Golden branches and jade leaves

Chapter 16
"Your Majesty!" Xianglin raised his head resolutely, and said, "I have an important matter to report to Your Majesty!"

"Uh, what's the matter?" Su Mi smiled, and she asked softly.

"I'm afraid that the child in the empress's womb was not lost because of the serious injury, but someone wanted to frame the empress!" Xianglin said decisively and shockingly.

"What?" Su Mi exclaimed in shock, and the teacup in her hand fell to the ground.

Anticipating the effect of his words, Xianglin looked around vigilantly, and said in a low voice, "Please let your maidservant tell you carefully. In fact, more than ten days ago, that morning, your servant just happened to..." After narrating my own experience in detail, I gritted my teeth and said: "At first, this slave girl really didn't know that it was to harm the empress, but she just heard a few words indistinctly. To the empress, but thinking that the empress has always been deeply in love with the Zheng Guipin sisters, I am afraid that it is Xianglin's villainous heart, suspicious, and how can the situation in the dream be taken seriously? So I dare not say it. Now I heard that the empress Only after hearing the news of the birth, did I start to suspect what happened that day..."

"Is what you said true?" Su Mi stood up abruptly, and without knowing it, her white and tender feet kicked Jasper's pedal over, and then put her hand on her forehead, as if she was dizzy, and almost fell, "How could this happen? ?!"

"Whether it's true or not, Madam will know when the imperial physician examines the anti-fetal drugs." Xiang Lin saw that Su Mi didn't seem to blame himself, and said quickly.

Just as I was talking, I heard a commotion outside, and Miqing ran in screaming, out of breath, and said: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, it's not good, Musk! My Majesty, several imperial doctors in the imperial hospital are talking about medicines. ... musk!"

Musk? !
Xianglin couldn't help but feel a little strange, and then he was relieved, where in the world is there such a medicinal material as red vine? It's not like using musk and red flowers. Fortunately, he made the right bet and didn't pin his hopes on the palace lady of Xifu that day. words.

Su Mi looked at her face and smiled secretly, the red radish vine is extremely rare, this little girl will definitely not know, even Zheng Guibi has never heard of it.

Mi Qing has already explained the imperial physician's judgment in detail.Listening to Miqing's report, Su Mi's face was first full of surprise, then sad and silent, Xianglin looked at her anxiously.

After a long time, Su Mi said dejectedly: "On weekdays, everyone between the sisters is friendly, how can I imagine that there will be such things in secret, I have never liked to think about these things, I always think that being so peaceful in the palace is just... And now..." As she spoke, tears fell down her cheeks.

"Your Majesty, don't be sad, hurry up and enter the palace and let the empress and the emperor decide, such a big event..." Mi Qing suggested from the side.

Su Mi wiped away her tears, and said again: "How powerful is Ni Guifei, how can I, a young concubine who has not entered the palace for a long time, be able to compare? Or..."

"That's right, it's better to think about it long-term, my maidservant didn't understand that day..." Xianglin faltered.Let her go against Concubine Ni Gui, she is an old birthday star who hanged herself and thinks she will die too long.

Just now she was only concerned about clearing herself of the crime of participating in the poisoning of the emperor's heir, but now she has to worry about Ni Guifei's influence, lest Su Mi force her to testify and expose Ni Guifei.There is no basis for this matter, it is all her own words.As long as Ni Guifei denies it flatly, no one can do anything to win her.And she, a little court lady, got involved in this matter and didn't know how she died?
"But empress, many imperial physicians from the imperial hospital were present when the slaves went to ask questions, so now most of the people in the imperial hospital know about it. You can't hide it. Imperial physician Liu has already brought the medicinal materials to the empress empress. Originally, the empress was ordered to take care of the mother's fetal portrait, and she specifically confessed to the Imperial Hospital, and anyone who has anything related to the mother's fetal portrait should be reported in time." Mi Qing said from the side.

"Ah?!" Xianglin's complexion changed, and she fell to the ground, she was doomed now.

"At this point, I have no choice but to go to Fengyi Palace." Su Mi looked at Xiang Lin.

