Chapter 437 The Emperor Reads My Heart 7

The Emperor quickly shook his head and pushed all the silver notes back: "No, no! These were clearly earned by the Empress with her cleverness and wisdom. How could I have the face to take them? They all belong to the Empress."

Ning Yan was overjoyed and hugged the Emperor, kissing him on the forehead. "Your Majesty is so good, I love you to death! Your Majesty, it's getting late, let's rest now."

emperor:……

The emperor picked up the empress and carried her to bed.

...

The next day, all the minister's daughters entered the palace.

The ranks were all given by Ning Yan; they were all concubines or imperial maids, with the highest being a seventh-rank Baolin.

Moreover, she had several of these newly arrived concubines live in one palace, and that's when the fun began.

These people would start arguing at the drop of a hat, and when they did, they would ask the Empress to judge the matter.

Ning Yan: Am I an easy person to talk to?

She naturally refused to see him.

The messenger, Hongtao, then began to subtly instruct the young concubines: how can you meet without a gift? And whether you are right or wrong depends on whether you are polite or not.

The concubines understood: the Empress was greedy for money.

Then let's give a gift!

Before they entered the palace, in order to ensure they would be favored, their families prepared the best possible dowry for them; they had plenty of good things.

Then Red Peach began receiving gifts.

In a short time, Ning Yan acquired many good things.

However, the concubines quickly realized that no matter how much they stirred things up, it was useless if the emperor didn't favor them.

So the emperor got busy.

“Eunuch Fusheng, I am Consort Wu from Xingyuan Palace. This is ginseng chicken soup that I cooked myself. Please inform him of my presence.”

Fu Sheng went into the palace to report.

The Emperor had long known his plans from the Empress's words, so he was not angry at all about what happened today, and gave the following instructions.

Fusheng walked out with a heart full of joy.

His face remained stiff, without the slightest hint of a smile.

“My lady, go back now. Because I reported to you, my family got a scolding from the Emperor. You have really caused a lot of trouble.”

Wu Cairen's face turned pale. If she offended the eunuch in front of the emperor, would she ever be able to see the emperor again?

She quickly took off a jade bracelet and stuffed it into Fusheng's hand, coaxing him with a smile, "Father-in-law, please don't be angry, it was my fault. Please accept this bracelet."

Fusheng's expression softened, and he calmly accepted the jade bracelet. The young ladies were all dressed in exquisite clothes and headwear, and the jade bracelet alone was worth at least a thousand taels of silver. He thought to himself that they were smart to know what was good for them.

"Please go back first, Your Highness. We understand your thoughts. However, His Majesty is clearly in a bad mood today. Perhaps you could come another day?"

Please bring plenty of gifts when you come.

Wu Cairen left reluctantly, but as soon as he turned around, Fusheng called out to him again, "Young Master, why don't you leave the soup behind? We can offer the chicken soup to the Emperor later when he's tired. Maybe he'll be pleased and..."

Consort Wu was overjoyed and quickly gave the food box to Fusheng, then stuffed a red envelope into his hand. After thanking him profusely, she left with her maid.

After she left, Fusheng brought the soup into the palace. The emperor, without looking up, instructed, "Drink it. From now on, if any concubines come to deliver anything, follow this procedure."

Fusheng happily thanked him for the reward and then went downstairs to drink his soup.

Over the next month, the Emperor received quite a few good things, and Fusheng's notebook was almost full of them.

Occasionally, the Emperor would allow the concubines who had been bribed to stay in the palace for a while. However, they were always invited to a side hall, but the Emperor would accept the food they brought (and give it to the eunuchs around him).

As the competition among the concubines intensified, the gifts they gave also became increasingly extravagant.

The previous dynasty also experienced a major upheaval. The dowries of the imperial concubines that were moved into the palace had to be registered. Based on the amount of these dowries, the emperor ordered his confidants to investigate the ministers. Within a few months, all the ministers found to be corrupt were imprisoned.

The emperor's sudden attack caught the ministers completely off guard, and chaos ensued in both the court and the harem.

Recently, Li Baolin, who has been quite "favored" and is so pampered that she has almost lost her sense of direction, suddenly learns of a family crisis and immediately goes to see the Emperor.

The Emperor was currently in the Empress's palace. After so much planning, he finally didn't have to put on an act anymore. He had sent the young Crown Prince away, and the couple were sitting together, enjoying each other's company, when they heard Li Baolin requesting an audience. The Empress pushed the Emperor aside and said, "Let her in."

The Emperor was displeased. "Just send her away. Why bother seeing her?"

"I want to see it!"

"Alright, alright, the Empress can see if she wants to."

"Announce."

Hongtao went out to deliver a message, and soon Libaolin came in.

"This humble servant greets Your Majesty, long live the Emperor! This humble servant also greets Her Majesty the Empress, long live the Empress!"

"Rise," the Emperor said, feeding the Empress a peeled grape.

Seeing the emperor and empress being so affectionate, Li Baolin felt extremely jealous. Instead of getting up, she crawled to the emperor's feet and said, "Your Majesty, my father was fair and upright and honest in his official duties. He would never have done anything to deceive his superiors or accept bribes. I hope Your Majesty will investigate thoroughly."

