C56 Stolen

The princes looked at each other, faintly feeling that the empress's next words would make everyone feel uncomfortable.

"Today, before the sky brightens, I received news that someone had secretly entered the imperial pharmacy last night and stolen a few medicinal herbs. This is no small matter. We must investigate it strictly. "

The Crown Prince spoke up first, "Imperial Mother, have you made a mistake? There are so many treasures in the palace, what's wrong with them? Why are they stealing worthless herbs?"

As soon as the crown prince opened his mouth, the empress couldn't help but glare at him as if he had been tricked.

Xiao Yi Mo revealed a dark smile, "You can't put it that way. The stolen item can be used to deduce the thief's intention. If the loot was rare, it proved that this person was someone of status within the palace. Ordinary objects of gold and jade were no longer of interest to him. If it was gold, silver, and jewelry, it was most likely to be sold by low-status palace maids and eunuchs.

Imperial Concubine Ling pursed her lips into a smile, a trace of pride flashing through her eyes. Her son's intellect had immediately suppressed the crown prince's, how could she not show off?

"Obviously, other than some people who have hidden injuries and are unable to get medical attention, they use medicinal herbs to harm others. As long as we can find out which drugs were stolen, we can be sure. "

The empress slowly nodded her head. "Mo'er is right. Prime Minister Xin Maowen has confirmed that among the stolen medicines, there are rare and poisonous ones."

Extremely toxic? Gu Qingli thought about it for a moment. There wasn't any poison in the medicine she stole, and Xin Maoweng's alum that stole from himself wasn't that poisonous either. He was even classified as a non-poisonous medicine, so what was Empress's motive for saying this?

With a quick thought, she understood that the empress was using this as an excuse. If something were to happen to the emperor in the future, she could blame it on this theft.

The empress continued, "It can be seen that this thief has evil intentions. I'm afraid he has some scheme up his sleeve. This is much more serious than the theft of a rare treasure. All persons in the court shall be prohibited from entering or leaving until a thief is found. "

Xiao Yi Jin immediately said, "What mother said is very true. No matter if it is the family that brought me into the palace, or my son and the others, they cannot escape suspicion. Therefore, I am willing to cooperate with mother's investigation."

With this fart, who knew how many people were cursing in their hearts. It was obvious that he was going to drag everyone down with him. Not a single one of them could be missed.

The empress, on the other hand, was very pleased. I have already made it clear that before this, when I woke up early in the morning, I had already thoroughly investigated the palace eunuchs, palace maids, servants, and the various treasurers. The only ones left were the palace concubines and the various sons of imperial concubines.

Imperial Concubine Ling spoke up with a cold face. "I wonder how esteemed empress will investigate this?" "Last night, I called for Your Majesty's blessing and was always by his bedside. I wonder if 'anyone' from the Empress included Your Majesty as well?"

The queen was not angered by her arrogance, and was evidently accustomed to seeing her posture. After all, among the imperial concubines, the Ling family was the strongest, surpassing even the empress's mother, the Xin family.

The empress smiled faintly, her expression gentle. "There's no need to doubt the emperor. Since Imperial Concubine Ling is sleeping with the emperor, there's no need to investigate. Could it be that the emperor's pillow bearer will make any unusual moves?"

On the surface, it seemed that Imperial Concubine Ling was overbearing, overpowering the empress, while the empress was magnanimous and tolerant. But in reality, Imperial Concubine Ling's actions were not wise.

At this moment, the eunuch summoned Prime Minister Xin Maowen into the hall. After greeting him respectfully, the eunuch told him what he had discovered to be strange.

When he unlocked the door, he discovered that there were some indistinct footprints in the shadows in the southernmost corner. He was extremely surprised, and immediately called someone to interrogate him, knowing that someone had accidentally spilled a packet of warm, staunch plaster powder during the day, so he did not pay attention to it and did not clean.

Xin Maowen began to count the herbs and found that he was missing several of them, including the highly toxic aconite and the poisonous toad cake. He was sure that someone had stolen the herbs and immediately reported it to the police.

"That shoe print is a woman's embroidered shoe footprint. Although there are no palace maids in the imperial pharmacy or the medicine store, it cannot be determined that it is a woman because of this."

The empress nodded her head, "Everyone must lift their feet up for inspection. Let's start with the palace maids."

Naturally, none of the palace maids dared to resist. All of them lifted their feet up to be examined.

Xin Maowen led a few eunuchs and pasted the original drawing on top to compare.

Then came the low-level concubines, all the way until Imperial Concubine Lan.

Imperial Concubine Lan wasn't as pampered and proud as Imperial Concubine Ling, but with a smile on her face, she modestly raised the palace maid's feet to compare them. She softly said, "As Imperial Concubine, I should naturally support the empress. I shouldn't rely on my position in the palace to make a difference."

These words seemed to mock Imperial Concubine Ling, causing Xiao Yi Mo's expression to change.

When it was the turn of the princes and their families, he first lifted his own feet, then said, "This time, when we enter the palace, this king has brought two family members with me, which is no exception."

At his suggestion, Gu Qingruo lifted her foot in grievance. She Yanyu said softly, "My body is inconvenient, my leg is badly swollen. Can I trouble elder sister to help lift it …"

It was true that she had a big belly, but the fact that she was being examined by Gu Qingruo in public meant that she was disrespecting Princess Mu.

Gu Qingruo's expression immediately changed, as if flames were about to shoot out of her eyes. She was born noble. When had she ever done such a thing? She had been staring fiercely at She Yiyu's stomach, as if she wanted to use her sharp gaze to cut it open.

He Yiyu shrank back pitifully, looking at Xiao Yi with pleading eyes, not saying a word.

"There are so many palace maids here …" As soon as Gu Qingruo finished speaking, Xiaoyi's face turned cold. "Qingruo, help her lift her leg."

Gu Qingruo almost vomited a mouthful of blood as she looked at him in disbelief.

Even Gu Qing Li was surprised. Since when did He Yi Yu become so important to Xiao Yi Mo? However, when he thought about the possibility that Gu Qing might lose her virginity, he thought to himself, "This is truly ironic." In order to keep Xiao Yimo's heart, Gu Qingluo gave up her child in exchange for his appearance, but Xiao Yimo was already tired of her looks, and only wanted a child.

Imperial Concubine Ling saw the unwillingness in Gu Qingruo's eyes, but wasn't willing to refute her son's words. She could only look on coldly. The empress didn't seem to want to interfere either. She didn't say a word and didn't send any court ladies forward.

Gu Qingruo looked around and saw the mocking smile in Gu Qingli's eyes. Her face immediately turned pale, and she felt extremely humiliated. However, this place wasn't the Prime Minister's Estate, but the Imperial Palace's Phoenix Crest Hall. Here, what was a mere Prime Minister like her worth?

She bent down silently and lifted He Yanyu's feet. The hatred in her heart had reached its peak. Today, it was all thanks to that slut Li Yue. One day, she would definitely not let go of that slut who came from who knows where.