Pollen Lady Kumi was weak, couldn't leave her bed for very long, and she had a sickening yellow tint in her complexion. Wen visited her often, sitting by her bed and personally feeding her medicinal soups and teas. Sometimes, Kumi had to vomit. Sometimes, she had extremely horrible cramps in her lower belly, as if severe menstrual problems were paying her a hateful visit.
Yet, Kumi often said, "It's nothing, nothing. Don't call a doctor just yet. I'm certain I'll find my strength again."
But her condition worsened over time. It got to the point where Wen argued with Kumi about it.
When the Emperor heard about the matter, he rushed to the Sweet Carrot Palace, although he held a handkerchief to his mouth when he entered Kumi's bedchamber. Wen was there again, sitting with a tray of food and drink in her hands. She put the tray on a little table and went down to her knees before the Emperor. "Good afternoon, Your Majesty. Your presence has honored us."
His free hand swiftly gestured to Wen for her to get up. "Have you sent for a doctor?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. He should be here soon."
Only two minutes later, and the physician entered the room. He knelt, but before he could say anything the Emperor told him to get up and tend to Pollen Lady Kumi.
She was so weak that she didn't even want to speak to anyone.
Not much time passed. The physician soon told the Emperor with a dour voice, "Your Majesty, I believe this patient has been poisoned!"
The Sweet Carrot Palace was the first suspected place for the poison. So, every single room was searched. Every room, even in the concubine's apartments. So many eunuchs all at once flooded the palace. It was so much more than anyone was accustomed to.
Eventually, as Wen and her maids watched, her apartment was searched. Inside one of Wen's jewelry boxes, there was a mysterious little blue sack filled with powdered herbs that didn't really have an odor to them.
That was when Wen knew she was in for a very ... unsettling ride.
The Emperor ... he was likely heartbroken, or that's what Wen assumed, because he didn't even come to personally tell her what his decree was. He just ... gave the decree and left the palace as soon as he'd heard the news. Wen sadly watched him in his sedan chair as she gazed out her window. Despite the distance, she noticed that his hands were in tense fists in his lap. And he was trembling a little.
According to the decree, Wen was confined to her apartment. No visitors allowed. Only her maids would tend to her. The Emperor had to be wary and not have her killed right away. There could always be more evidence. And there was the unborn child to think of!
Still ... the idea of his new favorite concubine being so evil ... Wen knew it had hurt him.
She put one of the Emperor's old boots on her lap and sighed. Some minutes later, she decided to write something down on some scrap paper. She let the boot clunk down to the floor.
"Whether it's a few seconds or an eternity, to know you think of me in such a way is a slow, unforgiving pain."
Then she went over to a tall brazier, where coals were burning. She put a cloth over the lid's handle to protect her skin. Then she pulled the lid away and put that paper she'd just written on on the glowing coals. As the lid was put back in its place, Wen's spine curled a little. She was a grim, drooping figure.
Lien came into the room then. She was carrying a tray with tea and rice crackers. As she sat the tray on the writing desk, she dared to say, "Mistress, there's not much to do except wait for you to be exonerated."
"You're assuming that will happen," Wen said. "I'm no fool. We all know the motive's obvious."
Lien sighed and told her, "This servant doesn't listen to such nonsense."
"Aside from Pollen Lady Kumi, I'm the highest ranking concubine here." Wen crumpled her cloth in her hand and stepped away from the brazier. "If she died, I'd become this palace's Madam."
Shaking her head, Lien said, "Mistress is tolerant and generous. Mistress would never harm Pollen Lady Kumi."
"That's what you're required to say," Wen said as she sat back down at her desk. "Insulting one's mistress would likely earn you a beating and a dismissal." She sighed and folded her hands on the tabletop. "Have you seen Yuwei?"
Shrugging, Lien said, "She put on a cloak and ran out of the palace. She said she needed to do something important." Pushing aside a lock of her nearly red hair, she remarked, "She'd better not be meeting a lover."
Wen reached for a piece of blank paper. "Now more than ever, I need a well-behaved maid."
***
The experts in the Medical Department were examining the poison that had been found in Bamboo Lady Wen's apartment. As for the Emperor, he was pacing back and forth in one of the reception rooms in his palace. His shoes made loud noises against the floor, but then were softened on a rug.
Min Ji scurried into the room, half-knelt, and said, "Your Majesty, one of Bamboo Lady Wen's maids has appeared in front of this palace. She's kneeling in the snow and begging for an audience."
The Emperor's feet halted on the rug. His pale eyebrows jerked up as he looked down at Min Ji. "Is she begging on Wen's behalf?"
