maidservant

Chapter 41: The Queen Angrily Punishes the Nosy Concubine Li and Yang Concubine Cleverly Prevent the Poisoned Fish Soup

The news of Concubine Li's trouble reached the Queen's ears that night.

"You are disturbing the harem. How disgraceful!" The Queen's tone became increasingly stern. "Since this is your first offense, I will fine you one month's salary as a warning to others."

"Your Majesty, there must be a misunderstanding here! I have absolutely no intention of disturbing the harem. That day, I simply had a verbal conflict with Concubine Lin, and I was agitated for a moment. I definitely did not intend to cause trouble." Concubine Hui hurriedly explained:
"I will personally go to Concubine Lin and clear up this misunderstanding. I hope the Empress will understand."

"If it happens again, I will never let you off easily."

Concubine Hui nodded repeatedly. After the Queen signaled her to leave, she slowly stood up and walked out of the palace with slightly heavy steps.

She ordered the kitchen to carefully prepare a bowl of cold soup, which she served in a precious porcelain bowl, uncovered, revealing the delicate lotus flower pattern inside. She also prepared several plates of exquisite pastries and sent them to the maids to offer as an apology to Concubine Lin.

The maids deliberately chose a busy avenue, paraded all the way, and walked towards the densely populated areas. They told everyone they met that this was the soup that Li wanted to show her goodwill to Lin, and they did a great job of saving face.

Concubine Lin looked at the bowl of uniquely shaped cold soup that still gave off a hint of coolness, and was about to reach out to pick it up and take a sip of this "apology" from Concubine Li.

At this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps came from afar, breaking the tranquility of the bedroom.

Concubine Yang looked flustered, her skirt fluttering with her hurried footsteps. Before she even entered the room, she shouted loudly, "Sister, wait a minute!" Concubine Lin's outstretched hand suddenly stopped, her face full of confusion and surprise, and she turned to look at Concubine Yang who had hurried in.

Concubine Yang walked quickly to Concubine Lin's side, her chest heaving violently. Concubine Lin knew that she had something important to say, so she dismissed the maids and kept only her confidants Yunjin and Yunshan.

"Sister, I just passed by the corridor and saw the maid showing this cold soup to others several times. There are so many people coming and going along this road, and I'm really worried that someone may have secretly touched it and tampered with it. It would be safer to check it out!"

As she spoke, without waiting for Concubine Lin's response, she quickly picked up the spoon and scooped a spoonful of cold soup from the bowl. Then, she raised her finger, swiftly pulled out the gleaming poison-repelling hairpin on her head, and inserted it into the cold soup in the spoon without hesitation.

However, in just a short moment, the tip of the hairpin, which was originally as bright as new, strangely took on a dark color.

"Ah!" Lin Fei's face turned pale in an instant, her eyes were full of fear and anger, and she subconsciously clenched the silk handkerchief in her hand into a ball.

Yangpin was so frightened that her hands trembled and the spoon fell into the soup bowl.

After coming to her senses, Concubine Lin quickly stood up, took Concubine Yang's hand, and said gratefully: "Sister, today is thanks to you, otherwise I would..."

After Yang Concubine said her goodbyes and left, Lin Concubine called over Aunt Zhuang, who was always calm and opinionated. The four of them sat together in a solemn atmosphere that seemed to be able to squeeze out water.

"Who on earth could be so bold as to poison this palace?"

"Could it be someone you have a grudge against? Has your Highness had any conflict with anyone recently?"

"If the poison was added while the soup was being cooked, then Concubine Hui is the most likely suspect. She and the Empress have had some issues lately, and everyone in the palace knows about it."

Aunt Zhuang shook her head gently, her expression calm and steady as she spoke slowly, "In my opinion, if she poisoned herself and sent her personal maid to deliver it, wouldn't that be walking into a trap? There's no need to hand over evidence to us."

"In that case, the problem is most likely caused by the delivery of the soup. Those who had the opportunity to come into close contact with the cold soup are probably also responsible."

"If that's the case, then the matter is quite simple. We just need to have the maid who delivered the soup carefully identify everyone who came into contact with the soup along the way. We can then investigate them one by one, and I'm sure we'll be able to find the person who poisoned it very quickly."

Lin Yu sighed softly, looking worried, and spoke slowly:
"I heard from Concubine Yang that this cold soup was seen by too many people along the way, and the bowl was left open the entire time. The person who poisoned it didn't necessarily need to touch it directly, but could have sprinkled the poison in from a distance. With so many people involved, it's going to be difficult to investigate, and it's hard to guarantee that no one has slipped through the net."

Yunshan pondered for a moment, a look of worry on her face. "Your Majesty, you've been very thoughtful. If we can't uncover the truth in the end, won't others think we're deliberately framing Concubine Hui? Then, we'll be left with no way to defend ourselves, and we'll even be charged with malicious slander."

Lin Yu nodded slightly, his expression solemn: "This is exactly what I'm worried about. If someone really did something along the way, then this person must be very cunning and have figured out a way to evade detection long ago. He won't reveal his flaws easily."

