After returning to Xiyuan, Zhu Youxiao's expression did not look much better.

After sitting in the chair for a long time without moving, Zhu Youxiao could only smile bitterly.

I had thought it would last at least for a while, but who would have thought it would fail so quickly? In such a short time, the ministers actually split into factions again.

In fact, Zhu Youxiao had already anticipated this. He might be surprised that they had divided into factions so early, but it would definitely not be like it is now.

The reason why it is like this now is that some things are beyond Zhu Youxiao's control. That is the way these officials divide their factions, or the direction in which these officials form their own parties.

In Zhu Youxiao's eyes, Sun Chengzong should work with Han Yu, and Xu Guangqi should work with Yu Maoheng. This was his original arrangement.

Now that they are doing this, they have completely disrupted their own arrangements. Perhaps they did it on purpose.

But no matter whether they did it on purpose or really did it, Zhu Youxiao had no choice. He needed to take responsibility for this matter. Even if he wanted to adjust it afterwards, he needed to change direction instead of participating in it stiffly.

"Your Majesty, the Empress is here." Chen Hong came to Zhu Youxiao and said while bowing.

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "Let her in."

After saying this, he rubbed his stiff face, trying to make himself look gentler.

Not long after, Empress Zhang came in from outside, went straight to Zhu Youxiao's side, bent down gently and said, "I pay my respects to Your Majesty."

After taking a look at the smiling Empress Zhang, Zhu Youxiao's previous sorrow disappeared and a smile appeared on his face.

He walked straight to Empress Zhang, took her hand, and said with a smile, "Baozhu, is there anything you want to talk about?"

Although Zhu Youxiao and Empress Zhang had a good relationship and got along very naturally in private, the imperial palace was a place with rules after all, and not everyone could do whatever they wanted.

Even the emperor can't do it, let alone the queen.

Under such circumstances, Empress Zhang rarely came here. Even if she wanted to see Zhu Youxiao, she would wait until Zhu Youxiao came over, or send someone to pass on the message, rather than running directly to Zhu Youxiao.

If he came directly to the bedroom, this usually happened when Zhu Youxiao was unwell or had some problems, and Empress Zhang would come to take care of him personally.

Or maybe Zhu Youxiao asked Empress Zhang to come over himself; or the last possibility is that Empress Zhang may have some urgent matters that she needed to ask Zhu Youxiao to resolve.

Judging from the current situation, it should be the last one, because the first two situations do not exist.

It is basically impossible for him to want to meet Zhu Youxiao, because Zhu Youxiao spent the night at Empress Zhang's house last night.

Seeing Empress Zhang in a trance, Zhu Youxiao knew that she had encountered some trouble, so he pulled her inside and asked with a smile as they walked, "Baozhu, is there anything bothering you?"

"Your Majesty, it's about my father." Empress Zhang came back to her senses and said cautiously.

Then she asked hesitantly, "Your Majesty, can you please relieve my father of his duties?"

After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao was stunned. With a look of concern on his face, he asked, "But is there something wrong with the emperor's father-in-law? Did the people below do something to displease the emperor's father-in-law? Baozhu, tell me. I promise to punish them severely."

Empress Zhang felt a little helpless. She didn't know whether the emperor in front of her was really pretending to be stupid or really didn't know.

My father had a hard time during this period. The struggle within the Imperial Household Department was very fierce, and everyone had their own group of people backing them up.

There is no need to mention Wang An, he brought a group of people from the palace to the Ministry of Internal Affairs; the other eunuch Fang Zhenghua is not someone to be trifled with either.

Although they were nominally his father's subordinates, he had to give them face. After all, these two people were from the palace.

In addition to Wang An and Fang Zhenghua, there is also Zhu Tongmeng from the civil service side, who has the support of the entire civil service group.

This is not a big deal. The main thing is that he is in charge of the Inspectorate, and my father cannot offend him.

Moreover, the little black old man Zhu Tongmeng looked stubborn and stared here and there all day long, as if he wanted to find mistakes in everyone at any time and anywhere.

The most important thing is that Zhu Tongmeng kept a close eye on his father, making it seem like his father had committed a crime.

Besides Zhu Tongmeng, there was another man named Hu Fei. He came from nowhere and inexplicably set up an audit department, which had taken over all matters dealing with merchants, leaving my father with no control over anything.

In his father's words, he is now a puppet in the Imperial Household Department and has been sidelined by everyone.

When his father was wronged, he naturally came to me, the queen, hoping that his daughter could help him.

But what say did Empress Zhang have in this matter? She couldn't just go and tell them to listen to their father, right?

This is not what a queen should do, and Queen Zhang also felt that it was inappropriate.

From the very beginning, Empress Zhang didn't want her father to go to the Imperial Household Department, but her father insisted on going.

Anyway, things were not going well for her. In Empress Zhang's opinion, it would be better for her father to just go home obediently. This would be a very good choice.

Zhu Youxiao knew exactly what happened to Zhang Guoji in the Imperial Household Department.

But why did he pretend not to know?

Because these things were done by his subordinates under his instructions, how could he let others know?

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!