Chapter 74 Interrogation of Concubines

Fuquan has been following His Majesty these days because Anshun is leading people to investigate the matter of Concubine Chunshu.

Today, Jun Zechen was sitting on the dragon chair in Yu's study, reviewing memorials.

Fuquan bowed his back slightly and spoke respectfully: "Your Majesty, An Shun has something to report about Concubine Chun Shu."

Jun Zechen paused while writing, "Let him in."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Fuquan responded and turned to leave.

A moment later, An Shun walked in respectfully and bowed in front of the table: "Your servant greets your majesty."

"Get up." Jun Zechen waved his hands.

An Shun stood up and began to report: "Your Majesty, I have interrogated Li Shangfu in the Ministry of Punishment, and she said that Concubine Ling told her to only pay attention to the Queen Mother's palace dress, and not to pay too much attention to the palace dresses of Concubine Chun Shufei, An Zhaorong and other concubines."

He paused and carefully observed His Majesty's reaction.

Jun Zechen frowned, his face looking somewhat gloomy.

Because of jealousy, Ling Yue personally ordered her subordinates not to pay attention to the concubines' palace costumes. He originally thought that Ling Yue just didn't care, but he never expected that she did it on purpose.

An Shun couldn't tell what was wrong with His Majesty's expression, so he continued speaking.

"Afterwards, Li Shangfu handed over the palace dress for Concubine Chun Shu to the palace maids Cuizhu and Cuilan of Yaxiuxuan. The two of them brought three other embroiderers Jingxin, Jinglin, and Jingxi to make the palace dress for Concubine Chun Shu."

Jun Zechen became even more annoyed when he heard this.

Even if Ling Yue is jealous of someone, she should still do her duty. One of the four concubines was treated so lightly by the Shangfu Bureau. Where is the palace rule? Where is the dignity of the superior?

Seeing that Jun Zechen looked a little unfriendly, An Shun did not dare to say much. He just paused and continued to report.

"Your Majesty, the maid who was found drowned in the well was Jing Xin. The other four people must have known in advance that Concubine Chun Shu's palace dress was poisoned. When I interrogated them at the Ministry of Punishment, they all said that they had seen the deceased Jing Xin touch the embroidered palace dress alone."

"But we cannot rule out the possibility that, since Jing Xin was already dead, they dumped all the dirty water on Jing Xin."

An Shun couldn't help but sigh when he said this.

"But I checked Jing Xin's background. Jing Xin comes from an ordinary family and has simple interpersonal relationships. He doesn't look like someone who would do something like poisoning a concubine."

His words caused silence in the hall.

The more Jun Zechen listened, the more annoyed he became.

Although he is the superior and controls the life and death of everyone.

But as an emperor, he maintained the stability of the world and wanted to provide a relatively fair environment for the world.

However, the struggles in the harem often involve many innocent people, and because of the powerful family background and status of the concubines in the harem, the palace maids are as insignificant as ants to them.

Jun Zechen is a typical example of 'the officials are allowed to set fires, but the common people are not allowed to light lamps'.

He could kill at will, but he could not tolerate the viciousness and cruelty of the concubines in the harem.

"If Jing Xin has nothing to do with this incident, her family should comfort her." Jun Zechen said calmly.

Then, he continued impatiently: "As for the details, once you have investigated them, just report all the details. What are you here for today?"

"Your Majesty, I came here today because all the evidence I have found recently points to Shen Ronghua." An Shun spoke, but his tone was a little hesitant.

The reason why he wanted to lay the groundwork for what happened was just to let His Majesty know what happened, because An Shun himself could not convince himself that Shen Ronghua would do such a thing.

As an elder in the Eastern Palace, Shen Ronghua really didn't need to do such a thing after the newcomer entered the palace.

Now that Concubine Ling is under house arrest and Concubine Chunshu has given birth, the obvious beneficiary is the new concubine. After all, His Majesty never summoned the old lady from the Eastern Palace before the new concubine entered the palace.

Jun Zechen naturally thought of this point. He looked at An Shun sharply and motioned him to continue.

An Shun was afraid of missing something, so he continued, "Your Majesty, the juice on Concubine Chun Shu's palace dress is the juice of the red-crowned crane. The red-crowned crane is rare, and the imperial physician has never paid attention to it, nor does he know that the juice of the red-crowned crane is poisonous."

"And Shen Ronghua's maid Yinrong had been injured by the juice of the amaryllis before, so she knew that the juice of the amaryllis was poisonous."

He paused and continued, "In addition to this reason, Shen Ronghua and Jincheng Lin Ronghua were close friends. This was discovered after I investigated Shen Ronghua, because Lin Ronghua did not openly interact with Shen Ronghua after entering the palace."

"I originally wanted to continue investigating Lin Ronghua, but if Lin Ronghua was secretly in contact with Shen Ronghua, then I would need to interrogate Shen Ronghua before I can continue investigating..."

An Shun felt a little entangled when he talked about this.

After all, Shen Ronghua is a concubine. If there is an empress in the harem, the empress can investigate with justification.

But as a eunuch, although he served the emperor closely, if he wanted to interrogate the concubines, he still had to ask the emperor for permission.

He looked up at His Majesty, whose brows were furrowed and his face was gloomy.

