Little Palace Maid Desires a Higher Seat of Honor - Chapter 68

Chapter 68: Miscarriage

The Empress had just returned to Kunning Palace and had yet to settle the little princess when she heard that Su Jieyu was in trouble.

No one had expected so many things to happen in just one day. When the concubines arrived at Qingyu Courtyard, they had yet to hide the astonishment on their faces.

Inside Qingyu Courtyard, only Su Jieyu’s miserable screams could be heard. Tan Yuanchu stood in front of the bed. Yun Si’s gaze passed over Tan Yuanchu and landed on Su Jieyu, she was trembling all over from the pain, her black hair disheveled and clinging to her face, her complexion extremely pale, tears streaming uncontrollably. The entire hall echoed with her cries of pain.

As her gaze shifted slightly, beneath Su Jieyu was a patch of dark red. The hall was filled with a thick smell of blood, making one feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Yun Si withdrew her gaze and lowered her eyes lightly. With such a scene, even without an imperial physician, she could guess that the imperial heir in Su Jieyu’s womb was likely doomed.

Sure enough, Imperial Physician Chang knelt down, head lowered.

“Your Majesty, please restrain your grief. The imperial heir in Su Jieyu’s womb… could not be saved.”

Tan Yuanchu closed his eyes. The moment he saw Su Jieyu, he had vaguely sensed this. Though he felt sorrow in his heart, he did not lose composure. He merely lowered his eyes and gazed at Su Jieyu for a long while.

When Su Jieyu heard Imperial Physician Chang’s words, her entire body suddenly stiffened. Her sobs seemed to be choked in her throat.

Bai Shao suddenly rushed forward and knelt before the Emperor. “Your Majesty! My Mistress’s miscarriage was by no means an accident! I beg Your Majesty to seek justice for my mistress and the unborn little prince!”

As soon as the words fell, the atmosphere in the hall shifted sharply. Yun Si swept an obscure glance over everyone in the hall.

In truth, Yun Si found this rather troublesome.

Su Jieyu’s temperament had earned her quite a few enemies in the palace. Even Yun Si had had some conflicts with Su Jieyu. To find out who had harmed Su Jieyu would not be an easy matter.

The Empress saw Su Jieyu struggling to get up and frowned.

“Imperial Physician, check Su Jieyu and see if there are any other injuries on her body.”

After she spoke, the Empress turned to look at Tan Yuanchu.
“Your Majesty, there may be more to Su Jieyu’s miscarriage than meets the eye. Let us speak outside.”

Su Jieyu had just miscarried. Bringing up the matter repeatedly in front of her would easily stir her emotions.

Tan Yuanchu understood this as well. He looked toward the palace attendants in the hall.
“Take good care of Su Jieyu.”

He turned to leave, but felt his sleeve being tugged. Tan Yuanchu turned back and saw Su Jieyu clutching his sleeve. Her face was deathly pale, without a trace of color. She stared at him without blinking and asked in a hoarse voice,

“You will seek justice for your concubine, won’t you?”

As soon as these words fell, Yun Si felt that this wasn’t good.

What kind of question was that?
The imperial heir wasn’t Su Jieyu’s alone. How could Tan Yuanchu not want to find out who harmed the imperial heir?

Even if she doubted in her heart whether Tan Yuanchu might favor someone else, she shouldn’t have asked so bluntly.

Tan Yuanchu gave Su Jieyu a deep look. His emotions cooled considerably; he didn’t even bother to answer her question. His tone was indifferent, “You’ve had a miscarriage today and your emotions are unstable. Rest well.”

Yun Si found the scene before her hard to describe. She sighed inwardly in pity for Su Jieyu.

She had lost the imperial heir, and Tan Yuanchu did feel some pity for her, but that one sentence from Su Jieyu completely ruined it.

She would’ve been better off saying nothing!

Once everyone reached the outer hall, Qiu Yuan whispered something to Yun Si, and Yun Si showed a look of surprise.

