The queen is sober in the world, and she is winning every step of the palace fight.

Chapter 593 Investigation (Votes Requested!!)

Zheng Miao came to check Ping An's pulse.

After tasting the medicine and looking over the accompanying prescription from Doctor Zheng, he quickly concluded, "The prescription is fine, but there's one ingredient that's unnecessary. It's fine to add it, but it's just a mild, warming, tonic. Its main purpose in this prescription is its bitterness, which masks the flavors of the other herbs."

"Master Zheng tasted the medicine. What did you add to it?"

"Your Highness, I've added Huang Xuezhi, a herb that's already poisonous. Combined with the other three herbs in the prescription, it can cause a person to feel heavy. Once Your Highness takes this medicine, after three to five days, her mind will be clearer than before, but her body won't improve. Fatigue will simply turn into soreness and swelling. The toxins will accumulate in her body, and after ten days or half a month, she'll become seriously ill and unable to leave her bed."

Fei Wan was shocked.

“So poisonous!”

She also had some knowledge of pharmacology, and after carefully recalling what she had learned in her previous life, she knew that what Zheng Miao said was basically correct.

"But this medicine won't kill the Queen, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. The Empress is bedridden, and it looks like she's suffering from overwork and mental distress. If you stop taking this medicine and switch to a nourishing prescription to regulate her body, her condition will improve in two or three months. But if you continue taking this medicine, or switch to something more toxic, her life may be in danger."

Let Queen Yan get sick, and then see how things go, and then decide whether to let her live or die?

Is this what the person behind the scenes is planning?

It’s almost there!

So, who is it?

Fei Wan told Yan Hou about Zheng Miao's judgment.

In Fengming Palace, Queen Yan heard the news and poured the remaining half bowl of medicine into the flowerpot.

The whole hall was filled with the aroma of medicine.

Queen Yan was cursing in the house.

She deliberately let the people in the dark misunderstand that she was taking the medicine as usual and didn't notice anything.

"You keep giving me such bitter medicine all day long. If Mr. Zhao is incompetent, then someone else should prescribe medicine for me! It's killing me! Hurry up and bring me some Phoenix Candies!"

The two cats were frightened by their owner's sudden temper. One jumped into Queen Yan's arms and meowed, while the other hid far away, staring with vigilant eyes.

I boiled some medicine again in the evening.

The result is still bitter.

It's just a little lighter than before.

It was Linglong who went there personally to decoct the medicine, but before putting the herbs into the jar, she took away the particularly bitter medicine.

Zheng Miao said that if it was removed, the medicine would no longer be bitter, but would instead be slightly spicy.

This means that someone added something bitter to the dish, which prevented the spicy taste from coming out.

Since the particularly bitter medicine had been taken out, the problem must have been with the vessel containing the medicine, or with the palace maid who clarified or served the medicine.

If it is a container, is it a medicine jar, a medicine bowl, or gauze used to clarify juice?

On the second day, another trusted palace maid went to boil medicine, but accidentally broke the original medicine jar and temporarily replaced it with a new one.

The medicine is still bitter.

So the next time I decocted the medicine, I changed the gauze temporarily.

Change the bowl again.

Then change the person who clarifies and serves the medicine.

After eliminating one problem after another, it was finally determined that there was something wrong with the bowl containing the medicine or the person who served the medicine.

The problem occurred when pouring the medicine into the bowl and sending it to the main hall.

Linglong deliberately went to urge the medicine to be taken, and took the medicine herself, clarified it, and delivered it to Queen Yan.

The medicine is still bitter.

Linglong stared at the bowl in her hand with sharp eyes.

“It’s this thing!”

But, how do you add toppings to the bowl?

The fine, top-grade porcelain bowl used by the imperial court was thin, brittle, and slightly translucent. Even if all the medicine was poured out, nothing strange would be seen.

There were more than ten bowls for Empress Yan to use in medicine, stored in a cabinet in the small kitchen, ready for immediate use. However, the person who brought the medicine was different each time, and the bowls used were also different, so it was uncertain which bowl would be used each time.

Is the person who did this so good that he can always add something to the bowl that people have chosen on the spur of the moment?

Linglong frowned, unable to figure it out, and her frown grew tighter and tighter.

I even forgot that I always remind Queen Yan not to frown.

Empress Yan suddenly said, "Then there's something wrong with all the dishes! Who's in charge of washing them?"

"Yes..." Linglong thought for a moment, "She's a palace maid named Shi Liu. She's reaching the age to be released from the palace this year, so she's only been assigned light chores."

So he asked someone to secretly watch Shi Liu washing the dishes.

I watched it for a whole day and didn't find anything wrong.

But the medicine I took late that night still tasted like something spiced up.

Queen Yan was impatient to investigate it carefully.

He brought Shi Liu directly in front of him and interrogated him secretly.

Pomegranate pretended to be stupid and refused to admit it at first.

Until Linglong brought a small jar filled with hot oil and wanted to put her hands that were washing dishes into it to burn them.

"Since there's something wrong with the dishes washed by these hands, there's no need to keep them."

Pomegranate was so frightened that she lost control of her bladder.

Finally, she confessed that she did not add any medicine to the bowl. She was just told a few days ago that after washing the dishes, she should wipe the water on the bowl with a cotton cloth soaked in some soup.

"Who told you that?!"

"Chun, Xiaohui of Chunxi Palace."

"Nonsense!"

Linglong slapped her in the face.

"It's true, it's true. Xiaohui gave me a golden hairpin and said that she was squeezed out by Xiangyi in Chunxi Palace and could no longer be the head maid. She wanted to come here to serve the Empress..."

"Nonsense!" Linglong scolded, "If she wants to be the head maid, why did she come to Fengming Palace? Is she trying to get rid of me and become the head maid here? Listen to what you are saying!"

Queen Yan's face turned ashen.

"Linglong, don't waste your words on her. Since this maidservant is so dishonest, if you've already crippled her hands, you might as well cripple her face too!"

Linglong grabbed Shiliu's hand and pressed it into the oil jar, saying viciously, "First, I'll burn your claws, then I'll pour this oil soaked in blood and flesh on your face and into your mouth, and then you'll talk nonsense again!"

Pomegranate struggled desperately and cried for mercy.

Linglong didn't let go.

Shi Liu's hand was being pulled, and just by touching the edge of the oil jar, it burned her so much that she screamed.

"Don't burn me, don't burn me! I confess, Aunt Linglong, spare my life, I confess! It was Concubine Ying who asked me to do it, it was Concubine Ying!"

She was struggling and lying on the ground. Linglong and the two palace maids were unable to hold her down, and she kicked over the oil jar.

Hot oil spilled out, and Linglong and others quickly dodged.

Shi Liu took the opportunity to break free from the restraints and rushed out of the hall.

The door was blocked by Empress Yan's trusted eunuchs, and she saw no hope of escape in her panic.

Suddenly he hardened his heart and bit his teeth hard.

When Linglong and his men pinned her down again...

She was bleeding from all seven orifices and fell to the ground.

The eunuch rushed over, pried open Shi Liu's mouth, and saw something stuck in her teeth.

"My Lady, it's poison hidden in your teeth. At the critical moment, if you bite through the hard shell of the poison, you can commit suicide by taking the poison!"

Queen Yan's body swayed.

He was stunned for a moment.

Hiding poison in teeth was a tactic previously used by foreign spies. However, the poison was not pure, so their death took a while.

But as soon as Pomegranate moved, he was poisoned and died.

Such a strong poison...

She has seen it.

Queen Yan smiled miserably.

She knew who was behind it.