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

"My lady, my lady Ying, Dongbao just got the news that Suizi died in the torture chamber this morning because she couldn't endure the torture. However, she confessed everything she needed to before she died."

Two days after the incident.

The sun was shining brightly, and Feiwan and Zhishu were doing needlework in the room.

The maid Xiangyi came in and reported quietly.

Xiangyi was someone Feiwan specially picked. She hasn't been serving for long, but she is already very useful.

Dongbao was a eunuch who had previously done the dirtiest work in the Xinzheku, collecting and delivering toilets to the various palaces every morning and evening. Therefore, he was very familiar with various places and knew many people, making him the perfect person to gather information.

Upon hearing this, Zhishu put down her needlework, which she had no intention of doing, and asked, "What did you confess?"

"She said that she followed Lady Yuan's orders and placed a medicine bag on Lady Ying's dressing table. She also spiked Lady Ying's wine, causing Xiao Luzi to lose control after drinking it.

Moreover, Xiao Luzi is not innocent. He was arranged by someone and deliberately took advantage of the effects of the medicine to do evil things.

The autopsy confirmed that he committed suicide, but his sister's family in his hometown received a large sum of money a few days ago and is renovating their house and arranging a marriage for their son.

Then it all fits.

Zhishu hummed softly.

"The silver he exchanged for his life, his relatives felt at ease using it. When he was alive, his relatives didn't necessarily care whether he was doing well in the palace or not."

Xiao Luzi was one of the people who harmed her, but now she stood up for him.

Fei Wan knew that she must have a story.

But she didn't say anything, and others didn't need to ask.

Everyone has hidden pain that they don't want to express.

"Where is the palace maid who was molested?" Fei Wan asked.

Xiang Yi reported, "They didn't find anything wrong with that. Perhaps he was implicated innocently. The young master wants to find out more. Should we ask Dong Bao to talk to someone he knows in the torture chamber and have a thorough investigation?"

"That's not necessary."

As long as we can find Concubine Yuan, it will be fine.

Since the torture chamber didn't find anything, it means it has little to do with the case and there's no need to create unnecessary complications.

Of the four palace maids around Zhishu, two died. The remaining two, one was molested and the other was not involved, but Zhishu didn't want to keep either.

Fei Wan asked the emperor for permission yesterday, and Zhishu got permission to choose her own palace maids.

She has already chosen someone.

They are all old acquaintances who knew each other well.

They all had a hard life, so when they suddenly learned that they could follow her, they were all overjoyed and felt that their hard work had finally paid off.

Right now, these people are tidying up her messed-up house. Once it’s done, she will move back from Fei Wan’s place.

As for the remaining two palace servants...

"When they both come out of the Palace Administration Office, I will reward them generously and instruct the Ministry of Internal Affairs to arrange for them to serve in appropriate places."

Fei Wan nodded: "That's exactly the point."

Always use reliable ones around you.

Otherwise there will be trouble in the future.

"Your Majesty seems to be very concerned about the palace maid being molested. I will follow you and give the palace maid more silver. First, it will comfort Your Majesty, and second, it will compensate her. When something like this happens, women always suffer." Fei Wan said.

In fact, the person who should compensate the palace maid the most is the one who set up this plan.

But how could Concubine Yuan and the others care about the well-being of an ordinary maid? Therefore, Fei Wanzhishu was the only one who could do this.

There is no conspiracy, it's just out of the heart.

Zhishu agreed: "Sister, you're right. Although Xiao Luzi was fine and had just hugged her when he was caught, but..."

But after the incident came to light, no one cared about the woman and just looked at her strangely.

When Cao Bin investigated the old eunuchs in the cold palace, he was extremely careful to keep it secret, fearing that the news would damage the reputation of the concubines in the cold palace. Although those eunuchs were deposed, it was the reputation of the royal family that was damaged.

A woman's reputation is very important.

The palace maid had suffered an injury, so giving her some extra money, although it couldn't make up for it, was at least a consolation.

After a long time, everyone forgot about this matter, and when she was old enough to leave the palace, she could get married as usual.

Zhishu pondered further, "Speaking of giving her money, that night when His Majesty heard that a palace maid had been molested, he immediately ordered a reward for her and let her rest... In this regard, His Majesty is more caring towards women than others."

Zhishu also received similar care from the emperor.

At the beginning, because of the matter of the old eunuch in the cold palace, she took great pains to prove her innocence and make the emperor believe that the old eunuch had not touched her.

But in fact, before she proved her innocence, the emperor did not dislike her at all. Instead, he felt very sympathetic towards her.

To be honest, she was very surprised at the time.

"Sister, I think His Majesty...is not a soft-hearted person, yet he is so soft-hearted in this matter."

Fei Wan nodded: "It's not something most men can do to be soft-hearted when it comes to a woman's reputation."

Is the emperor really open-minded, or is there something hidden?

With doubts in her heart, Fei Wan whispered, "I'll take a look later."

"Ah."

Zhishu took the tea from Xiaohui, took a sip, and let out a long breath:

"With Suizi's confession, the truth about Concubine Yuan bribing several palace maids to frame you and me has been revealed. We have cleared our name, and no one can accuse us of seducing the master anymore.

