Emperor Ming Yuan and Prince Rui went forward to take a look. There were two pills. The center of one pill was ground open and was crimson, while the other one was faint yellow and black.
"The two pills look different? What is going on?" Prince Rui asked the imperial physician.
The imperial physician was confused, "That's impossible. These pills were made in the same batch, how could they be different colors?"
"Then I ask that the imperial physician examine them and see which one is poisonous," Yuan Qingling said coldly.
The imperial physician pointed at the crimson-centered pill, "This wasn't originally this color. Why is the center so extremely red?"
He broke off a bit of the pill and put it in a cup, poured water over it, then put in a silver needle. The entire needle turned black, indicating the extreme toxicity.
"Your Majesty!" The imperial physician fell to his knees with a thud, his lips trembling, "This is absolutely impossible. The medicine provided by the Imperial Medical Bureau has been tested to be nontoxic. Someone must have switched the pills!"
Emperor Ming Yuan's eyes turned icy cold, "Guards, seal off the Imperial Medical Bureau and investigate thoroughly!"
The guards left to carry out the order.
Prince Rui looked at Yuan Qingling, "How did you know the pills were different?"
Yuan Qingling explained, "One pill was missing. This means someone took away a pill. Why take it away? Clearly the pill that was taken had an issue. Eunuch Chang said the last time the medicine was administered, some pills fell on the ground. So it's possible the order got mixed up. The one taken away was nontoxic, while the one that should have been taken away remained here."
"Your analysis is right!" Prince Rui's eyes also chilled, "To dare poison the Retired Emperor, they really have no fear of death."
Emperor Ming Yuan directed all his anger onto the imperial physician. Yuan Qingling hesitated, "Father, I'm afraid the issue may not lie with the Imperial Medical Bureau."
Emperor Ming Yuan looked at her, "What do you mean?"
Yuan Qingling said, "There were three pills. To take away the toxic pill, only one pill needed to be switched. That way there would be no suspicion. But this person could not take out another Nine Revolutions Elixir pill, since those are made by the imperial physicians. The Imperial Medical Bureau surely could have provided more Nine Revolutions Elixir pills, there's no need to be short one pill and raise suspicion."
Emperor Ming Yuan nodded, "Reasonable."
Yuan Qingling continued, "There are three places the culprit could have gotten the pills. One is from the Retired Empress Dowager, one is the Retired Emperor, and the other is the Imperial Medical Bureau. The Imperial Medical Bureau can be ruled out based on previous analysis, because if they could get pills from there, they could have taken an extra one. Likewise, the Retired Empress Dowager's place can be excluded. The culprit directly switched out the Retired Emperor's medicine to add the poison. Because the pills were counted, after the Retired Emperor was poisoned, the culprit had to immediately take away the remaining toxic pill."
Prince Rui didn't understand, "Why did this person leave an extra poisonous pill? One pill was already enough to poison the Retired Emperor."
Yuan Qingling said, "A rushed poisoning means the dosage is hard to control precisely. So this second pill was backup, in case one wasn't enough. Adding the second pill the next day would ensure the poisoning succeeded."
"How does your mind turn so quickly?" Prince Rui praised.
The imperial physician was now greatly relieved. The Consort's words had helped exonerate the Imperial Medical Bureau.
Eunuch Chang said, "But the only people who could access these pills are our household and Xi Mama. No one else could get close."
Xi Mama knelt down, "That is so."
Emperor Ming Yuan had absolute trust in Eunuch Chang and Xi Mama. They had served the Retired Emperor for many years and were utterly loyal. They would never harm the Retired Emperor.
"How many people are allowed to serve in the palace?" Emperor Ming Yuan asked Eunuch Chang.
"In reply, Your Majesty, there are three people personally promoted by the Retired Emperor."
"Bring them here. I want to question them!" A sharp light flashed in Emperor Ming Yuan's eyes.
