Chapter 170 The real murderer
The news of Princess Yongning's miscarriage eventually reached the palace.

Concubine Liu was furious and insisted on investigating the matter. The Li family also agreed, and people outside were talking about it. It was said that Princess Yongning's previous good news was not kept secret for three months and was spread out, so she was taken away by the King of Hell. This is just a legend, and many people don't believe it now. Moreover, Princess Yongning did say that she was murdered in the Li family this time.

The word "murder" is very serious, which means that this is not a child lost by accident by Princess Yongning, but a carefully planned conspiracy. Even the emperor paid attention to it and asked the Li family to find the murderer.

In contrast, Princess Yongning's elder brother, King Cheng, did not care much about it. It was certainly not because King Cheng did not care about his sister, but because he was busy with more important things recently - forcing the emperor to abdicate and rebel, so Princess Yongning's affairs had to be put aside for the time being.

The Li family became the target of public criticism, and they tried hard to find the murderer, but they could not find any clues in two or three days. Princess Yongning was like crazy, and she refused to give in. Almost from morning to night, she kept clamoring for an explanation from the Li family. She could not find the murderer, so she took out all her anger on the Li family. She looked like an enemy of the Li family instead of the grandmother of the Li family.

At night, Princess Yongning sat in the room with an irritable look on her face.

Her body recovered very quickly. Abortion should be a physically exhausting thing, and she should have been too weak to get out of bed for the past few days. But in just one day, Princess Yongning recovered and was able to walk freely. If the Li family hadn't known that she was pregnant, no one would have believed it and would have thought she had never been pregnant.

But perhaps because of this, Li Xian did not expect Princess Yongning to recover her strength so quickly, and he seemed a little flustered and at a loss when Princess Yongning urged him to find the murderer.

Meixiang came in from outside holding the prepared medicine soup.

"The Li family has not given us an explanation today." Princess Yongning said angrily, "This is simply outrageous!"

After losing her child, Princess Yongning's weakness also disappeared. She became arrogant and domineering again, and everyone had to obey her. Her bad temper was fully revealed.

She glanced at the medicine that Meixiang brought to her. It was specially made for her to take after the miscarriage. It was a big black bowl with a bitter medicinal aroma. Princess Yongning looked at it and thought of the innocent child who died. Her heart began to ache. What made her even more heartbroken was that the news of her miscarriage had spread to the court, not to mention the people. Shen Yurong should have known something about it, but she didn't even come to see her. Even if she just asked someone to bring a letter or a message, it would have been fine.

But no, nothing. She waited and waited, but all she got was that the Li family had not found the whereabouts of the murderer. It was all in vain.

This is Shen Yurong's own flesh and blood! He doesn't even care about family affection.

Princess Yongning felt a little sad when she thought of this. She knew that Shen Yurong was probably a heartless person, which could be seen from his treatment of his wife Xue Fangfei. But she never expected that one day, this heartlessness would be used on her.

The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she became. The more she thought about it, the more unwilling she became. Princess Yongning asked, "Meixiang, did Shen Lang send any message today?"

After a long while without answering, she turned her head and saw Meixiang standing in front of the table, wiping the table with an uncertain look on her face. She wiped the same spot over and over again, but her eyes were looking somewhere in the air. It was clear that her mind was not here. Princess Yongning called out again suspiciously, "Meixiang!"

Meixiang turned around in panic and asked, "Your Highness?"

"What's wrong with you?" Princess Yongning frowned, "Are you hiding something from me?"

Meixiang has been with her for many years and is a very calm person. It is rare to see her so distracted. Princess Yongning immediately became suspicious.

“Your servant…Your servant…” Meixiang turned around, walked to the door and looked around. Seeing that there was no one else outside, she closed the door and went back into the house. She gritted her teeth, knelt down in front of Princess Yongning, and said, “Your servant just came back from outside and passed by a small house. I heard something…”

"What's the matter?"

Meixiang then told the story. When she went to get the tonic for Princess Yongning, she passed by a darkroom. The darkroom was half-closed. Meixiang was going to walk by. She was not familiar with the Li family. Because she had to follow Princess Yongning closely for two months, she did not have time to walk around the Li family and get familiar with the place. Just as Meixiang was about to walk by the darkroom, she heard someone talking in the darkroom. This was nothing. Meixiang did not intend to eavesdrop on the Li family servants talking. But she suddenly heard the name of Princess Yongning, and Meixiang stopped. This was related to her master. Seeing that there was no one around, she stood sideways behind the gap of the door and listened carefully to what the people inside said about her master.

