Why am I, a cook, always involved in cases?

The term "bad slaves" carries the pain of the country's imprisonment. They are caged birds deprived of their wings of freedom and bound to this vast land. Until a few years ago, this system still existed.

Although they still retained a glimmer of hope that they could break free from the chains of slavery and regain their freedom through hard work, compared with those slaves who were regarded as dust by the world, they were more like prostitutes burdened with invisible shackles, stuck in the quagmire and unable to extricate themselves.

However, even so, many of them suffered inhumane treatment and had a miserable fate, which is really sad.

"This person is speechless."

It was common to see people who could not speak deliberately chosen as servants, especially in the homes of prominent figures who were under surveillance. They were as silent as mice stalking in the night.

"I have a question I'd like to ask you."

A hunchbacked, white-haired old man stood in front of Lin Zhiruo, his eyes sharp as he stared into her eyes, as if trying to pry into her inner secrets.

"Did you see any paintings while you were cleaning this room?"

Lin Zhiruo asked softly, with a hint of uncertainty in her tone.

However, the old man turned a deaf ear to her question, but his eyes were still fixed on her, like a hawk staring at its prey.

"I think there must be a secret here."

Lin Zhiruo continued speaking with a firm tone, but the old man still did not react. It was as if in her eyes, the words of a palace maid were like a breeze, fleeting.

However, Lin Zhiruo keenly noticed that there seemed to be some unspeakable secret hidden in the old man's eyes. His wrinkled fingers trembled slightly, exactly the same as Quan Wushuang's reaction before.

Lin Zhiruo noticed that the old man's eyes glanced at the wall for a moment.

(What secrets are hidden behind the wall?)

Lin Zhiruo approached the wall again and gently stroked its surface with her hand, as if trying to uncover its mystery.

During the touch, she discovered a shocking fact.

"Would you allow me to remove these wallpapers?"

Lin Zhiruo asked the old man.

Upon hearing this, the old man involuntarily took a step forward. This action attracted everyone's attention, like ripples on a calm lake.

"Have you obtained the Queen Mother's consent?"

Someone asked, with a hint of caution in their tone.

"If we can find out the truth through this, it wouldn't be a bad idea."

The Queen Mother said calmly, with a hint of indifference in her tone, "Anyway, this place will be demolished soon."

The old man stared at Lin Zhiruo with his increasingly sunken eye sockets, as if silently warning her: "Don't act rashly!"

However, Lin Zhiruo had made up her mind, like a moth to a flame, and had no hesitation.

She ordered someone to bring clean water and a brush, and soaked the wallpaper little by little, just like spring rain moistening dry land.

Then, she grasped the already crumbling edge and carefully tore it off, as if uncovering a dusty chapter in history.

As the wallpaper was torn off piece by piece, everyone's faces showed astonishment, as if they had witnessed a miracle.

(No wonder the wall has such a unique touch.)

After tearing off one layer of wallpaper, everyone discovered that there was another layer underneath, which was as complicated as a maze.

"What is this..."

Quan Wushuang stared at the wall intently, his face full of shock, as if he had seen a ghost.

The outer wallpaper was already tattered, but what lay beneath it was far more than the stains on the wall could compare to.

It was a once colorful painting, with an adult woman in the center, surrounded by a group of young girls, like stars surrounding the moon.

Although the painting has faded, it still exudes a captivating power. This power does not come from the painting tools or techniques, but from the deep emotions that the painting attempts to convey, like a call across time and space.

(I seem to have seen this painting before.)

Lin Zhiruo pondered secretly in her heart, as if searching for direction in the fog.

Yes, it was the painting I took a quick glance at last night.

Although the painting was quickly taken away by Henghua, the style of the characters in the painting left a deep impression on her, like an indelible brand.

Lin Zhiruo did not care about the late emperor's character, but she felt sorry that the late emperor died young without being able to fully utilize his talents, which was like a pearl thrown into the dark.

This painting is a testimony to his talent, like the brightest star in the night sky.

After Lin Zhiruo peeled off the wallpaper, she carefully examined the surface of the painting.

(As expected.)

The painting used a bright yellow paint, a color that was very similar to something she had seen last night, like meeting an old friend again.

She remembered that it was the small stone placed in Quan Wushuang's toy box that was like a guide of fate.

"The pigment may have been made from a crushed mineral as toxic as arsenic."

Lin Zhiruo speculated secretly in her heart, like a detective uncovering the truth.

This mineral is called realgar. The pigment made from crushed realgar is bright yellow, also known as realgar.

The pigment is made by mixing color powder and liquid, like a magic formula.

At first, Lin Zhiruo thought that the wallpaper or something else used this pigment, causing the emperor to unknowingly absorb the toxin, like an invisible killer.

