An Lingrong is reborn to live for herself.

In the blink of an eye, a week had passed since the incident involving Consort Fucha.

Everyone in the palace, with their own agendas, was watching the outcome of this case closely.

However, the more important the matter, the more difficult it is to find a suitable explanation.

Ultimately, news came from the Imperial Medical Academy that Chief Physician Chang Wenyu had failed in his duties, delaying the timely treatment of Consort Fucha, which led to her death. Therefore, Chang Wenyu was dismissed from his position as Chief Physician, but in consideration of his diligent service to the late Emperor, he was spared the death penalty. He was instead transferred to the Sichuan-Shaanxi border region as a military physician; any further dereliction of duty would be dealt with according to military law.

On Granny Qian's side, she claimed that she had bribed the head eunuch in Yanxi Palace to implicate Li Huo, the chief eunuch serving Consort Fucha. She said that Consort Fucha mistreated her servants, which angered Li Huo, so he tampered with the medicine while Consort Fucha was pregnant.

Then, she continued, saying that the prescription was a family heirloom of Xiao Lianzi, and that she had gotten it through a close cousin who pretended to need to treat a blood mole on his body. This led to a series of names that An Lingrong and Zhen Huan had never heard of before.

This old woman was purely greedy for money. Because she earned very little money as a lowly servant and was always punished, she had been thinking of finding other ways to make a living. It was only by chance that she heard that Lady Fucha had miscarried that she had this crooked idea.

The story is plausible, but it's easy to see that there's a lot hidden beneath the surface.

As for what was pressed down, that remains unknown.

An Lingrong has moved to Suiyu Pavilion. Although she lives in a side hall, the palace is well-maintained, and with Zhen Huan's care, she lives a much more comfortable life than she did in Yanxi Palace.

The only one I can't be sure about is Baojuan. This palace relocation is just a change of palace buildings, and I can't find a suitable excuse to get rid of her.

After discussing it privately with Zhen Huan, they decided to keep her for now; it's better to keep her under their watchful eyes than to keep her out of sight. They would simply remove her from involvement in matters related to daily life.

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When news of the Fucha case reached Jingren Palace, the Empress was practicing calligraphy at her desk.

The Empress looked radiant today. Although she wore no makeup, her complexion was slightly flushed, unlike her sickly and haggard appearance in Yanxi Palace the other day.

Jianqiu gave the Empress a slight curtsy and said with a light laugh, "Fucha was just a first-rank concubine after all. No matter how big this case became, it was eventually settled hastily."

The Empress picked up her brush, and what she wrote was the character "丑" (ugly).

The Empress put down the Northern Wolf Sword in her hand, picked up the calligraphy she had just read, squinted at it, and examined it closely, her expression unreadable.

Jianqiu knew that the Empress was always composed, only occasionally revealing a hint of her thoughts when practicing calligraphy. However, she couldn't fathom the meaning behind the ugly character today. She could only smile and agree, "Your Majesty's calligraphy is getting better and better. Perhaps it's because the Northern Wolf Hair brush that His Majesty personally sent to the palace is even more useful."

The Empress glanced at Jianqiu, a hint of satisfaction on her face. "It is indeed a fine brush, suitable for both writing and painting. It's just a pity that it's too precious and not durable."

“No matter how precious the gift, as long as Her Majesty the Empress likes it, His Majesty will be willing to give it. Besides, you are His Majesty's wife, and others are merely concubines. Such fine things are only worthy of Her Majesty the Empress in the entire harem,” Jianqiu replied. The Emperor is currently busy with state affairs and is often indifferent to the harem, but he is very attentive to Jingren Palace, frequently sending over writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones that the Empress likes for her to enjoy. Thinking of the Emperor's usual subtle care, Jianqiu, as a maid who accompanied him in his dowry, was happy for her mistress.

The Empress put down the writing brush but did not reply. Her thoughts returned to Jianqiu's earlier words, "How is the Imperial Household Department's investigation into Consort Fucha's matter going?"

Originally, Jianqiu had only intended to report this matter to the Empress, and now that the Empress had asked, it was a good opportunity to bring it up.

He then reported back to the Imperial Household Department the facts of the collusion between Li Huo, Xiao Lianzi, Granny Qian, and others in charge of the Yanxi Palace, which they had discovered.

The Empress simply remarked, "The Imperial Household Department is quite efficient."

Jianqiu replied, “That’s right. There have been very few cases in the palace where a master has been wronged and killed because of a servant’s personal grudge. This is such a blow to the Emperor’s reputation. Now that the Emperor has ordered a thorough investigation, how dare the Imperial Household Department be negligent?”

"However, Chang Wenyu is really stubborn. In front of the Emperor, he insisted on saying that he was guilty of serious crimes and that he had disgraced the ancestral master. It sounded like he had admitted to murdering a nobleman. Wasn't he deliberately trying to drag the Emperor into the investigation?" Jianqiu was still indignant when she talked about Chang Wenyu's words and actions that day. She still felt that the old man was deliberately being vague.

