"Xiao Xianzi, you are usually a capable person, why are you idle today?" The chief eunuch of the Imperial Pharmacy was furious: "You have been idling around all day, and you didn't go when I asked you to boil medicine or pass on messages. Do you want to live?"
"Eunuch, please spare my life! I just went to the medicine residue room and found that several boxes of medicine residue were missing! So I was at a loss and couldn't find them anywhere..."
"The medicine residue was stolen?" The chief eunuch frowned. "Is this true? When did it happen?"
Li Yuebai leaned over to listen carefully.
"I just discovered it. Eunuch, you should take people to investigate immediately!" Ding Xian said anxiously.
"What a big deal! It's just some stolen medicine residue, not some stolen jewelry. What's the big deal?" The eunuch snorted.
It turned out that the residue of all the medicines cooked in the palace had to be kept, sealed in small wooden boxes, affixed with seals, and stored in the medicine residue room in different categories. They had to be locked up carefully as a backup. If there was any problem with the medicine one day, the problem would be known by checking the residue.
However, there is almost no need to check the drug residues.
Because all the soups and medicines had been tasted countless times by the eunuchs before entering the nobles' mouths. If they were poisonous, they would have tasted it out long ago. Therefore, there has never been a situation where the medicine residue had to be checked after someone was poisoned, and the medicine residue room was virtually non-existent.
"You little bastard, you panicked after losing a few boxes of medicine residues, what can you do!" The eldest eunuch snorted and kicked Ding Xian hard: "Go get the medicine!"
"Yes, yes." Ding Xian was kicked hard, his body tilted, and he couldn't maintain his balance, and crashed into Li Yuebai.
Li Yuebai was extremely deficient in motor cells and balance cells, and he often joked that his cerebellum was underdeveloped. Musician Yun was also very weak, and after being hit like that, he lost his balance and fell over the bridge railing.
The bridge railings were designed to be low and delicate for the sake of beauty. It is said that the Empress specifically instructed the craftsmen to build them this way, with aesthetics being the top priority.
Li Yuebai cursed WTF countless times in his heart, and then used his last bit of strength to grab Ding Xian's robe.
As a result, the two of them fell down, entangled together and inseparable.
Li Yuebai didn't know who broke the ice, he just knew that his brain exploded.
This ice, this water, zero degrees Celsius, so cold it’s bursting!
Li Yuebai can swim a little, but that was in a heated swimming pool. Now that he was immersed in ice water, his body stiffened instantly.
You have to move, or you will sink.
He struggled desperately with his willpower, not knowing whether he was paddling the water or tearing Ding Xian's clothes.
"Someone come, someone come quickly!" The Grand Eunuch Shangyao was also anxious and shouted for someone to come over.
After an unknown amount of time, Li Yuebai opened his eyes and saw a black shadow rushing towards him, and then he was pulled into a hot embrace.
"Your Highness?"
Murong Nan didn't even have time to take off his black robe before jumping into the water, grabbing Li Yuebai tightly, swimming to the shallow end of the water, and then, dripping with icy water, he stepped out of the pond holding Li Yuebai in his arms.
There was big news in Yuanheng Palace again.
Master Yun accidentally fell into the water, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, despite his own illness, personally jumped into the icy lake to save her!
The palace maids and eunuchs all secretly discussed how heroic, domineering, elegant, and loyal the Crown Prince was...
In the bedroom, Li Yuebai sneezed while covered in thick fur.
He didn't remember how he got out of the water. He only remembered that he reflexively hugged Murong Nan's neck tightly and finally managed to pry it free.
Murong Nan carried her all the way back to her bedroom, and then roughly stripped her clothes and threw her back on the couch. A group of people were busy beside her, getting a heater, heating water, and boiling ginger soup.
Fortunately, both were safe.
"Your Highness, why did you jump down by yourself?" Li Yuebai was helpless: "If something happens..."
"If I don't jump down, I'll be in trouble!" Murong Nan'e rushed up to pinch him fiercely: "Brother Yun, what are you doing? Is it another self-torture trick?"
"No, I promised not to hide it from you." Li Yuebai didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "It was really an accident. I didn't want to jump into the lake."
"However, it can be considered a blessing in disguise." Li Yuebai took a sip from the teacup: "Next, the direction of Grand Tutor Zhao's frame-up against me is becoming clearer and clearer."
No, this is not a frame-up, this is basically the truth!
In the northwest corner of the harem, there is a deserted courtyard called Huixinyuan. It is usually uninhabited, overgrown with weeds, covered with cobwebs, and dark and damp. Fortunately, it is winter now, and after a snowfall, it doesn't look that dirty, but it is even colder. There is no charcoal fire, so they can only burn wet firewood, and the air is filled with smoke. The quilt in the bedroom is also thin and damp.
Shan Hui, who was demoted to a commoner, lived here.
"My queen, are we going to die here?" Lian Xin cried with tears all over her face.
"Why are you crying? It's useless." Shan Hui bit her teeth tightly. Although her voice was full of anger, she was not panicked at all: "Your Majesty's favor towards me is reliable, otherwise you would have killed us long ago. As long as the Grand Tutor is still in the court, there is a chance for us to make a comeback... maybe we can even turn the tables!"
"But Madam Shan Lan has been confined to Jingsi Temple, and we can't communicate with each other!" Lian Xin was still worried.
