The Self-cultivation of a Salted Fish Concubine

Chapter 220 Cause of Death

In the evening, after King Jing came back, he went to see the princess first.

After staying in Qingsongyuan for a while, we came to Chunshanyuan.

Prince Jing had just finished washing up when he heard Eunuch Shi'an announce, "Your Highness, Jing Wu has already investigated the cause of Concubine Lian's death and is about to report back."

King Jing: "Bring someone in."

Because King Jing came back late, Xie Run asked the kitchen to prepare some side dishes and a bowl of shredded chicken noodles.

Xie Run reminded: "Your Highness, this noodle must be eaten while it's hot. It won't taste good if it's cold."

King Jing pulled her to sit down with him and said, "Sit down and eat with me. It's a good opportunity to listen to this matter."

Xie Run sat down.

Soon, Jing Wu came up with several guards and three people.

Judging from their attire, one is a serving maid, and the other two should be the housekeepers of a certain room.

Xie Run was in charge of the embroidery room and recognized one of them as the wife of Zhang, the room's assistant manager.

Jing Wu stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, my men found dried lily petals in the quilt and pillow that Master Lian used during childbirth."

"The Imperial Physician said that Master Lian was allergic to lily pollen and was suffocating and losing strength, which is why she couldn't give birth for so long."

"Later, after numerous rounds of screening, the cause was traced back to Yuming, the new girl from Yunbi Pavilion."

"However, Yuming only admitted that she secretly stuffed lily petals into a sachet and tied it under Concubine Lian's bed. She didn't know that there were lilies hidden in the quilt and pillow."

"I checked, and the quilt and pillow were stuffed with dried lily petals, while the sachet contained fresh lily petals. It certainly doesn't look like the work of one person."

As soon as Jing Wu finished speaking, Yu Ming knelt on the ground and kowtowed wildly, his eyes full of tears, and he opened his mouth and muttered something, wanting to say something.

Jing Wucai said, "When I captured Yuming, she had already been given a mute drug and couldn't read, so I can't get much information out of her now."

After listening to this, King Jing didn't even frown.

He just said calmly: "Drag him out and beat him to death."

Yuming opened his eyes wide and tried to explain something frantically, but he was already taken away by the guards.

Xie Run was picking up a piece of mint beef. He tried to pick it up from the bowl with his chopsticks for a long time but failed, so he simply put down his chopsticks.

Jing Wu continued, "The bedding, pillow, and sachet that Concubine Lian used during childbirth were all made by the Embroidery Room. This was handled by the embroidery room's daughter-in-law, Zhang. She said the flower petals were prepared by the Flower Room, and she was only responsible for sewing them, so she didn't know what kind of flowers they were."

Masters like Xie Run would first tell the flower room what they wanted for their sachets, and then have them prepare the flowers and send them to the embroidery room.

The maid in the embroidery room is responsible for the production, and finally the steward is responsible for finalizing the placement of the items.

King Jing said with a half-smile, "After serving for so long, you can't even smell the fragrance of lilies?"

Among all kinds of floral scents, the scent of lily is very strong and special.

Even if ordinary people can't smell it, the manager of the embroidery room has at least ten years of experience.

If you can't even smell this, it's either intentional or incompetent.

The Zhang family's wife cried and explained, "Your Highness, two years ago, while trying to save Concubine Ning, I was hit on the nose by a falling tile. After the injury, I've been unable to smell since then."

"I have already told the princess about this matter. She said that I have made great contributions and that I am staying in the embroidery room. As long as I have the skills, it doesn't matter whether I can smell the fragrance or not. She also promoted me to a small manager."

"The Flower House has been sending flowers to Concubine Lian's room. They shouldn't know that Concubine Lian can't stand the smell of lilies... This servant is really wronged!"

The mother from the greenhouse knelt beside Zhang's wife, her face full of anger as she listened.

"Please understand, Your Majesty! I know that Master Lian is allergic to lilies. The flowers sent to the greenhouse were clearly daylilies, not lilies!"

"I really don't know why the lily was sewn into the quilt!"

"Last time, the flower shop delivered the wrong lilies to Master Lian's courtyard. After being reprimanded by Master Wan, we servants have been extremely careful."

Lai Mama confirmed, "When I sent the dried petals from the flower room to the embroidery room, I personally checked several times."

"What was sent was the petals of daylilies, not lily petals!"

"The smells of the two are so different that even if Zhang's wife can't smell it, the little girl in charge of sewing can smell it too!"

Jing Wu said calmly, "The amount of petals sewn into the pillow and quilt is very small. Most people can't smell it. Only Master Lian is severely allergic to lilies, and with close contact, he will slowly suffocate from the allergy."

"If not for this, the people serving Master Lian would have discovered it long ago."

The confidence on my mother's face collapsed in an instant.

She burst into tears and said, "Your Highness, what I sent to the embroidery room was definitely daylily petals, not lilies!"

"At this point, I'm not afraid of punishment..." Lai Mama confessed, "Because I sent the wrong lilies last time, Master Wan came to the flower room and made a scene. We servants have always held a grudge against Concubine Lian and Concubine Wan."

"This time when Master Lian gave birth, this servant deliberately used worthless daylily petals to send Master Lian off..."

"Of the flowers cultivated in the greenhouse, the more common and ordinary they are, the more valuable they are. On the other hand, these uncommon daylilies are the least valuable and least likely to please the master..."

These things are actually very common in greenhouses.

It's just that they are rarely put on trial in public.

Now, in order to prove her innocence, the mother had no choice but to confess the matter.

Jing Wu stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, there is no problem with what my mother and the Zhang family's daughter-in-law said."

"I also sent people to ask the maids in the embroidery room and the flower room. The maids in the flower room who had handled it all said it was daylily petals. One or two maids in the embroidery room said they smelled lilies."

"Because the embroidery room is only responsible for embroidery, they had no idea that Master Lian was allergic to lilies, so they just sewed the petals in."

"So I speculate that the petals might have been replaced in the embroidery room."

Lai Mama quickly said, "Daylilies and lilies are very similar, and most people can't tell them apart at first glance. But we servants have been serving in the greenhouse for a long time, so it's impossible for us not to recognize them!"

So it’s impossible that something happened in the greenhouse!

King Jing said calmly, "Continue investigating."

His indifferent eyes swept over the two people kneeling on the ground, "These two can't even do their job properly, both of them should be expelled from the mansion."

"This isn't the first time something has happened in the flower room," Prince Jing said calmly. "The maids who took over the embroidery room have all been dismissed. As for the flower room... I had the princess replace everyone."

Jing Wu bowed and accepted the gesture.

Xie Run picked up some food for Prince Jing and whispered, "Your Highness, you came back late. Do you know what happened to the Sixth Young Master?"

King Jing rubbed his temples and said, "I know. The princess has already told me."

"She even praised you in front of me, saying that if you hadn't reacted quickly, Xiaoliu wouldn't have survived until the imperial physician was summoned from the palace."