Deep within the Moon-Embracing Pavilion, a faint, almost imperceptible, sweet tang mingled with the warm fragrance. Xi Linghao, having expended too much "energy" on Lianxing, was already fast asleep, his snores heavy.

Lianxing frowned in disgust, stepped off the bed barefoot, wearing only a thin, gossamer-like gauze robe. She walked to the incense burner, opened the lid, and sprinkled a small pinch of pale yellow powder onto the dying calming incense ash.

The powder melts upon heating, emitting a very faint rosemary scent that is enough to make an already drowsy person sleep even more soundly.

After doing all this, she walked to the tightly closed back window and gently knocked three times. The window opened silently, and a burly man dressed in black, who had jumped in like a cat, was none other than Zhao Zheng, the commander of the Imperial Guards!

With a lewd smile on his face, he pulled Lianxing into his arms and eagerly caressed her smooth back with his large hands.

"Little vixen, I've missed you so much!" Zhao Zheng's voice was rough and reeked of alcohol as he lowered his head to nibble at Lianxing's slender neck.

Lianxing half-heartedly resisted, but her eyes were frighteningly calm, and she lowered her voice, saying, "Keep your voice down! The old man just fell into a deep sleep, the effects of the medicine will last at most an hour! You'd better hurry up!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Zheng lowered his head and laughed, then picked her up and walked straight to the warm couch covered with a thick Persian carpet: "An hour? That's enough! Enough for me to show you what a real man is!"

"Is that so? Then I'll have to experience the charm of a real man properly," Lianxing whispered in Zhao Zheng's ear. Seeing Zhao Zheng's body tremble, she smiled even more seductively, looking like a fox trying to drain a man's life force, while her hands kept teasing Zhao Zheng's chest.

The two quickly became entangled, their suppressed gasps and heavy breathing echoing in the silent hall, intertwining with the snoring of Xi Linghao sleeping soundly on the dragon bed to create an absurd and filthy symphony.

The gauze curtains swayed, revealing two twisted, intertwined figures. Lianxing let out suppressed groans under Zhao Zheng's fierce onslaught, but her eyes were filled with cold calculation.

She needed Zhao Zheng as a weapon, and his power and manpower in the palace, to consolidate her precarious position and fill the emptiness in her heart.

However, it soon came to Empress Lin's bi-weekly "chanting" day again. In the secluded room of the abandoned Buddhist hall, the charcoal fire dispelled the chill of deep winter.

Empress Lin had shed her usual dignified and gorgeous attire, wearing only a loose and comfortable plain-colored cotton robe, and leaned lazily against a recliner covered with thick cushions.

She gently stroked her swollen belly with one hand, her face radiating a strange glow, a mixture of maternal tenderness and deep ambition.

Zhao Zheng sat on a small stool at her feet, his rough hands resting on her lower abdomen, feeling the movements of the little life inside. His face was filled with undisguised pride and greed: "This little rascal is really strong! He'll definitely be a vigorous and powerful creature in the future!"

Empress Lin's lips curled into a faint, cold smile: "Of course. How could that old bastard compare to the child of me and Zhao Zheng?" Her eyes flashed with venomous light. "That old good-for-nothing Xi Linghao has been occupying the throne for nothing; he should have abdicated long ago! All that's left is for this little one to be born safely... Hmph!" She didn't finish her sentence, but her meaning was clear: she wanted to remove the mother and keep the child, or simply let Xi Linghao "die of old age"!

"Don't worry!" Zhao Zheng's eyes flashed with a fierce light. "Most of the palace guards are my men! When the time comes, I'll make sure that old bastard 'smoothly' dies! Our son will be the rightful new emperor! And you'll be the empress dowager ruling from behind the curtain!" His rough fingers traced suggestively across Empress Lin's calf. "Then, I'll be the true retired emperor of Xiling! And you... will still be my woman!"

Empress Lin slapped away his restless hand, gave him a reproachful look, but wasn't truly angry: "What's the rush? Before the important matter is accomplished, you all better behave yourselves! How's that little vixen Lianxing doing lately?" Mentioning Lianxing, her tone was filled with sarcastic sarcasm.