Women dressed as men: powerful officials

Chapter 161 Saffron

The Queen Mother closed her eyes tightly.

The Queen tightly grasped her handkerchief, looked at the Queen Mother and said, "Mother, I am really wronged! It is true that I summoned Cai to the palace, but Mei'er did not come to pay respects every day. It has been rainy for the past two days, and I even sent someone to the Prince's Mansion to ask Mei'er not to come to the palace to pay respects in the near future."

"Then why did you summon Cai into the palace?" the Queen Mother asked in a deep voice.

The queen heard the voice and pursed her lips without saying anything.

Bei Yao smiled and said, "I think it's because General Xie is going back to the capital and he's still unmarried. My mother wants to find Cai to enter the palace and choose a good marriage for General Xie."

After Bei Yao finished speaking, the hall fell silent again.

The prince stared at Bei Yao with murderous intent in his eyes, but it disappeared in a flash after a moment.

Cai lowered her head even more, still kneeling, her whole body trembling.

The emperor's expression changed slightly, and he looked at Bei Yao and said, "Yao'er, today's matter has nothing to do with you, go back to Jing'an Palace."

Bei Yao spoke twice in a row, repeating the same thing each time.

The emperor understood, and the empress dowager understood.

Others also understood.

So, Concubine Xing took the lead and said, "Your Majesty, since this involves the affairs of the court, I will take my leave first."

Following Concubine Xing’s lead, other concubines followed suit and hurriedly left the Eastern Palace.

Before leaving, he did not forget to ask the maid to put down the supplements he brought.

There were only a few people left in the hall.

The prince looked at Beiyao and saw that he had not left yet. He said sinisterly, "Aren't you going back to Jing'an Palace, Third Brother?"

"How can I leave with peace of mind when my sister-in-law is in danger?"

Bei Yao finished speaking, looked at the emperor and said: "It is said that once a woman has a miscarriage, it is most likely to damage her foundation. Although I am not talented, I have some attainments in medical skills. I hope that your Majesty will allow me to take a look at your sister-in-law."

"Even the Imperial Medical Bureau can't do anything about it, what can you do?" The prince sneered.

Beiyao smiled even more deeply and said, "It seems that my brother doesn't care much about my sister-in-law, either?"

Prince: "..."

Seeing this, the Queen Mother said, "Yao'er, go and take a look. The child is gone. The Crown Princess can't let anything happen to her again."

Bei Yao put away his folding fan, lifted the curtain and went in.

Crown Princess Qi Shengmei's face was pale. She had changed her clothes, but even so, she could still smell the strong smell of blood.

After taking Qi Shengmei's pulse at the bedside, Bei Yao went to the other side and picked up the clothes that Qi Shengmei had just changed.

Qi Shengmei's maid was right there. Seeing Bei Yao's behavior, she hurriedly said, "Your Highness, the Third Prince, this is the Crown Princess's underwear. How can you..."

Before the maid finished speaking, Bei Yao had already taken out a purse from it and said with a smile, "Found it."

Bei Yao took the purse and handed it to Cheng Xi, then stood up and went out, saying to the Queen Mother, "Grandmother, the abortion of the Emperor's sister-in-law may have nothing to do with today's incident. Or, someone may have been planning to murder the fetus in the Emperor's sister-in-law's belly. In my opinion, the important thing today is not to hold Cai accountable, but to find out the source of the purse."

Hearing Bei Yao's words, the emperor hurriedly asked, "Yao'er, what did you say? Someone has been planning to harm the baby in the Crown Princess' belly?"

"Yes."

Beiyao waved his hand and Chengxi immediately handed over the purse.

The prince also looked at the purse, his eyes red.

The Queen looked at Bei Yao and asked, "What on earth is going on?!"

Bei Yao stood with his hands behind his back and said, "Just now, when I went in to check the pulse of the Empress, I smelled a faint scent of saffron. As expected, I found something in the clothes that the Empress had changed."

Hearing Bei Yao's words, the emperor subconsciously sniffed the purse.

The purse has no taste.