Someone noticed Yun Si’s expression and asked, “What is Yun Jieyu whispering with a palace maid about?”

The atmosphere in the hall was heavy. That sudden question immediately drew everyone’s gaze to Yun Si. Yun Si glanced at the speaker, it was a familiar face, An Cairen.

Yun Si was a bit puzzled. Where exactly did this An Cairen get the nerve to keep stirring things up like this?

Yun Si had no time to bother with her and turned to look at Tan Yuanchu, speaking softly, “A servant from my palace discovered oil on the path where Su Jieyu fell.”

Everyone knew she had sent someone to help carry Su Jieyu’s ceremonial entourage. It was only natural that her servant would notice something unusual on the ground.

But it was inevitable that someone would suspect her, including people from Qingyu Courtyard.

To find out the truth for her mistress, Bai Shao had followed them out. She looked at Yun Si, full of suspicion.

“Why would Yun Jieyu kindly help my mistress?”

Yun Si was caught off guard by the question and even found it a little funny. “I kindly helped your mistress, and now I’m at fault for it?”

Bai Shao, though questioned, didn’t feel the least bit embarrassed. Her mistress had just miscarried, she only wanted to find the culprit, unwilling to let go of even the slightest clue.

She asked again, “Everyone knows Yun Jieyu and my lady don’t get along!”

Yun Si glanced at her and pointed out the flaw in her words.

“Bai Shao girl must be joking. I was only granted a title yesterday and had been serving in the Yangxin Hall before that. I’ve always treated Su Jieyu with respect. I wonder where Bai Shao girl got the idea that we don’t get along?”

Bai Shao was momentarily blocked and couldn’t speak for a while.

Indeed, while Su Jieyu disliked Yun Si in many ways, in truth, Yun Si had never done anything disrespectful toward Su Jieyu.

An Cairen, seeing Baishao fall silent, felt a wave of frustration toward her and couldn’t help but interject,

“I saw it myself, Yun Jieyu and Su Jieyu’s entourages were on the same path, but when they were almost at the section where Su Jieyu later had her accident, Yun Jieyu’s entourage suddenly turned away. Such a coincidence, couldn’t it be suspicious?”

Yun Si shot a cold glance at An Cairen. What did any of this have to do with her?

Yun Si showed no courtesy. “An Cairen had better watch her mouth. Making baseless accusations against someone of higher rank, who gave you the courage?”

An Cairen felt a chill in her heart under Yun Si’s gaze. She had spoken without thinking, and by the time she realized it, it was already too late for regret.

She awkwardly averted her gaze, not daring to meet Yun Si’s eyes.

Bai Shao, however, was reminded by this. She frowned and looked toward Yun Si. Yun Si saw that she actually dared to ask, and narrowed her eyes slightly, her lips pulling into a cold, indifferent smile,

“Why I had my entourage turn back, An Cairen doesn’t know, but does Bai Shao girl not know either?”

Bai Shao’s expression suddenly turned awkward. She recalled that it was her mistress who had deliberately blocked the path at the time, which was why Yun Jieyu had changed to a smaller side path.

Seeing her look so uncomfortable and unable to question Yun Si any further, everyone understood in their hearts, Su Jieyu must have done something underhanded back then.

Yun Si was annoyed by Bai Shao’s questioning. She pursed her lips and, appearing somewhat aggrieved, looked toward Tan Yuanchu.

“Your Majesty, this concubine offered help out of goodwill, but ended up getting dragged into trouble. If Your Majesty won’t stand up for this concubine, then if something like this happens again, this concubine will no longer dare to lend a hand.”

Tan Yuanchu lifted his eyes. Before he could respond, he saw her half-leaning against Qiu Yuan’s arms. Realizing something, he looked toward the palace servants from Qingyu Courtyard and said coldly, “Bring seats for the ladies.”

Several chairs were brought in, and those with rank of third grade and above all took their seats. Tan Yuanchu’s expression remained indifferent. Xu Shunfu silently cursed the palace servants for being so blind and quickly gave Lu Yuan a look. Soon, a chair was placed behind Yun Si.

