Even on New Year's Eve, people weren't allowed to enjoy themselves properly. This Consort Liang was becoming more and more presumptuous. She would need to be taught a lesson one of these days.
Now that the Emperor had risen and was preparing to go to Shunan Palace, she had no choice but to get up as well and follow the imperial procession out of Yikun Palace.
"Ugh... wuwuwu... ugh... Mother, Mother I'm scared wuwuwu..."
Before they even reached the entrance, they could already hear the eldest princess crying and vomiting.
"His Majesty the Emperor arrives—"
Inside Shunan Palace, Consort Liang and Consort Ye were both in the front courtyard of the main hall. Consort Ye hurried forward with small steps: "This concubine greets Your Majesty."
Even at a time like this, she was still flirting and posturing. She must have known early on that palace servants were going to summon the Emperor. She wore vibrant clothes and looked at the Emperor with a face full of smiles.
What an annoying creature.
As the Xuanwu Emperor passed by her, he didn't even give her a glance. He walked straight into the inner hall to see the eldest princess lying in Consort Liang's arms: "How is Yu'er doing?"
Consort Liang had also cried herself into a mess, her hands still trembling as she held the eldest princess: "The imperial physician said she was severely frightened and can't be left alone."
Tonight's events happened suddenly. When Consort Liang got up, the eldest princess was also awakened by the screams.
She had followed right behind Consort Liang when she came out, but Consort Liang didn't notice.
There was indeed a female corpse wrapped in a straw mat in the bushes behind the outhouse. Consort Liang had the guards open the mat to look, and the state of death was quite miserable.
It looked like she had been strangled from behind, with a purplish-red mark around her neck. Her eyes seemed about to pop out of their sockets, making her look fierce and terrifying.
The appearance of hanged ghosts is never pleasant to look at, and those who are strangled look about the same.
The eldest princess had seen the dead woman's state and was so frightened she nearly fainted, falling to the ground and vomiting nonstop.
Only then did Consort Liang realize and hurriedly had palace servants summon the imperial physician.
To say who was busiest tonight, it wasn't the Emperor, but rather the group of unlucky imperial physicians from the Imperial Hospital who had drawn the short straw to be on duty on New Year's Eve.
An imperial physician was summoned to Consort Liang's palace to examine the eldest princess, one was called to the Empress's palace to treat Fengyun, Concubine Li also said she felt unwell and had a physician prescribe medicine for her, and Yan the Imperial Physician was called to Concubine Zhen's palace to safeguard her pregnancy.
But it was unclear what exactly had happened.
After seeing the eldest princess, the Xuanwu Emperor left Empress Zhu behind to comfort Consort Liang, while he went to examine the female corpse himself.
She was indeed wearing the clothes of a palace maid, but Wang Dequan and Tang Shiliang both went forward to look, then shook their heads at the Emperor: "Your Majesty, this palace maid looks very unfamiliar. This servant doesn't seem to have ever seen her before."
Wang Dequan's ability to serve as the head eunuch by the Emperor's side showed he had some skills.
For example, he had a photographic memory of every face in the palace.
He had been in the palace even longer than the Emperor, having been bestowed by the previous Emperor.
It could be said that every servant in the palace had passed before his eyes. He may not know the name of this unidentified female corpse, but if she had served in the palace, Wang Dequan would definitely remember her face.
But he indicated he had never seen her before, which meant that this dead woman was not a servant from the palace, but someone who had been brought in from outside.
The chaotic New Year ended with the Internal Affairs Department, Investigative Bureau and several palaces in an uproar.
Early the next morning, before Jiang Xinyue had a chance to eat breakfast, she was embraced by the Xuanwu Emperor who burst into her bedchamber.
She was about to speak when the Emperor flicked her forehead.
"Ah! Your Majesty, what are you doing?"
"I've discovered that my beloved consort's courage is growing bigger and bigger."
The Xuanwu Emperor looked at her with a serious expression: "Such a big incident happened last night, why didn't you have palace servants come find me? Do you know that I didn't even have the mood to receive New Year's greetings from the officials today? When Wang Dequan said you were almost bitten by a group of snakes last night, I..."
He paused for a moment, then hugged Jiang Xinyue again, kissing the top of her head in relief: "I now know that the most beautiful words in the world are not others, but 'it was just a false alarm.'"
Thankfully, it was just a false alarm.
Jiang Xinyue patted his back and said softly: "This concubine also felt it was just a false alarm. Although the process was dangerous, this concubine and the child in my womb are blessed people. We turned danger into safety, so why worry Your Majesty and the Empress unnecessarily? I had originally planned to tell you when you came. Although this concubine was not injured, the person who released the snakes is truly vicious. If they are not found, I'm afraid this concubine and the child may encounter such things again in the future."
The Xuanwu Emperor had seen the corpses of the slaughtered snake group. All the snakes had bright patterns and were highly venomous species.
The person behind this hated Concubine Zhen extremely and wanted her to be bitten to death by the snake group.
The Xuanwu Emperor nodded: "I've already ordered the Investigative Bureau to investigate. If they can't find out who did it, those useless people from the Investigative Bureau can bring their heads to see me."
Meanwhile, in Xihuo Palace, Concubine Li sat restlessly, sending Xia He out to check every few minutes: "Why haven't we heard any news yet? Concubine Zhen... Xia He, send someone out to inquire."
The morning light was just breaking through, with the sun peeking out from behind the clouds, leaving the sky still a bit hazy.
The events that occurred in the imperial harem had not yet spread outside. Today's sacrificial ceremonies were all simplified and finished quickly. It was only after all the consorts and concubines were gathered in one place that they learned of the many incidents that had happened last night.
"Shunan Palace?"
Concubine Li's eyes widened as she suddenly looked towards Consort De, who was sitting next to the Empress with a compassionate expression.
As if knowing she would look her way, Consort De turned her face towards Concubine Li and gave a faint, indescribably strange smile: "What's the matter? Does Concubine Li know something she wants to tell Consort Liang?"
Concubine Li hurriedly lowered her gaze to conceal the panic within, saying absent-mindedly: "This concubine was unwell last night and went to sleep early, so I don't know what happened in the palace."
"Oh!" Consort De turned her head away: "When I heard you mention Shunan Palace, I thought you might know something! If you don't know, then never mind."
Concubine Li's teeth now chattered uncontrollably at the sound of Consort De's voice.
How did she... manage to do it?
Last night, after the snake-raising woman was strangled to death, she had ordered people to secretly dump the body in Consort De's Yanqing Palace.
After all, among the princes in the palace, Consort De's third prince was the most favored by the Emperor and had the highest chance of inheriting the throne.
If she wanted to secure an honorable position for herself, she naturally wanted to become the adoptive mother of the third prince.
But with Consort De firmly established in the palace and having an excellent reputation, in order to adopt the third prince, she first had to remove Consort De.
That's why she came up with this plan to kill two birds with one stone, dumping the snake-raising woman's body in Yanqing Palace to arouse the Emperor's suspicion and cause Consort De to fall out of favor.
Jiang Xinyue was not easy to deal with. If she found out it was Consort De, whom she had always trusted, who tried to harm her, she would surely launch a fierce retaliation.
She could then reap the benefits as a bystander.
But why did the Empress just say that the body was discovered in Consort Liang's Shunan Palace?
Last night, her people had clearly dumped the body in Yanqing Palace!
While the various palaces were still trying to identify the nameless female corpse, Concubine Li had been frightened out of her wits by Consort De.
