Shao Wanru was not afraid of being questioned because she really had not touched any medicine.

“Tell me, what happened after Fifth Miss came in?” The general steward’s face darkened.

The palace maid stammered in a hurry, “Yes… the Fifth Miss didn’t touch my… medicine jar. She just… just glanced at it and then left after sitting at the table for a while. She didn’t touch my medicine jar and I… didn’t leave either!”

“Miss Shao, why did you let your servant girl ask the palace maid to get some water instead of directly asking your servant girl to do this?” The general steward turned to look at Shao Yanru coldly and said.

He asked this on behalf of the Empress.

“I… I don’t know… I don’t know about this…” Shao Yanru covered her face to cry again.

“Bring that servant girl in!” The general steward sternly said.

Shuqi was brought in. She had been kneeling outside before, and her whole body was trembling for being cold and scared. After she came in, her feet went weak, and she knelt on the ground with a pale face.

“Tell me why you didn’t go to find water yourself but asked the palace maid who was boiling the medicine to do that?” The general steward looked at Shuqi, who was scared out of her wits and asked.

Shao Wanru looked down at Shuqi’s expression. Shuqi was almost numbed and her eyes were full of panic. Hearing the general steward’s question, she answered in a hurry, “I… just arrived in the palace, so there is something I don’t know clearly. Miss… needs a pot of hot water, and this palace maid has done this before, … not the first time today.”

“You used to get the hot water too?” The general steward asked the palace maid.

“Yes… yes… it was the same in the past, but only today she came to ask me to get it… when I was boiling medicine!” The palace maid said in a trembling voice.

Shao Yanru and her servant lived in the Phoenix Palace of the Empress. Even though they lived in a remote side hall, it was still in the Phoenix Palace. The master and servant were quite sensible. They asked the people in the palace to help do things that were inconvenient for them to do so as not to cause unnecessary trouble.

With a gloomy face, the Empress turned her eyes from Shao Wanru’s face to Shao Yanru’s face and felt that Shao Yanru was good at bewitching by cajolery. Why had not she noticed before that the First Miss Shao was a seductive girl like a siren? It was said that she was dignified and decent, but if true, she wouldn’t be dressed like this.

She had been badly hurt like this, but she didn’t wear more clothes to keep warm or dress to be comfortable. Now she even tied her waist so thin to show her good figure, which didn’t seem that she was recuperating.

A cold smile appeared on the Empress’s lips. It was not that difficult for Shao Yanru to enter the palace because the Empress would let her enter the palace, but Shao Yanru’s status in the palace would not be guaranteed.

Those who came to the imperial palace might not be able to become the Emperor’s favorite concubines, because there was no shortage of beautiful women in the imperial palace. Even though Shao Yanru had an outstanding appearance, she could not necessarily be favored by the Emperor, not to mention her ambiguous reputation.

It was quiet in the room. “Your Grace, I have something to report!” The imperial physician suddenly said. He had been paying attention to the wrapping paper.

“Speak out!” Said the Empress. She would not leave until something was found out.

The Emperor’s intention just now was to ask her to investigate it clearly, which meant that he was suspicious of this. Originally, she had been wondering why the Emperor suddenly got involved with Shao Yanru. Now that she knew that there was an aphrodisiac powder in the room, how could she not understand?

After the imperial physician had come, the curtain at the door had been lifted high and the powder had spread out a lot.

But even so, the Empress still felt much dryness-heat in her body, which meant that the powder had been used a lot in this room.

“Your Grace, this medicine paper bag doesn’t seem to be newly wrapped. It seems to have been wrapped for a long time because the folding marks inside are very clear. I remember that the medicine was brought here yesterday, so it’s impossible to have clear folding marks. That’s why it seemingly has been wrapped for a long time!”

Finding such a big problem, the imperial physician immediately felt comfortable.

It was not difficult for him to find this. In fact, it was because he had seen Shao Wanru keep looking at the wrapping paper in his hand and muttering to herself, “This folding mark…”

She said in a very low voice, but the imperial physician had been paying attention to Shao Wanru and standing beside her. After hearing what she said to herself, he immediately understood.

As an imperial physician, he had always dealt with medicine. Even if he was not quite familiar with folding marks, he could still speculate something from this. The medicine was obviously not taken today, and it must have been prepared a long time ago.

Shao Yanru’s heart was in a mess, and she lowered her head in a panic, lest her fear would be discovered by others. She was really scared!

She only felt that the wound on her chest was burning, making her breathless. Her wound had not been fully recovered yet, and she forced herself to stand up this time. At this moment, she only felt desperate with cold limbs. Could it be that the things she did had really been discovered?

“Come on, take this servant girl away for interrogation.” The Empress had coldly made this decision. This servant girl named Shuqi was the only person who had the possibility to add the powder, and she worked for Shao Yanru.

“Your Highness, it is impossible for Shuqi to hurt me. Your Highness…” Shao Yanru had to cry loudly and plead with the Empress for mercy, but the Empress ignored her!

Two eunuchs came over to pull Shuqi, one on each side and were about to leave and interrogate her.