"Yes!" Eunuch Chang said and then left.
Among those allowed into the palace, there was Xiao Quan Zi. He was mainly responsible for walking the dogs and taking Fu Bao in and out of the palace.
There was also Xi Mei, who attended to the Retired Emperor's washing.
The other was Xiao Luo Zi, who was responsible for cleaning the inner palace. The bedchamber was very large, he cleaned it alone. The Retired Emperor disliked noise, he mostly stayed in bed, so Xiao Luo Zi had half a day for cleaning.
Eunuch Chang brought Xiao Quan Zi and Xi Mei. Xiao Luo Zi was nowhere to be seen.
Xiao Quan Zi and Xi Mei knew nothing about this matter. Questioning them yielded fluent responses, they didn't even know where the medicine was placed.
Yuan Qingling said, "This Xiao Luo Zi is key. Since he's responsible for cleaning the bedchamber, he must have touched the medicine box when dusting. It's not strange he knew. He must be found immediately."
Emperor Ming Yuan immediately ordered the entire palace searched to find Xiao Luo Zi.
Half an hour later, Xiao Luo Zi was found.
But he was already a cold corpse, dumped in an abandoned well in the Cold Palace.
The corpse was discovered by guards of the Cold Palace. As Emperor Ming Yuan had ordered a palace-wide search for Xiao Quan Zi, the Cold Palace guards vaguely recalled seeing Xiao Quan Zi enter the Cold Palace today. So they searched and found the corpse.
The Cold Palace guards were summoned for Emperor Ming Yuan to question personally.
"Other than Xiao Quan Zi, who else entered the Cold Palace?" Emperor Ming Yuan asked.
The guard answered, "In reply, Your Majesty, I only saw Xiao Quan Zi alone. The Cold Palace only has four guards doing shift patrols day and night. So I truly do not know if anyone else came after."
Eunuch Chang also personally searched Xiao Quan Zi's bedding and found a thousand-tael bank note.
The bank note was issued by Dingfeng Firm.
Yuan Qingling couldn't read bank notes, but seeing Prince Chu's large seal, her heart sank. She opened her mouth to defend, "Father, it couldn't be the Prince."
Emperor Ming Yuan wasn't stupid. Naturally he knew if it was Prince Chu, he certainly wouldn't use a note bearing Prince Chu's large seal.
The whole affair was someone framing the Fifth Prince.
And the planning was rushed, clearly prepared at the last minute. This person likely didn't expect the Retired Emperor's condition to improve.
It could be said Yuan Qingling's sudden intervention caused this person's original plans to fail completely. They had no choice but to hastily prepare another strategy, one that was bound to reveal flaws.
Only an attentive person would notice these flaws, because the Retired Emperor had been taking Nine Revolutions Elixir for some time already. And the elixir was suggested by the Retired Empress Dowager, so no one would be suspicious of it.
Thinking this, Emperor Ming Yuan looked at Yuan Qingling a couple more times. When the Fifth Prince married her, he was quite unhappy about his daughter-in-law, but after that disgraceful affair, he could only accept it. The imperial family could not be freely criticized.
Now looking at her, she didn't seem too bad, just her walking posture was a bit strange, like a crab.
He swept a glance at the imperial physician, "Hurry and see what the poison is!"
The imperial physician quickly said, "Yes, I will examine it right away."
Prince Rui looked at Yuan Qingling, "Do you know?"
Yuan Qingling shook her head, "I don't have expertise with poisons."
The imperial physician felt relieved. If the Consort knew everything, what purpose would the Imperial Medical Bureau serve?
Yuan Qingling actually could roughly guess what the poison was.
It should be cinnabar. Cinnabar can be used medicinally but overdosing causes poisoning. The Nine Revolutions Elixir already contained cinnabar. The Retired Emperor had been taking it long-term and was already mildly poisoned, though it was not severe yet. Suddenly increasing the dose would be devastating.
