On the stage, the sound of gongs and drums and the sound of clappers rang out. An old actor wrapped in a battle robe and stroked his beard as he walked forward, his voice rising straight up: "Those who enjoy the king's title and salary should repay the king's kindness. Filial piety should be loyal to the utmost, and then talk to the master: first, there is no need to beat the war drums, and second, there is no need for the deputy generals to follow behind; just Huang Zhong can ride a horse and take down Dingjun alone."

The drums were beating and the lyrics were rich. It was about the old general Huang Zhong coming out again and defeating Wei general Xiahou Yuan with the sword-dragging trick and taking Dingjun Mountain. Xia Mingyuan frowned and clenched the paper in his hand so tightly that he almost wanted to make a hole in it. It was not until the old actor on the stage stopped singing that he turned to Luo Yuan and said, "Wen Qian, what do you think?"

Luo Yuan's eyes moved, but he only replied: "Students dare not say."

Xia Mingyuan snorted coldly and said, "There are only you and me here, what is there to be afraid of saying? Just say whatever you think, there is no need to hide it."

Luo Yuan raised his head, as if he had made up his mind, and then said, "Prime Minister, can you first tell the students honestly what your original plan was?"

Xia Mingyuan snapped the lid of the teacup in his hand, making a sound. He showed a hesitant look on his face, but Luo Yuan suddenly laughed and said, "If the Prime Minister doesn't want to talk, Wen Qian won't force you. Today, Wen Qian volunteered to do this for the Prime Minister. Now that the people who need to be seen have been seen and the things that need to be taken have been taken, it's time for Wen Qian to retire."

Just as he was about to stand up, Xia Mingyuan let out a loud "Ah" and finally closed the lid in his hand with a slight ding-dong sound. He took a deep breath and finally said, "Well, trust people when you employ them, and don't employ people if you don't trust them. Now that things have come to this, it's okay to tell you."

He stood up, pulled the curtain facing the stage, turned around and said, "That day, Xi'er and the princess went to see the Queen Mother, and she didn't know that the Queen Mother couldn't touch orchids, so she applied hair oil mixed with orchids. Afterwards, the Queen Mother fell into a coma, and His Majesty was furious. He used this as an excuse to keep them in the palace, but never let out a word to the outside world. It was only when I went to visit the Queen Mother that I heard His Majesty explain the whole thing."

Luo Yuan remained calm and waited patiently for him to continue. Xia Mingyuan sat down and said, "After I heard about this, I felt that this was the best opportunity. Although His Majesty did not say it, I understand that he has always been jealous of the military power in the hands of Xuanyuan Hou. However, they once had a brotherly relationship. Moreover, if the Xiao family army rebelled, there would be no barrier at the border. Therefore, without a suitable reason, it would be difficult for him to make up his mind to get rid of Xiao Du. Xiao Du has also been very sensible in recent years and has been hiding in the mansion. He insisted on not leaving the capital, and didn't care about business, because he knew that if he made the slightest move, he would be easily caught and killed." He raised his chin, with a smug look on his face: "But this time it's different, Xiao Du's mother and wife are all under control in the palace, and their lives and deaths are unknown. Even if he can hold his temper, there will always be a day when he can't sit still. As long as he can't hold back and breaks into the palace, it's like breaking into a dead end."

Luo Yuan touched his chin, and suddenly raised the corners of his lips and said, "The Prime Minister is indeed a good plan. If my guess is correct, the Prime Minister will set up a trap for him to enter the palace. If he dares to go, he will be charged with the crime of attempting to regicide and treason. Then, Your Majesty will have no choice but to execute him."

His smile gradually froze, and as he looked at Xia Mingyuan's face which turned gloomy, he said, "But Prime Minister, in my opinion, this plan is definitely not feasible! If I am not mistaken, Prime Minister and..." He coughed lightly and continued, "Prince's plot might have been in that person's plan a long time ago, and he even came up with a vicious plan to take advantage of the situation!"

Xia Mingyuan was startled and asked quickly, "What do you mean?"

Luo Yuan picked up the note on the table and said, "May I ask if this note is written in your daughter's handwriting?"

Xia Mingyuan nodded and said, "Xi'er is my daughter after all, I can still recognize her handwriting."

Luo Yuan frowned and said, "If that's the case, then things are not going well." He stared at Xia Mingyuan and continued, "I went to see Xiao Du a few days ago. Before I entered the door, I heard the last words he said to the secret guard. Although I couldn't hear it clearly, I heard the words: secretly... back... So I paid special attention to it. Recently, there have been many suspicious merchant ships outside the capital. The people on and off the ships are obviously martial artists. They don't enter the city, but just linger outside the city. Prime Minister, have you figured out why this is happening?"

