Chapter 591 The Princess Consort of Yue need not pay homage to any of the harem masters!

The Chu Emperor blinked his cloudy eyes, which surprisingly revealed a hint of clarity.

Just as Li Qingluo was about to put a piece of food into her mouth, it fell from her chopsticks.

The Chu Emperor looked at her with dissatisfaction: "Look at you."

She has absolutely no manners of a noblewoman.

"No wonder they came from the mountains. Even if they have a noble lineage, they were not raised properly from childhood."

How did Rong Shi come to take a liking to you?

As he spoke, a hint of disdain flashed in the eyes of the Chu Emperor.

Li Qingluo: ……

It seems he really does know his true identity.

Seeing that she didn't make trouble for her because she was Pei's granddaughter, Li Qingluo finally breathed a sigh of relief.

However, he surprisingly said that he had no manners or etiquette.

Ha, how dare a tyrant who has completely abandoned etiquette and morality criticize others?

"Your Majesty, your days in the Cold Palace when you were young were not much better than mine, were they?"

Emperor Chu: "How dare you!"

"How dare you talk back to me? Do you have a death wish?"

"Do you know that no one in this world dares to mention their childhood in front of me, because none of them want to die?"

Li Qingluo: "If I were afraid of death, would I still be allowed to dine with you in the Qian Yuan Palace?"

Her tone was indifferent, as if she wasn't afraid of anyone's outburst.

The Chu Emperor felt a throbbing sensation on his forehead.

Last time, he couldn't do anything to her and was even taken out of the palace and suffered a lot. Now, although he can call the Imperial Guards to take her down, if he does that, he will definitely not be able to hide it from Rong Shi.

After all, Rong Shi was the one who single-handedly subdued the entire Imperial Guard.

Thinking of this, the Chu Emperor felt a surge of pride.

Moreover, the Chu Emperor had a premonition that if he were to harm her again, she would certainly not show any mercy.

He would definitely kill himself without hesitation before the Imperial Guards could capture her...

cough.

She's got her hands on me, and I can't do anything about her now?

No wonder she's the granddaughter of General Xiuli!

After a fierce internal struggle, the Chu Emperor glared at Li Qingluo.

Li Qingluo: ?

Although she was baffled, she continued, "After all, I am the wife of your subject. The world may not know that we are family. If they see me entering the Qian Yuan Palace alone, what will they say?"

"Since you don't care about my reputation and innocence, what's wrong with me arguing back a couple of times?"

Upon hearing the word "family," the Chu Emperor paused for a moment.

"What do we care what they say?"

"Anyone who dares to leak even the slightest word about what happened at Qian Yuan Palace today, I will cut out their tongues!"

Li Qingluo: "Your Majesty, are you trying to make Ashi angry again?"

However, Li Qingluo felt ashamed when she recalled that the former Prince Su of Liang had the same style of cutting people here and there.

Ah, now that I think about it, it turns out it was inherited from here.

"Your Majesty, didn't you want to know about A-Shi?"

"He used to have a title that struck fear into the hearts of many in Daliang. Does Your Majesty know what it was?"

The Chu Emperor, both excited and nervous, lowered his head and whispered, "Yama, the God of Slaughter?"

Li Qingluo smiled and said, "Yes. It seems you've already inquired about it?"

"Do you know that I once met him at the mortuary, and he..."

The two talked for almost half an hour.

Most of the food on the table had been eaten, and half a jar of wine had been drunk.

After talking about Duan Rong for a while, the Chu Emperor suddenly became very interested and wanted to take Li Qingluo to the secret room again.

Li Qingluo: "The secret room? Wasn't it all burned down?"

The Chu Emperor chuckled: "You think this is the only secret chamber I have?"

After saying that, he led Li Qingluo to the hidden door to the right of the dragon throne.

After pushing the door open, there was indeed another secret room inside.

Li Qinglu shook her head, which was already a little dizzy, and followed Emperor Chu inside.

Fortunately, there were no portraits of the mother in this one.

Instead, it was filled with small items that looked like they had been used by a toddler.

Slightly intoxicated, Emperor Chu picked up a rattle drum and shook it, his face filled with a look of reminiscence: "These are all things that Yue'er used when she was little."

“They were originally kept in her palace, and I would often go there to visit them, so as to remember the years I spent with her.”

"But later, a large fire broke out there unexpectedly."

"In order to salvage these things, I personally went into the fire back then. Fortunately, not a single one was lost."

Only then did Li Qingluo notice the faint burn scars on his cuffs.

Could it be that they left these things behind just to steal them?

No wonder Li Qingluo saw that some objects clearly had black marks from being scorched by smoke and fire.

It turned out to be the mark of being heated by fire.

etc.

There's a little wooden horse in the Cold Palace, but he doesn't remember it?

Fortunately, he didn't remember, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to steal it out successfully last time, and Ah Shi wouldn't have gotten anything.

Li Qingluo was still touring with her hands behind her back when the Chu Emperor suddenly glared at her with a mournful expression: "Do you know that you truly deserve to die?"