Xianglin's face was ashen.

When Qi Long hurried to Fengyi Palace, the entire Fengyi Palace was filled with awe.

Originally, now is the time to pay respects to the queen. Apart from dying under the assassin's knife, there are also those who have been injured and cannot get up. Most of the concubines have arrived, but there are still many empty seats. It used to be cold and depressed a lot.

Sitting at the head is the empress, wearing a bright red dress embroidered with gold thread, wearing an amber phoenix crown, and a tortoiseshell hairpin with double fishes inserted obliquely. .

On the left is Concubine Ni. She is dressed in a homely light green pleated skirt with fine patterns and is covered with a small fox fur waistcoat. A few beaded flowers are dotted with scattered black hair. She is leaning on the gold silk goose feather cushion behind her. On the face, although her face is still relaxed, but from the violent shaking of the pearl earrings next to her ears, it can be detected that her body is trembling slightly, and her two bare hands are unconsciously twisting the brocade handkerchief in her hand tightly.

Kneeling below was a girl in a palace dress, and Liu Cheng from the Imperial Hospital was standing beside her with her hands down.

Seeing Qi Long coming in, all the concubines stood up and saluted.

"Forget it," Qi Taki waved his hands impatiently, and one could tell from his hasty tone that he was extremely irritable and eager: "What's going on here?" He asked the queen.

"Your Majesty, please be the master of your concubines!" Su Mi was the first to come out of the queue and cried softly, sobbing softly.

Seeing her bowing down gracefully, Qi Long immediately stretched out his hand to help her up, "You are not in good health and you are injured, why did you rush here? What if you catch a cold?"

"Concubine Su's body is inappropriate, so don't stick to these customary etiquette." The queen also said aside.

"Your Majesty, this matter concerns the concubine's children, and the concubine really has to care about it!" Su Mi cried out sadly.

"I just hope that the emperor and empress will deal with it fairly, and give Su Mi justice." Su Mi bowed her lapel solemnly, and Qi Taki hurriedly supported her.

"What's going on here? Isn't the queen always in charge of the harem and handle things strictly? How could such a thing happen?" Qi Long asked.

"Your Majesty, I would like to ask Rong Chenqie to report carefully. The Chenqie also just received the news. The Imperial Physician Liu from the Imperial Hospital has just come to report this matter. This girl is from Concubine Zheng Gui of Caiwei Palace..."

"There's no need to report these. I already know, and now I just want to know the truth of the matter?" Qi Long shouted to the queen angrily, with a very ugly expression on his face.

When he was dealing with government affairs just now, the steward of the imperial hospital rushed in to report the incident, and he was greatly shocked. Although there are often jealousy and disputes in his harem, like Concubine Ni once went to Concubine Yun to make a noise However, these are just ordinary women's jealousy, at most he can just laugh it off.But now such a major event of blatant poisoning of human life happened, and the target of the poisoning was still the emperor's heir, which made him extremely angry who was eagerly looking forward to having a son.

"Well, Your Majesty, the concubine is also investigating." The queen bowed her head.Su Mi's group also just arrived at Fengyi Palace, before she had time to ask Xianglin and the others in detail, Qi Long hurried over.

"Okay, I'll just watch here and see who is so daring to do such vicious things in my deep palace." Qi Long said bitterly, with a chill in his voice, All the concubines lowered their heads and did not dare to answer.

After Qi Long sat down, the queen looked at Xiang Lin who was kneeling and shaking into a ball, and said seriously: "Now the emperor is here, and the masters of all palaces and courts are here, you carefully explain the whole story from beginning to end. Let me tell you in detail, if there is one word of falsehood, I will definitely not forgive you."

At this time, Concubine Ni Gui also leaned down, smiled at her and said: "This matter is very important, you have to be honest, what you 'hear', and what you 'see', you have to have evidence. Tell me the truth, and don’t make half a lie! Otherwise, even if the empress is magnanimous, I hate this kind of "conspiracy to frame" the most. I will never tolerate you!"

