77. Press the attack.

With a cry of "Ouch!", Aunt Zhong fell to the ground, her eyes wide with panic, like a mouse caught stealing rice.

"What is Your Majesty doing!" the Second Princess exclaimed urgently.

Qi Gu squatted down in front of the Second Princess, "Second Sister, are you still going to act now?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." The second princess's eyes darted away.

Qi Gu chuckled, "Alright, I think, whether Second Sister confesses or not, I... will still pursue today's events. After all, I'm not as 'magnanimous' as Second Sister."

Qi Gu stood up and said to Fu Lian, "Fu Lian, search her."

Upon receiving the order, Fu Lian grabbed Zhong Ao by the collar and carefully searched her clothes, whereupon she found the medicine bottle.

Fulian opened the small porcelain bottle, but... the pills inside were a bit off. These weren't red pills; their size and color were different from the ones Lin Ao and Honghu had taken out.

"Princess! What's wrong? You can't find anything? This is all a conspiracy between you and the Empress, a conspiracy to frame me and Rong'er!" Madam Guo crawled on her knees toward the Emperor's direction. "Your Majesty, look, this is all a conspiracy by the Princess. She did it on purpose. There's nothing on that porcelain vase!"

"Madam Guo, who said I was looking for that pill?" Qi Gu said to the Emperor, "Father, just now Lin said that Zhong Ao knows some pharmacology. I think that today's matter of the red pill was just a joke between the sisters, and Zhong Ao is the one who is unforgivable!"

"What's wrong with Aunt Zhong again?" Chu Pei asked.

Qi Gu didn't answer. Instead, she took the porcelain bottle she had just found on Zhong Ao and asked, "Zhong Ao, what is this bottle of pills for?"

Grandma Zhong prostrated herself on the ground. "Your Highness, I have some old ailments. These are just medicines to prevent their recurrence. Is that a crime?"

Qi Gu's expression changed from her previous calm demeanor to a serious one. "You audacious servant, you still haven't confessed the truth. It's a pill to prevent recurring illness." Qi Gu said to Fu Lian, "Fu Lian, then give the pill to Aunt Zhong. I don't think there will be any serious problems!"

As soon as Qi Gu spoke, Zhong Ao, who was prostrate on the ground, trembled like a leaf.

Zhong Ao stared in panic at the pills in Fu Lian's hand, her pale lips screaming, "No, no!!" Despite all her precautions, she hadn't expected that the eldest princess had come for this. She had only brought this along as a precaution, and had only thought about throwing away the red pills, forgetting that she had this bottle too!

Fu Lian wouldn't listen to her. She pried open Zhong's chin, randomly dropped a few pills from the bottle, and fed them into Zhong's mouth.

After struggling for a few moments with a "woof woof woof" sound, Aunt Zhong's eyes began to glaze over. Not long after, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed to the ground, limp and lifeless.

Fu Lian stepped forward and checked Zhong Ao's breathing. "Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Empress, Princess, she has fainted."

Each person in the hall had their own thoughts, but seeing the emperor's increasingly unpleasant face, and knowing that it involved the inner workings of the palace and the emperor's privacy, it was an insult to the royal family's reputation.

At this moment, Wei Xin regretted coming with the emperor just to watch the spectacle.

"It seems I was narrow-minded today. I thought it was just a childish quarrel, but who would have thought, alas~" The Empress stood up and bowed slightly to Chu Pei to apologize: "Your Majesty, it is all my fault for mismanagement that such a disgraceful incident has occurred."

Chu Pei helped the Empress up, saying, "Ah Ling, what are you saying? Managing such a large harem is not easy for you, so a little oversight is nothing."

Chu Pei looked at Madam Guo. He really liked her. She was beautiful and charming, gentle and considerate, and also sensible.

When he was in dire need of money, the Guo family came to him with several hundred taels of gold, not only relieving his immediate crisis but also offering him a great beauty like Madam Guo. How could he not be tempted?

Over the years, he had known about the power struggles between her and the Empress, but he did not stop them. Even ordinary people would fight for favor and wealth.

