Rumor Has It That I'm Pregnant with His Highness' Child

329 Premeditated

That night, the emperor sent someone to the Justice Department to remind Xiao Juan to be prepared to go to the Imperial Concubine’s tomb to check on Imperial Concubine Yue’s tomb tomorrow morning.

Xiao Juan told Lo Pingsha about this and reminded him. “There should be people from the palace watching tomorrow. ‘I’ll think of a way to distract them. You take the opportunity to examine Imperial Concubine Yue’s body.”

“Remember, you have to be fast. You can’t move too much. Don’t be discovered.”

Lo Pingsha nodded. “I’ll remember.”

!!

Yu Niaoniao was filled with anticipation for the outcome of the autopsy.

She woke up early the next morning.

Xiao Juan and Lo Pingsha were about to set off after breakfast when Yu Niaoniao hurriedly stopped them.

“You’ve all gone out. It’s quite boring if you leave me here. Why don’t you arrange a mission for me too?”

Xiao Juan thought for a moment. “Go through Wang Xue’s information. She won’t seek death for no reason. I suspect that she might have been threatened.”

Yu Niaoniao immediately understood what he meant.

As the most useful palace maid on Empress Wen’s side, Wang Xue did not lack money or status. The only thing that could be used to threaten her was probably her family.

Yu Niaoniao patted her chest and promised, “Leave this to me!”

When Xiao Juan and Lo Pingsha arrived at the mausoleum on horseback, they realized that not only were the people from the Internal Affairs Division and the Ministry of Rites, but even Wei Liao was there.

Wei Liao smiled. “I’ve never seen someone open a coffin for an autopsy. You have to let me broaden my horizons today.”

Xiao Juan ignored him and walked straight into the mausoleum.

The others followed.

The Concubines’ Mausoleum was close to the Imperial Mausoleum. After the concubines in the palace of the Dayan Dynasty died, they would be buried here.

The officials in charge of guarding this place led the way. They quickly found Imperial Concubine Yue’s tomb.

Imperial Concubine Yue’s tomb was comparable to that of an Empress. From this, it could be seen that the emperor really doted on her.

Wei Liao sighed inwardly. Perhaps those rumors back then weren’t necessarily false.

If Imperial Concubine Yue and the child in her stomach were not dead, she might really have replaced Empress Wen.

Xiao Juan ordered someone to dig up the tomb.

The Minister of Internal Affairs and the officials of the Ministry of Rites stood watching.

The eunuchs from the Internal Affairs Division were fine. They only felt pity for what happened to Imperial Concubine Yue, but the two officials from the Ministry of Rites had ugly expressions.

When the Ministry of Rites found out that Duke Lang wanted to open the coffin and perform an autopsy, they firmly opposed it.

The Minister of Rites even rushed to the palace because of this and cried and begged the emperor not to do this.

It was said that it was important to respect the deceased. If he rashly opened the coffin for an autopsy, it would be disrespectful to the deceased!

If word got out, what would the commoners think?

They would probably drown in the saliva of the commoners!

Unfortunately, the emperor was biased toward Duke Lang’s words. He would not listen to a word of others’ advice.

The Minister of Rites was exasperated. He had fallen ill when he returned last night. It was said that he was still lying in bed.

Although he hated Duke Lang to death, there was nothing he could do at this point. He could not let Duke Lang do whatever he wanted in the Imperial Mausoleum, so he sent two officials to the Imperial Mausoleum to monitor Duke Lang’s every move.

As long as Duke Lang did anything out of line, the opening of the coffin and the autopsy had to stop immediately!

At this moment, the two officials from the Ministry of Rites widened their eyes and stared fixedly at Imperial Concubine Yue’s tomb, watching unblinkingly as it was dug open bit by bit.

The tomb was divided into two floors. There was only an empty coffin on the upper floor. After digging open the upper floor, they had to walk down the stairs to enter the real tomb.

Lo Pingsha and a few other Eagle Guards went down to the tomb.

Wei Liao also wanted to follow, but he was stopped by Xiao Juan.

“Opening a coffin and performing an autopsy is not a small matter. Unauthorized people are not allowed to enter.”

Wei Liao said, “I’m just taking a look. I won’t do anything.”

With that, he jumped straight into the tomb and walked down the stairs.

The people from the Internal Affairs Division and the Ministry of Rites also wanted to go down, but when they saw that Xiao Juan was still standing there, they hesitated, not knowing if they should go down.

The eunuch from the Imperial Attendant Division could not help but ask, “Aren’t you going down to take a look, Your Highness?”

Xiao Juan said calmly, “The air in the tomb is not circulating well, and there might be poisonous gas hidden. If too many people enter rashly, they might be poisoned. I’ll just wait upstairs.”

Seeing that he was reasonable, the eunuchs gave up on the idea.

As for the two officials from the Ministry of Rites, they did not move after weighing the pros and cons.

The Minister of Rites had asked them to monitor Duke Lang. Wherever Duke Lang was, they had to be there. They could not let him take a step out of their sight!

The air in the tomb was indeed bad.

Lo Pingsha found it difficult to breathe. But he was prepared. He took out a medicine bottle, opened the lid, and brought the bottle to his nose.

A cool scent entered his nose, immediately making his breathing easier.

He handed the medicine bottle to the Eagle Guards beside him so that they could smell it too.

Seeing this, Wei Liao shamelessly went over to ask for it.

“What is this? Let me smell it too.”

The Eagle Guards did not have a good impression of him. After using it, they returned the medicine bottle to Lo Pingsha.

Lo Pingsha pocketed the medicine bottle.

...

They worked together to open Imperial Concubine Yue’s coffin, revealing the precious burial items inside, as well as two skeletons, one big and one small.

Wei Liao covered his mouth and nose and came over. When he saw two skeletons in the coffin, he couldn’t help but frown.

“The little prince’s skeleton is still lying here. In other words, the baby’s skeleton found in the palace is not the little prince. Who could that child be?”

Lo Pingsha ignored him. He put on his special gloves and carefully flipped the bones.

Wei Liao immediately became vigilant and questioned.

“What are you doing? Didn’t Duke Lang say that we just have to open the coffin and see if the little prince’s bones are still there? What else do you want to do to the bones of Imperial Concubine Yue and the little prince?”

Lo Pingsha asked without looking up.

“How can you be sure that these two skeletons must be those of Imperial Concubine Yue and the little prince? What if someone secretly placed other skeletons here to confuse the public? I need to check.”

Wei Liao mocked, “What kind of joke is this? These are the remains of a concubine. Who dares to steal the remains here?”

“There are all kinds of birds in the forest. If we want to know if these two skeletons belong to Imperial Concubine Yue and the little prince, we’ll know after investigating.”

As Lo Pingsha spoke, he took tweezers from his toolbox and picked up a bone to examine.

...

After so many years of decay, the flesh had long rotted away, leaving only a wrinkled, hard grayish-black substance stuck to the bones.

Wei Liao stood at the side and watched Lo Pingsha’s every move.

“You guys actually planned this beforehand, right?”

Lo Pingsha did not respond. He went about his business.

Wei Liao said, “You said it was to prove the identity of the baby’s remains in the palace, but it was actually to open the coffin to examine Imperial Concubine Yue’s body. I’m very curious. Who came up with such a bold idea?”