Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 387 The Female Official of Lizheng Palace
After Wang Hong returned to the palace that day, he continued to do his job as if nothing had happened.

He was originally an Imperial Censor, but was now demoted to an eighth-rank eunuch, responsible for guiding people in and out of Changle Gate.

Whenever a lady of high rank wanted to see the emperor, he and three other eunuchs were responsible for leading the way.

This job basically means that the queen will never see her again. It is a tough job. The only benefit is that there are frequent opportunities to leave the palace.

The next afternoon, he left the palace again and came to the dilapidated house. When he entered the secret room, he found food, water, poison and gold cakes were all there.

He took a few gold cakes and went to Pingkangfang to spend a lot of money. He ate the best food, drank the most fragrant tea, bought the most expensive clothes, and spent another gold cake to let the top courtesan Wang Xiaoxian dance for him alone.

When the palace gates were about to close, he reluctantly returned to the palace.

On the third day, after noon, he kept staring at the Lizheng Hall.

Empress Wu usually prepared medicinal food for the emperor in the afternoon, and she would make it once every three days, so he would definitely have the opportunity to do it in the remaining three days.

It's a pity that I watched for the whole afternoon but got nothing.

Today, after noon, he came to keep watch again.

The sun was shining brightly and time was passing by. Wang Hong was sweating profusely and became more and more anxious.

At this moment, a palace maid came over from a distance. It was Yuping, the female official beside Wu Meiniang.

Yuping had been serving Empress Wu.

Empress Wu suddenly remembered that she had not prepared medicinal food for Li Zhi for a few days, so she asked her to get the ingredients and make a medicinal meal that would cool him down and relieve the heat.

Yuping then returned to Lizheng Hall. She first went to a side hall to convey the Queen's order to prepare medicinal food.

Then he carried a box of food, walked out of Lizheng Hall, and walked along the corridor towards the southeast.

Wang Hong was very familiar with the Lizheng Palace and could tell at a glance that Yuping was going to the Shangshi Bureau to get medicinal food ingredients.

Empress Wu was a very strict person and strictly controlled every step of the medicinal diet. Even the ingredients had to be picked up by trusted palace maids in Lizheng Palace instead of being delivered by people from the Shangshi Bureau.

So if Wang Hong wanted to poison, he could only do it under Yu Ping's nose, which made him frown.

Although Yuping was less than 30 years old, she had been with Empress Wu for more than ten years and was smart and capable. If one wanted to take action in front of her, the chances of success would be extremely small.

"Now I can only rely on the person who picked me up to see if he can find a solution." He prayed silently.

Wang Hong followed all the way and stopped at a corridor west of the Shangshi Bureau.

This place is located between two corners. No matter what you do, it will not be easily discovered, making it the most suitable place to start.

After waiting for a while, I saw Yuping had already taken the ingredients and came around the corner with the box of ingredients.

Wang Hong's heart tightened, and he walked towards her and greeted her.

"Yu Siji, what a coincidence."

Wang Hong had also been on duty in the Lizheng Hall, so Yuping knew him. She bowed to him and said softly, "Your Excellency Wang, you are honored."

Wang Hong wanted to chat for a few more words, but Yuping said, "My daughter has work to do, so please stay with me for a while." She passed by Wang Hong.

Wang Hong watched her walking further and further away, feeling very anxious.

At this time, a eunuch also came over from the other corner.

The eunuch was walking when he suddenly pointed at the ground and shouted, "Snake! Snake!"

There were tens of thousands of eunuchs in the palace, and Wang Hong did not know all of them.

However, the eunuch who came over, like Wang Hong, was once Zhang Duohai's confidant, named Zhou Zhi.

Wang Hong saw clearly that the snake was thrown out from his sleeve.

Few women are not afraid of snakes, not to mention that the snake was red all over and had a triangular head. It was obviously a poisonous snake, and it was right at Yuping's feet.

Yuping screamed, stepped back and fell accidentally.

The red snake hissed and kept crawling towards Yuping, who was so frightened that she froze.

At this moment, Zhou Zhi quickly stepped forward and reached out to grab the snake.

The snake dodged nimbly and turned to confront Zhou Zhi. Zhou Zhi tried to catch the snake repeatedly, but was dodged every time and was almost bitten.

"Be careful!" Yuping reminded hurriedly.