Li Qingluo was startled by his gaze.

Could it be that he's finally about to reveal his true, hideous nature?

But the next sentence from the Chu Emperor transformed his mournful tone into one of aggrieved sorrow.

Do you know how many years I've spent painting those portraits of Yue'er?

"You burned it all down for me!!"

"I truly hate you!"

"If you weren't Rong Shi's wife, I'd strangle you right now!"

Li Qingluo realized that he truly wanted to kill his own heart.

She gave a dry laugh: "Why don't you paint a few more yourself?"

"However, we must not let Ashi know."

"He strongly dislikes your feelings for Mother..."

Some things don't need to be said explicitly; the Chu Emperor understood.

His face flushed red, and he glared at her: "You bastard!"

"What's so shameful about me missing my own sister?"

"By the way, why haven't you had a baby yet?"

"Hurry up and give birth, and I will bestow all these things upon them after they are born."

Although he was filled with reluctance, Li Qingluo could sense at this moment that although this Chu Emperor was a tyrant whom everyone hated and wanted to kill, his feelings for Duan Rongshi were genuine.

At the very least, it's a case of loving the house because of its owner.

Because of his mother, and because of Duan Rongshi's face, he was infinitely more sincere towards Duan Rongshi than that dog emperor Duan Changyan.

"Your Majesty, although your favoritism towards Rong Shi is to make up for years of regret, have you ever considered that after your death, the new emperor might take revenge on us out of resentment?"

"How about we wait until we've helped you stabilize the situation in the court a bit more, and then let the two of us leave?"

The Chu Emperor's expression froze.

His eyes suddenly turned cold: "You're dreaming."

"go out!"

Li Qingluo was thus driven away by the Chu Emperor's sudden change of attitude.

However, she couldn't have gotten what she wanted.

On her way out of the palace, she encountered the Empress's people. "Princess Yue, our Lady heard that you have come to the palace and specially invites you to come and have a word with her."

Just when Li Qingluo thought she couldn't refuse and had to go, Eunuch Ji, who was personally escorting her out of the palace, blocked her way.

“Aunt Li, His Majesty’s decree is that anyone who tries to stop Princess Yue from having tea and conversation should be ignored. If any master in the palace has any objections, they may personally ask His Majesty for the reason.”

"The Princess Consort of Yue need not pay homage to any of the empresses in the harem."

"Aunt Li, do you understand now?"

Eunuch Ji stared at Aunt Li and gave her a cold smile.

Aunt Li's face darkened with anger: "But our Empress..."

Eunuch Ji: "If you don't understand, I'll personally take you to His Majesty to explain. Shall we go?"

How could I dare to leave my aunt?

In the past, it would have meant losing your head.

She was so frightened that her legs went weak and she immediately stepped aside.

Watching helplessly as Li Qingluo was sent away, Aunt Li cursed under her breath, "Vixen!"

When the Empress learned of this news, she was so angry that she threw a huge tantrum in her palace.

Not only were things smashed all over the ground, but even her delicate facial features were distorted and deformed.

This was the first time in many years that the usually dignified empress had been so angry.

The palace servants under her command trembled with fear, all thinking to themselves: Her Majesty the Empress's temper is getting worse and worse.

"Why?!"

"What kind of bewitching potion did the King and Queen of Yue give His Majesty?!"

"One commander of the Imperial Guards wasn't enough; he was also tasked with leading several thousand troops out of the city to suppress the rebels. Such a good opportunity to gain merit from a mere rebel force was not given to the Crown Prince, but instead to some nobody outsider?"

Is His Majesty getting more senile with age?

"Now they don't even care about their reputation anymore, summoning that Princess Yue to a private meeting and reportedly keeping her locked up in the Qian Yuan Palace for an hour or two!"

"He's so old, how can he still have the energy to molest his ministers' wives?"

"Doesn't he have any shame?"

"I just wanted to see what kind of person this Princess Consort Yue is. She even guards against me, the Empress. Even when she favored Consort Ning, she never disregarded my dignity as the Empress."

"Now he's actually protecting that vixen, saying that even I don't need to come and pay my respects. Does he intend to disregard the dignity and face of the entire Great Chu royal family?"

"His past tyranny was one thing. But now he disregards his son, disregards me, and disregards our marital bond—Guards! Bring my brother into the palace. Tell him I am unwell and have something to discuss with him!"

Before we knew it, it was evening.

The Empress had just seen her brother, Marquis Yang, off when people from the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs arrived.

Without saying a word, they arrested most of the palace servants in the Empress's palace.

"Take them all away."

Wang Quan, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, came in person today. After reading out the names on the roster with a blank expression, the entire Empress's palace was already in chaos.

Screams and cries filled the air, along with pleas for mercy and calls for the Empress.

After all, once you enter the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs, you're almost guaranteed to enter vertically and exit horizontally.

Even if some manage to escape death and make it out, they'll be half-dead.

That was hell within the palace, a place that terrified everyone who heard of it; no one was unafraid of it.

The Empress emerged from the inner palace and was astonished by what she saw.

What are you doing?

"stop--"