The Emperor ordered Consort Xi’s remains to be arranged, his expression extremely ugly as he waited in the courtyard. The bodies of palace consorts were not something coroners could easily touch, so they could only first see what the Imperial Guards could search out.
Shen Guiyan sat beside Gu Chaobei. Looking up, she saw Consort Hua sitting in the lower right position, still weeping. Noble Consort Fu wore a calm expression, only finding it inauspicious as she covered her nose with a handkerchief. Concubine Jiang’s face was somewhat pale, lost in thought. Shen Hanlu looked curious, probably wondering how exactly Consort Xi had died.
Beyond them were only Concubine Ye, the younger sister of Remonstrating Official Ye Wendao, and Gao Jinxiu. The two had always kept to their corner, nothing particularly eye-catching about them.
“Your Majesty.” An hour later, Zhuiyun entered with a frown. “Your subordinate found some things in Yonghe Palace.”
Shen Guiyan looked up. Concubine Jiang was also somewhat surprised. “Yonghe Palace?”
Everyone looked over. Imperial Guards outside carried in a chest. Upon opening it, they found cloth dolls and silver needles densely packed inside, with many curse words written on them.
Consort Hua’s eyes reddened. She turned to stare blankly at Shen Guiyan. Noble Consort Fu instinctively glanced at the Emperor and said softly, “Could there be a misunderstanding? Where was it found?”
“A chest found in the back courtyard of Yonghe Palace. Looking at the traces around it, it should have been placed there not long ago.” Zhuiyun said, “Before your subordinate led people inside, no outsiders entered or left Yonghe Palace. This has already been verified through questioning.”
Baoshan panicked. Before the Emperor could speak, she stepped forward. “How could it be Her Ladyship the Noble Consort? Since her miscarriage, she hasn’t left Yonghe Palace at all. Where would she find the time to do such things? This must be someone framing and slandering her!”
“Baoshan.” Shen Guiyan frowned and rebuked her quietly. “Before His Majesty, it’s not your place to shout.”
Baoshan bit her lip and glared fiercely at Zhuiyun. He clearly knew it couldn’t be her mistress, yet he still said it was found in Yonghe Palace. He could have just said it was found in some other palace instead.
A chill ran down Zhuiyun’s back. He felt quite wronged.
The Emperor had remained silent, only reaching out to take a doll from the chest.
Made of cloth, an extremely ugly and crude doll with Consort Xi’s birth date pasted on the back, its entire body pierced with silver needles. Curse words were written: “Vomit blood and die, meridians reversed, no reincarnation.”
What deep hatred indeed.
Noble Consort Fu had been observing Gu Chaobei’s expression. Seeing no particular reaction from him, she ventured to say, “Noble Consort Yan and Consort Xi had no grievances or enmity. How could she do such a thing? What does Your Majesty say?”
Gu Chaobei snorted lightly and released Consort Xi’s doll. Rummaging through the chest, beneath the scattered cloth pieces, there were other dolls.
“Ah.” Noble Consort Fu jumped in fright. Seeing the other dolls, she rushed forward to find the one with her own birth date pasted on it, turning it over repeatedly with wide eyes.
“Severed hands and feet, bleeding from all seven orifices to death?” Noble Consort Fu said incredulously. “How can this be so malicious?”
“There’s one of me too.” Consort Hua’s face turned ashen as she picked up her own doll. Those behind also came forward, searching and rummaging until everyone had a doll.
Only Shen Guiyan had none.
Noble Consort Fu seemed to understand something. Holding the doll, she knelt before the Emperor. “We can all understand Noble Consort Yan’s love for Your Majesty, but to wish the inner palace held only her alone, monopolizing Your Majesty’s favor—isn’t her ambition too great? And to use such sinister methods… Today it was Consort Xi. Will it be this consort tomorrow?”
