Divine Doctor: Daughter of the First Wife (Yang Shi Liu) 801

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Thus, after court was dismissed, he did not rush over to the northern part of the city with the others. Instead, he hastily went to Cun Shan Palace to visit Noble Lady Yuan.

Information from court spread very quickly. Before Xuan Tianmo arrived, Noble Lady Yuan had already heard. When Xuan Tianmo entered the side hall, she took the initiative to ask before saluting: “What happened? Why did so many people suddenly die? Did you do something?”

Xuan Tianmo was stunned, “Me?” He then forcefully shook his head, “Imperial concubine mother, where is this coming from? I’m all too eager for those lowly people to help repair my reputation. How could I have them die? On the contrary, I want to ask imperial concubine mother, what exactly happened with those winter clothes? Apparently, the people who died had worn the new winter clothes through the night and froze to death!”

Noble Lady Yuan was startled and was unable to react, “How is that related to me?”

Xuan Tianmo simply stated it directly: “Were there any problems with those clothes? What sort of cotton did you use for those clothes? How much did you use? Were there any corners that were cut?”

It was only then that Noble Lady Yuan managed to react. It turned out that her son was suspecting that she had done something with the materials for the clothes, and this was the cause of those lowly people freezing to death, but she did not do it! Noble Lady Yuan felt very saddened: “If it was something else, I might be negligent, but when it is something related to your reputation, how could I do that sort of thing? Not only did I not cut any corners, I used the best cotton available, and twice as much was used. They were thick and warm. They’re even better than what I’m wearing. Not only was the cotton good, but even the outside was made using brocade. How could they freeze to death while wearing clothes like that? Even if they slept outside, it would be impossible for them to just die like that!”

Hearing Noble Lady Yuan say this, Xuan Tianmo knew that the problem did not come from his imperial concubine mother. He felt irritated and did not stay long. He just consoled Noble Lady Yuan a bit and said that he needed to go and investigate this situation, thus he quickly left the palace.

At this time, Zhu Kongshan had already gone to the northern part of the city. While crying, she took part in the funeral procession for those who had frozen to death. Her servant, Xiao Yu, was no longer at her side. Overnight, she had pushed Xiao Yu down a well in the Sheng Palace. In her mind, aside from herself, nobody else knew about it.

At present, she had already made preparations for tearing apart the eighth prince’s image. She had already burned every bridge and was fully committed. The plan had already begun to unfold. While bowing, she said: “It was all my fault for not going to inspect those clothes. It’s all my fault for trusting that His Highness the eighth prince really wanted to perform kind deeds for the people. It was this that harmed all of you.” As she spoke, she tore apart a jacket that she held, as dark and worn cotton was exposed. There were even many bugs mixed with the cotton inside. Zhu Kongshan said: “I really never thought that Noble Lady Yuan and the eighth prince would actually do something to the clothes! How can these worthless things be considered jackets? How can they possibly keep people warm? Yet I trusted them and treated these like good things to have them put them on! Who knew that so many people would freeze to death in a single night. It’s all my fault!”

All of the citizens from the northern part of the city gathered around Zhu Kongshan. Seeing the jacket that she held in her hands, it had clearly been made of new fabric; however, the inside was filled with trash and bugs. There was not much in terms of actual cotton. Wearing this sort of clothing to get through the night, how could they have avoided freezing to death?