The harem is too complicated; the empress, a lazy bum, wins by doing nothing.

Chapter 289 Bullying
The moment Physician Zhao took the basin of water that had been soaking her hands out of the basin, the tip of the silver needle had turned black.

How...is this...possible?
Green Pine looked at the blackened silver needle and jumped up from the bedside.

"What do you mean?"

Her voice was urgent and sharp; her short sentence drew everyone in the room to look towards the sleeping quarters.

Consort Xian, who was seething with anger, had already planned to leave when she heard Green Pine's roar. She stopped abruptly and turned her head to glance at the bedchamber.

Consort Xian, who was already furious, couldn't miss such a good show. She took two steps back and looked at Physician Zhao holding a silver needle. She seemed to have guessed something. Before Xia Fuchuan could stop her, Consort Xian had already walked towards Consort Wen's bedside.

When she saw the black on the tip of the silver needle clearly, she couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Hahahaha, I never thought that while there are many who cry 'stop thief', this is the first time I've seen someone almost poison themselves to death in order to frame someone else."

However, what she didn't expect was that the usually dull-witted Empress would actually come up with the idea of ​​having people soak their hands in water to see if there was any poison in the water, in order to determine who had been poisoned.

How interesting!
Wen Guiren remained silent, only turning his head to the side.

Although Green Pine disliked Consort Xian's attitude, the fact that Consort Wen had poison on her hands was far more troublesome than her sarcastic remarks.

“Eunuch Su,” Green Pine’s tone softened, “what does this mean?”

Su Tianhe bowed and said, “Aunt Green Pine, please don’t worry. The Noble Lady Wen may have accidentally gotten some on her while eating that piece of cured meat. Now that the Noble Lady Wen is poisoned, we should leave this matter to Her Majesty the Empress. Her Majesty will make the decision.”

"You'll decide for yourself?" Consort Xian sneered. "As long as Her Majesty the Empress doesn't deliberately cover up for others and allow them to stir up trouble in the harem and frame others, that's fine."

"Consort Xian, what do you mean by that?" Green Pine was furious. Consort Wen almost lost her life, and she could still stand here and make sarcastic remarks.

I don't know what Emperor Yuanwu was thinking, making such a woman a concubine.

Anyway, she was fearless. When Green Pine came to Yuan Kingdom with Consort Wen, she had already taken life and death lightly. She was ready to sacrifice herself to protect Consort Wen at any time.

"Aunt, don't worry. This servant was just doing what Her Majesty the Empress instructed. Her Majesty the Empress did not say that whoever has poison on their hands is the one who poisoned them."

As soon as Su Tianhe finished speaking, Consort Xian, who was standing to the side, sneered, "What Eunuch Su said is quite interesting. The one with poison on their hands is not the one who poisoned them. Does that mean the one with no poison on their hands is the one who poisoned them?"

Su Tianhe turned to the side and bowed to Consort Xian. “Your Highness, before the truth of this matter is revealed, I’m sure everyone in Jingyang Palace is implicated. This servant must return to report to Her Majesty the Empress, so I will take my leave now.”

"Are you leaving already?" Consort Xian coughed lightly, as if deliberately concealing something. "Has Eunuch Su forgotten something?"

Su Tianhe was taken aback. "What is Your Highness referring to?"

Consort Xian: ...

Consort Xian's expression relaxed slightly, and she cleared her throat. "Eunuch Su, are you sure everyone in Jingyang Palace has been checked? Since it was ordered by the Emperor, there can be no mistakes whatsoever."

Everyone?
Of course, not everyone.

Su Tianhe sneered inwardly. Now, seeing the poison on Consort Wen's hands, he remembered his own hands, which had not yet been rinsed in water and examined by the imperial physician.

But when she had just poured that basin of water all over Zhen'er rather than cooperate with the examination, she may have thought about her innocence.

"Whom Your Majesty is referring to has not yet been investigated?" Su Tianhe asked, feigning ignorance.

Consort Xian: ...Consort Xian turned pale with anger, rolled her eyes, and turned to walk towards her palace.

Su Tianhe watched her departing figure and couldn't help but spit inwardly.

Physician Zhao and Consort Wen exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with a hint of embarrassment.

"Your Majesty, please rest well. Your humble servant will go and prepare the medicine for you," said Physician Zhao.

Consort Wen struggled to lift herself up. "Then I'll have to trouble Physician Zhao."

"Your Majesty, there's no need for you to be so polite. This is all I should do," said Physician Zhao, before picking up his medicine chest and leaving.

Green Pine sighed silently.

Is this all he should do?

She really wondered how he could have the audacity to say such a thing.

Before the Emperor and Empress arrived, their palace staff had gone to the Imperial Hospital countless times to request a physician, but not a single one was willing to come. What are they pretending to be doing here now?

However, she had already been scolded by Consort Wen many times for what happened today.

She only dared to curse in her heart and didn't dare to say these words out loud.

When Su Tianhe returned to Kunning Palace, Zhen'er had already changed her clothes and was standing next to Shen Qingwan peeling oranges.

He recounted everything that had happened, then asked curiously, "Your Majesty, who do you think poisoned this?"

Shen Qingwan remained silent, but picked up her teacup and took a sip.

It doesn't matter who poisoned her; what matters is who the emperor believes was responsible.

If Consort Xian had cooperated with the investigation, this matter might have been unrelated to her. But she was too scheming and thought everyone was trying to harm her, so she tampered with the water.

But her cleverness backfired. She couldn't even figure out Consort Wen's little tricks, so there was no need for her to take matters into her own hands. After all, some people are so brainless that they can bring about their own demise.

How come she never noticed before that Consort Xian was actually brainless?

Zhen'er only found out when she went to get the oranges that the Empress had hit Consort Xian after she left, in order to vent her anger.

She was extremely worried. Who was Consort Xian? She was someone the Emperor valued highly. If the Empress angered the Emperor because of her, she would truly deserve to die.

Seeing that Shen Qingwan remained silent, Zhen'er struggled for a while before putting down the orange in her hand, walking over to Shen Qingwan and kneeling down. She had only kowtowed once when tears began to flow uncontrollably. The flickering candlelight illuminated her cheek, where a red and swollen handprint could still be seen where Consort Xian had just struck her.

"Your Majesty, this servant deserves to die. It's all my fault for not holding that basin of water properly, causing trouble for Your Majesty. If His Majesty blames me, Your Majesty, please push this servant out to protect yourself. Whether it's beating or punishment, this servant will have no complaints."

Shen Qingwan bent down and helped her up from the ground. "Silly girl, the person Consort Xian wanted to hit was not you. She wanted to hit me, but she didn't dare, so she could only hit you. You were hit because you are my personal maid. How could I not fight back and let others bully me?"

"But……"

Zhen'er wiped away her tears, choking back sobs, when a voice announced something from outside the palace gates...