One of them said, "The princess finally got the baby out of her belly. Fortunately, the baby got out of her belly. Now the eldest master doesn't have to spend so much effort to tamper with the princess's pregnancy-preserving medicine, but there is still no reaction. Could it be that the princess didn't take the medicine? Otherwise, why is there no movement at all? If the eldest master hadn't taken such a ruthless approach this time, I don't know if he would have succeeded."

"Of course not. If we wait until her belly gets bigger, it will be difficult to do it, and it could easily result in someone's death. Our eldest master has tried so many methods before this, including using medicine and incense on the ground, but there is no reaction. If there is still no movement after being pushed down the stairs this time, I will start to doubt whether she is an ordinary person or has practiced some magical skills?"

Another person said, "Keep your voice down. It will be troublesome if someone hears you. Anyway, this is the best result. Okay, let's not talk about this anymore and get to work. Wait for the princess to make trouble for a few more days, and then Your Highness will give her a scapegoat, okay?"

Meixiang was terrified as she listened to them. She wanted to find out more secrets, but the two turned around and talked about other things. There seemed to be footsteps in the distance, and Meixiang did not dare to stay, for fear of being discovered. She did not dare to break into the house and expose the two people, because this was the Li family after all. If what the two people said was true and the murderer was Li Xian, the Li family would definitely kill her to silence her. She was afraid that before she could tell Princess Yongning about this, she would be silenced and disappear from the world.

So she stood up and left quietly, pretending nothing had happened. She went to the kitchen to get the medicine, and then returned to Princess Yongning's room. After putting the medicine down, she felt uneasy in her heart, thinking about how to bring up this matter with Princess Yongning.

Princess Yongning finally discovered the clue.

After hearing this, Princess Yongning's lips trembled a few times and she said, "They are so brave." Suddenly she raised her voice again, "They are so brave!"

“Princess, you can’t do that!” Meixiang quickly stopped her.

Princess Yongning glared, "What are you going to do? Li Xian killed my child, I want him to pay with his life! I'm going to go find Li Xian and have an explanation, let's see what else he has to say. No wonder..." She sneered, "I just think that the Li family has been perfunctory in finding the murderer. It turns out that the murderer is Li Xian. It's really like the thief crying catch thief. I'm afraid that my actions are just a joke in their eyes!"

Princess Yongning was very excited. Meixiang lowered her voice and said, "Your Highness, this matter has not been confirmed. The reason why I didn't dare to tell you at first was because I didn't know whether it was true or not. If someone deliberately led me to that room and let me hear those words in order to frame Mr. Li, wouldn't we have fallen into their trap? Your Highness must stay calm!"

"Oh?" Princess Yongning said angrily, "How do you expect me to stay calm? Now you tell me that Li Xian might have killed my child. Even if it's just a possibility, I can't stay calm!"

"I am not speaking for Master Li, nor am I trying to exonerate the Li family. I am doing this for the princess. Your Highness, think about it. If it was really Master Li who did it, why would he do this? Does the Li family not want a grandson? Or have they noticed something?"

Princess Yongning was stunned for a moment, then slowly calmed down. After a while, she said, "Li Xian must have known that I am not pregnant with a child from the Li family. When he first looked at me, there was not a trace of emotion in his eyes."

When the imperial physician was invited to the mansion for the first time to announce the "good news", Princess Yongning felt that Li Xian and his two sons were strange. Especially Li Xian, although he spoke gently and behaved very considerately, there was clearly no joy in his eyes that belonged to a father who knew that he had a child, and there was even a hint of disgust. At that time, Princess Yongning suspected that she had seen it wrong, but now think about it, it was not wrong at all. Maybe Li Xian knew from the beginning that the child was not his, so he was not surprised about the appearance of the child. Regarding the child's departure, he pretended to be sad for a few words, without shedding a single tear.

"This bastard!" Princess Yongning gritted her teeth and said, "He played me around like a fool!"

In the past two months, the lies that Princess Yongning told for the child must have been extremely ridiculous in Li Xian's eyes. He clearly knew everything, but he pretended to know nothing and played along with Princess Yongning. Looking back, Princess Yongning herself felt ridiculous, as if she had been fooled and had no dignity.

