Zhou Yafu won Liu Heng's trust, so he was naturally satisfied, assumed the position of deputy general, said everything in the training ground, and quickly brought his military talents into play. The news repeatedly returned to the palace, causing Liu Heng to praise him again and again.

And Liu Heng still has a lot of things to prepare, and he has been a lot busier recently. Yifang has been closed in the Guangyang Palace for a long time, and he only has peace of mind to raise the fetus, and his life is quite quiet. Since Wen Jiayi died under Chu Ruo's knife, the concubines in the harem have not produced any more moths.

Liu Heng and Empress Dowager Bo both wanted to set up Yifang as the queen, but now the situation in Chang'an is becoming more and more urgent, and the princes and kings are ready to move, Liu Heng is busy with these things, and he can't care about establishing a queen for a while. Yifang is also happy, the etiquette of the post-establishment ceremony is cumbersome, and she will inevitably be too tired if she holds her stomach, which is not conducive to the safety of the fetus.

These days, the doctors have come more diligently, which was specially arranged by Liu Heng. He was busy with political affairs and couldn't stay with Yifang all the time, so he asked the doctors to take care of him more.

The medicine that has been sent recently seems to be a little more bitter than before, and Yifang always finds it difficult to swallow. But the medicine had to be drunk three times a day, and the doctor had repeatedly instructed it, so I had to grit my teeth and drink it for the sake of the child in my womb.

"Beauty, today's medicine hasn't been delivered yet, the slave and maid are going to urge it." Teng Ling remembered the time when he drank the medicine in Yifang clearly, and every time he was a quarter of an hour late, he would be worried. These days, she and Zili's thoughts have been on this matter, and they have been around Yifang almost all day long, for fear that she will have a headache and brain fever.

"Tengling, wait a minute." Yifang stopped her, "I seem to remember that the medicine is always a little later these days." ”

Teng Ling thought about it carefully, exchanged glances with Zili again, and nodded: "When the beauty said this, I also remembered that the medicine seemed to be boiling slower in the past few days." The prescription is still the same as before, the taste has not changed, and the time to start boiling the medicine is the same as before, but for some reason, it is a little later every time. ”

Zi Centrifugal was worried: "There won't be a problem with this medicine, right?" It's been drinking for so long. ”

Hearing her say this, Teng Ling also became nervous. He had been drinking this medicine for a while, and if there was a problem, he was already in his bone marrow.

Yi Fang frowned: "According to my feelings, that medicine should be fine, it tastes exactly the same as before, but it has been boiled for a long time, but the taste is stronger." ”

"Slave and maid go and take a look, it just so happens that now is the time to boil medicine. If there is really any problem, the slave and maid will go quietly, and maybe they can bump into it. ”

Yifang nodded in acquiescence, and Teng Ling went to the small kitchen in the palace. There are sparsely populated there, and it was originally because I was worried that the smell of oil smoke in the kitchen would smoke to other places, so I placed the small kitchen in the most remote part of the Guangyang Palace. Now it is convenient for those with bad intentions to be able to do something in medicine.

Tengling thought so, but when she walked to the kitchen, He Ci was the only one inside. He Ci has always been very well-behaved, and after being pregnant in Yifang, he was assigned to Guangyang Hall to serve, but he was capable and obedient. She was fanning the fire in full swing at this time, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, but she didn't realize it, and she just wanted to boil the medicine quickly.

Teng Ling stood at the door and watched for a moment, but He Ci never noticed her arrival. She only paid attention to the medicine on the stove, and looked like she was usually able and careful, not looking like someone who would murder her master.

After patiently observing for a while, and seeing that she had never crossed the rules, Teng Ling finally walked out and stood beside her.

"When will this medicine be boiled?" As soon as Teng Ling spoke, He Ci was startled.

She turned to face Teng Ling, glanced at the medicine before replying, "Sister Teng Ling, it's about half an hour younger!" ”

"Why is it taking so long? Isn't it normal for beauties to drink medicine at this time? Tengling wandered around the kitchen, observing the place, hoping to find out what was wrong.

"It used to be this time, but this medicine has become more and more difficult to cook lately, even if it is boiled over high heat, it can't be cooked as thick as before." He Ci replied truthfully.

Teng Ling felt even more strange in his heart, this medicine is the same as the previous formula, and this should not be the case. She asked again, "Are you the only one who has always been boiling medicine?" ”

At this time, He Ci shook his head: "In addition to the slave maid, there are two other palace maids, one is called Xin Nuan, and the other is called A Ning. ”

"Where did the two of them go? Why are you the only one here? Teng Ling thought that since He Ci was fine, it must have something to do with the other two people.

"The slave and maid don't know, I can't see them these days, but the slave and maid are new, and they should do more." He Ci smiled very well-behaved, which made Teng Ling more and more dissatisfied with the two of them, and felt that they were even more suspicious.

