The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

Seeing that Xie Yu really seemed to be sulking, the emperor felt a little regretful, but before he could say anything, he heard the queen speak again: "During the previous emperor's reign, the Shouning Palace was occupied by Concubine Yu. After Concubine Yu passed away, it was sealed and no one has ever moved in. Since the talented people entered the palace, the small kitchen has never been opened. Therefore, the last time the small kitchen in Jinghua Tower was opened should be when Concubine Yu was still alive, which is at least more than 20 or 30 years ago."

She paused for a moment and said, "This kind of palace where no concubines live is usually guarded by several palace maids. All doors must be locked and sealed. They must be checked every three months. Before someone moves into Jinghua Tower, I have confirmed that there is no problem with the records."

"But we cannot rule out the possibility that someone secretly opened the door of the small kitchen warehouse and mixed poisonous grass into the firewood with the intention of murdering Concubine Xie, and then forged the seal to hide it from inspection." The Queen glanced at the Emperor and continued, "Your Majesty began to renovate Shouning Palace two months before Concubine Xie entered the palace. If that person wanted to do it, the renovation would be the best time."

Upon hearing that the Queen did not suspect Xie Yuzhen, but instead said that someone might be trying to murder her, Shen Xiaoyi secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that this would allow her to shift the suspicion onto Wen Baolin. However, when she remembered how unbridled Xie Yuzhen had been in front of the Emperor and the Queen, she could not help but gnashing her teeth.

Everyone is fine.

It doesn't matter who the two favorite concubines are, Wen Baolin and Xie Cairen, as long as one of them can be brought down by this incident, it will be worth my patience in planning this!

"I remember that the renovation of Shouning Palace was presided over by the Shanggong Bureau. Who did the Queen give the supervision to?"

"Your Majesty, I was not feeling well at the time, so I handed all matters over to Concubine Xian to handle." The Queen's health was not very good to begin with, and after giving birth to the fifth prince, both mother and son would fall ill from time to time.

The emperor did not blame her too much, but turned to ask Li Zong: "How are the questions going for the palace maids in Jinghua Tower and Fang'er?"

Li Zong, who had been prepared on the side, bowed and replied: "Your Majesty, Madam, Fang'er pointed out that it was Shi Mang from Jinghua Tower who opened the door for her, but... the two eunuchs and other palace maids in Jinghua Tower all insisted that no outsiders had entered or left Jinghua Tower today, and the key was also checked and was indeed in Miss Xia Zhi's possession. In addition, there was no sign of a reduction in the firewood in the small kitchen of Jinghua Tower, and judging from the dust in the room, it had never been opened!"

The emperor, who was already showing some impatience, opened his eyes and said, "Oh?"

"Oh, this matter today is really strange. Why is it getting more and more confusing the more we investigate?" Xie Yuzhen rolled his eyes arrogantly, "I have nothing to do with this matter!"

After saying a few sarcastic words, she slapped the table and said, "What did Shi Mang say?"

"In reply to the talented scholar, the poem touched the pillar, and the imperial physician is currently treating him." After saying this, Li Zong trembled unconsciously.

Xie Yuzhen: "Keep checking, check all the small kitchen warehouses in Shouning Palace. Don't tell me you haven't even thought of this!"

The emperor, who did not think that the small kitchen warehouse in Jinghua Building had never been opened, coughed twice in embarrassment and said, "Continue to interrogate Fang'er. Put Shi Mang and Fang'er's family members in jail for interrogation."

Li Zong retreated hurriedly.

The queen rubbed her temples and sorted out the clues she knew so far. The more she thought about it, the more headache she got.

Concubine Wang concealed her pregnancy and secretly took medicine to preserve the pregnancy. On the surface, it seemed that the medicine conflicted with the ingredients used to make the Yurong cake, but in fact, it was the smell of the burning poisonous grass that caused the miscarriage.

