Chapter 66 Empress Xiaochengren

Kangxi was reading a memorial. When he heard that the Imperial Physician wanted to see him, he was a little surprised: "Call him!"

Doctor Ma knelt on the ground far away, raised his hands above his head, and said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty, please look at this pulse case."

Liang Jiugong took it, took a look at it, and almost threw it away because of his unsteady hands.

Liang Jiugong glanced at Doctor Ma deeply. He didn't want to live anymore. He dared to present such a deadly thing to the emperor.

Kangxi took it and stared at it. One of them was very familiar to him. It was the eternal pain in his heart. It was also the first time that he hated his own incompetence. He was rich and powerful, but he couldn't keep the person he loved.

After just one glance, murderous intent gradually spread in Kangxi's eyes. He noticed that corresponding to the yellowed paper, there was also a brand new one with wet ink.

"Ma Yuan, I give you three sentences to explain the whole story. Otherwise, if you are disrespectful to the late queen, I will chop off your head." Kangxi's tone was calm, but frightening.

"I deserve to die, but the pulse symptoms of the Fourth Concubine are exactly the same as those of the late Queen during her pregnancy. If you don't believe me, just summon the Fourth Concubine for a look. I have risked my life to come here to report to the Emperor that this is not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster." Doctor Ma was filled with resentment, because his master had died in the whirlpool of that year.

When the emperor was angry, blood flowed like a river. Were not many people killed because of the death of the late queen?
But his master died unjustly. Doctor Ma was an orphan. He was taken home by his master and raised like his own son. The master even recommended him to work in the palace.

Doctor Ma has been serving in the palace diligently for so many years, firstly because he only knows how to do this job, and secondly because he wants to secretly investigate the cause of death of the late queen. Finally, when he became the chief physician, he immediately read the long-forgotten pulse case and became more suspicious of the late queen's symptoms. This did not seem like an adverse reaction, but rather like... poisoning.

"You want to tell me that my queen was murdered by someone, and now this person has done the same to my fourth son's wife." Kangxi sneered, "It's been so many years, where is your evidence?"

"I am terrified. Today, I saw the Fourth Lady and was so frightened that I wanted to report to the Emperor immediately. I have not found the evidence yet." Doctor Ma kowtowed, "But I believe that as long as we follow the Fourth Lady's lead, we will definitely find the person behind the scenes."

"Liang Jiugong, Doctor Ma is temporarily locked up in the Ministry of Punishment. No one is allowed to visit him or torture him." Kangxi stared at his head. "I will send someone to investigate immediately. If your words today are found to be false, you will be buried with the late queen."

After saying this, Liang Jiugong signaled the young eunuch to drag away Doctor Ma, whose legs and feet were already limp.

Kangxi tightly grasped the thin pieces of paper and spoke after a while, his voice hoarse: "The fourth prince is here to see you."

"Yes."

Yinzhen felt a little uneasy on his way into the palace. He had been behaving himself recently and hadn't done anything to attract attention. He felt that the sudden summons from the Emperor was not a good thing. He handed the young eunuch a purse and asked tentatively, "Eunuch, besides me, who else did the Emperor summon today?"

The young eunuch thought about Grandpa Liang's instructions and whispered, "Today, Imperial Doctor Ma went to your house to check the pulse of the Fourth Lady. After returning, he hurried to the emperor's court. When I was leaving the palace to receive the order, I happened to see Imperial Doctor Ma being dragged out. Judging from the direction, it was not the Imperial Hospital, but the Ministry of Punishment."

Yinzhen's heart sank when he heard this. He knew something serious had happened. He stuffed another purse into the young eunuch's pocket and said, "You didn't say anything today, and I didn't ask anything."

"Yes, Lord Prince is right." The young eunuch said as he quickly put away his purse.

******
After Yinzhen entered the Hall of Mental Cultivation, he did not see the sudden storm he had imagined, but instead saw Kangxi reading a large calligraphy piece.

"Old Four, you've come just in time. This is Honghui's homework. Check to see if you've made any progress."

Yinzhen subconsciously straightened his body, leaned over to see the familiar words, and replied carefully: "Honghui's advantage is that he has some ingenuity. His handwriting is much better than this time last year, but his pen power is loose, so he needs to continue practicing."