"Your Majesty, do I need..." An Shun spoke cautiously.

"Interrogate Shen Ronghua!"

Jun Zechen interrupted him, his voice was cold and piercing, "I will get to the bottom of this matter!"

If there is no strict investigation and punishment this time, Yaoyao is simple-minded and has never been on guard against others. Now she is favored in the harem and has the eldest prince. I am afraid that many concubines in the harem will be jealous.

I don’t know what plan he will come up with next time. Even if he is an emperor, he will sometimes be powerless when facing these women.

Most of his energy is still on the previous dynasty, and it is impossible for him to put too much thought into the small space of the harem.

However, Jun Zechen naturally understood what An Shun meant. Now that the Queen Mother has handed over the Palace Administration to Concubine Chun Shu, such things happening in the harem should have been investigated by Yao Yao, but this time Yao Yao was the victim, so Jun Zechen took all the blame on himself.

However, An Shun's interrogation of concubines was never appropriate, and he said afterwards.

"I will let Jinhua, who is by the Queen Mother's side, investigate with you, and let Jinhua interrogate the concubines."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Sojung Palace.

"My Lord, these past few days, His Majesty has stayed in the Qianqing Palace every day except for visiting you in the Zhaochun Palace during the day, and has not summoned any concubines."

When Miaoyun said this, she was quite satisfied with Your Majesty's behavior.

After all, the master is pregnant now and cannot sleep with you. If Your Majesty still wants to summon a new person, it would be too much.

Su Jingyao placed the amaryllis sent from the greenhouse in a vase and fiddled with it slowly.

She turned her head, her eyes moving, looking at Miaoyun with a smile: "Miaoyun, do you think your majesty did a good job?"

"Your Majesty has now demoted Concubine Ling's position, and the master is already the number one in the harem. Even though there are many new people in the harem, Your Majesty has never cared. I can feel that Your Majesty cares about the master."

Su Jingyao chuckled, her eyes full of teasing: "Miaoyun is steady in handling things, but she can't read people's hearts. If you reach the age in the future, I will let you go out of the palace. Miaoyun will not be deceived by a man, right?"

As she spoke, she muttered to herself, "Well, in the future, I will personally look after you and find you a good match. I will be your strongest supporter."

Su Jingyao doesn't believe in men's long-term love, especially in this feudal ancient times, where men can have three wives and four concubines as a matter of course.

If Miaoyun gets married in the future, she will give Miaoyun a perfect marriage based on her power. Even if Miaoyun's future husband no longer likes her, the man can only bear it.

"Master, I will stay with you for the rest of my life! I will never marry."

When Miaoyun heard this, she couldn't help but get anxious and shook her head repeatedly.

Seeing this, Su Jingyao just smiled and shook her head, and said no more. When the time comes, ideas will always change, and she doesn't need to force it now.

"Then, master, do you think that His Majesty is not a good person?" Miaoyun continued to ask.

Su Jingyao shook her head.

"Your Majesty is well."

As a feudal emperor, he treated her very well.

It's just that the emperor's "kindness" is too illusory, and Jun Zechen's kindness to her is all calculated by her. She doesn't believe it, and doesn't dare to believe it.

The more Miaoyun listened, the more confused she became.

Since the master also thinks that Your Majesty is very good, why doesn't the master care whether Your Majesty favors other concubines?

As the master's maid, Miaoyun would be happy for her master if His Majesty did not favor other concubines.

If His Majesty favors other concubines, she will feel disappointed for her master and even think that His Majesty is heartless.

However, although Miaoyun was confused, she would not ask too many questions. Her master would naturally tell her what she wanted to say when she wanted to.

Then, she continued to ask: "Master, now Anshun has found Shen Ronghua, and should be able to contact Lin Ronghua soon. But the red crown on your palace dress should not be Lin Ronghua. I don't know what Ye Ronghua did to get away with it."

"Miaoyun, how can you be sure that Lin Ronghua is not the mastermind behind this?"

Su Jingyao narrowed her eyes and a meaningful smile appeared on the corner of her mouth.

"Your Majesty, it is very difficult to investigate the matter of my palace decoration because I was involved in it and I asked Doctor Jin to erase some traces."

"There are other concubines secretly manipulating this. These women are also very smart. You trick me and I trick you. They are all the culprits, but none of them actually carry out the plan." She said this in a calm and composed tone.

Miaoyun asked in confusion: "Then your majesty won't be able to find out?"

"Why does Your Majesty need to find out?" Su Jingyao asked back.

"The master had a miscarriage because of the red emerald crown of the palace dress! If the master had not had a miscarriage, this child would have been the first son of His Majesty upon his ascension to the throne. Even if she was a princess, she would have been invaluable."

Miaoyun felt a pain in her heart every time she thought of her master losing her child. She lowered her head, her eyes slightly moist.

Su Jingyao did not tell anyone about this, except Li Jing, the fewer people who knew about it the better.

I feel a little helpless.

"Miaoyun, I will deal with these people one by one. You can't eat a big fat man in one bite. After all, I contributed to this palace dress incident. The more detailed your majesty investigates, the more disadvantageous it will be for me."

Of course, these words were just to comfort Miaoyun.

She is a victim to begin with. No matter how they investigate, those newcomers will just bite each other. Jun Zechen will not be able to find anything on her.