Zhushu really didn't expect that the little Xiangzi she found was obviously a little eunuch who often went in and out of the palace to run errands in the Internal Affairs Bureau. He was also very familiar with the guards guarding the palace gate. How could he be easily caught by them today?

Could it be that the little Xiangzi had a sudden impulse and sold her out?

But she gave the little Xiangzi 20 taels of silver as errand fee, which was already a lot. Besides, the little Xiangzi didn't know what she was going to do, so there was really no need for him to sell her out?

But no matter what, facing the Queen Mother's question at this time, she still didn't want to admit it...

But when she was thinking quickly about an excuse, she saw Yan Shu suddenly said, "Could it be that Miss Zhushu has a lover? Could it be that your lover is from that bookstore?"

What?

As soon as this word came out, everyone was shocked.

You know, it is a top crime for a palace maid to have secret dealings with a man from outside the palace!

Zhu Shu was startled and said hurriedly, "No, no, no, the bookstore owner is my fellow countryman. I just asked him to help call the people back home to bring letters home. I also wanted him to deposit the silver on my behalf."

Hearing this, Yan Shu raised her eyebrows, "It seems that the bookstore owner is a very kind person. Miss Zhu Shu gave the silver to him, and she is not afraid that he will swallow it privately."

However, the queen mother no longer believed it, and still said in a cold voice, "Didn't you say that you would ask the eunuch to help you just now? Now it has become the bookstore owner? You are in the palace all day, when did you recognize your fellow countryman?"

Then she instructed Fu Hai, "Give me the letter."

Fu Hai agreed, and hurriedly took out a letter from his sleeve and presented it to the queen mother.

The empress dowager took it and looked at it. There were no words on the envelope. She opened it and saw a few words on the paper inside. It said, "Young Master Xiaoyao is probably a girl in the palace."

Yan Shu was sure in her heart, but looked at the empress dowager with surprise on her face, "Your Majesty, this... Why would Miss Zhushu write such a letter to her family?"

The empress dowager's face had completely sank. She looked at Zhushu and said, "Who is this written to?"

Zhushu's face was already pale, but she bit her lip and didn't say a word.

It was Fu Hai who took the initiative and said, "Your Majesty, according to the instructions of the young eunuch, this book will be sent to a bookstore called Bamian Bookstore at the south end of Gongyuan Street. That bookstore has been open in the capital for fifty or sixty years. It is one of the largest bookstores in the capital. In addition to selling stationery, it also employs people to write storybooks and print storybooks to sell. But it seems that it is not the one that produces storybooks for Master Xiaoyao."

After the words fell, Yan Shu couldn't help but exclaimed inwardly - Manager Fu is amazing! He found out so much in such a short time!

She was so focused on thinking of a solution just now that she didn't have time to ask the system clearly.

But she heard the system say, "Manager Fu has been in the capital for decades after all. He follows the emperor and may be asked something at any time. He must keep an eye on all directions and listen to all sides, right? Naturally, he must know what the master wants to know. 】

Yan Shu, 【…I know that Manager Fu is powerful, so why don’t you tell me what’s going on with the Eight-sided Bookstore?】

System, 【Isn’t it obvious? The Eight-sided Bookstore is a well-known old bookstore in the capital, but it can only watch other bookstores make money by selling your storybooks. It must be unbalanced. Those people who imitated you to write novels were also found by them, and this time they were also the ones who chose this matter. 】

Yan Shu laughed in her heart, 【Fortunately, Scholar Zou didn’t find them to print storybooks for me. Such evil-minded people deserve not to make money! 】

But she still didn’t understand, 【But how could Zhu Shu, a palace maid, find out so much? As soon as she found out, she knew that she would reveal the information to the Eight-sided Bookstore? 】

System,【The main thing is that the boss of the Bamian Bookstore, whose name is Zhao Jingshi, has been spreading the news these days, saying that he wants to pay a large sum of money to buy your information. Now the news is all over the place, and you can find out with a little inquiry. 】

Yan Shu immediately became interested,【A large sum of money??? Tell me how much it can be? 】

Ahem, she has to see how much she is worth now!

Go and listen to the system,【Twenty taels of silver for those who know your real name; thirty taels of silver for those who know your home address; fifty taels of silver for those who know your real identity. 】

Yan Shu "!!!"

Good guy, Zhu Shu is going to make a hundred taels of silver in one go!

If I had known it was so easy to make money, I would have let her do it herself!

System,【...You are a concubine now, are you short of that little money? 】

Yan Shu,【Be prepared for danger in times of peace! It's hard to believe that the Eight-sided Bookstore is willing to invest so much money? They

want her name, address, and identity?

Ha, are they going to hire a killer to harm her next?

What a great Eight-sided Bookstore.

Just for a little money, is it that serious?

Of course, that's all for the future.

At this moment, the Queen Mother asked Zhu Shu in a cold voice, "What are you doing? What's your intention in writing such a message and sending it outside the palace?"

Zhu Shu said hurriedly, "Your Majesty, I heard that the bookstore has been spending money to buy information recently, so I wanted to give it a try. This is all made up by me..."

Before she finished speaking, the Queen Mother closed her eyes and said, "Since you are unwilling to tell the truth, send it to the inner court." As she spoke,

she had already called out Fu Hai's name.

Zhushu was shocked, and finally cried, "Please spare my life, madam..." The queen mother

sneered, "How many lives did you want to kill? Can you give me your life back?"

