Chapter 229

Chapter 229 By the time Xie Run and Tinghe arrived at the rear courtyard, they found that a corpse had already been pulled from the well, covered with a white cloth, its features unclear. As they approached, the stewardess asked, "This corpse placed here might offend the master. Shall we move it into a room?" Xie Run: "No need. Leave it here." She looked around but could discern nothing, then asked, "Before the body was discovered, who entered her room?" The stewardess said in a low voice, "Mama Zhang, who is in charge of needlework." "This girl was assigned under Mama Zhang's charge. Today was her first day, and after half a day with no sign of her, Mama Zhang came specifically to look for her. She searched inside and outside the room but found no one. Just then, a woman came to draw water for washing clothes and saw a shadow in the water..." "Only Mama Zhang entered her room?" The stewardess fell silent for a moment. Tinghe sensed something amiss and immediately snapped, "With Consort Xie present, you still dare to conceal things?!" "This is a matter of life and death! If anything goes wrong, your heads won't be enough to pay for it!" The stewardess quickly said, "Because Mama Zhang said the girl was missing, several people went into the room to help search." Xie Run thought to herself, trouble—the evidence in the room was probably already destroyed. Tinghe fumed, "The room is only that big—where could anyone hide?!" "It's you old women who couldn't keep still and went into the room to gawk, didn't you?! And I'd wager some of you have sticky fingers—once you saw the opportunity, you couldn't bear to let it pass!" Having managed affairs under the Princess Consort for so many years, Tinghe knew full well the character of the women in the rear courtyard. "You dare touch the belongings of someone who died so inexplicably—aren't you afraid of bad luck!" The stewardess kept her head lowered, obediently taking the scolding, not daring to speak another word. Xie Run let out a soft sigh. "Everyone who entered her room must be searched—both inside and outside the room, no exceptions!" Just then, Jin Yuan, a guard from the front courtyard, stepped forward with his men. "Your subordinate pays respects to Consort Xie." Xie Run: "I trouble Guard Jin to surround the rear courtyard. The deceased is the palace maid bestowed by Noble Consort Rou yesterday—this matter is highly suspicious." "With the Prince outside the palace and the Princess Consort unwell, I'm afraid this matter will have to rely entirely on Guard Jin!" The guard the Prince valued most was still Jing Wu; Jin Yuan was second-in-command and had never been given much importance. Now that a merit was being handed to him on a platter, he naturally dared not slack. With a hint of excitement, he clasped his fists: "Your subordinate will not fail this mission!" With that, he led his men to investigate. Xie Run didn't leave in a hurry either. She followed along and took a turn around the room. The stewardess accompanied her, explaining, "There are quite a few servants in the rear courtyard, and no empty rooms remain. I had temporarily placed her in this room used for storing odds and ends, planning to free up a room for her in a couple of days. Who would have thought..." The Prince had few women in his household, so there weren't many maidservants and matrons either—usually two or four shared a room. This palace maid had just been assigned to the Prince's residence and was staying alone. If someone had plotted against her, it made it convenient for whoever wanted to strike in secret. Xie Run had no experience solving cases. She looked around but couldn't make heads or tails of anything. Just then, the household physician arrived. Xie Run: "I trouble Doctor Luo to examine her first." Doctor Luo had been summoned abruptly, thinking some maidservant in the rear courtyard was unwell. When he heard Xie Run's explanation and saw the white-cloth-covered corpse on the ground, his face turned pale. "Consort Xie, this... a physician treats the living, not the dead. What does the Consort wish me to examine?!" Xie Run nodded. "Old Doctor, this maidservant is from the palace, bestowed by Noble Consort Rou only yesterday, and gone today." "As a woman of the rear courtyard, I cannot easily summon a coroner from outside. For now, I must ask Doctor Luo to take a look." Xie Run had heard that some physicians possessed considerable skill and could glean much information from the dead. She said softly, "I've heard that some methods of harm leave fewer traces the later they are discovered." Doctor Luo heard this, his body trembling slightly. He immediately understood and clasped his hands to Xie Run. "I shall try at once." Jin Yuan was investigating the scene and interrogating the servants. Doctor Luo employed many methods—first examining the complexion and tongue coating, then taking the pulse, and carefully inspecting inch by inch. Xie Run had expected this to take a while, but before long, a hint of shock appeared on his face. He glanced at Xie Run, and she knew Doctor Luo must have found something. Doctor Luo clasped his hands and bowed to Xie Run. "Reporting to Consort Xie, this person appears to have been pregnant for about a month." "What?!" Xie Run's eyes widened, her shock beyond measure. Noble Consort Rou had bestowed upon her son a woman who was pregnant?! Could it be that the Prince had already developed a secret affair with this woman in the palace, which was why Noble Consort Rou suddenly bestowed her? No! Xie Run still had some faith in the Prince's integrity. No matter how lustful he was, he wouldn't touch someone from his own mother's palace. Especially since when he led this palace maid to Qingsong Courtyard that day, the Prince showed her not a trace of affection—only coldness. The child in this maidservant's belly most likely wasn't the Prince's! This was still the critical moment in the struggle for succession—the Prince wouldn't do something so foolish. Then whose was it? It couldn't be the Emperor's, could it? Or... another prince's, or one of the palace guards'? Xie Run's expression turned grave, and he said only, "Continue the examination! Check whether she has any wounds, needle marks, or whether there are traces of poison or drugs in her blood..." Xie Run listed everything he could think of, hoping to find some clue. After Jin Yuan's round of inquiries, no useful information was uncovered. This palace maid had just arrived, had no acquaintances, and had silently fallen into the well alone—truly, no one knew much about her. Doctor Luo examined her step by step as Xie Run had instructed, but when he reached the blood test, his expression shifted slightly. "What's wrong?" Xie Run approached to ask. Doctor Luo replied, "Reporting to Consort Xie, there are traces of Anesthetic Powder in this girl's blood—a formula used for hunting in the northwest, with extremely potent effects!" Coincidentally, Jin Yuan was nearby and immediately said, "It seems this wasn't suicide—she was drugged and thrown into the well." Xie Run said, "If she was drugged, then the cup she drank from and the bowls and chopsticks she used might all have traces of the drug remaining..." Jin Yuan led people to search, and soon discovered traces of Anesthetic Powder in the cup the maid had used for drinking. Someone had put Anesthetic Powder in her cup, knocked her unconscious, and thrown her into the well to fabricate the illusion of death by falling! This also explained why there had been no sound at all when the maid fell into the well. Under normal circumstances, encountering a murder like this would warrant reporting to the authorities. But the incident had occurred at Prince Jing's residence, and Prince Jing was currently away from the estate—this was not easy to handle for the time being. Xie Run could only seal everyone's lips for now, have Jin Yuan investigate the people more carefully, and send someone to the main courtyard to ask the Princess Consort how to proceed. Upon receiving the news, the Princess Consort was also startled, and her first reaction was: "Whose child is she carrying in her belly?!" Clearly, the Princess Consort and Xie Run had thought of the same thing. She feared the child in the maid's belly was the result of an illicit affair with Prince Jing. But the moment she asked this question, the Princess Consort also realized instantly that Prince Jing would never do such a thing. After all, if that were truly the case, it would cause an enormous scandal. The Princess Consort immediately said, "Send word to the Prince at once, and also send someone to the palace to inquire with Mother about this person's background." Thinking of Noble Consort Rou's temperament, the Princess Consort felt a headache coming on: "Remember to explain things carefully to Mother, and make sure she understands the severity of this matter!" "Yes!"