Qian Zhuo submitted the statements. Yun Shang looked through them one by one carefully. Then she moved her fingers and ordered, "Go and ask the maid called Qin Yue and the wet nurse of the Crown Prince to come here. Let them come here separately and I'll interrogate them one by one. "
Qian Zhuo answered in a hurry. After a while, she brought in the wet nurse.
Yun Shang's eyes fell on the wet nurse. She and Luo Qingyan had spent a lot of time and energy finding this wet nurse. She had been trusting her very much.
"I just read your confession. You said that when you bathed the Crown Prince yesterday, you found that his clothes were scratched, and a piece of cloth was missing. And a mole suddenly appeared on his arm?"
The wet nurse nodded and replied, "Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
The wet nurse hurriedly replied, "Your Majesty, I saw a piece of cloth missing from his Highness' clothes, but I didn't take it seriously. The Crown Prince is practicing horsemanship, and he is usually lively. His clothes are often scratched by branches, or he would exert too much strength when practicing martial arts. Thus it's normal for him that his clothes were torn broken. Usually, I don't dare to disturb your majesty for such a small matter."
"Then how about the mole on his Highness' body?"
The wet nurse looked a little flustered, "It was too late last night. I planned to report it to your majesty this morning, but just last night, the Crown Prince suddenly had a fever and called for an imperial physician. Thinking of this, I asked the imperial physician for the mole. "
"The imperial physician said that His highness crown prince is three years old, and it's normal for a three- year- old child to occasionally have one or two moles. As long as it's not a sudden appearance of many moles, or the moles are getting bigger and festering around, it doesn't matter.
Since the imperial physician said so, I thought I was making a big fuss about such a trifle. Thus I didn't report it to you."
Yun Shang tapped the table with her fingers. After a while, she said, "well, I believe you."
The wet nurse hurriedly bowed to Yun Shang. Yun Shang's hand, which was knocking on the table, paused for a moment, and then asked, "Besides you, who else is the closest person to his highness Crown Prince?"
"Your Majesty, I am mainly responsible for the Crown Prince' diet and daily life, and there is a maid named Qin Yue. She was promoted by Qian Liu when she served in the East Palace. She has taken care of the Crown Prince with me. Apart from diet and daily life, his highness' practicing martial arts and calligraphy is looked after by another two eunuchs. One is called Spring, and the other, Autumn. "
Yun Shang thought for a while and then asked, "Who served the Crown Prince on his way back from the birthday party last night?"
"It's Qin Yue."
"Have the two eunuchs served the Crown Prince after he returned to the East Palace?"
The wet nurse thought about it carefully and shook her head, "It's a little late when his highness Crown Prince came back to the East Palace. He just had some midnight snack and played for a while. Then he took a bath and rested."
"How about the midnight snack?"
The wet nurse thought for a while and said, "His highness ate a little more than usual. Maybe it was because his highness didn't eat much at the banquet."
Yun Shang nodded and asked, "How is the maid named Qin Yue taking care of the Crown Prince?"
The wet nurse lowered her head and replied, "Quite wholeheartedly.
Later, his highness played with his toys. I found that he didn't love his favorite nine serial ring and seven-piece puzzle very much this time. Instead, he liked the tiger puppet that had been left aside for some time."
Yun Shang stared at Qin Yue and then asked, "Since you have found so many abnormal phenomena, why didn't you report them?"
"I didn't think they were abnormal at that moment. After all, children are unpredictable. They might like this today, and they might like that tomorrow. It was not until when your majesty asked us to recall what was unusual with his highness Crown Prince that I remembered all these. "
There seemed to be nothing wrong with her answer.
Yun Shang rubbed the embroidered handkerchief in her hand casually. After a moment of silence, she asked, "Did you go back to the East Palace with the Crown Prince after leaving the Taiji Palace last night?"
"Yes, your majesty."
"Anything happened on the way?"
Qin Yue thought for a while and then said, "Halfway there, when we were walking outside the Huixiang Palace, his highness seemed to see something and suddenly ran towards the rockery beside the palace.
As his highness ran too fast and it was dark at that time, his highness disappeared from my sight for a moment. His highness only walked a few steps away, but he kept answering my questions. Later, I caught up and found his highness. I asked him what he was looking for. His highness said that he had seen a cat and chased after it, but it disappeared again.
I said it was too late, and I persuaded his highness to look for it again in the daytime. His highness agreed and went back to the East Palace with me."
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