Xiuping entered and whispered a few words in Consort Hua’s ear. Consort Hua raised her eyes, looking at the item in her hands, and laughed lightly. “Does she even need to give this to me? If it could be used, I would have used it long ago. Unfortunately, it cannot.”

“My mistress says this item is colorless and odorless—she obtained it at great expense as a superior product.” Xiuping said. “Your Ladyship, please consider…”

Consort Hua’s expression shifted slightly. She glanced at the palace maid who was cleaning and said in a low voice, “You may withdraw.”

“Yes.” The palace maid responded and retreated.

Xiuping spoke more boldly now. “Your Ladyship and my mistress are in the same boat. My mistress naturally wouldn’t harm Your Ladyship.”

“That’s true.” Consort Hua’s eyelids flickered. She smiled lightly and pulled Xiuping closer. “I’ll accept the item. Please thank your mistress for me.”

“You’re too kind, Your Ladyship.” Xiuping smiled and curtsied. Hongzhi, the personal maid behind her, came forward and slipped silver into Xiuping’s hand.

Xiuping happily withdrew.

Consort Hua didn’t even touch the packet on the table. She said in a low voice, “Using such underhanded methods on His Majesty—this isn’t helping me at all. She’s practically trying to get me killed.”

Hongzhi said softly, “Should this servant take it and throw it away?”

“No matter. Keep it, but don’t touch it.” Consort Hua narrowed her eyes. “She wants to use me—she’s still too green for that.”

“In this servant’s opinion, that Concubine Shen has considerable ambition. Why doesn’t Mistress use her as a stepping stone? It would be good to test His Majesty’s feelings as well.”

Every time the Emperor came here, he left in the middle of the night. Hongzhi didn’t know what the problem was.

Consort Hua gave a light snort. “His Majesty doesn’t favor her—she’s useless, only good for blocking arrows. As for testing, I have another idea…”

“Crack.” A sound came from the inner hall.

Consort Hua stopped talking and turned her head, her gaze sharp as she looked over. “Who’s there?”

Hongzhi took two steps inside and dragged out a cleaning palace maid.

“This servant… this servant didn’t hear anything.” The young palace maid trembled all over in fear. She had been tidying things in the inner hall the whole time. Just now she’d been distracted and suddenly noticed the mistress outside receiving Xiuping. She hadn’t had time to leave and could only stay inside and hear everything.

Consort Hua laughed coldly, looking at the young palace maid for a long time. After thinking, she smiled. “Don’t be so afraid. I’ll let you go. I won’t make things difficult for you.”

In the Imperial Garden on a spring day, after one night, there was an additional corpse at the base of the artificial mountain. It looked as if she had fallen to her death.

Baoshan gestured to describe the corpse’s appearance, very surprised as she relayed this news to her mistress. “I heard it was a young palace maid who was quite favored in Consort Hua’s palace. Yesterday Consort Hua sent her to deliver pastries to Concubine Xi, but she never returned. By the time they found her, she was completely dead.”

Another life lost. Shen Guiyan rubbed her forehead. No wonder they said the palace was full of white bones.

A palace maid’s life was cheaper than paper. Originally, one death wouldn’t matter much, but right now it happened to be a critical juncture when the Emperor was implementing new policies.

The new criminal code had changes. The ancestral system had protected officials—when officials killed commoners, they only faced exile, not the death penalty. But in the new policies Gu Chaobei was implementing, killing meant paying with one’s life. Except for officials and the Emperor or Empress Dowager who had the authority to decide life and death, others had no right to kill indiscriminately. Violators would pay with their lives.

Court officials were currently dissatisfied with this criminal law. They seized upon this harem murder case to make their point, asking the Emperor, “If a consort kills a palace maid, what should be done?”

As a result, the Emperor said clearly and precisely in court, “Pay with her life.”

This made the matter blow up—and it had to be done for all under heaven to see. The true culprit must be found, and even if it was a consort, she would still pay with her life.

