Crossing the Palace Fighting Fox Harem

The sound of the door being pushed open was like a devil's sound to Ji Anni. She seemed to be frozen in an instant, and all her movements stopped. She stood in front of the bed like an ice man, still reaching out to pull the blanket.

"Princess Zhao Congfei." Princess Tianning stepped into the room and said in a deliberately shrill voice, "Did you know that I'm back and that's why you wanted to go to bed?"

"Of course not." Ji Anni returned to normal and patted the bed to cover up, "I was just idle and suddenly saw that the blanket was not folded properly, so I made the bed again."

"That's great, just lie down." Princess Tianning had already come behind Ji Anni.

Ji Anni looked back blankly, only to see Princess Tianning had rolled up her sleeves, and the palace maid Yuemao was holding a small bottle.

"What is this?" Ji Anni asked, pointing at the bottle in Yuemao's hand.

Tian Ning said, "This is the painkiller that I specially requested for you. Please lie down on the bed and I will personally apply the medicine to you."

"This... Thank you for your kindness, Princess. But Zhaoji knows that her status is low and she cannot afford such expensive medicine. She will be fine after applying some ordinary ointment she brought from her hometown... No need to worry about it, Princess..."

Ji Anni stared at the medicine bottle suspiciously for a long time, not hesitating to assume the worst of Tian Ning.

Could it be poison? Even if it wasn't poison, it would definitely be something that would cause skin allergies. It would be unpleasant if I got pimples all over my body after applying the medicine.

"Who said you are of low status? You are a concubine." Tian Ning pushed Ji Anni onto the bed without saying a word.

"Princess, this is not appropriate..." Ji Anni sat on the bed, shrinking into the corner, and continued to struggle. "My foot injury has long been healed, there is no need to waste such precious ointment...Princess, you should go back quickly. It's getting late. It's time for dinner, right?"

Tian Ning said, "You don't have to worry about that. I have decided to stay at your place for dinner tonight."

"What?!" Ji Annie's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

"Didn't I tell you? I have obtained the qualification to teach you etiquette from Yan Niang. From now on, I will be your master. The palace etiquette training will end in two days. You have missed too many classes. If you don't make up for it, you will not be able to pass it. So I have decided to make up for it tonight."

"Princess, please forgive me..." Ji Anni would rather be sent out of the palace for failing to meet the etiquette standards than let the princess torture her for another night.

At this moment, an old eunuch's loud voice came from outside: "The Queen Mother has arrived, Concubine An has arrived."

After hearing this, not only Ji Annie was stunned, but even Princess Tianning, who was having fun, stopped what she was doing and turned to look outside the door.

The next second, accompanied by a burst of powerful footsteps, the Queen Mother and Concubine An appeared at Ji Anni's door.

Ji Anni hurriedly jumped off the bed, knelt on the ground, and greeted Yuemao together, "Long live the Queen Mother, and good luck to Concubine An."

"Mother, why are you here?" Tian Ning walked towards the Queen Mother with a smile on her face, looking surprised and happy.

But the Queen Mother was not happy at all when she saw Tianning. Instead, she glared at him and asked seriously, "Tianning, why are you here?"

"I... I came to get some pain-relieving ointment for Consort Zhao. She broke her leg when she fell off a horse last time..."

But the Queen Mother had no interest in Tian Ning's words. She said to Yue Mao who was kneeling on the ground with dignity: "Why don't you send the princess back quickly?"

"I obey your command." Yuemao stood up hastily, not daring to delay even a little. She quickly came behind Tianning and whispered, "Princess, let's go back to the palace."

Princess Tianning didn't want to leave, so she pestered the Queen Mother and said coquettishly, "Mother, what happened?"

The Queen Mother did not want to say more, and without even looking at Tianning, she ordered indifferently: "It's getting late, Tianning, you should go back quickly."

"No, Tianning has decided to stay tonight to tutor Zhaoji."

"Come here," the Queen Mother ordered, and two guards came up, "Send the princess back to the palace."

It seems that the Queen Mother wants to send the princess away by force.

"Mother, I won't leave unless you tell me what happened!" Tian Ning said stubbornly.

But the Queen Mother still ignored her and said coldly to the two guards: "Why are you still standing there? Didn't you hear what I said? Send the princess away."

Seeing the Queen Mother's firm attitude, Tian Ning also realized that the matter was serious.

The guards stepped forward and said, "Princess, we are sorry."

After saying this, regardless of whether Princess Tianning was willing or not, they carried Princess Tianning out from the left and right.

"Let me go, let me go!" Tian Ning struggled desperately, but it was no use. Her voice became smaller and smaller, and finally disappeared. She must have been taken out of the Concubine's Palace. Yuemao followed her out of the room.

Ji Anni noticed that Yuemao kept her head down, not daring to look at the Queen Mother and Concubine An. Compared to Huarong, Yuemao gave people the impression of being much more honest and respectable. Although Huarong and Yuemao had the same appearance and figure, and even their voices were very similar, because of their huge differences in personality, anyone who was slightly familiar with them could tell them apart at a glance.

The timid and weak Yue Mao was probably so scared that she didn't even dare to raise her eyes when facing the Empress Dowager and Concubine An, two women from the An family - after all, it was because her father had offended the An family that three generations of the Xi family were executed.

There was no time to think about the Xi family's story. Under the angry gaze of the Queen Mother, Ji Anni also felt the sadness of being unable to protect herself. In fact, the Queen Mother didn't need to say anything. The moment Ji Anni saw Concubine An, she had already guessed why the Queen Mother came.

It’s just for the only evidence in the poison arrow case.

Concubine An must have informed the Queen Mother that the arrow feather was in her hand, so the Queen Mother rushed over in anger.

The Queen Mother got straight to the point and asked, "Zhao Ji, I heard that you broke the feathers of that poison arrow yourself?"

Seeing that the other party asked so directly, Ji Anni simply answered concisely: "Yes."

A one-word answer would be considered disrespectful to the Queen Mother, but she held back her anger and only whispered, "Hand it over."

"There," said Ji Anni, pointing to the small pile of ashes under the candlestick.

The Queen Mother and Concubine An looked in the direction of Ji Anni's finger, and their expressions changed.

Ji Anni explained, "Queen Mother, Zhao Ji wanted to present the evidence to you tomorrow, but unfortunately, she was careless just now and caused the evidence to be burned by the candlelight. Now the evidence has turned to ashes. I think this matter... let it go like this."

"Forget it?" The Queen Mother snorted coldly, not believing a word of Ji Anni's nonsense, and said sarcastically, "How can we let someone go so easily when they dare to kill people with poison arrows at the Royal Hunting Conference? Zhao Ji, since you broke the arrow feathers yourself, you should have seen the mark on it. Tell me what color the mark is. Even if there is no physical evidence, it is the same with you as a witness."