If her child died that day, she might not have lost her imperial favour from the beginning; in fact, the Emperor would definitely sympathise with her even more. Perhaps he might even promote her rank in the harem and the possibility of her becoming pregnant with another royal child would be rather high as well.
However, it was precisely because she managed to give birth to a mentally impaired child that caused her to lose her imperial favour. It was also the reason why she ended up living in pain and loneliness for the following years.
If this incident truly involved a third party’s tricks and schemes, then it couldn’t be brushed off after labelled as a small crime.
Everyone had their own private discussions about the matter. After all, it’s already been a few years since the incident occured. Hence, it would be very difficult to uncover anything about it now.
Naturally, those who have nothing to do with this matter merely thought of the news as a juicy scoop from the palace, but the responsible culprit for this entire incident was fidgeting nervously behind the scenes.
Consort Hui was so startled that she almost dropped the teacup in her hand. Her usually calm and collected demeanour broke and so she couldn’t help but to panic at the moment, “Why did His Majesty take the sudden initiative to reinvestigate this matter?”
Her maidservant replied, “Our sources informed that it was actually the Empress Dowager who started the investigation. The 6th Prince has earned the favour of the Empress Dowager ever since Her Majesty returned to the palace. This humble servant believes that because of their close relationship…”
Consort Hui tightly squeezed the teacup in her hand as she felt her heart palpitate quickly.
So many years had passed with her managing to pull it off unnoticed. She wasn’t the one who took action either— it was Imperial Concubine Mei who handled the medication.
But…
The medication that made the child mentally impaired was obtained from her!
The medication was a unique prescription concocted by village folks that was specifically made to harm someone. There would be no such medication in the palace as this was something that her maternal family had dedicated efforts to obtain. After sneaking it into the palace, she secretly passed it to Imperial Concubine Mei who commensurated herself as the sister of Xiao Lan at the time.
(T/N: In Chinese culture, you can commonly refer to a good friend as a sister/brother as a form of endearment. The concept is that although there was no blood relation, you could be considered siblings with how close you were)
If His Majesty starts to investigate Imperial Concubine Mei, based on her personality, there is no doubt in my mind that she would rat me out.
And if His Majesty starts the investigation from the prescription, the amount of folk people who actually utilised and made this medicine were rather limited, so it definitely wouldn’t be impossible for His Majesty to link the clues to my maternal family.
No matter what the end result was, she wouldn’t be able to break free from those shackles.
Consort Hui was upset for a while, pacing back and forth in the house a few times as she held the teacup. After bearing the position of a Consort for so many years, she was able to control her motions and calm herself down almost immediately, “Send out a message immediately. Let them know that anyone that had a hand in the incident should be under a strictly-monitored lockdown. They also have to find the doctor that gave us the medicine…”
She gave her a look and the maidservant immediately understood her intentions. She nodded briskly before exiting the palace to carry out the orders.
Consort Hui thought about something and her expression turned gloomy. She summoned her maidservant once more and whispered in her ear, “Go on, you must handle this matter with extreme caution and detail; you must not leave any traces at all.”