But the Imperial Noble Consort had no intention of arguing with Xia Muyan at this moment.

In her heart, Xia Muyan is not worth mentioning for the time being, after all, His Majesty is still alive.

"Your Majesty, you are confused!" The imperial concubine pinched a handkerchief, waved her arm, and fell in front of the emperor's bed.

When the emperor saw this, he frowned slightly: He has been so ill these days, but she has never come to see him. It is strange that she came today!

"Your Majesty, why are you so confused? Although the Crown Prince is back in court today, how can you hand over all the government affairs to him so quickly?" As the Imperial Noble Consort spoke, she wiped her dry eyes with a handkerchief, making her look as if she was really worried about the Emperor.

"After all, the Crown Prince has been away from the court for three years. He's just returned, and naturally, many matters are beyond his comprehension. He doesn't know where to begin. How can we just hand over all the power to him all at once?"

"Besides, Yu'er has been trying his best to mediate with the ministers in the previous dynasty for you these past few years. Even if he has no merits, he has worked hard. Wouldn't you be chilling his feelings by doing this?

I know that you are in poor health now and it is difficult for you to handle the affairs of state. Since you want to find someone to take care of it, you don’t have to find only the prince. Have you forgotten that you also have a son, Xia Muyu?

You can divide the government into two and let them work together.

This will not only reduce the Crown Prince's workload, but also allow Yu'er to learn the art of government, just in case, Your Majesty."

"I am not afraid of hard work, and I don't have any emergency needs, so please don't worry about it, mother."

The imperial concubine spoke a long speech about the official language she had been thinking about on the way here, but to her surprise, the emperor just listened quietly and patiently without saying a word.

Instead, Xia Muyan dismissed her with a light sentence?

No, let’s just forget about it and go back to Zhongcui Palace?

There was absolutely no way she could accept that.

"Shut up!" She roared at the prince. She thought that the prince was still the slightly silly, gullible, simple-minded fool who allowed her to manipulate him three years ago. So, deep down, she was not afraid of him.

Little did he know that after experiencing life and death, Xia Muyan was no longer the same Xia Muyan as before.

Besides, he was not really stupid. The few percent of stupidity he showed was just a disguise. However, three years ago, he still misjudged people's hearts and their cruelty.

"I am talking to the Emperor, how can you, a junior, interrupt?" The Imperial Concubine was still quite arrogant at this time.

In the past, the emperor might have been afraid of her unreasonable behavior and quickly agreed to her request and sent her away.

But today, with the prince by his side, he suddenly felt more confident for some reason.

He was in no hurry to send her away, nor did he respond to her. He just watched her passionate performance as if he were watching a play.

The imperial concubine sang a monologue for a while, and found that the emperor had no intention of paying attention to her. She felt bored and slowly stopped sobbing.

Xia Muyan and the emperor looked at each other with impatience on their faces.

Suddenly, he announced, "Come here, the Imperial Noble Consort has contradicted the Emperor. She is sentenced to three months' confinement in Zhongcui Palace. During this period, she is not allowed to meet with anyone and is not allowed to leave without the Emperor's order!"

Upon hearing this, two young eunuchs quickly came over to drag him away.

The Imperial Concubine was startled. She certainly wouldn't accept her fate. "How dare you! Who do you think you are? His Majesty is still here, and you dare treat your elders like this? Is there any law in the land? Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please speak. Look at the Crown Prince. How does he treat me?"

After watching her performance, the emperor felt a little sleepy and was about to close his eyes and take a nap.

But she woke him up abruptly. He raised his hand and pretended to rub his eyes, looked at the Imperial Concubine, then looked at the Crown Prince, and decided to smooth things over, "The Imperial Concubine is worrying too much. Yan'er has already started helping me manage state affairs three years ago. There is nothing wrong with that.

My beloved concubine, the Crown Prince has just returned to the court. As elders, we should give him more support and encouragement, right? We must not undermine him as soon as he arrives. How can he grow and mature, don't you think?"

Imperial Concubine: ...

With an incredible look on her face, she was dragged to Zhongcui Palace and put in solitary confinement.

She hasn't enjoyed this kind of treatment for many years!

A lot of cups, bowls, porcelain bottles, flowers, plants and trees in Zhongcui Palace were damaged!

…………

After temporarily dealing with the Imperial Concubine, Xia Muyan couldn't wait to proceed to the next step: hosting a family banquet for the entire palace.

Since the prince had not been in the palace for many years, it made sense for him to suddenly return to the palace and gather relatives inside and outside the palace to strengthen their relationships.

However, the oral instructions of the person who came to the Third Prince's Mansion to convey the message were a bit strange, and he specifically emphasized the need to bring family members along.

The third prince had just gotten married, and publicly he had neither children nor concubines. His only family, of course, was the third prince's consort Li Shushu, who had just returned from missing the day before.

Li Shushu was slightly surprised when he got the news.

She heard people in the courtyard discussing that the prince, who had been missing for more than three years, suddenly returned to the court today. She felt a little relieved: Xia Muyan finally did not let her down.

She had a vague hope that after he reached a high position, would he remember her?

She knew that the prince had been away from the court for more than three years, and there must be many things and many people waiting for him to deal with, so she was prepared to wait.

But I didn't expect that he would move so quickly?

Li Shushu asked Lian'er to pick out a few sets of clothes from her dowry. Although the Marquis's Mansion was noble, they were very generous to their only legitimate daughter. All the dowry was prepared according to the highest standards they could give. Naturally, the new clothes in the dowry were of high quality and very valuable.

Li Shushu picked out a sky-blue gauze dress with cloud patterns and asked Lian'er to comb her hair into a Lingyun bun, which symbolized a married woman. It was embellished with jade hairpins and pearl hairpins. When she walked, lotus flowers bloomed with every step, giving people a feeling of indifference and alienation as if she was floating in the air.

On the eve of dinner, Xia Muyu came to pick her up. When he saw her outfit clearly, he was slightly stunned. When she was wearing men's clothes yesterday, she had already attracted him. He thought that the reason why he couldn't take his eyes away at that time was just because he wanted to try something new. Unexpectedly, when she changed into women's clothes today, she was even more beautiful and more seductive than before.

He suddenly felt that with her standing beside him, he looked taller, more handsome, and more prestigious.

He ran to her happily, staring at her pretty face intently, and stretched out his arm eagerly, wanting her to take it and lead her to the carriage. However, Li Shushu seemed not to notice, and just held Lian'er's hand, smiling as he walked towards the carriage.

Xia Muyu was left alone there, feeling awkward for a moment, then he smiled at himself, then happily got on the carriage and headed towards the palace.