The queen is sober in the world, and she is winning every step of the palace fight.

"Your Highness, if this isn't a misunderstanding, then there's something fishy going on. As for what that is, I want to understand."

Faced with the Queen Mother's questioning, Fei Wan's face was solemn, but not panicked.

The Queen Mother sighed and said, "I want to understand it more than you do."

He turned and glanced at the palace servants in the hall: "Why haven't you moved yet? Thoroughly investigate Chunxi Palace. Didn't you hear?"

After she gave the order, no one responded.

The palace maids who were targeted by her lowered their heads slightly.

The Queen Mother then looked at the Emperor.

Use silence to ask the emperor's meaning.

In the past, if the empress dowager had stared at him like this, the emperor would have responded.

But this time the emperor acted as if he didn't notice.

Turn to look at Fei Wan.

"Zhao Qing, do you have anything to explain?"

The Queen Mother's face trembled slightly.

Nanny Shixiang gently touched her elbow from behind. The empress dowager lowered her eyes and suppressed her anger.

Fei Wan bowed and replied, "Your Majesty, I sent Sister Ying some candied fruit because she's had a poor appetite lately, and I wanted to stimulate her appetite. When I made the candied fruit, I showed the recipe to Doctor Chu. The fruits, sugar, and salt were all carefully selected, and there's no way any ingredients that would harm a pregnant woman were added."

"Zhao Qing is kind, and I don't believe this matter has anything to do with you."

"Thank you for your trust, Your Majesty."

The Queen Mother was left out and felt that the concubines were secretly looking at her and laughing at her.

Fei Wan walked lightly to the judge of the Academy of Literature and took the crushed hawthorn pill.

After a careful inspection, he asked, "Master Wen, is there really a problem here?"

The court judge explained: "Your Majesty, please look at the color of this candied fruit. The outer layer is rose red, but the inner layer is a deeper maroon, which is the color of processed safflower. Then smell it, it is not purely sweet like candied hawthorn fruit, but has a slight sour and bitter taste."

Chu Qingmu beside him continued, "I have been working with medicine in the Imperial Pharmacy for many years. I can guarantee that this candied fruit must contain safflower, and the content is not low. I wonder how many pills Lady Ying has eaten today?"

Zhishu's face was even paler than before. She thought for a moment, then said, "Did I take one today?... No, three. I had no appetite before dinner, so I took one to stimulate it. Then, when I was drinking osmanthus yogurt with the Empress Dowager, I felt greasy, so I took two more to relieve the greasiness."

The judge frowned. "With this amount, if you take one, it's enough to cause redness in your lower abdomen. If you take three..."

Zhishu subconsciously covered her stomach.

"Could it be that this hawthorn pill caused my miscarriage? But I've been taking it for a few days and it didn't do anything."

Chu Qingmu quickly poured out all the candied fruits from Zhishu's purse.

In addition to hawthorn pills, there are several other dried fruits and candied fruits, which are carefully checked one by one.

After checking, it was found that the rest of the candied fruits were fine, only the two hawthorn pills had problems.

They all contain safflower.

"Are there any more things like this? Where are they?" Chu Qingmu asked.

Zhishu's personal maid replied, "More are in the drawer of the chest of drawers in our young master's bedroom. The hawthorn pills and apricot preserves were given by Consort Zhao, and the others were sent by the Fruit Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

Chu Qingmu asked Fei Wan: "Does Empress Zhao have any more of this kind of candied fruit?"

"No more." Fei Wan said, "I had someone make some last month. Half was shared among everyone in the palace, and the other half was given to Sister Ying."

The emperor ordered the palace maids, "Go to Ying Ronghua and bring back all the remaining items. From now on, all the palace maids in Changle Palace and Chunxi Palace are not allowed to move around freely."

This needs to be checked.

I didn't stop investigating Chunxi Palace just because I trusted Fei Wan.

