An Lingrong's Rebirth: Red

The news of the Fifth Prince's fainting soon reached the Emperor's ears. One son had died and another was in critical condition. The Emperor had no time to stay in Yongshou Palace for too long, so he immediately rushed to the Prince's residence with Concubine Wan.

The Empress arrived earlier. Seeing that the Emperor came with Concubine Wan, her expression changed again and again, but she finally maintained a relatively calm expression.

She saluted the Emperor. Concubine Wan stayed beside the Emperor as before. She neither avoided nor took the initiative to salute the Empress. She just stood beside the Emperor and received the Empress's salute.

Until the Emperor called for her to stand up and walk in with big strides, Concubine Wan had no intention of bowing to the Empress. She just followed the Emperor step by step to see the Fifth Prince.

The Queen Mother stayed behind, gritting her teeth. Even Qiyun could feel her anger.

"Empress, Concubine Wan has been favored since she entered the palace. If it weren't for the emperor's fainting, she would not have fallen out of favor even once."

Aunt Zhuxi also disliked Concubine Wan. Seeing that the Empress had to look at her face, she couldn't help but speak to comfort her.

"But her position is always that of a noble lady, and she will never surpass your position, the Queen."

But when the Queen heard what Zhu Xi said, she only felt mocked, "As long as the Emperor likes her, she is the most proud one in the palace.

Status has never been the most important thing to the emperor.

But this Concubine Wan is so arrogant because of her favor, she deserves a lesson."

"Empress, the Emperor has ordered that Concubine Wan no longer needs to pay respects to us every day. We can't even see her, so it's really difficult to persuade her."

Zhu Xi was right. It was not easy to punish Concubine Wan. The most he could do was to punish her slightly on the grounds that she was disrespectful to the Empress.

They wanted to start with her family, but Zhen's family had fallen into poverty, and both Zhen and his wife had died. Only Zhen Huan was left, and she was suffering in Ningguta.

Even if the queen wanted to threaten her family, she couldn't even find someone necessary.

"She has nothing but the emperor's favor. If I want to deal with her, I can only start with the favor."

The Queen's idea now is very simple, which is to find someone to compete with Concubine Wan for favor. The Emperor is not a loyal person, and if he has a gentle and beautiful woman by his side, he will not focus on only one person.

It’s a pity that the Queen Mother didn’t know that the reason why Concubine Wan was favored and even the only one favored by the Queen was not just because of her face.

The queen calmed herself down and followed him into the palace. The Fifth Prince was still unconscious. Several imperial doctors gathered around the bed, discussing his condition in low voices.

"Doctor Zhou, what disease did the Fifth Prince have? Why did he suddenly faint?"

"In reply to the Emperor and the Empress, the Fifth Prince has been poisoned." Imperial Doctor Zhou's words caused a huge uproar. The Emperor stared with his eyes wide open, obviously unable to believe it.

"What did you say? How could the Fifth Prince be poisoned? What kind of poison was he poisoned by? Is it curable?!"

"Your Majesty, rest assured. The Fifth Prince is not seriously poisoned and his life will not be in danger."

Doctor Zhou hurriedly tried to comfort the emperor, and in a few words, he calmed the emperor down. "But the antidote should still be prepared by Doctor He. After all, Doctor He is the best in this area."

Hearing his name, He Anming also stood up, bowed, and the next moment told the emperor what he had found out.

"The poison Fifth Prince was poisoned by seems to be the same as the poison Fourth Prince was poisoned by.

This medicine is very unique. It is made up of two different medicinal ingredients. If you only take half of it, you will become like the Fifth Prince, gradually feeling unwell and weakening.

But it only makes one weaker, and it takes more than half a year to become life-threatening."

"So, the person who murdered the Fifth Prince and the Fourth Prince is the same person."

Concubine Wan suddenly spoke up. She glanced at the Queen and even paused for a moment before turning to look at the Emperor. "Who on earth could be so cruel to attack two children? The Fourth Prince has already gotten into trouble. If the Fifth Prince gets into trouble again... wouldn't that mean the Third Prince would be the only older prince left?"

"Concubine Wan, everyone is here, please watch your words." The Queen reprimanded Concubine Wan lightly, telling her to stop talking nonsense.

