Xie Tingzhou boarded the ship. "Father-in-law, all 731 pirates have been killed. Now only the original inhabitants of the island remain."

Although they are not married, Xie Tingzhou has already started calling each other by name.

Along the way, Shi Yan had become accustomed to the situation passively. "These bandits are rampant. If the Great Wei and the Great Yuan open up maritime trade in the future, they will definitely cause trouble. Since they are a foreseeable hidden danger, they must be eliminated in time."

Xie Tingzhou nodded, knowing that his father-in-law was about to take the opportunity to lecture him again, and quickly adopted a respectful expression.

Shi Yan continued, "I just received a letter. The Empress pretended to be ill and fooled your father. As soon as Xie Qian arrived in the capital, the Zheng family came to him on the Empress's orders."

Zhaolin, your father was a good emperor, but unfortunately he was too benevolent. If a ruler is blindly benevolent, it will only create more trouble and even bring disaster to the people.

An emperor's prestige comes from two sources: killing and governing the country.

The emperor and his ministers govern the country together, but most of them are selfish and have their own plans. It is difficult for them to be of one mind with the emperor. When it is time to be ruthless, one must not be soft-hearted.

If a monarch is soft-hearted, he will either be torn to pieces or his kingdom will be torn to pieces.

The Empress is both a wife and a subject. Your father treated her sincerely, but this only fueled her ambitions. Now that she has gone this far, she is bound to make a desperate gamble.

If she can't seize the throne, she'll tear the emperor apart. Once people are blinded by power, they easily go mad and lose their humanity.

Shi Yan knew that Xie Tingzhou and the emperor had a decent relationship, so he reminded him in a deep voice, "Zhaolin, we should hurry back to Dayuan."

The island was handed over to Shi Yan's people for cleanup and rectification.

The group sped up their journey and landed five days later. As soon as they reached the shore, Xie Tingzhou received a letter from the capital.

It was sent by his informant in the palace.

The story tells of how the Empress persuaded the Emperor to summon Xie Qian to the palace, but Xie Qian refused to enter because Shi Wuxia had spanked him, and the Empress then took her anger out on Xie Tingzhou.

After reading the letter, Xie Tingzhou suddenly remembered something Shi Yan had said to him on the way back: "When someone hates you, they will even think that your breathing is wrong."

The Empress disliked him, so she blamed him for Xie Qian's reluctance to enter the palace.

But what does Xie Qian's matter have to do with him?

If it's really related, then it's because he wasn't tough enough back then and didn't kill Yun Wang directly when he exposed him.

Xie Tingzhou now deeply understood what Shi Yan had said on the island; he had been too kind before.

Before setting off back to the capital, he issued an order to execute all members of the Zheng family who harbored impure intentions.

When news of her family's murder and the Crown Prince's impending arrival in the capital reached the Empress's ears, she snapped off her own fingernails.

She said to her niece Zheng Qiao'er, "It was the Crown Prince, it must have been the Crown Prince who did it."

If the emperor wanted to take action against the Zheng family, he would have done so decades ago; the emperor has always considered her past relationship with the family.

Only the Crown Prince, that lustful, callous, ungrateful, unfilial, and disloyal beast, could do such a thing.

He must have noticed that the Zheng family was in contact with her.

Yes, although he is not in the capital, he left Shi Wuxia as his spy, so that she could ruin his plans and prevent her from seeing Xie Qian until now.

When the Crown Prince arrives in the capital, things will be even more difficult for her. He can kill even his own uncle and cousin, so how could he possibly show mercy to his own mother?

no.

We can't wait any longer.

The emperor must not be informed of her contact with the Zheng family.

The Empress looked at Zheng Qiao'er, who was crying sadly, and her eyes darkened. "Qiao'er, go back first. Your aunt will pack some things. Tonight, take these things to find your brother. You two should stay away for the time being. Your aunt will avenge the Zheng family."

Zheng Qiao'er looked at the Empress, whose face was as gloomy as a ghost, and asked, "Will my aunt really avenge my father and the others?"

After all, the Empress had not been close to the Zheng family before, and this aunt always put herself first.

Now that Xie Qian refuses to enter the palace, the Empress's plan has been unable to be implemented, and even the Emperor has rarely come these past few days.

Does the Empress still have the mind to avenge the Zheng family?

“The Crown Prince killed my mother’s clan; I will not tolerate him.”

The Empress said through gritted teeth, "Go out and pack your essentials first, and I will have someone take you out of the palace."

Xie Qian's avoidance and the deaths of her family members made Zheng Qiao'er want to leave; she no longer wanted to stay in the palace.

There are still some silver notes left over from the Empress's last gift. If she and her brother take this money and go into hiding, they might still have a chance to survive.

Little did she know, the Empress had no intention of letting them live.

After she left, the empress went to the hidden compartment of the medicine, took the antidote herself, and carefully applied a bottle of liquid to the jade bracelet and other items.

When Zheng Qiao'er came over again, she put the jade bracelet on Zheng Qiao'er's wrist. "Qiao'er, this was given to me by your grandmother when I got married. Now, the Zheng family members are either dead or have fled, so your aunt is giving this jade bracelet to you."

She then took out a handkerchief and stuffed it into Zheng Qiao'er's arms, saying, "This is a jade pendant. Give it to your brother and have him wear it close to his body. When things are settled, I will send someone to find you and bring you back to the capital. This jade pendant and bracelet will serve as proof. Remember to keep it close to your body."

Zheng Qiao'er didn't suspect anything, nodded, and was then handed another handful of silver notes.

The Empress said, "To be on the safe side, you and your brother should each keep half of the silver notes separately, so that if they are lost together, we will have nothing left."

Worried that the Zheng siblings wouldn't wear jade bracelets and pendants, she also poisoned the silver notes.

Hearing her say that, Zheng Qiao'er felt that her aunt was finally acting like an aunt. Before leaving, she reminded her, "Aunt, remember to avenge the Zheng family."

Then, under the Empress's arrangement, he left the palace and went to where Zheng Laoda was staying. He relayed the Empress's words and gave Zheng Laoda the jade pendant and silver notes.

Zheng the Elder obediently hung the jade pendant around his neck, but was unwilling to leave the capital. "We've done so much, the Crown Prince might find out about us. Where can we run to?"

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