“What’s wrong with that? He wants to climb the social ladder by marrying Fanghua, so of course we should give him that opportunity.”

Yuan Shen's smile was cold.

Song Xibai fell silent.

She could only conclude that Yuan Shen had angered Meng Liang.

In fact, the guards who patrolled the palace were all Yuan Shen's confidants.

Yuan Shen is always extremely good to his people, but if someone betrays him, he will abandon them without hesitation.

Initially, when the eldest princess plotted to marry Meng Liang, Yuan Shen sided with Meng Liang, feeling that he shouldn't let her down. But now that he knows Meng Liang has ulterior motives, Yuan Shen's opinion has changed.

"If he wants to take a shortcut, then he has to bear the consequences of that path."

Song Xibai tugged at his sleeve, changing the subject.

"He's officially been replaced as the commander of the Imperial Guards, but what about Chen Si? Where has he been transferred?"

“Go to the border.” Yuan Shen had already made up his mind. “Chen Si is capable, but he has never had the opportunity to gain experience. He has always been constrained in the capital and has found it difficult to improve. I plan to send him to the southwest for two years before sending him to the northern frontier.”

Song Xibai suddenly realized: "You mean you want to groom him as the successor to General Xuanwei?"

"I do have that idea, but he has to be able to do it."

As he spoke, Yuan Shen suddenly sighed.

"There are very few people who can truly be of use to me."

Song Xibai took his arm and comforted him, "Isn't there a special imperial examination next month? We're sure to select a lot of talented people then."

In the spring of the first year of a new emperor's ascension to the throne, an additional imperial examination would usually be held, known as the "Enke".

Yuan Shen had already ordered the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites that this special imperial examination should expand the number of candidates to include not only the regular Jinshi examination, but also the Mingjing examination, the Mingsuan examination, and so on.

He always felt that there were too many people in the court who talked big but too few who did practical work. The focus of this year's special imperial examination was quite different from that of previous years.

Song Xibai, however, was thinking about other things.

"The marriages of the princesses are still undecided. After the imperial examination results are released, Your Majesty can find a few candidates."

Yuan Shen was somewhat surprised, then smiled.

"That's a good idea. We can have the sons of those noble families and the newly appointed scholars gather together for a banquet, and let Ronghua and the others choose carefully. Hmm, relatives can also join in."

As they were talking, Yuan Shen finalized the matter.

The two strolled around the temple area for a while, and only decided to return after Feng Jia urged them for the third time.

Yuan Shen mounted his horse, while Song Xibai returned to the carriage.

The two children were already fast asleep, sprawled out in all directions.

Wen Niang stared intently at him without missing a single detail.

Song Xibai praised her, and Wenniang quickly replied, "This is what I should do."

After the two young masters almost got into trouble last time, she swore to herself that she would never let them out of her sight again.

“You don’t need to be so tense. Those spies in the palace have been eliminated, and such a thing will never happen again.”

Seeing that she was tense all the time, Song Xibai couldn't help but offer some advice.

But Wen Niang was still worried: "But that wet nurse Qiao's mistress is still here!"

Who knows how many people Consort De had planted in the palace before? Although she got rid of one wet nurse, it's hard to say there weren't others!

Song Xibai laughed.

"You don't need to worry about that. The imperial decree will be issued in a couple of days."

The reason why Consort De was not immediately dealt with was that Yuan Shen had not yet decided how to deal with Prince Lu.

Should we kill him, release him, or strip him of his title and demote him to a commoner?

Moreover, Yuan Shen was worried that the mother and son had other tricks up their sleeves.

Yuan Shen faced constant setbacks in the court, always feeling that the ministers were against him, as if an unseen hand was stirring up trouble behind his back.

He had a vague feeling about it all along, but he thought he was just overthinking it. Now it seems that there really is such a person.

He suspected it was the Prince of Lu.

Otherwise, why would Consort De make such a foolish move?

These words were spoken by Yuan Shen to Song Xibai during their intimate moments; they were only heard by her and no one else knew them.

Song Xibai couldn't explain to Wen Niang, so he could only offer a few words of comfort.

Wenniang was skeptical, but in the end she decided to trust her master.

When the carriage returned to Donghua Gate, the sky was already ablaze with fiery clouds.

The group passed through the palace gate and headed towards the Qianqing Gate.

Just as they caught sight of the Qianqing Palace, a person came running towards them at a brisk pace.

The man stopped three meters in front of Yuan Shen and then bowed.

It turned out to be Jin Xiang.

"Your Majesty and the Imperial Concubine pay their respects. Your Majesty, you have finally returned."

He wiped his forehead; in this weather, he was actually sweating profusely.

"What happened? What's wrong?"

Yuan Shen asked a question.

Jin Xiang took a deep breath: "Yes, it's from the Cining Palace."

Song Xibai and Yuan Shen exchanged a glance, and the same thought came to mind.

Could it be that Consort De has discovered something and taken action?

But what Jin Xiang said next surprised both of them.

“Isn’t Consort Shen of Cining Palace ill before? Because she was ill, no one was told about the eldest princess. But just now, for some reason, Consort Shen found out about this and struggled to get up to go to Renshou Palace to apologize to the Empress Dowager.”

Jin Xiang speaks very quickly.

"The Consort Shu managed to calm her down, but her condition worsened soon after. Within half a day, she stopped eating and drinking, developed a fever, and started talking nonsense."

As for what nonsense he was spouting, Jin Xiang dared not say.

Song Xibai composed herself and said to Wen Niang and Jin Nai Niang, "You two take the child back to Changqing Palace first. Wei Hong, you come with me to Cining Palace."

After speaking, she tidied her hair at her temples and struck a composed pose.

“Your Majesty, now that I am in charge of the inner palace, I should be the one to handle matters within the Cining Palace. Your Majesty is busy with state affairs, so there is no need to trouble you with these trivial matters.”

Yuan Shen asked with some concern, "Can you handle it?"

Song Xibai gave a confident smile.

"If I can't even handle this little thing, how am I supposed to manage the harem? Besides, don't I still have Your Majesty to back me up?"

After she finished speaking, she winked at Yuan Shen.

Yuan Shen laughed along.

"Go for it."

He raised his hand and straightened her collar.

Song Xibai bowed to Yuan Shen and led Wei Hong towards the Cining Palace.

Cining Palace is located to the west of Yangxin Hall, not far away. After walking a short distance, you can see the palace gates wide open.

The master and servant entered the palace gate, and the palace servants on both sides hurriedly knelt down to pay their respects.

Song Xibai didn't wake him up and quickly walked towards the courtyard where Consort Shen lived.

As a concubine who raised the late emperor's children, Consort Shen's residence was quite nice.

The Cining Palace has three courtyards. The east side of the main hall is where Consort Shu lived, while the west side is empty. The east side hall is where Consort De lived, and the west side hall is where Consort Shen lived.

As for the others, they were all crammed into the back enclosure.

Before Song Xibai even approached the west side hall, he smelled a strong medicinal odor.