An Lingrong's Rebirth: Red

Dujuan knew best what was in the bowl of medicine. When she heard that she was asked to drink it, she immediately collapsed and cried for mercy.

At this time, He Anming was still in the palace. How could Ling Rong kill a maid like this? This would be tantamount to handing her handle to others.

But Du Juan didn't understand. She crawled to Ling Rong's side on her knees, tugging at her clothes with both hands and begging, "My lady, I was forced to do this. I never really wanted to harm you."

As Dujuan came closer, the faint scent of musk wafted over. He Anming immediately became alert and reminded Zhaoshui to stop Dujuan from coming forward.

"This maid has a strong musky smell. Don't let her get close to Miss An."

Zhaoshui was startled. She stepped forward and grabbed Dujuan's collar. Relying on her own strength, she dragged Dujuan to the door and made her kneel down.

Hearing the noise in the hall, Fang Jing and Xiao Chizi also rushed over. Xiao Chizi didn't know what happened, but he ran to Zhaoshui's side very smartly to help her hold down Dujuan.

"Aunt Fangjing, this Dujuan smells like musk. Go to her room and check."

Aunt Fang Jing was an elder in the palace after all. She knew what had happened just by looking at the situation in the palace.

She ignored the presence of men around and directly pulled Du Juan by the collar to search her body. After a while, she found a package from inside her clothes.

Aunt Fangjing threw the package on the ground and went out to check Baojuan's room.

The sudden strong smell was so obvious that Ling Rong only glanced at the paper bag on the ground and was too lazy to pay any more attention to it.

He Anming was careful. He took the paper bag and smelled it. "This bag is indeed musk, but the young lady is not pregnant now. This is..."

Ling Rong did not answer directly. The fragrance was too strong. She raised her hand to cover her nose and fanned it with disgust.

"Right now, only Noble Lady Fucha is pregnant in the palace. Imperial Doctor He, please go to the Yanxi Palace."

He Anming was packing the bag of musk. He roughly guessed the purpose of this palace maid, which was nothing more than drugging Noble Lady Fucha and putting the blame on Concubine An.

It's not a very clever trick, but it's effective and can cause both of them to suffer losses.

How could Lingrong not see through such a simple and easy-to-understand method? She even knew what excuse Du Juan would make when she was caught.

It was nothing more than accusing her of being jealous, so she asked her to murder Noble Lady Fucha's child. If she found evidence, she would say that she did this because the young lady refused to save her and she was resentful of her.

By then, Dujuan was executed. The Queen had not only gotten rid of the child in Noble Lady Fucha's belly, but also sowed discord between Lingrong and Noble Lady Fucha, and also got rid of Dujuan, the maid who knew too many secrets. It can be said that she achieved three goals with one stone.

It’s not that there are no better and more secretive tricks, but this method is the most effective.

When Dujuan saw that the musk had also been searched out, she finally stopped crying. She knelt quietly, and her face regained its calm.

"Now, are you still called Dujuan?"

"My lady, I can only call you Dujuan." Dujuan bowed her head politely, "I may have told many lies, but I have never intended to hurt you."

"If there was no raw pinellia in this medicine, and if there was no musk on your body, I would probably believe it."

Ling Rong looked at He Anming who was standing beside her, "If it weren't for the fact that Imperial Doctor He was so skilled in medicine and could tell that raw pinellia was added to this medicine, would I still be alive to talk uselessly with you here?"

"My lord, if you hadn't ordered... my family to be captured, I wouldn't have come to harm you."

It really was a family matter. Ling Rong felt nothing in her heart. She was the one who reminded the Queen to do it. If she caught Du Juan's family, she would also ask her to harm people.

"When you enter the palace, you will serve me. Among all the concubines in the palace, who else has a lower family background than me?

If I could have made that person kidnap your family with just one word, then I would be the one walking around the palace with my head held high."

"But if the young lady hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have made such a big mistake."

Lingrong was so angry at Dujuan's words that she laughed. She picked up the teacup and spilled the tea on the ground with a flip of her wrist.

"Then this cup of tea can be considered as a sacrifice to your family. It would be best if they knew about this and opened their eyes to see whether it was me who harmed them or someone else."

Du Juan stared blankly at the tea on the ground. There was anger and confusion in her eyes. "My lady, what you mean is... my family has already..."

"Only the dead can keep secrets, can't they?"

You yourself are an abandoned pawn, yet you still expect your family to survive. It's simply laughable.

He Anming, who was standing by, looked at Ling Rong's expression and slowly smiled. He just bowed and left the main hall without saying a word.

