When the Empress Dowager and others arrived, Ye Tinglan was already ordering people to search the prison cells.
She immediately stepped forward, "Lan'er, what happened?"
The guards had reported it in a hurry, only saying that something had happened, but not explaining the specific situation.
Ye Tinglan looked behind her and saw Concubine Ning who had followed. His eyes darkened silently.
He then turned to the Empress Dowager and said in a low voice, "It's Consort Wan. She was poisoned in the prison cell last night. The guards on duty were negligent and only discovered this morning."
"Poisoned?"
The Empress Dowager was shocked.
After a night had passed, and only now discovering it, the person was likely already cold.
They stood outside, separated by a long, dark corridor, only able to see guards entering and exiting the cells.
Ye Tinglan nodded and led them to a resting room nearby, "Imperial Grandmother, please wait here for a moment. Your grandson will go and assess the situation."
The prison was cold and dark. With something like this happening, the investigation would take a considerable amount of time, and it was not appropriate for them to wait outside.
The Empress Dowager nodded, signaling for her嬷嬷 to help her in. Concubine Ning, however, protested.
"Since we're here, there's no reason to just wait. Consort's poisoning is not a small matter. Empress Dowager, why don't we go and see together?"
As she spoke, she reached out towards the Empress Dowager, but before her hand could touch the Empress Dowager's clothes, she was pushed aside by a嬷嬷.
"Concubine Ning, mind your manners and don't lose your composure!"
Having already endured a day of displeasure at Shou Kang Palace, and now being lectured by a servant, Concubine Ning was filled with anger. She turned to follow them to the prison cell.
The Empress Dowager glanced at her and sternly reprimanded her.
"Stop!"
"Go inside and stay put. If you continue to be unruly, you will return to Zhonghua Palace!"
Concubine Ning froze at the rebuke.
Seeing the Empress Dowager's somber expression, clearly displeased, she no longer dared to act rashly and obediently followed them into the resting room.
There was no one else in the room except them, yet Concubine Ning seemed to have needles under her posterior, unable to sit still.
After a short while, she started to fidget again.
"Empress Dowager, the guards in the prison are extremely strict. How could Consort Wan have been poisoned?"
The Empress Dowager frowned, "What are you trying to say?"
Concubine Ning's eyes darted back and forth. She stepped forward and said, "This concubine humbly believes that Consort Wan was imprisoned for less than a day. Her current predicament must be someone trying to silence her, deliberately acting to cover up the truth."
"And the guards in this prison have always been strict. No matter how negligent the guards are, they would never have been completely unaware that she was poisoned. To be so blind and deaf, they must have received specific instructions!"
Who could give instructions to the prison guards?
Naturally, it would be Ye Tinglan.
The Empress Dowager's brow furrowed even tighter upon hearing this. "Are you implying that what she said in court yesterday was not the truth?"
Concubine Ning, seeing this, thought the Empress Dowager had taken her words to heart and immediately nodded.
"If what she said were all true, how could she have met such a terrible fate so quickly? Empress Dowager, there must be someone else behind this. Yu'er... Yu'er is innocent!"
As she spoke, she began to weep softly. The Empress Dowager was annoyed. Before she could say anything, the door to the resting room was pushed open.
Ye Tinglan walked in from outside, holding something in his hand that was difficult to identify.
"This was found in the prison cell just now. Please take a look, Imperial Grandmother."
The Empress Dowager took it and opened it to find a bloodstained handkerchief, on which words were written with blood as ink.
Concubine Ning, standing beside them, her eyes lit up as soon as she saw the object.