Upon hearing the title of Imperial Concubine, Song Wenyue's eyes lit up.

She was already the fastest-promoted concubine in the palace. If she could give birth to a prince, she would be one of only two concubines to have a prince after being made a concubine.

In a few years, I will be able to sit on equal footing with the Imperial Concubine.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will behave. I only ask that Your Majesty come to see me every day!"

She smiled, her eyes filled with deep affection; this inability to take care of herself without him greatly pleased Yuwen Wuji. He patted Song Wenyue's hand and said with a smile, "I have state affairs to attend to today; I'll come see you again tomorrow."

After Yuwen Wuji left, Song Wenyue lay back down, holding her huge belly with both hands, thinking that she must give birth to a prince.

Is there any way to control gender?

Unless she has a baby boy.

A mad light flashed in Song Wenyue's eyes. The maids who served her closed the door and left. As she lay on the bed, half asleep, she heard someone talking.

"The Emperor says he cares about our Empress, but didn't he still go to his newly acquired concubine?"

"I heard that Chong Ai has quite a background. She's a daughter of the Cui family, one of the four great clans. She's incredibly beautiful and well-read!"

"Most importantly, she's young and beautiful! Look at what our Empress looked like after she got pregnant! Her legs were swollen like pig's trotters, and she lost so much hair you could see her scalp!"

"Shh! You dare say such things? Aren't you afraid someone will hear you and beat you to death!"

"I just don't understand. I've seen other pregnant women, but none of them are like our Empress. She's lost so much weight, it's like the baby in her belly has drained her dry!"

The person who spoke lowered their voice and said, "I'm telling you this, but you can't tell anyone else."

As he spoke, his voice shrank by half, but Song Wenyue could still hear it.

"I heard from the imperial physicians that Her Majesty's pregnancy is unstable, and the Emperor has prescribed a secret medicine that will drain all of the mother's nutrients into the baby. By the time the baby is born, the mother will be almost completely depleted!"

Song Wenyue suddenly opened her eyes and screamed, "Guards! Guards! Seize that vile maid outside the window for me!"

A eunuch and a palace maid who were guarding the gate rushed in, both extremely flustered, and said, "Your Majesty, there's no one outside!"

"Nonsense! I clearly heard someone speaking!"

As she spoke, she made a move to get up and go out to see for herself.

"Your Majesty, please slow down!" The eunuch and the palace maid each supported one side of her and led her out the door. There was no one outside; all the palace maids were taking their afternoon nap in their rooms.

She didn't believe it, thinking that she had called out and caused the two people to run away. She then called everyone out and questioned them one by one. The palace maids all lived in a large communal room, and everyone could testify that they hadn't left the room.

After making a scene, Song Wenyue sat back in her room, wondering if she had really been hallucinating.

But then she remembered the precognitive dream she had before, and she thought that she wasn't hallucinating; it was a warning from heaven! She walked to the basin and looked at herself. Just as she had heard, she had lost a lot of hair, her legs were sore from swelling, and her arms were so thin that she had no strength at all.

She absolutely cannot drink that damn pregnancy-preserving drug again!

She wants to have the child! She wants to climb the social ladder!

She wanted to trample Song Yaozhu under her feet!

"You just stepped on a rat." In the Ministry of Justice prison, Madam Zhang—no, she should now be called Madam Lu—had already divorced Zhang Ying because of a case involving misconduct and murder.

The cell next to hers was where Tong Qian was imprisoned. Tong Qian was originally just confined to his home, but because of the censor's impeachment, he was pretended to be imprisoned here.

Although he's in jail, he's eating, drinking, and sleeping well.

Tong Qian threw the dead rat into her cell, and she screamed "Ahhh!" and kicked the dead rat into the cell opposite. The death row inmate in the opposite cell happily grabbed the dead rat and started gnawing on it.

She felt nauseous and leaned against the wall to vomit.

"Lord Tong, you'll be out soon, can you please help me? I really didn't kill Lu Qingyu!" Madam Lu cried.

Tong Qian remained unmoved and sneered, "Madam has completely forgotten the rules of the shop, and now you want me to save you? I can't even protect myself!"

If it weren't for this woman, would he have lost such a big, lucrative business deal?

You despicable woman! You deserve to die!

Lu had never suffered much in her life, but this scandal had caused her to be divorced by her husband's family and shunned by her own. During her time in prison, she hadn't been eating or sleeping well, and had lost a lot of weight.

"Lord Tong, although I have been divorced by Zhang Ying, I still have my dowry! If you are willing to help me get out of this predicament, I am willing to offer you all the land in the west of the city!"

Tong Qian thought about it and realized that the land was indeed good, and since the Lu family hadn't killed anyone, it was only a matter of time before they left.

"Alright, I will speak on your behalf."

However, he was unaware that the treasures he had hidden were about to meet with disaster.

Xie Liwei went to the Ministry of Revenue every day, not only to get the Ministry of Revenue to provide the funds, but also to confirm his suspicions.

Tong Qian didn't have many places to go, and he spent the most time at the Ministry of Revenue. The Ministry of Revenue was the financial center of the Great Chen Dynasty, and naturally had the same level of security as the Ministry of War and the Treasury, making it very safe.

As the old saying goes, the most dangerous place is the safest place. Tong Qian may well have abused his power for personal gain, and the security measures implemented by the user department were to protect his ill-gotten gains.

Therefore, he set his sights on the Ministry of Revenue's treasury.

Early that morning, he arrived at the Ministry of Revenue, waiting for them to open the door. The several vice ministers and senior officials were used to seeing him and even treated him as if he didn't exist.

We can sit down and have a meal and drinks together, but talking about money? We don't know each other!

"How is the investigation of Lord Tong's household accounts going?" Xie Liwei casually chatted with Liu Jiaci, the Vice Minister of Revenue.

Liu Jiaci replied calmly, "There are no problems for now."

Tong Qian's family accounts are naturally without problems; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to stay in this position for so many years.

"Oh dear!" Xie Liwei slumped into the main seat with a flourish, seemingly unintentionally saying, "I thought you guys in the Ministry of Revenue would get a new boss, so you could all get promoted. Sigh, the tea in your Ministry of Revenue is really awful. With such a huge daily turnover, how come you live so frugally? It's not even as good as the tea at the tea stall outside your door!"

Liu Jiaci said indifferently, "If Your Highness finds the tea at the tea stall delicious, then go out and drink it."

Xie Liwei wasn't annoyed. He simply bent one leg, then casually pointed to someone and told him to go to the tea stall outside to buy tea for him.

Naturally, they wouldn't give money; they said they would deduct it from their own IOU.

That's utterly shameless!

Several doctors pulled Liu Jiaci away, saying, "Lord Liu, come here, we have something to say to you."