Seeing that the other party was trying to save her, she was very concerned and stared closely at the battle between man and snake. She didn't notice that Wang Hong had quietly opened the food box and put poison into one of the jars of honey.

The powder was white all over, and after being mixed with honey, there was nothing unusual about it.

After Wang Hong poisoned the person, he left quickly.

Seeing that he succeeded, Zhou Zhi finally took action and caught the snake.

Yuping asked, "Empress Zhou, are you okay?"

Zhou Zhi looked at his wrist and smiled, "It seems fine. How strange! Why are there snakes in the palace?"

Yuping said, "Maybe he came from the Forbidden Garden. Thank you very much."

Zhou Zhi smiled and said, "I'm glad Yu Siji is alright. I'm going to take this beast to the Shangshi Bureau. Maybe I can make a bowl of snake soup for Her Majesty the Queen."

Yuping smiled slightly and said, "Her Majesty the Queen doesn't like snake soup, you can make it for Zhang Shaojian."

Zhou Zhi laughed and said, "That's right." He bowed and said, "You are busy. I'll take my leave." Then he strode away.

Yuping looked at the direction Zhou Zhi left, then glanced at the food box in her hand, looking thoughtful.

At this time, four palace maids under the age of twenty walked over from a distance. When Yuping saw them, she waved to them.

These four women happened to be from the Lizheng Palace. Yuping asked them what they were doing, and one of them whispered, "Young Master Zhang told us yesterday to come to the Imperial Food Bureau and help him get five pounds of bear paws."

Yuping knew that Zhang Duohai was always greedy, so she didn't ask any more questions and just said, "Please help me do something."

The four girls looked at each other and said nothing. Compared to Yuping, they were more afraid of Zhang Duohai's blame.

Yu Ping said, "After you finish my work, it won't be too late to get the bear paw. If Zhang Shaojian blames you, I will take the blame for you."

The four of them then whispered, "Yes."

Yu Ping looked at two of them and said, "Go to Xianchi Palace and ask if Zhou Zhi is here. If not, where did he go?"

Then he looked at the other two and said, "Go to Changle Gate and ask if Wang Hong is here. If not, ask where he went. After you find out, come to Lizheng Hall and report back to me."

The four girls responded and left.

Yuping took the food box and returned to Lizheng Hall.

The medicinal food was prepared by three older palace servants. One of them saw Yuping returning with the food box and asked, "Why are you taking so long?"

Yuping said, "I encountered a snake on the road."

The three palace maids were shocked and asked what had happened. Yuping then told them the situation.

The oldest palace servant laughed and said, "That's strange. In the past few years, I've only heard of people encountering snakes in the Forbidden Garden, but I haven't heard of snakes in the harem."

Another person said, "Maybe he ran over from the Forbidden Garden."

The third person said, "Stop talking about this and quickly prepare the medicinal food."

Yu Ping suddenly said, "Don't be impatient, check the ingredients first."

The older palace servant's face changed and he asked, "You want to test for poison?"

Yuping nodded and said seriously, "I've thought carefully about what happened just now and I feel something is not right. Just in case, it's better to test it."

The second palace maid agreed, "Yuping is right. This is food for the saint, so we must be extremely careful."

The other two nodded.

The older palace maid first took out a silver needle, took out all the ingredients, and examined them one by one.

What I made today is autumn pear paste, the main ingredients of which are duck pears and honey.

After inspection, the silver needle did not change color.

But that's not all. Only poisons like arsenic can be detected with silver needles. There are many other poisons that cannot be detected with silver needles alone.

The second palace maid took out three bottles of medicinal powder. This was medicinal powder developed by the imperial physician at the Shang Pharmacy. If it encountered toxins, it might undergo corresponding changes.

If nothing is detected in all three bottles of powder, it is basically impossible that it contains toxins.

The poison testing process is not complicated. First, take clean water, then pour in the medicine powder, and finally pour in the poison testing ingredients.

An amazing scene appeared.

When the palace maid poured a spoonful of honey into the clear water with the second medicinal powder added, the clear water quickly turned black.

"Ah! It's really poisonous!" the third maid exclaimed. The older maid hurriedly said, "We must report this to Her Majesty the Queen immediately!"

The second palace servant said, "Her Royal Highness the Queen is still in the Linhu Palace having a banquet with the Saint. I will go and report to Her Royal Highness." After saying that, he left quickly.

The third palace servant said, "The person who poisoned me must be between Zhou Zhi and Wang Hong. We must arrest them immediately and don't let them escape."

