Mrs. Qin stood by Princess Zhuang's side, nervously watching Gao Ping coming in. Through the magnificent screen, she could only vaguely see Gao Ping's shadow. She coughed a little stiffly, "Master Gao, how is the investigation going?"
She paused and emphasized, "You must give my daughter justice!"
Gao Ping responded amiably, and then said, "Forgive me for being rude, but I would like to ask, Princess, have you noticed anything unusual recently? When did you start to feel unwell?"
Princess Zhuang was helped up by Madam Qin. She sat with her eyes lowered and hugged the quilt. Her voice was cold and calm: "I have been feeling uncomfortable since about half a month ago, but it was just a stuffy chest. I asked Doctor Lai and Doctor Hu in the palace, and they both said that this kind of situation is common in the late pregnancy and it is nothing serious. I didn't take it seriously, until that day when my stomach suddenly hurt so much that I couldn't bear it..."
When she got to this point, her voice finally rose and fell. She took a breath and then continued, "I don't know anything about what happened afterwards..."
There was no useful information in these words. Gao Ping came to a conclusion in his heart after listening to them and said respectfully: "Yes, I understand. Please take care of yourself, Princess."
After saying that, he asked Mrs. Qin to leave for a while. He was now handling the case on orders, so there were some rules that he could not stick to.
Mrs. Qin hurriedly followed Gao Ping out and asked him, "Master Gao, have you found anything?"
Gao Ping avoided answering and just asked her, "Mrs. Qin has been accompanying the princess recently, right?"
Mrs. Qin sighed: "Of course, the princess has been feeling uncomfortable since she became pregnant, so I often come to take care of her..."
She was obviously not in a good mood, so Gao Ping stopped talking nonsense and asked directly: "Do you think the princess has any habits that are different from usual recently? For example, have you changed the clothes, jewelry, incense, etc. you wear recently?"
These questions should naturally be asked to the maids who serve the princess, but asking Mrs. Qin would surely be the most intuitive.
Mrs. Qin raised her eyebrows in surprise, and after thinking carefully for a long time, she shook her head affirmatively: "That has never happened. Since the princess became pregnant, her sense of smell has become extremely sensitive. She cannot stand the smell of incense, so she stopped burning incense a long time ago. Only the clothes are scented with dried osmanthus flowers..."
Gao Ping seemed to be thinking about something. Just as he was about to say something, Zhou Juntao came rushing over: "Sir! We have found something!"
Mrs. Qin didn't care about the rules anymore. She immediately opened her eyes wide, walked down the stairs and asked him, "What's wrong? What did you find?!"
Zhou Juntao quickly moved away, bowed and looked at Gao Ping.
Gao Ping understood, and walked down the stairs a few steps and asked him, "What's going on?"
"We checked the people who served the princess and the doctors and found that Doctor Lai in the mansion was missing." Zhou Juntao cupped his hands and said, "Before he left, Doctor Lai left a message saying that he was going home to visit his relatives, but we checked and found that Doctor Lai was an orphan..."
Doctor Lai
Gao Ping frowned: "And then what?" You can't say there's a problem just by checking such a few things, right
"We later found out that Dr. Lai and Dr. Shen actually knew each other." Zhou Juntao coughed.
Gao Ping patiently asked, "So what?"
Mrs. Qin jumped up all of a sudden: "Doctor Lai and Doctor Shen know each other?! But they didn't tell anyone!"
Her voice suddenly rose eight octaves, and she looked at Gao Ping nervously and explained, "Doctor Lai was introduced to the palace by someone. It was said that Doctor Lai was a famous doctor in Jiangnan, especially good at Qianjinke. The princess and the prince trusted him very much, and he was responsible for the pregnancy besides the imperial physician. Later, when the princess had an accident, Doctor Lai said that he couldn't cure her, and suggested that the prince go to find Doctor Shen, saying that Doctor Shen was a famous miracle doctor. The prince even went to the palace in person to ask the emperor for help on this matter, and asked for Doctor Shen, who was originally treating the leg of the Earl of Yongding..."
Is the Su family also involved
Gao Ping's eyebrows jumped, his heart skipped a beat, and he moved his fingers in his sleeves before he spoke: "What about Doctor Shen?"
As if waiting for him to ask this question, Zhou Juntao immediately followed up with an answer: "Sir, Doctor Shen stayed in the palace to take care of the princess after the accident, but after Concubine Li returned to the palace, he left, saying that he was going back to his hometown."
What a coincidence
Mrs. Qin was already furious: "This is too much of a coincidence! It's only in the book that this is such a coincidence..." She was indignant: "If someone really wants to harm the princess, it must be related to them! Otherwise, how could there be such a coincidence?!"
Gao Ping didn't comment, and suddenly asked Zhou Juntao: "Have you searched Doctor Lai and Doctor Shen's residence in the mansion? And who else knows their whereabouts? Have you asked everyone?"
Zhou Juntao was also a young talent who had handled many cases. He naturally followed rules when doing things. When he heard Gao Ping's question, he nodded methodically and said, "I have asked Lao Liu and others to search the residences of Doctor Lai and Doctor Shen in the mansion. We have also found the servants who had most contact with them. They are now questioning them."
Gao Ping nodded, comforted Mrs. Qin a few words, and turned around to go and take a look.
Mrs. Qin was still furious, and she urged Gao Ping while shaking, "My Lord, you must investigate carefully. If they really did it, they are so bold!"
Seeing that Gao Ping agreed to take Zhou Juntao out of the yard, she put away the anger on her face, turned around and walked up the stairs, and calmly returned to Princess Zhuang's bedroom. Then she walked around the screen and curtains and saw Princess Zhuang leaning on the pillow in a trance. Her heart ached and she hurried forward to close the window: "It has rained for several times, and it is getting colder day by day. You just had a miscarriage, how can you be so willful?"
Princess Zhuang snorted with a pale face, and curled the corners of her mouth sarcastically: "Why take care of your body? Didn't you see how he looked? My child is gone, how could he care about being sad? Without saying a word, he immediately made arrangements..."
"Ouch!" Mrs. Qin hurriedly took two steps forward and covered her mouth. She patted her on the shoulder angrily and anxiously: "My ancestor, why do you say anything? I know you feel bad, but this matter..."
When she was pregnant, Princess Zhuang was too willful. She was so worried every day. How could the child be healthy? How could her body be healthy? Now there is a big fuss outside, saying that she was harmed by someone.
But in fact, Mrs. Qin understood it very well. This had nothing to do with others. Princess Zhuang's mood was so unstable that the child would be lost sooner or later.