“This servant dares not. I have received the Emperor’s profound grace and am willing to be crushed to dust for His Majesty.”
“Crushed to dust? Hmph! That won’t be necessary.
The daily poison tasters show no symptoms, yet His Majesty alone was poisoned. Chief Eunuch Sun, tell me, where did this poison come from?”
“This servant… this servant does not know…”
Seeing that he knew nothing no matter what she asked, Li Yueyao casually set down her teacup and said calmly:
“If you know nothing, then what use are you? Guards, drag him out and behead him…”
The Yu Lin Guards outside the door responded and entered.
Sun Fu knew that in such a situation, Li Yueyao’s words carried more weight than an imperial decree.
Seeing that his head was about to be lost, in his desperation, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him. He lifted his head and said:
“Your Highness, this servant remembers now, I remember.
Two months ago, His Majesty began taking the Longevity Elixir refined by the State Preceptor. No one tested this elixir for poison.”
Upon hearing this, Li Yueyao frowned and waved her hand at the approaching Yu Lin Guards, who stopped upon seeing her gesture.
“The Longevity Elixir?”
Li Yueyao looked at Sun Fu kneeling on the ground and frowned. “Explain in detail.”
“Reporting to Your Highness, a few months ago, His Majesty went to see the State Preceptor and found him refining elixirs. His Majesty then discussed the ways of elixirs with him.
Later, His Majesty’s old illness recurred and lingered without improvement. His physical and mental condition deteriorated day by day.
He then recalled the Longevity Elixir mentioned by the State Preceptor, which could detoxify, cure illnesses, and prolong life.
Thus, he summoned the State Preceptor to inquire about the details and finally ordered him to refine the Longevity Elixir.
The State Preceptor complied with the imperial command and spent nine days refining six Longevity Elixirs for His Majesty.
After receiving the elixirs, His Majesty took one, and the effects were immediate. His spirits visibly improved greatly.
His Majesty then followed the State Preceptor’s advice, taking one elixir every half month.”
Li Yueyao’s expression darkened as she listened. “Those with immediate effects are most likely potent and dangerous medicines.
Is there any of the Longevity Elixir left in the palace?”
“There is one last pill remaining,” Sun Fu replied.
“Go and fetch that elixir.”
“Yes.”
Sun Fu responded, trembling as he stood up and walked out.
Li Yueyao rose and walked to the nearby desk, where she picked up a brush and wrote a prescription.
Just as she finished writing, Sun Fu returned with a golden nanmu wood box. Cuiwei took it, gently opened it, and placed it on the table before Li Yueyao.
Li Yueyao lightly blew on the prescription in her hand and handed it to Sun Fu:
“Go and brew this prescription into a medicinal bath. Watch over the brewing yourself. If you make another mistake, you may end your own life.”
Sun Fu wiped the sweat from his forehead, took the prescription, and said, “This servant obeys.”
“By the way, I wish to see these two people. Go and summon them.”
Cuiwei handed the list to Sun Fu, who glanced at it and said, “Your Highness, please wait a moment. This servant will attend to it immediately.”
After Sun Fu left, Li Yueyao looked at the bright red pill before her. Even without examining it, she could sense that the cinnabar and mercury content exceeded safe limits.
Li Yueyao curled her lips in disdain and had Cuiwei bring her medical kit. She put on gloves, cut off a small piece of the pill, and dissolved it in water.
After working on it for a while, Li Yueyao discovered a problem.
The pill was indeed a potent and dangerous medicine that consumed one’s vitality, and the cinnabar and mercury content were indeed excessive.
However, she found no trace of ‘Chimu’ within it, which plunged Li Yueyao into deep thought.
A quarter of an hour later, a plainly dressed elderly woman with graying temples appeared in the side hall of Taiji Palace.
“This servant, Qin Zhi, a laborer from the Laundry Bureau, pays respects to Princess Jin Yang.”
"Aunt Qin, you need not bow."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
After kneeling and bowing, Aunt Qin rose and stood aside with her head lowered and hands clasped.
"Aunt Qin, lift your head."
Aunt Qin slightly raised her head but still gazed at the ground without speaking.
Li Yueyao glanced at her and immediately grew furious, slamming the meal register she held onto the table with a loud clang.
"Who injured you like this?"
Aunt Qin's left face bore a hideous knife scar stretching from her eye corner to her mouth, making her appearance utterly terrifying.
Upon hearing this, tears welled up in Aunt Qin's eyes, and she knelt directly, saying:
"Your Highness, it was my incompetence in handling matters, deserving punishment."
"I asked who it was? Who scarred your face like this?" Li Yueyao erupted in rage.