At this point, everyone knew exactly who Tan Yuanchu had issued that seat order for.

Tan Yuanchu didn’t directly respond to Yun Si’s words, but the outcome made Bai Shao’s face even more unsightly. The Emperor clearly trusted Yun Jieyu. If she continued accusing her, she would only provoke His Majesty’s displeasure.

Bai Shao still had some sense. She didn’t want to bring further trouble to her mistress.

Besides, she knew deep down, in that situation, it was already rare for Yun Jieyu to lend a helping hand. For her to accuse Yun Si of harboring ulterior motives without any evidence really was unreasonable and overbearing.

But aside from Yun Jieyu, who else could have harmed her mistress?

Bai Zhi watched as Bai Shao hurled questions without hitting the mark, and now suddenly quieted down. She felt speechless inside, had Yun Jieyu not already mentioned that there was oil on the path? Had Bai Shao not taken in a single word?

After a moment of silence, the Empress finally lifted her eyes to look at the Emperor and said with a frown,

“Today, Your Majesty brought the imperial physician to visit the little princess. Upon hearing the news, the concubines also went to Changchun Palace. There were no issues on the way there, yet on the return trip, oil was found on the path. Who would have such intentions? While everyone was worried about the little princess, someone had the mind to do something like this.”

As soon as these words fell, Yun Si couldn’t help but glance at the Empress.

She wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but why did it feel like the Empress had deliberately dragged the little princess into this?

Was the Empress implying that the person behind this not only plotted against the imperial heir in Su Jieyu’s womb but also took advantage of the Emperor’s visit to the little princess as an opportunity to act?

Attempting to harm an imperial heir, disregarding the little princess’s illness, and showing disrespect to the Emperor.

In just one short sentence, the Empress had laid three charges on the perpetrator behind the scenes.

Others in the hall also caught on to the deeper meaning of the Empress’s words. Rong Zhaoyi was also present in the hall. She still wore the same outfit from Changchun Palace, without makeup, appearing rather plain. She wasn’t eye-catching at all today and had kept a low profile, but upon hearing the Empress’s words, her brows immediately turned cold.

Hearing that someone had used the little princess as a cover, how could Rong Zhaoyi possibly be pleased?

She said coldly, “Every path in the palace is watched over and cleaned by palace servants. Even the Imperial Guards patrol regularly. As long as we summon people to ask who appeared on that path before Su Jieyu, the culprit will be easy to identify.”

Path-cleaning in the palace was no easy task, the ground could not have fallen leaves, which meant palace staff had to clean frequently. In other words, the servants would have been going back and forth constantly, perhaps even staying in place the whole time.

If someone really tampered with the road, it would have been impossible for no one to notice.

Yun Si sat in her seat and, using her sleeve as cover, discreetly pinched her slightly sore inner thigh. She swept a glance over the group, everyone kept their expressions well in check, their faces solemn. Even if some were secretly glad that Su Jieyu had miscarried, no one showed a trace of it.

Yun Si gave Consort De a veiled look.

In truth, she hadn’t noticed anything unusual about Consort De. But if she looked at it from another angle, who would the Empress most want to see as the culprit behind Su Jieyu’s misfortune?

Yun Si felt that it could only be Consort De.

Even if Consort De had nothing to do with the Empress’s miscarriage back then, she was still the greatest threat to the Empress in the harem. If Yun Si were in her place, she too would want to take this opportunity to eliminate Consort De.

However…

Yun Si lowered her eyes slightly. She thought the Empress’s hopes would likely come to nothing.

Setting aside whether evidence could even be found, even if there was evidence, it would still be difficult to bring down Consort De with just an unborn imperial heir and Su Jieyu alone.

The Eldest Prince, realizing the weight of those three words, Yun Si couldn’t help but feel a little envious of Consort De now.

