"Whenever a concubine was pregnant with the Emperor's child, the Xiao Family would administer a secret poison called the demon fetus to the pregnant concubine. Any concubine who took this secret poison would have poor health and low spirits, but the Imperial Physician could find no symptoms from their pulse."
"However, by the time they gave birth, the concubine would inevitably deliver a demon, infuriating the Emperor and bringing punishment upon the whole family. Later, because too many concubines gave birth to demons, the Emperor noticed and discovered the Xiao Family's manipulations."
"This secret poison was passed down from the previous dynasty, and occasionally concubines and the wives of prominent families would use this secret poison to frame each other, until the Grand Ancestor of our current dynasty broke the increasingly corrupt previous court and ordered the formula to be destroyed, leaving only one copy recorded in the current court's Book Pavilion."
