Concubine Jingde was staring at her intently.
Finally found the clue.
The servants came back to report that they saw with their own eyes a man covered tightly in a black cloak coming out of the Wutong Palace, running straight to the courtyard where the servants in the kitchen lived, and handing something to a little palace maid at the back door.
“Although I didn’t see clearly who came out of Wutong Palace, I saw the appearance of the little palace maid who met her.” Tan Xiang said.
Concubine Jingde thought about it, pulled the person closer and whispered a few words.
The next day, the young palace maid was tidying up sundries outside the kitchen when she was bumped into by a eunuch who had his head down and whose face could not be seen clearly, and her things fell to the ground.
She quickly squatted down to pick it up, and heard the other party deliberately pinching his voice to tell her that they would meet at the old place at 2:15 p.m. tonight.
The young palace maid had no doubts and hurriedly agreed, then pretended nothing had happened and left in a hurry.
Even after the task was completed, Tan Xiang still had some concerns.
"Your Majesty, are we really not going to do Ming Shunyi a favor? If we join forces with her, wouldn't it be easier to overthrow the Queen?"
Concubine Jingde glanced at her indifferently and said in a cold voice, "Don't forget that Ming Shunyi also has a son. I want to do more than just revenge."
She didn't want to save anyone, she just wanted to push this group of people from behind and push them all down.
How great! Ming Shunyi harmed Lady Wan, and the Queen had the evidence to execute Ming Shunyi. When the Queen had done what she wanted, she could appear at the right time to expose the Queen's crimes.
This is the truth: the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it.
Amid the anticipation of various forces, the Mid-Autumn Festival dinner finally arrived.
Hui Zhaorong and Ye Yun both put in a lot of effort, so the preparations for the dinner were economical yet dignified and grand, which was very satisfying.
For example, many of this year’s dishes are prepared in new ways using old methods.
Although more than half of them are fixed palace banquet dishes, most of them have been improved by Ye Yun and become different from before, with more outstanding color, aroma and taste.
Even the Queen Mother couldn't help but praise the dishes at today's banquet.
Ning Chen said, "Ming Shunyi is very clever. Although the dishes at the palace banquet are delicious, they will taste the same after eating too much. After this change, it has added some new ideas."
"Yes, that's why I suggested that Ming Shunyi come to help organize this Mid-Autumn Festival banquet. She is always considerate and thoughtful when serving the emperor, and she is also smart. I trust her the most." The Queen also praised with a smile.
Ye Jun stood up calmly and bowed neither humbly nor arrogantly.
"I thank the Emperor and the Empress for their praise. It is my duty as a concubine to share the Empress' worries. It is my blessing to be able to help the Empress. This Mid-Autumn Festival banquet was not only contributed by me, but Hui Zhaorong took more care of it. I am just greedy, so I made some changes to the dishes."
When taking credit for an achievement, don't forget your comrades.
Hui Zhaorong stood up with a smile, "This is all the result of our sisters' concerted efforts."
"Yes, I would feel more at ease if all the sisters in the harem were as close as you two." The queen said softly.
Looking at her like this, if you didn't know her character, you would think that Xie was really a kind and generous queen.
After the polite words were said, everyone sat down again.
The banquet officially began with singing and dancing.
Ning Chen was happy today, and the atmosphere at the scene was very good.
The two princes and the men in the clan all drank with Ning Chen, and they felt very comfortable.
The banquet dishes have been improved and are also suitable for everyone's appetite.
In the past, when we held banquets, the dishes were always similar and no one was very active.
This time was different from the past. The change aroused people's curiosity, so they couldn't help but try more. As a result, there were rare empty plates on many seats.
Of course, this was also because Ye Jun instructed the kitchen to use small plates to serve the dishes.
Each person can't eat much, so if you put too much food in and leave it uneaten, it will be wasted. Put it in a small plate, and when you want to eat more, you can ask the servants to bring another portion. This way you can avoid a lot of unnecessary waste.
Looking at these small changes in details, Ning Chen felt more and more that Ye Jun was a wonderful person who deserved his favor.
But when the banquet was halfway through, Miss Wan suddenly turned pale.
Lady Qi, who was sitting closest to her, was the first to notice something was wrong.
"What's wrong with you? You feel uncomfortable somewhere... Blood! You, there's blood on your skirt!"
They were still talking peacefully when Lady Qi caught a glimpse of the bright red color from the corner of her eye. It was particularly eye-catching on the goose yellow hem of Lady Wan's skirt.
At this moment, Yusuo, the maid standing behind Wan Meiren, became anxious.
"My beauty, what's wrong with you? Why... why are you bleeding? Call the imperial physician quickly. I'll go call the imperial physician. My beauty, hold on!"
"No... My stomach hurts so much, it hurts so much." Wan Meiren's lips lost their color and she leaned crookedly on the chair.
The host soon discovered something was wrong here.
Ning Chen frowned, then immediately stood up and strode over here.
He noticed something strange before he even walked in, and immediately shouted, "Yuan Jiu, go get the imperial physician, quickly!"
The Queen followed closely, supporting the Queen Mother and also exclaimed.
"Ah, what happened? There is so much blood out of nowhere, and Miss Wan is still pregnant."
Ye Jun frowned and suddenly had a bad premonition.
He took two quick steps towards her and saw that Wan Meiren's dress was getting stained red. With that amount of blood, she probably couldn't save the baby.
"Your Majesty, I think Concubine Wan must have touched something unclean. I think we should quickly move her to the side hall to wait for the imperial physician to treat her. All things and people at the scene should not be moved without permission. Wait for the imperial physician to come and check." Ye Jun spoke immediately.
Concubine Shu said, "All the dishes for this banquet were prepared by Ming Shunyi. Please don't let this be the case."
"Shut up!" Ning Chen turned around and glared at Concubine Shu. "The matter has not been decided yet, and you just opened your mouth. I should have given you the title of Concubine De in the first place!"
The title of Concubine De was Jing.
Granting it to Concubine Shu was naturally not meant to make her calm and elegant, but to tell her to be quiet and less troubled.
After being scolded, Concubine Shu blushed and lowered her head, not daring to say anything more.
Several eunuchs found a stretcher and quickly carried Lady Wan to the side hall.
Ning Chen went along with them, and everyone else stayed at the scene, and no one was allowed to leave.
Ye Jun sat down and quickly began to recall everything he had done in the past few days. There was absolutely no mistake or omission, so it would not be easy for him to be framed.
But even so, I couldn't help but feel worried.
What if some details were missed
But thinking about Ning Chen's attitude towards Concubine Shu just now, he seemed to trust her to some extent.
In less than half an hour, Ning Chen returned to the hall with a gloomy face.
"Okay, I didn't know who in the harem had such a cruel heart. A dose of medicine made Wan Meiren childless and unable to have children again. Investigate it for me, investigate it carefully, who is so cruel!"