"Grand Tutor has connections everywhere, there will always be a way." Shan Hui said calmly.
"But the day after tomorrow, the emperor will bring people from the Dali Temple to interrogate us in person!" Lian Xin was still afraid: "By then, we won't be able to withstand the interrogation and will definitely tell everything. Then we'll be finished!"
"Humph, I'm waiting for that moment." Shan Hui sneered, "Life and death, success and failure, all depend on that moment!"
At midnight, everything was quiet.
At the gate of Huixinyuan, dozens of guards were on duty in shifts, and discipline was strict.
A man in black appeared in front of the guards, waved the token in his hand, and whispered, "I'm from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, here to deliver charcoal."
The captain of the guard looked at the token carefully and said with a smile, "Let you in, but you must come out within half an hour."
"Thank you." The man in black thanked him and was let into the yard.
Shan Hui naturally had another sleepless night. When she got up, put on her clothes and paced in the yard, she saw a man in black coming in from the corner door.
The man in black took off his hat and revealed his face - he was thin and stern, with a hooked nose and sharp eyes.
"Grand Tutor, why did you come here in person?" Shan Hui was so surprised that she took a breath and hurriedly let Grand Tutor Zhao into the hall, woke up Lian Xin, and asked her to boil water and pour tea.
There was no tea at all, just water.
"Why should I come here in person?" Grand Master Zhao sighed, "If I send someone here, can they be trusted?"
He has many connections in the harem. This time, the Heart Courtyard is a cold palace. Although it is heavily guarded, it is all to prevent Shan Hui from escaping. As long as he makes good arrangements, he can still come in and say a few words.
"That's true. Those dogs are more useless and stupid than each other!" Shan Hui was so angry that her lips turned pale. She had spent a lot of effort to train so many undercover agents, but in the end, none of them were useful!
"How is my sister?" Shan Hui asked coldly. She was not really worried about Shan Lan's safety, she just wanted to know the situation.
"He is imprisoned in Jingsi Temple, just like you. However, it is even harder to get into there, so I did not go to visit him." said Grand Tutor Zhao.
Jingsi Temple was nominally a nunnery, but in reality it was often used to keep female prisoners under house arrest.
"Why is it harder to enter a nunnery than my cold palace?" Shan Hui was puzzled.
"The Queen thought that I would sneak into Jingsi Temple and exchange information with the Madam, so she deployed a large number of people there, surrounding it like an iron barrel." Master Zhao sneered: "She would never have thought that I would not go to Jingsi Temple, but come here instead."
"I feel relieved now that the Grand Master is here." Shan Hui said worriedly, "What should I do next?"
"Of course it's a counterattack!" said Grand Tutor Zhao, "If your majesty investigates thoroughly, he will definitely find a lot of evidence against us. To be patient and give in is to wait for death."
"How to fight back?"
"Today, news came from the palace that Master Yun had fallen into the water, and the Crown Prince was extremely anxious and rescued her personally." Grand Tutor Zhao said, "Your Majesty, do you think this incident can be used for our benefit?"
"That's right!" Shan Hui suddenly realized it after hearing it.
Before, she was misled by many pieces of evidence pointing to "an affair between the Queen and Music Master Yun", and she only thought that there was more evidence in this direction and it was tenable, but she didn't realize that she had gone in the wrong direction!
Now that I think about it carefully, Master Yun was afraid of women and only stayed in the same room with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. I heard that they even slept on the same bed with him...all these manifestations were so obvious that it couldn't be more obvious!
She slammed the table in anger and said, "That's right! Grand Master, you are not in the palace, so you don't know. The servants have seen everything the Crown Prince and Master Yun did! But, before, everyone just suspected that the Queen and Master Yun were having an affair, so they ignored it!"
Next, Shan Hui told Master Zhao everything she knew and the undercover agent knew.
Both of them were shrewd and cunning people. After exchanging information, they discussed it immediately and decided on a new plan.
"But who should tell His Majesty? When should He be told?" Shan Hui said.
After deciding to counterattack and formulating a strategy, the next step is to discuss the executors and the time for execution.
"Of course, it is up to you, the Empress, to speak to His Majesty in person." Grand Tutor Zhao bowed and said, "I am a man and an important official in the court. There are some things that I cannot say to His Majesty. But you, the Empress, are very favored and a woman in the harem. You can tell His Majesty anything."
"Yes, it just so happens that the day after tomorrow, His Majesty will bring people to interrogate me in person." Shan Hui frowned.
"Yes, that is a perfect opportunity." Tai Shi Zhao clapped his hands and said, "Your Majesty will pretend to plead guilty and obey, so as to arouse His Majesty's sympathy. Then, through confession and repentance, you can gradually instill the new charges against the prince into His Majesty. Your Majesty has always been scheming, can speak eloquently, and has a charming appearance. If you are favored by His Majesty, you will definitely be able to turn the situation around with just a few words and turn the whole case around!"
Princess Shan was overjoyed.
Yes, although she is now in the cold palace, she has everything in her hands! When she is interrogated the next day, she will definitely turn the world upside down!
"Your Majesty, please take your rest first. I will take my leave." Grand Tutor Zhao stood up and left. "Tomorrow night, I will come again to discuss the matter with Your Majesty for the last time."