Concubine Jiang trembled all over. She also knelt down, completely forgetting Shen Guiyan’s past kindness to her, and kowtowed to Shen Guiyan. “Noble Consort, spare this consort’s life. I don’t want to die with ruptured internal organs. Please lift this curse!”
Shen Guiyan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She reached out to take the doll from Concubine Jiang’s hand and looked at it, raising an eyebrow to ask, “You all think this palace did it?”
Consort Hua looked at the Emperor. Having come to this point and the Emperor still not speaking a word to help Shen Guiyan, she couldn’t help feeling somewhat puzzled.
He had once loved Shen Guiyan so much, yet the current Gu Chaobei wouldn’t speak a single word in her defense?
Noble Consort Fu pursed her lips. “If Your Ladyship uses your position as Noble Consort to pressure us, this consort is merely a small Noble Consort and naturally wouldn’t dare speak. But now the items were found in Yonghe Palace, and everyone except Your Ladyship has been cursed. Faced with such evidence, what does Your Ladyship have to say?”
Shen Guiyan snorted lightly. Her gaze swept over them in a circle, and she peeled off the paper with the birth date written on the back of the doll. “Does this handwriting look like this palace’s?”
Everyone knew of Noble Consort Yan’s reputation as a talented woman, and her calligraphy was famously in the Liu style. The writing on it was crooked and twisted—it couldn’t possibly be from her hand.
Noble Consort Fu hesitated, pursing her lips. “Perhaps Your Ladyship had someone else write it?”
Shen Guiyan nodded seriously. “Mm, to curse you all, this palace would specially find someone to help write birth dates and curses, afraid others wouldn’t leak it?”
Noble Consort Fu was at a loss for words.
“Commander Zhuiyun also said that chest appeared to have been placed there not long ago. Today when Consort Xi had her incident, the idea to search the palace was this palace’s suggestion. Would this palace be foolish enough to deliberately move the chest to the back courtyard, then have His Majesty search the palace, so I could bear this crime myself?”
Noble Consort Fu couldn’t refute a single sentence. Thinking about it, it made sense—a dignified Noble Consort, why would she do such pointless things?
“Consort Xi could leave the palace today. If this palace wanted the inner palace to have only me, why not let her leave properly instead of killing her and implicating myself?” Shen Guiyan turned to look at Gu Chaobei. “This frame-up is too crude in method. This palace has no reason to kill Consort Xi.”
Gu Chaobei lifted the corners of his mouth slightly, then quickly composed his expression back. He looked up at Shen Guiyan. “What Noble Consort Yan says makes sense. Yonghe Palace has always kept its gates tightly closed. These past two days, who has visited?”
Consort Hua froze and stepped forward. “This consort and Consort Shen visited, but this consort went alone without bringing anything. Consort Shen reportedly brought a chest.”
Everyone turned to look at Shen Hanlu. Shen Hanlu had been watching the drama from the side when unexpectedly the fire burned to her. She quickly came forward and knelt. “This consort did bring a chest, but inside it was glass. This consort specially presented it to Noble Consort. Her Ladyship knows this.”
Shen Guiyan nodded. “She did send glass to Yonghe Palace.”
“This consort will say something unpleasant—Your Majesty and Your Ladyship, please don’t take offense.” Consort Hua said softly. “Glass is a rare item. If this consort remembers correctly, it was bestowed by Your Majesty to Consort Shen as a reward for her merits. Noble Consort Yan has always kept her doors closed and hasn’t received much imperial favor. Why would Consort Shen send glass to Yonghe Palace?”
With this reminder, everyone understood. Consort Shen and Noble Consort Yan’s discord wasn’t just a day or two old. Who could guarantee Consort Shen hadn’t used delivering glass as a pretext to throw the chest in Yonghe Palace’s back courtyard?
Shen Hanlu broke out in anxious sweat on her forehead, shaking her head repeatedly. “It really wasn’t me. Sending glass to Yonghe Palace was because…”