"If Mr. Li really knew about this all along, how did he know? Is there any evidence, or did he just hear rumors?" Mei Xiang was still as calm as ever. "We don't know any of this right now."

"What do you want to say?"

"What I want to say is that even if Your Highness goes before the Queen Mother and His Highness Prince Cheng and says that it was Young Master Li who killed Your Highness's child, I'm afraid no one will believe it. Before that, you must have evidence. Then, use the evidence to test Young Master Li, and we will know whether he is the mastermind behind the scenes or not."

Princess Yongning asked: "How do we get the evidence?"

"During the conversation between the two people in the dark room, I heard that Master Li had used various means to make Your Highness have a miscarriage, but in the end, none of them worked. This is because when Your Highness was at the Li family, she protected the little princess in her belly very well. Apart from anything else, Your Highness never ate a bowl of the pregnancy-preserving medicine boiled in the Li family's kitchen, for fear that someone had drugged her. She only ate the pregnancy-preserving pills that I brought from the princess's mansion. However, others did not know about the pregnancy-preserving medicine and thought that Your Highness had drunk it, but in fact, I poured it out under the willow tree in front of the door."

"There are still some dregs left in those medicines, and there are quite a lot of them accumulated. If I go to dig them out now, I should be able to dig out some. Just take them to the pharmacy and let the doctor smell them, and he will know if there are any drugs that can cause miscarriage. If there are, it means that what those two people said just now is true, and Master Li really wants to kill the little prince. If the dregs are fine, it means that those two people are lying, in order to slander Master Li and make both the prince and Master Li lose."

Princess Yongning couldn't find any fault with these words. After a long while, Princess Yongning finally said, "Okay, I'll listen to you. Go dig out those herbs and take them to the pharmacy tomorrow to ask for clarification. If it's not Li Xian, it's fine. But if it's really Li Xian who killed my child, I'll take the Li family with me even if I have to risk my life!"

Her eyes were filled with the fire of revenge, Mei Xiang lowered her head and said, "Yes."

……

The news of Princess Yongning's miscarriage spread throughout the court and the country, and Shen Yurong was not unaware of it.

When he returned to the Shen Mansion, he saw a carriage parked in front of the door. It was the carriage from the Ningyuan Marquis Mansion. Shen Ruyun had arrived.

He frowned and walked in. The servant came up to take off his outer clothes for him. When he approached the house, Shen's mother and Shen Ruyun were talking in the hall. When they saw him coming, they immediately stood up.

This was the first time Shen Ruyun had come back since she married into the Ningyuan Marquis's mansion, except for the day she returned home. She was dressed more exquisitely than before, with intricate patterns on her clothes that dazzled people. She wore jewelry on her head, hands, and neck, and each piece was bright and dazzling, as if she was afraid that others would not see it.

It seemed that she was living a good life, at least her clothes and appearance were better than before, but her face was more anxious. After becoming a woman, it seemed that the little bit of cuteness she had as a girl was also erased, and she became a thorough official wife, no different from those ladies in Yanjing City, and she even seemed to be living a less happy life.

"Brother," Shen Ruyun stood up and said, "Do you know that the princess had a miscarriage?" Shen Yurong glanced at her and sat down. The maid quickly poured hot tea for him. He took a sip and said expressionlessly, "I know."

"Why don't you ask him? You should find a way to meet her!" Shen Ruyun said, "Now is her most vulnerable time."

"She is now Li Xian's wife, Grandma Li. With what identity should I meet her?" Shen Yurong said calmly.

"Even if she's married, so what? After all, she only has you in her heart, not that damn Li Xian."

"Shen Ruyun!" Shen Yurong said sternly.

Shen Ruyun was startled. Shen Yurong's tone was too harsh. But after a moment, she whispered, "That's right. The princess has been very kind to our family. It's pitiful that she had a miscarriage. I said that because I sympathize with her."

"Yes," Shen's mother couldn't help but speak, "Yurong, don't blame your sister. What your sister said is not wrong. We in the Shen family all know how the princess feels about you. Don't let her down."

When Shen's mother spoke, Shen Yurong could not accuse Shen Ruyun as harshly as she did. A trace of powerlessness flashed through her heart. His family members all supported Princess Yongning, not because of the deep friendship between Princess Yongning and the Shen family, but simply because of Princess Yongning's status, he could become a prince consort and become a relative of King Cheng. In this way, he could rely on this relationship to climb up step by step, effortlessly, and climb to an enviable position.

