CHAPTER 243: CHAPTER 242: WHERE THERE’S SMOKE, THERE’S FIRE

Before noon arrived, Qiu Tong had been bound.

Qingya Residence didn’t have a firewood shed, so she was thrown into the utility room in the backyard. The utility room contained everything: rags, bamboo brooms, large brooms, and toilet brushes. Even though it was still cold in the depths of January, a foul stench permeated the air.

Unable to bear it, Qiu Tong retched and vomited. She scrambled up from the ground and desperately pounded on the door.

"Why have you seized me? Let me out! Let me out now!"

Xiao Zhu Zi sneered from outside.

"Why seize you? You can’t figure that out?"

"If you don’t want others to know, you shouldn’t have done it. You should have some idea, Miss!"

Qiu Tong felt her heart skip two beats in fright. Could it be that she had been discovered?

Meanwhile, Xia Ruqing had ordered Zi Yue and the others to search Qiu Tong’s room.

Zi Yue, accompanied by Zi Su and Zi Ning, searched for a long while but found nothing suspicious.

"Hidden really well!" Zi Yue frowned. "Keep searching; there must be a clue!"

"If it’s not in the room, let’s go look outside!"

As they were exiting, they happened upon Xiao Xizi.

Several people surrounded the servants’ quarters and searched inside and out. Finally, behind the servants’ quarters, they dug up a jar from a pit. Upon opening it, they found a small bundle inside.

Zi Yue took it to Xiao Zhu Zi and asked, "Is this it?"

Xiao Zhu Zi deliberated for a good while but couldn’t be sure. "It was too far away and a bit blurry. I really can’t remember!"

Zi Yue had no choice but to give up. Glancing around the utility room again, she instructed, "Keep a close watch; don’t let her die!"

Xiao Zhu Zi nodded. "Sister Zi Yue, rest assured!"

After Zi Yue circled around and saw nothing unusual, she left.

Xia Ruqing stared at the small bundle, her eyes emanating a chilling, frightening radiance. "After wealth, are we?" She sneered.

With a deft flick of her hand, she uncovered the bundle. Inside were five small gold ingots, each weighing about five taels, along with a few common-looking pieces of jewelry.

Xia Ruqing scoffed, pushing the bundle away. "I wasn’t aware I was so valuable that they would spend so much to deal with me!"

Zi Yue was also quite anxious. "Mistress, what do we do now?"

Xia Ruqing gave a cold laugh. "At this juncture, other than standing our ground, we can do nothing!"

Private punishments were forbidden in the palace, so she couldn’t interrogate the prisoner. Apart from a few gold ingots, she had no other evidence.

What had Qiu Tong heard? Whom had she seen? What had she said? Xia Ruqing knew none of it. So, what could be done?

They would have to cross that bridge when they came to it. That was all that could be done.

"From today on, feed her only one meal a day!" Xia Ruqing instructed.

Zi Yue agreed, then asked, "Mistress, Xiao Zhu Zi has just arrived; can we trust him to watch over Qiu Tong?"

Xia Ruqing paused for a moment, then spoke. "He, Zi Su, and Zi Ning were all handpicked by Steward Hai, just like when you arrived."

Back then, she had just become favored, and she had gathered all her possessions to give to him. That was how she had secured such reliable Palace Maids and eunuchs.

This time, she was still favored and even more willing to spend generously than before.

"’Steward Hai gets things done when silver is involved. The three he picked shouldn’t be spies.’"

Besides, they didn’t look the part.

Zi Yue was thus somewhat reassured.

After tidying up, she went to the backyard to inform Xiao Zhu Zi. "The Mistress said to feed her only one meal a day!"

Xiao Zhu Zi smugly complied. "Please rest assured, Mistress, I shall ’serve’ her well!"

Zi Yue nodded and left.

