Upon learning of Mei Xiyuan's death, he stumbled and rushed to her palace.

Looking at Mei Xiyuan's cold body, the Empress was unable to accept it for a moment. Overwhelmed with grief, she collapsed beside her coffin and let out a series of mournful cries.

"Yongle!"

"Your Majesty's Yongle!"

"how so?"

"You said you would take Mother away from here."

"You said that once you come back, the three of us, mother and children, will never be separated again."

"But now, how could you just die like this?"

"Who did this?"

"Who did this?"

"Who killed my beloved Yongle?"

Beside him, his son, Mei Zhihao, also pretended to cry uncontrollably, talking to himself.

"Royal sister!"

"My royal sister!"

"We haven't gotten back what's rightfully ours."

"My royal sister, how could you die like this?"

"If you die, what will happen to us?"

"That courtyard is only inhabited by men and old nannies. Life there is dull and boring, and my brother can't stand it for even a day anymore."

At this moment, Lu Yuan arrived after hearing the news. Upon hearing the mother and son's words, he couldn't help but feel sorry for Mei Xiyuan and exclaimed, "What a wonderful mother and son! Princess Yongle has already died for you two, and you still only think about using her!"

Upon hearing this, Ji Hou turned around and questioned Lu Yuan.

Who is it?

"Who exactly harmed my Yongle Emperor?"

"Is it you, or someone else?"

Lu Yuan snorted coldly and said, "Isn't Princess Yongle's current situation entirely your doing, Empress Dowager?"

Mei Zhihao helped the Empress to her feet, and she went forward to argue with him.

"What did you say?"

"You're saying that I, the Empress Dowager, ruined Yongle?"

Before Lu Yuan could speak, Mei Zhihao angrily shouted, "You're talking nonsense! How could it be that the Empress Dowager harmed the Imperial Sister?"

Immediately afterwards, he began searching around: "It must be that bitch, it must be her! Where is that bitch? Make her come out and die, pay for my sister's life! We absolutely cannot let Dongning Kingdom fall into her hands again."

Seeing him spouting nonsense like a mad dog, Lu Yuan drew his sword and pointed it at his nose.

"If it weren't for the Empress's order to release you and your son to bid farewell to Princess Yongle today, you would never have been able to leave that courtyard in your entire lives. Now, not only are you ungrateful, but you're also turning around and biting the hand that feeds you. If you dare to speak disrespectfully to the Empress again, I'll make sure your head rolls off the ground right now."

Seeing the intimidating gaze and imposing aura, Mei Zhihao was immediately frightened and took several steps back, finally hiding behind the Empress.

At this point, the Empress Dowager repeatedly questioned him.

"What exactly happened?"

How exactly did Emperor Yongle die?

What exactly did she do?

Lu Yuan still feels lingering fear when he recalls the series of events that happened that day.

"Princess Yongle colluded with Tuoba Ze, the eldest prince of the former Beilie Kingdom, in an attempt to incite the regent to start a war between Xiqin and Dongning, which almost led to a disaster."

"When the scheme failed, she secretly used the Third Prince's wife to poison the Empress again. After the Third Prince and his wife discovered the plot, the three of them got into a fight, and she stabbed the Third Prince with a dagger. The Third Prince is still unconscious. If it weren't for the Empress, he would probably be beyond saving!"

...

Hearing all that Mei Xiyuan had done, the Empress was indeed shocked, and asked blankly, "So, who exactly killed Yongle?"

Lu Yuan took a breath and admitted, "It was me! But I think the princess saw me behind her. She could have easily avoided me, but she didn't. Perhaps she also wanted to be free!"

Finally, tears streamed down her face, but the Empress Dowager retorted, "Liberation? As a woman, from the day she was born into the royal family, she was destined to never escape the arrangements of fate! Yongle, in the end, was not ruthless enough!"

Lu Yuan sighed and asked, "But the Empress Dowager is the Empress Dowager, and also a mother. Has she ever thought about the happiness of her children? Has the Empress Dowager ever truly cared about what the princess wants? Perhaps, all she wants is a word of affirmation from you, or a heartfelt expression of a mother's concern!"

Perhaps it's because of the vegetarian diet and Buddhist chanting these days that I've gradually settled down.

Reflecting on her life, she finally said softly, "Perhaps, I was wrong! I shouldn't have imposed on her what I couldn't have, making her bear too much that she shouldn't have had to bear, and that she couldn't bear."

Finally, she turned around and straightened Mei Xiyuan's clothes, then looked at her face carefully and said, "Very well, let her reincarnate as soon as possible and be a woman from an ordinary family in her next life!"

He then turned and went out, returning to his own courtyard. He ordered the palace gates to be closed tightly, vowing never to leave this place again.

Her son, Mei Zhihao, could not bear the austere and simple life, and felt that there was no hope left after Mei Xiyuan's death. He went completely insane a few days later.

Meanwhile, in the Western Qin imperial palace, the chief eunuch beside Emperor Jing had been going crazy these past few days.

To this day, no information about Yi Shangkun has been found.

Just when everything seemed to have come to a standstill, trapped in a dead end, with no clue what to do next.