Because His Majesty dislikes those who persecute and criticize us, more and more people have become friendly with us in the past few days, and even the Queen has given us gifts. Although I don't care about this, and I know they are just superficial efforts to show His Majesty, I do feel happy inside.

There is also the virtuous concubine who assists in managing the six palaces and keeps the empress in check. She has also taken good care of us in the past two days. Apart from anything else, our food and clothing have improved to a higher level than before.

So all in all, we have actually turned a disaster into a blessing, and we have both face and benefits.

Now I am waiting to see what happens to the Yuan family.

The more miserable she is, the more relieved I am!"

Fei Wan couldn't help but smile.

Zhishu is sometimes very childish and even more outspoken than Wu Ronghua.

He usually doesn't like to talk to others, but in the past two days, he talked a lot to her.

Fei Wan reminded her, "When you have a chance, you must explain to His Majesty why someone put something dirty in your dressing table, and in the end, they found medicine for heart palpitations."

If people suspect that you have discovered it in advance and deliberately changed the medicine to wait for others to take the bait, then you are too scheming.

The emperor doesn't like scheming women.

Zhishu said, "That's easy. Just say I had a vague memory. When I was hiding the medicine in the dressing table, I found a medicine bag that was already there. The powder was similar in color and granules. I thought I had already hidden it!"

But the medicine powder was from the old one, and I was afraid that it wouldn’t be effective, so I threw away that packet of medicine and the remaining powder, and put new powder in instead.

Who would have thought that by some accident, I would have replaced the things that others had used to frame me. It was truly the blessing of God.

It seems that visiting the temple more often brings good luck. I will go there every month to pay my respects to the Buddha.”

She spoke so convincingly that Fei Wan couldn't help laughing.

This explanation is acceptable.

Although it was too much of a coincidence, the emperor was angry and hated Concubine Yuan and the queen, so he would not be too harsh or suspicious of the victim.

There were things happening one after another in the palace, and annoying government affairs, so he would not care about the minor flaws of his favorite concubines.

Just stay favored.

The two were chatting here when they heard from outside that Xiao Linzi from the imperial court had arrived.

Fei Wanrang, please come in.

Xiao Linzi walked into the house with a smile, bowed, and served two bowls of soup.

"This is the Jade Date and Hibiscus Soup that Your Majesty uses to nourish your body. Your Majesty found it good after drinking it, so I specially sent it to the two young ladies."

Feiwan and Zhishu stood up to express their gratitude.

He immediately drank a few sips and praised the soup.

Xiao Linzi glanced at Zhishu seemingly unintentionally, then asked Feiwan with a smile, "Is the young lady's injury feeling better?"

Zhishu put down her needle and thread and stood up.

"I'm going out for a walk. I'm getting bored staying indoors all the time."

She knew that Xiao Linzi had something to say to Fei Wan alone, so she avoided him.

After she left, the maids Xiaohui and Xiangyi were also standing far away at the outer door, and Xiao Linzi came closer to answer.

"Your Majesty took Doctor Wen's medicine again this morning and is feeling better. He said he would resume morning court the day after tomorrow."

"That's good." Fei Wan sighed, "After all, His Majesty is still implicated by us. If those bad guys didn't want to harm us, they wouldn't have poisoned His Majesty."

That night, Doctor Wen insisted that the emperor had not been poisoned by the aphrodisiac.

But in fact, I won.

That's why dizziness occurs.

It's just not serious and hasn't affected my mind or behavior.

But in front of all the concubines, Doctor Wen denied it out of consideration for the emperor's face.

He told the emperor the result without telling anyone else.

This was also the reason why the emperor promoted him on the spot to replace Xia Yuanpan.

It wasn't a life-threatening symptom. Which was more important, revealing the cause or upholding the emperor's dignity? If Court Judge Xia couldn't even grasp this, how could he be the head of the Imperial Hospital?

Even the medical officers who followed knew to side with Doctor Wen and kept silent about the emperor's Chinese medicine. How could he, a judge in the court, not even consider the emperor's interests?

What's more, he didn't just believe in his medical skills, he also made a deal with the Wenchen Group for his nephew's life.

The emperor spared his life simply because he didn't want the matter to escalate and damage his reputation.

However, this matter is secret.

Apart from Imperial Physician Wen and his personal attendants, the emperor did not let anyone know that he had been poisoned by the dirty medicine.

He has not attended the morning court or reviewed any memorials in the past two days, and has been taking medicine to recuperate.

Xiao Linzi had already revealed the news to Fei Wan.

Find an opportunity to report the developments to Fei Wan.

Hearing Fei Wan blaming herself, he hurriedly said:

"My lady, please don't think so. How could this be your or Lady Sakura's fault? It's clearly the evil ones who are too jealous. Seeing you in favor, they want to harm you. If someone else is favored, they will harm others as well. The most infuriating thing is that they dared to use drugs on His Majesty just to harm you. Isn't this simply courting death!"

"Have you found out who drugged His Majesty? And how was the drug used? Was it put in food or clothing?" Fei Wan asked.