Xu Shunfu quickly returned with the palace servant. The servant, trembling all over with fear, knelt in Qingyu Courtyard, so nervous that he could hardly speak:

“This servant greets… His Majesty! Greets Her Highness the Empress and all Your Ladyships!”

Before anyone could question him, he was already sobbing with snot and tears.
“I beg Your Majesty and Your Highness to see the truth clearly! This servant did clean the road carefully, before the midday meal, the path was still completely clean!”

The Empress asked, “When you cleaned today, did you see who appeared on that path before Su Jieyu?”

The servant broke into a cold sweat from the question and quickly tried to answer, “This servant… this servant…”

He stammered for a long while but couldn’t get the words out.

The Empress frowned.

“This palace is speaking to you. Why do you not answer?”

An Cairen didn’t learn her lesson at all and muttered under her breath, “Could it be that he took advantage of his position and spilled the oil on the ground himself?”

It wasn’t entirely impossible.

But since it was An Cairen who brought it up, Yun Si couldn’t help but curl her lips. She realized that An Cairen wasn’t necessarily targeting anyone on purpose—she was simply a troublemaker who liked to meddle in everything.

Perhaps things had been too quiet when she first entered the palace, and everyone ignored her. So after receiving a little favor, she couldn’t help but jump out and try to grab attention whenever she could.

Yun Si couldn’t say whether this kind of behavior was good or bad. She didn’t like it, but she couldn’t deny that compared to others who hadn’t seen the Emperor’s face in years, Tan Yuanchu at least remembered who An Cairen was.

Yun Si’s gaze landed on the palace servant kneeling inside the hall. She exchanged an unnoticed glance with Qiu Yuan and felt that the servant’s condition looked a little familiar.

They had seen this kind of situation often when they were still palace maids.

Not because he had done something wrong, but rather because he had done nothing, in other words, he had neglected his duty. He absolutely hadn’t been keeping watch on that path the entire time, so he couldn’t answer the Empress’s question.

Sure enough, when the Empress pressed again, the servant was so frightened that he burst into tears.

“Your Majesty, Your Highness, please forgive me! I don’t know! After my meal, I kept having stomach trouble, and when Eunuch Xu’s people came to find me, I was still in the latrine!”

As soon as he said this, many people in the hall covered their mouths and noses in disgust.

Xu Shunfu nodded, confirming the servant’s words.

Upon seeing this, everyone frowned. What a coincidence, the cleaning servant just happened to have a stomachache and didn’t keep watch over the road, so he had no idea who passed by during that time.

As for the Imperial Guards, Xu Shunfu had also inquired,

“Reporting to Your Majesty, during that time, the patrolling guards happened to not be in that area.”

The palace covered a vast area, and the Imperial Guards couldn’t possibly be stationed in the same spot all the time. There were bound to be empty stretches. Clearly, the person behind this had calculated everything perfectly.

Yun Si furrowed her brows. She sensed something was off. If someone was trying to harm Su Jieyu, they would first have to be certain that Su Jieyu would pass through that road.

And Su Jieyu had gone out only because Tan Yuanchu had taken the imperial physician to Changchun Palace. To show concern, they had no choice but to go as well.

Yun Si was stunned. She suddenly looked up and asked,

“Your Majesty, why did you think of going to Changchun Palace today?”

The little princess hadn’t fallen ill just today, why go neither earlier nor later, but precisely at that moment?

Tan Yuanchu also realized what she was implying. His expression suddenly darkened. Not only had someone attempted to harm the imperial heir, even he had been used.

Tan Yuanchu suddenly let out a low laugh, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. Everyone in the hall sensed something wrong with his mood and lowered their heads in fear. Even Xu Shunfu couldn’t help but swallow hard, feeling that the one behind this was simply courting death.

The Empress glanced at Yun Si, a trace of regret flashing uncontrollably in her eyes.

Speaking of usefulness, Yun Si was truly far more effective than Su Jieyu.
What a pity, such a person was hard to make use of.

Tan Yuanchu turned to look at Rong Zhaoyi. Startled by his gaze, Rong Zhaoyi’s heart sank as she immediately said,

“Your Majesty, why are you looking at this concubine?”

