Prince Qi's Mansion being arrested in full force caused quite a stir in the capital.
Prince Qi was of the imperial clan. Even if he had violated state laws, he should have been taken to the Imperial Clan Court for interrogation.
Yet Xiao Jingheng had Prince Qi's entire family locked up in the Judicial Department. The rest of his distant relatives, retainers, and servants were also imprisoned in Tianlao Prison.
Onlookers gossiped amongst themselves, saying that the emperor's might was like thunder, so Prince Qi must have committed a grave crime.
Consort Hui, who was thrown into the torture chamber, had also been interrogated by the judicial officers these past few days.
She refused to talk, insisting that she was innocent.
When asked about her relationship with Prince Qi, she claimed that over the years she had only seen him a few times at banquets and they were not close.
Later, the interrogators directly accused her of having an affair with Prince Qi.
When Consort Hui heard this, her anxious heart suddenly calmed down.
"Preposterous! How could I have secretly rendezvoused with Prince Qi? Does His Majesty really suspect that I killed my own child just because of these trumped up charges? The Fifth Prince has just passed away. If His Majesty does not believe me, he can do a blood test to prove our mother and child's innocence!"
Faced with Consort Hui's adamant denials, the interrogator coldly said:
"We have already verified this. The deceased Fifth Prince was indeed born of His Majesty's bloodline. His Majesty has also ordered an honorable burial. But whether the late Third Prince was of His Majesty's own bloodline, there is no way to verify now."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Consort Hui yelled in anger. "Chengjing's features were practically carved from the same mold as His Majesty's. How could there be any doubt about his heritage as a dragon's descendant?"
The interrogator said, "Then how does Consort explain this - the palace maidens from the Mechanical Wonders Workshop who were performing the auspicious Qilin dance were pardoned by His Majesty. Why then did Prince Qi hastily send people to silence them?
Moreover, our covert agents have thoroughly investigated Prince Qi. There are witnesses who often saw Chun Lan visiting Prince Qi's mansion before she entered the palace. After serving Consort for just a few months when the incident with the poisonous butterflies happened, why did Chun Lan risk her life to protect the Third Prince?"
His barrage of pointed questions left Consort Hui speechless.
Even with such 'ironclad evidence' laid before her, Consort Hui kept her lips sealed. She insisted on her innocence even under torture. This left the covert agents quite vexed.
Meanwhile, Zhao Hua was recovering from childbirth and had tasked Ning Wanshuang with managing the affairs of the six palaces. Xiao Jingheng ordered her to thoroughly investigate Consort Hui's Zhaochun Palace.
That afternoon, as Ning Wanshuang was on her way to Chaoyang Palace to report back to Xiao Jingheng, she passed by Chang Le Palace and decided to stop in to see Zhao Hua.
As soon as she entered, she saw Zhao Hua about to get up from the edge of the bed. Ning Wanshuang quickly scolded, "What are you doing? Lie back down!"
She rushed over in two steps, grabbed Zhao Hua's arm, and pulled her back onto the bed.
"You've just given birth a few days ago. What are you trying to agitate yourself for?"
Seeing Ning Wanshuang's angry expression, Zhao Hua chuckled and said,
"Imperial Physician Guo said my lochia is not drained and I should get up and walk around more."
As she spoke, she obediently lay back down and pulled up the quilt, playfully teasing,
"If Sister Ning doesn't allow me to walk around, then I'll just stay lying down. Anyway, when I'm suffering from undrained lochia, Sister will have to tire herself taking care of me. I'm so fortunate!"
"Who wants to take care of you?" Ning Wanshuang rolled her eyes at her, still not letting up with her sharp words, "I'm hoping for you to be in poor health and confined to bed, never able to get up! The longer you languish in bed, the longer I'll be handling the affairs of the rear palace. I'm hoping for it!"
Her words were the most sarcastic and disdainful, but her actions did not stop at all.
She lifted Zhao Hua's quilt, slowly helped her sit up, and even bent down to fetch slippers with soft soles when she saw Zhao Hua had difficulty bending over.
This was a maid's job, yet she, such an arrogant woman, was willing to do it. This surprised Zhao Hua.
She quickly tried to stop her, "Sister, you mustn't..."
But before she could finish speaking, the shoes were already on her delicate feet.
"What mustn't? Don't think that I care about you. I know you're prone to suspicions. I'm afraid you'll run to His Majesty and accuse me of obstructing your lochia drainage just to get me in trouble again."
Zhao Hua silently watched Ning Wanshuang's disgusted expression, feeling a sudden warmth in her heart. She couldn't help but smile.
In the past few days, the concubines and consorts had all come flocking to Chang Le Palace to see her, greeting her with smiling faces and perfunctory flattery.
But to Zhao Hua, even Ning Wanshuang's 'disgust' now could not compare to any of that.
Later, as Ning Wanshuang supported Zhao Hua on a stroll around the courtyard, Zhao Hua asked her, "Consort Hui still refuses to confess?"
Ning Wanshuang scoffed coldly. "The cheap woman remains stubborn. I heard the covert agents have already tortured her. Let's see how long she can hold out."
Then her gaze darkened, as if a thought had occurred to her. She also sounded puzzled, "The other day, when Consort Shun and I were chatting, we both felt one thing was very strange about Consort Hui. Consort Hui is ordinary looking with a common figure. Her only advantage is her youth, and even that is fabricated. Why then could she frequently spread such auspicious news from her belly?"
Zhao Hua gently sighed and meaningfully said, "I've heard His Majesty privately mention this before. He said whenever he was alone with Consort Hui, he could not restrain his virility and passion took over..."
"Are you saying Consort Hui drugged His Majesty?" Ning Wanshuang silently pondered for a while, then quickly shook her head, "Impossible. After every night's service, the imperial physician takes His Majesty's pulse the next morning. If His Majesty had truly been drugged by Consort Hui, how could the imperial physician not detect it?"
Zhao Hua softly said, "Consort Hui was rarely summoned to His Majesty's palace. When she and His Majesty indulged in pleasure, it was usually when His Majesty went to her palace. Although Consort Hui is not skilled at cooking, the plum wine she brews is quite tasty. His Majesty is rather fond of it and would often drink several cups when at her place."
She paused, took Ning Wanshuang's hand, and calmly looked her in the eye,
"Sister, don't you think, if Consort Hui used an aphrodisiac perfume, and His Majesty drank alcohol which sped up the circulation of the drug through his body, by the next morning when the imperial physician took his pulse, the effects would have already dissipated? What could he detect?"
Ning Wanshuang's gaze darkened. She felt Zhao Hua's conjecture was reasonable.
But to find evidence for this kind of thing would be difficult.
"Even if it is as you say, how could the meticulous Consort Hui possibly leave behind evidence for people to investigate? Kang Yubin has already searched Zhaochun Palace earlier and reported back to me that it was spotless, nothing found."
Hearing this, Zhao Hua's smile grew even more relaxed.
"She is an extremely filthy person. How could any place she has lived be clean?"