Zhushu just kept kowtowing and crying, "I know I was wrong, I know I was wrong..."

But the queen mother was too lazy to talk to her, and only told Fu Hai, "Such a talkative person should be given a dumb medicine and exiled to a bitter and cold place at the border. I was good to her, but she didn't know how to cherish it. Let her reflect on it in her lifetime."

Fu Hai agreed, and ordered people to drag Zhushu out.

For a while, everyone in Ci'an Palace was terrified and watched, and no one dared to speak.

——Everyone knows how much the queen mother valued Zhushu in the past.

Now...

Alas, she deserves it.

...

~~

After resolving this matter, Yan Shuyuan returned to Ganlu Palace.

She knew that although Madam Zhuang was also involved in this matter, it was Zhushu who was the one who was at the forefront, so she could only deal with Zhushu first.

She couldn't understand it. According to the empress dowager's respect for Zhu Shu, as long as Zhu Shu was fine, in two years, the empress dowager would probably choose a decent husband for her and let her marry well.

But why did this man choose to go against her instead of taking the right path?

Could it be that if she was attacked by those people with ulterior motives, the emperor would take a fancy to Zhu Shu?

Just as she was thinking this, she heard a voice outside, "Your Majesty is here..."

Oh, is it the emperor?

Yan Shu came back to her senses and thought that she just wanted to talk to this person, so she went to the door to greet him.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you..."

But before she could even salute, Yuwen Lan strode in and asked her anxiously, "How is it? Are you okay?"

Yan Shu immediately frowned and pouted, and said in an angry tone, "Something's wrong."

Yuwen Lan was still a little puzzled, and said, "I heard from Fu Hai that the Queen Mother ordered someone to give Zhu Shu a dumb drug and sent him to the border. Are you dissatisfied?"

Yan Shu hurriedly said, "The Queen Mother's punishment is most appropriate. I have never thought about it that way."

Humph, this guy, don't even think about provoking her relationship with the big boss on the list!

Yuwen Lan, "..."

He was provoking...

He could only ask, "What else?"

But she raised her eyebrows and looked at him, "Your Majesty, have you ever thought about what the root cause of this matter is?"

Yuwen Lan said, "Isn't it that the woman is harboring evil intentions and trying to harm the master?"

Yan Shu raised her eyebrows again, "Why would Zhu Shu want to harm me for no reason? Isn't it because she likes Your Majesty? She thinks that if I am gone, Your Majesty will like her. So the root cause of this matter is still Your Majesty."

Yuwen Lan, "???"

He couldn't tell for a moment whether she was trying to flatter him or if she really thought so.

But he heard her say in her heart, "Huh, from being your target to now being pregnant with your child, has it been easy for me to come this far? From the beginning, Zhang Cairen, Wang Zhaoyi, Anpin, Ningfei, Zhoufei to the current Zhushu, which one of them is not jealous and hateful to harm me? I don’t know why they recruited so many people! 】

Yuwen Lan, "..."

Well, she thought so in her heart?

But those in front were not recruited by him. They were selected by the Minister of Rites after asking the Queen Mother for permission.

And Zhushu... is also the Queen Mother's person!

But once he said that, he would be accused of provoking the relationship between her and the Queen Mother? He had no choice but to go

along with her and said, "Okay, Zhushu likes me, even if I don't know, it's my fault."

Sure enough, after saying this, she pursed her lips and said, "That's not what I meant..."

In fact, Yan Shu was a little confused. It seemed that because of her pregnancy, her emotions have been fluctuating more and more recently.

I didn't think there was anything wrong at first, but when I saw him just now, I couldn't help but blame him.

At this moment, the system made a ding sound, [Generally speaking, this kind of emotion is called... coquettishness. Scientific research shows that pregnant women have different hormone secretions during pregnancy, and are more likely to act coquettishly to their dependent husbands. ]

Yan Shu, "..."

[Emm, so, I was acting coquettishly to the emperor just now? ]

Tsk, pregnancy is really different from usual, it must be the baby in the belly!

However, Yu Wenlan, who was listening silently at the side, suddenly understood.

So she was acting coquettishly to him?

It's really rare that the girl who only knew about money and food before finally knew how to act coquettishly to him to win his favor.

Thinking of this, he was not angry at all. Instead, he was full of tenderness. He stretched out his hands and held her in his arms, saying, "This is indeed my fault. If I had discovered that she had this idea earlier, I could have stopped the disaster earlier and you wouldn't have to worry today."

Not to mention, it might really be related to the secretion of pregnancy hormones. Yan Shu also found that she liked being held by him more and more recently. At this time, she lay obediently in his arms and said, "Your Majesty, how could you have discovered Zhu Shu's thoughts earlier? You don't have the ability to read minds."

Yuwen Lan, "..."

For a moment, his whole body stiffened. He couldn't help but wonder in his heart whether she was just saying it casually or testing him deliberately.

Fortunately, after listening quietly, she seemed to be just saying it casually, so she quickly agreed, "That's right, I don't have the ability to read minds."

Then he breathed a sigh of relief, fortunately she was stupid, otherwise wouldn't she be exposed?

At this moment, Yan Shu said, "By the way, I almost forgot to tell your majesty that there is an eight-sided bookstore at the south end of Gongyuan Street. The shopkeeper inside is jealous of my bookstores and makes money. He has been offering a reward for prying into my privacy. I guess he is planning to do something bad to me."

Yuwen Lan frowned immediately, "Is this true?"