He frowned and pointed at the doctor who had just come out and said, "Come and smell it. Does it contain saffron?"

The imperial physician stood up, took the purse, sniffed it, and held it a little further away, hesitating, "Your Majesty, there is indeed a fragrance in this purse, but the smell is very faint, perhaps because it has been stored for a long time. Can I open the purse and take a look at what's inside?"

The emperor waved his hand and said, "Tear it down."

As soon as the emperor finished speaking, a eunuch came in holding a wooden box. Inside the box was a pair of scissors.

The imperial physician carefully cut the thread, and after seeing what was inside, he bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, what the Third Prince said is correct. There is indeed saffron in this purse, but the flowers have dried up and the smell is very light. The saffron must have been in there for a month."

Hearing these words, everyone's face changed suddenly.

Including Cai.

Others were surprised, but Cai was relieved.

No one in the inner hall spoke.

The Queen Mother looked around, and finally looked at Bei Yao and said, "I see, everyone in this room is dizzy. Yao'er, you go and investigate this matter. You must find out who is plotting to succeed the crown prince!"

The prince also said, "Third brother, this is my first child, we must find out everything!"

"Of course, this is also my first nephew, but..."

Bei Yao changed the subject and looked at Cai who was kneeling on the ground, and said, "This matter about Madam Xie..."

"The road was slippery on a rainy day, Mei'er Yingxu slipped and fell, and Madam Xie wanted to help her up, which led to the misunderstanding."

After the queen finished speaking, she looked at Cai who was still kneeling on the ground with a smile and said, "Cai, tell me more carefully, is this the case?"

Upon hearing this, Cai did not dare to raise her head, and said tremblingly: "Yes, the Queen is right. I wanted to help the Crown Princess, but I didn't expect that we both fell to the ground..."

The prince closed his eyes and said nothing.

Bei Yao was still smiling, and only the Queen Mother was there. She rubbed her brows and said, "If that's the case, then the matter has been made clear. Next, it all depends on the Crown Princess's situation."

Upon hearing this, the emperor asked, "Yao'er, how is the Crown Princess?"

"She is deficient in both Qi and blood. I'm afraid she needs to recuperate for a while." Bei Yao spoke truthfully. After that, he added, "However, when I took the pulse of the Empress's sister-in-law just now, I saw a lot of scars on her body, some new and some old. I wonder if my brother knows about this?"

Bei Yao changed the topic and turned it back to Bei Yuan.

Bei Yuan's face changed slightly, but his tone was normal, "Ying Xu bumped into something, or maybe fell down. Mei'er is not in good health, and the maids usually take care of her. If you are worried, call her over and ask, and you will know."

"If I really want to ask, wouldn't it make people think that the younger brother is suspicious of the older brother? Of course, this question cannot be asked."

Beiyao smiled and continued to gently wave the fan.

Bei Yuan stopped talking.

Seeing the two brothers like this, the Queen Mother felt even more tired. Seeing that both the Emperor and the Empress were waiting, she was startled and said, "You all wait outside. I have something to say to the Emperor."

"Yes."

Several people went out together, but did not leave. They stayed outside, leaving only the empress dowager and the emperor.

Bei Yao had just stood up and was about to talk to Bei Yuan when a palace maid hurried in, stood behind Bei Yao, and said, "Third Master, Master Xu took his sword and went to the Grand Commandant's Mansion."

Beiyao’s smile froze.

Bei Yuan saw this and asked, "Why do you look like that, Third Brother? What happened?"

"There are some minor matters in the palace." Bei Yao said, then turned to the Queen and said, "Mother, the Queen's sister-in-law is fine, so I will return to the palace first."

The queen glanced at Bei Yao and wanted to stop him, but thinking of what happened in the hall earlier, she relented and said, "Go ahead."

Bei Yuan, who was standing by, saw this and asked, "I wonder what happened in the palace of my third brother. Is there any royal brother who can help?"

"I won't bother you, my brother." Bei Yao bowed and turned to leave.

Looking at Beiyao, Beiyuan smiled coldly and said, "Let's go and see."