Xia Mingyuan's expression changed drastically, and he said, "Are you saying that the people from the Xiao Family Army might have been secretly transferred back by him?"

Luo Yuan tapped the table with his knuckles and said, "Yes, I've checked the recent reports from the border. Although the fighting has decreased before the New Year, the soldiers of the Xiao family army have been training day and night, and several generals have disappeared without a trace. I don't know where they got married." Seeing that Xia Mingyuan's face was getting worse and worse, he unfolded the note in his hand and said, "Please take a close look at this paper. It says: 'Good luck, don't worry'. If your daughter just wants me to pass on the news of her safety, , why did she write 'Shun' instead of 'An', and why did she write it in advance? Did she know that someone would contact her? Think about it again, when she met the Queen Mother that day, the princess was clearly beside her, but the daughter of the princess actually put on orchid hair oil in defiance of the law. Did she really not know that the Queen Mother could not touch orchids? "He relaxed his breath and said, "I am afraid that everything was discussed in advance by them to give Marquis Xuanyuan an excuse to break into the palace."

Xia Mingyuan felt his palms sweating, but he still asked in confusion: "But he can't lead the troops, what's the point of entering the palace alone?"

Luo Yuan shook his head and said, "What if there happens to be someone he arranged in the imperial guards? If he really wants to rebel, the two sides will work together and the imperial city will be in danger. Do you dare to take this risk? Even if he fails, it will definitely cause great trouble to His Majesty. If His Majesty blames you, can you bear it?"

The more Xia Mingyuan listened, the more frightened he became. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, hesitated for a long time, and then sighed unwillingly: "Are you going to give up this great opportunity so easily?"

Luo Yuan nodded and said, "Your Excellency has waited for so many years, so why should we be afraid of waiting a little longer? No matter what, we must not let him have an excuse to enter the palace this time, otherwise he will really rebel, and I'm afraid the situation will be out of control."

Xia Mingyuan could not have imagined that his careful planning had only fallen into someone else's trap. He was filled with anger and hatred, and threw the teacup to the ground. At this time, the climax of the song was being sung on the stage: "This letter came at the right time, helping Huang Zhong to succeed. Standing at the camp gate, the three armies are calling, and the young and old men are listening: First drum, the battle meal is ready; second drum, tighten the battle robe; third drum, unsheathe the sword; fourth drum, hand in the soldiers."

Meanwhile, Yuan Xi in Yikun Palace finally found the case she had read before in the book. She was very happy and read the case over and over again. She frowned and pondered, and finally thought of something unusual. She quickly closed the book, went to the princess' room, and asked, "Mother-in-law, do you remember what symptoms the Queen Mother had when she was first poisoned by orchids, and how many days she was in a coma?"

The princess frowned and thought carefully. After a while, she replied, "It was also like this. His whole body was covered with red rashes and he was unconscious. It seemed that he was in a coma for two days before he woke up."

Yuan Xi's eyes sparkled, and she asked again, "How did she get poisoned that time?"

The princess said, "It seems that she accidentally smelled an orchid in the Yu Garden, and then she fell down soon. The imperial physician searched the classics for a long time before discovering that it might be due to the orchid. He used the medicine in the book and it was cured. Coincidentally, she had never come into contact with orchids at her mother's house, so she didn't know she had this disease."

Yuan Xi became more and more certain, and said, "Last time, the Queen Mother smelled the whole orchid, but she was only unconscious for two days. This time, she just touched the hair oil made from the orchid, and she used the original prescription to treat it, but she has been unconscious until now. Don't you think there is something strange about this, mother-in-law?"

The princess also felt that something was indeed wrong, so she looked at Yuan Xi inquiringly. Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Please tell the emperor that I have a way to wake the queen mother up immediately to atone for her crime. I just want him to call all the palace maids and eunuchs who were there on the day of the incident to the queen mother's bedroom to testify with me."

The princess was still a little uneasy and said, "Are you really confident? If not, we will be guilty of deceiving the emperor again!"

Yuan Xi held her hand and said softly, "Don't worry, Xi'er will definitely take you back to the Marquis' Mansion!"

The next day, the Queen Mother's bedroom was filled with palace maids and eunuchs. Zhao Yan sat at the head of the table, looking a little unhappy. Yuan Xi stood in front of the Queen Mother's bed, asking the imperial physician who had examined her that day something in detail. The imperial physician suddenly raised his head and looked at her in surprise, then hurriedly checked the Queen Mother's pulse, then turned around and nodded to her heavily.

