The Empress of Zhen Huan Reborn

Nian Shilan then spoke up, "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, since Your Majesty wants to thoroughly investigate this matter, wouldn't it be better to tell the people in the palace that the Fifth and Seventh Princes are still in danger, so that the people behind the scenes will think that they have succeeded and relax their guard? This will be more helpful for the investigation?"

The emperor thought for a moment and nodded in agreement, saying, "This is a great idea. Let my beloved concubine and Huanhuan handle this matter together."

Nian Shilan and Zhen Huan responded in unison: "I obey your order."

Afterwards, the emperor ordered everyone to disperse. Before everyone left, Nian Shilan called Doctor Zhang, smiling but not in her eyes, "Thank you Doctor Zhang for your help today, but I hope you will keep what happened tonight a secret."

When Doctor Zhang heard what Nian Shilan said, he was slightly panicked for a moment, but he quickly adjusted his expression and looked at Nian Shilan respectfully and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I know what I can and cannot say."

Nian Shilan looked at Doctor Zhang, nodded, and continued with a smile: "Since Doctor Zhang said so, I feel relieved."

After Doctor Zhang left the palace, Zhen Huan slowly stepped forward, looked at Nian Shilan, and asked in a low voice: "Sister, do you doubt Doctor Zhang?"

Nian Shilan did not hide anything, but looked absentmindedly in the direction where Doctor Zhang left, and said in a deep voice: "I am just guessing. I always feel that Doctor Zhang's actions are not right about what happened tonight."

"Huan'er, I have ordered people to secretly monitor Doctor Zhang's every move. If there is really something wrong with him, it will not escape my eyes." Nian Shilan looked at Zhen Huan with firm eyes.

Zhen Huan nodded slightly to show her approval.

"The most urgent task now is to find out the culprit behind this. We need to be careful and not alert the enemy." Nian Shilan warned.

"Don't worry, sister. I know what I am doing." Zhen Huan replied.

After the two of them had made their decision, they split up. Nian Shilan was responsible for continuing to pretend that the palace was in chaos, while Zhen Huan was responsible for investigating the truth.

After Zhen Huan left, Nian Shilan returned to the palace and called Songzhi and Lingzhi, asking them to keep a close eye on Doctor Zhang's movements. She also wrote a letter to her brother, asking him to check what happened to Nian Xi and report to her immediately if he found anything abnormal.

At the same time, Nian Shilan also stepped up the investigation of other people in the palace, trying to find more clues.

On the other hand, Zhen Huan was also secretly investigating.

After the emperor returned to his bedroom in the Yangxin Palace, he thought about it and decided to call Xia Qie.

After Xia Qian entered the emperor's bedroom, he bowed to the emperor respectfully and said, "Your humble servant Xia Qian pays respect to the emperor."

The emperor was lying on the couch and waved his hand, signaling Xia Qi to get up.

After Xia Qian stood up, he took a few steps closer to the emperor. The emperor looked at Xia Qian and said, "Did you find out anything from the interrogation of the palace maid you captured a few days ago?"

When Xia Qian heard the emperor asking about this, he shook his head in embarrassment and said, "The maid was very stubborn. She refused to confess even after being tortured. What's more noteworthy is that the maid's identity information cannot be found at all, and some of the aunts in charge of the palace have never seen her."

After hearing Xia Qian's answer, the emperor thought for a long time and said, "Keep her in custody for now. I have something else for you to do."

When Xia Qian heard that the emperor had more instructions, he quickly turned his gaze to the emperor. The emperor sighed and said, "The palace has been in turmoil recently. A few days ago, many poisonous snakes appeared in the Changle Palace of the Imperial Concubine. I have not yet found the real culprit behind the scenes. Today, the fifth and seventh princes went to the Imperial Garden and encountered an ice-blue butterfly, and were poisoned again. You and Su Peisheng should investigate this matter as soon as possible. The person behind the scenes must not be let off easily."

After Xia Qian heard the emperor's words, he bowed and said, "I will follow your orders and investigate this matter thoroughly."

The emperor nodded, then signaled Xia Qian that he could leave.

After Xia Qian left the Yangxin Palace, he went straight to find Su Peisheng.

"Eunuch Su, we have to quickly do what the emperor asked us to do." Xia Qian said seriously.

"Of course, but the poisoning of the Fifth Prince and the Seventh Prince is quite strange." Su Peisheng said with a frown.

"Yes, and we don't know where that ice-blue butterfly came from." Xia Qian agreed.

"Anyway, let's start with the servants in the imperial garden and see if we can find some clues." Su Peisheng suggested.

"Okay, I'll go right away." Xia Qian said and turned to leave.

After Xia Qian left, Su Peisheng went back to the Yangxin Palace and waited at the door of the emperor's bedroom.

Xia Qie came to the Imperial Garden and searched every corner of it carefully. He did not dare to be careless at all, for fear of missing any clues that might lead to the person behind the scenes.

Hard work pays off. In the flowers not far from the butterfly that Xiao Xia Zi encountered, Xia Qie saw rows of very light footprints. When Xia Qie followed the footprints, he unexpectedly saw a purse dropped on the ground.

Xia Qi hurriedly picked up the purse, looked around, and seeing that there was no one around, he stuffed the purse into his wide sleeves.

After doing all this, Xia Qian still did not slack off and continued to search carefully. However, there were no more clues, so Xia Qian had to take the purse in his sleeve and leave the Imperial Garden.

When Xia Qian returned to his residence, he did not rush to check the purse, but went to the secret cell first.

A palace maid was hanging in the cellar, her hands were hanging on the chains on the roof, her hair was messy, her clothes were in disarray, and there were many dried bloodstains on her face and body.

This palace maid's appearance was not outstanding. Although she had fair skin, she had a large cinnabar birthmark on her left eye. Her cheeks also had highland red and pockmarks. It was really hard to describe such a person as beautiful.

This palace maid is Nian Xi, whom Nian Shilan has been looking for. She has an outstanding appearance, but every time she goes out to do business, she always wears a specially made human skin mask to hide her true appearance, in order to prevent herself from being captured and implicated Nian Shilan.

It was precisely because of Nian Xi's human skin mask that Xia Qian did not suspect that she was a servant of some madam. Because the maids serving the madams in the palace, including the former queen, were not only beautiful, but also absolutely beautiful. There was an unwritten rule in the palace since ancient times that if a madam was pregnant and not suitable for serving the emperor, her maids would be sent to the emperor's bed in order to maintain the emperor's favor. Therefore, the maids serving the masters were carefully selected one by one, and there would be no such ugly ones.