Ling Rong did not call He Anming, she just looked at Du Juan, her eyes curved with a smile. "You are no longer of any use to me, I will tell the emperor, you just wait for the punishment.

Believe me, I won't let you suffer too much. Just drink this bowl of medicine. If one bowl is not enough, take another one. I'm sure you will like it."

"My lady, my lady, I don't want to die, my lady..." Du Juan finally panicked. The calmness she pretended to be had long since disappeared. She tried hard to break free from Xiao Chi's restraints, but was pinned to the ground instead, unable to move.

Xiao Chizi spat in hatred. He used all his strength to press Du Juan's face firmly on the cold ground. "The most taboo thing in the palace is betraying the master. Sister Bao Juan, no one can save you."

When Dujuan heard Xiao Chizi calling her "Sister Baojuan", she suddenly burst into tears. Her hands were grabbed and she couldn't wipe the tears from her face. She looked embarrassed and funny.

Faced with such a situation, Lingrong was not moved at all. The smile on her face was a little stiff. She could only stroke her face and coldly look at Dujuan crying and begging.

"Your life has never been my decision." Lingrong was annoyed by her crying and impatiently asked Xiaochizi to cover Dujuan's mouth.

"You now have only two options. One is that I will tell the emperor and let you die a quick death. The other is that you take this ginkgo hairpin and go back to the laundry to wash clothes."

Du Juan chose the second path almost without hesitation. Her idea was simple. She just wanted to keep her life and wait for the future.

Aunt Fangjing also returned to the palace at this time. Nothing else was found in Dujuan's room. She thought that the raw pinellia had been added to the medicine.

"Aunt Fang Jing, this girl stole the hairpin that the emperor gave me. She is dishonest. Please report this to the queen for me and have her sent to the laundry department."

Ling Rong intended to let Aunt Fang Jing do this. Although Fang Jing was her nanny, they had only spent too short a time together and it was difficult to be sure that she would be truly loyal to her.

Now, let’s use Dujuan’s incident to test how loyal Aunt Fang Jing is.

"My lady, leave this matter to me, but..." Fang Jing signaled Xiao Chizi to take Du Juan away. Zhao Shui understood that Fang Jing had something to discuss with the lady in detail, so he tactfully withdrew.

"Aunt Fangjing, please feel free to speak."

"The person behind Du Juan has not been found out yet. Even though she is gone, the danger still exists."

"I know who is behind her." Ling Rong did not hide it. She looked at Fang Jing's face carefully, not wanting to miss any change in her expression. "She is the mother of the country and the master of the harem."

Fang Jing was a little surprised, but quickly calmed down. Ling Rong couldn't tell whether she was surprised that she knew it or surprised that the master behind Du Juan was the Queen.

"Leave this matter to me, my lady, you can rest assured." Fang Jing walked to the table, picked up the bowl of cold medicine, and went to look for Dujuan who had been taken away.

Ling Rong picked up the hairpin on the table, threw it casually, and it immediately hit the ground and broke into several pieces.

Anyway, she was too lazy to continue pretending to like the hairpin, and she would have to be careful not to break it if she placed it on the bedside, so she might as well take this opportunity to throw it away.

In just a cup of tea, the news that Dujuan had stolen her master's hairpin spread throughout Chengqian Palace. Before being taken back to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Aunt Fangjing pinched Dujuan's face and forced her to swallow the bowl of medicine.

Lingrong stood at the door and watched. After Dujuan drank the whole bowl of medicine, it didn't take long for her to have difficulty breathing. She had to use all her strength to say a word.

It is said that after being thrown into the laundry department, Dujuan kept scratching her neck, leaving terrible bloody marks, and finally her voice became completely hoarse.

For a moment, Lingrong wanted to keep Dujuan, but she knew very well that if Dujuan was still alive, the Queen would always use her to harm her.

Not being able to speak is just the first step. Dujuan will really appear in the well of the laundry department tonight. I just hope that she won’t be discovered until a few days later, so as not to scare people.

That night, the emperor came to Chengqian Palace and was furious when he saw the broken hairpin.

Especially Lingrong, who was holding those hairpins pitifully, blamed herself so much in front of the emperor and kept trying to find ways to make the emperor happy.

The emperor always thought that Lingrong loved him so much that she missed him every day when she looked at the hairpin. Now that the hairpin, which symbolized their feelings, was broken, how could he easily forgive Dujuan?

He lightly uttered the word "beaten to death with a stick", and Su Peisheng immediately went out to do his job, fearing that if he was a step slower, the stick would fall on him.

