Chapter 401: Utterly Annoyed

However, it wasn't just the ministers who were anxious; the Empress was also in a hurry.

The method of using Chu Wan to poison the emperor now seems full of flaws. If the situation were reversed, they would only face certain death.

Yu Yuanchao didn't care. Anyway, the whip marks on his body had healed well, and the Empress personally oversaw everything. He continued to indulge in his womanizing every day.

Previously, Qingzhi gave birth to a weak boy. Although he was born out of wedlock, he was still considered the eldest son. The emperor gave him the nickname Pingge'er, and the empress also made a longevity lock and wore it around her neck herself, showing that she took good care of him.

Pingge'er is now several months old, and the Empress has just issued an order forbidding Yu Yuanchao from going out and causing trouble. So he simply teases Pingge'er every day, and over time, he has developed a feeling of affection for him that he didn't have before.

Perhaps feeling a rare sense of accomplishment as a father, Yu Yuanchao, holding Pingge'er, waved his hand and summoned all the pregnant concubines to his side to admire the flowers.

Shen Ruomei and Xin Jin arrived at the same time. They had no grudges against each other and greeted each other with nods, so the atmosphere was relatively peaceful.

The only servant who had been sent to fetch Xi Yue returned timidly, his neck hunched. Yu Yuanchao tapped the table impatiently, "What happened? Where is she?"

"Your Highness, the concubine said that Lady Xi is unwell and cannot join us for the flower viewing." The servant lowered his head tremblingly.

"And what about the concubine?"

"The concubine left the mansion early this morning."

Hearing this, Yu Yuanchao finally lost his patience and couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and angrily say, "Where did this concubine come from!"

Upon seeing this, the servant immediately knelt down to beg for forgiveness, his lips trembling slightly with fear. "It was...it was Xiao Huan, the personal attendant of the concubine, who said it."

"I merely invited her people over to enjoy the flowers and have a simple meal. What, are you refusing to let them go?"

She used to stay indoors all the time, and then she miscarried out of the blue. It doesn't mean that staying cooped up at home is necessarily a good thing.

Everyone could see that Yu Yuanchao was extremely unhappy at the moment, so the atmosphere became even more silent. Everyone looked at each other, and it was clear that no one intended to step forward and be the scapegoat.

Lai Fu was sweating profusely. He dared not offend either the Crown Prince or the concubine, and for a moment he fell silent, not even daring to breathe loudly.

"Your skin has all loosened; even I can't command you anymore?"

"Your Highness, it's really that the concubine refuses, and we really have no other choice."

Yu Yuanchao handed Pingge'er back to the nanny, then snorted with a sullen face, "I want to see what they're thinking."

After saying this, he left Qingzhi, Shen Ruomei, and the others behind, and led Laifu and a few servants to Shen Ruolan's courtyard.

In fact, if the person who replied had been someone else instead of Lai Fu, Yu Yuanchao might not have been so angry.

After all, Laifu had been serving him for many years. Knowing that Laifu had invited him, he still dared to refuse. Wasn't that blatantly rejecting him?

In the past, this would have been called romance, but Shen Ruolan's current appearance was increasingly uninteresting to him. Even the little tricks she used to deliberately play now seemed like scheming, and just thinking about them made him feel disgusted.

Hearing hurried footsteps outside, Xiao Huan assumed it was Shen Ruolan returning and breathed a sigh of relief as she went out to greet her. However, she was shocked to bump into Yu Yuanchao instead. Her face turned pale with fright, and she couldn't utter a complete sentence.