The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

Xie Yuzhen was silent for a moment: "...I never thought I could always rely on you, madam."

It is well known that the Queen is in poor health.

Not to mention that she had been seriously ill not long ago. The disease was so severe that if it weren't for Concubine Xu who offered medicine in time, I'm afraid the Queen would have died before Concubine Song Shufei.

"Ahem..." Concubine Song Shu suddenly laughed. "That's not what I meant to say. If you can die of illness, it would be a kind of luck. But... nevermind. Just tell me whether you are willing to make this deal with me."

Falling into silence again, Xie Yuzhen thought for a moment and asked a question: "Your Highness Shufei is very kind and loving to the heirs in the palace. I am a little curious. If the eldest prince and the third prince have a serious conflict with their brothers or sisters in the future, will Your Highness still be so kind to other people's children?"

Her question made Concubine Song Shu couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Of course, your own children are more important. This is the instinct of being a mother."

"Then I have accepted this deal. Please help me solve my doubts, Your Majesty." Xie Yuzhen said.

Concubine Song Shu secretly sighed in her heart that she was too cautious, but she didn't expect Xie Yu to really take care of her two children sincerely. It would be enough if she could only look after them occasionally: "Lan Yin, bring me the sandalwood box."

She raised her voice slightly and called the female official Lan Yin.

Soon, Lan Yin brought a wooden box the size of two palms. The wooden box looked quite old. The wood was smooth and shiny, and engraved with a pattern of orchids blooming in the valley. Concubine Song Shu asked Lan Yin to put the wooden box on the low cabinet beside the bed, then waved her hand and asked her to leave.

Concubine Song Shu looked at the wooden box and said, "When I was still a child who couldn't speak clearly, I was kidnapped and sold. After many twists and turns, I followed a maid named Song into the palace. That maid named me Song Hengzhi. Later, she passed away. I was old enough to work, so the eunuch who registered my name thought the word Heng was difficult to write, so he changed it to Zhiniang."

She raised her hand and gently pushed the wooden box towards Xie Yuzhen. Xie Yuzhen picked it up carefully, opened a gap slightly from a distance across his mouth and nose, and saw that nothing suddenly jumped out of it and no suspicious powder or smell came out, so he opened it completely.

On the side, Concubine Song Shu, who was already tired from talking too much, couldn't help but be speechless about her morbid vigilance.

"I got this by chance many years ago," she said weakly.

And what Xie Ruizhen saw lying in the wooden box was a lifelike paper flower.

Its branches are pointed and split outward like deer antlers, and at the tip of each split, there are long sword-shaped leaves growing opposite each other. In the middle of the two sword-shaped leaves is a small five-petal white flower with tender yellow stamens clustered between the petals.

Xie Ruizhen had never seen such a plant before.

At first glance, it was just a small wild flower that could be seen everywhere on the roadside, but a closer look would make her feel a strange sense of unfamiliarity in her heart. What's more, after Xie Yuzhen stared at it for a few seconds, she faintly saw wisps of black air constantly coming out of the flower.

"It looks like a fake flower, doesn't it?" Concubine Song said with a hint of smile, "But it's actually alive. Ahem, on the day the Fourth Prince passed away, I was feeling unwell, so I recommended Concubine Zhao to serve the Queen Mother and worship Buddha in the Cining Palace. Later, ahem, Concubine Chen's palace was in turmoil, and I heard the news and rushed over, but because I felt dizzy halfway, I rested for a while in Concubine Zhao's yard in the Jiangyun Palace."

"This thing - it just popped up from the ground, bit by bit, right under my nose, out of thin air."

Xie Yuzhen tightened his grip on the wooden box.

Concubine Song Shu coughed several times before continuing, "Although I don't know what method she used to make this thing grow so quickly, I still pulled it out immediately. Later - she really wanted to use Concubine Zhao as a scapegoat for the others. It's a pity that although she could plant this thing without anyone noticing, she couldn't understand its status at all times."

"I pulled this thing out by chance. My original intention was to prevent Concubine Zhao from being framed and wrongly accused, but it also caused the death of the Fourth Prince to become an unsolved case at the time. In the end, it was a good thing for her... cough cough cough!!!"

Concubine Song Shu swallowed the sweet taste that rushed to her lips and said: "Later, I secretly consulted various medical books and drew pictures in the name of looking for medicine, and asked trusted imperial doctors to identify it. Surprisingly, no one could recognize this thing, and there was no book that recorded this thing."

"It was just like that time, when this thing grew out of thin air in front of my eyes, appearing in this world for no reason!"

Concubine Song Shu raised her sick eyes, which were bloodshot. "Your Majesty firmly believes that the Fifth Princess is the reincarnation of Xuannv Yuanjun... Concubine Zhao, as the mother of Xuannv, you must also have an extraordinary origin. You may recognize this thing. What is it?"

After she asked this question, she did not wait for Xie Yuzhen to answer, and continued to speak on her own, her speed gradually increasing, as if she could no longer hold on: "Its stems and leaves will turn into invisible and colorless poisonous smoke after being burned; its petals will be dried and ground into powder, which will cause the body of a pregnant woman and the fetus in her belly to weaken without any signs and irreversibly; when it first blooms, the pollen is full, and just a light shake on the head will make people fall into a silent sleep, and even if they fall into the water, they will not wake up!"

Concubine Song Shu covered her heart, leaned back with a look of pain on her face, and leaned on the high cushion, gasping violently.

Xie Yuzhen's heart was also shaken violently. While he was shocked, he quickly sorted out the various connections in Concubine Song Shu's words: "...The Fourth Prince and the few wet nurses and palace maids who served him died like this?"

Concubine Song Shu closed her eyes and did not answer, but nodded her chin slightly.

Thoughts raced, and Xie Yuzhen stopped looking at the paper-like creature in the wooden box. She closed the lid and asked, "Does Concubine Chen know about this thing?"

"She was so grief-stricken that day that she fainted as soon as she saw the Fourth Prince's body. At that time, she and the Fourth Prince were very favored, and the Emperor rushed over as soon as the accident happened. The investigation of the Fourth Prince's residence was also handled by the Emperor himself." Concubine Song Shu's answer seemed irrelevant, but Xie Yuzhen had already understood the information she wanted to reveal.

Concubine Chen didn’t know.

But the emperor—knew.

He knew it, but he concealed it.

Xie Yuzhen closed his eyes, calmed down for a moment, and then opened them again: "So, it is indeed her."

"Does your majesty know it's her?"

"Maybe you didn't know it then, but maybe you know it now." Concubine Song Shu spoke with a hint of sarcasm, "After all, we really couldn't find any clues other than this thing at the beginning, and there was also the Meng family standing in the way..."

"He didn't have enough evidence to convict him, and his dogs were very useful and suited his taste. So, even if he had some guesses, he would pretend that he had never noticed because he felt embarrassed and troubled. Sometimes, in order not to admit that his decision was wrong and to consolidate his correctness, he would cover up the truth again and again..."

"Although the concubines of the Meng family for generations have stirred up trouble, they are sometimes also blades in their hands. The same is true for the Meng clan members of the previous dynasty. I know that he will not abandon an obedient dog and a useful knife for a prince who died early after so many years, but you...you made him make an exception."

"This is why I want to make a deal with you. No matter what means you use or whether we are truly friends, if you can make him make an exception this time, there may be even bigger surprises later." Concubine Song Shu's haggard face showed a lively smile like a young girl. "I'm already looking forward to the expression on his face when he comes down to accompany me."

She looked at Xie Yuzhen, as sweetly as the married woman who returned the pearl to her husband and finally met her beloved lover: "I know you won't let me down."