Dongbai asked in surprise, "How does Miss know what's depicted in that painting?"

Ye Qingxue's heart sank.

She had only thought of this possibility on a whim, but now Dongbai has confirmed that her guess was true.

In her past life, the painting was secretly delivered to Empress Shen, but in this life, Princess Lingyang personally delivered it to Empress Shen. What does this mean?

Could Empress Shen be colluding with the Heavenly Eagle Holy Kingdom?

Thinking of this sudden princess marriage, the Empress Shen's previous attempt to secretly replace Qin Tianrui, and the Heavenly Eagle Holy Kingdom's demand for 400,000 shi of grain...

Although Ye Qingxue could deduce that this was a huge scheme, she felt that she had only touched the edge and could not see the whole game.

"Miss, His Highness Prince Jing has arrived," Chunqian reported as she entered. "He really did bring two imperial chefs with him from the palace!"

Ye Qingxue instructed Dong Bai: "Continue to keep a close eye on Empress Shen and Princess Lingyang. Report their every move to me. Don't miss any details."

Dong Bai nodded solemnly: "I understand!"

Ye Qingxue personally went out to greet the two imperial chefs, exchanged some polite words with them, and then asked Qiu Shen to take them away to settle them in. Afterwards, she invited Yun Zhuo to the study.

"Here are two invitations. Your father wants you and the second young lady to attend a banquet at the palace in a couple of days." Yun Zhuo handed her the invitations.

Two days later, the palace banquet will be a welcome banquet for Princess Lingyang to come to the capital, and of course, it will also be a banquet to select a husband for Princess Lingyang to marry.

The fact that noble ladies from the capital were invited to accompany her was probably because the emperor wanted to express his respect for Princess Lingyang, or rather, his respect for the friendly relations between the two countries.

Ye Qingxue took the invitation and handed it to Xia Lu, saying, "Take the second young lady's copy to her."

After closing the study door, Ye Qingxue told Yun Zhuo about the painting.

Yun Zhuo's face turned icy after hearing this.

He thought that Empress Shen only wanted to secretly seize military power after his master's incident! Later, Empress Shen tried to use his situation to eliminate all the loyal ministers and generals of the Great Zhou, making him think that Empress Shen wanted to control the government!

But now there's the matter of the Heavenly Eagle Holy Kingdom suddenly agreeing to a marriage alliance and demanding 400,000 shi of grain, as well as Princess Lingyang gifting a painting...

All of these things completely overturned his previous assumptions.

“Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. Empress Shen is not a fool; she should understand this principle. If she colluded with the Heavenly Eagle Holy Kingdom to help Yun Chi seize the position of Crown Prince, then her actions were far too risky,” Yun Zhuo said solemnly.

"In my opinion, it's not just a simple collusion," Ye Qingxue said. "Empress Shen's actions seem to be aimed at destroying the Great Zhou, but what good would it do her to destroy the Great Zhou? If she wants to destroy the Great Zhou, why is she so scheming to help Yun Chi ascend the throne?"

The two of them couldn't think of an answer for a moment.

Silence filled the study.

After an unknown amount of time, Ye Qingxue finally spoke: "In any case, the banquet two days from now will definitely be a trap. I still maintain my previous prediction: even if you are ugly, Princess Lingyang will still choose you. You—"

Yun Zhuo stared intently at her: "What about me?"

Ye Qingxue said, "Do you want to marry Princess Lingyang? I heard she is the most beautiful girl in the Heavenly Eagle Holy Kingdom."

"I don't want to," Yun Zhuo said. "I want to marry someone else."

"..." Ye Qingxue said, "Since you don't want to marry her, you should make preparations as soon as possible."

Yun Zhuo asked with a smile, "What brilliant plan do you have?"

"We need to first figure out what methods they will use to force you to marry Princess Lingyang before we can come up with a countermeasure."

"I would like to hear the details."

Ye Qingxue choked for a moment: "Your Highness is treating me like a strategist. What benefit would I get from helping you?"

Yun Zhuo slightly bent his fingers and tapped the table lightly. "We have a common enemy. Helping me is helping you."

Ye Qingxue and he discussed things in the study for half an hour.

Although a temporary solution has been found to prevent Yun Zhuo from marrying Princess Lingyang, Princess Lingyang still needs to find a marriage partner in the Great Zhou Dynasty. But who should that person be?

Just then, Qiu Shen knocked on the door from outside and said that the Seventh Prince had arrived.

Seventh Prince!

Ye Qingxue and Yun Zhuo exchanged a glance! They had both thought of this candidate, but they didn't know if the Seventh Prince would be willing!

Yun Zhuo asked, "Why did Seventh Brother come to see you?"

"When I entered the palace last time the Empress held a flower-viewing banquet, I happened to see that his little embroidered ball had run away, and I helped him find it."

"Perhaps he heard that I had woken up, so he came to visit me. He still hasn't given me the gift he promised me."

After Ye Qingxue finished explaining, she asked him, "Your Highness, do you think the Seventh Prince can be trusted?"

Yun Zhuo stood up: "Don't trust anyone but me!"

The study door opened, and he went out, surprisingly going to see the Seventh Prince with Ye Qingxue.

Two days later.

Ye Qingxue was dressed neatly when she went out and happened to run into Ye Yabing. Ye Yabing was wearing a pink dress and was dressed very gorgeously, but she was still wearing a veil on her head, so no one could see her face.

The moment the two met, Ye Yabing suddenly stopped, her gaze piercing through the veil and fixed on Ye Qingxue, her eyes filled with unfathomable hatred.

Ye Qingxue didn't intend to talk to her. She just needed Ye Yabing to behave herself and wait to become Yun Chi's bride next month. There wouldn't be any conflict between them for the time being.

But just as Ye Qingxue turned to get into the carriage, Ye Yabing suddenly spoke up.

"Eldest sister is truly amazing; she can even cure the deadly poison of the Broken Moon Orchid," Ye Yabing said. "But in such a large Marquis's mansion, if only eldest sister is well, I'm afraid it won't be enough to ensure the well-being of the entire mansion."

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