Harem Daily Life

The eldest prince pondered for a moment and said, "I am not strong enough now, and I don't have the support of my maternal family, but I am my father's eldest son. As long as you work for me wholeheartedly, you will benefit from it in the future."

Eunuch Wang quickly smiled and said, "Yes, I will follow the eldest prince wholeheartedly. If the eldest prince has any orders, I will never refuse."

Eunuch Wang was originally just an insignificant eunuch. After the eldest prince lived alone in Yongxing Palace, he was promoted to be the managing eunuch.

The monthly salary used to be two taels of silver, but now it is four taels. There is not much to do, just helping the eldest prince do the bad things he cannot do in person.

This included planting spies in Changle Palace. Although he couldn't get them in, he could only bribe a eunuch who was sweeping outside the palace to keep watch and tell him if there was any movement.

The previous time the former queen came to Changle Palace, it was the eunuch who brought the news. Although the eldest prince did not gain any benefits in the end and was even rejected, because of this incident, the eldest prince trusted him even more and gradually regarded him as a confidant.

However, Eunuch Wang sometimes worried that he would follow the wrong master and lose his life if he was not careful.

"Have you found the witness I asked you to find?" the eldest prince asked, looking up.

Eunuch Wang quickly reported back, "We've found them. The young eunuch was fishing for dead leaves and water plants in that pond. Just a few days ago, a maid from Concubine Shu's palace went there to burn paper and offer sacrifices to the Third Prince. The young eunuch can prove that Concubine Shu's men were once seen by the pond."

The eldest prince nodded and said, "Then we will wait and see. When the time is right, you can spread the word outside to prevent Concubine Liang from being foolish and not investigating."

The eldest prince sent someone to get the oil in the middle of the night, and he was confident that no one would see it. And as long as he could prove that Shu Cairen's maid had been to that area, he could put the blame on Shu Cairen.

Didn't she want to befriend Concubine Liang? Then destroy their relationship and make it fall apart.

At first, Concubine Liang really didn't investigate in the direction of human intervention, because the Fourth Princess really liked to watch fish and really liked to go to the water's edge. However, news came from somewhere that a little palace maid had fallen into the water at the place where the Fourth Princess fell. After the little palace maid came ashore, she said that she slipped because she seemed to have stepped on oil.

When Concubine Liang heard about this, she became suspicious and sent a trusted eunuch to investigate. Sure enough, they saw oil there. Because the ground was slippery, the oil and water mixed together and could not be seen without careful observation, so she had overlooked it at first.

With this suspicion, Concubine Liang thought about it and decided to report it to Concubine Xian and ask her to investigate.

Concubine Xian took it very seriously. She sent someone to report to the Queen and took people to check the place where the Fourth Princess and the little palace maid fell into the water.

It was freezing cold in December. Even walking near the water was slippery. Concubine Xian couldn't help but frown. "Tell the palace maids sweeping in this area to be careful. If the road is too slippery, spread some straw. Don't let anyone fall and get hurt."

The newly promoted eunuch Liu, who was in charge of her affairs, quickly responded and ordered people to go down and look for the young eunuchs in the area.

"Your Majesty, there is indeed oil spilled on the edge of this pond. I'm afraid there is something hidden behind the Fourth Princess falling into the water." Eunuch Liu took a closer look and found the oil stains.

"But the fourth princess has been in the water for several days. The presence of oil now does not mean that there was oil on the day she fell into the water." Concubine Xian raised a reasonable question.

Everyone also thought it made sense.

Suddenly, a young eunuch from a distance came over and reported: "Your Majesty, I have something to report."

After saying that, he told her that he had seen Cuihong from Shu Cairen's palace burning paper two days before the fourth princess fell into the water.

"I saw that person acting suspiciously, burning a fire by the lake, so I became wary and watched her from a distance. Later, when she was about to leave, I saw her pour something on the ground. I thought it was wine, as most people pour a glass of wine as an offering when burning paper, so I didn't think much of it. Unexpectedly, two days later, the Fourth Princess slipped into the pond right where she had poured the liquid."

