Chapter 90: Do You Know What It Means to Be Cautious?

Tang Miaoling returned to her seat.

Ning Wanyin, seeing that she had returned safely, felt relieved. She turned around and asked Lianrui to find Xiao Qingzi to inquire about any unusual events.

The palace banquet went without any major incidents.

As the music and dancing continued, the banquet dispersed.

Leaving Tinglan Palace, the concubines all returned to their respective palaces.

Wen Meiren was in a terrible mood, sitting in her sedan chair, her heart filled with frustration.

This half-canopy sedan chair was a privilege given to concubines during their pregnancy.

Any concubine who became pregnant would receive special treatment in terms of food, clothing, housing, and transportation, which was why Wen Meiren felt that she was now superior to her former self.

But she didn’t expect to be overshadowed by Ning Wanyin.

“Clang!”

Suddenly, the eunuch carrying the sedan chair slipped and fell to the ground with a thud.

The sedan chair crashed to the ground and overturned.

Wen Meiren, caught off guard, fell out of the sedan chair.

“It hurts…” Wen Meiren clutched her stomach and cried out in alarm.

The accompanying Lu Mammy’s face changed instantly. She was an experienced mama arranged by the emperor, and she immediately shouted loudly, “Quickly go and call the imperial physician! Don’t touch the mistress!”

She then took out a small, dragon-eye-sized pill from a brocade box she carried with her and handed it to Wen Meiren, “Mistress, please take the pregnancy-preserving pill!”

This pregnancy-preserving pill came from the 65th rule out of Ning Wanyin’s 100 palace rules.

The imperial physician was to prepare pregnancy-preserving pills for emergencies when the mistress experienced a miscarriage or accidental bleeding, which had the effect of strengthening the foundation, nourishing the body, warming the palace, and stopping bleeding. (To prevent delays while waiting for the imperial physician to arrive)

Of course, this pregnancy-preserving pill was not a cure-all.

If it was just a slight instability of the fetus or bleeding, it could be saved.

If she had drunk a large bowl of abortion medicine, it wouldn’t matter what she ate.

Wen Meiren was also panicked at this time, she didn’t care about the pill getting stuck in her throat, she quickly swallowed the pregnancy-preserving pill.

Lu Mammy then ordered, “Someone, quickly go and report to His Majesty!”

…

Soon, the imperial physician arrived first.

The emperor and Concubine Shu arrived one after another, and the other concubines rushed over after hearing the news.

Ning Wanyin’s sedan chair had just reached the entrance of Lingsxue Pavilion when it turned back.

“Your Majesty, fortunately, Wen Meiren only had slight bleeding, and she took the pregnancy-preserving pill in time, the royal heir is safe. However, Wen Meiren was frightened, she needs to rest and recuperate…” the imperial physician reported.

Concubine Shu felt a hint of disappointment in her heart, but she said happily, “Heaven protects, Wen Meiren is safe. Congratulations, Your Majesty, congratulations, Wen Meiren!”

The concubines, no matter what they thought in their hearts, all offered congratulations on the surface.

Helian Qi’s expression softened slightly, he frowned and asked, “How did you take care of Wen Meiren?”

“Your Majesty, spare me… This servant really didn’t mean to, this servant doesn’t know what I stepped on, I suddenly slipped!” The little eunuch who had fallen knelt on the ground trembling, he quickly kowtowed when he saw the emperor reprimanding him.

Wu Mi, the eunuch in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department, rushed over after hearing the news and went forward to check.

Under the illumination of several palace lanterns, the bluestone path was brightly lit.

There was a white wax mark on the ground that had been crushed.

Wu Mi then ordered someone to check the little eunuch’s shoes, there was also a wax mark on the bottom of his shoes.

“Your Majesty, this servant has made a preliminary investigation, it should be that someone threw a wax pellet on the ground. The wax pellet is slippery, stepping on it causes one to slip, and it pressed out this slip mark.” Wu Mi scraped off some wax powder and presented it to Helian Qi, reporting.

Concubine Shu was shocked, “Your Majesty, this palace path…

“There shouldn’t be any wax pellets on the path. Before the banquet dispersed, I specifically ordered people to sweep the palace path three times to prevent any concubines from accidentally falling. Every path was checked.”

“Zhenzhu, call the palace servants who were responsible for sweeping this path.”

Zhenzhu accepted the order.

Soon, four palace maids and two eunuchs arrived together.

