"Is something wrong?" Lei Xing asked looking at the Emperor with concern, he suddenly had a range of emotions flitting across his face and it was clear something was bothering him.

The Emperor turned back to her face and smiled as he brought a hand to her face and moved it down to hold her hand, "I was worrying over how it easy it was for someone to have hurt you..It was lucky they did not want your life that night..."

Lei Xing nodded in agreement. She had thought about that too and it was very worrying.

{...It was really lucky and frankly very stupid of Chen You...Why not just kill me then? Foolish pride is a dangerous thing, she must have wanted to embarrass me first...It was really stupid to waste a golden opportunity just for that or -!...}

"Do you remember anything about how you came to be drugged?" The Emperor asked. While he had gotten Bi Lo and Bi Lu's account of the incident, he wanted to hear from Lei Xing herself to see if she would have noticed anything more. He should have honestly had this conversation with her that morning, but then many things were happening that day and over the last few days as well.

Lei Xing knit her brows and thought for a bit and explained, "Someone bumped into me with what felt like a pin cushion while walking. It was then...and then during the crowd rush, I felt it again, I think - I can't really be sure that time...But it was very crowded and dark, and I wasn't really paying much attention to people's faces, so I have no idea what the person looks like. I'm sorry..." Lei Xing said frowning, disappointed with herself.

Something suddenly occurred to her and her eyes lit up, but then she frowned again and lowered her head and hesitated. She bit her lip and glanced up at the Emperor, who raised his eyebrows and then he sighed and said, "You're thinking of my brother..."

Lei Xing immediately raised her head up and defended, "Not like that!...I-it's just...He was right next to me...so he might have...seen something, maybe..." She said as she lowered her head again, feeling embarrassed and guilty. She knew it was not her fault, but it was definitely not something pleasant to remember or discuss for both of them.

The Emperor pat her head and? said, "It's alright, I thought about him too..."

Bi Lo and Bi Lu also did not get a good look at the person who bumped into her. It was dark and the lighting was weak so they could see nothing of the person's facial features from their distance.?The person knew to keep their head and presence obscure the entire time as they breezed through, so all?they could gather was that it seemed to be a young man.

He was hoping Lei Xing would have noticed something more, but alas that came up empty as well. He sighed, he was not feeling inclined to meet his brother at the moment...But it seems he could not avoid it now, this was too important.

"I'm sorry I could not be more useful..." Lei Xing said with a pout.

{...This sucks...I suck...}

"You being alive and well is more than helpful." The Emperor responded with a smile and Lei Xing narrowed her eyes at him, obviously unconvinced and not amused.

{...Sweet but being nothing but the source of trouble is anything but helpful...Useless is the term you're looking for -_-)...Actually on second thought, all this technically happened because of him, but he's useful, very useful...It's that stupid Chen You who is useless!...}

"Did Chen You not confess?" Lei Xing asked. Ideally, she should have been able to pinpoint her co-conspirators.

{...Unless, she's just an idiot and a low-level minion...Shit! That's even worse...Ahh, story of my life, of course -_-)'...}

The Emperor let out a breath and instead of answering the question, he asked, "What do you think of that maid Chun Hua?"

Lei Xing raised an eyebrow.

{...Odd question line but okay...}

"I don't know,? a bit odd...But that might have to do with Chen You...Or maybe not actually. She's always just felt odd..." Lei Xing finished as she knit her brows in thought.

"Why odd?" The Emperor curiously asked. He had randomly blurted out the question, but it seems she might actually know something.

Lei Xing pursed her lips, "Well, it might just have been me being too sensitive...But even when Li Ru told me about her helping me, it honestly still felt odd...That day when I freed her and even gave her more money than the others, she had insisted on becoming my servant. I thought it odd...Then she later came to be Chen You's personal maid, but then she still came to me again to plead for me to take her in as a maid again..."

"...According to her, she had saved Chen You's mother from something, and so the woman took her in out of gratitude. Then she said Chen You's personal maid who was supposed to come to the palace died and so she came as a replacement...She had a family's gratitude and was already Chen You's right hand, but she still wanted to work for me. Even on the condition of being demoted to an ordinary maid...Fine, she might have really been beaten to death by the slave trader if I didn't step in. But shouldn't she want to live a better life especially when I already gave her my blessings...It's suspicious and I don't understand that."

{...Makes no sense as far as I'm concerned but maybe I'm just horrible ˉ\(o_o)/ˉ...}

The Emperor knit his brows and thought it over, "She wanted to be your maid...and you refused, multiple times."

Lei Xing nodded, "It didn't make sense to me...Especially considering she was coming from Chen You. We may be "cousins", but Chen You clearly doesn't have my best interests at heart...So her "happily" handing this servant to me was suspicious. I didn't want to house a potential snake."

The Emperor nodded, he felt that Lei Xing was right in her thoughts.

According to his sources, after Chen You left for the palace, her mother suddenly fell gravely ill. But the Chen family did not want to interrupt Chen You during the competition, and so they did not even ask for an Imperial doctor and instead chose to wait for the selection to be over.

The doctors outside the palace were useless and she was getting increasingly worse. Until one day Chun Hua showed up at their manor, claiming to be a skilled healer and they gave her a try and she healed her. The same illness also afflicted Chen You's personal maid but the skilled healer claimed it was too late to save her.

After that, Chun Hua stayed on at the Chen family as an honored guest, and they became fast friends with Chen You's mother, who found her to be incredibly wise and capable. And so out of concern for Chen You's safety in the palace, she asked for Chun Hua to go to the palace and assist Chen You and the Chen family even paid her heavily for this.?And so she agreed to go assist Chen You for a period of time, and hence she arrived at the palace.

While it was odd that a skilled healer would have opted to become a maid, for a right price you could get most people to do as you wish and the Chen family offered a great price. But what the Emperor found most perplexing was Chen You's parents, Regardless of the fact that she saved the madam's life, she was still a stranger.

When you combine that to Lei Xing's story with the Chen family's. Chun Hua's character became even more suspicious. If Lei Xing had accepted her offer the first time, it was possible she could have followed her to the palace as well. But then Lei Xing refused and sent her away.

Then she ended up at the Chen manor, where Chen You's mother and personal maid were conveniently afflicted with an illness that left the doctors lost...but then conveniently, this random healer luckily showed up with the necessary skills. But she could only heal Chen You's mother but again could not heal the personal maid. And then later, this healer took the place of the dead and entered the palace.

The Emperor narrowed his eyes and quietly said, "Interesting." He was now starting to get an idea of what might really be going on here.

Chun Hua ended up in the palace at Chen You's side, as she initially could have through Lei Xing.

She accepted pay and made a promise to assist Chen You, but then why would she try to plant herself at Lei Xing's side again once in the palace?

He could ask Chen You but he suspected she would not even know the truth herself. Plus, at the moment Chen You was looking to be nothing more than a pawn. All actions seemed to always be predicated by Chun Hua's actions. Her own parents thought her inadequate and Chun Hua capable enough to overlook her unclear identity.

Once one thought of what made Lei Xing different from Chen You, a motive becomes clear. A cunning smirk spread on the Emperor's face. He was suddenly very excited about unmasking this plot.