After saying that, she raised her hand to touch the emperor's leg, but the quick-witted emperor kicked her away.

"Ah~" Li Baolin's face was contorted with pain.

"Your Majesty~"

The emperor retorted angrily, "Just talk, don't get physical, or I'll chop your hand off."

Your father's case was thoroughly investigated by the three judicial authorities, and the evidence is conclusive. How dare you distort the truth before me?

Li Baolin clutched her chest and pleaded, "Your Majesty, even if my father has done wrong, can't you spare him for the sake of my devoted service to Your Majesty?"

"cannot!"

Li Baolin was furious, and the words slipped out without her thinking, "How can Your Majesty be so heartless? Even if my father has no merit, he has worked hard. He only made a small mistake, yet he, the Minister of Revenue, is to be executed in the autumn and his whole family exiled. If it were the Empress's father who made the mistake, would Your Majesty still do this?"

Ning Yan: [How dare you bring up my father! Li Baolin is courting death!]

The Emperor's expression was also unpleasant: "Of course not!"

The Empress is the one who bore him the Crown Prince; how could Li Baolin compare to her!

Even if my father-in-law makes a small mistake, as long as he doesn't rebel, I'll protect him!

Li Baolin glared at the Empress with hatred, "Then what am I?"

Ning Yan: [Bullshit! She'll still be holding it in! I'm absolutely not letting her go today!]

Your Majesty: "..." My beloved consort, it's so hard for me to keep my expression unchanged!

"Just for fun! Just to amuse the Empress!"

"Enough, I've said enough. Guards, Li Baolin has slandered the Imperial Father-in-law! Take her away and have her beaten to death!"

Rather than letting the Empress do it, it's better to do it myself.

The way this woman looked at the Empress was so hateful she seemed ready to devour her. It would be best to deal with her as soon as possible to avoid causing trouble later.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please don't! I didn't say anything! Your Majesty, spare my life!"

Hongtao, fearing that she would disturb the Emperor and Empress, stepped forward and knocked her unconscious with a karate chop. Then, she gave a signal to the palace servants, and Li Baolin was dragged out.

With Li Baolin dead, all the concubines in the harem who wanted to plead for their families became quiet.

If we don't beg, at most our family will suffer; if we do beg, they will die.

Forget it, anyway, the family sent them into the palace in the first place hoping that they would become favored and bring prosperity to the family. Now that the family is in trouble, how can they become prosperous?

They just... let it go.

Ning Yan: [The Emperor is at it again today, exuding domineering power! The Emperor is truly amazing!]

The emperor immediately straightened his back: he didn't understand what "overbearing aura" meant, but as soon as the last sentence came out, he understood that it must be a good word!

The Empress is praising him!

He'll continue next time!

After Li Baolin died, her dowry was all taken into the Emperor's private treasury, but what others did not know was that the Emperor's private treasury belonged to the Empress.

Of course, the empress's private treasury still belongs to the empress.

Because of the Emperor's recent crackdown on officials, one-third of the officials in the court were removed from their posts, so the Emperor immediately issued an edict to hold an additional imperial examination.

In addition, the officials' homes were confiscated and all their private property was put to public use. The emperor then had a lot more land in his hands. So, the emperor ordered that farmhands or tenants be hired to manage these lands, and that only 10% of the annual rent be collected.

The landless people all vied to work for the emperor.

The people benefited greatly and all praised the emperor.

In the blink of an eye, another three years have passed.

The Queen is pregnant again.

Some of the newly arrived palace maids were oblivious to the danger, thinking that the Empress's pregnancy meant they had a chance.

That day, the Emperor was taking a bath in the bathhouse when the palace maid Caixia entered the bathhouse under the pretext of delivering clothes. As soon as she entered, she pretended to be shy and giggled, "Your Majesty..." When she looked up, she found that not only the Emperor but also the Empress were there.

At this moment, both of them looked at her with icy expressions.

However, at this moment, one of them was in the pool, and the other was on the edge of the pool.

The Empress beckoned to her, and Caixia dared not disobey, slowly moving in front of the Empress. "Your Majesty, this servant has come to deliver clothes..."

The next second, Ning Yan pulled a gold hairpin from her hair and plunged it into Cai Xia's neck. "Still giggling?"

Caixia clutched her bleeding neck, looking at the Empress with horrified eyes. No, no more giggling!

No, it's that she can no longer laugh!

The emperor was furious, wishing he could resurrect this palace maid eighteen times and kill her eighteen times over!

They dared to cause trouble in front of the Empress and upset her; they deserve to die no matter what!

He quickly got ashore, held the Empress in his arms, and washed her blood-stained hands in the pool. "Don't do this again. Look how raw your hands are."

The fact that the Empress killed the palace maid who had seduced the Emperor was still leaked by someone with ulterior motives.

This time, no one from the previous dynasty dared to organize a selection of concubines for the emperor.

To be honest, Ning Yan still felt a little regretful.

...

In the blink of an eye, a lifetime has passed.

Before his death, the emperor had one question he wanted to ask the empress: Did you know that I could hear your thoughts?

But he didn't ask. What did it matter whether he knew or not? The empress loved him, and that was enough.