A quarter of an hour later, Chen Yu'an, the chief eunuch of the Yuqian, finally made his appearance.
"I was held up by matters and arrived late. I hope the ladies will forgive me."
He wiped the sweat from his forehead, wearing an apologetic smile, and wasted no more time, speaking directly, "Today I've invited you here to ask each of you to say one sentence—'Does Your Majesty not like it?' Just these six words, please repeat them one by one, starting with Lady Guan."
Concubine Guan was utterly bewildered by his words, not understanding why she should say such a thing.
It seemed as if His Majesty was trying to find someone through this sentence?
And the one he sought was certainly a woman.
But the problem was, she held the highest rank among the newly entered concubines, yet His Majesty so blatantly ignored her, caring only about that one person!
Concubine Guan felt a wave of displeasure rise in her heart, speculating which of the four of them was the woman His Majesty had in mind.
Beauty Jiang?
Noble Lady Cui?
Or… that Yun Wu, with her laughable background and unworthy of the spotlight?
Beside her, Beauty Jiang's beautiful eyes flickered.
Noble Lady Cui seemed lost in thought.
Both shared the same thoughts as Concubine Guan.
Yun Wu, meanwhile, quietly lowered her lashes, concealing the smile in her eyes.
This was what she had said to the Emperor when she had forced herself upon him last time.
It seemed the Emperor truly couldn't forget her—he wouldn't rest until he'd uncovered her.
Though, that made sense.
He was an exalted Emperor, yet he'd been overpowered by a woman. Even if almost no one knew about it, for someone of his lofty status, it was undoubtedly a humiliating affair.
"Lady Guan?"
Seeing that Concubine Guan remained silent, Chen Yu'an couldn't help but prompt her again.
After all, the one next door was still waiting to identify the voice.
Concubine Guan was displeased.
Still, she obediently opened her mouth and said, "Your Majesty—"
But no sooner had she uttered two words than her expression changed drastically. She quickly cleared her throat and tried again, "Your Majesty—"
This time, she covered her mouth in fright!
For her voice had suddenly turned hoarse and unpleasant!
"What did you—"
Beside her, Beauty Jiang was startled by her voice and began to ask, but she too quickly raised her sleeve to cover her mouth, her round, cat-like eyes widening in shock.
Because both of their voices had gone hoarse!
Then, Noble Lady Cui discovered she was in the same condition.
Her expression changed, and she turned to look at Yun Wu, who had yet to speak, her eyes filled with angry accusation.
"It's you—from the moment I heard that your birth mother abandoned you despite the infamy, I knew you were no good!"
Ignoring her own hoarse, unpleasant voice, Noble Lady Cui shot to her feet, pointing at Yun Wu, directly accusing her of being the culprit behind all of this!
Hearing this, Concubine Guan and Beauty Jiang also turned hostile gazes toward her.
"Yun Cairen, we have no grudges against you. Why would you do such a thing?" Concubine Guan, straightforward in temperament, demanded angrily.
"What other reason could there be? Today is the first day we've entered the palace. His Majesty will likely choose one of the four of us to be the first to receive his favor."
Noble Lady Cui's voice was hoarse as she glared at Yun Wu with burning eyes, pointing at her and speaking word by word in fury, "Yet all three of our voices have turned like this! If His Majesty learns of it, how could he possibly be willing to summon us?
"Only Yun Cairen remains unharmed!
"What does that tell us?
"She harmed us just so she could be the first to receive his favor!"
At this moment, Yun Wu received the knife-sharp stares of the three women and inwardly shook her head.
This Noble Lady Cui was far too impatient.
Without a shred of evidence, she was blurting out anything without regard for propriety.
Words from a person's mouth were like water in a cup—they couldn't be filled to the brim. To leave no room like she did was to leave no retreat for herself.
In this harem, she probably wouldn't go far!
Yun Wu thought this to herself, while maintaining an innocent expression on her face, hurriedly rising to explain.
Yet no matter how she tried, not a single sound came out…
Her condition was actually even worse than the other three!
Yuan Rong anxiously tried to explain on her behalf, but she too had lost her voice.
