On this day, after all the concubines had dispersed, only Song Zhao remained. She respectfully bowed to Noble Consort Chen and sincerely expressed her gratitude:
"I am deeply grateful to Your Ladyship for risking your life to save Cheng Yu."
Noble Consort Chen lazily yawned and allowed Song Zhao to kneel for a while before saying:
"You may rise. I have also experienced the pain of losing a child, so I understand the bitterness involved. I saved him not because of you, but because he is the Emperor's flesh and blood. As for you..."
She glanced at Song Zhao with a stern look in her eyes, filled with coldness. "I entrusted you with the task of cleaning the Plum Garden, but you turned it into a muddy mess. If it weren't for your incompetence, Consort Hui wouldn't have tripped and the Empress Dowager wouldn't have been startled, almost causing the death of your child!"
Noble Consort Chen's face was filled with disgust, and her tone revealed impatience.
"You can't even handle a small matter properly. If I were to entrust you with managing the six palaces in the future, wouldn't you cause chaos everywhere?"
Song Zhao didn't argue and simply replied humbly:
"Your Ladyship's teachings are heeded. I will carefully follow your instructions."
Seeing that Song Zhao did not retort, Noble Consort Chen rolled her eyes at her and said irritably:
"It's hard to have a conversation with you. Just stay kneeling."
After Song Zhao withdrew from the audience, Noble Consort Chen could no longer conceal her inner joy.
The corners of her mouth curved into a beautiful arc, and her phoenix-like eyes turned into crescent moons as she smiled.
She paced back and forth in the palace, her hands constantly caressing her swollen belly.
Liu Yue followed Noble Consort Chen closely, afraid that she might stumble or get hurt again.
"Noble Consort, you encountered a dangerous situation today, and you were somewhat affected. It would be better for you to rest and take the prescribed medicine for fetal safety," Liu Yue suggested.
"Liu Yue, did you hear?" Noble Consort Chen suddenly squeezed Liu Yue's hand, her eyes shining like stars falling from the sky.
"The imperial physician said I'm expecting twins, twins! Finally, I can bear children for the Emperor, and it's a double blessing! Do you think the Emperor will be as happy as I am when he hears this news? Will he cherish me even more in the future?"
Liu Yue smiled along with Noble Consort Chen.
"Of course! The Emperor has always loved and valued you the most. Now that you are about to give birth to twin heirs, I'm afraid he will soon promote you to the position of Imperial Noble Consort!"
Noble Consort Chen playfully tapped Liu Yue's cheek and then suddenly remembered something, saying hurriedly:
"Quickly go to the small kitchen and have them prepare the dinner. Remember to include the dishes that the Emperor likes. After he hears this news, he will definitely come to visit me. Also, the Emperor doesn't like the spiciness of chopped green onions in this season, so tell them to garnish with cilantro instead."
She kept giving instructions, and fearing that Liu Yue would forget, she added with a touch of petulance:
"Never mind, you are clumsy in everything you do. The meals prepared for the Emperor must be flawless. I'll personally oversee it."
*
As Song Zhao rode in a sedan chair back to the palace from Yonghe Palace, she chose to keep Cheng Yu in her arms throughout the journey instead of handing him over to the wet nurse.
She held Cheng Yu tightly in her embrace, for a child always felt safest and most secure in their mother's arms.
While Song Zhao looked down at her peacefully sleeping little one, her heart couldn't find a moment of calm.
In her mind, the image of Cheng Yu falling from the Empress Dowager's arms kept flashing back, tormenting her and causing her heartache.
If it weren't for Noble Consort Chen's selfless act of saving him today, she feared that she would have been forever separated from Cheng Yu.
Ever since Cheng Yu came into her life, Song Zhao lived in the palace with even greater caution.
She had been vigilant in every aspect, but accidents were called accidents because they were unpredictable.
Now, as she calmed down and thought about the events of the day, Song Zhao found them peculiar.
The Empress Dowager's concern for Cheng Yu was evident, and she wasn't seriously ill, so why did she suddenly lose her grip on the child?
At the time of the incident, besides Noble Consort Chen, the Empress was also standing beside the Empress Dowager...