Xianglin's face was pale, and she almost fainted.She knew that her life was hanging by a thread at this time, so she mustered up her courage, but she didn't dare to raise her head, and told the story carefully.

When Xianglin's trembling voice said that she heard the conversation of the people in the room, following her narration, Concubine Ni's expression became a little uncomfortable.Originally, she thought that her plan was foolproof, and red radish vines were so rare and difficult to identify, even if they were sent to the imperial hospital, she would not be able to see anything, but she did not expect that such a girl would ruin her.

Just when Xiang Lin was about to talk about the origin of the mysterious maid, Concubine Ni suddenly coughed, and naturally let out a soft "hum".In the low-pitched discussions among the concubines, it was not obvious in the rustling whispers.But it was like a lightning strike when it reached the ears of those who cared.

Xianglin's voice trembled, and he paused for a while, after all, he didn't say anything about Xifu Palace, but replaced this paragraph with something he didn't hear clearly.

Su Mi couldn't help raising her eyebrows when she heard this.Under Ni Guifei's long-term accumulation of power, this girl is not brave enough after all, but it's okay, anyway, she doesn't expect to be able to bring down Ni Guifei by virtue of this, no matter what happens next, it will be beneficial and harmless to her.the most important is……

"Emperor Liu," the queen turned to Liu Cheng after hearing Xianglin finished the matter, "You also explain today's affairs carefully."

"I obey your orders," Imperial Physician Liu immediately stepped forward and reported politely: "This morning, I was discussing with several colleagues about the new medicinal materials. The girl Miqing from the palace of the Empress Concubine Su came to me and said that it was the medicine that was used in the past. The birth control medicine given by Mrs. Zheng Gui to Mrs. Su, because Mrs. Su is no longer needed, and the medicine is expensive and not easy to throw away, so I want to pass it on to Liu Cairen. Please bring it here and ask Weichen to see if there are any insects. There are tides and the like, but when I opened it for inspection, I smelled a kind of fragrance. From my shallow experience, it seems to be musk. Although musk is rare and expensive, certain medicinal materials can also be used as medicine to cure diseases. , the effect of promoting blood circulation and dispelling stagnation, but pregnant women must not take it. Once taken to a certain amount, it will inevitably lead to induced labor. Therefore, this substance must not appear in the anti-fetal drugs used by pregnant women. I am afraid I made a mistake in my judgment and wronged someone, and I even asked my colleagues to help me check it out, it is undoubtedly Musk..."

When Concubine Ni heard the imperial doctor talking about musk, she couldn't help showing a little doubt in her expression, and the expression on her face changed uncontrollably several times. She lowered her head to cover it up, but she thought quickly in her heart, she obviously used red radish How did the vine turn into musk?Seeing that the medicinal materials are indeed the package that I ordered someone to send, that's right, who added ingredients to it?Could it be Concubine Zheng?
But these can be checked later, now is not the time to think about it, since it has become Musk... She thought about it for a while, suddenly her eyes lit up, and then a smile flashed across her face, she looked up at Concubine Yun, viciously smile.

Seeing that no one around her looked at her, Concubine Ni leaned back slightly, gestured to Xia Zhen who was behind her, and then nodded slightly to Concubine Yun. Seeing Concubine Ni's eyes, Xia Zhen suddenly realized , but the expression on his face did not change at all, he secretly glanced around, turned around and went out without anyone paying attention.

Concubine Ni lifted the teacup and took a sip. The eyes of all the concubines were focused on Imperial Physician Liu, and no one noticed this episode.

Only Su Mi had a panoramic view of all these actions, she staggered her eyes, lowered her head, and sighed secretly, Concubine Ni Gui has such a clever mind, but this time, her eyes fell on Concubine Yun, I am afraid that she will be doomed .

At this time, Imperial Physician Liu had finished describing what had happened, bowed and retreated.

The queen asked again: "Physician Liu, do you know what symptoms you will experience after taking this pack of anti-fetal medicine? How many times will it cause miscarriage?"

Su Mi became nervous when these words caught his ears.