Only Tuan Jiao was slightly better off, though her voice was also hoarse and unpleasant as she said cautiously, "Eunuch, our Cairen did nothing! She's even worse off!"
Hearing this, Noble Lady Cui immediately realized she had wrongly accused her.
However, she merely turned her face away with some discomfort, clearly having no intention of apologizing to Yun Wu.
Concubine Guan's eyes flickered, then she silently sat back down.
Chen Yu'an, meanwhile, was dumbfounded.
He had been ordered by the Emperor to have the newly entered concubines read that sentence, because the Emperor was listening from next door, hoping to identify through their voices which one of them had been the audacious woman who had defiled him that day.
But now, all four newcomers, along with their maidservants, either had hoarse throats or couldn't speak at all!
Chen Yu'an was at a loss, quickly turning to rush out.
In just a moment, there was another commotion outside.
Yun Wu looked up.
Soon, a flash of bright yellow robe appeared first.
Then, the young emperor—tall and imposing, with cold, handsome features—came into view.
One hand behind his back, he stepped inside with an air of authority.
"Your concubines greet Your Majesty—" Concubine Guan quickly led the others in bowing and paying their respects.
The other three followed suit.
Lu Yao's lofty gaze swept over the four women, yet he did not bid them to rise.
His cold eyes scanned the hall, and finally, with a frown of his sword-like brows, he pointed at an incense burner placed in the corner near Yun Wu and ordered in a deep voice, "Put out this incense burner! Summon the imperial physician!"
"Yes."
Chen Yu'an hurried forward and doused the incense burner with tea.
Before long, the imperial physician arrived.
He first took the pulse of Yun Wu and the others, then examined the contents of the incense burner.
"Your Majesty, these ladies have been affected by an incense blended with over a dozen medicinal herbs.
"The incense was placed into the burner, causing those who inhaled its fumes to develop hoarse throats—in severe cases, even complete loss of voice.
"However, the effect is not lasting; it will pass within three to five days.
"Additionally, the incense has no other toxicity and will not cause any other harm to the ladies' health.
"This Yun Cairen, being closest to the burner, inhaled the most fumes, so her condition is the most severe—she has temporarily lost her voice."
The imperial physician reported respectfully after his examination.
Lu Yao sat there.
Listening to these words.
Being closest to the incense burner meant the greater the suspicion of having placed the incense into it.
Being directly reduced to losing her voice seemed more like a deliberate act to cover up the truth.
Lu Yao's cold, thin eyes immediately turned to Yun Wu's bright, clear almond-shaped eyes, meeting her gaze in a silent stare.
Yet after but a moment, he looked away.
Not her.
The woman in his memory was sharp-tongued, cunning, and sly—she could never be someone so cold and harmless.
Lu Yao furrowed his brow, swept his gaze over the other three in turn, then abruptly rose, tossing out a perfunctory, indifferent remark—"You all rest well"—and suddenly left.
"Your concubines see Your Majesty off…"
Concubine Guan and the others exchanged glances, not forgetting to bow hastily.
After he departed.
"His Majesty just left like that?" Noble Lady Cui couldn't help saying, a hint of resentment in her tone.
Regarding today's matter—who had tampered with the incense burner, whether to investigate and find the mastermind behind it—he had given not a single word of arrangement.
Nor had he shown her any special treatment.
"What else? He's the emperor—naturally he comes and goes as he pleases. Do you think he'd bend to your whims?" Concubine Guan said bluntly.
"That's not what I meant…"
Noble Lady Cui's expression stiffened.
Concubine Guan paid her no further mind.
Instead, she walked over to Yun Wu, patted her on the shoulder, and said generously, "Yun Cairen, Sister Jiang and I misjudged you earlier. I hope you won't take it to heart."
Yun Wu couldn't speak, so she simply shook her head and gave her a gentle smile.
"Yun Cairen is truly broad-minded."
Concubine Guan laughed heartily, praising her without reservation.
Beauty Jiang's cat-like eyes darted around, and she smiled with feigned innocence. She then stepped forward on her own initiative, took Yun Wu's hand, and said in a sweet, coquettish tone, "Sister Yun, entering the palace together is fate. We should visit each other often from now on!"