"I have a guess in my mind." Madam Zhuang said slowly with a deep look in her eyes.
"They deliberately went to crowded places, even taking long detours. Could this be a deception? Deliberately trying to confuse people and disrupt the direction of our investigation?" She paused, then added, "Perhaps they wanted to frame the innocent palace maids on the street so they could stay out of the matter."

"If it's true as Aunt Zhuang said, then the person who poisoned is someone from Concubine Hui's palace?" Yunshan followed Aunt Zhuang's train of thought and continued to sort out the clues, trying to find the truth in this mess.

Aunt Zhuang shook her head. "This is just my conjecture. Similar things happened in the previous dynasty, and they used the same method, using others to cover up their own crimes."

The four of them discussed for a long time, and the situation became more and more confusing.

Lin Yu felt a wave of fatigue coming over her, and her expression became a little haggard. Seeing this, Aunt Zhuang hurriedly said:
"Your Majesty, your unborn child is the most important. Since we do not wish to publicly investigate this matter, please rest and recuperate. We will then make a long-term plan and conduct a secret investigation to uncover the mastermind behind this and give Your Majesty an explanation."

After Lin Yu slowly fell asleep, Yunshan tiptoed towards the bowl of cold soup that had caused such a commotion. She leaned down slightly, with her nose almost touching the edge of the bowl, and began to sniff carefully.

The rich aroma of the soup hits you in the face. The mixed taste of spices and ingredients is so strong that it almost completely covers up other aromas.

Yunshan frowned, held her breath, and tried hard to catch a hint of something strange beyond the strong smell.

Time passed little by little, and the tip of her nose turned slightly red from long and focused sniffing. Just when she was about to give up, a faint, barely perceptible smell penetrated her nasal cavity - it was strychnine!
In an instant, childhood memories flooded back like a tide. The gentle yet serious face of the Third Aunt appeared before her eyes, patiently teaching Yan Yu and her to identify various medicinal herbs, especially emphasizing the toxicity of strychnine:
"Ingestion of strychnine can initially cause headaches, irritability, rapid breathing, and even difficulty swallowing. In more serious cases, the teeth may clench tightly, and eventually suffocate and die."

Yunshan's face turned pale in an instant, and she looked at the bowl of cold soup in horror.

She knew very well that even if only a small amount of strychnine was added to the soup, given Lin Yu's special physical condition as she was pregnant with the emperor's eldest son, if she accidentally ate it, the consequences would be disastrous. She was afraid that the emperor's eldest son, who was hard-won, would be lost.

Thinking of this, Yunshan unconsciously clenched her hands into fists, her knuckles turning white from the force. She stared at the bowl of cold soup, her eyes full of anger and determination.

"Someone's still getting impatient!" She roared inwardly, "How dare they lay hands on the Crown Prince? I'm going to get revenge for the Empress!"

Over the next few days, Yunshan and Aunt Zhuang began a quiet yet arduous investigation, treading cautiously with every step, fearing they might arouse suspicion.

They started with the maid who delivered the cold soup, carefully asking her about every detail of her journey, including everyone she met and every place she stopped. Then, they quietly created opportunities to contact those mentioned, quietly observing their words and actions, trying to find flaws in the subtleties.

However, because the operation had to be extremely secretive and could not alert anyone, the investigation progressed very slowly. They could only gather clues bit by bit in the limited time.

A few days passed, and they secretly checked almost everyone they could, but they found nothing, no clues to indicate who was the one who poisoned the body.

In order to avoid leaving any suspicious traces, they even went to observe Concubine Hui's maids under the pretext of repaying Concubine Hui's kindness.

That day, the sun was shining brightly. Yunshan carried two plates of carefully made pastry and walked into Concubine Hui's bedroom with just the right smile on her face.

"Empress Hui, please sleep well. I won't disturb you. But this butter mountain is melting quickly. Could you lend me your ice bucket?"

Yunshan politely asked Huifei's maid, her tone gentle and irresistible. After getting permission, she took the Sushan and walked casually to the ice bucket next to the kitchen.

Between placing the shan shan, Yunshan's eyes quickly scanned every corner of the small kitchen, not missing any place that might hold a clue. She paid attention to the arrangement of ingredients, the cleanliness of the utensils, and even the cook's expression and movements.

However, after some investigation, nothing suspicious was found.

The investigation yielded no results, leaving Yunshan bewildered. Returning to her bedroom, she sat alone by the window, gazing blankly at the scenery outside. She pondered every detail, but she could not figure out who had poisoned her, and how had they managed to do it so flawlessly?

This matter has never come to any conclusion, which has caused them to become suspicious of everyone in the other palaces except Concubine Yang, and they no longer dare to trust them easily.

Invisibly, their hostility towards Concubine Hui was also increasing. Although there was no conclusive evidence, in the absence of other clues, Concubine Hui was still the biggest suspect.

(End of this chapter)