Cui Huaiyin stepped closer and asked anxiously, “What cloth? Has it already been given to you?”
Hexiang replied, “Not yet! Princess Shengping sent word that she would have someone stuff the cloth near the water jar in the rear courtyard at midnight tonight. But I’m terribly afraid. I’m afraid the handkerchief is poisonous, and that it might harm Your Highness, the princess, and the little prince. Please, Your Highness, Princess, save me and my family. Princess Shengping threatened me, saying that if I failed to carry out her orders, my parents outside the palace would die a horrible death.”
“Your Highness and the princess have never beaten or scolded me. Even when I made mistakes, neither of them ever punished any of us. Though I come from a lowly background, I know the difference between good and evil, and I know how to repay kindness. I would never do anything to harm Your Highness or the princess!”
Cold sweat broke out across Cui Huaiyin’s body, and her hands trembled slightly as she helped Hexiang to her feet. “Thank you for telling me. You are a good person. Don’t worry—this palace will certainly protect your parents outside the palace.”
Hexiang knelt again and kowtowed. “Thank you, Your Highness! Thank you! Hexiang is willing to work like an ox or a horse to repay your kindness.”
“Did she tell you what was different about that cloth?” Rongyao asked.
Hexiang clutched the corner of her clothes and shook her head. “I asked, but Princess Shengping wouldn’t say. I suspect it must be something bad. If Your Highness were to come into prolonged contact with it, it might harm her health.”
Rongyao clenched both her little hands into fists.
In her previous life, she had seen Princess Shengping use a method like this. Somehow, Princess Shengping had obtained a piece of cloth and ordered someone to deliver it to Zhao Youzhen, the legitimate daughter of the Vice Minister of War.
She did not know what was wrong with the cloth, nor did she know why Princess Shengping had given it to Zhao Youzhen.
Yet not long afterward, Zhao Youzhen contracted smallpox.
The entire Zhao family was placed under lockdown. Half of its members contracted smallpox, and twelve people died. The disease nearly spread throughout the entire capital.
After that, everyone in the capital lived in fear.
Then Princess Shengping appeared like a savior and claimed that she knew how to prevent smallpox.
She spoke of cowpox, saying that anyone who was inoculated with it would never contract smallpox again.
The emperor believed her. He searched throughout the realm, but could not find the cow with the pustules Princess Shengping had described.
Princess Shengping had failed to eliminate smallpox. Instead, she had brought an outbreak of it.
She showed no remorse. She merely insisted that everything she had said was true—that across the sea there really was a kind of cow called a milk cow, with black-and-white markings. People who came into prolonged contact with those cows would develop pustules, and after developing them, they would never contract smallpox again.
She lamented that Great Zhou had no such cows and no such pustules. She could not earn merit and had instead received a reprimand.
What about this time?
Could that cloth be the very cloth Princess Shengping had used to kill Zhao Youzhen in her previous life—a cloth carrying smallpox?
“Mother! Where is Sister Mingyi?” Rongyao anxiously grabbed her mother’s hand.
Cui Huaiyin replied, “Mingyi is leaving the palace today. She should be packing her things right now.”
Rongyao called toward the outside, “Aunt Chenxiang, quickly call Sister Mingyi in!”
Chenxiang froze for a moment before answering, “Yes.”
Chu Mingyi arrived very soon. Before she could even offer her respects, Princess Fuxi took her by the hand.
Confused, Chu Mingyi looked down and saw the little princess gazing up at her with reddened eyes. In an anxious voice, she asked, “If there’s smallpox on a piece of cloth and someone touches it, can they catch smallpox?”
Chu Mingyi immediately became serious. “Princess, what did you say? Smallpox? Where is there smallpox?”
Cui Huaiyin hurried over and asked, “Rongyao, do you suspect that there’s smallpox on that cloth?”
Hexiang’s whole body trembled, and her eyes filled with terror. “Smallpox? How could it be smallpox?”