"This hairpin is broken, so just throw it away. I'll ask the Ministry of Internal Affairs to make you a few more. You can change one every day."

The emperor was most generous at times like this, and the gifts were valuable anyway. Lingrong thanked him readily, and her delighted look made the emperor smile.

"I have felt much better these days, and the imperial physician also said it was due to the hot springs." Ling Rong picked out an unfinished nightgown from her pile of embroidery and carefully tried it out on the emperor.

She had embroidered before in her previous life, so she should have known the emperor's body shape very well. But in this life, she gave him medicinal food, which caused him to lose a lot of weight these days. His pajamas were sticking to his body, and were obviously too loose.

"Rong'er, you made me a nightgown. Why didn't you tell me that it's a lot bigger now."

It was really a waste of effort. Lingrong kept comparing the pajamas again and again, and finally found out helplessly that the emperor had really lost weight.

"Your Majesty has been too busy with government affairs recently, how come he has lost so much weight?" Ling Rong's face was full of distress. She threw away her pajamas, took the initiative to hug the emperor's waist, and leaned into his arms. "You must call the imperial physician for treatment, so that I can feel at ease."

The emperor had no objection to having a beautiful woman in his arms. He happily hugged Ling Rong and spoke with joy between the lines, "I took my pulse yesterday. The imperial physician said that my face was slightly red and yellow, bright and moist, and my health couldn't be better."

I didn't expect this medicinal diet to be so effective. When Zhen Huan and Concubine Hua are released in a few days, I'm afraid they won't dare to recognize you, Your Majesty.

As soon as Lingrong thought of these two people, the emperor seemed to have heard her thoughts and immediately said that he planned to lift the house arrest for Concubine Hua and Zhen Huan.

Lingrong had known this would be the result. She was just curious about what the emperor had found out and how he was going to close the case of Zhen Huan's missing child.

"Have you found out who was behind the loss of Concubine Wan's child?"

"All sorts of things." The Emperor was still holding Lingrong, and couldn't help sighing when he mentioned the lost child. "Caiyue, who was by Mei'er's side, was jealous that Wanpin's position was higher than Mei'er's, so she put a lot of musk in the sachet to make Wanpin lose her child, so that she would fall out of favor and never surpass Mei'er again."

Lingrong took advantage of the fact that the emperor couldn't see her and couldn't help rolling her eyes. This was no longer just a random judgment, it was simply illogical and made people angry.

Could it be that the Emperor had really found out something by following Huang Guiquan's lead? Did he find out about Concubine Hua, whom he dared not touch, or about the Empress, whom he could not touch?

"No matter what, Sister Shen has suffered, and the emperor must compensate her well." Ling Rong knew that she couldn't get anything out of the emperor, so she tactfully didn't ask any more questions and turned to care about Shen Meiyu.

"Mei'er has indeed suffered. I often visit her, and she has never complained." When talking about Shen Meizhuang, the emperor was willing to say more, "Mei'er is dignified and generous, and even the Queen Mother has praised her many times."

The Empress Dowager liked Shen Meizhuang in her previous life, and she still liked her in this life, so Ling Rong didn't find it strange.

But the Empress Dowager's love was not so simple. It was only because of Shen Meizhuang's family background that she could restrain Concubine Hua.

Now that there is Concubine Jing in the palace to assist in managing the six palaces, it would be difficult for Shen Meizhuang to obtain the power to assist in managing the six palaces with the status of a noble lady.

The Queen Mother's love is just better than nothing for Shen Meizhuang now. Shen Meizhuang will only respect him, and may not run to Shoukang Palace all day like in her previous life, without even looking at the Emperor.

"The emperor has missed Sister Mei so much that he has forgotten Rong'er." Ling Rong pretended to be angry and punched the emperor's chest with her hand.

"I've given you this entire Chengqian Palace, and you're still envious of your sister Shen?" The emperor was in a good mood and was happy to coax his concubines. He grabbed the nightgown and looked at the golden dragon and cloud embroidery on it. "Rong'er, your embroidery skills are amazing. When you finish embroidering the nightgown, you will naturally get some benefits."

"Your Majesty, please don't lie to me. This nightgown can be embroidered tonight." Ling Rong immediately pushed the emperor away, snatched the nightgown and wanted to finish embroidering it aside.

"Not tonight. On such a beautiful night, Rong'er, are you really willing to leave me alone?"

Lingrong pretended to be embarrassed, but finally put down her nightgown and sat down beside the emperor with light lotus steps.

"Then this benefit needs to be doubled."