"Your Majesty, just now, Cui Ling, the head maid of Zhaoyang Palace, and A Xiang, who serves the little princess, came to report on what happened in Fushuang Palace."
"Oh? Tell me quickly! Has something happened to Duoduo?" Yun Beiye became nervous as soon as he heard that it was about his beloved daughter.
He put down the brush in his hand, stood up, and looked at Zhao Zhongquan.
“Your Majesty, the nanny of Fu Shuang Palace has neglected her duties and has not taken good care of the Jin family’s daughter.”
"And, uh."
"Your Majesty, at the first birthday banquet last time, Lin Biaolian said that the little princess could recite poems. That was the matter of the witch. It was Consort Rong who did it."
"Consort Rong?!"
"How so?"
“Consort Rong bribed the nanny in Fushuang Palace and had her tell her everything that happened in Fushuang Palace.”
"Hmph, Lin Biaolian is the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Consort Rong's reach is quite far!" Yun Beiye threw the pen on the ground.
"Zhao Zhongquan, convey my decree: kill Consort Rong as a warning to others!"
"This is outrageous! How dare they harm my Duoduo!" Yun Beiye shouted angrily.
The eunuchs and palace maids in the Zichen Palace were so frightened that they immediately knelt on the ground, heads bowed, trembling and not daring to make a sound.
"Yes, this old servant will go and deliver the decree immediately."
Just as Zhao Zhongquan was about to go out to deliver the imperial decree, he opened the door and saw Empress Zhaoyuan standing outside.
"Your Majesty, the Empress has arrived," Zhao Zhongquan announced, bowing his head.
"The Empress has arrived? Let her in."
Empress Zhaoyuan strode in; she had overheard Yun Beiye's words from outside the palace.
"Your Majesty, although I am also very angry about this matter, Consort Rong is, after all, the birth mother of the Fourth Prince, Yun Yichun."
She hesitated for a long time. Although she regarded Yun Duoduo as her own daughter, and knew that anyone who hurt Duoduo would not have a good end, she would not show any mercy. However, she thought that it would be too pitiful for the Fourth Prince to lose his mother at such a young age.
"The fourth prince is still young. It would be pitiful if he lost his mother at such a young age."
Empress Zhaoyuan put herself in others' shoes; if her son, the eldest prince Yun Yibo, had lost his mother, she would surely be very sad.
"Your Majesty, why not spare Consort Rong's life this time? If she still shows no remorse in the future, it will not be too late to kill her then."
Yun Beiye hesitated for a moment, then nodded slightly, "Hmph, if it weren't for Fourth Brother's sake, her worthless life would absolutely not be spared!"
"Zhao Zhongquan!"
"This old servant is here," Zhao Zhongquan quickly replied.
"Demote Consort Rong to the rank of palace maid, imprison her for six months, and deduct her salary for six months!"
"Yes, this old servant will go and deliver the decree immediately."
Consort Rong was originally a second-rank concubine. Although she was a concubine of the second rank, her status was still considered noble, second only to the second-rank Noble Consort and the second-rank Imperial Concubine.
But now, she has been demoted to a tenth-rank official's wife, a precipitous drop in status.
Moreover, "Guan Nüzi" generally refers to palace maids who serve the emperor and sleep with him, while Consort Rong was originally the eldest daughter of the Rong family.
This kind of humiliation is more painful than killing her.
...
The news spread quickly among the palace staff. As the saying goes, "When a wall falls, everyone pushes it down," and some of the beauties and concubines who had been bullied by Consort Rong in the past came to mock her.
"Oh dear, how could Consort Rong, no, I mean, palace maid, possibly be interested in the things that we, the ladies-in-waiting, send over?!"
"Why don't we take them all today? After all, she might not need these things in the future!"
The beauties and concubines took away all the good things from Consort Rong's Yong'an Palace.
Yun Yichun watched from behind the curtain, his hands clenched tightly into fists beneath his sleeves.
...
At the last first birthday party, a traditional "grasping ceremony" was planned, but it was suspended midway because Yun Duoduo suffered from food poisoning.
This first birthday celebration is a very important event for infants. Under the arrangement of Yun Beiye and others, a banquet will be held, which will invite foreign envoys from Nanyang. The main character, of course, is Yun Duoduo.
Three days later, in the evening, the foreign guests took their seats in Anqing Hall.
As a woman, Nanfei sat not far from Yun Duoduo. Lian Qingcheng, Lianxiang, Lianrong, and Lianqiao sat beside her.
Lian Jiucheng and his male relatives sat on the other side, with Yun Yibo, Yun Yizhong, Yun Yishu, and others sitting beside him.
Jin Jinzhi stood beside Yun Duoduo this time because he wanted to protect her safety.
Yun Duoduo looked at Nan Fei and Lian Qingcheng. Both of them were exceptionally beautiful, but each had her own unique beauty.
Lian Qingcheng is like a blooming peony, passionate and unrestrained, with a curvaceous figure and a graceful and noble temperament, truly a flower of wealth and honor in the world.
Nanfei, on the other hand, was slender and had an ethereal temperament, like a white lotus flower, pure and elegant.
Uh, the "white lotus" here isn't meant as an insult. Nanfei seems like a very innocent and pure person with no guile.
Consort Nan sized up the princes and princesses of Shu and Nanyang, and when she saw the Third Prince Yun Yishu, her gaze lingered on him.
This third prince seems quite different from the others.
The Third Prince's physique is also excessively plump; compared to the other princes, he looks somewhat abnormal.
When Yun Duoduo saw that Nanfei's gaze had fallen on the Third Prince, she pricked up her ears to listen carefully to what she was thinking.
There are also red spots on my wrist, it looks like...
Could it be?
Miao Nanyan frowned, a question lingering in her mind: [Could it be that she has worms in her stomach?!]
Are people in the Central Plains also using Gu poison?
My younger brother was murdered in the same way; he was poisoned with a curse, and by the time it was discovered, it was too late.
[When the worm is hungry, it will cause the person to feel hungry. If the person it is parasitizing does not eat, the worm will slowly eat away at the person's internal organs until the person dies.]
Upon hearing Nan Fei's thoughts, Yun Duoduo dropped the spoon in her hand onto the table, puzzled.
[Poisonous Gu?!]
Who did it? Nanyang is in the Central Plains, and it seems there aren't many people there skilled in Gu poison.
Who exactly wants to harm the Third Prince? What benefit would that person gain from doing so?
Moreover, this poison is extremely difficult to control; how can she possibly save her third brother?
Yun Duoduo's gaze fell on Nanfei again. [Since Nanfei could see it, she must know a way to cure the poison.]
"Alright, Duoduo, let's do the first birthday ceremony!"
After offering some formal words of welcome and thanks, Yun Beiye got down to business.
Wow, this is interesting! I didn't expect they had a baby's first birthday celebration here!
Ah Xiang carried Yun Duoduo to a pear wood table.
When Yun Duoduo saw the items for her first birthday celebration, she was dumbfounded.
In front of her was a wooden box that was exactly the same size, shape, color, and texture.
"Duoduo, pick one!"
Yun Duoduo stared blankly at the identical pear wood box in front of her, wondering, "What's inside this?"
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