Jiang Yuqing was attacked by a venomous snake in her bedroom. Jing Yan was furious and ordered a thorough investigation.
However, just as they were investigating a young palace maid, she was found dead in an abandoned dried up well in the palace.
It was certain that she was the one who released the snake, but the reason why she did it and where she got the snake remained unknown.
The only thing known was that she was just a pawn. After the truth came out, someone twisted her neck and killed her to keep her mouth shut. Her corpse was discarded in the rarely visited dried up well in the cold palace. The clues ended here for the time being.
Doctor Qiu came to take a look and said that this extremely venomous cobra was only found in the Southern Borderlands, and that even in the Southern Borderlands, only people of priestly status could raise this kind of hard-to-keep snake.
Therefore, it was very likely that the mastermind was someone from the Southern Borderlands. Even if that was not the case, they must have some connection with the Southern Borderlands.
Jiang Yuqing started to think about whether she had offended anyone recently that prompted them to use such a vicious method against her. However, no matter how much she thought about it, she came up blank.
In the end, it was her father who reminded her, "As long as you sit on the empress' throne for a day, that is the original sin!"
Jiang Yuqing thus sent a carrier pigeon to her Third Senior Brother, telling him about the venomous snake incident and asking Lu Yi to investigate in the Southern Borderlands. For Lu Yi, going to the Southern Borderlands was no different from going back to his hometown. If she asked for his help, there might be unexpected discoveries.
The investigation within the palace did not stop after the young palace maid died either.
After this incident, she did not dare to be careless again. She spent several days setting up defensive magic arrays in her and Jing Yan's bedroom and the palaces they frequently used.
Especially for their bedroom, she even added a spirit gathering array. This way, unless permitted, even a mosquito would not be able to fly in.
While it's easy to be a thief for a thousand days but hard to guard against one for a thousand days, she could not feel at ease before finding out who the mastermind was. If he could buy off one person, he could buy off ten. In the end, snakes and worms were easy to defend against, but the human heart was hard to fathom.
Although there weren't many monsters and demons in this world, there were still some.
She would give birth soon. To completely avoid any danger during her labor, Jiang Yuqing spent several more days making Loyalty Pills and mixed them into the tea to secretly make the palace maids, eunuchs and midwives around her ingest them unknowingly.
After taking this pill, they would not feel anything unless they harbored evil intentions against her or people she cared about.
Although this approach was somewhat petty, it was also the most direct and effective method.
When Jing Yan found out, he also approved of her approach and asked her for several pills to give to the eunuchs around him.
A few days later, the investigation produced some initial results.
It turned out that the deceased palace maid had a mother outside the palace who made a living by embroidering for an embroidery shop. She was threatened by some unknown people that if the palace maid did not release snakes into the empress' palace, they would kill her mother.
Although the palace maid knew that regardless of whether she succeeded or failed, the outcome would be death for her, she still went ahead fearlessly for her mother's sake.
But as the investigation went deeper, the Ministry of Justice discovered that this palace maid's mother did not seem simple.
For example, her residence was tightly shut. Even the windows were nailed from the inside.
Besides going to the embroidery shop to pick up work or buying rice and necessities, she almost never went out or interacted with her neighbors.
Even when she went out, she always wore a thick face veil and no one had seen what she looked like. In the eyes of people around her, she was an extremely eccentric woman.
Moreover, after the incident, she mysteriously disappeared.
The clues ended here.
Although this incident affected her mood to some extent, she could not let it get in the way. In any case, her ability to protect herself was sufficient. Hence, it did not delay anything she had to do.
September, the annual Mid-Autumn Festival came around again. And because the birthdays of the two generations of emperors were only a few days apart, to save resources and show full filial respect, the Mid-Autumn Festival was set on Grand Emperor Tai's birthday.
It just so happened that several overseas fleet had returned. Along with the fleets came envoys from several Western countries.
Such as the Prince of Temasek, the chieftain of Luzon, Earl of Johor, Prince of Ceylon, princes from Siam and Shendu, and even a pair of sharp-nosed, blue-eyed, foreign-named Duke siblings from the distant Western continent.
Plus envoys from the surrounding tribal groups and small countries such as Xianbei, Southern Borderlands, East Woman Country and so on. For a time, all kinds of ethnicities gathered in the capital and it became exceptionally lively. The state guesthouses were also fully occupied.
Because there were so many envoys, Jing Yan had no choice but to receive them in three separate batches. He also held a special welcoming banquet.
For these guests who had travelled from afar, this was a true eye-opener to the prosperity and power of Daya.
Not only were there exquisite silk, fine porcelain, fragrant tea, and extremely abundant delicious food, there was also superior architecture and other forms of art.
Just the cement pavement was enough to surprise them for a long time. Several asked the accompanying officials from the Ministry of Rites in succession if this material was for sale because they wanted to buy it.
Daya did not bluntly reject them but said, "It can be sold, but not now. You'll have to wait at least another two years."
Right now, cement was still a precious resource in Daya, there was not even enough for domestic use, so how could it be sold abroad?
Although somewhat disappointed, these envoys also understood it was unreasonable to demand it. They only secretly decided in their hearts to establish friendly diplomatic ties with this powerful Eastern country in the future.