It’s a pity that Concubine Wan didn’t care about the Queen at all. She just glanced at her and continued to look at the Emperor with a worried look on her face.

"Your Majesty, this incident must be thoroughly investigated. The Fifth Prince suffered so much at such a young age. The person who did it is so vicious. He must be brought to justice and justice must be sought for the Fourth and Fifth Princes."

The emperor nodded and patted Concubine Wan's hand. "Go back to Yongshou Palace and rest first. I am very busy today. I will go to Yongshou Palace to look for you later."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will retire."

Concubine Wan did not stay long. After receiving the emperor's order, she immediately bowed and left, as if what she had just said was just polite talk.

But even if she didn't say these words, the emperor was still wondering in his heart who wanted to murder the two princes.

Now, one of the two princes has died, and the other is still in a coma. The emperor is not a fool. He knows very well that someone has seen his health deteriorating and is thinking of asking him to abdicate and let others take over.

The emperor initially thought that the ones who murdered the Fourth Prince would be the Fifth Prince and Concubine Tian behind him, but he did not expect that the Fifth Prince would also fall.

Now it seems that the person most likely to take action is the Third Prince, whom the Emperor has always believed to be more foolish and kind.

The emperor looked at the queen beside him and counted the beads in his hand one by one, as if he was looking at this woman seriously for the first time.

The Queen's heart was slightly moved. The current situation was too favorable to her. Not only the Emperor, but even the Queen herself began to suspect whether the Third Prince had done something behind the scenes.

But considering the Third Prince's temperament and intelligence, it is impossible for him to make such a meticulous plan.

"Your Majesty, this incident is really too strange." The Queen pondered for a long time and finally spoke, "The Fourth Prince and the Fifth Prince were in trouble one after another, but the Third Prince was safe and sound.

Everyone seemed to think that the matter was closely related to the Third Prince.

To be honest with you, Your Majesty, even I feel that this matter may be related to the Third Prince."

The queen was quick-witted and guessed that the emperor would suspect her, so she immediately raised the doubts, trying to get rid of the emperor's suspicion of her as much as possible.

"The Third Prince has a kind and foolish character, but he acts recklessly. I find it hard to believe that he would do such a thing."

"I don't believe that it was done by the Third Prince either," the Queen said with a turn of the eye. "But right now it seems that he is the one who has benefited the most. No matter who investigates this matter, they are likely to have a preconceived opinion and think that it was done by the Third Prince."

"I don't think it was done by Hongshi," the emperor did not stop working. He looked at the busy imperial physician and quickly calculated in his mind, "It is very likely that it was done by someone who supports Hongshi. After all, after removing the two princes, I only have Hongshi, who is still the oldest son."

"Your Majesty, don't be so pessimistic. There are still the Eighth Prince and the Ninth Prince in the palace. There are so many young concubines. Sooner or later, your descendants will be numerous."

"Full?" The emperor stopped and dropped the beads on the table with a crisp sound. "I have few children. The queen should know better than anyone why this is the case."

"..." The queen was speechless for a moment. She opened her mouth and after a while she shed tears with a look of guilt on her face.

"In the past, I was misguided and did some things that were unfair to the emperor and my sister. But I knew I was wrong a long time ago and never did anything to the heirs in the palace again.

During the period when I was under house arrest, there were also concubines who murdered others out of jealousy. Your Majesty should know that I am not the only one who makes mistakes in the harem.

But after I regained power, the emperor's harem gradually became full of offspring, which was enough to prove my innocence."

The Queen shook her head. Her crying did not arouse the Emperor's sympathy, so she could only lament and turn to talk about the Fifth Prince's health.

"Fortunately, the Fifth Prince is not seriously poisoned now, and there is still a way to save him. When he wakes up, I'm sure he will know who poisoned him."

"The person who poisoned me was very careful and meticulous. I think the Fifth Prince was tricked without even realizing it. It's not easy to find out from him who did it.

Now the Fifth Prince has only been lightly poisoned. The person who did it must still have the poison in his hand. I have already sent people to investigate, and they will definitely be able to find out who did it."

When the emperor said this, he deliberately stared at the queen's expression. He wanted to tell from the queen's look whether she was the one who did this.

