Seeing Empress Zhou walk in, Emperor Cheng'an felt as if he had seen a savior.
The heavily pregnant Empress Zhou was helped in from outside by a female official. When she saw Emperor Cheng'an, who looked haggard and increasingly aged, a flash of disdain crossed her eyes, but she quickly composed herself, her face showing concern. She pushed away the female official's support and walked briskly towards Emperor Cheng'an, asking with a worried tone, "Your Majesty, what's wrong? Why do you look so unwell?"
She then swept her gaze aggressively over the palace maids and eunuchs serving them, demanding, "Are you all dead? His Majesty's complexion is so bad, don't you know to call the imperial physician?"
The palace maids and eunuchs lowered their heads and dared not utter a sound after being scolded by her. On the contrary, Emperor Cheng'an held her hand tightly, as if grasping a lifeline: "Enough, why should the Empress bother with them? They are just following orders."
Empress Zhou feigned ignorance and asked with a puzzled expression, "What does Your Majesty mean by this? Whose orders are they following?"
Emperor Cheng'an glanced at the palace maids and eunuchs present and said, "You may all leave."
The palace maids and eunuchs were immediately relieved, and dared not linger for even a moment, fleeing as if their lives depended on it.
Seeing that there were no outsiders, Emperor Cheng'an pulled Empress Zhou to sit down and sighed helplessly, "It's Prince Qin. He and the Commander of the Palace Guard have colluded and taken control of the entire palace. Even I am under house arrest in this palace."
Empress Zhou's eyes widened in disbelief: "The Commander of the Palace Guard is actually one of Prince Qin's men?"
She bit her lip and murmured to herself, "If the commander of the Palace Guard were still my elder brother..."
At this point, she seemed to realize that her words were inappropriate, and quickly stopped herself and changed the subject: "So what are His Majesty's plans next? We can't just be trapped in this palace and be at the mercy of others."
Emperor Cheng'an sighed: "I have tried to contact the ministers in the court, but these people are all opportunists. Now that Xue Shen is powerful, they are afraid that they will avoid me as much as possible, let alone come to my aid."
Empress Zhou also showed a worried expression: "What should we do? Perhaps I should try to leave the palace and ask Prime Minister Wang and the others for a solution?"
Emperor Cheng'an shook his head: "Prime Minister Wang is just a scholar, without a single soldier in his hands. How could he possibly deal with Xue Shen?"
Empress Zhou hesitated upon hearing this, looking as if she wanted to say something but couldn't: "Actually...actually, I have a way..."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Cheng'an looked at her, his voice becoming even gentler: "Empress, please speak frankly. We've come to this point, I won't blame you."
After a long pause, Empress Zhou slowly said, "Actually, I contacted my elder brother a few days ago."
She seemed worried that Emperor Cheng'an would blame her, so she quickly apologized and said, "Please forgive me, Your Majesty. I had no intention of hiding my elder brother's whereabouts. However, he is my family after all. I originally wanted to wait a while before persuading my elder brother to turn himself in, which is why it was delayed. It was not that I was deliberately protecting or concealing him."
Emperor Cheng'an's eyes flickered slightly. He naturally did not believe Empress Zhou's words, but at this moment only Empress Zhou could save him from his predicament, so he naturally would not bother with such trivial matters.
Instead, he comforted Empress Zhou, saying, "I know you. Your Majesty is kind and gentle by nature and would never have deliberately deceived me. Moreover, it seems that the embezzlement case of military funds may have been deliberately framed by Xue Shen to harm the Zhou family and cut off my arm. Now that I think about it, I also deeply regret falling for the scheme of a villain."
Empress Zhou listened to his sanctimonious words with indignation, but on the surface she pretended to be deeply moved, and held Emperor Cheng'an's hand and said, "I'm glad Your Majesty doesn't blame me."
"I mentioned my elder brother only because he is currently outside and might be able to help. Now that the palace has fallen into the control of the Prince of Qin, Your Majesty, why don't you come with me to escape from the palace? Then my elder brother can gather righteous men from all over the land, raise an army, and return to purge the court of corrupt officials!"
Emperor Cheng'an listened to her words and his mind raced. After weighing the risks on both sides, he quickly made up his mind: "The Empress's idea is not bad, but Xue Shen is keeping a close watch on me now, and I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to escape from the palace."
Upon hearing this, Empress Zhou quickly lowered her voice and said, "Actually, I accidentally discovered a secret passage underground in the palace. Your Majesty can leave quietly through the passage. I will write to my elder brother, and he will meet us outside the passage."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Cheng'an became even more convinced that Empress Zhou and the Zhou family had been plotting something for a long time. However, he was now surrounded by dangerous situations and had no choice but to risk choosing one of them.
Compared to Xue Shen, choosing the Zhou family would give him a greater chance of surviving and continuing as emperor.
So he nodded in agreement almost without thinking: "Alright, then I will listen to the Empress."
Empress Zhou smiled upon hearing this and said softly, "Then I will return to the palace to send a message to my elder brother. Someone will come to pick us up and help us leave in about two days."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Cheng'an's heart skipped a beat. Suppressing his unease, he said to Empress Zhou, "Then I will leave everything to the Empress. Once the rebellion of Prince Qin is quelled, I will certainly exonerate the Zhou family!"
Empress Zhou smiled charmingly: "Then I thank Your Majesty for your grace."
Then she changed the subject again: "However, my elder brother is currently alone abroad and burdened with the name of a disgraced official, so I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to gather manpower. I would like to humbly request Your Majesty to grant a decree to clear the Zhou family and my elder brother of their crimes, so that my elder brother can then go out and work for Your Majesty."
Upon hearing her request, Emperor Cheng'an felt a momentary displeasure.
Empress Zhou's calculations were quite clear; she wanted him to absolve the Zhou family of their crimes before anything had even been done.
But now he was at the mercy of others and could only rely on the Zhou family to turn the situation around. Even though he was unhappy, he could only suppress his emotions and smile, "It is only right. Your Majesty, wait here. I will go and write it now."
Emperor Cheng'an quickly wrote out a handwritten edict and handed it to Empress Zhou: "Empress, take this edict with you. Be careful not to let Prince Qin's men find out."
Empress Zhou curtsied and thanked the emperor for his grace before leaving with the imperial edict.
*
She returned to her chambers, opened the secret passage, and entered the tunnel with practiced ease.
Zhou Qing had been waiting for her news underground. Seeing her beaming smile, he raised his eyebrows and asked, "Did it work?"
"It's done."
Empress Zhou handed Emperor Cheng'an his edict and laughed mockingly: "Now the emperor's life is in the hands of my brother and me. If he doesn't want to die at the hands of Prince Qin, he can only obediently listen to me. He will never dare to go west if I tell him to go east."
Zhou Qing opened the edict, glanced at it, and nodded in satisfaction: "The tunnel leading to the emperor's bedchamber will be completed tonight, and I will arrange for people to help you leave tomorrow night."
Empress Zhou nodded, then glanced at the dazed Zhou Zhenrong: "Brother, take Zhenrong out first, lest you be in such a hurry tomorrow that you can't take care of her and hurt the baby in her womb."
Zhou Qing also felt that what she said made sense, so he helped the dazed Zhou Zhenrong up and left together.
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