The older palace attendant said, "I'll go inform General Yang Yuchen."

Yang Yuchen was a General of the Qianniu Guard and the chief guard of the Lizheng Palace. He had always been trusted by Wu Meiniang.

When he learned of the situation, he immediately sent out the Qianniu Guards to arrest Wang Hong and Zhou Zhi in the palace.

However, the two young palace maids, under Yuping's orders, went to Changle Gate to inquire about Wang Hong's situation, but were told that Wang Hong had just left the palace.

The two were about to report when they suddenly saw a eunuch in his forties coming hurriedly, as if he was about to leave the palace.

A key eunuch scolded with a smile: "Zhou Zhi, are you leaving the palace again?"

After hearing this, the two women looked at each other, stopped and looked at Zhou Zhi.

Zhou Zhi smiled bitterly and said, "Palace Master He asked me to go out of the palace to buy some things again. This is the approval letter from the Eunuch Supervisor."

The key eunuch said, "Your Xianchi Palace is usually deserted, so why would you want to buy so many things?"

Zhou Zhi sighed, "I wanted to ask that too."

Although his rank was low now, his qualifications were still there. The eunuch in charge of the keys was also very familiar with him. He thought he was just being given a hard time and did not make things difficult for him and let him go.

People need to be searched when leaving the palace to prevent anyone from taking things out of the palace.

Just as the two eunuchs were searching Zhou Zhi, two young men came up from the palace road in the distance, and they seemed to be leaving the palace as well.

Zhou Zhi's face changed drastically, and he said hurriedly: "Please help the two nobles check first, and then check me later." He stood by the palace wall with his head lowered, as if he was afraid of being seen by the two young men.

The two people were Helan Minzhi and Li Ji.

The palace banquet in Linhu Palace had ended, and King Li Zhen of Yue and Li Zhi went to Ganlu Palace to play chess again.

A game of chess between two people usually takes more than an hour.

Li Ji was young and couldn't stand standing for a long time, so he said goodbye to Li Zhen and left the palace first with Helan Minzhi.

When Helan Minzhi passed by the two young palace maids, he turned his head to glance at them and smiled slightly.

"You are from Lizheng Palace, right? I think I have seen you before."

A young palace maid blushed slightly and said softly, "I, Xiaohong, pay my respects to Mr. Helan."

Helan Minzhi was a dashing man who usually loved talking to young girls. He smiled and asked, "What are you doing here? Are you going to leave the palace?"

Xiao Hong hurriedly said, "We are here at Changle Gate on orders from Yu Siji to inquire about something."

Helan Minzhi smiled and said, "Sister Yuping? What did she ask you to find out?"

Xiao Hong said, "Yu Siji asked us to come over and ask if a eunuch named Wang Hong is here."

At this moment, the key-holding eunuch behind him exclaimed.

Everyone turned around and saw a eunuch running out of Changle Gate. It was Zhou Zhi.

After crossing the side street, he continued running wildly on the main street of the imperial city without stopping, almost bumping into an official.

Helan Minzhi was surprised and asked, "Who is that eunuch? Why is he so ignorant of the rules and running wildly in the palace?"

Li Ji frowned and said, "I don't know." He looked at the eunuch in charge of the keys.

The eunuch hurriedly said, "My lords, that was Zhou Zhi from Xianchi Palace. He was ordered to go out of the palace to purchase supplies. I don't know why he suddenly went crazy."

Xiao Hong said, "By the way, Yu Si Ji also seems to have asked Xiao Xing and the others to go to Xianchi Palace to inquire about a eunuch named Zhou Zhi."

After Helan Minzhi became the Marquis of Wu, he thought everyone looked like a thief. When he heard what Xiaohong said, he suddenly felt something was wrong.

"Brother Li, there must be something fishy about that guy. Do you want to chase him and take a look?"

Li Ji felt that Zhou Zhi's name sounded familiar, so without thinking too much, he said, "Let's go and take a look!"

The two men were about to leave the palace, so they immediately ran after Zhou Zhi.

Not long after they left, Yang Yuchen, accompanied by a large group of Qianniu Guards, hurried over and shouted to the eunuch in charge of the keys, "Where is Wang Hong?"

The eunuch in charge of the keys also realized that something was wrong and said hurriedly, "He has left the palace."

Yang Yuchen asked again, "Where is Zhou Zhi?"