However, this incident was indeed not done by the Queen, so she was very calm at this time. When she heard the Emperor say that he wanted to search the prince's residence, she took the initiative to ask whether he wanted to search the bedrooms of the concubines.

"No hurry," the emperor refused without thinking, "Searching the palace will only make people in the harem panic, especially those concubines with children. I'm afraid they will be in constant fear all day long."

“But Your Majesty, everyone is suspicious, and everyone is in danger.

Especially the remaining three princes, I don’t know if they will be schemed against by others in the future. If they are poisoned again…”

"The frequent poisoning incidents at high altitudes are largely related to your poor self-discipline."

"Yes, it is indeed my fault. I have paid too little attention to the princes these days."

The Queen immediately admitted her fault, but then she changed the subject and began to express concern for the Emperor's health. "The main reason is that the Emperor has been in a coma for many days, and I am really worried. So I first checked the Imperial Kitchen to see if there is something wrong with the diet that has caused the Emperor's health to deteriorate.

It's just that I didn't find out anything about the emperor, but I learned the real cause of death of the empress dowager through two young eunuchs in the imperial kitchen."

When the emperor heard the words "Empress Dowager", his hands trembled and he could hardly hold the beads. He tried to calm his restless mind and pretended to ask casually what had been found out.

"The Queen Mother drank poisonous almond tea and died of an overdose.

There were two eunuchs in the imperial kitchen who used to work beside Ma Yuan, who was in charge of purchasing. It was he who purchased a large amount of almonds and brought them into the palace, and he recorded some of them as peach kernels in the registration book.

The imperial kitchen also followed the order and made almond tea every day and sent it to the Empress Dowager's palace.

But in fact, some of the almonds in the almond tea are unprocessed bitter almonds, which are poisonous if eaten raw. This is how the Empress Dowager fell into the trap.

The imperial doctors serving in the palace at that time did not notice anything unusual, so I am afraid they have been bribed and are deliberately concealing the truth."

In fact, the emperor had been informed of the things that the queen said before, but there were too many things going on at that time, and the emperor sent people to investigate for a long time but there was no follow-up, so he had to gradually give up.

Unexpectedly, the queen never gave up the investigation, and after getting to the bottom of it, she actually found out the truth.

"In fact, I have been researching for a long time. The Queen Mother is my aunt. These doubts are like a thorn in my heart. I can't let it go no matter what."

The Queen sighed and finally diverted the Emperor's attention away from the Fifth Prince. The Emperor was also thinking about who did this.

"At that time... I remember that the person in charge of purchasing and the imperial kitchen was Concubine Tian."

The Queen nodded. Now that she had captured Ma Yuan, she naturally knew who had done it. "At that time, I was confined to Jingren Palace. After I came out, I did not take back my power in the palace. It was Concubine Tian who was in charge of this matter and the affairs after the Queen Mother's illness.

But I don’t understand. Although the Empress Dowager holds a high position, she seldom interferes in the affairs of the harem. Why did Concubine Tian take action for the Empress Dowager?

I have thought about it over and over again, but I still can't figure out the reason behind this."

"Have the two eunuchs the Queen mentioned been taken under control?"

"They have all been taken to the Ministry of Punishment. If the emperor wants to interrogate them, he can bring them in for questioning at any time."

The emperor hummed and picked up the beads on the table again. "I will send someone over. Thank you, Queen, for your concern. The Empress must be very pleased in her grave."

"I know my aunt's health well. Although it is not good enough, it will definitely not decline so quickly.

Even I began to suspect that the imperial physicians from the Imperial Hospital were involved.”

The queen's eyes fell on He Anming. Although this man made friends everywhere in the palace and was kind to everyone, it was indisputable that he was secretly Concubine Tian's man.

The emperor noticed the queen's eyes and turned his gaze to look over there little by little.

The eyes of both people fell on He Anming at the same time, which made him feel a chill on his back and he immediately wanted to turn around to look.

But he knew clearly who was behind him, so he pretended to be calm and continued to prepare the antidote for the Fifth Prince.

Although he couldn't hear clearly what the Queen and the Emperor were talking about, the gazes behind them were definitely not ones of appreciation, but rather cold ones that carried a sharp edge and suspicion.

At this moment, He Anming had only one thought in his mind, that is, what he had done in the past had been exposed.