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

That day, as soon as Quan Wushuang stepped into the harem, he noticed that the atmosphere was unusual.

He was heading towards the Liuli Palace with Gao Zhongcheng and several eunuchs.

Imperial Concubine Yuyao has been experiencing a loss of appetite for a few days, and this morning news came that she had fetal movement.

Lin Zhiruo's adoptive father, Lin Xiang, a famous chef, has always been serving the imperial concubine and observing her diet and daily life.

However, the fetus showed no signs of movement and there was a risk of difficult labor, so Lin Xiang was specially invited from the brothel.

Although the news of the concubine's impending birth has not been made public, everyone seems to have sensed something from the atmosphere in the Glass Palace.

Several palace maids were peeking in front of the door of the Glazed Palace. When they saw Quan Wushuang, they blushed immediately and hurried back to their posts.

Lin Zhiruo has been missing for more than ten days.

Under Caiwei's guidance, Quan Wushuang walked into the Liuli Palace with a tired face.

Warm soup and various nourishing soups were placed in the corridor for the imperial concubine's needs.

These preparations also take into account the possibility of premature birth.

"How is the imperial concubine doing now?" Quan Wushuang asked with forced calmness.

The maids looked sad and remained silent.

However, the old imperial chef who came out of the inner room explained the situation in detail.

"The fetal movement is now stable, but the time of birth is still unknown."

Although it was a little early, it was already time for her to give birth.

"How is her physical condition?" Quan Wushuang continued to ask.

"The imperial concubine is in good spirits and her appetite is gradually improving. I think the worry about a difficult delivery has been resolved." The old imperial chef replied.

It seems that the diet prepared by Lin Zhiruo has been effective.

Although Quan Wushuang felt a little relieved, he still did not dare to take it lightly.

Although the old chef's words sound good, they also imply that there may be variables in the future.

In the corridor stood a man dressed in the attire of an imperial chef and sporting a scruffy beard.

He was originally the imperial chef in the harem, but at this moment he seemed at a loss and the maids were unwilling to pay attention to him.

Lying at his feet was a cat named Rongrong, which was no longer a kitten but had grown into a teenage cat.

Although Quan Wushuang felt that this place was not clean enough, this imperial chef successfully attracted the attention of Princess Ai Ling and prevented her from disturbing Concubine Yuyao.

In fact, it doesn’t matter whether there is this imperial chef in the harem or not.

But at this moment, Quan Wushuang was glad that he stayed here.

This simple-minded imperial chef, on the one hand, felt that he should do something, and on the other hand, he was worried about Lin Zhiruo's disappearance, so he made mistakes everywhere. Even the palace maids in the Liuli Palace did not allow him to touch any utensils.

Seeing that someone was more frightened than himself, Quan Wushuang calmed down instead.

He used this to calm his anxious mood.

"I understand. I'll take my leave first. If there are any changes, please send someone to inform me at any time." Quan Wushuang ordered.

"As you wish." An old eunuch slowly lowered his head and replied.

As soon as Lin Xiang left, Gao Zhongcheng came up to him.

Just now, Quan Wushuang sent him to the imperial kitchen to handle other matters.

"Did you find anything?" Quan Wushuang asked.

"It's...this..." Gao Zhongcheng looked around, as if he needed to go to another place to discuss in detail.

Although the fetus may be born at any time, it is not advisable to stay here for a long time.

So Quan Wushuang left two eunuchs to guard the palace while he walked out of the Liuli Palace.

"What's going on?" Quan Wushuang asked.

"Regarding the missing eunuch, I asked other people and asked them to provide what they knew..." Gao Zhongcheng replied.

It turned out that the missing eunuch's name was simply "Tian", which is a very common name.

It is said that this man never interacted with other eunuchs, had a handsome appearance, and often walked around the palace maids.

However, his origins are indeed not simple.

Among the eunuchs freed from slavery in frontier tribes, Tian was the only one who knew no one.

In other words, this person most likely infiltrated when he became a eunuch.

The most reasonable speculation is that he came here from the very beginning to infiltrate the eunuch group.

This must be the reason why he doesn't get close to others.

Therefore, Quan Wushuang and others gained nothing and just wasted their time.

"An eunuch said that he saw someone who looked like a god praying in the temple," said Gao Zhongcheng.

"...Who hasn't done such a small thing?" There are many temples and ancestral halls in the harem, and it is not uncommon for devout people to pray at any time.

"However..." Gao Zhongcheng took out a map of the harem from his arms and pointed to a temple to the north of the harem.

"This is..." Quan Wushuang asked.

This is a temple dedicated to the deceased souls of the harem, and it was also the place where Concubine Lan's funeral was held some time ago.

Most people who died in the harem would be sent back to their hometowns.

However, there are also some people who cannot return home after death.

Quan Wushuang walked towards the north of the harem.

"I heard someone saw him sweeping the grave." Gao Zhongcheng continued.

"Do you know whose tomb this is?" Quan Wushuang asked.

"The man said he didn't see it clearly." Gao Zhongcheng replied.

"Hmm..." Quan Wushuang crossed his arms and thought, and decided to go directly to the place Gao Zhongcheng mentioned.

Although Quan Wushuang still has important matters to attend to, he must find out the truth of the matter.

In the harem, people are taboo about talking about death.

The harem is where the future emperor is born and grows up, and people hope to reduce the ominous things related to death.

However, the servants who served the powerful still retained some old customs.

Once you become the emperor's concubine, you will be forever connected to the harem.

Of course, there are exceptions, such as transferring concubines to civil officials and military generals for political reasons.

But this situation mostly happens to the daughters of powerful officials.

As for those palace maids who lost their virginity and never became pregnant, they did not even have the chance to be recorded in history books and could only disappear quietly in this garden.

The place where Quan Wushuang was heading at this moment was exactly where those palace maids were buried.

There are only ten tombs in the area, all of which are the tombs of palace maids from the previous emperor's time.

I don’t know whether this is too much or too little.

The bodies were all buried. The harem manager said somewhat selfishly that it would be troublesome if there were too many people.

At this time, there was a figure in front of the tomb. It was rare to see someone sweeping the tombs of these nameless palace maids.

From a distance, it was an old palace maid sitting on the ground in front of the new tomb in the front.

The palace lady had a somewhat tough expression and appeared to be over 40 years old.

In front of the tomb were wild flowers picked from somewhere unknown, as well as a branch of wild fruits.

Quan Wushuang felt that the wild fruit seemed out of season, perhaps it was placed there by someone before the palace maid arrived.

When the palace maid stood up, she noticed Quan Wushuang and others.

Her eyes widened for a moment, but she quickly returned to normal, slowly lowered her head, and prepared to leave.

Tomb sweeping is not a bad thing, and there is nothing special to pay attention to.

That's how it should be.

However, when the palace maid passed by, Quan Wushuang smelled a strong aroma of wine.

It was a rich aroma like that of an exotic liquor, intoxicating at the mere sniff.

When Quan Wushuang came to his senses, he had already grabbed the palace maid's wrist.

His sudden action made the palace maid look surprised.

"What advice does the steward have?" Even so, she still lowered her voice and asked calmly.

If it were the usual Quan Wushuang, he would definitely act more cautiously and would never grab the palace maid so abruptly.

Quan Wushuang thought he was calm enough, but he found himself more anxious than he thought.

"Where is Lin Zhiruo?" he asked without thinking.

Quan Wushuang felt that the palace maid's whole body was tense.

Gao Zhongcheng and other eunuchs watched all this in silence.