After lunch, just as usual, Xia Ruqing lay down on her bed for a nap. But she tossed and turned for a whole Shi Chen and still couldn’t fall asleep. Her mind raced. Whose spy is Qiu Tong, really? The Empress is the most likely, since she controls the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Planting a mole would be so easy for her. Of course, Noble Concubine Shih can’t be ruled out either. Powerful and influential, with access to the palace since childhood, arranging a spy would be child’s play for her. Then again, others aren’t entirely out of the question either. As Xia Ruqing considered every angle, it seemed anyone in the Harem could be responsible. The more she mulled it over, the more irritated she became.

Clinging to her blanket, she pounded it fiercely a few times and then climbed off the bed.

"No more sleeping!!!"

Just at that moment, Xiao Xizi came in with a grave face. "Mistress, something terrible has happened!"

Xia Ruqing felt a shock in her heart but put on a calm facade. "What happened?"

"There are rumors everywhere in the palace, saying that the Emperor has personally promised to..."

Xia Ruqing became anxious. "To what?"

Xiao Xizi lowered his head. "If you, my Mistress, give birth to a Prince, he will be established as the Crown Prince! It’s said that... the Empress Dowager was so enraged upon hearing it that she nearly passed out!"

BOOM! A clap of thunder seemed to explode in Xia Ruqing’s mind, her heart clenching with a dull, heavy pain.

She looked blankly ahead and felt for the edge of the bed to stand up. "When did the Emperor ever say such a thing?! This is... someone is trying to put me in a deadly situation!"

She had been in the palace for so long, enduring hardships to reach her current position. Though she had faced dangers, she had never given anyone a hold over her. Yet now, a playful remark from the Emperor had been overheard, twisted, exaggerated ten thousand times, and spread throughout the palace!

Xia Ruqing walked slowly to the window, and a gust of cold wind blew over. Her body chilled from the inside out.

「Ningshou Palace」

Upon hearing the rumors, the Empress Dowager was so enraged that her whole body trembled. She had skipped lunch and couldn’t get up from bed.

Sister Qing quickly summoned the Imperial Physician.

After the examination, the Imperial Physician said, "The Empress Dowager is not in grave condition, merely suffering from a surge of anxiety. A few doses of medication and a few days of recuperation should be enough for recovery!"

Sister Qing finally put her mind at ease. After the prescription was written, she had someone send the Imperial Physician away with great care.

Once the medicine was fetched, Sister Qing personally oversaw its preparation.

An hour later, Sister Qing came in with a bowl of medicine. "Empress Dowager, it’s time for your medicine!"

The Empress Dowager lay on the bed, tears streaming down her face. "I raised him all these years, yet he is not on my side!"

Sister Qing tried to console her again. "Empress Dowager, aren’t you aware of the Emperor’s temperament? When has he ever acted rashly?! Speaking of the Harem, even though Lady Xia has gained favor, has he truly neglected anyone else? Even with the Empress, it is only because she recently annoyed him that he hasn’t visited. And with the Noble Consort, even though the child was lost and the Emperor was angry for a while, didn’t he still go to see her in the end? When has he truly forgotten his affections?"

The Empress Dowager wiped her tears with a handkerchief. "There’s no smoke without fire in the Harem. If he didn’t say it, how could others spread such rumors?"

Sister Qing knew the Empress Dowager was in a fit of anger and decided not to persuade her further. She simply said, "Regardless, Empress Dowager, your own health is what’s most important!"

The Empress Dowager looked at the medicine and waved her hand, her eyes closed. "Leave it there for now."

"Empress Dowager..."

The Empress Dowager closed her eyes.

Sister Qing felt concerned and hesitated to speak.

Suddenly, the Empress Dowager’s eyes snapped open. "Go! Fetch the Emperor! I want to ask him personally!"

"Empress Dowager..."

"Go!"

Sister Qing knew she couldn’t dissuade her and left to carry out the order.

「Imperial Study Room」

Zhao Junyao was looking over a memorial, his brow furrowed in distress. A locust plague had broken out in the north, and the newly sprouted wheat seedlings had been completely devoured by the pests.