"You go to the places where they frequent, and I'll look at them here, and if I find them, I'll bring them here." Teng Ling replaced He Ci.

"No."

Teng Ling guarded for a while, the medicine was indeed as He Ci said, it was not so thick compared to before, and although the soup was also dull, the medicinal materials under it could still be seen. But the medicinal materials inside still look the same as before, and the smell has not changed much, Teng Ling feels that he should find Zili to take a look.

At this time, He Ci actually came back with Xin Nuan and A Ning, and I don't know where they found it, their skirts were stained with some mud, but it had not rained in the past few days, and the soil in the Guangyang Hall was also dry.

"Where did you just go?" Teng Ling asked He Ci to send the medicine to Yifang first, and he began to interrogate the two of them.

Xin Nuan and A Ning's eyes were a little evasive, and because of this, Teng Ling felt that there was something strange about these two people. She simply sat down in the small kitchen, as if she would not stop asking anything.

"Sister Tengling, we're just going to the toilet."

"Going to the toilet? Why are you two sisters like sisters, do you even want to go to the toilet together? "Although Tengling is giggling on weekdays, it is just right to do business.

"It's a coincidence." Xin Nuan said a word squirmishingly, and Ah Ning didn't say a word.

"It hasn't rained these days, where does the mud come from on the hem of your skirt? Could it be that it was also stained when I went to the toilet? Tengling's gaze was like a knife, piercing straight at the two of them.

Ah Ning was already trembling a little, and Baba tugged at his sleeve to hide behind Xin Nuan. Teng Ling had always been very kind to them before, and he had never even spoken loudly, but now he was suddenly so serious, so that they also understood that this matter was unusual.

"Tengling, there's something wrong with this medicine." As soon as he said a few words, Zili hurriedly ran into the small kitchen with the medicine, "It's not that there are things added to this medicine, but that there are things missing." ”

"What's missing?" Teng Ling felt strange, she had obviously looked at it carefully when she cooked it just now, and it was almost the same as the previous medicinal herbs, and there was nothing missing.

"You come and see this." Zili turned the medicine residue over to her, "These look like medicines, but in fact they are just some ordinary wood, just cut into small pieces and added to the color, just to confuse the real thing." ”

"Wood instead of herbs?" Teng Ling was puzzled, "Even if it hurts the beauty like this, this wood is not poisonous, but why?" ”

"The medicinal materials in the palace are particularly precious, and many of them are tributes from various regions, or rewards from Chang'an, and the people naturally can't find them no matter how much money they have. I heard that some people outside the palace, in order to buy life-saving precious medicinal materials, did not hesitate to spend a lot of money and asked the people in the palace to secretly take them out. Zili said, then turned his gaze to Xin Nuan and A Ning, "And some unscrupulous palace people, in order to earn this money, also boldly stole the master's medicinal materials and secretly transported them out of the palace to sell." ”

"Could it be that you two are also doing this?" Teng Ling immediately understood, and immediately reprimanded.

As soon as Zili said that, the two of them were already terrified, and when they were asked by Teng Ling, they were even more frightened to speak. In the past, Teng Ling and Zi Li were gentle to people, and Yifang treated the palace people better, and occasionally made some small mistakes, but only two sentences were instructed. In this way, they became emboldened, and they felt that it was okay to steal some medicinal herbs and buy them. But now looking at Tengling and Zili's angry looks, I feel that something has happened in my heart.

"We, we didn't, we didn't." Xin Nuan's words were a little unclear, but he still subconsciously denied it.

Zili's gaze moved to the hem of their skirts, stared at the mud on it for a while, and then said: "There will be no mud in the Guangyang Palace these days, and there will be a few sunny days in a row, even if it is in other places in the palace, it is difficult to see the mud." If you want to get into this, you have to go to a place where there is water, such as a pond, a lake, or a moat leading to the outside of the palace. ”

When Zi Li's point was reached, Teng Ling immediately understood: "If you steal the medicinal materials and send them out of the moat, you can slide from upstream to downstream with the river, so that people outside can receive these medicinal materials." ”

Teng Ling and Zi Li said a word, and the two little palace maids who said it were flustered. What they said was right, these two people stole some of the medicinal materials that Yifang drank on weekdays and sold them in this way, and they could make a lot of money without anyone noticing.

Speaking of which, Xin Nuan and A Ning finally couldn't support it, and kept kowtowing while telling everything. In fact, there is no need to say more, Tengling and Zili have already figured things out.

After solving this matter, the two palace maids naturally dealt with it according to the palace rules. But their attention was on this matter, and they didn't notice He Ci, who had been watching from the sidelines, with an imperceptible sneer on his face.