After Emperor Yuan Ming left the court, he left Duke Shang and Minister of Rites Ye Nian in the palace to discuss the funeral arrangements for the empress dowager.
As soon as they arrived near the imperial study, they saw Shang Yangyang standing at the front with her hands on her hips. On her right stood Jiang Peixuan and Shang Wanyue, and on her left stood the queen.
Duke Shang and Ye Nian stepped forward to pay their respects to the Queen.
"No need to bow." The queen bowed to the emperor. "Your Highness, I pay my respects to you."
Emperor Yuan Ming smiled awkwardly: "No need to be polite, let's go in and talk."
Shang Yangyang stared at Emperor Yuan Ming angrily, but she was still considerate enough to not make trouble outside. She also followed him into the imperial study.
As soon as he entered the imperial study, Duke Shang picked up Shang Yangyang. "Yangyang, are you missing your grandfather?"
Shang Yangyang nodded obediently, and she patted Shang Guogong on the shoulder. "Grandfather, Yangyang still has some important things to do, so I'll play with you for a while."
Duke Shang looked at the little adult-like granddaughter in his arms and nodded. "Okay, Yangyang, where are you going?"
"Well, grandpa, let me go first."
"Okay~" Shang Yangyang landed on her feet, she pinched her waist and looked at Emperor Yuan Ming. In an instant, the Queen and Shang Wanyue regained their formation. They stood in a row and looked at Emperor Yuan Ming.
[Uncle Emperor, this bad guy, used a hook to deceive the lovely me. I will not forgive him easily. 】
When Emperor Yuan Ming heard Shang Yangyang's thoughts, he walked forward with a flattering smile, which made Ye Nian on the side feel a little unbelievable. He looked at Duke Shang on the side awkwardly.
Ye Nian lowered his voice and asked, "Old Shang, aren't you afraid that Yang Yang will anger the emperor?"
Duke Shang patted Ye Nian on the shoulder. "I can't control this."
"ah?"
Emperor Yuanming walked up to Shang Yangyang and rubbed her head. "Yangyang, Uncle Emperor is doing this for your own good. He's afraid you'll have a nightmare."
"Humph~ That's also a liar."
"It's Uncle Emperor's fault. He shouldn't have tricked us Yangyang with the pinky promise."
"Hmph~" Shang Yangyang looked up at the roof proudly.
Emperor Yuan Ming reached out and poked Shang Yangyang's shoulder. He whispered, "Yangyang, there are outsiders here. Can you please give your uncle the emperor some face?"
Shang Yangyang then noticed Ye Nian standing beside her, and she waved at him. "Hello, Grandpa Ye, hehe~"
"Yangyang, I haven't seen you for a few days."
"Yeah." Shang Yangyang looked at Emperor Yuan Ming. "Grandpa Ye is my aunt's father. We don't consider him an outsider, so we don't need to give him this respect."
When Shang Yangyang said this, everyone in the room almost laughed out loud.
Emperor Yuanming didn't expect this little guy to be so quick-witted. "Okay, then Yangyang, tell me how we can forgive the emperor uncle."
"Ah~" Shang Yangyang sighed, she shook her head helplessly and looked at Emperor Yuanming, she stretched out her little hand and rubbed Emperor Yuanming's head. "Since this is the first time that Emperor Uncle has done this, I won't bother with you, but you have to promise me that you won't cheat me because of my little thing in the future, I'm a very smart person."
"Okay, I will never cheat our Yangyang again."
"Hehe~" Shang Yangyang laughed happily, "Gurgle~" Shang Yangyang's stomach growled.
Emperor Yuan Ming: "Yangyang hasn't had breakfast yet?"
"Yeah, I'm hungry."
The queen smiled and said, "Yangyang, auntie will take you to have breakfast, okay?"
"Okay~" Shang Yangyang looked at Duke Shang. "Grandfather, Yangyang and Aunt Queen will go have breakfast first. When you finish talking to Uncle Emperor, come pick us up and leave the palace together, okay?"
"Of course."
"Hehe~" Shang Yangyang left the imperial study with the Queen and the others contentedly.
Duke Shang and Ye Nian in the imperial study were both unable to react for a moment after hearing Emperor Yuan Ming's detailed instructions.
Ye Nian: "Your Majesty, what if they don't investigate?"
Emperor Yuan Ming curled his lips, a sly look flashed in his eyes: "No, he won't let go of this opportunity."
Seeing that Emperor Yuanming was so confident, Duke Shang smiled and stepped forward to pat Ye Nian on the shoulder. "Old Ye, let's follow the emperor's orders."
Ye Nian nodded. "I obey your command."
After a while, the two walked out of the imperial study. Duke Shang did not leave the palace with Ye Nian. He went to Kunning Palace and picked up Shang Yangyang and the others before leaving the palace and returning home.
Two days later, new news about the empress dowager's death came out in the capital. The people did not dare to discuss the matter openly, but they were all very curious about the news circulating on the streets.
A woman pulled her man aside and whispered, "I heard from Aunt Wang and the others that the emperor and the queen mother have no mother-son relationship at all. If it weren't for Duke Shang and the others assisting the emperor, the current throne would be occupied by the deceased third prince, who is the queen mother's son."
The man looked helpless: "How many heads do you have to chop off?"
"No, I didn't go out and talk about it either. Let's just talk about it between the two of us."
"Okay, you'd better watch your mouth and don't go out and say anything. I haven't had enough of that." After the man finished speaking, he picked up the bamboo basket and left the house, leaving the woman standing there and wondering about the truth of the matter.
Although no one dared to discuss this matter publicly, the news spread very quickly and the imperial censor had already made an admonition at the morning court today.
"Please ask the emperor to reopen the coffin and have the Dali Temple and other departments re-determine the cause of the empress dowager's death."
Emperor Yuan Ming looked coldly at the kneeling censor. "Are you doubting me?"
"Your Majesty, please open the coffin." Grand Tutor Li and several officials knelt on the ground.
A moment later, more people knelt down and asked the emperor to allow the coffin to be opened to investigate the empress dowager's death.
Emperor Yuan Ming was so angry that his face flushed. He slammed the table and stood up. "Okay, if you can't find anything, bring the dog's head to see me."
"Your humble servant obeys your command." After receiving the order from Emperor Yuan Ming, Grand Tutor Li and his companions took their people and went to the mourning hall as soon as the court session ended.
After everyone knelt down, Grand Tutor Li led people to open the coffin.
Grand Tutor Li waved his hand and the coroner came forward to perform an autopsy on Li Qingye.
Duke Shang spoke up in the dead silence: "Grandmaster Li, it's not a good idea to let the coroner do the autopsy. There are female officials in the palace, why don't you let them check it?"
Grand Tutor Li said without even turning his head: "The coroner is very experienced. I just want to investigate it thoroughly so that she can rest in peace."
Duke Shang nodded: "Okay, I want to see if the Queen Mother can rest in peace with you like this."
After Duke Shang said this, Lu Mubai, who had been silent, noticed something was wrong. He frowned and looked in the direction of Duke Shang.
The more Lu Mubai thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong this time, but he couldn't tell what the problem was.
Lu Mubai's eyes were focused on the two coroners. He saw their hands tremble, as if they had discovered something.
Lu Mubai did not feel any joy, but rather panicked. He wanted to step forward and stop the two coroners.
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