The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

Lin Qiao observed the performance of everyone in the Princess's Mansion skillfully and silently.

Then, when he saw several doctors from famous clinics nearby rushing over, he went up to the third floor with a lot of questions in his mind.

The fourth and fifth floors of Heyi Building are only open during festivals. On ordinary days, if the women of each family come to the building for banquets, they only stay in the private rooms on the second and third floors. The first floor is used to entertain young women who do not want to go to the private rooms. There are also performance stages set up around it for actors and dancers to use.

Lin Qiao went upstairs.

When she opened the door, Xie's mother was standing in the room with a worried look on her face. When she saw her coming, her eyes lit up and she asked, "I just heard someone outside saying that the princess had fallen from the building. What happened?"

She just wanted to relax for a rare moment today, so she brought Xu's mother out to listen to some music, drink some wine, and watch the beautiful young actors and dancers - this building is only for female guests, and the actors and dancers are both male and female. There was also an imperial censor who impeached Princess Rong Le for this inappropriate and immoral behavior, but was directly scolded back by the latter.

We are in public here, just listening to music and watching dancing, how can it be indecent?

If it is immoral for a woman to sit in the audience and watch a handsome man singing and dancing, then every household should never invite an opera troupe to celebrate festivals or birthdays. It is so immoral to have men and women in the same place!

Everyone in the capital felt annoyed when they saw their husband's old, chrysanthemum-skinned face. It was all thanks to the young and attractive ladies in Heyi Tower that they all applauded Princess Rong Le and supported the operation of Heyi Tower with practical actions, which made some pedantic old stubborn people very angry. However, the emperor loved to watch fun, so he not only rejected the impeachment of the censor, but also advised him not to have any bad thoughts when he saw men and women in the same place.

Then the censor was sent out of the capital.

After this incident, Princess Rong Le started to change her husband to a younger one every few years, and the censors who were too idle to worry about it no longer kept nagging her.

"Don't panic, Auntie. Her Royal Highness the Princess did fall from the building, but she is just unconscious. Her life is not in danger for now."

"For now?" Xie's mother grasped the key word.

Lin Qiao nodded thoughtfully: "I just had a few words with the maid in the princess's mansion, and the maid next to Her Highness seems to be inappropriate."

Mother Xie was stunned, then she grabbed Lin Qiao and walked to the window, whispering to her: "Although Princess Rong Le is your Majesty's sister, she is actually not much older than your Majesty. She... I didn't know about her at first. With our family background, how could we be qualified to inquire about the affairs of the princess's mansion."

She paused, and then continued, "I only found out about this later. Not only does the princess's husband change every now and then, but the maids who serve her, except for the maids and female officials sent from the palace, also have to be replaced every three to five years."

"Oh?" Lin Qiao really didn't know.

Mother Xie sighed, "Girls employed by the princess's mansion only work for three to five years, but they can also learn good manners and skills. It's easy to find a good marriage partner for a good girl from a princess's mansion, and if the girl wins the favor of Her Royal Highness the Princess, she will be rewarded with a dowry!"

"Also, the slave girls sent by the Jiaofangsi can't stay in the princess's mansion for three to five years like the daughters of good families and then go out to get married, but they have the fate of the princess, and they have learned good skills. When they return to the Jiaofangsi from the princess's mansion, they can avoid serving people in such places, and instead find other jobs, or become maids to teach new people."

"I also heard that Princess Rong Le also likes to pick up people from outside the palace. Not only maids, but also two princes-in-law were picked up from outside. No, she met them outside and brought them back to the palace."

Mother Xie analyzed, "You said that the maidservant was very much valued by the Princess, and she was allowed to serve closely, but her manners and knowledge were not as good as those of other maidservants, and her behavior was a little inappropriate. I think, either she has only been with the Princess for a short time and does not understand these key points; or, it is..."

Mother Xie did not say the last words rashly, but Lin Qiao had already understood what she meant. She nodded and said, "I think so too. We only need to see how the Princess's Mansion handles the situation later to know whether she has any evil intentions and whether she is related to the person who caused the eldest princess to fall from the building."

"Don't worry, Aunt. We have nothing to do with this matter. The princess's mansion can't remain locked like this forever." After all, most of the guests in this building are officials' wives, and there are also quite a few daughters of the royal family.

However, not long after Lin Qiao said this, there was a knock on the door of the private room. The person knocking on the door was not a stranger, it was Nanny Wan whom she had just met before.

Nanny Wan looked unhappy. She came in and bowed to everyone first. "This old servant Wan greets the Madam of Yongjia Marquis, Madam Xu, and Master Lin."

"Madam, why are you here?" As the person with the highest status present, Xie's mother asked her the first question.

Nanny Wan said, "My prince has woken up, and I would like to invite Master Lin to come over for a chat."

This request was really out of context and extremely suspicious. Mother Xie was afraid that Lin Qiao would be implicated. "My nephew was in the building opposite when His Highness fell from the building. Madam Xu and I have never left this place. Why did Her Highness the Princess summon my A Qiao?"

Nanny Wan bent her knees again and said, "Although His Highness is conscious, he seems to have suffered a severe blow to the head and has no memory of what happened before he fell from the building."

She quickly raised her eyes to glance at Lin Qiao: "I heard that Master Lin's father is very good at finding doubts and solving cases, and Master Lin is even better than his father, so your highness wants to ask Master Lin to come over to help, so that the perpetrators can be caught as soon as possible, and the ban on the building can be lifted sooner, right?"

Nanny Wan's tone was a little oppressive, but Mother Xie was not afraid: "I don't know who spread such a rumor. My Aqiao is very young, and he is a candidate preparing for the exam. He only wants to read the books of sages... I'm afraid the princess overestimates my child's ability."

Most of the princesses of Dasheng were spoiled and willful, and seldom listened to reason. Xie's mother said this because she was afraid that Lin Qiao would suffer at the hands of Princess Rong Le, and Nanny Wan's attitude also made Xie's mother unhappy.

Nanny Wan realized that she was too anxious, so she softened her tone and said, "It is my fault. It was because the Second Young Master's wife of Duke Shen praised Master Lin so highly that His Highness wanted to invite Master Lin to come."

It would have been fine if she hadn't mentioned the Duke of Shen's Mansion. Once she did, Mother Xie felt it was even more strange: "My family doesn't have any good relationship with the lady of the Duke of Shen's Mansion."

It's almost like becoming enemies.

Seeing that Mother Xie was determined, Nanny Wan became more and more anxious. Just as she was about to persuade or force her, Lin Qiao spoke up: "Since it is the order of Her Royal Highness the Princess, how dare I disobey?"

"Aqiao?" Xie's mother looked at Lin Qiao and called out in confusion.

Lin Qiao gave her a comforting smile: "It's okay, aunt, don't worry. I already have several theories in my mind about this matter. I just need to rule them out and confirm them one by one."