Crossing the Palace Fighting Fox Harem

"Concubine Zhao Cong, you should not ask me to let you go, but kneel down to thank me. I don't have any tricks in my mind, so you don't have to guess. Just remember, from now on, you are the one who will be disciplined by me, Princess Tianning. Why don't you thank me?" Princess Tianning stood with her hands behind her back and raised her chin, making a great gesture, ready to accept Ji Anni's kneeling thanks.

But Ji Anni made an excuse: "I'm sorry, Princess, Zhao Ji's knees are in great pain, could you please spare Zhao Ji's gift?"

I thought Tianning would be angry, but he believed it and asked worriedly, "Did you get hurt when you fell off your horse? Why didn't you tell me earlier? I'll ask the doctor to bring you some painkillers."

As he said this, he really rushed out.

"Princess, wait a minute. Princess, wait for your servant." Yue Mao hurriedly chased forward.

Looking at the backs of the master and servant, Ji Anni was speechless.

Fortunately, Hua Rong was still in the room. Ji Anni asked Hua Rong, "What happened to Princess Tian Ning?"

Hua Rong smiled and replied, "To answer the Concubine, I have said before that the princess is just a child. She has no ill will towards you, she is just curious. She was very sad when she saw you fall off your horse and get shot. She thought it was the result of her forcing you to participate in the hunting competition. Also, during the archery ceremony, you tied a piece of red cloth on the princess's arrow. Although the princess refused to thank you, she knew in her heart that she would not have won without you."

Ji Anni looked at the direction where Tian Ning ran away, thought carefully about what Hua Rong had just said, and felt that this was indeed the truth.

Even if Tian Ning had no ill will towards her, her curiosity about her alone was enough to shorten Ji Anni's life by thirty years.

There was still a bitter taste of the bowl of medicine in her mouth, and Ji Anni couldn't help but stick out her tongue.

"Your Majesty, I'm leaving now." Hua Rong bowed respectfully to Ji Anni and walked towards the door.

"Wait a moment." Ji Anni blurted out and stopped her.

Hua Rong stopped very obediently, turned around and smiled at Ji Anni, and asked, "What else do you want me to do, Madam?"

"I don't have any orders, I just have a question - who are you?"

In fact, Ji Anni did not have any deep meaning when she asked this question. She just felt that Hua Rong, the little palace maid, was not simple. Although she was young, her behavior was very calm, and her speech had a kind of temperament. Her eyes and smile were very light, as if she had experienced a lot of things, or buried her true feelings very deeply, and her emotions such as joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness were not easily revealed.

Hua Rong once said that Ji Anni had the appearance of a queen, but Ji Anni thought that Hua Rong, the little palace maid, had more grace and demeanor than anyone else.

After hearing Ji Anni's question, Huarong smiled softly again and answered softly, "I am just a little palace maid."

"So is that little palace maid named Yuemao really your twin sister?" Ji Anni asked a second question.

Hua Rong nodded and said, "Yes. We look exactly the same. Does Concubine Zhao have any questions?"

"I just think you two sisters have very different personalities."

There are many examples of twins who look the same but have very different personalities. Huarong and Yuemao are not special. But Ji Anni felt that it was a little strange, especially when she saw Yuemao, a little maid who looked exactly like Huarong, chasing after Princess Tianning and shouting "Princess, wait, wait".

"Your Highness, instead of worrying about my status, you should pay more attention to the current situation in the harem." Hua Rong returned to her demeanor in Renhe Hall that day, with a light in her indifferent eyes that seemed to see through everything. She whispered, "Your Highness, don't you really want to investigate the matter of falling off your horse and the poison arrow?"

"What?" Ji Anni couldn't help but frown. Whenever she saw Hua Rong's scheming eyes, she would always feel a chill in her heart. What secrets did this little palace maid hide? And why did she approach her?

“Your Majesty…”

Hua Rong just opened her mouth, but Ji Anni interrupted her in a low voice: "Don't say anything."

Ji Anni didn't want to listen at all, because she had a feeling that Hua Rong's next words would make her feel even more disgusted.

But Hua Rong insisted, "Your Majesty, the Queen Mother has agreed that the Emperor should thoroughly investigate the poison arrow."

"Let's investigate thoroughly." Ji Anni didn't care.

"But Your Majesty, the feathers of that poison arrow have been broken. Once the feathers are broken, it is impossible to identify who shot the poison arrow. What do you think the emperor will find out if he conducts a thorough investigation?" Hua Rong's voice became lower and lower, and the light in her eyes became deeper and deeper.

Being stared at like that, Ji Anni gradually became uneasy, and even her speech became a little stuttering. "Since, since we can't identify the person who shot the arrow, of course we can't find any results."

"You are wrong, Your Majesty." Hua Rong took a step closer to Ji Anni, lowered her voice, and asked more decisively, "Do you think the Queen Mother would agree to the Emperor investigating a case where the truth cannot be found?"

"How can they investigate if there is no evidence?"

Ji Anni secretly made up her mind to destroy the half of the arrow feather tonight. Without evidence, let's see how they investigate. Although Ji Anni has determined that the mastermind behind the incident is Concubine An, she herself was safe and sound this time, so she didn't want to hurt Concubine An too much. And she had already gone to the East Palace to warn Concubine An today, which was enough.

Ji Anni thought that as long as she destroyed the evidence, no results would be found and the matter would be forgotten over time.

But the matter was not as simple as Ji Anni thought. Hua Rong continued, "My queen, I don't know how the half of the arrow feather disappeared, but I heard that while your queen was unconscious after being shot, your right hand was clenched into a fist, as if you were holding something. I dare to make a wild guess, could it be that the half of the broken feather was held in your hand?"

The secret was suddenly revealed, and Ji Anni's expression immediately became unnatural. She interrupted Hua Rong and asked, "What does it have to do with you?"

From Ji Anni's reaction and expression, Hua Rong had guessed the result. She stopped asking and just said, "My queen, no matter whether the broken feather as evidence is in your hands or not, once this case is investigated, there will definitely be a result and a murderer in the end." After a pause, she emphasized, "--no matter whether the murderer is the real murderer or not."

Hua Rong's words were like a blow to Ji Anni, and she suddenly came to her senses.

She originally thought that as long as she destroyed the evidence, the poison arrow incident would end quietly. But she was wrong. It was precisely because the arrow feathers were broken and the true identity of the archer could not be determined that other people with conspiracies got the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the situation.