The head eunuch, at his wit's end, overheard two young female pharmacists whispering to each other as he passed by the Imperial Pharmacy.

"I have something to tell you!"

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know if I'm seeing things, but a few days ago when I accompanied the master out of the palace to Yanfu Temple to administer medicine, I think I saw the Empress Dowager."

"Who? The Dowager Consort? Wasn't she already dead?"

"But I saw it clearly. I saw not only the Dowager Consort, but also Granny Zhang. It's impossible that I saw both of them wrong!"

How could that be?

"The Imperial Concubine is still alive?"

"Thinking about the Qin Prince's mansion, it's truly a tragic situation!"

"His Highness the King of Qin loved his people like his own children. He fought countless battles throughout his life, protecting the peace of Western Qin and was deeply loved by the people. How could he have met such an end?"

"The people's eyes are sharp; few believe that His Highness the King of Qin would collude with the enemy and betray the country!"

"But His Highness Prince Qin is already dead. The poor Empress Dowager must be heartbroken!"

"Well, who can argue with that?"

...

Upon hearing this, the chief eunuch's eyes lit up, and he strode quickly toward Emperor Jing's study.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Jing was indeed invigorated: "Are you telling the truth?"

The chief eunuch said, "Whether it's true or not, a search will make it clear."

There is no time to lose.

Soon, a large force surrounded the entire Yanfu Temple, making it completely impassable.

"search!"

At a single command, countless cold-faced soldiers stormed into the temple with their weapons.

The people inside began to scatter in all directions: "Oh no! The soldiers are here to arrest us!"

Just after Consort Chun, Granny Zhang, Physician Yue, and the rest of the group were taken away by a group of people, Xuan Yuanhan's figure slowly appeared on a street not far from the temple.

As the master and servant were walking, a stall selling sachets on the side of the street, filled with sachets of various colors and styles, caught their eye.

Xuanyuan Han then slowly stopped and remained there.

Upon seeing this, Cheng Liang said, "Time flies! Today is already the Dragon Boat Festival! The Imperial Concubine is confined to the temple all day and cannot go out. Why don't you personally choose one for her to take back? It would be a way to celebrate the festival."

As soon as the master and servant arrived at the stall, the stall owner began to give a long and detailed introduction.

"Sir, come and take a look! I have the most complete selection of sachets on this street. There are light red satin embroidered sachets with flowers, fruits, and five poisonous creatures; light yellow satin embroidered sachets with flowers, fruits, and five poisonous creatures; light yellow satin sachets with brocade stitching..."

"Also, you can't judge a sachet by its appearance alone; the herbs inside are the key. My sachet is filled with the finest cloves, patchouli, calamus, mugwort, and angelica..."

Even if the stall owner's introduction was varied and his praise was extravagant, Xuan Yuanhan only kept his bright eyes on a sachet with a few white plum blossoms inlaid on a sapphire blue silk.

The sachet looked so familiar that even Cheng Liang was startled when he saw it.

He quickly and secretly touched his body to make sure that the thing was still there before letting out a long sigh of relief.

Then, feigning surprise, she exclaimed, "This sachet looks so familiar!"

After a moment's thought, Cheng Liang continued, "I remember now, this sachet looks exactly like the one you lost before. Why don't you buy it, Master?"

Unexpectedly, after looking at it for a long time, Xuanyuan Han finally said, "No need. Even if it looks similar, it's not the original one."

So he picked a sachet embroidered with a few chrysanthemums from the side of the stall and left.

As they continued walking, Cheng Liang asked tentatively, "Is Your Highness thinking about the Princess Consort again?"

However, Xuanyuan Han did not answer him.

After calming himself down a bit, Xuan Yuanhan felt a little worried: "There's not much time left before the final operation. If Mother stays at Yanfu Temple for too long, it will become unsafe. After all, this place is very close to the palace. If someone recognizes her, it will be terrible!"

Cheng Liang thought it made sense, so he suggested, "Why don't we settle the Empress Dowager and Yi Shangkun's family together so they can look after each other?"

Xuanyuan Han nodded: "Okay, let's move immediately!"

Just then, a little boy of about four or five years old suddenly bumped right into Xuan Yuanhan.

Cheng Liang was startled: "Whose child is this? Why isn't an adult with him?"

Xuanyuan Han stretched out a hand to stop him: "It's alright!"

Unexpectedly, the little boy seemed to be holding something in his hand, and he handed it to Xuan Yuanhan.

Xuanyuan Han bent down slightly and asked the little boy, "What is this?"

But after the little boy handed the things in his hand to Xuanyuan Han, he ran away without saying a word.

Cheng Liang looked in the direction the child had left, puzzled, and said, "Hey, what's wrong with that child?"

Xuanyuan Han was equally puzzled, so he opened his large, well-defined hand and took a closer look, only to find that the little boy had handed him some angelica root.

Cheng Liang: "Angelica sinensis?"

So he hurriedly asked his master, "What does this mean? Why is the child being given to Your Highness?"

Xuanyuan Han thought for a moment: "That child just now seemed to have come from the direction of Yanfu Temple, Dang Gui..."

He then exclaimed in alarm, "Oh no! Something has happened to Mother!"