and reported, "Your Majesty, the eldest prince is fine."
The queen then showed a hint of tenderness, and then quickly walked to the emperor and greeted him, saying, "I have been disrespectful, please forgive me, Your Majesty."
Ji Chen had already supported her arm when she squatted down: "You hold Can'er, no need to be polite."
Seeing the etiquette between the emperor and the empress, Shen Qing suddenly realized how inappropriate her behavior just now was, even though it was caused by Ji Chen's relentless pressure and not giving her any chance to breathe.
If Ji Chen continued to speak, she would have to cede land and pay compensation.
Who can bear it?
The queen hugged the eldest prince tightly. God knows how panicked she was when she saw the imperial guards surrounding Kunning Palace. Fortunately, nothing happened to the Xiao family and her eldest prince. The queen only relaxed her grip when the eldest prince felt uncomfortable.
"Your Majesty, what's going on?"
Ji Chen told the Queen about what he had found out about the cinnabar. The Queen's eyes suddenly became dangerous, like a lioness. Before she could express her sharp emotions, she immediately choked up and knelt down to say, "Your Majesty, please thoroughly investigate the murderer and take care of our Can'er!"
Ji Chen helped the man up for the second time: "I have sent people to investigate, I believe there will be news soon."
It is still difficult to find out the truth about Qian Quanzhong and Wang Jigui, so we might as well disorganize and reorganize the team of the Palace of Heavenly Purity.
The Queen said convincedly: "I and Can'er believe in the Emperor."
The Queen did not think that she was very important in the Emperor's heart, so she mentioned the eldest prince in every sentence. Even though she knew that since the Emperor was already sitting here, he would not let his subordinates be perfunctory, she still said so.
Shen Qing hasn't seen the emperor and the queen together for a long time. Compared to a year ago, the two seemed to be a lot more distant from each other.
The empress devoted herself to the eldest prince, while the emperor had concubines in the harem, so they had less time for each other and naturally only superficial courtesy remained.
At this time, the Queen mentioned the New Year's Eve banquet again and said, "Your Majesty, there is another happy event in the palace. Concubine Li is three months pregnant."
After three months, the fetus was basically stable. Concubine Li was the cousin of Concubine De. In the ninth and tenth months, Ji Chen turned over Concubine Li's name card several times.
The Queen did not expect that Concubine Li would become pregnant so easily, and that Concubine De kept it a secret very well.
I came back late today because I first received the news that Prince Li was deposed, and then Concubine Hou De boasted that Concubine Li was pregnant. In order to avoid any misunderstanding, the Queen asked someone to invite the imperial physician to the banquet. These two things at the same time delayed my return.
Prince Li was deposed, and the only reason given was that he behaved disrespectfully in front of the emperor. No more information could be found out, as the news was blocked by the emperor.
[If anyone wants to harm Can'er, I, the Defei, have no doubts. Defei is tied up by Concubine Li, so how can she spare the time to make a perfect plan? ]
[The virtuous concubine has been quiet recently, and she is probably planning something bad. But if she does it, wouldn't she ruin the emperor's friendship? This is a foolish move, and the queen mother won't allow her to do it. But, I really hope it's the virtuous concubine. With the queen mother around, the virtuous concubine is almost immune from death. ]
Shen Qing listened to the Queen's inner thoughts, hoping to get inspiration from them and find out who was deliberately trying to frame her.
But she was no longer familiar with the concubines in the harem, and she didn't know the characters of the other concubines in the Empress Dowager's palace at the time, so it was naturally much more difficult to analyze them.
When Ji Chen learned that Concubine Li was pregnant, he nodded slightly and said no more.
Then I looked up at the master and servant, both of them had the same trance-like expressions...
The queen was more sensitive to the gazes of others. She was in a high position, and few people could look directly at her. She looked back calmly. Shen Qing was much slower, or rather, she was very calm about the gazes of others. She had a generous attitude, and thought that if someone looked at her, they would look at her. It wouldn't cost her anything.
She was of low status and good-looking, and had long been accustomed to being stared at by those who were higher in rank than her.
The Queen's voice disappeared, and Shen Qing came back to her senses immediately. She then noticed Ji Chen's hidden gaze and smiled innocently.
She doesn't have the ability to cause trouble under the Queen's nose.
For some reason, Ji Chen felt very distressed and looked away, holding the beads.
At this time, Qian Ji came in and reported: "Your Majesty, the Empress, the person who intended to murder the eldest prince has been found, it is Nanny Jin."
It turned out not to be Nanny Zhang, but Nanny Jin who lived in the same room with Nanny Zhang!
Because his attention was not on Nanny Jin just now, Shen Qing did not notice anything wrong with Nanny Jin. But Shen Qing knew Nanny Jin quite well, because when the Emperor came to see the eldest prince and felt there were too many people, he would just point at Nanny Jin and she would be the one to stay the most.
Not only Shen Qing was thinking about Nanny Jin, the Queen was also thinking about Nanny Jin.
[Although Jin Mama entered the palace as a wet nurse, her family was not short of money, so she seemed quite calm when accepting the reward compared to other wet nurses.]
The queen expressed her inner thoughts.
Ji Chen raised his eyes to signal Qian Ji, who continued, "Madame Jin found out that the emperor always liked to leave only one wet nurse behind when he came to the eldest prince's place, so she thought this was a great opportunity. She got cinnabar from an informant half a month ago, and wanted to take action when the emperor came to the eldest prince's place. Fearing that the matter would be exposed, she did not put the cinnabar in her own residence, but hid it in a large-bellied porcelain bottle in the eldest prince's room. Because Madame Jin found that the palace maids who cleaned the bedroom would not clean the inside of the porcelain bottle, she could hide the cinnabar well by sticking to the curve of the belly of the porcelain bottle."
"And Nanny Zhang, who lives in the same room, received a bribe from Concubine He a few days ago and was asked by Concubine He to drive Miss Shen Qing away from the Queen. Nanny Zhang happened to discover Nanny Jin's behavior, but concealed it and did not report it. She pretended to be sick and did not serve the eldest prince closely, hoping to escape responsibility if the eldest prince had problems in the future. Today, she prepared some cinnabar that she had taken out of the porcelain bottle before she claimed to be sick, and wanted to put it in Shen Qing's residence when she was not available. However, she did not expect that the Emperor would receive Nanny Zhang's sneaky news and was worried that it would be too soon to harm the eldest prince, so Nanny Zhang could only temporarily put the paper bag containing cinnabar in the flowerpot in the courtyard."
"Madame Zhang intends to frame Madame Jin and Shen Qing for colluding with each other in order to get the Empress to drive Shen Qing away."
Shen Qing was stunned when she heard this. Nanny Zhang naturally put the things in her residence. If nothing unexpected happened, Nanny Zhang wanted to expose it tonight, because Shen Qing was in the habit of opening the treasure box and counting the gold ingots every night.
Nanny Zhang only has half a day. Today is New Year's Eve, and according to custom, the master and servant will stay up together to celebrate the New Year. This gives Nanny Zhang plenty of time to move around and have the opportunity to meet the master.
The queen's eyes were as deep as a pool of water.
[If Noble He knew that Nanny Zhang risked my son's illness to plot against Shen Qing, I would never let Noble He go! ]
Shen Qing's eyes lit up. The queen is so mighty!
Noble Lady He is pregnant and is the Queen's person, so her status is very noble, but if she is stepped on, the Queen will die.
Shen Qing pursed her lips, feeling extremely happy.
Looking at the emperor again, Ji Chen's face was stern, and his gaze alone was enough to cut a person into pieces.
Nanny Jin directly plotted against the emperor.
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