Wen Baolin, Shen Xiaoyi, and other palace servants who were also in the kitchen also inhaled poisonous smoke, but their condition was not serious. After being tortured, the cook Fang'er pointed out that it was Shi Mang, a palace maid in Jinghua Tower, who mixed poisonous grass into the firewood taken from the storehouse, implying that it was Cairen Xie who deliberately ordered the palace maids to poison and frame them. However, the small kitchen in Jinghua Tower had never been opened, and Shi Mang also committed suicide by hitting a pillar.

Originally, I suspected that someone took advantage of the renovation of Shouning Palace to hide it from Concubine Deng and others, and mixed the poisonous weeds into it. But now, after checking, I don’t even know where the poisonous weeds came from.

After a while, Li Zong came back sweating profusely. As soon as he entered the room, he knelt on the ground: "Your Majesty, Madam, and all the ladies, all the firewood storage rooms in Shouning Palace have not been opened, and the firewood inside has not decreased... Shi Mang has died from excessive bleeding, and Fang'er... Fang'er couldn't hold on either..."

After he finished speaking, he bowed his head to the ground and apologized, "We are incompetent and have failed your majesty's trust. Please punish me, your majesty."

First, he mixed up many clues and muddied the waters completely, thus misleading the direction of the investigation. At the same time, he left time and loopholes for the relevant palace servants to die one after another, thus completely erasing subsequent clues.

Xie Weizhen felt that this move looked familiar, as if it had happened once not long ago.

The Empress and the Emperor were even more frightened by the familiarity of the matter - the initial investigation into the death of the Fourth Prince was confusing and bizarre, but in the end only Concubine Zhao was implicated. If Concubine Zhao had not been recommended by Concubine Song to serve the Empress Dowager by chance, she would have been punished as the chief culprit.

At the Mid-Autumn Palace Banquet, Qian's intention to drug Xie Yuzhen was not that complicated at first, but when you look deeper, it turns out to be a similar method.

"I didn't know there was such a treacherous person in the harem!" The emperor was annoyed, "Investigate carefully, check all the people who have had contact with these two palace maids and their families!"

"Your Majesty, please calm down. It is because I, as the Queen, could not maintain peace in the harem, which is due to dereliction of duty." The Queen stood up to apologize. Xie Yuzhen could not sit still either, so she stood up and saluted.

The emperor first stood up and helped the queen up: "Zi Tong is weak, and the palace affairs are complicated. You are not a perfect person, so how can you take care of so many things? I have nine heirs, and eight of them are alive. Compared with the previous emperor who had dozens of children, but only a few were left, this is a great achievement. Throughout history, how many queens can match your virtue?"

Then he reached out his hand and helped Xie Yuzhen up: "Xie Qing was also frightened today."

Xie Yuzhen pulled his arm away from the emperor's hand and turned away. "Someone put poisonous weeds in the storeroom of Jinghua Tower, but Your Majesty didn't suspect that I did it on purpose. Instead, she was worried that someone was trying to murder me. Your Majesty quickly put the blame on me just because of what a maid said!"

She looked at Shen Xiaoyi in anger and said, "And you, you are very good at talking. If you had the same verbal skills in the bamboo forest that day, how could you have embarrassed yourself so much in the palace!"

Shen Xiaoyi's face turned red.

Xie Yuzhen still didn't feel relieved: "And Wen Baolin, you are usually very respectful to me, and you always say that you trust me and that's fine. After all, I, a neighbor, am not as worthy of your trust as your blood-related sister and the close palace maids. You didn't even try to stop your sister from talking nonsense. You are so gentle and considerate to those close to you. Be careful or you will be dragged into a trap by these fools in the future!"

As she was cursing, she noticed that everyone's eyes were suddenly looking outside the door. She turned around and saw Concubine Deng standing at the door with a slightly embarrassed look on her face.

"Two of them have died, why didn't you come earlier or later? Changrui Palace is so far from here, right? Your Majesty is really admirable for her ability to protect herself!"

Not long after, she was inexplicably scolded by Concubine Deng:???

Xie Yuzhen: Have you never seen indiscriminate firing? Well, now you have seen it.