"You know what, among all the imperial physicians in the Imperial Medical Academy these days, Chang Wenyu is the most principled. Back when the nine princes were vying for the throne, the Ninth Prince's faction tried to blackmail him with his wife, but he refused to give in. He would rather die than do anything to betray the late Emperor. It is because of his character and conduct that he is now appreciated by the Empress Dowager."

It's a pity that she's getting old and has a useless son.

"If it weren't for his good-for-nothing youngest son, who got into a fight with someone over a courtesan in Jiangning, resulting in a death, and was coincidentally captured by my uncle, how could Chang Wenyu possibly obey me?"

The Empress paused slightly, seemingly frowning in thought, but finally relaxed her brows, smiled slightly, and shook her head, saying, "I suppose as people get older, they tend to soften their hearts."

As she spoke, the Empress picked up the imperial gift of the Northern Wolf Brush, dipped it in ink, and began to write again. But this time, she wrote the character "顺" (shùn, meaning smooth or favorable).

"But in the end, it's his arrogance that led to him being caught red-handed," Jianqiu said indignantly.

"Speaking of which, he was quite meticulous. If he hadn't suggested putting the herb Bai Ku Cao into Lady Fucha's medicine and the herb Xue Ku Teng into An Lingrong's medicine, who lived in Yanxi Palace, and if needed, he could simply order the palace maids to secretly mix An Lingrong's medicine into Lady Fucha's medicine while it was being boiled, thus creating a poison that could take a person's life instantly, then he wouldn't have been able to find out about Lady Fucha's affairs so quickly."

Ultimately, they still couldn't find any concrete evidence against them.

The Empress paused for a moment, then continued, "Although Chang Wenyu is stubborn, he is a man of integrity. He must have thought that no matter how carefully he did it, as long as it was handled by someone else, Consort Fucha's affair would be exposed sooner or later."

It would be better to delegate the entire task to different people, ensuring that each participant only knows a small part of the story, not the whole picture. Even if someone is arrested and confesses under torture, it will be difficult to implicate others.

The various accusations that the Imperial Household Department is bringing up now are just Chang Wenyu deliberately revealing his true colors. After saying this, he turned his pen and drew a very full dot to the character "顺" (shun, meaning smooth/smooth).

Upon hearing this, Jianqiu felt that the Empress was right. Knowing the shrewdness and style of the people in the palace, she smiled faintly and said, "Those in charge of the inner palace also know how to handle such tasks."

Seeing that the Empress was quite satisfied with the character "顺" (shun), Jianqiu hurried over, picked up the paper with the written character, and wanted to wait for the ink to dry so that she could frame the character.

The Empress turned her head and stared at the character for a long time before finally shaking her head and saying, "Forget it, one should still restrain one's mind when practicing calligraphy. This character is ruined."

Jianqiu didn't understand what was wrong with the writing; it was already extremely well-written. But since the Empress had said it was to be discarded, then so be it. Without caring that the ink was still wet, she folded the paper several times, thinking she would just go out and find a brazier to burn it later.

But then he thought of something else and said, “Speaking of which, Chang Wenyu has always been highly valued by the Empress Dowager. How come since the incident, the Empress Dowager has never asked him a single question? It’s really strange.”

The Empress scoffed, "What's there to ask? Our Empress Dowager is not as simple as she seems. Although our Emperor is the Empress Dowager's biological son, there's a big difference between having someone you're your own child and raising someone yourself. There's a lot more to it than that."

Furthermore, let's not forget that our Empress Dowager has a son who is still studying at Jingling. Now that this matter concerns the imperial heir, the Empress Dowager is already trying to avoid suspicion, and doesn't want to damage the bond between mother and son because of an outsider.

These days, hasn't the Emperor rarely visited Shou Kang Palace?

Jianqiu said, "That's true. Now the Empress Dowager can only rely on our Emperor. Besides, they are mother and son after all. Perhaps things will get better after a while."

"Of course, things will get better in time. I've come to understand that the relationship between the Emperor and the Empress Dowager is something we outsiders can't really understand, so let's just let it be."

"By the way, what is the background of that imperial physician named Wen Shichu in Yanxi Palace that day? Have you inquired about him?" The reason why the whole matter turned around so quickly was because Wen Shichu spoke frankly at the time. Therefore, when she thought of this, the Empress realized that she had never paid attention to this Wen Shichu before.

"I have inquired and found that this Wen Shichu joined the Imperial Medical Academy a year ago. He is just a physician who mainly dispenses and prepares medicines and only occasionally sees patients at the Imperial Medical Academy. He does not often serve in the various palaces, so his face is unfamiliar to me."

"But speaking of which, I've heard that this Wen Shichu's background is somewhat related to Consort Wan of Suiyu Pavilion." After saying this, Jianqiu pursed her lips, her expression somewhat ambiguous.