All the ancestors in the capital begged me to be a substitute

Even though Shen Lingxi was very curious about the concubine, but she was in the Shoukang Palace, and she would not easily see the empress dowager who lived in seclusion in the Yutan Palace for a while.

Xiaodouzi was the eunuch specially assigned by the queen mother to Shen Lingxi. For a whole day, she didn't arrange any work for Shen Lingxi, so she just took her to wander around and familiarize herself with the environment.

This also happened to be convenient for Shen Lingxi to take Xue Tuan out to find its body.

However, with Shen Lingxi's identity, many places in the palace cannot be easily accessed.

Even if Xuetuan signaled her to follow, she could only watch helplessly, unable to pass.

Shen Lingxi stopped outside a mottled palace wall, pointed to the closed gate in the distance, and asked Xiaodouzi, "Where is that place?"

"It's the East Palace." Xiaodouzi looked a little embarrassed, "Since the sudden death of the first prince five years ago, His Royal Highness the Emperor Taisun was supposed to take over this place, but the edict has not been issued, so it can't be moved easily. That palace has not been seen for a long time. Human settlements will be abandoned.”

"Meow...meow..."

Xuetuan stood at the gate, meowing at Shen Lingxi.

Shen Lingxi could only slightly shake her head at it, signaling that she was powerless for the time being.

"I'll go take a look."

An Wang volunteered, followed the snow ball through the wall and floated in.

About the time of a cup of tea, An Wang floated back.

"Xue Tuan's body was in the ice cellar of the Eastern Palace. He must have accidentally overslept in it and froze to death." Wang An speculated.

"Meow!"

Xue Tuan probably felt that he had been greatly insulted by his remarks, so he arched his back fiercely and bared his teeth fiercely at him, expressing his dissatisfaction.

Shen Lingxi's heart skipped a beat.

No wonder its soul couldn't see any scars or traces of rotting corpse, it turned out to be in the ice cellar...

It's just that this cat is almost mature.

If it is said that it accidentally ran into the ice cellar to sleep, and froze to death by itself.

She didn't believe it at all.

But, believe it or not, now that she has just entered the palace, she really has no way to rashly go inside to check it out in person.

If someone discovers it accidentally, it may arouse suspicion.

Shen Lingxi had no choice but to give Xuetuan a look of "be safe and don't be impatient", and pulled Xiaodouzi away.

As Xiaodouzi walked, he told Shen Lingxi about the situation in the palace.

"The empress dowager is not in good health, so the palaces are spared the usual greetings. The emperor will come to the Shoukang Palace with the empress every day to sit for half an hour. The rest of the time, the Shoukang Palace has no connection with the other palaces."

"Before the Empress Dowager was not sick, she would play cards with a few concubines, but now she is worried that the concubines will get angry after being sick, and she rarely lets them walk around."

"In this harem, the Empress Dowager is the niece of the Empress Dowager, so the Kunning Palace is the closest to our Shoukang Palace."

"The most favored one is Concubine Zhao from Furong Palace. She and Concubine Zhao are also aunts and nephews. Concubine Zhao devotes herself to worshiping Buddha in Yutan Palace and seldom interacts with other palace masters. Only Princess Pingyang has been practicing meditation and worshiping Buddha in the past two years. live, and accompany the concubine in the Yutan Palace."

Since Xiaodouzi mentioned Yutan Palace, Shen Lingxi had to ask him about Yuzhu.

"Girl is in the palace these few days, please remember not to mention Yuzhu in front of others."

Xiaodouzi showed caution on his face, "Yuzhu was out of the palace last month on business, suddenly disappeared, and was found dead in Prince An's mansion a few days ago. There was a lot of discussion in the palace because of this, and they all said that he had treated him harshly behind his back. If you pass King An, you will be killed by King An's ghost."

When he mentioned King An, Shen Lingxi naturally wanted to look at King An.