"He has left the palace, but His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu and Mr. Helan have already caught up with him."

Yang Yuchen was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly asked what was going on. After hearing the situation clearly, he also led his men out of Changle Gate.

The banquet in Linhu Palace had ended, and Li Zhi and Li Zhen went to play chess again.

Wu Meiniang remained in the Linhu Palace, chatting with the concubines. Most of the princes and princesses also left, only the third prince Li Yong and the crown prince Li Hong stayed.

Li Hong stood behind Wu Meiniang, and Li Yong stood behind Yang Cairen.

They were the two with the best patience. Even though they found it boring to listen to a group of women chatting, they still wanted to spend more time with their own mothers.

At this time, a palace maid came quickly and whispered a few words in Zhang Duohai's ear.

Zhang Duohai was shocked and went to Wu Meiniang and told her about the poisoning.

Wu Meiniang's eyes flickered a few times, but her expression remained calm. She said to the other concubines, "It's getting late. This day is really making us sleepy. Let's all go back to the palace and rest."

The concubines took their leave one after another.

Wu Meiniang then turned to Li Hong and said, "You've been studying hard in the Eastern Palace recently, and you've also had people collect ancient and modern literary collections and compile them into 'Yaoshan Yucai'. This is very good. But you should also take care of your younger brothers and sisters more often."

Li Hong replied, "I'll remember it."

Wu Meiniang waved her hand and said, "Go ahead."

After Li Hong left, Wu Meiniang hurried back to Lizheng Hall, her face gradually becoming gloomy.

After returning to the bedroom, he called Yuping over and asked her about the situation in detail.

After Yuping recounted what happened, she asked, "Yuping, how do you know there's something wrong with them?"

Yu Ping said, "Your Highness, I was frightened by the snake at the time and didn't think much of it. But after the snake was caught, I discovered that Wang Hong had disappeared. This made me very surprised."

Wu Meiniang said: "Well, go on."

Yu Ping said, "I also noticed that Zhou Zhi was very skilled at catching snakes. How could a eunuch who had been in the palace for so many years be so skilled? I suspect that the snake was raised by him."

Wu Meiniang's eyes showed a hint of admiration, and she asked, "Anything else?"

Yu Ping said, "Later, I thought, these two people were once in Lizheng Palace, and both were demoted. It's too coincidental that they appeared beside me at the same time."

Wu Meiniang smiled and said, "Yes, my training of you has not been in vain. Fortunately, you are careful, otherwise I would have been harmed by the thieves."

Yu Ping hurriedly said, "Your Highness has sharp eyes. Even if this servant can't find it, you will definitely be able to discover the thief's conspiracy."

Wu Meiniang said calmly, "Yuping, Jiang Yan has just resigned from her position as Shang Gong. You will take over her position from now on."

Yu Ping's face lit up with joy as she kowtowed and said, "Thank you, Your Highness."

Wu Meiniang glanced at Zhang Duohai again, with murderous intent flashing in her eyes.

Zhang Dahai slid to his knees and kowtowed, saying, "I am guilty. Please punish me, Your Highness."

Wu Meiniang said grimly, "Oh, what crime have you committed?"

Zhang Duohai whispered, "Wang Hong and Zhou Zhi were both promoted by me. I am guilty of misjudging people!"

Wu Meiniang said coldly, "Then why are you still kneeling here? If you can't catch them both, I won't forgive you."

Zhang Duohai hurriedly stood up and said, "I will arrest them right away."

As soon as I walked out of Qianhua Gate, I saw Helan Minzhi and Li Ji coming over with someone. Who else could it be but Zhou Zhi?
Zhang Duohai was overjoyed and walked over quickly, bowing and saying, "Your Highness, Prince Wu, Lord Helan, how did you catch this thief?"

Helan Minzhi laughed and said, "When we entered Changle Gate, we saw this old guy sneaking around and running wildly. We heard that Sister Yuping was asking about him, so we chased him and finally caught him at Suzaku Gate."

"By the way, what did he do? Why did he run away when he saw us?"

Zhang Duohai stared at Zhou Zhi and said, "This villain wants to murder Her Majesty the Queen!"

Helan Minzhi was shocked and asked hurriedly, "Is my aunt okay?"

Zhang Da Hai smiled and said, "Her Majesty the Queen is in good health."

Several people immediately took Zhou Zhi back to Lizheng Hall to report to Wu Meiniang.

(End of this chapter)