Chapter 73 It's all a dream

Lan Wu's hair was very long and jet black, like splashed ink. Chu Mingheng had never wiped anyone else's hair before, and he was a little too busy to handle her disheveled long hair.

"What is that?" Lan Wu looked up at him, but her eyes were covered by the handkerchief again, and her head swayed left and right with his force.

"An incense burner soaked in medicine."

Lan Wu's ears twitched, instinctively feeling that if she listened any longer she would hear something extraordinary, but while she was curious, she had no intention of interrupting Chu Mingheng.

She didn't even care about her disheveled hair.

"Does A-Wu know how many imperial heirs died in the late emperor's harem?" Chu Mingheng asked softly, and before Lan Wu could answer, he told her, "Seven, including four princes and three princesses."

Lan Wu listened in a daze, then stubbornly pulled back the handkerchief that was blocking her view a little to see Chu Mingheng's expression.

"The late emperor's harem was very lively. Ever since I can remember, every pregnant concubine would miscarry if she wasn't careful."

Even if she successfully gives birth to a royal heir, she will die unexpectedly afterward.

"The infighting in the harem was so fierce that even fewer imperial heirs survived."

At this point, Chu Mingheng fell silent for a moment.

Lan Wu, with her hair disheveled, reached out and grasped his hand, asking, "So Your Majesty doesn't want to see the infighting in the harem harm the imperial heirs, which is why you simply prevent the concubines from giving birth to imperial heirs?"

But that's not right. Some of the concubines had been pregnant, and His Majesty also has a little princess.

"That medicine can indeed make it difficult for people to conceive, but its effectiveness diminishes over time and it needs to be changed frequently. The things in Zhaoyun Palace were just replaced recently."

Lan Wu gave an "oh," finally realizing with a hint of resentment why he wouldn't let her in.

Considering that Consort Li was right behind me at the time, I really couldn't explain it clearly.

She suddenly looked up, surveying her surroundings, before Chu Mingheng quickly adjusted her chin and straightened her up.

"Stop looking. There's nothing in your palace, and nothing in the Jade Pavilion either."

He gently brushed aside Lan Wu's disheveled hair and said slowly, "I don't like children. I've seen too many of the late emperor's concubines vying for favor by using imperial offspring, and they either died or went mad, none of them ending well."

"I originally thought that since none of the concubines in the harem had children, there would be less infighting."

"But the human heart can never be satisfied, Awu."

Just like Consort Rou, whose hands are stained with blood, she has climbed to her current high position but still doesn't know how to restrain herself.

He divided the power to manage the six palaces between Consort Shu and Consort Rou, creating a system of checks and balances, which made the harem more stable.

Now, however, there's another one, Lan Wu.

Then we should reconsider.

Thinking of this, Chu Mingheng bent down slightly, met Lan Wu's eyes, and said in a slightly coaxing tone, "I have already told you, A Wu, you should tell me the truth too."

Lan Wu's heart skipped a beat, and she almost dared not look at Chu Mingheng. Her hands clenched tightly at her sides.

Chu Mingheng did not let her look away and continued, "I have issued an edict ordering the Imperial Penal Division to conduct a thorough investigation of the Imperial Kitchen. No one involved will escape."

The atmosphere around him grew increasingly somber, and it was only after a while that he heard Lan Wu speak.

"I had someone add something else to what she was going to eat... I did it because she plotted against me." Lan Wu's voice sounded aggrieved and frustrated.

Chu Mingheng had long guessed what she had done, so he wasn't surprised to receive her reply, but...

"How did you know that Consort Rou couldn't eat that fruit?"

That's the key point.

Even the Imperial Hospital didn't know that Consort Rou couldn't eat it, but Lan Wu did. Fearing that Consort Rou wouldn't eat it, she deliberately added things to her dinner, almost killing her.

Lan Wu opened her mouth, but her voice was hoarse; she didn't know what to say.

"I...I just...guessed," she said, her eyelashes trembling timidly. "I was just trying it out."

Chu Mingheng knew she was lying without even looking.

He gently pinched Lan Wu's cheek and asked her, "Was the matter of the Sanzhou Canal also a guess?"

The report was sent to the Emperor a few days ago. Just as Lan Wu had told him, the dike was at risk of breaching. The Qiu Nan region is rainy in the summer. If it were just a normal flood, that would be fine. But if, as Lan Wu said, it was a continuous downpour, then the dike that was repaired the year before last would not be able to stop the accumulated water flow at all, and a breach would be inevitable.

The Ministry of Revenue allocated funds, and the Ministry of Works sent people to oversee the repairs. It's unknown how much of it was embezzled during this process.

The report reached his desk, and he secretly sent people to deal with it. What needed to be rebuilt was rebuilt, and what needed to be evacuated was evacuated. However, he did not take action in court immediately, thinking that he would deal with it after Lan Wu's birthday.

Unexpectedly, Lan Wu secretly did something bad again.

He could clearly see Lan Wu's eyes widen, and he heard her anxiously explain, "Didn't I say it was a dream? It wasn't a guess—"

"Why are you bringing this up again? We were just talking about Consort Rou..."

Chu Mingheng couldn't help but pinch her little face and sneered, "Who told you not to tell the truth? Do you really think I'm a little fool like you?"

"You insulted me!?" Lan Wu glared at him and questioned him.

Chu Mingheng's anger subsided immediately. He released Lan Wu and said reasonably, "I know perfectly well what tricks you played in the Imperial Kitchen and who you bribed."

"The head of the Imperial Kitchen is someone close to Consort Rou. How long do you think your little tricks will last?"

At this point, Chu Mingheng noticed a hint of guilt on Lan Wu's face.

He narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "You know about this too?"

Impressive skill! Knowing that the head of the imperial kitchen was Consort Rou's man, it was impossible not to investigate the responsibility of the head eunuch after such a big incident. With that person dead, how could the investigation trace back to her? And she even used the emperor's will to cut off Consort Rou's arm.

Lan Wu panicked. She hadn't expected him to be so open with her; she wasn't prepared for it.

This method is good in every way, except for one thing: it takes advantage of Chu Mingheng in every single one of these schemes.

If it weren't for Chu Mingheng, we wouldn't have gotten to where we are now.

"Lan Wu," Chu Mingheng called her name in a deep voice.

Lan Wu's eyes reddened, and she got off the bed to get closer to him. But as soon as she touched the ground, she remembered that she was not wearing any clothes. Wrapped in the quilt and with her hair in a mess, she threw herself onto Chu Mingheng.

"I have said it all, Your Majesty, please don't be angry with me."

"Actually, what I'm saying is that dreams are all real." Wasn't my previous life also just a fleeting dream?

"These are things I learned in that dream." Not only did I know them, but I also participated in the dream.

"I was just trying to see if what happened in my dream was real, and that's when I came up with this... this bad idea." Good idea.

"Your Majesty, I did not mean to deceive you. In fact, I only just realized it myself." (I'm just lying to you, I won't tell you.)

"It must be that the gods and Buddhas are protecting me, allowing me to dream of this."

If she were to reveal that she had been brought back to life after death, Chu Mingheng would probably order the Imperial Hospital to treat her head. The truth was too bizarre, and she would never tell anyone about it in her life. She didn't want to be seen as a madwoman.