Great Consort Mei was very nervous. The three imperial physicians were already waiting. They thought that something had happened to the Empress’ health. They did not expect that they were here to help the Crown Prince investigate something.
They obediently squatted down to take a look.
The things in the two large jars…
The three imperial physicians took a sniff one by one, and their hands trembled.
Then they went to look at the small items.
After about 15 minutes, the three imperial physicians knelt down and said, “Your Highness, it should be bone powder in this white jar. However, whether it’s human bone or animal bone, we… don’t know.”
Animal?
How many animals could there be in such a huge palace? How could she make such a big jar?
Or did she get the eunuchs to buy the animals?
“Inside the red jar is processed placenta. As for the other things… This is deer placenta powder. This is a beauty prescription made from peaches and black chicken blood. Other than these… Most of them are used to enhance one’s beauty.” The imperial physician felt dry in his mouth.
Beauty-enhancing was not a big deal, but these things were a little gory.
There was no need to mention the placenta. The imperial pharmacy had it as well, but one should not consume it as they wished if the physician did not prescribe it.
One would not use much of the deer placenta powder either.
The entire uterus that was taken out from the pregnant doe included the formed fawn, along with the placenta and amniotic fluid. It was soaked in wine, reshaped, baked, and dried. Finally, it had to be fried and ground into powder.
It was a great thing, but it was exhausting to process and cruel to the animals. Even if it could be replaced with other medicinal herbs, it was rarely used as well.
The Empress frowned. Hearing this, she thought the thing in the white jar was something complicated.
“Great Consort Mei, what exactly is this thing that’s ground into bone powder?” The Empress asked.
Great Consort Mei’s expression remained the same. “It’s just some crushed chicken and duck bones a young eunuch bought outside. There are many peonies in my palace, and they are used to make fertilizer. It’s best to use them.”
Zhao Xuanjing sneered and had someone drag the two gardeners in.
The gardeners’ hands had already been clamped, and they were glistening with blood.
“Tell us, where did Great Consort’s bone powder come from?!” Zhao Xuanjing snorted coldly.
The two gardeners quivered, everything came out. “I-It’s the bone powder of the palace maids! We have been wronged. Great Consort asked us to tend to the peonies. She said that the peonies did not look good and gave us a lot of money to buy the corpses from the chief in charge of collecting the corpses!
“T-The stove used to burn the corpse is in the plum blossom forest behind the Great Consort’s palace!” The gardener quickly added.
After the Emperor ascended the throne, these great consorts had to move away from their former residence.
The place where they lived was very far from the main palace. However, because Great Consort Mei had been favored in the past and was known for being aloof and elegant, Empress Dowager Jiang decided to give her a good palace.
The palace was big, and there was a large patch of plum blossom forest behind it for her to enjoy the scenery.
When the gardener said that, the Empress was shocked. “You actually hid the ashes of dead people?! What are you using it for?!”
“Mother, please calm down. I still have something to report.” Zhao Xuanjing’s eyes were worried. He calmed down and said, “I’ve found out that ever since these two people used bone powder to fertilize the peonies in Great Consort Mei’s palace, they have gone out of control and colluded with the chamberlain. In the past few years, the bones of those palace maids who were further away from their hometown have almost been hidden by them. In addition, they also bought a lot of animal bone powder from outside… These bone powder were used on the peonies they were responsible for, including the ones that the noble ladies were looking at today…”
