Chapter 77 Concubine Shen's Design
By then, let alone the position of the Empress Dowager, I'm afraid that the Imperial Concubine and the Shen family will have a hard time even surviving!
Concubine Shen's face gradually turned pale. She had ruined her body in the deep palace and would never get pregnant in this life. Now that she had a support and a great opportunity in front of her, how could she not grab it.
"I think my brother is crazy! His mind is full of loyalty and fortitude. He doesn't care about his life and wants the entire Shen family to die with him!"
A poor scholar with no money, facing the emperor's covetousness, how can he protect An An? It is just a tragedy for everyone.
Concubine Shen slammed the table, her eyes gradually becoming more sinister.
She couldn't let this happen. Since her brother was so stubborn, she could only tie the Shen family and the Fourth Prince together.
When he faces the emperor's fear and suspicion in the future, I believe my brother will definitely think about it in order to protect the entire family!
"Is the Emperor in the imperial study?" She tilted her head and asked Aunt Yu.
Aunt Yu frowned and said, "I will send someone to inquire about it right away."
"Well, by the way, ask the small kitchen to make a bowl of soothing soup, and I will bring it to the imperial study later."
Half an hour later, Concubine Shen brought Aunt Yu and arrived at the door of the imperial study room carrying the tranquilizing soup.
The chief eunuch immediately stepped forward and bowed, "My Lady, the Emperor is in a bad mood right now. How about...?"
"No problem." Concubine Shen interrupted the eunuch, "I heard that the emperor was in a bad mood, so I specially prepared the tranquilizing soup. Just inform him for me."
"Yes." The chief eunuch had no choice but to turn around and go back into the imperial study. Not long after, he came out quickly and invited Concubine Shen in.
The emperor in the dragon throne was taking a nap with his eyes half closed, his majestic face full of fatigue. Concubine Shen personally took the food box from Aunt Yu and sent her away.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you." After Yingying bowed, Concubine Shen walked up the imperial steps, placed the food box on the dragon table, and gently massaged the emperor's temples.
"Your Majesty, I heard that you were in a bad mood, so I personally made you a bowl of soothing soup. If you drink some, you will be able to sleep well at night."
Her voice was soft and her hands were neither too strong nor too weak. The emperor's expression visibly eased a little and he spoke in a calm voice.
"At this moment, you are the only one in the entire harem who has the courage to approach me."
Concubine Shen smiled faintly, "That's because the emperor loves me."
That was what she said, but Concubine Shen knew very well that the emperor allowed her to interrupt only because she had no children and posed no threat to the previous dynasty.
Otherwise, she would never be allowed to say anything wrong about the two princes.
The emperor closed his eyes and enjoyed the imperial concubine's service. He said calmly, "I have two good sons. My body is still healthy, but they started fighting to the death."
Concubine Shen's subordinate paused for a moment, then immediately continued, "Born in the royal family, fighting is inevitable. Your Majesty, don't worry. What you should do is to take good care of your body. Only in this way can you prevent the two princes from killing each other."
The emperor half-opened his eyes, glanced at Concubine Shen, chuckled and said, "Only you dare to say that."
Looking at the harem, only Concubine Shen can speak.
Concubine Shen pursed her lips and smiled, her slender fingers slid down along the emperor's forehead little by little, placed on his chest, and hooked her hands around the emperor's neck.
"That's because the emperor loves me."
The emperor patted the back of her hand, his face heavy, "You are right, being born in an imperial family is inevitable. If there were no fighting, my sons would be useless."
Concubine Shen smiled charmingly, walked around to the emperor, and took out the soothing soup from the food box, "I will serve you some."
The emperor opened his mouth and drank the spoon she handed to his lips.
Concubine Shen was extremely gentle, and she would carefully cool each spoonful of the calming soup before passing it to the emperor's mouth.
Soon, more than half a bowl of the tranquilizing soup was finished. Concubine Shen's beautiful eyes flickered a few times, and she spoke as if unintentionally.
"I heard that my brother also spoke up in the court today?" She smiled slightly and seemed to blurt it out.
"It's strange. Brother, haven't you always remained neutral and rarely got involved in these disputes? Why is it that today..."
As she spoke, she clearly noticed that the emperor's eyes had changed, and his gentle eyes narrowed slightly. Concubine Shen seemed to have just realized the inappropriateness of her words, and she was so flustered that she couldn't hold the spoon firmly, and it fell on the emperor's robe.
She quickly stood up, put down the tranquilizing soup, picked up the spoon and wiped the emperor's robe, with a look of self-blame on her face, "It was all my carelessness, Your Majesty, are you okay?"
The emperor raised his hand to stop her from wiping her robe with the handkerchief, and there was a hint of darkness in his slightly gloomy eyes. "It's okay, you can go down. I still have memorials to review."
"Yes." Concubine Shen hurriedly stood up and put the calming soup into the food box. Without saying another word, she stepped back.
She understood very well that too much is as bad as too little, so she decided to stop here today. Once the emperor had planted the seed of doubt in his heart, he would look for flaws in everything.
Brother, you can only be forced to join the Fourth Prince’s team.
After leaving the imperial study, Concubine Shen adjusted her expression in an instant, and the panic and self-blame on her face disappeared. She left the imperial study with the eunuch's greeting.
