After Song Zhao returned to the palace,
Xiao Fuzi brought her a bowl of decocted tranquility medicine and instructed:
“Your Highness has gone through a lot today, please drink this tranquility medicine first and be careful not to disturb the fetus.”
Song Zhao picked up the bowl and gently swirled it, smiling lightly: “My child is very promising, not so fussy. Besides, I’m in a good mood today, I don’t feel tired at all.”
She drank the medicine, handed the empty bowl to Xiao Fuzi, and then lowered her voice, speaking in a volume only the two of them could hear:
“Did you go tell Yun Shan the news?”
Ever since Consort Hui moved in to live here, the master and servant spoke to each other privately with great caution.
They were afraid of walls having ears and disasters stemming from the mouth.
Xiao Fuzi moved closer to Song Zhao and whispered like a mosquito:
“I told her as soon as I got back. Yun Shan knows the Empress has gone through these things, so she’s also relieved of some resentment. However, I was afraid she would worry, so I didn't tell her that all this was Your Highness’ scheme.”
“It’s right not to tell her. She’s too naive. I don't want her to worry either.”
Song Zhao looked at the ice in front of her, the corners of her lips curving into a trace of sinister smile:
In fact, the series of accidents today were orchestrated by Song Zhao from beginning to end.
Earlier, the reason the phoenix robe’s eastern pearl fell off was because when Xiao Fuzi went to the laundry department to retrieve clothes per Song Zhao’s order, he took the opportunity when it was crowded to tamper with it.
It was also the laundry department workers’ own fault for being negligent on duty.
In the summer, with the increase of clothes sent for washing by the imperial consorts and concubines of all palaces, in order to save trouble, the laundry workers did not separate and store the Empress’ phoenix robes from the common clothes of imperial consorts and concubines.
This gave Xiao Fuzi a chance to do something.
When all the palaces went to retrieve clothes, he loosened the gold thread from which the eastern pearl hung on the phoenix robe.
This way, after the Empress wore the phoenix robe for a few days, the eastern pearl at the hem would naturally drop,
fall at her feet, and she could easily step on it and slip.
Even if the eastern pearl didn't fall off, or the Empress didn't step on it, it wouldn't matter.
Anyway, Song Zhao wanted her to give premature birth, so she always had a backup plan to make sure she couldn't have a peaceful pregnancy.
Perhaps it was the Empress’ own retribution for her misdeeds, Song Zhao only schemed this one time, yet she really did give premature birth.
And Song Zhao?
She was afraid the Empress could survive, so when she went with Xiao Jingheng to visit the Empress, she hid a package of colorless, odorless powdered medicine in her sleeve beforehand.
It was Blood Invigoration Powder that Xiao Fuzi had stolen from the imperial pharmacy.
This substance evaporates very quickly when meeting water, and just smelling it has the miraculous effect of invigorating blood and dissolving stasis.
After the Empress safely gave birth to a girl, when Song Zhao and Xiao Jingheng went in to visit her,
Song Zhao took the opportunity when everyone's attention was on the Empress to surreptitiously throw this stuff into the ice vat holding the ice in the Empress' inner chamber.
The Empress could not be exposed to wind after giving birth,
so the doors and windows of the inner chamber had to be kept tightly shut.
When the Blood Invigoration Powder was sprinkled on the ice, it was colorless and odorless, not easy to detect. As the ice melted into water, it would quickly evaporate.
With the inner chamber's doors and windows closed, the Empress would naturally inhale it unknowingly,
which would inevitably lead to massive hemorrhaging!
This pregnancy of the Empress was premature, and labor-inducing medicine was used, so she already had the risk of massive hemorrhaging.
When the news spread, Kunning Palace would be thrown into chaos.
The imperial doctors who came would focus on treating the Empress first and wouldn't notice anything amiss.
By the time half of the ice in the palace melted and the palace maid brought it out to dump and replace it with new ice,
the evidence would be gone.
By then, what could Xiao Jingheng's investigation turn up?
Moreover, with the Empress losing so much blood from the hemorrhage, there would certainly be no way to detect traces of Blood Invigoration Powder used in her body.
This scheme was meticulously planned. Even if someone wanted to investigate, there was no lead.
However, Song Zhao also miscalculated in this plot.
She had intended to directly take the Empress’ life, but didn't expect the Empress to survive!
Song Zhao was puzzled in her heart.
As she used a silver pick to stir the candle wick, she murmured:
“But no matter how I think about it, I just can't understand. Premature labor, taking labor-inducing medicine, plus massive hemorrhaging - even an ordinary person going through these life-threatening situations would find it extremely difficult to survive. Let alone the Empress?
Doesn't she have a heart condition? Going through all this torment, how could she still cling to life?”
Xiao Fuzi said: “Perhaps she has great luck, at the expense of her descendants’ blessings, which brought her tremendous fortune and longevity?”
Song Zhao pondered slightly, looking up at Xiao Fuzi whose eyes also revealed puzzlement, and shook her head:
“I'm wondering, is there a possibility that the so-called heart condition was made up by the Empress, an act from beginning to end?”
