Soon, the princes and princesses were brought to the Cining Palace by their respective mothers.
Hui Zhaoyuan brought two.
The second princess she gave birth to and the fourth prince that Ye Jun gave her to take care of.
It was rare for the children to get together and play like this, especially the Fourth Prince, who was not familiar with his three older brothers, the eldest princess, and the third princess.
The first few princes were familiar to each other. After all, they had studied together for some time. The eldest princess and the third princess were both the daughters of Concubine Shu, so they were naturally closer.
Needless to say, the Fourth Prince was holding the Second Sister's hand.
Anyway, a group of children are like small groups.
In the end, it was the eldest princess who was calm and composed. She led her brothers and sisters to pay their respects to the Queen Mother, and then they all sat down.
The Imperial Concubine ordered someone to bring the snack box over, but when she opened it she found it was a little cold.
So he said, "Queen Dowager, these snacks are a little cold. I'm afraid I'll get upset if I eat them. Why don't we use your small kitchen to heat them up before distributing them to the princes and princesses?"
"Well, ask someone to take it down and heat it up." The Queen Mother nodded without any objection.
She then assigned a palace maid to take the snacks away.
He turned around and talked to the children.
The first one waved to the Fourth Prince and said, "Jing'er, come to me. Let me see if you have grown taller."
The Fourth Prince was somewhat unfamiliar with the Queen Mother and did not dare to move for a moment.
Hui Zhaoyuan leaned down and said softly, "Go, Fourth Prince. That's the Empress Dowager."
Encouraged, the Fourth Prince was led by Bai Shu to the Queen Mother.
"Come, have a piece of red bean cake." The Queen Mother picked up the plate and handed it over.
Children, after all, love to eat. They picked up a piece and smiled, "Thank you, Grandmother."
Just after saying this, without waiting for the Queen Mother to respond, the Fourth Prince suddenly turned around and ran back.
With a little effort, the little hand broke the red bean cake into two halves, "Sister, eat it!"
The second princess smiled and took half of the red bean cake. "Thank you, fourth brother."
When everyone saw this scene, they naturally burst into praise.
It was also at this time that the hot snacks were brought back.
The Imperial Concubine ordered people to distribute it to the children.
However, the Fourth Prince had just eaten the red bean pastry and no longer wanted to eat sweet food.
Seeing that the second princess had a piece in her hand, he put the one he had in his hand into Hui Zhaoyuan's hand.
"Eat, Madam Hui. Jing'er is not hungry."
"The Fourth Prince really has a good temper. He loves his brothers and sisters and respects his elders. The first thing he thought of was to give it to Hui Zhaoyuan." The Grand Concubine said with a smile.
As soon as these words came out, Hui Zhaoyuan's eyes flickered.
Firstly, she is not the biological mother of the Fourth Prince. Secondly, the Queen Mother, a legitimate elder, is sitting here. How can she bear the responsibility of saying such things
So she said, "Grand Noble Consort, you are joking. It's just that the child is shy. I am closer to him, so he stuffed it into my hand. When it comes to being filial to elders, the Fourth Prince has the Empress Dowager in his heart."
After saying this, she reached out and touched the child's head, "Fourth Prince, eat it yourself. Empress Hui doesn't eat this."
But it was obvious that the Fourth Prince was in a difficult situation, his hands were twisted and he looked a little at a loss.
You really don’t want to eat.
The Queen Mother saw this and, thinking of getting closer to the child, she opened her mouth.
"Hui Zhaoyuan, the child loves you, so you can share the food with him. This will also show Jing'er's kindness."
Since the Queen Mother said so, Hui Zhaoyuan naturally agreed.
He broke half of it off from the fourth prince.
But at this moment she didn't notice that the pupils of the imperial concubine opposite her shrank slightly.
The Fourth Prince held the snack without touching it, while Hui Zhaoyuan ate it in two bites.