He became emperor, and the entire country was his. Why shouldn't Madam Guo have some thoughts about it? Back then, he raised an uprising with that faint hope, and unexpectedly, he actually got to sit on this throne.

On the one hand, he enjoyed Madam Guo's flattery and ingratiation; on the other hand, Madam Guo did indeed give him a good son. This son looked much healthier and more imposing than his eldest son. Good health is a sign of good fortune, and in terms of both literary and martial arts, he was no less capable than his eldest son. To say that he had never wavered would be a lie.

Of course, despite his wavering, he was still somewhat uneasy about entrusting such a vast empire to anyone, so he decided to observe the situation further before making a decision.

Unexpectedly, today's events occurred, and Chu Pei was momentarily disappointed and also felt a little regretful.

If the second prince had been given to the empress and the eldest prince to Lady Guo, why would he be so agonizing over the position of crown prince?

Unfortunately, there are no perfect solutions in this world. Chu Pei pointed at Madam Guo: "Guo Ji, what are you thinking? You won't feel at ease until you turn Pixiang Palace into a complete mess! And Rong'er, your father usually thinks you are very well-behaved, so why are you joining your mother in this nonsense this time!"

"Your Majesty, I was wrong. It's all Zhong's fault. I didn't know anything. Who knew she was so bold? I was too young to be fooled by her."

The second princess finally realized that she had made a fatal mistake today. Madam Guo burst into tears, and the princess followed suit, her tears flowing freely. "Father, it's all my fault. I failed to see through this treacherous servant girl's malicious intentions and was bewitched by her. I was wrong, I accept my punishment, I request to be confined to my quarters for a month, no, two months, sob sob sob~"

The mother and daughter cried in waves, and surprisingly, there was a certain rhythm to their sobs. If it weren't for the occasion, I would have liked to praise them: "You cry quite beautifully."

Grandma Zhong is currently unconscious, so she can say whatever she wants. Even if Grandma Zhong were awake, so what? Would she dare to say that they are wrong?!

Madam Guo and the Second Princess casually shifted all the blame onto Aunt Zhong. Qi Gu looked at her high and mighty father, the Emperor. They dared to do this because they had received the Emperor's favor and secret favors on many occasions in the past.

Even if she is punished, when the emperor wants to see Consort Guo, a few words from her will be enough to make him change his mind.

Qi Gu thought of the look in her father’s eyes when he looked at her in that small carriage back then. It was a complex look that she still remembers vividly. His eyes were firm, cold, and gloomy, but there was not a trace of pity in them.

That look in her eyes had haunted her countless midnight dreams in her past life, so much so that when she returned to the palace and faced her father, who had become emperor, she became even more timid and submissive, trying to escape or avoid him whenever possible.

It was as if she were the one who had done something wrong. Now she thought that the reason she avoided her father was because she knew all too well the fact that even her closest relatives would push her away in times of crisis, and she had no expectations of him.

Therefore, she instinctively avoided this father-daughter relationship that had long since vanished without a trace. If her father were not the emperor, she could have chosen not to fawn over or flatter him.

But unfortunately, her father became the emperor, and as a princess, she had to pretend to be indifferent and show him great respect, without even a trace of resentment, and even if she did, she couldn't show it.

Her mother was in the same situation as her, but she chose a different path. Unlike her, she did not distance herself from her father after seeing through his true nature. Instead, she worked diligently as empress, rather than as a man's wife.

She was a better empress than the emperor. The empress dowager was supported by the ministers of the court. Her younger brother's health was indeed the biggest weakness in the competition for the crown prince position. The empress dowager made up for this weakness. An empress dowager who was clear-headed and whose strategies, methods, and temperament were no less than the emperor's was also of great importance to the country.

As Qi Gu was pondering this, she heard her mother's resounding voice say, "Your Majesty, I know that Madam Guo and the Second Princess were misled by Zhong Ao and the Guo family, so Madam Guo and the Second Princess are just young and ignorant in this matter."

Chu Pei was touched; his wife was very understanding.