Aunt Qin wept aloud but remained silent.
Li Yueyao stood up, pacing back and forth irritably, shouting angrily toward the hall's entrance:
"Someone, who is outside?"
Sun Fu had two apprentices: one named Li Qi and another named Wu Le.
Li Qi served by the Emperor's side, while Sun Fu instructed Wu Le to attend carefully to Li Yueyao.
Wu Le, hearing Princess Jin Yang's furious voice outside, felt his calves trembling uncontrollably.
His master had repeatedly warned him: this ancestor must not be provoked—she was someone who dared to strike even the Emperor as a child.
Among the imperial clan now, those senior to her were not close to the Emperor, while those close to the Emperor were junior to her. She was truly a living ancestor.
Taking a deep breath, Wu Le pushed open the door and entered the hall.
"Your Highness, I am here."
"Who exactly scarred Aunt Qin's face?"
When Aunt Qin entered earlier, Wu Le had already reviewed her circumstances in his mind.
Now entering, he respectfully answered Li Yueyao's inquiry: "Your Highness, Aunt Qin previously served before the Emperor.
Later, when the Consort became pregnant, the Emperor assigned Aunt Qin to care for the Consort's pregnancy.
But later, for unknown reasons, the Consort miscarried, and the Emperor demoted Aunt Qin to the Laundry Bureau."
Li Yueyao, still furious, demanded: "I asked who scarred her face?"
"This I do not know. Aunt Qin's face was injured before she went to the Laundry Bureau." Wu Le answered skillfully.
Li Yueyao, hearing this, darkened her expression further: "So it was the Consort's doing?"
Wu Le remained silent, tacitly acknowledging.
Li Yueyao kicked over a nearby chair, then stood with hands on hips, shouting loudly:
"Such audacity.
Aunt Qin originally served as a tea-serving maid in my mother's palace. After my mother passed, she went to serve my sister-in-law.
Having served two generations of Empresses, even if Aunt Qin erred, punishment alone would suffice.
Scarring someone's face like this—is this a slap to my mother and sister-in-law's dignity?
Does the palace no longer bear the surname Li, but instead hers, Shangguan?"
Li Yueyao's rage manifested as loud slaps on the table, causing everyone in the hall to kneel.
The side hall fell into dead silence, only the sounds of Li Yueyao's footsteps, chair kicking, and table thumping remaining.
Such commotion in the side hall immediately reached the Empress. She glanced at the Emperor sleeping on the couch, stood up, and walked out.
Upon hearing the palace servants' report, she sneered: "Hmph, letting her confront Shangguan Shi is fine—it removes a major trouble for me."
Li Yueyao vented for a while, thinking inwardly: Damn it, I knew the palace was chaotic, but not to this ghastly extent.
The Empress—with the harem in such turmoil, why hasn't the Empress intervened?
But then she reconsidered. Since Shangguan Shi entered the palace as a concubine, she had risen from a mere beauty to the highest-ranking imperial consort in just five years.
During this time, the Empress had always been overshadowed by the imperial consort.
Li Yueyao thought of this and sneered coldly.
Back when the Emperor was still the Crown Prince and selecting his primary consort, she had already felt that Xie Wanrou was unsuitable.
Her face was quite attractive, and she appeared shrewd, but she always acted as if she were the noble daughter of the Xie family, looking down on everyone and disparaging the noble ladies of the capital.
Just for this reason alone, Li Yueyao and her sister-in-law both held Xie Wanrou in contempt.
Her foolish nephew insisted on personally appointing her as his primary consort.
Looking back over these years, her foolish nephew's judgment of women was exceptionally poor.
The Empress couldn't handle her, and then he brought in an imperial consort. The two fought like scrapping hens, turning the palace into a chaotic mess.
If Xie Wanrou had half the skill and tactics of her sister-in-law and mother, she would have crushed the imperial consort long ago, instead of allowing her to stir up trouble in the palace.
Her methods and schemes were inadequate, which explained why the palace was in such disorder.
Thinking of this, Li Yueyao took several deep breaths and calmly said, "Everyone rise."
Then she addressed Wu Le: "You may withdraw first. Guard the side hall well. If anyone dares to approach or inquire, apprehend them immediately."
Wu Le accepted the order and turned to leave.
Li Yueyao stepped forward to help Qin Mama up: "You have endured hardship these years."
"It is no hardship. For the Emperor, I willingly accept it."
Li Yueyao frowned upon hearing this. Wasn't this about the conflict with the imperial consort?
Why would it be willingly for the Emperor? It sounded as if there was another hidden story.