"Have you ever come to check if it's alcohol or something else?" asked the virtuous concubine.

The young eunuch was a little scared: "I was too lazy to come and check."

After pondering for a moment, Concubine Xian felt that she could not make up her mind about the matter, so she took people to Changle Palace to ask the Queen for a decision.

In reality, Concubine Xian could have gone to His Majesty, but it was the end of the year, and His Majesty was very busy with official duties and hadn't been to the harem for several days. He probably wouldn't have the time to attend to matters there. Fortunately, the Empress hadn't given birth yet. As long as the Empress said she wanted to bring Shu Cairen in for questioning, Concubine Xian would naturally follow her instructions and not bother her.

Tao Yanyan frowned slightly when he heard the results of Concubine Xian's investigation.

She looked at the eunuch who was exposing the matter and asked, "How do you know that person is from Concubine Shu's palace?"

The young eunuch said, "I have seen that palace maid following Concubine Shu."

This made sense. Tao Yanyan pondered for a moment, "We didn't catch her pouring the oil, so we can't pin the blame on her. I'm actually curious why the Fourth Princess happened to pass by that place and slipped."

Concubine Xian frowned, "Concubine Liang said she was invited by Concubine Shu to visit Yongning Palace that day. Maybe Concubine Shu planned it all in advance, deliberately had someone pour the oil, deliberately invited Concubine Liang and the Fourth Princess, and the Fourth Princess happened to be having fun and wanted to watch the fish, so she slipped and fell."

After Concubine Xian finished speaking, although it seemed to sound reasonable, she still felt something was wrong.

Tao Yanyan smiled and said, "There has to be a reason for harming someone. This Shu Cairen probably wants to make friends with Concubine Liang the most right now, so why would she harm the Fourth Princess and become enemies with Concubine Liang? It doesn't make sense."

When Concubine Xian heard this, she felt that what the Queen said was reasonable, and her previous statement was untenable.

Tao Yanyan pondered for a moment, then turned his gaze to the eunuch who had made the accusation. He looked at him with a rather cold expression, "Tell me more about what you discovered. You said that late that night, you saw the maids from Concubine Shu's palace burning paper by the pond? Why weren't you asleep yet? And were you still wandering around the Imperial Garden?"

Upon hearing this, the young eunuch broke out in a cold sweat and stammered, "Slave, slave, slave, I got up to get up at night, so..."

Tao Yanyan snorted coldly, "Why would you run so far to get up at night? There's no toilet nearby?"

The palace maids all lived together, far from the imperial garden. Who would get up at night and run so far? It was obvious that there was something wrong.

The young eunuch wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "Slave, I'm not used to being near my residence. I think the Imperial Garden is cleaner..."

However, Tao Yanyan no longer believed what he said and winked at Chang Tai. Chang Tai hurried downstairs and after a while brought the eunuchs' duty book in the palace and found out his duty record for the day and night that the eunuch mentioned.

"Your Majesty, this young eunuch is dishonest. He was transferred to the Dowager's Palace during the day and was not on duty in the Imperial Garden at all. After returning home that night, he played cards with his roommates until late at night and then fell asleep. No one can prove that he got up."

The young eunuch quickly corrected himself: "I remembered it wrongly. It wasn't that day, it was... the day after that."

Chang Tai flipped through the pages again and snorted, "The next day is even more impossible. You were tired from playing cards the day before, and the next day you asked for leave, and you were even deducted several hundred yuan. To win it back, you went gambling again the next night."

Tao Yanyan scratched his ear and said impatiently, "I'm very tired. Don't waste any more time. If he doesn't tell the truth, send him to the Ministry of Punishment. He will naturally speak."

When the young eunuch heard this, he dared not hide it anymore. He had only accepted ten taels of silver from Eunuch Wang. He couldn't let himself be buried in the Ministry of Punishment for just ten taels!