Leng Ruo Li agreed to the Empress's suggestion because she had many other things to do that day and didn't want to waste too much time on this matter.
However, the most pressing task now was to find the young palace maid who had thrown the white cat to her. As long as she was found, there would be a breakthrough in this case.
Since Jun Mo Han was more familiar with the palace, she asked him to search various palaces, which was more suitable.
Leng Ruo Li described the palace maid's clothing, appearance, and height to Jun Mo Han. She even took out an A4 paper and a pen from her system space to draw a portrait of the maid for him.
After she finished the sketch, she showed it to the Emperor and Jun Mo Han, who were both stunned into silence.
It was the first time they had seen such a lifelike drawing. It was truly vivid.
Leng Ruo Li also didn't expect that her casual sketch would later be so widely admired.
After handing the sketch to Jun Mo Han, Leng Ruo Li instructed him to immediately arrange for people to search all the palaces for the young palace maid.
Jun Mo Han, realizing the importance of the matter, personally led guards to search for the maid.
Meanwhile, Leng Ruo Li herself proceeded to perform a necropsy on the white cat.
She put on a pair of disposable gloves from her system space and, under the strange gazes of everyone, carefully examined the white cat's body again. She still couldn't find any wounds on it.
Leng Ruo Li had no choice but to activate the detection equipment in her system space. She discovered a very tiny wound on the white cat's neck.
Upon this discovery, Leng Ruo Li immediately located the wound and examined it. The wound was very small, likely made by a needle.
She then opened the cat's mouth and found some fish residue. Secretly, she used tweezers to retrieve the fish residue and put it into her space laboratory for testing. The results showed that the fish residue was not poisonous, so the white cat did not die from food poisoning.
This left only one conclusion: the needle that had pierced the cat was poisoned.
Thus, Leng Ruo Li took out a silver needle and gently pricked the skin and flesh of the dead white cat.
Ten seconds later, she pulled out the silver needle. To her surprise, it had not turned black. She immediately discarded it into the laboratory for further testing.
At this moment, Jun Mo Han and Yin Chen, along with several imperial guards, arrived, escorting the green-clad palace maid who had thrown her the white cat. A noblewoman followed behind them.
The Emperor and Empress had already taken their seats on chairs provided by the eunuchs.
"Father Emperor, your son has brought this palace maid here. She is Xiao Lian, the personal head maid of Consort Ning's palace."
The young palace maid immediately knelt before the Emperor and Empress.
"Your Majesty, Empress, this concubine pays her respects!"
Consort Ning bowed respectfully to the Emperor and Empress.
"Consort Ning, you have been summoned here to help clarify the matter of the Empress's white cat being harmed. You will need to cooperate with Miss Leng family in the investigation."
"Yes, this concubine understands!"
Consort Ning nodded. This Consort Ning was the birth mother of the Idle Prince. She was the most trouble-free woman in the palace, and the Emperor had a very good impression of her.
Leng Ruo Li glanced at Consort Ning and felt that she bore a striking resemblance to the Idle Prince, especially her large eyes and nose. Leng Ruo Li could guess with her toes that she was the Idle Prince's birth mother.
She was surprisingly young, appearing to be only in her early thirties, but there was an inexplicable sense of gloom about her.
"This humble daughter pays her respects to Consort Ning!"
Consort Ning looked at her and nodded with a smile.
Then, Leng Ruo Li walked up to the young palace maid. "You are Xiao Lian, aren't you?"
The young palace maid lowered her head and nodded.
"Why did you throw this white cat to me today?" Leng Ruo Li asked calmly.
"Because this servant had an urgent need to urinate and waited for a while in the imperial garden, but no one passed by. I wanted someone to take care of the white cat for me. I happened to see Miss Leng passing by, so I handed the white cat to you." The palace maid Xiao Lian explained calmly.
"You are a palace maid from Consort Ning's palace, aren't you? Then why were you holding the Empress's white cat?" Leng Ruo Li asked after a few moments of thought.
"I... I also saw the white cat while passing through the imperial garden."
As Xiao Lian said this, her eyes darted away somewhat.
Others might not have noticed, but it did not escape Leng Ruo Li's sharp eyes.
"Why were you passing through the imperial garden? If I recall correctly, Consort Ning's Ning Yun Palace is not close to the imperial garden."
Leng Ruo Li spoke sharply.
"I went to fetch medicine for Consort Ning from the Imperial Hospital."
"Consort Ning, is Xiao Lian lying?"
Consort Ning looked at Leng Ruo Li and truthfully replied, "This matter is true. This concubine has not been feeling well these past two days and had instructed Xiao Lian to fetch medicine from the Imperial Hospital several times."
"Then, when I saw you in the imperial garden today, I didn't see you holding any medicine!"
As Leng Ruo Li said these words, a sharp glint flashed in her eyes.
"I... I... I asked a very good friend of mine, another palace maid, to help me fetch Consort Ning's... medicine from the Imperial Hospital." Palace maid Xiao Lian stammered.
"Heh—"
Leng Ruo Li was so amused that she couldn't help but laugh.
"To my knowledge, all medications consumed by the imperial concubines must be personally collected by the chief maids of each palace before the Imperial Hospital will dispense them. Furthermore, Consort Ning holds a high rank. Her usual medicine can only be fetched from the Imperial Hospital by the two wet nurses and two head maids of Ning Yun Palace. Without Consort Ning's permission, others are not allowed to go and fetch medicine for her casually. But you have broken this rule. Do you know what crime you have committed?"
"I... I, Consort Ning, this servant knows she was wrong, this servant deserves to die. However, this servant had no choice at that time." Xiao Lian cried.
"Then why did you have no choice? You were supposed to go to the Imperial Hospital to get medicine for Consort Ning. Why did you go to the imperial garden and hold the Empress's white cat?"
Leng Ruo Li's tone was somewhat aggressive.
"This servant... this servant wanted to go to the imperial garden to see the newly bloomed winter lotus."
"You are lying. If you had gone to see the winter lotus, your skirt hem and shoes should have been stained with mud or damp with dew. This is because everyone in the palace knows that the lotus pond in the imperial garden is under construction, and the area is dense with plants and heavy with dew. The ground is also covered with muddy yellow earth. Yet, your clothes and shoes are perfectly clean. How do you explain that?"
"I... I..."
Xiao Lian no longer knew how to respond to Leng Ruo Li's words.
~
~
Thank you, little cuties, for the small gifts. If you like my book, please leave more comments, urge me to update more, and give me more support. I love you all, muah!