Chapter 92 She was made to enter the palace voluntarily.

His eyes darkened, and he changed his words, saying, "It's alright, I've already made arrangements. You can disguise yourself as my attendant and come with me."

Shen Qingci's eyes lit up: "Is that okay? I won't be discovered and cause you any trouble, will I?"

"If I were to see His Majesty, wouldn't disguising myself as your attendant also be considered deceiving the emperor?"

Chu Jichen saw through her desire to go and laughed, "Don't worry, you don't need to see the emperor, and I won't let you see him again, not even in disguise."

"Besides, no one would care about an ordinary servant by my side."

Hearing his certainty, Shen Qingci no longer hesitated: "Okay, I'll go!"

Chu Jichen quickly arranged for someone to change Shen Qingci's clothes and put on a human skin mask. As soon as she got into the carriage, Chu Jichen summoned a secret guard: "Arrange for someone to disguise himself as Huo Yunzhan and go to see Emperor Yongming."

"Then wake up the real Huo Yunzhan, have someone disguise himself as Emperor Yongming, and go to see Huo Yunzhan."

Shen Qingci was taken aback and looked up at Chu Jichen.

After the guards left, Chu Jichen explained, "We can't let Huo Yunzhan actually see Emperor Yongming, otherwise he will definitely bring up the matter of the Shen family's private army."

"Although Emperor Yongming did not truly control the government, he knew about the Shen family's private army and would definitely find a way to deal with you."

"First, Prime Minister Liu is now on his side, and he might use Prime Minister Liu to take action against the Shen family."

Shen Qingci frowned: "The Shen family is gone."

Chu Jichen knew this, of course. His eyes darkened. "Yes, apart from you, there is no one left alive in the Shen family."

"But the remains of your parents and brothers are still there, the Shen family mausoleum is still there."

"I have served in the court with Prime Minister Liu, and we have been secretly competing with each other. I believe I know Prime Minister Liu fairly well."

"Although he looks like a gentle and frail man, he is actually... extremely ruthless and will stop at nothing to achieve his goals."

Shen Qingci's eyes widened. Remains? A mausoleum?

If Prime Minister Liu really dares to disturb the tombs of her parents and brothers, she will fight them to the death, even if it means risking everything.

Chu Jichen continued, "Besides using these methods to control you..."

"His most likely motive is to find a way to make a move on you through sexual relations."

Chu Jichen's eyes were dark and gloomy: "I even suspect that when you went to the palace to receive your title, he didn't really care about you. His target might still be his private army."

"Huo Yunzhan's previous attempt to drug you and send you to the palace was a tactic. At the same time, I suspect that Emperor Yongming was also waiting."

Shen Qingci frowned: "Waiting for what?"

Chu Jichen curled the corners of his lips: "Once Huo Yunzhan's hundred-day mourning period is over, I will rightfully issue an imperial decree to make you a concubine and summon you to the palace."

After her mourning period ends? Issue an imperial decree to bestow upon her the title of imperial concubine? Summon her to the palace?

"Isn't that unlikely?" Shen Qingci's eyes were full of doubt: "Emperor Yongming acts absurdly. If he really wanted to summon me to the palace, why would he wait until the mourning period?"

Chu Jichen shook his head: "Emperor Yongming did act absurdly, but he was not a fool, and he had Prime Minister Liu behind him advising him."

“I even think that many things that happened to you in the Huo family, and the fact that you have now completely fallen out with the Huo family, are all part of Emperor Yongming’s conspiracy.”

Seeing the confusion in Shen Qingci's eyes, Chu Jichen patiently continued, "You are the most likely person to know about the Shen family's private army, but if you keep quiet and refuse to talk, or if they push you to the edge and you commit suicide, wouldn't they lose more than they gain and completely lose their clues?"

"So, they first used the Huo family to attack you, hurt you deeply, and drove you to the brink of despair, making you leave the Huo family in a fit of anger and shame."

“Now that the Shen family is gone, they think that you are all alone and have lost all protection after leaving the Yongning Marquis’s mansion. They will try to ruin your reputation, preferably by accusing you of being a jinx, so that you will never be able to remarry.”

"Then I guess their next step is most likely to be to find someone to incite you to enter the palace voluntarily, or to enter the palace willingly."

Shen Qingci frowned: "How is this possible?"

How could she possibly enter the palace voluntarily? And even more so, willingly?

Chu Jichen's eyes flickered slightly, his gaze intense: "Now you know that the Shen family is innocent, that your parents and elder brother were framed. Don't you want to avenge them?"

“Of course!” Shen Qingci replied without hesitation.

This grudge must be avenged!

Chu Jichen nodded: "If it weren't for me, what would you do? How would you take revenge?"

Shen Qingci's little finger trembled slightly. Chu Jichen was asking what she would do if he weren't there.

She had actually thought about it before.

She thought... if it weren't for Chu Jichen.

She will most likely... enter the palace.

He will try to get close to the culprit behind the Shen family tragedy, find out the truth, and kill his enemy.

Shen Qingci raised her eyes to look at Chu Jichen, but remained silent.

Chu Jichen had already gotten the answer from her reaction.

He lowered his eyes, concealing the fierceness within them, and only smiled slightly: "So you see, they know your temperament very well."

"The only thing they overlooked was my appearance."

"Otherwise, their schemes and plots might actually come true."

Shen Qingci felt a chill in her heart.

Huo Yunzhan truly understood her temperament.

But she never expected that he would use this knowledge to scheme against her.

Even... it was used to force her to become someone else's woman.

Chu Jichen narrowed his eyes: "This is one of the reasons why I didn't let Huo Yunzhan see Emperor Yongming. Secondly, the most important reason is that I had Huo Yunzhan beaten... into a rather pitiful state."

"Logically speaking, I was only interrogating him about his previous identity; I shouldn't have used such harsh methods."

"Whether it's Emperor Yongming or Prime Minister Liu who sees this, they will certainly have some doubts."

Shen Qingci asked in surprise, "Huh?"

Since Chu Jichen knew that both Emperor Yongming and Prime Minister Liu would be suspicious upon seeing Huo Yunzhan's current appearance, why... did he resort to such drastic measures?

Chu Jichen seemed to know what she wanted to ask, and only smiled with the corners of his mouth: "Nothing else, it's just to vent my personal anger."

Although it was just a simple sentence, seemingly just answering Shen Qingci's question, the mere mention of venting personal grievances was enough to make people... have all sorts of wild thoughts.

One is her future husband.

One of them was her ex-husband.

The meaning of this personal grudge is quite obvious.

Shen Qingci coughed lightly and turned her eyes away, but she still heard Chu Jichen's soft laughter.

A soft chuckle was enough to make Shen Qingci's ears turn slightly red.