Imperial Physician Liu thought for a while, and replied: "According to the ingredients of this anti-fetal medicine and the amount of musk in it, if you only take it two or three times, it will not cause serious problems, but it will have the effect of stabilizing the fetal image. It will be dangerous." Turning to Su Mi again, he said, "I'm afraid Madam Su took it about three or four times?"

"Ah!" Su Mi covered her mouth lightly, and lamented: "The concubine took it twice before, and the effect was very good. After waking up from the coma this time, the servant was afraid that the emperor's heir would be hindered, so he hurriedly prepare Well, the doubled amount of anti-fetal medicine was given to the concubine immediately, but who knew that not long after drinking it..."

"Hmm..." The queen kept turning thoughts in her mind, she looked at Su Mi, who was bowing her head meekly and weeping endlessly.Could it be that the abnormality of her fetal image is because of this?This is also possible...

Qi Taki's face was cloudy and uncertain at this time.

It seems that Zheng Guibin poisoned the dragonborn as a fait accompli fact, anyway, a dead person can't argue for himself.But now the key question is: Who is behind her instigation?

The concubines couldn't help talking, and their voices became louder and louder.

"Your Majesty, my concubine is a bit humble, and I don't know what to say." Ni Guifei broke the deadlock and said while watching Qi Long.

"If Ye Lin has any opinions, let's talk about it." Qi Long said.

"According to my concubine, this matter is really serious and vicious. Considering that the harem of this dynasty has always been harmonious with the six palaces and the sisters love each other deeply, how would I have thought that such a vicious thing would be done in private." Ni Yelin had a look of hatred. With a serious expression, he said: "In my opinion, since the murderer used musk, it's better to start here. Whoever gave the medicine, just search all the palaces and courtyards, and find where there is musk."

Qi Taki nodded.

The concubines below were in an uproar. As a precious spice, musk has a pleasant aroma, so many concubines naturally like to use it.Immediately, a concubine wanted to stand up and protest.

Concubine Ni saw it, and immediately added: "Your Majesty, according to the humble opinion of my concubine, the one who can instruct the earth to move the noble concubine Zheng must not be a low-level concubine, at least a concubine or above. Zheng Guifei, why not just search within this range."

The concubines below were relieved.

"Why is it so troublesome? There are fixed numbers of spices and utensils in the palace, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs has to keep a special record. As long as He Yuwang is called, won't it be clear after asking?" the queen said.

"The empress's words are wrong. If she wanted to do such a vicious thing, how could she leave any evidence? Of course, she tried her best to not record it." Concubine Ni retorted. "In Yichenqie's opinion, He Yuwang should really be called together, and checked against the records of the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

What more does the Queen have to say?Qi Long had already said: "That's all, now the concubines of all courts are here, let's start searching from now on. I will never allow this kind of thing to run rampant in the harem."

Immediately ordered Gao Shengnuo to take a group of young eunuchs to go, and at the same time sent He Yuwang.Gao Shengnuo was about to take orders and leave.

"Wait a minute!" Concubine Ni Gui suddenly interrupted, she stood up and bowed to Qi Long with a solemn expression: "I have another merciless request. Since it was my idea to search the palace, I want to ask the emperor to issue an order." First search the Xifu Palace of the concubines, to show justice and strictness." These words were resounding, generous and selfless.

Seeing that she was so determined, the concubines admired her in their hearts. Those who originally had complaints didn't have much to say at this time.

Qi Long thought about it, and said: "Alright, it's rare that Ye Lin has such a fair and selfless mind, let's start with Xifu Palace first."

Gao Shengnuo took the order and left.

Su Mi couldn't help but clapped her hands and applauded, Ni Yelin's thoughtfulness is so meticulous, this righteous and stern speech, which is high-sounding, not only made the emperor think that she was general and selfless, but also the concubines saw that she set an example, and would not raise any questions against her again. There is a grudge about the palace search.And I don't know if such a move will buy enough time for her subordinates to arrange the layout in Concubine Yun's Juhe Palace.Anyway, a good reputation is earned first and foremost.

(End of this chapter)