Fei Wan's face was frank. She stepped forward to support Zhishu and said softly, "Sister, go lie down inside first and have a good rest."

"Sister..." Zhishu looked at Feiwan, tears welling up in her eyes, "I believe it's not you."

Fei Wan nodded: "I don't know who did this, but once we find out, we will not let him off."

All the concubines in the hall were looking at the two of them.

Everyone has their own thoughts.

Concubine Yue said solemnly, "That's right. No matter who plotted to murder the heir, they will not be forgiven lightly. Concubine Si was the Empress, and for committing such a serious mistake, she would have been deposed. What's more, the others below her would surely receive the death penalty! Sister Ying is so pitiful, and there's also the unborn heir... Your Majesty, don't you agree?"

She wiped her eyes with a handkerchief.

Sob twice.

The emperor's face darkened: "Anyone who harms the imperial concubines and the heir to the throne will be severely punished."

Concubine Yue took advantage of this incident to win back Concubine Si and was secretly proud of herself.

Why is Concubine Si dancing alone under the moon? Let Your Majesty think about what mistake she made in the past!

She stepped forward and helped Zhishu up. "Sister, go back to the couch and rest. Don't get tired. Only when you are refreshed will you have the strength to attack that harmful creature. Don't worry, His Majesty will definitely seek justice for you!"

With tears in her eyes, Zhishu lowered her head and said "hmm". With the support of Feiwan and Concubine Yue, she obediently lay back on the couch in the inner room.

The palace maid who went to get the candied fruits came back soon with the remaining candied fruits from Fei Wan and Zhi Shu.

The judge of the Academy of Literature led two medical officers to conduct a thorough examination.

A moment later, the result came out.

There is nothing wrong with the candied fruits sent by the Fruit Bureau of the Imperial Household Department.

There are still five hawthorn pills left that Feiwan gave me, each containing safflower.

Concubine Yue frowned: "So, it was this thing that caused the miscarriage after all? But hasn't Sister Ying been taking it for a few days? Why was there nothing wrong with her before?"

Zhishu's personal maid suddenly remembered something and reported, "There were originally four packets of hawthorn pills given by Consort Zhao. I ate three of them before, and today I opened the last packet. The young lady casually grabbed a handful and put it in her purse..."

The maidservant didn't dare to say anything further.

But Concubine Yue already understood.

"Could it be that the first three packages were fine, but only the last one contained safflower?"

In the crowd, Wu Xiangrong said, "Could it be that this bag has been swapped?"

She didn't understand the situation clearly before and didn't dare to speak casually. But now that she saw Fei Wan was suspected, she couldn't help but speak.

Zhishu's maid looked at Wu Xiangrong, then at Fei Wan, lowered her head and said nothing.

Aunt Ruochu explained, "Only a few of us personal servants can enter Lady Ying's bedroom. The door is extremely secure, and outsiders can't get in, so it would be difficult to successfully switch things around. Furthermore, each of these packets of preserved fruit has the words 'Peace and Good Fortune' written on it, handwritten by Concubine Zhao. If the seal were torn, the words would be damaged, making it difficult for someone else to forge the items. This morning, when I opened the fourth packet with the word 'Yi' on it, the entire packet was intact."

The concubines looked at each other in bewilderment.

There are many smart people.

Most of them guessed what the problem was.

Concubine Hui spoke very little since the beginning of the banquet. She followed the crowd like a wooden man, with a cold expression and did not participate in anything.

At this time, he finally spoke.

"So, Concubine Zhao deliberately made four packets of candied fruit and wrote words on them, luring Ying Ronghua to eat them in order. The first three packets, 'Ping,' 'An,' and 'Ru,' were all fine, but the fourth packet, 'Yi,' had something added to it. But because the first three packets were fine, even if Ying Ronghua had a miscarriage, no one would have suspected the fourth packet, right?"

Someone in the crowd exclaimed, "What a scheming Concubine Zhao is!"