The Cold King and his consort immediately stood up upon hearing that the Empress Dowager had an incident.
"What happened to Grandmother Empress Dowager?" Leng Ruoli and Jun Mohan asked anxiously.
"Someone attempted to poison the Empress Dowager, but failed. However, a young palace maid was poisoned to death. The imperial physicians in the palace could not identify the poison that killed the maid. His Majesty has therefore requested this official to invite the Prince and Princess Consort to the palace for examination."
Jian Feng explained the situation to the Cold King and his consort in a direct manner.
As soon as Jian Feng finished speaking, the Cold King and his consort tidied their attire and emerged from the room.
"Let's go, we're going to the palace now!" Leng Ruoli and Jun Mohan said urgently.
Subsequently, the Cold King and his consort flew to their backyard, selected two fine horses, and galloped towards the imperial palace.
Twenty minutes later, the Cold King and his consort appeared at the entrance of the Longevity Palace.
Leng Ruoli and Jun Mohan walked into the Empress Dowager's main hall and saw the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, all the imperial physicians from the Imperial Academy, and numerous palace maids, nannies, and eunuchs serving by the Emperor and Empress Dowager's side.
Head Physician Zhang and many imperial physicians were gathered around a female corpse, examining it.
"Ruoli pays her respects to Father Emperor and Grandmother Empress Dowager!"
"Han'er pays his respects to Father Emperor and Grandmother Empress Dowager!"
"Ruoli, quickly come and examine this, what poison did this palace maid ingest?" The Emperor said to Leng Ruoli as soon as he saw her.
Leng Ruoli nodded upon hearing this and walked to the female corpse. She took a serious look and saw that the deceased maid's lips had turned dark, and even her fingernails were black. As a physician, it was clear that the person had been poisoned.
"Grandmother Empress Dowager, can you tell me what happened with this little palace maid?"
Leng Ruoli asked curiously. They had been riding horses on the way, so Leng Ruoli hadn't had the chance to ask Jian Feng for details about the matter.
"Alas, let Nanny Gong tell you about this matter. She was the first to discover it." The Empress Dowager glanced at Nanny Gong and said to Leng Ruoli.
At this moment, Nanny Gong quickly walked up to Leng Ruoli and truthfully said, "Princess Consort, tonight this old servant was preparing dinner for the Empress Dowager in her private kitchen with several palace maids. This deceased little palace maid was one of them."
"Because the Empress Dowager's meals are quite exquisite and require a long time to prepare, this old servant made a dessert that the Empress Dowager favors and asked this little palace maid to deliver it to the Empress Dowager first. Unexpectedly, this little palace maid suddenly disappeared into thin air. By the time this old servant and the other palace maids had finished serving dinner to the Empress Dowager, she had not reappeared. Finally, this old servant found her in the flower bushes outside the main hall, but by the time this old servant saw her, she had already breathed her last, and her entire body had become like this."
Nanny Gong explained the situation in detail to Leng Ruoli.
"Did you see anyone suspicious appear near the Longevity Palace?"
After listening to Nanny Gong's words, Leng Ruoli pondered for a moment and then asked.
"This old servant did not see anyone. Normally, in the Longevity Palace, unless the Empress Dowager wishes to summon them, others are not allowed to enter freely," Nanny Gong said earnestly.
"Mm, I know that!" Leng Ruoli nodded upon hearing this.
But at this moment, a young palace maid suddenly called out to Leng Ruoli.
"Princess Consort Leng, this servant saw someone outside the Longevity Palace tonight."
Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at the speaking palace maid, including the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, the Cold King and his consort, and the imperial physicians in the hall. They all looked at the palace maid with great curiosity.
"Who was it?" Leng Ruoli asked urgently.
"Replying to the Princess Consort, it was Nanny Xiao, the supervisor from the Imperial Attire Bureau," the palace maid replied truthfully.
"Nanny Xiao? Usually, the Empress Dowager's changing clothes or receiving clean clothes are handled by specific palace maids. There's no need for people from the Imperial Attire Bureau to fuss about. What was she doing running to the Longevity Palace?" Leng Ruoli furrowed her delicate brows, asking in confusion.
"Princess Consort, this servant is not very clear either. When this servant saw Nanny Xiao, we were quite far apart. This servant only saw her leave the Longevity Palace with a strange expression," the palace maid replied tremblingly.
"Then why didn't you say so earlier?" Nanny Gong immediately reprimanded her. It seemed she had been too lenient with these young palace maids, causing them to be so careless.
"This servant just remembered," the palace maid replied with a wronged expression.
"Alright, Nanny Gong, don't scold her anymore," Leng Ruoli quickly intervened.
Afterward, she looked at Jun Mohan and said, "Your Highness, please personally take people to the Imperial Attire Bureau and bring Nanny Xiao from the Imperial Attire Bureau to the Longevity Palace."
"Understood!"
Jun Mohan nodded and readily agreed to Leng Ruoli's request.
Subsequently, Leng Ruoli took out a pair of gloves and some examination tools from her sleeve pocket, preparing to perform an autopsy on the deceased palace maid.
"Princess Consort, the poison this palace maid was subjected to is very strange. We can clearly see she died from poisoning, but we cannot find any traces of the poison on her," said Head Physician Zhang, who had been examining the maid's body, with a look of confusion.
Leng Ruoli did not respond to Head Physician Zhang's muttering. Instead, she squatted down, took a long silver needle, and pricked the deceased maid's lip. Then, using her sleeve to conceal her actions, she directly sent the silver needle into her spatial laboratory for analysis.
Afterward, Leng Ruoli conducted a thorough examination of the deceased palace maid's body.
Indeed, as Head Physician Zhang had said, there were no traces of poisoning found on the palace maid. However, her spatial laboratory could perform analyses, and even the most potent toxins could be detected through such tests.
A moment later, the results of the analysis Leng Ruoli had performed came out.
The person had been poisoned by a strange and extremely rare toxin, which could actually become invisible. No wonder Head Physician Zhang and the others could not detect it.
Head Physician Zhang, standing by, saw that Leng Ruoli had finished her examination of the deceased palace maid and remained silent. He curiously asked, "Princess Consort Leng, have you found out what poison this palace maid ingested?"
As soon as he spoke, everyone in the Empress Dowager's main hall looked at Leng Ruoli, their faces filled with expectation for her answer.
Under their eager gazes, Leng Ruoli nodded slightly.
The people in the main hall immediately began to whisper, with Head Physician Zhang and the others showing particular excitement.
"Princess Consort Leng is truly remarkable, she is skilled in both medicine and poison!" someone praised her in a low voice.
"Then, Princess Consort, can you tell this old official what poison this palace maid ingested?" Head Physician Zhang asked impatiently.
"She was poisoned with a 'Hot Corpse Poison'. If a person is poisoned with this 'Hot Corpse Poison', it will perish as the body temperature decreases, but it will devour all the body's cells as the body temperature rises. That's why you couldn't find any traces of the poison on the deceased palace maid's body," Leng Ruoli explained to everyone in detail.
"Oh, so that's how it is!"
Everyone still understood only half of what was said.
"Then, Princess Consort Leng, how did you discover that the palace maid was poisoned with the 'Hot Corpse Poison'?"
Head Physician Zhang and the imperial physicians were all very curious.