"Speak quickly if you have something to say!"
The steward gritted his teeth, finally knelt on the ground, presented the record book with both hands, and said, "Your Majesty, this servant has checked today's records, and only Consort Yu's Qingwan Palace sent someone to collect this yellow fruit powder three days ago."
"Ah, this servant remembers now. The other day, someone from Qingwan Palace said that the beauty had a poor appetite and wanted to mix some yellow fruit powder with warm water and drink it with sour plum soup to whet her appetite," a young eunuch from the Imperial Kitchen recalled after overhearing the steward's words.
Upon hearing this, Yu Meiren's face turned pale. She had indeed sent someone to the imperial kitchen to collect Huangguo powder.
However, she remembered that Consort Rong had told her to just go ahead and do it, as the head of the Imperial Kitchen was a distant relative of hers and would surely help her erase the record. The fact that she had used Huangguo powder in Qingwan Palace would not be registered.
So, this matter is still on record?
Yu Meiren stared in shock at Consort Rong, who was leisurely sipping her tea.
Yu Meiren's head buzzed, and she cried out in alarm. She seemed to suddenly understand Consort Rong's intentions. [This person is truly remarkable; she even managed to scheme against me!]
[It turns out she always saw herself as a pawn, a discarded one at that.]
[I wasn't even considered her ally.]
"Has anyone else received it?" Granny Zhang continued to ask.
"Replying to Granny, there is no one else, only Qingwan Palace has taken it," the head of the Imperial Kitchen replied crisply.
All eyes turned to Yu Meiren, and the hall fell silent.
"Consort Yu, is this true?" Empress Zhaoyuan asked Consort Yu when she saw that everyone was silent.
"Your Majesty, it is indeed true. I had a palace maid retrieve some Huangguo powder from the Imperial Kitchen." Consort Yu walked to the center of the hall and stood there according to etiquette.
"Oh? Yu Meiren has a poor appetite, why not use hawthorn to stimulate her appetite, instead of this yellow fruit that I've never even heard of?" Zhou Jieyu, who was sitting at the table, said in a soft voice.
"As everyone knows, hawthorn is good for the appetite and spleen, but how many people know about yellow fruit? You are truly knowledgeable, sister!"
When a wall falls, everyone pushes it down. Several concubines who were usually silent began to add fuel to the fire, making sarcastic and exaggerated remarks.
"Your Majesty, my bedchamber did indeed receive some of this hawthorn powder. I only did so because I heard that hawthorn is sweet while hawthorn is sour and difficult to swallow," Consort Yu replied respectfully, her mind racing as she tried to extricate herself from the situation.
Yun Beiye glanced at Xu Zheng, who understood and stepped forward, nodding slightly. "Your Majesty, this yellow fruit does indeed have the effect of stimulating appetite and strengthening the spleen, and it tastes sweeter than hawthorn."
Yu Meiren steadied herself and continued, "Your Majesty, I know that the little princess is a blessing to Nanyang. I would never dare to do such a thing. Besides, the little princess is so delicate and lovely, how could I possibly bring myself to do it!"
As Yu Meiren spoke, tears streamed down her face.
"Recently, perhaps due to the hot weather, I haven't had much of an appetite. Three days ago, I heard that this Huangguo powder has the effect of stimulating appetite and strengthening the spleen, and it was transported from Beiliang. I've been using the medicine from the Imperial Medical Bureau for a long time, and I thought that changing to a different ingredient might have a miraculous effect, so I asked the palace maid Ling'er to go to the Imperial Kitchen to get this Huangguo powder," Consort Yu continued.
"May I ask, Your Excellency, is this Huangguo powder still in the palace?" the head of the imperial kitchen asked, as if he had suddenly remembered something.
"I suppose it hasn't been used up yet," Yu Meiren said softly.
When the imperial kitchen served meals, it did not distinguish between those for the princess and those for the ministers, except for some special ingredients, such as milk, which would be given separately to the princess, but sweet soups were not differentiated.
So when she was administering the medicine, she instructed someone to pour the entire bottle into it, so that she could ensure the little princess drank the contaminated sweet soup.
However, she was careful at the time and didn't let the maid pour all the yellow fruit powder into the sweet soup. Instead, she specifically instructed the maid to leave some.
"Why do you ask that?" Empress Zhaoyuan asked the head of the imperial kitchen.
"Your Majesty, I just tasted this corn porridge. It contains at least one bottle of tapioca flour. This ensures that the amount of porridge used in each person is the same. If the amount were less, it probably wouldn't have caused the little princess's stomach pain."
“Last time, the beauty happened to receive a bottle. If there are any remaining Huangguo powders in the beauty's palace, they probably weren't made by the beauty herself,” the steward replied, bowing his head.
"Go investigate!" Yun Beiye roared, and Zhao Zhongquan led several palace maids and eunuchs toward Qingwan Palace.
The people in the main hall waited for Zhao Zhongquan and his team to finish their investigation, their eyes still fixed on Yu Meiren.
Their gazes held reproach, surprise, and even schadenfreude.
"Why doesn't my sister call the imperial physician when she's not feeling well? Could it be that she doesn't trust the imperial physicians and insists on treating herself with folk remedies?" Consort Zhou took a sip of tea and said from the side, then curled her lips into a cold smile.
"Sister is joking. I am but a humble person, and this is not a big deal. If the imperial physician were to hear about it, it would surely reach the ears of the Empress and His Majesty. His Majesty is busy with state affairs, and the Empress is busy with matters of the inner palace. Why add unnecessary trouble to my affairs?"
"I thought that if I ate something appetizing, I would recover in a few days," Yu Mei explained.
"Hmph, Yu Meiren, you really are sharp-tongued!"
"In my opinion, it was Consort Yu who did it." Consort Zhou glared at Consort Yu.
“But if it really was Yu Meiren who did it, then she also ate this corn soup just now,” Consort Xu said from the side, whether out of confusion or to try to exonerate Yu Meiren.
"Is there some misunderstanding here?" Consort Xu continued.
"Hmph, didn't the imperial physician just say that this Huangguo powder is not toxic to adults and won't kill anyone? If she doesn't eat it, it will arouse suspicion!" Consort Zhou sneered.
Yu Meiren felt a little dizzy, and she was gradually losing her grip on the aggressive questioning.
A moment later, Zhao Zhongquan returned to Qingwan Palace with his men.
"So, what did you find out?" Yun Beiye stood up and asked Zhao Zhongquan.
"Your Majesty, this old servant did not find the remaining Huangguo powder in Qingwan Palace."
"We only found one bottle containing yellow fruit powder, and the bottle was empty." Zhao Zhongquan showed the empty bottle to Yun Beiye.
Yu Meiren collapsed to the ground, utterly bewildered. "How could this be?"
At the time, she clearly instructed Ling'er to leave some yellow fruit powder in the bottle.
Could it be that Ling'er was also bribed by Consort Rong?
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