“Your Majesty, please understand! We swept this path clean, there was definitely no wax pellet.”

The group knelt on the ground, testifying for each other, they had swept very carefully, making sure the path was spotless.

Cen Jiejue pondered, “Then, did anyone else walk on this path?”

“If your concubine remembers correctly, at the end of this path, there is a fork in the road, to the left is Jiangyun Palace (Yanfeng Pavilion is to the left of it), to the right is Yonghe Palace, besides Ning Jiejue, there shouldn’t be anyone else who passed by.” Xue Meiren said with a look of anticipation.

Everyone’s eyes turned to Ning Wanyin.

After the path was swept, only Ning Wanyin’s group had walked on it.

So who threw the wax pellet?

It was obvious!

Wen Meiren was both shocked and resentful, but she knew the emperor’s favoritism towards Ning Wanyin, so she didn’t dare to directly scold her, instead, she said pitifully, “Ning Jiejue, your concubine has no grievances with you, why would you harm me like this?”

Xue Meiren sneered, “Of course it’s because she’s jealous that you’re pregnant!”

“This palace doesn’t think Ning Jiejue is that kind of person. Besides Ning Jiejue, did anyone else pass by here?” Concubine Shu deliberately asked.

The palace servants on duty nearby were summoned and questioned one by one.

Besides Ning Wanyin, no one else had passed by.

Because the path had just been swept after the banquet dispersed. Then, Ning Wanyin’s sedan chair passed by.

Immediately after that was Wen Meiren’s sedan chair.

No one else had passed by besides them.

“Please, Your Majesty, do justice for Wen Meiren!” Xue Meiren didn’t know who had set this trap, but it didn’t stop her from stirring up trouble, she said, “Ning Jiejue tried to harm the royal heir, a heinous crime! Please, Your Majesty, punish her!”

All the concubines looked at Ning Wanyin.

Tang Miaoling and Wei Yingya were both nervous.

This was simply… bad luck, right?

Helian Qi also looked at Ning Wanyin, his expression was calm, “Ning, do you have anything to say in your defense?”

Before there was direct eyewitness testimony, he didn’t really suspect Ning Wanyin.

“Your concubine didn’t throw the wax pellet, your concubine has a witness.” Ning Wanyin said calmly, her expression relaxed.

As soon as she said this…

The concubines were all stunned.

You have a witness…?

“Your Majesty, this servant was ordered by Ning Jiejue to follow behind and watch. Ning Jiejue and the palace servants of Lingsxue Pavilion did not throw any wax pellets on the ground.” Xia Zi stepped forward and reported.

Concubine Shu was shocked, she felt as if she had swallowed a fly, it was disgusting.

What kind of inexplicable behavior is this? Who would do something like this, watching the path they just walked on?

“Why did you do this? It’s just a coincidence, right?” Wen Meiren couldn’t believe it, she thought Ning Wanyin was lying.

How could it be a coincidence, you just happened to have someone watching?

Of course, it wasn’t a coincidence.

Since Wen Meiren had decided to go out to the palace banquet…

Ning Wanyin had anticipated thirty possible plots to harm her.

She made corresponding defensive measures for each possibility.

To prevent anyone with malicious intent from dragging her down.

That’s right, high-level defense requires first mastering the art of killing. You know how to kill, you know how to defend.

Throwing a pebble/pearl/wax pellet/oil or anything that could cause someone to slip on the path was the sixteenth plot.

And this plot, depending on the situation, was divided into three sub-plots.

First, if Wen Meiren went first, she could instruct the palace servants who were sweeping to throw something, and after being caught, she could accuse them of being bribed by Ning Wanyin.

Second, if Ning Wanyin went first, she could instruct Wen Meiren’s accompanying palace servants to do it. Then, only Ning Wanyin would have passed by this path, and she would be unable to defend herself. There was one requirement for the evidence, it needed to be something light that wouldn’t make a sound when thrown, so that it wouldn’t be noticed by those walking with her.

Third, instruct the accompanying palace servants of Lingsxue Pavilion to do it, it would be best to throw something from Lingsxue Pavilion. Then, if this palace servant refused to confess and died for Ning Wanyin, it would be even better.

Therefore, to deal with these possible plots, Ning Wanyin left first, Lianrui checked the path ahead to see if there was anything extra, and Xia Zi followed behind to watch.

In addition, she had twenty-nine other self-preservation arrangements, this was just one of her arrangements that happened to be used.