"As a father, you are very strict with your son. No wonder he doesn't dare to ask you directly, but instead comes to ask me to treat his mother." Kangxi said lightly.

Yinzhen immediately knelt down and said, "In reply to your Majesty, please forgive Honghui's ignorance. The imperial physician Qin's prescription is excellent, and Fujin is gradually getting better. Honghui loves his mother so much that he lost his sense of propriety. Please be lenient with your sentence."

"Is it done?" Kangxi knocked on the table, making a muffled sound. Yinzhen felt that his heartbeat was about to synchronize with it. "But Doctor Ma came back and said that your wife was poisoned. What do you think?"

Yinzhen kowtowed and said, "I didn't know. Please forgive me, Father. I believed the advice of the experienced elders and changed all the rooms in Fu Jin's house. To be honest, if I wasn't afraid of disturbing Fu Jin's sleep, I would have changed even the wall."

"If it's poisoning, it's not impossible."

Kangxi raised his eyebrows, looking at Yinzhen kneeling at his feet, weighing something in his mind: "I give you three days to find out the poison your wife was poisoned with and report back. If you can't, you can't be a prince anymore."

"I obey your order." Yinzhen felt his back was soaked. He felt that there was a very large whirlpool inside and he could not see the way forward clearly.

Liang Jiugong personally escorted Yinzhen out: "My Lord, you don't look very well. Do you want to go to Yonghe Palace to rest? It's too early to leave the palace now."

Liang Jiugong pulled out a thread from Yinzhen's originally chaotic thoughts. He thought for a moment and said, "Thank you, Eunuch Liang, for your advice."

"I am not worthy of this position. Please watch your step."

Yinzhen entered the Yonghe Palace with a look of frosted skin. When Nanny Lu saw him in such a state, she knew something was wrong and immediately sent the palace maids away.

Seeing him like this, Concubine De personally poured him a cup of hot milk tea: "What happened?"

"The Emperor has ordered his son to thoroughly investigate the poisoning of his wife," Yinzhen said succinctly.

The first reaction of Concubine De was that it was impossible: "The Emperor is so busy with affairs of state, how could he care so much about a daughter-in-law?"

Yinzhen nodded: "My son also finds it strange. Besides, let's talk about the word poisoning."

De Fei thought for a moment and asked, "Tell me the truth. Why did your wife become so weak?"

Yinzhen took out a porcelain bottle from his arms, which was half filled with green liquid. "This is it, used by the English royal family. It can keep women in good shape, but if pregnant women are exposed to it for a long time, they will sweat, become weak, unable to eat, change clothes more frequently at night, and the baby will be larger than usual. When the day of delivery comes, both mother and child will die. The lucky child will survive, but the adult's body will have already run out of energy."

Defei was looking at the small porcelain bottle, her eyes suddenly widened, her hands became unsteady, and she almost broke it.

"You can't get involved in this matter. Find a way to get rid of it." Defei said sternly.

Yinzhen withdrew his words expressionlessly: "It's too late. The emperor gave his son three days, and if he couldn't find out, he would strip him of his title of Beile."

Concubine De moved her mouth, as if she wanted to say something but held it back. Finally, she sighed, "Empress Xiaochengren, you should be familiar with her. The Hesheli clan that caused a lot of trouble a while ago is her cousin."

"Back then, Empress Xiaochengren died of complications during childbirth. She risked her life to give birth to the current crown prince."

The voice of Concubine De was extremely anxious: "Now that I think about it, her symptoms are exactly the same as your wife's. If there was a mastermind back then, she has done it again."

"Let's start with the female relatives." Concubine De gave him a direction. "Men generally don't think of using such devious means to harm others."

"Yinzhen, the death of Empress Xiaochengren has always been a knot in the emperor's heart, which cannot be touched or untied. Even if you find the real murderer, you will not get any benefit."

"The only thing I can help you with is this past matter. The rest is up to you." Defei said that she was powerless and did not intend to get involved in the matter.

Yinzhen bowed and said, "Thank you for your advice, Your Majesty. Bye."