However, considering that Quan Wushuang had picked up realgar in the palace when she was a child, and the special shape of the brush that fell in the room, another possibility gradually emerged in her mind, like a fog gradually dissipating.

In any case, the late emperor may not have taken a large amount of poison at once, but rather absorbed the poison into his body drop by drop over the years, like chronic suicide.

"Arsenic has antiseptic properties."

Lin Zhiruo thought to herself, it was like a wise man who saw through the truth.

When the late emperor passed away, the arsenic must have spread throughout his body like a plague.

Although the medical officers and others knew this possibility, they could not find out where the late emperor had ingested the arsenic, just like a blind man touching an elephant.

They were unable to restrict the emperor's freedom of movement, but could only ensure that no one put drugs in his meals, like a protective shield.

Although he was an emperor above all others, the late emperor enjoyed painting as if it were a child's game.

Some people may think that this is an extremely boring hobby, but at least those around the late emperor would think so.

Therefore, this man who was regarded as a tyrant could only paint in hiding, like a caged bird.

He handed the room over to a mute slave for management, probably for this reason, like a hidden secret.

Lin Zhiruo touched the wall again. Even after peeling off a layer of wallpaper, the wall was still elastic, like skin.

She guessed that perhaps every time a painting was completed, a wallpaper would be pasted on it, like a scroll recording time.

There must be several paintings hidden underneath, like treasures waiting to be discovered.

But there was one thing that made Lin Zhiruo curious and puzzled, and that was the painting tools.

In order to make it easier to color the wallpaper surface, glue or something similar should be applied, just like a painter's assistant.

The candy-like objects I saw on the floor just now should be glue, probably used to mix paint.

Paintbrushes can be made from animal hair, but finding such large sheets of paper and the minerals needed to make pigments is no easy task, just like searching for stars in the sky.

Facing the blurred and faded realgar color, Lin Zhiruo wondered: Who is the only adult woman in the painting?

Perhaps everyone present at this moment knew the answer, as if it were an open secret.

The late emperor was a man who had no interest in adult women and was as innocent as a child.

At the same time, behind the late emperor, there is always a huge figure that people dare not look directly at - that is the empress, like a sword hanging high.

The empress may have known that her child was not suitable to be an emperor, so she seized power and tried to protect the late emperor like a hen protecting her chicks.

She tried her best to protect her beloved son who had accidentally obtained the status of emperor, even though this made her bear the stigma of empress, like a walker carrying a cross.

For her son, she is willing to do anything, just like the ocean of maternal love, deep and vast.

However, if in the end she gave him such a place and these painting tools, how ironic it would be! It would be like a mixture of heaven and hell.

Lin Zhiruo did not say these words out loud, but quietly walked out of the room and went to verify with the old man who had been a slave.

The old man just closed his eyes and lowered his head, as if he was praying for people, like a devout believer.

Perhaps it was this old man who received the painting materials from the empress and then passed them on to the late emperor.

However, the old man and the queen were unaware that the painting materials contained poison, like hidden venomous snakes.

On the contrary, the Queen Mother looked up at the sky, as if asking something to someone beyond the sky, like a lost person seeking guidance.

Perhaps Lin Zhiruo herself has become a little sentimental, which is why she feels this way.

She shook her head gently, as if trying to put her troubles behind her.

"That's all I can say."

After saying this, Lin Zhiruo slowly bowed her head and saluted, like a dancer bidding farewell.

The Queen Mother slowly stretched out her hand. She looked at the walls still covered with paper, a self-deprecating smile on her face, like a self-deprecating clown.

The palace maid named Lin Zhiruo had already given her a fairly complete answer, and might even have let her know something she shouldn't have known.

The Queen Mother knew who the woman in the center of the painting was. Even though the painting was blurry and faded, even though it was just a figure in the painting, her presence was still too strong to be ignored, like the brightest star in the night sky.

The Queen Mother couldn't help but begin to wonder about her own identity and status, like a traveler lost in the fog.

Don’t know which one you are?

Perhaps she was one of the girls surrounding that woman, or perhaps she had no place of her own at all.

This woman is probably just a passer-by, like a leaf in the wind, drifting with the flow.

When the Empress Dowager thought of this, she became furious like a volcano erupting.

She placed her hand on her abdomen, stroking the scar there. This scar was the reason why she could be the mother of the country today, like a mark of fate.

Others say that the Empress Dowager is compassionate, but at the same time they ridicule her for being soft-hearted, which is like two extreme evaluations.

Some people also sympathized with her, saying that she was a young girl who fell into the clutches of the previous emperor and became pregnant by chance, as if it was a trick of fate.

Indeed, there was such a girl, but the Empress Dowager had already known about it in advance. She learned about the emperor's sexual preferences as if she knew the script of her fate.

The Empress Dowager closed her eyes and recalled the encounter that day as if she were reliving an old dream.