Then she said, "But!" The Empress's expression changed from calm to the sky before a storm, full of pressure: "Your Majesty, Zhong Ao was sent to the palace by Marquis Huicheng. If she were a servant with an innocent background, it would be one thing, but now that she has caused such a commotion, it would be a small matter if she instigated a quarrel among the young ladies, but she actually dared to bring such a filthy thing into the palace. This crime cannot be escaped!"

Chu Pei knew he was in the wrong. When the Empress was cleaning up Changyang Palace, she clearly wanted to send Zhong Ao away, but he refused because of his pride. Now that Zhong Ao had done such a thing, he naturally wouldn't say anything more. "Zhong Ao is indeed guilty of heinous crimes. Let the Empress decide what to do with her."

Everyone thought the matter was over, with Aunt Zhong taking the blame and Madam Guo and the Second Princess giving her a minor punishment as a warning.

But Qi Gu knew that from the moment she told her mother about Lin Ao and Hong Hu, or even if there hadn't been any affair with Lin Ao and Hong Hu, her mother wouldn't have let go of any opportunity to make the Guo family unable to recover.

A few steps up, the Empress, dressed in a deep red and black straight-hemmed robe, stood majestically like a thousand-year-old sycamore tree, looking down at Madam Guo. What she wanted was never a man's favor or pity; her eyes were always looking towards a place much, much further away.

Those eagle-like eyes stared straight at the emperor. "Your Majesty, you haven't realized the gravity of the situation. Zhong Ao's matter isn't just about the concubines vying for favor; it's a serious issue of the Guo family harboring malicious intentions and plotting to harm Your Majesty's health! This is no longer just a simple matter of concubines vying for favor!"

Chu Pei frowned: "Your Majesty, it's not that serious, is it?"

The Empress sneered inwardly. She could only blame the Guo family for being too foolish. She had already given them a chance: send Zhong Ao out of the palace and keep Lin Ao. Everyone would be at peace.

Unfortunately, the Guo family thinks they can rival the Zhang family. Now they not only want to put their people into the army, but also want to get their hands on the harem. So it's no wonder she doesn't make good use of the knife they sent her!

But the empress appeared to be thinking of the emperor's best interests. "Someone come here!" Immediately, someone brought over a plate displaying all sorts of colorful porcelain vases.

"What, what is this?" Chu Pei had a bad feeling.

"These were found in Zhong Ao's room. Your Majesty, rest assured, when searching Zhong Ao's residence, I had the Imperial Clan Court Director and my sister-in-law come to the palace to supervise. These items were all found in a hidden room in Zhong Ao's room, and that room is now guarded by people from the Imperial Clan Court."

Chu Pei was speechless.

Wei Xin may appear carefree and unconventional, but he is actually more shrewd than anyone else. The Empress's ability to see ten steps ahead is truly formidable.

Sometimes he couldn't help but admire his brother Chu. Back then, when Chu wasn't yet the emperor, he managed to marry such a remarkable woman. She took care of his household and everyone in the surrounding area knew of Empress Zhang's virtue and competence. During the chaotic times, she helped him consolidate his power, unite the families of his soldiers, stabilize the rear, and even analyze the situation. Even during the six months he was captured, she didn't stay idle. After he gained power, she managed the harem well and offered advice to the emperor to consolidate his imperial power.

So it's all fate. Brother Chu was destined to be the emperor. He finally agreed with Qu Yan's words.

Fortunately, the Empress is resolute and upright, and fortunately, she gave birth to the eldest prince; otherwise... it's hard to say what things would be like now.

As it turns out, Qu Zilie was right once again. He even suspected that this guy had foreseen this all along, which is why he kept praising the Empress. Hey, he never expected that Qu Yan, who seemed to have no desires, had actually been currying favor with the future Crown Prince's mother for a long time.

Wei Xin couldn't help but look at the Prince of Yi, only to see that the Prince of Yi was expressionless and didn't even blink, as if he were a statue wearing armor and carrying a long sword, and that what was happening in front of him had nothing to do with him.

Then why did he say those things just now? Wei Xin realized that he was increasingly unable to understand his brothers who had fought alongside him.

[Author's Note]

Bugs have been caught