Yuan Xi then turned around, knelt down in front of Zhao Yan and said, "I didn't dare to trouble Your Majesty, but this concerns the Queen Mother's health. I dare not be careless and must ask Your Majesty to make a decision!" Zhao Yan waved his hand to signal her to stand up and said, "You said you found a way to wake the Queen Mother up. I also want to know, what is the method?"

Yuan Xi then turned to the imperial physician and asked, "Excuse me, Imperial Physician Liu, has the Queen Mother's illness not only not improved in recent days, but has it become more serious?"

The imperial physician nodded in shame, and then said to Zhao Yan tremblingly, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I have used the medicine recorded in medical records and the prescriptions that cured the empress dowager in the past, but it has had little effect. Today, it seems that the situation has become more serious."

Yuan Xi walked over slowly and said, "Doctor Liu, don't blame yourself. The Queen Mother's illness is not getting better because of you." She paused, glanced coldly around the room, and said, "Someone didn't want her to wake up, so they deliberately added orchid flowers to the incense. If this continues, the Queen Mother will not only not get better, but her life will be in danger."

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the room was shocked. Zhao Yan stood up and said, "You said someone deliberately added orchids to the incense in order to murder the Queen Mother?"

Yuan Xi nodded and said, "I have read about a similar case in a book. The peasant woman in the case could not smell ginger flowers, but her husband deliberately mixed ginger flower powder into her porridge. After she fell into a coma, he secretly made a pillow out of ginger flowers for her to lie on every day. The peasant woman eventually died from the accumulated ginger flower poison. I got a clue from this case. The last time the empress dowager was poisoned, she only woke up after two days of coma. This time, she has not woken up for a long time. I am afraid someone is playing tricks on her."

She walked to the incense burner, scooped out some ashes, and said, "I guess someone close to the Queen Mother who was present had a grudge against me. It happened that I accidentally put on orchid hair oil when I entered the palace, and the Queen Mother touched me and I fell into a coma. That person saw this opportunity and secretly let the unconscious Queen Mother touch orchids every day. In this way, if anything happened to the Queen Mother, it would be blamed on me, and she could get away with it. I thought about it for a long time. The medicine that the Queen Mother took every day was strictly checked. The only thing the murderer could use was this incense. Since the Queen Mother was already poisoned, she didn't need a large dose at all. A small amount of orchid scent mixed with lily fragrance would not be detected at all." She handed the ashes to Doctor Liu and said, "As for whether my guess is right, please ask Doctor Liu to check it out and you will know."

Doctor Liu quickly took it and carefully examined it, then said to Zhao Yan, "Your Majesty, it is indeed mixed with the scent of orchids."

Zhao Yan was so angry that he was shaking all over. He slammed the table, startling the palace maids and eunuchs in the room. He glanced at them coldly and shouted angrily, "Who is it? Who is so brave? Stand up!"

The palace servants were so frightened that they knelt on the ground, but no one dared to say a word. Yuan Xi walked slowly to the door of the crowd and said, "It's not difficult to find out who it is. That person needs to add orchid flowers to the burning incense every day. There must be traces of smoke on his fingers. Your Majesty can ask people to check one by one and find out."

Before he finished speaking, a palace maid was already shaking like a sieve, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted on the ground with a "thump"...

On the third day of the first lunar month, the Queen Mother, who had been in a coma for six days, finally woke up. Shaoyao, a maid in Changle Palace, was resentful of being punished by the Queen Mother for her mistakes, and secretly plotted to kill the Queen Mother and the wife of Marquis Xuanyuan. She was sent to the Ministry of Punishment and was to be beheaded that day. On the fourth day of the first lunar month, the wife of Marquis Xuanyuan and Princess Rui'an sat on Yu Ci's sedan chair and finally walked out of the palace gates and onto the long street.

On this day, the winter snow had just melted and the willows were about to turn red. A man stood upright in front of the Xuanyuan Marquis's mansion, wearing a red cloak, soft boots and a jade belt. The cloak was rustling in the strong wind, but he always stood straight, like a jade tree standing proudly in the wind, stubbornly looking towards the end of the long street. Finally, a yellow sedan chair appeared in his sight, and finally the yellow shoulder was getting closer and closer. The cold wind made his eyes a little blurry. He gradually raised the corners of his lips and whispered: "Xi'er, you are finally back."