"She's already married, mother," Shen Yurong reminded.

"I know, but now she has a miscarriage." Shen's mother said, "She has a miscarriage, and she has you in her heart. As long as you say a few words, she can divorce the Li family and marry into our Shen family."

"Yes, yes, yes," Shen Ruyun also said warmly, "Our Shen family will not be like the Li family. We will take good care of her!"

Just hearing this, people would probably think that this is a really warm-hearted family. They didn't care that the woman had been married before and had children with other men, but they still didn't despise her and were eager to marry her into their family. They didn't even know that the child in Princess Yongning's belly was his. If they knew, I'm afraid they would make a fuss.

"Don't think about it," Shen Yurong said coldly, "She won't divorce, and she doesn't need to enter the Shen family."

Shen Ruyun and her mother were stunned for a moment. Shen's mother was extremely disappointed, but Shen Ruyun said, "Why? She is a princess. Isn't it her freedom to marry whoever she wants? The Li family didn't take good care of her, so she naturally has a reason to divorce? It just so happens that you already have a wife, so marrying her seems to be the best match!"

A perfect match... Shen Yurong wanted to laugh out loud. It turned out that in her sister's eyes, he and Princess Yongning were a perfect match. Maybe, they were both equally cruel and ruthless.

"No reason," Shen Yurong said, "It's late, you should go back." After that, he ignored Shen Ruyun, nodded to Shen's mother, left the hall and walked into the yard.

Behind him, Shen Ruyun and Shen's mother argued, but Shen Yurong didn't want to listen. In fact, his current official position was not low, but for some reason, Shen's mother and Shen Ruyun still hoped that he could climb up with the help of Princess Yongning. Once upon a time, they only asked him to study hard, and they lived frugally to raise enough money for him to go to school, and they never complained. But now, he has no worries about food and clothing, but he is still not satisfied.

When did he start to become greedy? Shen Yurong didn't know. When he suddenly realized that things had reached a point where they could not be reversed, it seemed to be too late.
In order to gain a higher position of power, his family asked him to sell his dignity. Even though the other party was already a married woman, they still asked him to have an affair with her. Shen Yurong also felt a little disgusted.

He really didn't want to dwell on these things anymore, and the only thing that made him feel relieved recently was that his child, the child in Princess Yongning's belly, was gone. As a father, Shen Yurong didn't feel sad at all, he even thanked the murderer, no matter who he was, he didn't care, he was just relieved that he helped him.

Let him completely separate from Princess Yongning.

……

Shen Ruyun talked with her mother for a while before getting on the carriage back home.

Ningyuan Marquis's Mansion didn't care about her, not because she was Shen Yurong's sister and they didn't dare to discipline her, but because Ningyuan Marquis's son Zhou Yanbang, his husband didn't care about her existence at all. Therefore, no one cared whether she went out during the day or went back to her parents' home at night.

This time when she returned to the Shen family, in addition to persuading Shen Yurong to reconcile with Princess Yongning, Shen Ruyun also complained bitterly to Shen's mother.

After marrying into the Ningyuan Marquis's mansion, Shen Ruyun's life was not easy. Zhou Yanbang spent all day in brothels, drinking and having fun, and came back drunk at night. Shen Ruyun got angry when she saw him, but Zhou Yanbang treated her like a stranger, not his wife, and even treated Jiang Yu'e, the concubine of the Shen family, better than Shen Ruyun.

Jiang Yu'e would be humble and considerate to Zhou Yanbang, and she also had countless mean tricks to keep Zhou Yanbang in her yard. Shen Ruyun wanted to attack her, but she could never find any evidence against Jiang Yu'e, and she would slip away from her hands like a loach.

Shen Ruyun then realized that she had no means in the inner courtyard and backyard. Perhaps it was because the Shen family had few female relatives and a simple population, and the only outsider Xue Fangfei was docile and gentle. In the Shen family, Shen Ruyun had no rivals, so naturally there was no need to learn anything. In the strange battlefield of Ningyuan Marquis's Mansion, she became a defenseless person. The only thing she could rely on was the identity of the prince's wife, but Zhou Yanbang didn't take this identity seriously at all. It seemed that whoever became the prince's wife was the same.

Perhaps it was because among all the beauties Zhou Yanbang knew, Shen Ruyun was born too ordinary. Until the incident at the palace banquet, Zhou Yanbang had no impression of Shen Ruyun. It was obvious that Zhou Yanbang did not like Shen Ruyun, and did not even have a good impression of her.

