When Ye Jun arrived, he could smell the unique aroma of chrysanthemum wine from afar, and the servants were picking up the broken porcelain pieces on the ground.
The five remaining jars of chrysanthemum wine had been carefully placed aside.
When they saw her coming, they all knelt down tremblingly.
Among the crowd, Ye Jun recognized the eunuch pulling the cart at a glance.
There was no other reason. The man's face and neck were covered with blood marks from being scratched by the cat's claws. It was very shocking.
However, this person did not have time to deal with the wound. He was holding a broom in his hand and helping everyone clean up the mess.
Ye Jun's eyes were gloomy and he felt depressed, but he couldn't bear to watch it.
"Kong Qing, go get some medicine and apply it on his face."
"Yes." Kong Qing responded and hurried away.
The eunuch kneeling on the ground was surprised for a moment, then kowtowed.
"Thank you, Imperial Concubine. Thank you, Imperial Concubine. Your Majesty is kindhearted, but I feel guilty. I didn't pull the cart properly and spilled the wine. I deserve to die!"
Ye Jun waved her hand, "It's useless to feel guilty at this moment, just tell me what's going on."
"Your Majesty, I was pulling the cart when suddenly two civet cats fell from the palace wall and hit me. The wild cats went crazy and started scratching me. I was in pain and tried to avoid them, so... the cart tilted and the wine jars overturned." The eunuch had a sad face.
"How many people are there in your group pulling the cart?" Ye Jun continued to ask.
The eunuch quickly replied, "There are four of us in the group. The servant is pulling the cart, and there are people guarding it on both sides. There is also another person helping to push it from the back."
"Four of you, this wild cat only caught you, the cart driver. It's strange. Could it be that this wild cat can recognize people?" Ye Jun sneered.
When everyone present heard this, they all knew that there was something fishy going on.
The eunuch pulling the cart begged for mercy again and again, saying that he knew nothing.
Looking at his miserable condition, it is impossible for him to tell a lie.
Ye Jun lowered his eyes and thought deeply. What could drive a wild cat crazy was nothing more than drugs and smells.
So he waved for the eunuch to come forward and asked Nan Zhi and Hui Yue to carefully examine the things on him.
It didn't take long for Huiyue to notice something unusual.
"My lady, there seems to be a faint smell of grass on his clothes. I have never smelled it before, so I don't know what kind of grass it is."
"Go and ask for Doctor Shen." Ye Jun said immediately.
I walked forward to check, and smelled it closely, and there was indeed a smell.
My bad luck was that I didn't deal with the person angrily right away, otherwise how would I have discovered this.
At this time, the eunuch suddenly said, "My Lady, I just remembered that when I came to work this morning, I passed by the Zhongcui Palace and bumped into the eunuch who was sweeping the floor. My clothes got wet, and he compensated me for this set of clothes. This set of clothes does not belong to me!"
Zhongcui Palace, this result was expected.
It was indeed the work of Concubine Jingxian.
But it is impossible to convict a person of a crime based on just a piece of clothing and a eunuch who was cleaning the house.
Concubine Jingxian will definitely pass the buck and it won't hurt her in any way.
But even so, this time Ye Jun was going to expose the matter in front of Ning Chen.
Even if it only makes Ning Chen suspicious, Concubine Jingxian can no longer pretend to be innocent in Ning Chen's eyes.
Soon, Shen Pingzhi arrived.
After a careful sniff, I found out that the fragrance was from Nepeta tenuifolia, which is the grass later called catnip.
Extracting the juice and spraying it on clothing will naturally induce cats to go crazy.
Ye Jun understood what was going on, so he asked Shen Pingzhi to treat the eunuch's shocking wound on his face, and then took people to Jiuchen Palace.
Hearing that the imperial chrysanthemum wine was broken, Ning Chen's face turned pale, but he remained calm.
"It's not your fault that the servants were careless. The imperial chrysanthemum wine is gone, but there are other chrysanthemum wines. Just buy some good ones from outside. Don't get angry and hurt yourself."
Seeing Ning Chen still comforting herself, Ye Jun was slightly touched.
But this is not the time to be moved, so I adjusted my mood and told him about the cat.
"I don't know whether it was intentional or unintentional, but the eunuch's clothes were wet by the sweeping servants of Zhongcui Palace, and he was given a set of clothes stained with nepeta juice, which led to the wild cat attacking him and spilling the wine in the cart."
"You suspect someone did it on purpose." Ning Chen frowned.
Ye Jun looked calm, "I can't say I doubt it, but I think it's too coincidental. If I don't investigate it, it will get out and cause gossip and ruin Concubine Jingxian's reputation, which will also be detrimental to the peace of the harem."
"Yes, it turned out that the queen had a difficult delivery, and Qin was involved. Qin was originally from the Zhongcui Palace and was trained by the Queen Consort Jingxian. For this reason, I have heard some gossip." Nan Zhi brought up the old things at the right time.
Ning Chen was originally a little suspicious of these coincidences, and when he heard about Ye Jun's difficult labor, he took it even more seriously.
He stretched out his hand, led the person to his side, asked her to sit down first, and then sent someone to invite Concubine Jingxian to come.
Not long after, Concubine Jingxian arrived. When she saw Ye Jun was there, she knew what was going on, but she still looked like she knew nothing.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you, Your Majesty, and to your Majesty the Imperial
"No thanks. I called you here because I have something to ask you." Ning Chen waved his hand.
Concubine Jingxian lowered her eyes slightly, still being gentle and respectful, "I don't know what it is, but I will tell you everything I know."
"My Lady, please speak." Ning Chen turned his head and said softly.
Ye Jun nodded, then raised his eyes to look at the woman in front of him.
"Today, the chrysanthemum wine prepared for the Double Ninth Festival was accidentally spilled by the eunuch who was pulling the cart. I investigated the cause and found that the eunuch's clothes were stained with nepeta, which can attract cats and make them crazy. Coincidentally, this set of clothes was given to him as compensation by a sweeping eunuch in Zhongcui Palace who wet his clothes. I wonder if Concubine Xian knows about this."
After hearing what she said, Concubine Jingxian, who had her eyes lowered, her eyes flashed.
In her estimation, since the eunuch had broken such an important bottle of wine, Ye Jun would have been angry and punished him immediately.
I didn't expect Ye Jun to be so calm, patient, and careful in investigating this.
But since she dared to do it, she would not leave herself a way out.
After sorting out his thoughts a little, he immediately looked up in surprise.
"My Lady, I know nothing about this. There must be something fishy going on. I dare not damage the imperial wine and ruin the Chongyang Festival banquet. Why don't you call the eunuch who cleans the house and confront him face to face!"
After hearing this, Ye Jun was able to conclude that Concubine Jingxian had already made a way out. This time, at most she would be made to commit a mistake of not being restrained enough, but she would not be hurt any further.
Sure enough, when the cleaning eunuch was brought to him, he immediately acknowledged him.
He said that he liked cats, so he found some catmint, squeezed the juice and sprayed it on his clothes to attract cats to come closer.
However, the cat he was referring to was a little white cat that he kept privately, and everyone knew and could testify that he kept and loved cats.
Therefore, this incident can only be concluded as an accident.
The eunuch cried and shouted, saying that he had no idea that a piece of clothing he had paid for would lead to such a disaster, and he only begged for mercy.
At this point, the virtuous concubine was fined half a year's salary, and the eunuch was sent to the Ministry of Punishment to do hard labor.
And now there is another tricky thing to deal with.
Now that the imperial chrysanthemum wine is gone, what is the most suitable substitute