The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

"So what did you ask her at that time?" Xie Yuzhen asked, bending her beautiful eyes.

Lin Qiao sat down not too far from her, recalling what happened not long ago: "I asked about the background of the son-in-law of the chief official, how he got along with the princess, and where the girl I saw in the courtyard came from, and why she seemed to have little common sense, but could still serve the princess."

A few days have passed since Princess Rong Le fell from the Heyi Building.

After all, she was one of the emperor's only two surviving sisters. On the day Princess Rong Le fell from the building, Xie Yuzhen received the news and sent the female official of the Shanggong Bureau and Zong Ling to investigate the matter. However, when they arrived at Heyi Tower, Princess Rong Le claimed that her fall was an accident. After everyone in the building and the chief historian of the Princess's Mansion were investigated and questioned, the incident was confirmed as an accident at the insistence of the parties involved.

Although this is the conclusion announced to the outside world, the truth must be made clear to the Emperor and Empress.

Princess Rong Le immediately asked the female official from the Shanggong Bureau to come back and beg the emperor and empress to give her some time to handle her private affairs. The emperor agreed with a mentality of watching the fun. Xie Yu was really unhappy, but the emperor took out another bargaining chip to convince her.

Three days passed.

Princess Rong Le's injuries did not worsen, and Heyi Tower was reopened after a quick renovation, and it was still as bustling as before.

The only difference is.

Princess Rong Le divorced her husband again.

"Speaking of the origin of her current consort, I do have some impression of it, but since you singled it out, Guanying, I guess there is some hidden story behind it?"

Today, Princess Rong Le dragged her injured body into the palace to report to the emperor about the fall from the building that day. She also said that Lin Qiao had helped her a lot that day and wanted to ask for a reward for him. When Xie Yuzhen found out, he simply summoned Lin Qiao into the palace.

This time, the place where the two met was still in Shouning Palace.

Empress Xie was accompanied by Concubine Xu, while Lin Qiao, as a "foreign man", was still accompanied by the elder Xie's mother.

On the surface, it still seems that there are more boys than girls.

Lin Qiao nodded and replied, "The former consort of Princess Rong Huan is the young master of the Su family in Gunzhou, Jiangnan. He is twenty-two this year. He married the Princess Royal Highness three years ago. However, that Chief Clerk Lan told me that during the three years of marriage, Master Su and the Princess Royal Highness had never slept together because Master Su - did not want to. And because of this, Master Su has been living in seclusion and rarely appears in front of the servants. He is also not willing to accept the service of the servants in the Princess Royal Highness's residence."

"It seems that the husband hates his wife very much, and also hates everything she has. They even went to Heyi Building one after the other that day."

"This is rare, Your Majesty. I grew up in the countryside, and all I heard was men forcing women to do what they wanted. I've never heard of a man not wanting to do it... But after all, the princess's feelings are more important. Even if she doesn't want to do it, what can she do?" Concubine Xu sighed half enviously, and curiously urged Lin Qiao to continue.

"And that Miss Yaoyu's surname was Qin, her name was Ruying, and she was also from Gunzhou in Jiangnan. She lost her parents and relatives for some reason, and wandered alone in the suburbs of Beijing when she was spotted by the Princess. She entered the palace at the beginning of this year. Because of her beautiful appearance, the Princess liked her very much, so she was specially promoted to be her attendant. There are a total of 16 maids around the Princess, and eight people are divided into two groups every day, rotating day and night. Miss Qin Ruying was with the Princess that day, and even if the Princess wanted to be alone with her husband, she would still be there."

that day.

After Lin Qiao asked Lan Changshi, she went with her to the room where Princess Rong Huan stayed before she fell from the building to check.

"After I entered the house to investigate, I discovered that after a certain moment, there were only two people left in the house." Lin Qiao's hand moved. At such moments of suspense, she should have fanned herself with a folding fan a few times to get used to it. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to bring it with her today.

Xie Yuzhen had already glimpsed some clues of the truth from her words just now: "You said that there are only two people left in the room, not only two masters?"

Lin Qiao nodded again: "That's right, there are only two people in the room, and that person had a dispute with Her Royal Highness the Princess. What's more interesting is that there are only two people in the room, but there are three kinds of footprints. One of them is a small foot wearing a big shoe, and it's a woman's foot wearing a man's shoe."

As soon as these words were spoken, several smart women in the hall came to their senses.

Concubine Xu covered the lower half of her face with a round fan and asked in surprise, "You mean, Princess Rong Le's consort is a woman? And it's very likely that Miss Qin?!"

After being surprised, Concubine Xu became more puzzled and curious: "But if this is true, how did they create the illusion that there are three people in the room, so that the prince consort and the maid Yaoyu exist at the same time in the eyes of others?"

"It's very simple. There must be another passage in the room that can lead out of the building. All the prince consort needs to do is go in and wait, dismiss the servants as usual, stay in the room alone, and then change into Yaoyu's clothes and sneak out through the small door to accompany the princess again." Xie Yuzhen rubbed his forehead habitually, "She is worthy of being the princess of the Lu family. She loves to make trouble just as much as before."

As the queen, Xie Yu could really say such words, but no one else could respond.

So they tacitly skipped this topic, and Xie Yuzhen asked again: "From what you have described, this Miss Qin Ruying seems to have murderous intentions towards the princess."

"indeed so."

Through the tiny clues that ordinary people could not detect, Lin Qiao quickly deduced in front of Lan Changshi how the "prince consort" in the house had an argument with the princess and how the princess fell from the building, and she also found a secret door hidden in the house and pulled out a men's suit with a blood drop mark from behind the door.

This bloodstain was not from the eldest princess, but from Qin Ruying.

"...I really don't understand. I clearly didn't blame her family for the shameful act of deceiving their superiors and hiding the truth from their superiors. I even took her out of that family. Why is she so stubborn in thinking that I have bad intentions towards her?"

Before the Emperor.

Princess Rong Le, who was still lying on her back and was being carried over, complained to the emperor with a face full of grievance: "She actually wanted to kill herself with the hairpin. If I hadn't stopped her in time, I'm afraid she would have lost her life - so in this case, I saved her life again."

"If I hadn't tried to stop him, I wouldn't have accidentally fallen down the stairs." Princess Rong Huan had a joyful expression on her face that was very similar to the emperor's at times. "If she didn't want to be my consort, she could have just said no. How could I bear to blame her? But she had to pretend to be my consort for the sake of her annoying brother and parents. She was really adorable. How could I bear to blame her!"

"Your Majesty, am I right?"