Shen Ruyun failed to gain Zhou Yanbang's sympathy, and her teacher was tricked by Jiang Yu'e. She was anxious and angry, so she had to seek help from Ningyuan Hou's wife, her mother-in-law.

The Marquis's wife looked kind and comforted her, but in fact she was asking Shen Ruyun's elder brother Shen Yurong indirectly whether he could speak well of Zhou Yanbang in front of the Emperor so that Zhou Yanbang could return to his official career.

Shen Ruyun had mentioned this matter to Shen Yurong, but Shen Yurong refused. Her elder brother had made a decision and no one could change it. Shen Ruyun had no choice but to do it. After several times of talking to Shen Ruyun, she was always hesitant. Madam Hou was too lazy to care about these things. The next time Shen Ruyun came to complain, Madam Hou said that she was not feeling well and was too lazy to come out.

Come to think of it, Zhou Yanbang has no future in his career, so he can have fun however he wants. Others will just talk about him behind his back, but it won't hurt him. Why hurt the relationship between mother and son for such trivial matters?

Shen Ruyun was really helpless. She wanted to ask Princess Yongning for help. If Shen Yurong refused to help, Princess Yongning would definitely help, but Princess Yongning married into the Li family at this juncture. Shen Ruyun panicked. If Princess Yongning married into the Li family and cut off contact with Shen Yurong, how far could their Shen family go? Would their good days be over? Therefore, she hurried back to the Shen Mansion to persuade Shen Yurong not to draw a clear line with Princess Yongning even if she got married.

Unfortunately, her ideas seemed to be contrary to those of her eldest brother.

Shen Ruyun was caught between two odds. She had no way to solve her predicament in Ningyuan Marquis Mansion, and Shen Yurong of the Shen family had such an attitude. Shen Ruyun suddenly thought that it would be great if Xue Fangfei was here, at least she would think of a solution for her. She was so smart, she must be able to find a way to gain a foothold in Ningyuan Marquis Mansion.

The carriage sped away in the night, and Shen Ruyun pressed his forehead.

Xue Fangfei was already dead, and she shouldn't recall a dead person. Besides, it was because of Xue Fangfei's death that the Shen family became prosperous today.

She was just a little confused by her recent troubles, and she just couldn't understand Shen Yurong anymore, that's all.

……

One day and one night, these four words sound short, but for Princess Yongning, it seemed extremely long.

Last night, Meixiang dug up some medicinal residue under the willow tree, wrapped it up in paper, and waited until the afternoon today. While the mansion was shopping, she went out of the mansion to find the medicine shop to check if there was really anything wrong with the medicinal residue. Princess Yongning stayed alone in the room. She had a maid with her, but without Meixiang, she always felt like she was missing a backbone. Especially after learning that the Li family might have a conspiracy, Princess Yongning sat alone, always feeling that danger would come to her.

She no longer had any trust in the Li family.

He waited from the time when it was still light until the evening, until Li Xian and his son came back, until Princess Yongning had her own dinner, and then the lights in the house were turned on.

Li Xian had visited her once in the afternoon, and Princess Yongning guessed that Li Xian had gone to his courtyard to rest. Just as she was getting impatient, she heard Meixiang talking to the maids outside. Princess Yongning perked up, sat up from the couch, and got off the couch, just as Meixiang came in from outside.

Princess Yongning waved her hand to dismiss the servants around her and asked Meixiang to close the door. Meixiang closed the door and made sure that no one was around before she took out the paper bag containing the medicine residue from her bosom.

"Today, I went out to avoid any mistakes. I went to several medicine shops and asked people to smell what was in the medicine residue."

Princess Yongning asked anxiously, "Did you find anything?"

Meixiang glanced at Princess Yongning and said in a deep voice, "This medicine residue does contain a drug that can cause miscarriage. It will be fine at first, but if you take it for more than a month, your body will become extremely weak. As long as you move around, you will easily miscarry. Pregnant women will hardly notice this change in their bodies."

"What those two said is true. Young Master Li really wants to murder the young prince!" Meixiang said.

Princess Yongning staggered back a step, leaning against the bedpost, and suddenly clenched her fists. Her eyes were almost spitting fire, and she spoke word by word, gritting her teeth and saying, "Li Xian, I want your life!"

(End of this chapter)