When he picked up the handkerchief to wipe his mouth, his face suddenly became painful and he collapsed while holding his stomach.
"It's poisonous. Don't eat it, Fourth Prince. There's poison in the cake!"
Hui Zhaoyuan's face was twisted in pain, and she tried her best to knock the half piece in the Fourth Prince's hand to the ground.
However, she was in so much pain that she had no strength left. Fortunately, Bai Zhu reacted quickly and took the snack from the Fourth Prince's hand and put it aside.
The Second Princess had never seen her mother like this before, and she soon started crying out of fear, and the Fourth Prince also started crying out of fear.
Yi Shunyi, who was closest to the scene, immediately stood up to take a look and saw a trace of blood on Hui Zhaoyuan's handkerchief. She also panicked immediately.
"Quick, call the imperial physician! I want to see who dares to poison the Cining Palace!"
The Queen Mother was also startled and stood up, giving orders loudly.
The young eunuch at the door quickly ran out.
Fortunately, I was lucky enough to meet Doctor Zhang who came to see the Empress Dowager for a follow-up consultation, and I was pulled over to jog.
When he arrived at the place, he was caught and shown to Hui Zhaoyuan.
Although Doctor Zhang was in a hurry, he had been a judge for many years and had real skills.
Immediately, someone supported Hui Zhaoyuan, took out a silver needle, found the acupuncture point and inserted the needle.
In an instant, Hui Zhaoyuan vomited with a "wow" sound, until everything in her stomach was vomited out.
"Hurry up and give Zhaoyuan some warm water. Although she vomited out the poison, it has damaged her stomach to some extent. Fortunately, she didn't take much, so it won't endanger her life."
Doctor Zhang wiped the sweat from his forehead and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
However, he did not dare to delay, so he picked up his pen and wrote a prescription and asked the servants to take it and boil the medicine for Hui Zhaoyuan to take.
"How come he got poisoned?"
Concubine Shu looked at Hui Zhaoyuan being helped away by palace servants with a lingering fear on her face.
Nanny Fu frowned and immediately said, "Hui Zhaoyuan just ate the snack from the Fourth Prince's hand. Imperial Physician, please take a look at the snack to see if there is anything wrong with it."
Doctor Zhang nodded, turned to check the uneaten half piece, and sure enough, he found a clue on it.
"Your Highness, the surface of this snack is stained with a layer of poisonous powder, but there is nothing wrong with the inside."
"Well, Yao, you dare to murder the royal heir. Come, capture her for me!" The Queen Mother slammed the table in anger.
When Princess Ping saw that her mother-in-law was about to be captured, she immediately stood up and blocked the way.
"Empress Dowager, there must be some misunderstanding here. Mother would not murder the heir to the throne. This snack was brought by Mother. It is too obvious that the Fourth Prince was poisoned after eating it. Queen Dowager, think about it. Mother still has a son, the Prince. How could she do such a thing and implicate the entire palace!"
These words did have some effect, and the servants did not dare to move forward for a while.
The Queen Mother narrowed her eyes slightly and glanced coldly at the concubines.
Seeing her hesitation, Prince Ping immediately said, "The Queen Mother has also experienced the ups and downs of the palace. I dare to say that this... It is possible that one of the concubines had the wrong idea for a moment."
Aunt Fu also frowned at this moment.
He approached the Queen Mother a little closer and said, "Your Majesty, why don't we investigate it thoroughly? After all, the Emperor has to give an explanation when he returns. With Prince Ping here, it will be difficult to deal with the Concubine without solid evidence."
After being persuaded like this, the Queen Mother thought about it and decided not to arrest the man immediately.
The Grand Concubine heaved a sigh of relief, her face turning a little blue, obviously she was feeling unwell.
But she still insisted on speaking, "Queen Dowager, the snacks I brought were not only touched by people around me, but also by people in your place. If you want to check it out carefully, you must not let anyone go."