"Where is this saying?" Wang An was at a loss, "Yuzhu is in Yutan Palace, every day he just copies some scriptures, sorts out some ancient books, and serves the concubine to practice calligraphy. He even gave me some advice. Second, you are very kind and have never spoken loudly, so how could you treat me harshly?"

A sudden look flashed in Shen Lingxi's eyes.

She has seen too many examples of spreading rumors and guilt out of nothing to the dead.

The bully dead can't speak, can't justify himself.

Shen Lingxi had seen Yuzhu's soul before.

He didn't even care about his own death...

Such a person said that he ordered killers to kill people in order to collect embroidered handkerchiefs, or that he treated King An harshly behind his back...

Shen Lingxi always felt that it was against harmony.

What's more, the rumors in this palace are full of strangeness.

First, the murderer who killed Yuzhu threw Yuzhu's body into the attic where Wang An committed suicide.

Then rumors spread in the palace that Yuzhu had treated King An harshly.

It seems that there is a pair of hands that invisibly tied the death of King An two years ago with Yuzhu.

"How did such unfounded rumors come about? Is there no one in the palace who cares about the late King An?" Shen Lingxi asked suspiciously.

"It's all small stories whispered by the servants in private, and they couldn't reach the master's ears."

Xiaodouzi looked around, and said softly: "Yuzhu was most relied on by the empress dowager during her lifetime. When the news of her death came to the palace, the empress dowager was still very sad for a few days. The day before yesterday there were two people who couldn't control their mouths. When I was on duty, I was told these words, and the concubine overheard her, and she killed those two palace servants, so that the rumors in the palace were completely banned. Now no one in the palace dares to mention the word Yuzhu, the girl is out of Shoukang Palace, don’t even mention it.”

Shen Lingxi was a little surprised, "Concubine Zhao is dedicated to the Buddha, even if those palace people are guilty, how could she stick them to death and commit murder so easily?"

Xiaodouzi lowered his voice, "Princess Pingyang happened to be in the Taifei Palace at that time, and it was the order from the eldest princess..."

"The eldest princess can kill the palace people with a cane in the harem?" Shen Lingxi asked in surprise.

Xiaodouzi: "The eldest princess and the emperor have the same mother. When the first emperor was alive, he was very favored. In this harem, the eldest princess has the most face in front of the emperor. Even the queen mother has to give her three points, so she is also the empress dowager." Even if you can say a few words about her, the concubine can't do anything to her. What are the mere two palace maids?"

Shen Lingxi doesn't know much about the Princess Pingyang.

People in the capital only talked about her marriage to the eldest princess of Pingyang.

The son-in-law's surname is Cui Mingjin, he is the eldest son of Dongchangbo Cui Shihai, although he looks talented, he stutters.

Princess Pingyang originally looked down on him, but one day, Princess Princess accidentally fell into the water while boating on the lake, and was rescued by Cui Jin, so she had to marry him.

The eldest princess was very resistant to this marriage, and made him kneel outside the door on the night of the bridal chamber.

People in the capital originally thought that the two of them must be a bitter couple.

Unexpectedly, in less than half a year, the eldest princess was actually moved by Cui Jin's true feelings. After so many years, the love between husband and wife, the symphony, has changed from a resentful spouse to a model of couples in the capital.

King An heard it from the side, and couldn't help but said: "Aunt is not as domineering as they say, Aunt is just cold-faced and kind-hearted, and Uncle is also a very good person."

Only then did Shen Lingxi remember that Mu Huai'an had told her in Prince An's mansion that day that King An and Princess Pingyang were the closest, and they often went to live in Princess An's mansion for a while.

Because of this, I specially asked the emperor to choose Prince An's mansion next to the eldest princess' mansion...

Shen Lingxi only regretted that when Yuzhu left with her aunt who was in charge of Yutan Palace, she didn't ask where he was going.

Now all the mysteries are tied to Yuzhu alone. It seems that she can only find a way to find Yuzhu and ask her face to face...