The Queen has arrived: An Lingrong does not want to fight in the palace after her rebirth

It's not surprising that the Queen came to Sui'an Hall.

Strangely, Concubine Duan followed behind.

Upon seeing this, the Emperor asked Concubine Duan directly: "Why are you here?"

Concubine Duan spoke calmly and gently, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I saw Xiao Xiazi in a hurry near Wanchunxuan. When I asked, I learned that such a big thing had happened. I thought of coming to take a look. It would be good if I could help a little."

Since Concubine Hua's death, Concubine Duan's residence in the Old Summer Palace was moved to Wanchunxuan, which was very close to Taohuawu where the Queen lived.

Concubine Duan's reasons were far-fetched, but since she was already here, the emperor couldn't ask her to leave, so he had to let her stay.

Only the Queen was displeased. Qi Yuebin seemed to be as calm as a chrysanthemum, but in fact her mind was very treacherous and unpredictable. What exactly did she want to do by interfering in other people's affairs tonight?

At this time, the imperial physician Zhou Bing also arrived.

After everyone arrived, the emperor began to ask what had happened.

The Fourth Prince spoke first. His face was still pale, and he spoke with a sense of uneasiness:

"Today, I have been studying in the outer hall. I remembered what my father said about studying, which requires a balance between work and rest. I went out to enjoy the scenery at 3:30 pm. At 2:25 pm, I returned to the Sui'an room to continue studying. After 11:00 pm, I heard some movement under the bed, so I took Xiao Duozi with me to check. Unexpectedly, as soon as I bent down, the venomous snake suddenly rose up and hurt me. Fortunately, Xiao Duozi pushed me at that time, but he did not escape."

Speaking of this, the Fourth Prince seemed to recall some horrible scene, shuddered unconsciously, and then continued:

"I wanted to run away at that time, but the poisonous snake kept chasing me. I had no choice but to kill it with a chair. Nanny Chen happened to come to bring me midnight snacks. Seeing this, she ran out to ask for help. I deserve to die for disturbing the Emperor's rest in the middle of the night."

After the Fourth Prince finished speaking, he looked at the Emperor with nervous eyes, as if he was afraid of being blamed.

The emperor's eyes were ambiguous, and he did not say anything based on the Fourth Prince's one-sided statement. Instead, he questioned Nanny Chen and the guards again. When he heard that there were dried water marks and torn frog legs under the Fourth Prince's bed, his eyes became even more secretive:

"What do you think, Queen?"

The Queen pretended to be thinking, "Huifang Academy is built on the mountain and by the water, surrounded by green trees, cool and pleasant. In my opinion, what happened tonight was just a coincidence. It must be that the servants in this garden were lazy and careless, so they let the snake swim in. By the way, why are there only two palace servants serving you, Fourth Prince? Where are the other servants?"

This question made the Fourth Prince seem to have something to hide. He glanced at the Emperor secretly, and when he saw that the Emperor looked normal, he whispered:

"Your Majesty, Madam, it was Nanny Chen who took care of me before. Later, Your Majesty gave me four young eunuchs as a reward. After I came to the garden, they have been working diligently. I don't like too many people around me, so I only let one person stay close to me every day, and the other three stay in the servants' room waiting for instructions."

Not only did the emperor not believe this excuse, even Xia Dongchun could sense something was wrong, so she spoke bluntly again:

"Fourth Prince is so humble. A bunch of lazy servants are bullying their master, and you still want to cover up for them. Your Majesty, such cunning and heartless servants should be severely punished."

As soon as she finished speaking, the Queen smiled and said, "Your Majesty, Concubine Ming is right. The Fourth Prince's misfortune tonight is related to the laxity of these servants. Why not hand these servants over to the Ministry of Punishment for handling."

Seeing that the topic was successfully avoided, An Lingrong glared at Xia Dongchun, who immediately reacted and tried to make amends:

"Your Majesty, it won't be too late to punish the palace servants who served the Fourth Prince later. I find it strange. One poisonous snake is an accident, but two of them came in. I feel something is wrong. When I was a child, I followed my father out and saw snake catchers. They all said that snakes are very solitary and often don't like to be with their own kind. That's why I asked you to come and check it out. I'm afraid that someone deliberately wants to harm the Fourth Prince."

After Xia Dongchun finished speaking, she first glanced at the emperor. Seeing that his face had indeed darkened, she knew that he had listened to what she said. Then she looked at An Lingrong. Seeing that An Lingrong gave her an approving look, she suddenly felt proud in her heart. The corners of her mouth naturally rose slightly, and she had a small interaction with An Lingrong.

So this is where the loophole is. I thought one more clue would give me more assurance, but without any evidence, the Queen would not easily reveal any clues. She frowned slightly, with an expression of sudden enlightenment:

"This is the first time I know about the habits of snakes. It turns out that Lady Ming is knowledgeable. But I am curious, if someone really wants to murder the Fourth Prince, how can they ensure that the snake will definitely attack the Fourth Prince?"

The Queen's question is also what the Emperor wants to ask most, how did the scheming person ensure this.

Xia Dongchun was speechless for a moment when asked, frowning and staring, not knowing how to answer, and saw that the queen was about to speak again.

At this time, Concubine Duan, who had been silent all the time, suddenly spoke up: "Your Majesty, I read a lot of books, and I did read in a book that there are extraordinary people who can control snakes through inaudible sounds, and can make them go crazy and attack."

After these words came out, the queen's eyes darkened for a moment, but she still raised the banner and said:

"Concubine Duan, you can't trust everything you hear from others. If word gets out that there is someone with such ill intentions in the garden, wouldn't everyone be in danger?"

Concubine Duan has another opinion:

"You can only rely on hearsay if there are clues to follow. Your Majesty, I think that if there really is such a person, pointing it out will help everyone strengthen their precautions and prevent the next incident of using snakes to hurt people."

This directly defined the situation. The emperor's face darkened even more. Just as he was about to speak, An Lingrong spoke first:

"Your Majesty, I also have a question. Why did this snake hide under the bed? It was like an ambush. Fortunately, the Fourth Prince studied hard. If he had gone to bed earlier, wouldn't it be... I feel scared just thinking about it."

After saying this, he patted his chest and let out a long sigh of fear.

There was an imperceptible change in the Queen's expression. She came in too much of a hurry tonight and did not think of bringing people with her. These three people made trouble for her, but she could not refute them too much for fear of arousing the Emperor's suspicion. She wanted to say a few high-sounding words to cover it up.

Unexpectedly, Xia Dongchun said loudly:

"Yes, there is one more thing that I also think is wrong. It seems that the frogs are specially used to feed the snakes. No, they should release the frogs first, and then use the sound to attract the snakes."

After saying this, she patted her chest like An Lingrong, and then said in a slightly coquettish tone:

"Your Majesty, I am so scared. I didn't expect there would be such a vicious person in the garden. I usually sleep till dawn. If I encounter such a thing in my sleep, I won't know how I will die."

The Queen cursed the three of them in her heart. She even suspected that An Lingrong and the others knew something about what happened tonight and were trying to set a trap for her. Before she could change the subject again, the Emperor, who had been sullen all the time, spoke:

"Xia Zi, tell Su Peisheng that I have entrusted this matter to you and your disciple to investigate. If anyone dares to murder the heir to the throne, I will not tolerate it."

The Queen felt a chill in her heart when she heard this, but even if the imperial court came to investigate, so what? Li Ying had probably already done what needed to be done.