Chapter 58: Unraveling the Thread

Chapter 58: Unraveling the Thread

"Yes," Hongying acknowledged and was about to leave when she was called back.

"Wait—"

Jiang Hui thought for a moment and then instructed, "Brew it alongside the prescription from Doctor Lin. Make sure to clean up the medicinal residue thoroughly after brewing."

The next day, Nian'er had a slight fever again, but it was much better than yesterday. Doctor Lin, having stayed overnight at the medical bureau, arrived early in the morning to check on him, and the fever subsided quickly.

With Nian'er sick, Jiang Hui had no mood to visit Fengyi Palace. She sent Shan Zha to report her absence and pondered over the identity of the mastermind behind the scenes.

Her intuition told her it was the same person responsible for causing Consort Liu's miscarriage.

However, setting aside intuition and considering this incident alone, it seemed that in the palace, only the Empress, and perhaps Zhao, the commoner in Changmen Palace with her pregnancy, would have a clear motive to harm Nian'er. The other consorts, lacking even pregnancy news, would not be so desperate to target him.

The tactic used in the Imperial Kitchen seemed similar to the one that previously targeted Lady Sun with "untreatable inflammation" by causing a conflict between food and medicine. However, Zhao, the commoner, was in Changmen Palace, and the Empress Dowager was far away in Wutai Mountain; it was unlikely they could extend their reach so far.

Could it be... the Empress?

No, it wasn’t the Empress, Jiang Hui thought, frowning. If anything happened to Nian'er, the Emperor would suspect the Empress first. And with the Empress herself childless, even with Zhao's pregnancy, she wouldn’t take such a huge risk...

Wait a moment!

Zhao's pregnancy... The Empress had sent Doctor Qiu to Changmen Palace and recently summoned Lady Linping frequently. Could it be that the Empress was using the remnants of Zhao’s influence?

In that case, if the Emperor decided to investigate, Zhao would be the first suspect. For Zhao, already in a desperate situation, it would be understandable to cause trouble for Jiang Hui and pave the way for her unborn child before her death.

Moreover, if the Emperor's investigation led to her, she could turn the tables on the Empress, creating chaos in Emperor Xiaosheng's harem...

Jiang Hui stood up from the soft chair and pushed open the wooden windows of the warm chamber wider, letting in the slightly damp and cool morning air.

She stood silently for a while before sitting down again.

Considering that she could access the medical records, the Empress didn’t even need a physician's help to review the pulse diagnoses of the consorts and the crown prince.

If this incident involved the Empress and Zhao, the commoner, working together, could it be that the Empress was also behind the use of saltpeter that caused Consort Liu's miscarriage?

Consort Liu’s personal maid, An Gu, was chosen by Jiang Hui herself from the people sent by the Internal Affairs Department, which was under the Empress's orders. If they wanted to tamper with something, it was certainly possible.

The Empress had the authority to summon the wives of external officials to the palace. Although the palace gates were strictly guarded, the inspection of these external wives wouldn’t be as thorough as for the common palace staff. It would be easier to smuggle in something like saltpeter.

This made sense.

But was it really so? Was she overlooking something?

"Wan Song, call Qingfeng here," Jiang Hui instructed softly.

When Qingfeng entered the warm chamber, Jiang Hui asked, "What did Sheng An find out yesterday?"

There was a court session today, and Emperor Xiaosheng had left early for the court, not yet having the chance to discuss the Imperial Kitchen matter with Jiang Hui. Instead, Qingfeng, who often followed Sheng An, knew more about the situation.

Qingfeng replied solemnly, "My lady, yesterday Master Sheng An had all the mooncakes sent to the various palaces brought back for inspection by the physicians, and each one contained inula flower."

Jiang Hui's brows didn’t move as she calmly said, "Hongying mentioned that inula flower is used as a spice in folk remedies. I suppose the Imperial Kitchen staff claimed this was their new mooncake recipe."