Shaking his head, the eunuch said, "No, Majesty. She said she knows of a dreadful crime but she'll only confess to you."
Reasonably curious, especially given the circumstances, Emperor Shungjahe Shunlin's hand flew in the air as he called out, "Lead her in before she freezes to death!"
The shivering little Guo Yuwei reminded the Emperor of a poor woman. Even though she'd been eating well with Wen, she was still too thin and far too pathetic. As she knelt before the Emperor, she prostrated herself and made loud, gloomy sniffing noises between each word she gave. "Greetings to His Majesty. This servant humbly apologizes for disturbing the Emperor's quiet."
"Didn't you come here to tell me something important?" he impatiently said with a little groan, standing over her as if he was waiting for an opportunity to kick her, not that he wanted to actually kick her.
After another thick sniff, the maid said, "Please save this weak maid, Your Majesty! My family's lives have been threatened, and so, I had no choice but to commit a crime!"
The Emperor's heart twinged a little. He couldn't help it. This little maid looked like she could be easily bullied. He sat down in a chair and said, "Tell me more."
"One of Seafoam Attendant Bora's maid's pulled me away while I was on an errand some time ago. Then, I was forced into hiding poison, and using it quite hatefully." And yet another sniff, along with a tiny wail. "I was instructed to poison Pollen Lady Kumi, and then plant the poison in my Mistress' belongings in order to frame her. Had I refused, my family members would've been assassinated."
His stomach chilling, his face heating, the Emperor managed to spurt out, "What?"
Some steps away from the Emperor, Min Ji gasped and out a palm to his cheek. "That Seafoam Attendant Bora again?" Then he shook himself like a wet dog and bowed a little. "Ah, I've spoken too much again."
Then, without much of an introduction, which made sense since the Emperor had told them to put priority on this issue, another eunuch walked an important doctor into the room. They both knelt, and the eunuch said, "Your Majesty, this physician has said he's identified the herbs in the poison."
Immediately, the Emperor told the doctor to list them all.
And, how curious ... or perhaps not so curious ... all those herbs were known for growing almost exclusively in the province Seafoam Attendant Bora's family lived in. In fact, most of the herbs could be found in the forest surrounding that family's manor.
Within three seconds, a vase ended up shattering, the soil inside practically exploding and the plant falling, as it was hurled at a wall. Then the Emperor made his decree.
It was the final bundle of feathers that had finally caused a burden on the horse.
Seafoam Attendant Bora was done.
The Emperor would divorce her and put her to death.
***
The unpleasant issue was dealt with before the sun set. That Bora's body, and the removed head, would be sent to her family both out of politeness and as a warning. They'd offered him a murderous creature as a concubine, potentially endangering him and the whole empire.
Aside from the phrase, "good riddance," Lien didn't know what to think. So she didn't think too hard on it. She only kept working.
Guo Yuwei was punished, but lightly so, because she'd hadn't poisoned Pollen Lady Kumi with evil intentions. She was only trying to protect her family. A year's worth of salary would be denied from Yuwei, and she'd receive twenty hits.
She had to be carried back into Mistress Wen's apartment. In fact, the eunuch who helped Yuwei lie down on her pallet was that particular eunuch Lien had spoken to a few times, the one that had been granted by Pollen Lady Kumi a long amount of time off to visit his relatives. He said he pitied poor Yuwei and, with permission from Mistress Wen, he'd like to visit her at a later time to console her.
The next morning, while Lien was rearranging some plates, she saw that eunuch politely enter. "Yuwei's still unable to move," Lien told him, "but she's been very brave. She hasn't cried since she was put down."
"Thank you, Miss," the eunuch said as he went off to Mistress' bedchamber.
Wondering if Yuwei might be having an affair with the eunuch (even men without testicles had their charms), Lien sneaked over to the doorway and hid a bit so she could listen in.
"Oh, cheer up Miss," the eunuch said. "You still have your life."
"I ... I can only be grateful that my family remains unharmed," Yuwei said.
"My Mistress has said she pities you," the eunuch said, and here Lien thought she heard some metal pieces clanking together, but she couldn't be sure, "thusly, she's asking your Mistress to care for you very well."
"Bamboo Lady Wen is an understanding Mistress, but she was so angry that even though I was weak on this pallet, she knelt down, grabbed me by my shoulder, and slapped my face four times." This was true. Lien had been frightened when she witnessed it. "I'm humbled by Pollen Lady Kumi's forgiveness, but I'm not certain if I can regain my Mistress' trust."