Yun Wu nodded.
She maintained a warm, placid smile throughout, like a meek clay figurine with no temper at all.
Seeing this, Beauty Jiang grew even more affectionate toward her.
Noble Lady Cui, meanwhile, suddenly felt betrayed by both Guan and Jiang.
She clenched her hand within her sleeve, shot a quick, cold glance at Yun Wu, and a sharp glint flashed in her eyes.
The hall fell into a strangely harmonious atmosphere.
Just like the harem itself.
Calm on the surface, yet capable of erupting into stormy waves at any moment.
Yun Wu lowered her eyes, her heart as clear as a mirror.
"Your Majesty, won't you investigate?"
At this moment, on the emperor's way back to the Yushufang, Chen Yu'an couldn't hold back and asked.
"What's there to investigate? That woman is among them."
Lu Yao said with a sneer. "Last time I fell for it, wasn't it because someone tampered with the incense in the burner?
"This time it's the same method. She must have gotten wind that I intended to identify her by voice, so she did something to the incense—rendering them all voiceless so I couldn't recognize her by sound.
"…How clever she thinks she is.
"Why should I investigate?
"All I need to do is wait three to five days. Once their voices recover, I'll summon them one by one and naturally know which one she is."
After a moment's thought, that pair of cold, innocent eyes suddenly flashed through his mind, and he added, "It's not Yun Cairen—it's one of the other three."
"Huh? Your Majesty, how do you know?" Chen Yu'an looked baffled.
"Yun Cairen has such a gentle, delicate air—how could she be that scheming woman?" Lu Yao frowned his handsome brows, saying matter-of-factly.
"That's not necessarily true…"
Chen Yu'an scoffed dismissively at that. "As the saying goes, you can know a person's face but not their heart. The more beautiful a woman is, the better she is at deceiving. Yun Cairen is the most beautiful and distinctive among the four—for all we know, she might be the most skilled deceiver of them all."
He continued, "In this servant's view, His Majesty clearly took a liking to Yun Cairen at first sight, which is why he's defending her like this…"
Mid-sentence, he suddenly sensed something amiss.
He looked up to see the Emperor's expression.
"Am I the Emperor, or are you?" Lu Yao shot him a cold, sidelong glare.
"Heh heh… of course you are, you are the Emperor. This servant was just spouting nonsense, pure nonsense." Chen Yu'an quickly forced a fawning smile and slapped himself twice across the face, wearing a thoroughly obsequious look.
Lu Yao cast him a glance, then continued walking toward the Yushufang.
Chen Yu'an hurriedly fell in step behind him.
After a few steps, he couldn't help running his mouth again. "Then will Your Majesty be summoning Yun Cairen to your chambers tonight?"
"The other consorts' voices are all in such a state—I fear Your Majesty won't be fully satisfied in bed."
"Yun Cairen can't make a sound, so at least she won't ruin Your Majesty's mood with an unpleasant voice during the night…"
Lu Yao was forced to stop in his tracks once more.
A hint of amusement flickered across his handsome face. He turned around, raised an eyebrow, and silently fixed his gaze on this foolish, chatterbox of a servant.
Chen Yu'an, pinned by that stare, cursed himself inwardly with regret, then obediently turned his back and knelt to the ground.
Unable to resist, he added in a pitiful tone, "I beg Your Majesty's mercy… Your Majesty, please go easy on this servant… Ah!"
Before he could finish.
A powerful kick sent him sprawling face-first into the dirt.
"You wretched slave! You dare arrange my private affairs now? Shall I hand you the throne and let you be Emperor in my place?"
One kick wasn't enough to vent Lu Yao's anger. He added another, cursing twice more, then finally felt somewhat satisfied. He flicked his sleeves and turned to walk off again.
"This servant wouldn't dare! This servant knows he was wrong! Your Majesty—please don't cast me aside!"
Chen Yu'an scrambled to his feet without a moment's pause, wailing miserably as he hurried to catch up.
Meanwhile.
Yun Wu and the others had already been led by the palace attendants to their respective assigned residences.