Transmigration: Reverse Exploitation, the System Works for Me

The Empress Dowager and the Empress walked over to the Emperor to see the newborn princess. Following the crowd, they praised her a few times and then acted as generous givers, sending gifts to the people of Yikun Palace and the midwives.

Having received three rewards in a row, and knowing that their master would receive even more when he woke up, the entire Yikun Palace was overjoyed, as if it were an early New Year celebration.

"Your Majesty, the little princess is very delicate after birth and should not be left outdoors in the wind for too long. Please allow me to take the little princess back to the room."

The emperor naturally agreed, and even praised the midwife, saying, "She is a loyal woman, Su Peisheng, reward her handsomely later."

Although all newborns are like this, ten fingers are of different lengths. The emperor's heart was biased towards the Consort and her daughter, so he naturally felt that those who were loyal to the Consort and her daughter were good.

The old woman was surprised by this unexpected joy. She quickly took the baby princess in her swaddling clothes and went back inside to bow to the emperor, saying, "This servant thanks Your Majesty for your grace."

The emperor's gaze swept over the palace servants of Yikun Palace. "Serve the Consort and the little princess well. The Consort and I will not mistreat you."

After saying this, he looked at the sky, which had already darkened completely, and realized that it was past dinner time. He quickly said to the Empress Dowager, "I have troubled you, Mother Empress, with your worries about your son and the Imperial Concubine. It is getting late, so I will escort you back to the palace."

The Empress Dowager's eyelids twitched. "No need. The Emperor is tired today, so he should rest early. The Empress can see me off."

After she said that, the emperor did not insist any further.

"Yes, then your son will respectfully see off Your Majesty."

The concubines obediently followed suit and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, we respectfully see off Your Majesty the Empress Dowager."

After the Empress Dowager and Empress left, the Emperor did not keep the concubines, and returned to the Hall of Mental Cultivation on his own.

On her way back to Zhongcui Palace, Yu Ying'er glanced at Consort Qi and the others who had already parted ways and were no longer in sight, as well as An Lingrong, Yun Xinluo, and several other low-ranking concubines of the Eastern Six Palaces who had been left more than ten meters behind by her palanquin.

Lowering her voice, she leaned close to the palanquin and asked Xi Qiao, "Aunt, do you think there's anything strange about what happened today?"

Xi Qiao glared at her, annoyed: "Your Majesty, rest assured, the people in the palace have prepared plenty of food."

Yu Ying'er shut up, looking aggrieved, and then sat up straight under Xi Qiao's cold gaze, maintaining her precarious position as a concubine.

Upon returning to Zhongcui Palace, Yu Ying'er, disregarding her image, stuffed a bowl of rice into her stomach and eagerly grabbed Xi Qiao, asking again, "Sister, have you already discovered something?"

I did discover something, but it's not appropriate to tell Yu Ying'er.

It wasn't because she couldn't speak or didn't believe her, but because the problem lay with Madam Nian, whom she hadn't encountered while at Yikun Palace.

"Sister~" Yu Ying'er shook Xi Qiao's arm, "Was it really the Empress Dowager? But hasn't Consort Hua been sending people to keep an eye on the Empress Dowager's people? If it really was the Empress Dowager who did it, Consort Hua wouldn't have fallen for it!"

But if it were someone else, it seems like no one else would have the ability to reach into Yikun Palace.

Xi Qiao's expression was somber. "If it doesn't work in the palace, what about outside?"

Yu Ying'er's pupils contracted. That's right, the Empress Dowager is not alone. Although the Wuya family has just been purged, its foundation has not been damaged. A bondservant family that rose to power through the concubines must have many tricks up its sleeve.

"What do you mean, sister?"

However, Yu Ying'er couldn't connect the two things.

The Nian family was prominent and influential. Although they might not be as cunning as the Wuya family in terms of underhanded tactics, they were far superior to the Wuya family in other aspects. Most importantly, how did the Wuya family manage to cause the Imperial Concubine to have a premature birth outside the palace?

Did they smuggle in secret medicine? Or did they spread rumors that were bad for the Nian family?

"Alright, stop overthinking it. Instead of guessing about things that can't be verified, why not wait until the Consort is out of confinement and ask her yourself? Even you noticed something unusual about her premature birth, so how could the Nian family not investigate thoroughly?"

Once the Nian family has investigated thoroughly, they will naturally know the whole story.

Yu Ying'er's eyes widened. What did she mean by "even you can see something is wrong"?

Is Yu Ying'er some kind of unparalleled, one-of-a-kind idiot?

Xi Qiao raised an eyebrow at her.

Yu Ying'er immediately deflated.

Yes, Yu Ying'er is the dumbest idiot in the entire Zhongcui Palace.

Xi Qiao and Yu Ying'er were eagerly waiting for the Nian family to answer their questions, but the next day the Imperial Concubine sent a secret letter inviting her to Yikun Palace for a meeting.

Ah this...

Since the Imperial Concubine had taken the initiative to invite him, Xi Qiao couldn't very well refuse.

It was also midnight, in a side hall of Yikun Palace, in the room where the Imperial Concubine was recuperating after childbirth.

Xi Qiao sat on a boudoir in front of the imperial concubine's bed, while Song Zhi held a qipao next to him.

The Imperial Concubine's face was pale, and she looked at the clothes with a fierce gaze. "These clothes were worn by my mother when she dined with me yesterday. The imperial physician said that they were contaminated with a secret medicine that was originally harmless, but if it came into contact with mugwort, it would turn into a poison that would make people drowsy and sleepy, or even sleep for a long time."

The medicine was on every piece of clothing her mother wore, and she had been using moxa to burn lately. Her mother also often played and ate with her, so the medicine had already unknowingly seeped into her body.

She had indeed been feeling sleepy and tired these past few days, and couldn't muster any energy to do anything. She initially thought it was due to pregnancy, but the imperial physician's pulse diagnosis came back normal.

If her water hadn't broken unexpectedly during her afternoon nap today, startling her mother and the palace servants, and if she hadn't been oblivious and unable to wake up from her sleep, she probably wouldn't have discovered this insidious and vicious scheme.

Xi Qiao sighed, "Your Majesty, this medicine is called Spring Dream. It is a secret medicine from the previous dynasty. Some of the concubines in the late emperor's harem died from this poison. However, at that time, I was a second-class palace maid in Yonghe Palace and my knowledge was limited. By the time I was promoted, this poison had disappeared from the harem."

Therefore, she didn't know whether it was the Uya family or the Empress Dowager who did it.

"Your words are enough! Although my Nian clan and I haven't found any clues yet, it's precisely because we haven't found anything that we're even more certain that this poison is definitely related to the Wuya family or the royal family!"

With the power of the Nian family, how many people in the world could tamper with the clothes of the matriarch of the Nian family and still not be detected by the imperial physicians?

The imperial concubine slammed her fist on the bed in anger, "That old hag! That dog of an emperor!"

Xi Qiao was somewhat surprised. She had originally thought that the Empress Dowager was behind the Consort's premature birth and breech presentation, but she hadn't expected that it was just a simple case of poisoning.

but……

"Your Highness, the Empress Dowager has probably already discovered that someone is watching her every move in the dark. Otherwise, she wouldn't have gone to such lengths and trouble to use Madam Nian to plot against you and the little princess."

The Imperial Concubine's pupils contracted. "How could this be? My people are well hidden."

Xi Qiao looked at her with a deep gaze, "Your Majesty, you should know how many times the Empress Dowager tried to harm you during your pregnancy. But think about it yourself, when did she ever succeed? If you were the Empress Dowager, wouldn't you have your doubts?"