Xiao Linzi said, "That's exactly what's going on! My master has been investigating for a long time, but he still has no clue. He has no idea how His Majesty got poisoned. His Majesty is very angry about this, and my master has been so anxious these past few days that he's even got blisters at the corners of his mouth."

"Noble Lady Yuan bribed the palace maids to harm Ying Cainu and me. Could she have also bribed someone in the Imperial Court?"

"My lord, please don't think so." Xiao Linzi smiled bitterly. "There are only a few people serving the emperor, including me. Who would dare to let an unfavored concubine bribe him, or do something that would cost him his life? Do we think our lives are too long?"

exactly.

Concubine Yuan doesn't have this ability.

Even if the queen did it herself, she might not be able to trick the emperor without him noticing.

And the timing of the drug's effect was perfect, right when Xiao Luzi's incident happened on Zhishu's side...

Who can seize this opportunity to "cooperate" with Concubine Yuan's plan?

The key is that Fei Wan doesn't know whether the other party is an enemy or a friend.

If she and Zhishu had both fallen for the trick that night and were truly identified as the ones who drugged the emperor, then the emperor's dizziness would have been their death warrant. The emperor would never let go of these two who had gained favor by relying on aphrodisiacs.

But the fact is that the two of them secretly controlled the situation.

Therefore, the emperor's dizziness became one of the evidences of Yuan Guiren's guilt. Although it was not made public, the emperor would never let Yuan Guiren have an easy time, and the emperor would also hate the queen behind her even more.

"Do you have any estimate in your mind?" Fei Wan asked Xiao Linzi.

Xiao Linzi shook his head like a rattle: "No, my lady, you are so virtuous and kind that you can't even figure it out, so how can I guess it?"

Fei Wan chuckled: "I dare not accept the compliment from Eunuch Lin."

Xiao Linzi never stopped flattering her.

The thoughts are clear.

Fei Wan just waited for him to say it himself.

Finally, this time Xiao Linzi couldn't help it.

He bowed and said with a smile: "My Lady Zhao, I am just a lowly eunuch. If I really want to be addressed as 'Eunuch Lin' by the concubines, I'm afraid I will have to wait another 10 or 20 years, or even not even that long.

Please, my lord, be kind to me and transfer me to your side. From now on, I will be your slave. I will do whatever you command, even if it means going through fire and water."

Fei Wan was surprised and said with a mixture of laughter and tears, "You are so glorious in front of the emperor, why would you be willing to come to my side? I am just a talented person. Serving me is not as respectable as serving His Majesty. Don't make such a joke."

Xiao Linzi said, "My lord, you have a promising future. I am willing to follow you all the way to success."

"That's nonsense. Not to mention the unpredictable nature of your favor, even if I truly accepted your words and rose through the ranks, how could I possibly surpass His Majesty? You're already in the Imperial presence, as if in heaven. Why bother coming down to earth to suffer with me?"

Seeing Fei Wan's attitude, Xiao Linzi simply knelt down.

"My young master, to be honest, my life in the Imperial Court...isn't easy. Master has so many disciples, I can't even get a spot. The main reason is... Master's adopted son, Cui Liang, can't tolerate me..."

He laid his cards on the table.

Wipe tears with sleeves.

"Please, Master Zhao, give me a chance!"

Ever since he showed excessive affection, Fei Wan began to pay attention to and inquire about the people around him.

I knew early on that his life was difficult.

Cao Bin's adopted son Cui Liang was the successor deliberately cultivated by Cao Bin and held a high status among the eunuchs in front of the emperor.

He is just narrow-minded and cannot tolerate others being better than himself.

Xiao Linzi was clever and ambitious, but friction was inevitable. As these small grudges accumulated, Cui Liang became quite vicious towards Xiao Linzi.

He often brought other eunuchs to bully him in private.

When eunuchs bully people, they can be very cruel.

Recently, because of his attempt to curry favor with Fei Wan, Xiao Linzi has been ridiculed and targeted by Cui Liang, and he no longer has much room to survive.

Cao Bin, on the other hand, had an adopted son and many disciples. He would love whoever was filial to him and made him happy. It didn't matter to him whether Xiao Linzi could survive or not.

At most, he reminded Cui Liang not to cause trouble.

Therefore, Xiao Linzi's coming to Guanlanyuan is the best way out at the moment.

Fei Wan knew all this very well, but did not point it out.

He only said, “If you beg me like this, I would be hard-hearted if I didn’t keep you.

However, I have enough people in front of me, and the position of eunuch has been promised to someone else. If you come here, you will inevitably suffer injustice."

When Xiao Linzi saw Fei Wan relent, he quickly said, "My Lady Zhao, the people you randomly picked from the Xinzheku and the Cold Palace may not be worthy of the position of steward. I will do something for you to show you whether I am worthy of your trust!"

There was a hint of determination hidden in his dark, flattering eyes.

He kowtowed and stood up to leave.

Fei Wan picked up the silver spoon and took a sip of the soup.

I know that Xiao Linzi is going to submit his surrender.

She had long wanted to take him in.

She appreciates those who are ambitious and unwilling to be bullied.

But we still have to see what he can do for her.