Jiang Deshun said that the embroidered pouch containing a dirty substance was found in her inner chamber.
Every day when she went to pay respects to the Empress, Yun Shan would diligently clean her inner chamber, so it would be impossible for this pouch to have been hidden there for several days without being discovered.
Therefore, it was certain that the pouch was only placed in her chamber today.
Today, when the six palaces learned of her promotion to a regular consort, almost all the concubines in the harem came to offer her gifts.
Among them, led by the Empress, were Consort Chen, Consort Yun, and Consort Ying, who sent palace maids to deliver the gifts. Song Zhao only received them in the outer hall.
Consort Yao encountered Song Zhao in the courtyard early in the morning, so she gave her the gift right there in the courtyard and didn't even come to the outer hall of the western side palace.
As for Consort Hui, she had a childish nature and didn't understand the art of winning people's favor, so she didn't even send anyone to deliver a gift to Song Zhao.
Therefore, the only people who entered the inner chamber today were Li Changzai, Xiao Changzai, Liu Changzai, and Consort Shu.
Consort Shu, who was pregnant, was always cautious and had only two more months until her due date. She was more concerned about her own child than anyone else and would naturally not harm her own child by falsely accusing Song Zhao.
As for that wild ginseng, it was obvious that something had gone wrong when it was sent to Consort Shu's palace.
Xiao Changzai and Liu Changzai never had a chance to come into contact with it.
Thinking it over, the only person who had both the motive and the means to do this was Li Changzai.
If anyone wanted to inquire about the recipes Consort Shu consumed each day, it wouldn't be difficult.
Wild ginseng is a precious item, and Consort Shu, who cared so much about her unborn child, would naturally not miss out on any nourishing food.
So as long as Li Changzai knew which day Consort Shu's meal would include ginseng, she would have prepared the "dirty substance" in advance and found a way to place it in Song Zhao's palace, thus establishing her guilt.
Song Zhao's eyes, filled with coldness, peered through the cracks of the diamond-shaped window, watching Li Changzai still scolding and cursing in the courtyard.
She had underestimated her before. Who would have thought she could come up with such a subtle plan to frame her?
Song Zhao toyed with the chrysanthemum flowers arranged on the small table. Petal by petal, she plucked them until only the bare flower core remained. A cold smile crept across her lips as she abruptly uprooted it, brought it close to her nose, and murmured to herself,
"It seems I'll have to come up with a way to completely ruin this flower."
With that, she casually tossed the chrysanthemum into the incense burner and burned it.
*
For the next two days, Song Zhao didn't eat a single bite of the food sent by the imperial kitchen. She returned it untouched.
During these two days, she sustained herself solely by drinking water.
But on the third day, a palace maid brought her a steamer basket of steamed buns.
She took a small taste and immediately recognized Yun Shan's craftsmanship.
Knowing that she was under house arrest, Yun Shan must have been extremely anxious outside, constantly concerned about her situation.
Today, this steamed bun must have been the result of Yun Shan spending a large sum of money to pull strings and have her own creation delivered.
After the food was brought to Song Zhao, the doors to the western side palace were closed again, and two palace maids stood guard outside, not allowing anyone to approach.
After a short while, they heard the sound of bowls and dishes being shattered from inside the hall.
They pushed open the door to check and saw that Song Zhao had thrown the steamed buns and lunch baskets to the ground.
"Take these things away! Is this how the imperial kitchen treats me? Even though I am just a legitimate junior princess and the emperor has not accused me of anything, how dare they send me this spoiled food? Who are they trying to smear?"
The two palace maids only kept watch over Song Zhao. She didn't want to eat, and no one forced her to.
So they picked up the dirty steamed buns from the ground and when they left, they threw them into the slop bucket.
While the maids were disposing of the steamed buns, Yun Shan had been following behind.
Yun Shan naturally found it strange.
Her own mistress would not fail to notice her culinary skills, and even if she didn't want to eat, there was no need to react so angrily.
After the maids left, she picked up the steamed buns from the slop bucket, broke them apart one by one,
Sure enough, in one of the steamed buns, she found a rolled-up note.
There were only two characters written on the note:
[Huo, Fu]
Yun Shan couldn't understand what it meant, but if Song Zhao was sending her a message at this time, it must be something of great importance.
The only person in the palace she could discuss matters with was Xiao Fuzi.
So she didn't dare to delay and quickly went to find Xiao Fuzi, showing him the note.
"I don't know what the princess means by this, please take a look," she said urgently.
Xiao Fuzi stared at the two characters for a while before suddenly asking,
"On the day Consort Shu had a miscarriage, were you present at the scene? Did you hear them mention a medicinal herb called Huo Purple Grass?"
Yun Shan thought for a moment and nodded, "Yes, they did mention it. Is there anything special about it?"
Xiao Fuzi said, "That's it. Huo Purple Grass can maximize the effectiveness of blood-activating and stasis-removing medicines, but because its effects are single-minded, it is rarely used in daily life. The imperial physician rarely prescribes this medicine to treat people, and very few people buy it. Since I just started serving the princess, there are many things I'm not clear about. I remember that the servant Li Chang brought into the palace, is her name Fu'er?"
Yun Shan nodded vigorously, suddenly realizing, "Oh! I understand now! So the character 'Fu' that the princess wrote means Fu'er?"
Xiao Fuzi said, "That should be the meaning. The only thing that can incriminate the princess in the attempt on Consort Shu's life is the embroidered pouch found in the princess's bedchamber containing the powdered medicine.
The imperial pharmacy keeps records of medications, so the poisonous substances in that pouch definitely didn't come from within the palace. If the emperor wants to prove the princess's innocence, he will definitely send people to search in the capital and see if any pharmacies sold those things to someone. Especially the Huo Purple Grass.
If I'm not mistaken, the princess means for us to find a way to inform the master as soon as possible, to preemptively inform the people at the pharmacies in the capital and show them Fu'er's portrait. Then, when the palace staff inspect that pharmacy, they can identify Fu'er as the person who purchased those blood-activating and stasis-removing herbs. This way, the princess's suspicion can be cleared!"
Yun Shan was not a clever young girl. However, as she listened to Xiao Fuzi's articulate explanation, she began to feel that her mistress might be able to turn the tide this time. Her heart immediately filled with excitement, and she cried out,
"Thank goodness for you. If I were alone, I wouldn't have understood what our young mistress meant. I might have caused her harm..."
"Please stop crying," Xiao Fuzi wiped away her tears. "Right now, our young mistress can only rely on us. Let's quickly find a way to pass on the message outside the palace!"