After walking a long way, she looked back at the majestic and magnificent palace. After all, they were husband and wife, and she could be said to know the emperor best.
The king is suspicious. As long as a spark is ignited in his heart, that spark will turn into a big fire and spread across the prairie in an instant.
"My Lady Imperial Concubine." After returning to the palace, Aunt Yu closed the door and could not help but speak, "The only person we can rely on in the palace is Lord Shen. If you do this, and the Emperor really no longer trusts the Shen family and wants to suppress them..."
Concubine Shen sat down on the chaise longue, looking absent-minded, “What we want is for him to be suspicious and suppress us.”
She smiled faintly, "If he suspects something, he will definitely take action. By then, whether you like it or not, your brother will be tied to the honor and disgrace of the Fourth Prince. Compared to the entire Shen family, the sacrifice of a daughter, your brother will definitely be sensible."
Although Aunt Yu felt that this was too risky, Lord Shen simply refused to listen to the Empress' advice, and there was really no other way.
After Concubine Shen left, the emperor did not review the memorials, but sat in the dragon chair in deep thought for a long time.
An hour later, the chief eunuch rushed out of the palace with an imperial decree and went to the dungeon of the Imperial Guards to read it out.
After Shen Changhe heard the contents of the imperial edict, his brows knitted tightly together, but before he could think carefully, the eunuch handed the imperial edict to him.
"Sir Shen, the emperor is sincere, please accept his order."
Shen Changhe collected his thoughts, said "I accept your order", and then stood up holding the imperial edict.
The chief eunuch said with a smile, "The emperor is worried that he has too much work to do for you, so he ordered Lord Zhou to assist you in investigating this case. The emperor is really considerate and gracious to the Shen family."
Shen Changhe raised a respectable smile on his lips, "You are right, eunuch. I would like to ask you to thank the emperor for me."
"It's okay. Lord Shen can continue to be busy. I still have to go back to the palace to report to the emperor."
Shen Changhe nodded, said nothing more, and personally sent the eunuch out, watching him get on the carriage and leave.
"Sir, what does the emperor mean by letting the second prince's wife's maternal family get involved? Is he trying to protect the second prince?" said the deputy commander of the Imperial Guard, frowning.
"Who knows?" Shen Changhe handed the imperial edict to the deputy commander and ordered, "You stay here and make sure to keep an eye on the person inside. I have something to do and I'll leave first."
"yes."
Shen Changhe jumped on his horse and left the office.
His expression gradually became solemn.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Second Prince was not involved in this incident, and at most it was a crime of negligence, so the Emperor asked Zhou Yunfeng to participate, probably not for the Second Prince, but...
Restrain him, for fear that he will show favoritism to the Fourth Prince! ! ! !
But the Shen family has always been neutral, and his dealings with the Fourth Prince are very secretive. How did the Emperor know about this and become suspicious?
Shen Changhe thought about the recent events, but couldn't figure out what went wrong.
In the Fourth Prince's study, Xiao Yuan was annotating documents. Qing An pushed the door open and walked in, speaking in a low voice, "Master, this was sent by Lord Shen."
Xiao Yuan paused his writing, looked up at the letter Qing An handed over, frowned slightly, and asked sharply, "Where are the others?"
If there was an emergency, he would visit late at night. What did he mean by suddenly delivering a letter?
Xiao Yuan immediately put down his wolf hair brush and his face became solemn.
Qing An shook his head. "The man dressed up as a beggar, stuffed this into the butler's pocket, and left immediately."
Xiao Yuan immediately took it and opened it. After reading the contents, his solemn expression became even more gloomy.
Qing'an leaned over to take a look and only saw a place name, which seemed to be a restaurant.
"Let Ling Chenyi and Li Huaiyan come over."
"Yes." Qing'an immediately took the order and went to call people. Within half an hour, Ling Chenyi and Li Huaiyan arrived at the Fourth Prince's Mansion together.
As soon as Ling Chenyi entered the room, he asked, "What happened? Why did you call us here in such a hurry?"
Li Huaiyan did not say anything. He looked inexplicably calmer than before, though he looked much more haggard. However, his demeanor as a talented and romantic man remained unchanged.
The two sat down opposite Xiao Yuan. Xiao Yuan glanced at Li Huaiyan, frowned and asked, "How are you?"
Li Huaiyan chuckled, "I'm fine."
I have survived Zhang's clutches for so many years, and even watched my mother being strangled to death by her without falling down. This little bit of suffering is nothing to me now.
Besides, the Zhang family has fallen, and Zhang has no one to back her up. Soon, he will be able to avenge his deceased mother and restore her position.
Xiao Yuan nodded and handed the letter to Ling Chenyi, "Take a look at this."
Ling Chenyi took it and glanced at it, his eyebrows slightly raised, "Which girl asked you out again?"
He said half-jokingly. Xiao Yuan glanced at him coldly and said in a calm voice, "It was sent by Shen Changhe."
Ling Chenyi was stunned. "He asked you to meet him at the restaurant?"
After saying that, he lowered his eyes and looked at Xin Fa again, his expression gradually becoming solemn, "Someone discovered that he was in contact with you."
There are only two possibilities for Shen Changhe to be so careful, either he is hiding from General Shen, or... it is the Emperor!
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