Chapter 67

Chapter 67 The Princess Consort sat in the chair in the main hall, her expression calm and detached, exuding authority without needing to raise her voice. She glanced at Nanny Li. "Nanny, you took people to search Qingfeng Court yesterday. Did you find anything?" Nanny Li stepped forward, bowed, and reported truthfully. "Reporting to the Princess Consort, this servant did not find anything related to musk." The Princess Consort said coolly, "Oh? Then Concubine Lu is innocent?" Concubine Lu kept her head lowered, looking deeply wronged. "This servant has been timid since childhood—I wouldn't even dare step on an ant when walking. How could I possibly dare to harm anyone?" "I wonder why Sister Li would suspect me like this?" Feixu said hatefully, "My mistress and Concubine Lu were not close at all, yet Concubine Lu would come calling every few days." "My mistress couldn't bear it and chased her out, but the next day she came back as if nothing had happened, claiming she wanted to apologize, but in truth it was a threat—she said if my mistress wouldn't accept her apology, she would come every single day." "My mistress had no choice but to go along with it reluctantly and temporarily agree." As she grew emotional, Feixu's tears fell. "Who would have known that after that, every time Concubine Lu left, my mistress would vomit for a long while afterward. That's when she finally called for the mansion physician." "The physician said my mistress was pregnant, but because of the influence of musk, her pregnancy was unstable and she was vomiting." "My mistress had no discomfort in her daily life—it only flared up every time Concubine Lu left. How could such a coincidence exist in this world?!" Feixu didn't directly accuse Concubine Lu of poisoning, but every word she spoke condemned Concubine Lu's suspiciousness and outrageous behavior. Concubine Lu looked both wronged and shocked. "So Sister Li never liked me?!" The Princess Consort: "..." Feixu: "..." Concubine Lu seemed to have suffered a tremendous injustice, sobbing, "I know my background isn't good, so I never dared to visit people casually and annoy them." "In this mansion, only Sister Li never looked down on me, so I assumed Sister Li liked me. That's why I came calling several times to talk with Sister Li." "If Sister Li didn't like me coming over, why didn't she just say so directly?!" Concubine Lu blinked as she asked, her round eyes filled with hurt. Feixu felt a surge of anger rush to her head. "Everyone maintains a certain decorum in their dealings. When Concubine Lu came calling several times, my mistress was clearly reluctant to entertain you—surely you weren't completely unaware?!" "Do you truly not know, or are you pretending not to know? You know the answer in your own heart!" Concubine Lu said heartbrokenly, "I'm foolish—I can't tell what's good for me, and I couldn't even see that Sister Li despised me so much!" Her manner was like someone accusing a faithless lover. "I only thought that day Sister Li was angry because I had spoken carelessly and brought up the matter of pregnancy." "How would I dare threaten Sister Li? The people of Chunshan Court saw with their own eyes Sister Li happily seeing me off. I only thought I had sincerely apologized to Sister Li and she had truly forgiven me. How could I have suspected that Sister Li didn't like me and was instead suspecting me?" "So it wasn't that at all—Sister Li had long grown tired of me, just didn't want to say it openly." She wallowed in her own grievance. "But I truly didn't know!" Concubine Lu lowered her head, tears falling one by one to the ground, crying in a way that was utterly pitiable and endearing. Her voice of explanation was both innocent and sorrowful. Like a poor little creature abandoned by everyone. Feixu was momentarily stunned speechless. Concubine Lu admitted she was foolish and couldn't read people's expressions—which instead made it seem like Concubine Li was the one concerned with saving face, acting one way in front of others and another behind their backs. And indeed, in the early days when Concubine Lu visited, Concubine Li, mindful of appearances, had never said a single unpleasant word. Now that the tables had been turned, Feixu found herself unable to argue. Feixu was left speechless and could only bring up another matter. "Fine, let's say you didn't know." "But every time you left, my mistress would fall ill—that can't be faked, can it?!" "That's truly unjust! This servant knew nothing about it!" Concubine Lu then cried out to the Princess Consort, "This servant wholeheartedly believed Sister Li treated me well—how could I possibly want to harm Sister Li?" Feixu gritted her teeth. "You say those words, but who knows what's really in your heart?" Concubine Lu only explained to the Princess Consort, "This servant has heard of musk as well—it's harmful for women to come into contact with. If I wore it on my person every day to harm Sister Li, it would be even more harmful to my own body." "Even if I'm foolish, I wouldn't do something that kills eight hundred enemies while wounding myself by a thousand, would I?" The Princess Consort said coolly, "What you say isn't wrong." "I beg the Princess Consort to see clearly," Concubine Lu immediately said. "This servant worked hard to become a concubine, and I wish nothing more than to bear the Prince's child soon. How would I dare use musk to ruin my own body?" The Princess Consort gave a slight nod. "Has the mansion physician arrived?" Tinghe happened to be leading the physicians in at that moment. The Prince's mansion kept four physicians on staff. The one who had taken Concubine Li's pulse yesterday was surnamed Zhao—notoriously greedy and slippery. Today Tinghe had brought three of them. Besides Doctor Zhao, there were also Doctor Hu and Doctor Luo. Among these three, Doctor Zhao was slippery, currying favor with both the Princess Consort and the Prince. Doctor Hu was the Prince's man—upright, straightforward, and loyal. Doctor Luo was the Princess Consort's man, usually taciturn but highly skilled in medicine. The Princess Consort simply waved her hand. "The three of you will take turns examining Concubine Lu's pulse, and each of you will write down your diagnosis on a separate sheet of paper." The Princess Consort did not explain the reason to the three physicians, only instructing them to proceed according to protocol. The three physicians took turns stepping forward to take Concubine Lu's pulse. The Qingfeng Courtyard fell into complete silence. In truth, since Nanny Li had not found musk in the Qingfeng Courtyard, most of the suspicion against Concubine Lu had already been dispelled. Concubine Li's testimony was entirely based on words alone, without a single shred of physical evidence, and could not prove anything. Xie Run had indeed told Prince Jing and Concubine Li about the musk. But Prince Jing had not mentioned it to the Princess Consort, and Concubine Li was also afraid that Xie Run would deny it later, so she did not bring it up either. Now, if they wanted to investigate, the only option was to check whether there was any residual musk in Concubine Lu's body. Soon, the three physicians wrote down their diagnostic conclusions on paper. Nanny Li brought the papers up and handed them to the Princess Consort. The Princess Consort flipped through them, glanced at Concubine Lu who was still crying in grievance, and merely said, "Tinghe, escort the three physicians back and give each of them twenty taels of silver as a reward." Tinghe was taken aback—the dramatic scene she had anticipated never played out—but she still acknowledged the order. Feixu also had a sense of foreboding. Only after the three physicians had been sent away did the Princess Consort hand the papers to Nanny Li. Nanny Li looked at them, then said thoughtfully, "This..." Concubine Lu looked up with a face full of hopeful expectation. "Nanny, does this paper prove that I am truly innocent?" Nanny Li glanced at the Princess Consort and said with some helplessness, "Concubine Lu is indeed innocent." Soon, everyone else saw the pulse records written on the papers. The contents of the three papers were not entirely identical, but they all stated that Concubine Lu was in good health, suffering only from severe uterine cold, with no other issues whatsoever. In other words, there was no musk in her body. Feixu stood frozen in place, at a loss for what to do. The Princess Consort said in a calm voice, "Go back first and relay the news to your mistress." "Since Concubine Lu is innocent, then it was Concubine Li who falsely accused her. As the Princess Consort, I hereby punish Concubine Li by deducting three months' allowance." With that said, she had someone escort the bewildered Feixu away.