At the same time, the exotic specialties these envoys brought sparked great interest. Such as spices and gems.
Other than the organisms Daya expressly prohibited, there were still many good things.
For example, Jiang Yuqing picked out the tomato. It was not just a fruit, but tasted even better when made into dishes, and was rich in nutrients.
While these envoys from small countries broadened their horizons, how could the citizens of the capital fall behind in gaining knowledge?
For the first time, they realized that in the distant lands across the seas to the west, there were still many different ethnic groups living there. Such as those with dark skin and brown hair, as well as fair skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. It was true what they said, that the world was so vast, nothing was too bizarre.
As the old saying goes, wherever there are people, there is society. And wherever there is society, trouble easily brews when there are too many people.
That afternoon, the Ministry of Rites reported that the Peacock Country envoys fought with the East Woman Country people.
The cause was that an attendant of the Peacock Prince molested a personal maid of the East Woman Country princess.
As the East Woman Country esteemed women, how could they tolerate such humiliation? They immediately fought back. Hence both sides erupted into intense physical confrontation.
That was an extremely modest way of putting it. To be precise, the two sides broke into open violence, resulting in bloody heads and injuries. Fortunately no one died.
When Jiang Yuqing heard about this, she was completely speechless.
This so-called Peacock Country was formerly known as Shendu. More than ten years ago when Daya defeated Xiongnu, Xiongnu split into two groups and fled west. One group passed through the desert and continued west, invading Yuezhi Country.
As Yuezhi people failed to withstand the invasion, they fled west. Later they turned south, passed through the southern part of the Raja Mountains via the Khyber Pass, and invaded Shendu country. Three years ago they eliminated Shendu and established Peacock Country.
The molester who was the Peacock Prince's attendant was born and bred in Shendu.
It was said that his family was quite influential locally. And the visiting Peacock Prince needed the support of his family's power, which was why he brought the attendant along this time.
In Jiang Yuqing's previous world, this freak nation was also known as Shendu and was notorious for demeaning women and rape cases, which happened layer upon layer without end in the country. Cases of all kinds of rape and sexual assault were endless, causing universal condemnation by countries all over the world. There were even rumors that they did not spare lizards.
Netizens joked "even the earth did not dare to reveal a crack on its surface in front of Shendu people". Their freak-ness was evident.
She did not expect that despite crossing into a different space-time, these people were still incorrigible. It proved that certain evil, deeply-ingrained genes were intrinsic within their bones.
However, conflicts between two countries were private affairs. Even Daya was unable to interfere excessively, and could only mediate. In other words, once you were outside Daya territory, go ahead and fight wherever you wish, even beating each other to death would be none of my business.
Since they also understood it was inappropriate to openly brawl violently in someone else's territory, when Daya stepped forward to mediate, both sides used it as an opportunity to step down from confrontation and temporarily settled the matter. But the resentment between them was completely established.
From then on, whenever personnel from the two countries met at the state guesthouse, they glared at each other with hostility, especially those from the victimized East Woman Country, who wished they could chop the Peacock Country people into little pieces.
As the old saying goes, the paths of enemies are destined to cross. Just two days before the Thousand Autumns Festival, the envoys of Peacock Country and East Woman Country happened to attend an auction at Baoyue Building at the same time. Unexpectedly, they clashed with each other again during the auction.
Therefore, as soon as they exited Baoyue Building, the previously harassed East Woman lady attendant seized the opportunity and cut off the manhood of the Peacock Country native who had previously harassed her.
This made the situation completely uncontrollable. The two sides broke into fighting again.
By the time the officers and soldiers of the Five City Military Office rushed over to separate them, a good number of people on both sides had already been killed.
Especially those from Peacock Country, nearly half had died.
Even the prince of Peacock Country suffered collateral damage, with half an ear sliced off by the princess of East Woman Country with a knife.
The officers and soldiers of Great Xia maintained a poker face on the surface, but actually held the Peacock Country people in contempt.
Despite their tall and mighty figures, they were actually a bunch of cowards who couldn't even beat a group of women. With their pathetic state, they actually dared to sexually harass other young ladies. Not only did they arrogantly refuse to apologize after being reasoned with, they even falsely accused the other party for dressing attractively and not being proper ladies. What kind of rubbish were they spewing? This is a typical case of blaming the victim. They deserved to be beaten!
In the end, all of the injured were sent to He An Hospital.
While Jiang Yuqing was working there, she was very disgusted when she heard about this. She secretly instructed the medical staff, "Apply medicine to the envoys of East Woman Country as appropriately as needed, don't skimp on them one bit.
As for that group of Peacock Country people with problematic brains that think so highly of themselves? Since they're acting so capable and impressive, summon all the intern doctors and med students here. These live mannequins for practical suturing are ready for practice, don't let them go to waste. As for medications like hua re san, the cost of ingredients has risen too steeply recently, use them sparingly. Moreover, judging by the tall and sturdy bodies of those people, they should be fine even without medication. Just handle it that way!"
Covering her mouth, the little nurse shook with stifled laughter as she went out.
Her Ladyship's bias here was only too obvious!