As Song Zhao recalled, when Consort Hui fell, the moment the Empress Dowager turned around, she clearly showed symptoms of dizziness.
After contemplating for a while, Song Zhao had some pharmacological questions she wanted to ask Xiao Fuzi.
But when she opened the sedan curtain, she found only Yun Shan following the sedan.
She asked, "Where's Xiao Fuzi?"
Yun Shan replied, "She said she had something important to attend to and didn't say where she went."
Song Zhao leaned her head and glanced inside the sedan, then whispered, "Has the Crown Prince fallen asleep? Today's incident was really dangerous, thanks to Noble Consort Chen... However, it's unexpected that she would risk her life to save the Crown Prince... I feel indebted to her..."
Song Zhao pressed her temple with her slender finger and fell silent for a while before saying, "If there's a chance, I want to repay her kindness. The Ning family is destined to face calamity, but she... perhaps she still has a glimmer of hope."
After returning to the palace, Song Zhao waited until Cheng Yu had fallen asleep in her room before Xiao Fuzi finally returned.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, I thoroughly searched Mei Garden earlier and found nothing suspicious. Later, I went to the Imperial Pharmacy and learned about the prescription the Empress Dowager has been using to treat her cold."
Xiao Fuzi took out a crumpled prescription from his pocket and handed it to Song Zhao.
Song Zhao lowered her gaze and quickly read through it.
"Ephedra, cinnamon twig, siler root, aconite, vitex, and angelica root... These are all common medicinal ingredients used to treat colds. Did you notice anything unusual?"
Xiao Fuzi solemnly said, "The ephedra used in the palace is refined together with Tianchuangzi, and its effects are much faster than ordinary ephedra. But because of that, anyone who takes this medicine must abstain from drinking alcohol."
"Not only alcohol, but even a strong smell of alcohol is intolerable. Otherwise, they may experience temporary cardiac syncope, just like the Empress Dowager's symptoms today..."
The smell of alcohol is pungent, and the Empress Dowager is not a drinker. In theory, if she had smelled alcohol, she would have noticed it early on.
Moreover, Song Zhao was present throughout the day, and she didn't detect any smell of alcohol.
After a moment of deep thought, a dreadful speculation arose in Song Zhao's mind. She then asked Yun Shan,
"I want you to prepare the soup for the concubines, did the Empress ask for it?"
Yun Shan said, "After the Empress suffered damage to her body, she became extremely sensitive to the cold. When I brought the soup to her today, I saw that she already had one in her hands."
Upon hearing this, Song Zhao suddenly realized the truth.
Filled with anger, she slammed the table, tightly clenched her fists, and her fingertips dug into her flesh without feeling any pain.
Due to the incident with the snake in the Plum Garden last year, Song Zhao had added realgar to the soup she prepared for the concubines this time.
If the usual wine flavor was warmed in the soup, it would definitely be noticed by someone.
But if the Empress's soup contained realgar wine, it would perfectly blend in with the other soups that had realgar added to them, and no one would suspect a thing.
Moreover, the Empress was standing beside the Empress Dowager, who unconsciously kept smelling the wine aroma. Sooner or later, she would become dizzy, weak, and lose control of her limbs.
Therefore, regardless of whether Consort Hui had fallen or not, the Empress Dowager would 'accidentally' make Cheng Yu fall to the ground. It was only a matter of time.
After the incident, everyone would surely panic, and no one would dare to accuse the Empress Dowager of anything.
And by the time someone wanted to investigate later, the contents of the soup the Empress had would probably have been disposed of, leaving no trace.
Xiao Fuzi had the same suspicion as Song Zhao, which was why he went to the Imperial Hospital to find the Empress Dowager's prescription.
Seeing Song Zhao trembling with anger, he whispered beside her, "Your Majesty, it would be difficult to pursue this matter now..."
Song Zhao furrowed her brows tightly, her eyes filled with a murderous intent.
After a long silence, she finally spoke with a cold voice, "Why bother investigating someone who is already as good as dead? Instead of investigating, it would be better for me to send her off personally..."
"To ascend to bliss early!"