Tan Yuanchu’s eyes were icy cold. Xu Shunfu answered for him, “Your Ladyship, it was someone from your palace who went to the imperial study, saying that the little princess’s condition had worsened.”

The ominous feeling was confirmed. Rong Zhaoyi flatly denied it.

“Impossible!”

Rong Zhaoyi stood up at once and said calmly, “Your Majesty, the little princess has been unwell these past two days. This concubine has been caring for her with all my strength, but even so, I’ve been struggling to keep up. Moreover…”

She paused, then added,

“This concubine knows that Your Majesty is angry with me, but I have never sent anyone to summon you. If Your Majesty does not believe me, you may send someone to investigate my palace.”

There would definitely be an investigation.

Rong Zhaoyi clenched her handkerchief tightly. Tong Yun also looked shocked. They had not missed Xu Shunfu’s words, he said the person who went to summon His Majesty was from Changchun Palace.

Who was it?

Who had betrayed Her Ladyship?

Rong Zhaoyi couldn’t help asking, “Your Majesty, may I ask who it was that went to the imperial study to summon you?”

Tan Yuanchu didn’t speak. Xu Shunfu gave her a sympathetic glance and said a name.

“Qiu Ning.”

Rong Zhaoyi was stunned. “How could that be…”

Qiu Ning, a palace maid serving in the Changchun Palace, was considered a familiar face by the Emperor’s side. Otherwise, Xu Shunfu wouldn’t have immediately said she was from Changchun Palace.

To some extent, Qiu Ning could be counted as one of Rong Zhaoyi’s trusted aides. Even if she couldn’t compare to Tong Yun, she was not far behind.

Tong Yun also couldn’t speak for a long time. She gritted out, “That traitor!”

Tan Yuanchu glanced coldly at Rong Zhaoyi. Rong Zhaoyi’s breath caught under his gaze, and she froze where she stood. She suddenly realized what that look from the Emperor meant.

Whether she had done it or not, it wouldn’t end well for her.

If she had done it, needless to say. If she hadn’t, then it only highlighted her incompetence, her trusted aides in the palace turned out to belong to someone else. How many more Qiu Nings were there in the Changchun Palace?

Tan Yuanchu didn’t need to say anything more; Rong Zhaoyi already felt a chill down her spine.

Xu Shunfu went out again, he was going to bring Qiu Ning in for questioning.

During this time, Yun Si glanced at Tan Yuanchu several times. Having spent a long time with him day and night, she knew in her heart that this person, while cold and indifferent, was also extremely proud, and especially petty.

What happened today would likely make him hold a grudge for a long time.

This time, Xu Shunfu took especially long to return.

Yun Si rested her cheek on one hand and waited quietly. When her peripheral vision unintentionally swept across the person standing beside Consort De, her gaze cooled slightly without a trace.

She hadn’t thought of Lu Song in a long time.

Lu Song looked at her, his eyes filled with complicated emotion. Yun Si stiffened under his gaze. She and Lu Song had spent their youth together day and night. Even though she had done her best to deny any connection between them, the fact that they understood each other deeply was something that couldn’t be erased.

For example, now, Lu Song merely gave her a subtle look, and Yun Si instantly sensed that Lu Song seemed to be trying to tell her something.

Yun Si suddenly looked toward Consort De.
Consort De sat unhurriedly in her chair, calm and composed.

But if today’s incident had truly been orchestrated by Consort De, and now the trail had already led to Qiu Ning, how could she still appear so calm and at ease?

Combined with Lu Song’s expression, a bad premonition suddenly rose in Yun Si’s heart.

Footsteps sounded outside the hall. Xu Shunfu had returned. He hadn’t brought Qiu Ning, and his brows were tightly furrowed. With a grave expression, he walked up to Tan Yuanchu.

“Your Majesty, this servant arrived a step too late.”

“—Qiu Ning hanged herself in her room!”