Maomao carries out her daily duties and delivers fresh laundry without disturbing Xiaolan’s lessons. Shortly afterward, she is pulled aside by Jinshi and Gaoshun to review a proposal for an educational center for the women in the palace. She advises choosing a more secluded location, as high-ranking concubines might take issue with women of lower ranks learning to read and write.

However, Jinshi has an even more urgent task for her: Maomao is to search the rear palace grounds for mushrooms, particularly poisonous varieties. Time and again, concubines have gathered wild mushrooms and suffered poisoning as a result. The case takes a serious turn when a concubine, presumably Jin, dies—apparently from food poisoning. At first, Maomao is denied access to the corpse, until another concubine, in a fit of spite, removes the burial shroud. In doing so, Maomao discovers that both the deceased and the woman who uncovered her are suffering from severe skin irritation and hair loss—symptoms she had already noticed in one of Jin’s maids.

Hongniang tells Maomao that Jin was not particularly well-liked and was known to be domineering and cruel toward her maids and other concubines. There are also rumors that she was involved in Gyokuyou’s poisoning when the latter was pregnant with the princess. During her investigation, Maomao discovers a bright red mushroom—the highly toxic fire coral. Even mere contact can cause severe poisoning. She demonstrates the danger of the mushroom to Jinshi and Gaoshun and, for the first time, reveals the wounds on her own bandaged arm, caused by contact with the fungus.

With Gaoshun’s help, Maomao unexpectedly makes an even greater discovery: the spot where she found certain mushrooms conceals a corpse. It is the real Concubine Jin, who died over a year ago. The recently deceased woman was thus an impostor—likely a court lady forced to take on her role, who has now also met her end.

After her report, Maomao’s collected mushrooms are confiscated by Jinshi to prevent further dangerous experiments. The resolution of the case now lies in the hands of higher authorities.