C57 thorough examination

Following which, the princes and women all took turns lifting their shoes. Although the Crown Prince had no main wife, he had a few secondary concubines. Today, they were all gathered around him, surrounded by beautiful flowers, unable to escape from the fate of being examined.

Gu Qing Li calmly sat there. When it was her turn, Xiao Yi Xiu bowed slightly and lifted up her skirt slightly, showing a considerate expression.

She lightly lifted her feet and looked at her geese yellow Cymbidium embroidered shoes. She recalled that Xiao Yixiu's basin of water had turned over just in time that morning.

Seeing that all the female servants in the hall had finished their investigations, even the princes raised their feet symbolically to face the scrutiny, but there was still nothing suspicious.

"Everyone has already investigated thoroughly, how is it that there still isn't any clues?" Imperial Concubine Lan frowned and sighed. Her eyes were full of worry.

Imperial Concubine Ling laughed coldly, "Prime Minister Xin Maowen is someone from the Empress' mother's race. Who knows what kind of play he'll be singing?"

The entire hall was silent. None of the other imperial concubines dared to make a sound as they eyed the two most proclaiming women in the harem. One was an extremely respected empress, while the other was Concubine Ling, who had a huge family background and six palaces.

The empress looked at Imperial Concubine Ling silently, smiling gracefully. "The fact that we can't find out who has done what she did proves that she was cautious. It doesn't mean that there was no news about it." Who hasn't arrived today? "

"To reply to Esteemed Empress, there's also Wei Renhua. She's pregnant and overjoyed, so Esteemed Empress Meng doesn't need to come to pay respects. The other one is Fu Yu. The Empress knows that she's ill for the rest of the year …"

"Yes, for the sake of fairness, let's go to their palace and investigate it thoroughly."

While the investigation was going well, a pair of wet embroidered shoes quietly lied at the edge of the garden, eye-catching yet dazzling.

A pair of cloud silk soft shoes stopped at the side and bent down to pick them up. The surprise on his face gradually faded as doubt turned into joy.

Before anyone could turn their heads to investigate, an eunuch rushed into the hall and whispered a few sentences in front of the empress. He saw that her graceful and elegant expression had changed a little as he looked around and said softly, "Imperial Consort Lan, Imperial Concubine Ling, all the princes stay behind. The rest can disperse now."

The consorts were all baffled, but they naturally didn't dare to not disperse upon the orders of the empress. In an instant, only the two imperial concubines, the five princes, and the concubines remained.

"Let's go." The empress was the first to get up. No one knew what she was up to, so they all followed behind her, puzzled.

"What are you trying to do, I'm not accompanying you!" Imperial Concubine Ling impatiently wanted to leave.

The Queen walked ahead, pretending not to hear and ignoring her.

Xiao Yi Mo was a few steps behind, lightly tugging on Imperial Concubine Ling's sleeve. He gave her a look, and she immediately quieted down. She suspiciously looked her son in the eye, trying to guess what he was thinking.

"Mufei, follow them and take a look, just in case something happens to us." Xiao Yi Mo's voice was extremely low.

Imperial Concubine Ling had wanted to say who would dare to blame her, but when she saw the crown prince looking at her with dissatisfaction, she thought that something was off. The empress wouldn't come for no reason at all.

Who knew that the empress was heading for Imperial Concubine Lan's Ning Xiu Palace?

Xiao Yixiu, who was walking in front of him, suddenly felt a warm sensation in his palms. A soft, delicate hand held onto him, as if it were trying to stop him from moving too quickly. Without thinking, he slowed down his pace.

He knew whose hand it was, but he had never expected her to take the initiative and hold his hand. That hand was so slender and long. Warmth seeped out from his fingers, causing his hand that had been cold for years to gradually grow warm.

"Tell me, what's going on?" Gu Qingli finally asked him in a low voice.

"I'm not sure." He answered as if he were an outsider.

"I don't believe it."

They didn't get a reply from Xiao Yi Xiu, nor did they have time to ask any further. They followed the empress into the palace.

Under the sun, the light was dazzling. The Dragon and Phoenix Seaweed well was decorated in magnificent and complex patterns. Green willow trees were planted in the walls of the palace, and the water lilies in the gold-plated copper vat were about to sprout.

The luxurious scene of spring and summer was intertwined with each other. Imperial Concubine Lan's taste was elegant and tranquil, completely untouched by the secular world. Even the fragrance of orchids drifting in the yard came from nowhere.

However, the coquettish and gentle Imperial Concubine Lan's expression was getting worse. This battle formation was clearly aimed at her. There were rows and rows of palace maids and eunuchs lined up neatly in the corridors, clearly not greeting them but rather guarding something.

"Esteemed Empress, this is the room."

The empress gave a light snort and followed the eunuch into a room. She unconsciously lifted her sleeve to cover her nose, feeling that there was something unbearably pungent about the rooms of these servants.

In truth, the residences of the palace maids were nothing more than the smell of inferior makeup, and not too unpleasant.

There were eight beds in total. Two eunuchs stood by a weeping little palace maid, while the other two stood on either side, as if in the center of the gatehouse a pair of wet and muddy embroidered shoes.

Although Gu Qingli was the last, she still saw the shoes through the cracks in the crowd. She secretly sucked in a breath of cold air, not understanding why her shoes ended up here.

She subconsciously squeezed the hand of the person she was holding tightly to. The joints of his hands were clear. They might have been strong hands, but now they were held by her. There was no resistance, nor was there a backhand.

Gu Qing Li raised his gaze, but Xiao Yi Xiu didn't even look at her. His expression was calm and his lips even curled up into a gentle smile.

In a flash, the drunk feeling he'd felt when he came in the morning, the basin of water he'd accidentally spilled, all went through her mind.

He had been ill for a long time, and even if he said he could drink a little after he stopped taking medicine, that didn't mean he was allowed to get a hangover. In fact, in his daily life, there had never been such a thing as drinking. The smell of alcohol that still lingered after a night of sleep was the illusion that he had wanted her to give birth to …

He changed her shoes with his own hands. Where did the shoes go after that? She should have been lying in the east hall, but now she was in Imperial Concubine Lan's palace!

She did not believe that he had unwittingly wet her shoes and exonerated her. That was to say, he had already known about part of what he thought he had done last night, or even all of it? But how did he do it?

When Gu Qing Li came back to his senses, the empress was slowly interrogating the little palace maid, while Imperial Concubine Lan rebuked angrily, "I didn't expect that a servant like you, who disregards the rules of the palace, covets wealth and profit, and is extremely daring, would appear within the palace … "Say, did you steal the medicine from the dispensary to sell?"

"This servant doesn't have one, this servant is wronged!" The little palace maid struggled and cried as the two eunuchs held her down. She wanted to throw herself at Imperial Concubine Lan's feet and beg her to save her.

Imperial Concubine Lan covered her face and shook her head, her face filled with pain. "I thought you were loyal and steady, but you're actually this kind of person! "Forget it, esteemed empress, take her away to interrogate her. Your little sister won't dare to plead on her behalf anymore."

"This matter should be decided by the emperor himself. Since this little palace maid is so stubborn, what can I do?" The empress sighed.

The Crown Prince said, "Imperial Mother, why not take her to the justice courts for interrogation and torture?"

Xiao Yiyan, who had never spoken before, suddenly interjected, "There's something fishy about this. How did you find these shoes? This is a shared palace with eight palace maids. Even if these shoes were dug out from under her bed, it would not be enough to prove that she is the only one who is suspicious, right? "