Chapter 220

Chapter 220 In the evening, after Prince Jing returned, he first went to see the Princess Consort. He stayed at Qing Song Courtyard for a while before coming to Chun Shan Courtyard. Prince Jing had just finished washing up when he heard Eunuch Shian announce: "Your Highness, Jing Wu has finished investigating the cause of Concubine Lian's death and has come to report." Prince Jing: "Bring them in." Because Prince Jing had returned late, Xie Run had the small kitchen prepare some side dishes and a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Xie Run reminded him: "Your Highness, this noodle soup should be eaten while it's hot. It won't taste good once it gets cold." Prince Jing pulled her to sit down with him: "Sit and eat with me. You can listen to this matter as well." Xie Run sat down accordingly. Soon, Jing Wu brought in three people escorted by several guards. Judging by their attire, one was a serving maid, and the other two appeared to be head matrons from some household. Xie Run had managed the embroidery workshop before and recognized one of them as Zhang's wife, a minor supervisor in the workshop. Jing Wu stepped forward and said: "Reporting to Your Highness. My men discovered dried lily petals in both the quilt and the pillow used by Mistress Lian during childbirth." "The imperial physician said that Mistress Lian had an allergic reaction to lily pollen, which caused suffocation and loss of strength, preventing her from delivering the child for so long." "Through layers of investigation, we traced it to Yu Ming, the new young maid at Yun Bi Pavilion." "However, Yu Ming only admitted to secretly stuffing lily petals into a sachet and tying it under Concubine Lian's bed. She claimed to know nothing about the lily petals hidden in the quilt and pillow." "I also investigated. The petals stuffed in the quilt and pillow were dried lily petals, while those in the sachet were fresh lily petals. It does indeed seem unlikely to be the work of one person." As soon as Jing Wu finished speaking, Yu Ming knelt on the ground, kowtowing frantically, tears streaming from her eyes, opening her mouth and making "ah ah ah" sounds as if trying to say something. Jing Wu added: "When my men captured Yu Ming, she had already been fed mute medicine. She also cannot read, so we haven't been able to extract much information." Prince Jing listened without even a twitch of his brow. He said calmly: "Drag her out and execute her by caning." Yu Ming's eyes widened as she desperately tried to explain something, but she was already dragged away by the guards. Xie Run was in the middle of picking up a piece of mint beef. Her chopsticks hovered over the bowl for a long time without managing to pick it up, so she simply set down her chopsticks. Jing Wu continued: "The bedding, pillow, and sachet used during Concubine Lian's childbirth were all made by the embroidery workshop. This matter was handled by Zhang's wife from the workshop. She said all the petals were prepared by the flower house, and she was only responsible for sewing them in, not knowing what kind of flowers they were." For mistresses like Xie Run, when they wanted sachets, they would first tell the flower house what they wanted, and the flower house would prepare the flowers and send them to the embroidery workshop. The maids in the embroidery workshop were responsible for making them, and finally the supervisor would be responsible for finalizing what was placed inside. Prince Jing smiled sardonically: "Having served for so long, she can't even distinguish the scent of lilies?" Among all floral scents, lily is quite strong and distinctive. Even if an ordinary person couldn't identify it, the supervisors of the embroidery workshop all had at least ten years of experience. If she couldn't even tell that, then either it was intentional or she was incompetent. Zhang's wife explained tearfully: "Reporting to Your Highness, two years ago, in order to save Consort Ning, I was struck on the nose by a falling tile. After it healed, my nose has never been able to detect scents well." "I did inform the Princess Consort of this matter. She said I had rendered meritorious service, and as long as I remained in the embroidery workshop, it didn't matter whether I could smell or not. She even promoted me to minor supervisor." "The flower house had always been sending flowers to Concubine Lian's quarters. They should have known that Concubine Lian couldn't tolerate lilies... This matter, I am truly wronged!" Mother Lai from the flower house was kneeling right beside Zhang's wife, listening with an indignant expression. "I beg Your Highness to see clearly! This servant knew that Mistress Lian was allergic to lilies. What was sent from the flower house was clearly daylily, not lily!" "This servant truly doesn't know how the flowers sewn into the quilt became lilies!" "Last time when the flower house mistakenly sent lilies to Mistress Lian's courtyard, we were severely scolded by Mistress Wan. After that, we have been extremely careful." Mother Lai affirmed: "When the flower house sent the dried petals to the embroidery workshop, I personally checked them several times." "What was sent was daylily petals, absolutely impossible to be lily petals!" "The difference in scent between the two is so great—even if Zhang's wife couldn't smell it, the young maid responsible for the sewing wouldn't have failed to notice!" Jing Wu said flatly from the side: "The amount of petals sewn into the pillow and quilt was very small. Ordinary people wouldn't be able to smell them. It was only because Mistress Lian had a severe allergy to lilies and was in close contact with them that she gradually suffocated from the allergic reaction." "If it weren't for that, the servants attending to Mistress Lian would likely have discovered it long ago." Mother Lai's confident expression crumbled in an instant. Tears streaming down her aged face, she said: "Your Highness, what I sent to the embroidery workshop was absolutely daylily petals, not lily!" "At this point, this old servant is not afraid of punishment..." Mother Lai confessed: "Because of the last incident with the mistaken lilies, Mistress Wan came to the flower house and made a scene. We have always remembered the grudge against both Concubine Lian and Concubine Wan." "This time when Mistress Lian was giving birth, I deliberately used cheap daylily petals to fob her off..." "The flowers cultivated in the greenhouse—the more common and ordinary they are, the more precious they become. It's these uncommon daylilies that are worth the least and struggle to win the master's favor..." Such matters were actually quite common in the greenhouse. They were just rarely brought into the open for judgment. Now, to prove her innocence, Mama Lai had no choice but to voluntarily confess this matter. Jing Wu stepped forward at this moment and said, "Reporting to the Prince, what Mama Lai and the Zhang family's wife said is all correct." "I also sent people to question the maids in the embroidery workshop and the greenhouse. The maids who handled the flowers in the greenhouse all said they were daylily petals, and one or two of the maids in the embroidery workshop said they smelled lily fragrance." "Since the embroidery workshop only handles embroidery, they had no idea that Mistress Lian was allergic to lilies, so they sewed the petals in without a second thought." "Therefore, I speculate that the petals may have been swapped in the embroidery workshop." Mama Lai quickly added, "Daylilies and lilies are extremely similar—an ordinary person couldn't tell them apart at first glance. But we who have served in the greenhouse for a long time could never fail to recognize them!" So it couldn't have happened in the greenhouse! Prince Jing said in a calm voice, "Continue the investigation." His indifferent gaze swept over the two people kneeling on the ground. "These two can't even handle their own duties properly—dismiss them from the household entirely." "The greenhouse has had incidents more than once or twice." Prince Jing said flatly, "The maids who took over in the embroidery workshop are to be dismissed as well. As for the greenhouse... have the Princess Consort replace all the staff." Jing Wu bowed in acknowledgment. Xie Run picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks and placed it on Prince Jing's plate, speaking softly, "The Prince returned late—have you heard about Sixth Young Master's matter?" Prince Jing rubbed his temples. "I've heard. The Princess Consort already told me." "She even praised you in front of me, saying that if not for your quick reaction, by the time they summoned an imperial physician from the palace, Little Six might not have survived."