Rongyao tilted her head back and said earnestly, “I read about it in a book. If someone with smallpox has used a piece of cloth, and another person uses it afterward, that person may catch smallpox too. Princess Shengping wants Hexiang to secretly put the cloth into Mother’s hands, and that made me remember what I read.”
“The princess is right!” Chu Mingyi said. “If clothing or other items have been used by someone infected with smallpox, a person who has never had the disease may very well contract it by using them afterward.” She then asked sternly, “What exactly happened? How could something so filthy have entered the palace? If this cloth is touched by several people, smallpox could spread throughout the palace. Who knows how many people might die!”
Cui Huaiyin’s body trembled with fright as she quickly explained what Hexiang had just told them.
Chu Mingyi’s expression grew solemn. “If someone is trying to harm Your Highness, then that cloth must be dangerous. Even if it is not carrying smallpox, it could contain some other harmful substance. No one in the Palace of Everlasting Joy can come into contact with it.”
Cui Huaiyin’s expression darkened. “You’re right. We must destroy it.”
Hexiang was clearly terrified as well. Her voice trembling, she asked, “Then… am I supposed to retrieve it tonight?”
Chu Mingyi glanced at Noble Consort Cui, then at Rongyao, who had kept her head lowered. “Once you retrieve it, burn it immediately.”
Hexiang nodded vigorously. “Oh… all right.”
“No!” Rongyao raised her head and looked at Chu Mingyi. “If the cloth really carries smallpox, won’t Hexiang catch it when she touches it? I read in a book that once one person contracts smallpox, a whole group of people can catch it.”
Chu Mingyi paused, then said, “The princess is right. We must proceed with the utmost caution. I will personally go and burn the handkerchief. I had smallpox when I was young, so I’m not afraid of that filthy disease.”
“That still isn’t enough.” Rongyao stood up and said to her mother, “This matter is extremely serious. We must tell Father.”
Cui Huaiyin nodded. “That’s right. If it really is smallpox, one careless mistake could bring disaster upon the entire imperial palace. We must inform His Majesty.”
Cui Huaiyin’s shoulders tensed. She gently pulled her daughter into her arms and held her chubby little hand. Then she said to Chenxiang, “Go and invite His Majesty.”
Chenxiang replied, “Yes.”
…
Dantai Ji stared gravely at the palace maid kneeling before him. “Are you certain it was Princess Shengping?”
Hexiang pressed her forehead heavily to the floor. “Absolutely certain! I was sent by Commoner Chen to keep watch over Noble Consort Cui. But Your Highness and the princess have always treated me kindly, so I have never done anything to harm either of them. I thought that since Commoner Chen had been demoted to a commoner, she would no longer be able to force me to harm Your Highness and the princess. Who would have thought that just two days ago, Princess Shengping would find me and order me to…”
Dantai Ji asked in a deep voice, “Do you have any proof?”
Hexiang replied, “The person delivering the item tonight should be one of Princess Shengping’s trusted attendants. Once His Majesty sees them, he will know. I truly am not lying. I was afraid that the handkerchief might have been contaminated with something harmful and that it would injure Your Highness or the princess. If that happened, even giving up my life would not be enough to atone for my guilt.”
Dantai Ji remained silent for a long time.
“Father, could there really be smallpox on that cloth?”
“Impossible!” Dantai Ji rejected the idea without a moment’s hesitation. He looked at his daughter, Rongyao, and his expression softened slightly. “She is only seven years old. How could she know anything about smallpox? If she did know about it, she certainly would not do such a thing. She is also a princess of Great Zhou. She has been educated since childhood. She would never be so malicious, much less think up such a vicious scheme.”
Rongyao puffed out her chubby cheeks in anger. She lifted her head to glare at her father and said in her clear, ringing voice, “Father, you haven’t even investigated yet. How can you be so certain? I refuse to accept that!”