Concubine Xi’s face went pale as she obediently cooperated with the Ministry of Justice’s investigation.

“I have no motive to kill a young palace maid. She bore me no grudge.”

That’s what she said, but in her heart she had no confidence. Consort Hua had recently had many frictions with her. If she wanted to bite her, she truly couldn’t dodge it.

But Consort Hua didn’t kick her while she was down. Instead, she helped by saying, “Sister Concubine Xi has always been on good terms with me. It’s unlikely she killed her.”

Concubine Xi looked at Consort Hua in a daze, not understanding what she meant by this.

The Ministry of Justice examined the corpse and questioned people in the palace. In just two days, they collected witness testimony to present before the Emperor, saying that the only one with motive and reason to kill was Concubine Xi, though the one who actually did it might not have been her but a servant by her side.

Gu Chaobei had no interest whatsoever in the truth of this case. He only needed to make an example of one consort to tell all under heaven that killing meant paying with one’s life—even if a consort killed a palace maid, it was the same.

If they caught a palace servant to take the blame, what use would that be? When high officials killed commoners, they didn’t do it themselves either—they all had household servants do it.

But having him move against Concubine Xi—he hesitated somewhat. After thinking, he had the Ministry of Justice gather more evidence.

Qinghuan was hiding in her own palace watching the show. Those high-ranking ladies were starting to tear into each other and fight. She could take advantage of this gap to benefit as the fisherman.

But then people from the Ministry of Justice actually came to her palace, touching this and searching that, finding a pair of blood-stained shoes.

Before she could react, she was thrown into the dungeons.

“The criminal Qinghuan, holding the rank of concubine, murdered a palace maid. The penalty is death.”

Qinghuan was dumbfounded. After a long while she began shouting loudly in the prison, “This concubine is wronged!”

Unfortunately, the dungeons were too deep. No one could hear her voice.

The harem was quiet for quite some time because of this matter. Shen Guiyan asked Gu Chaobei, “Your Majesty knows Qinghuan isn’t the murderer. Why did you imprison her?”

“She just happened to be suitable.” Gu Chaobei gave this reply.

Shen Guiyan frowned. Suitable? Regardless of whether she was the murderer or not, just because of the word “suitable,” he directly sent his own bedside person into death row?

Not knowing the fact that Gu Chaobei was impotent with others, she could only assume the Emperor was heartless.

Qinghuan went in without rhyme or reason. Concubine Fu went to speak up for her several times, but after hearing whatever the Emperor said, she too fell silent and never mentioned it again.

A few days later, Qinghuan was sent to the executioner’s block. The common people under heaven were shocked and finally took the new laws seriously.

Killing meant paying with one’s life.

All the consorts felt the sorrow of the rabbit mourning the fox’s death. There were too many people like Qinghuan who wanted to climb up. Why did the Emperor make her take the blame and die?

Concubine Xi fell ill. After recovering from her illness, she began hand-copying Buddhist scriptures. Consort Hua acted as if nothing had happened, still active in various palaces.

Now in the harem, she alone held supreme power. Whoever saw her had to respectfully pay their respects. Shen Guiyan had closed her doors since her miscarriage. Concubine Xi had also begun worshipping Buddha. Among the remaining people, the most competitive was none other than Concubine Fu.

But Concubine Fu wasn’t stupid. She had powerful backing and wasn’t easy to deal with. Though her manner was high-profile and she looked down on others somewhat, she hadn’t made any mistakes.

What should be done about this? Consort Hua’s eyes shifted as she thought of Shen Hanlu.

Shen Hanlu was currently designing a “spectacle.”

The Emperor’s prejudice against her was truly too deep. She didn’t know how to remove it and could only take great pains to please him. To please an emperor, her beauty was useless, so she could only approach from the spiritual aspect.

What Gu Chaobei cared about most right now was the new policies. So Shen Hanlu thought of a method—she would give the Emperor a plaque, and moreover, she would send it from the heavens.