"Exactly as my lady said," Qingfeng couldn’t hide a hint of anger, but quickly regained his composure and continued, "Master Sheng An interrogated the Imperial Kitchen staff, and they all said that the new spice recipe was first suggested by a steward surnamed Zhang."

Without waiting for Jiang Hui to ask further, he continued, "Master Sheng An investigated this steward Zhang. He entered the palace in the sixth year of Qian Ning, initially worked in the Imperial Kitchen, was transferred to the small kitchen of Changchun Palace in the twentieth year of Qian Ning, and returned to the Imperial Kitchen as a steward in the twenty-eighth year of Qian Ning. He has no family and two close apprentices in the palace."

The Chongchun Palace in the twentieth year of Qian Ning was the residence of then-Consort Shu, who was a person of the Empress Dowager.

Jiang Hui remained silent. Noting her expression, Qingfeng continued, "Master Sheng An interrogated Steward Zhang and his two apprentices at the Ministry of Punishments. Zhang said he simply followed the instructions in the secret letter, as usual, without knowing who the inula flower was intended for. The apprentices only knew Zhang had a new mooncake recipe but were unaware of the secret letter."

"Where did the inula flower come from?" Jiang Hui asked.

The pharmacy had records of all medication dispensed. Making mooncakes for the entire palace on such a large scale couldn't have gone unnoticed.

"Steward Zhang confessed that with the weather turning colder and people easily catching colds and coughs, many palace maids and eunuchs would buy inula flower from the pharmacy each year to brew as a drink, as they couldn't always get a physician’s consultation. Some still had leftovers from previous years. Zhang got the inula flower from these palace staff."

So, even if the pharmacy kept records of dispensed medicines, they would only show small, scattered amounts taken by ordinary palace staff.

Jiang Hui grew more somber, asking, "What about the secret letter? Did he often receive such letters? What else was mentioned in them? How were they delivered?"

Qingfeng replied with his head bowed, "The secret letters have been burned. Master Sheng An asked these questions too. Zhang said the letters always appeared suddenly in a hidden compartment under his bed."

"He received three secret letters in total. The first instructed him to add peanut powder to the wine jugs at the Wanshou banquet; the second to prepare beef dishes for Xiu Xia Xuan; and the third, recently received, to find a way to incorporate inula flower into the mooncakes and distribute them to the palaces after the tenth day of the eighth month."

The tenth day of the eighth month was just the day before Jiang Hui sent the Mid-Autumn Festival gifts to the Lin residence. According to her medical records, she should have nearly finished the Snow Essence Reversal Tonic by then, but not completely.

By the time the wet nurses who had consumed the nourishing soup ate the gifted mooncakes, accumulating toxins, the small remaining dosage of the tonic would have been depleted.

All evidence seemed to point to Cining Palace, but the Empress Dowager had gone to Wutai Mountain, and Nian'er was her only direct grandson. Moreover, she had just used a strategic retreat with the Emperor, making it unlikely she would target Nian'er so soon.

So, was it Zhao, the commoner?

If Zhao, the commoner, could harm Lady Sun through Steward Zhang, she must have a way to contact him. However, she was now in Changmen Palace, with her close associates long dead, and palace staff unable to leave. Recently, only people sent by the Empress had visited...

Was it really a collaboration between the Empress and Zhao, the commoner?

"The Imperial Kitchen steward has his own room and is served by a young eunuch. To sneak a secret letter into his room... Were the two apprentices and the steward's serving eunuch interrogated?" Jiang Hui asked further.

"They were interrogated. The apprentices firmly denied ever seeing any secret letters. As for the steward's serving eunuch..."

Qingfeng's expression grew grave, "When Master Anjing and his team arrived, they immediately counted the personnel in the Imperial Kitchen. At that time, the serving eunuch was already missing. Later, his body was found in a well near the Imperial Kitchen. According to the coroner from the Ministry of Punishments, he had been dead for about two hours."