“First Miss, I really didn’t hurt you. I was wronged!” Shuqi was pulled up and she suddenly cried loudly at Shao Yanru.

“Be careful. Grab her!” The Empress said sharply.

But it was too late. Shuqi shook off the hands of the two eunuchs fiercely and slammed into a pillar on one side. Immediately, blood splashed all over the ground, just like thousands of peach blossoms blooming.

Shao Yanru only had time to exclaim, “Shuqi!” Then her body went limp and she fainted to the ground.

There was a strange silence in the side hall. Shuqi was the only clue, but she died now!

The Empress frowned tightly. This matter suddenly came to an end, but she couldn’t find any clues. The only thing she was sure of was that there must be a plot behind it. This servant girl named Shuqi was the most suspicious one, but she couldn’t find more since the clues stopped here.

The Empress felt wronged and angry. Looking at Shao Yanru, who had fainted there, she could not vent her anger on Shao Yanru, but could only gnash her teeth secretly!

“Ask someone to clean up here!” The Empress stood up. She couldn’t find out anything here.

The dead Shuqi was taken away, and Shao Yanru was helped to lie in bed. Shao Wanru respectfully watched the Empress leave, and then her eyes fell on Shao Yanru, who was in bed.

Shao Yanru looked very miserable. Her face was red and swollen, and there was blood at the corner of her mouth, but no one helped to clean it up. Her clothes had already been in a mess. The bandage around her chest had been torn apart, and there was a faint trace of blood on it. Obviously, she had torn her wound.

Her beautiful face was no longer as adorable as it had been before because the Empress had slapped Shao Yanru quite hard. Honestly, no one could suppress the anger in this situation. Any woman, the Empress included, could not help beat the one who seduced her husband under her nose.

This meant that the Empress hated Shao Yanru very much. Otherwise, according to her previous manner, she would not really have done this. Even though she might do, she would not slap Shao Yanru’s face so obviously that anyone would notice this at a glance.

In the last life, Shao Yanru had been quite favored by the Emperor and had a good relationship with the Empress. No one knew whether it was because of the Empress’ good temper or Shao Yanru’s excellent means.

However, in the last life, Shao Yanru had officially entered the palace as an imperial concubine and had no conflict of interest with the Empress. The two of them had gotten along very well, but now it was different. Shao Yanru entered the palace again, but this time she did this in the way of humiliating the Empress. So, even though she entered the palace, she would not have a good relationship with the Empress.

The Empress would no longer stand behind Duke Xing’s Mansion or support all actions of Duke Xing’s Mansion.

Shao Wanru raised the corners of her mouth silently with sarcasm and indifference. So this life was different from her last life. Even though Shao Yanru still entered the palace, the Empress would not allow her to become a high-ranking imperial concubine in the current situation. Although Shao Wanru did not know what had happened in the hall just now, she supposed the injuries on Shao Yanru’s face were 99% likely to be caused by the Empress.

Since the Empress, who had always been well-behaved, had beat Shao Yanru, she would definitely not let Shao Yanru get away with it later.

The Emperor might also be weary of competing with his son for a woman. Otherwise, he would not have left just now. Obviously, he knew that Shao Yanru would not have a good result once he left.

“Fifth… Fifth Miss…” There was a timid voice coming from the door.

Shao Wanru looked up and found Han Dan. No one knew where Han Dan had hidden just now, but now she stood out again after the Empress had left.

“Come in and help Big Sister clean up,” Shao Wanru said.

“Yes, I’ll come in right away!” Han Dan said and staggered in with weak legs. She was really afraid that she had secretly knelt in a corridor before. When seeing the Emperor and the Empress, she had had a bad feeling and then dared not to come over. Then she had only seen the Empress leaving and Shuqi being carried out with blood all over her head, scarcely breathing.

How could she not be afraid? She had served First Miss Shao with Shuqi before, but just in a second, Shuqi was in such a poor condition and it was unknown whether Shuqi was dead or alive.

She looked up at the First Miss Shao, who was like a drowned mouse on the bed. If it weren’t for the Fifth Miss’s explanation, she really couldn’t believe that the person lying in the bed with a swollen face was the beautiful First Miss Shao. This… this was unbelievable.

“Fifth Miss, how is Shu… Shuqi?” Han Dan asked wearily and trembled all over. The only person in the room that could comfort her was the Fifth Miss Shao, who was still so calm and elegant as if the matter between the Empress and the Emperor did not affect her at all.

Compared with First Miss Shao, Fifth Miss Shao was the real mainstay!

“Something is found out to be related to her, but Shuqi didn’t dare to say anything. So she directly ran into the pillar to death!” Shao Wanru glanced at Han Dan lightly and said, “Big Sister has no servant around her. You will serve Big Sister from now on!”

“First… First Miss will leave the palace, but I am the servant from the palace!” Han Dan said. She felt that she didn’t want to serve First Miss Shao at all. First Miss Shao couldn’t even protect those around her, which implied her poor capability.

“Big Sister will enter the palace. She has no servant around her, so you’d better follow her!” Shao Wanru calmly described this fact!