Chapter 22: Love and Serve
After hearing this, the virtuous concubine raised her eyes slightly and looked at the emperor's toes and said, "Your Majesty once said that he did not want to see me again in this life."
The emperor listened and smiled bitterly, saying, "That was just what I said in anger at the time, and you have remembered it for so many years."
"Your Majesty is the ruler of a country. Your words are final. I dare not disobey your orders."
Li Yueyao almost laughed out loud after hearing what Concubine Xian said.
He stood up quietly and walked towards the door.
When Qian Lou saw Li Yueyao coming out, he stepped forward and followed her, and the two of them walked towards the east side hall.
Li Yueyao returned to her bedroom and Nanny Qin served her tea.
"Qianlou, please sit down, have some tea, and take a rest before we talk."
Cuiwei brought a stool over to Qianlou.
"Thank you, Your Highness."
Qian Lou took the teacup, took two sips, and put it back down.
"How come there is news from the imperial concubine?" Li Yueyao asked when she saw this.
"Yes, Your Highness. I sent someone out to investigate yesterday, and early this morning I received news that Madam Zhou, who is by the Imperial Concubine's side, has been with her since she was a child.
So I sent someone to check on Nanny Zhou and found out that when she was accompanying the imperial concubine on the farm, she had a younger sister who often visited her.
After investigation, we found out that her sister had married a man from Nanli."
Li Yueyao asked, "What about the imperial concubine? Is there anything unusual about her identity?"
Qian Lou shook his head and said, "No, the Imperial Concubine has been raised on the farm. When she was ten years old, Nanny Zhou began to ask someone to teach her poetry and songs.
When the imperial concubine was twelve years old, she heard that her family was going to send a girl to the palace, so she spent a lot of money to hire a palace maid who had been punished and expelled from the palace to teach her.
Then he bought a dancer from a brothel and asked the dancer to deliberately get close to the Earl of Anping, and then she successfully entered the mansion and became his concubine.
The dancer was quite skilled and had completely captivated Lord Anping.
Finally, when the imperial concubine was fourteen years old, he persuaded the Earl of Anping to bring her back from the farm.
Later, with the help of this concubine, the imperial concubine finally replaced her elder sister and entered the palace."
Nanny Qin heard this and asked, "Where did they get the money?"
Qian Lou also nodded and said: "This is the problem. I haven't found out where the silver came from.
On the surface, there is no income from the farm.
But whether it was buying dancers, hiring maids, or arranging things after returning home, the imperial concubine seemed very generous.
Li Yueyao thought for a moment and asked, "Did you get this information from the concubine at the Anping Marquis's residence?"
Qian Lou nodded and said, "Partly."
"These events mainly focus on the period between the Imperial Concubine's tenth birthday and her entry into the palace. Have you investigated anything before the age of ten?"
Qian Lou shook his head: "This servant is guilty, but it has not been found yet."
"Is there anyone watching the Nanli couple?" Li Yueyao asked.
"We don't have enough staff, and there is only one person watching there." Qian Lou replied.
Li Yueyao thought for a moment and said, "Cuiwei, call Chen Yue over."
After a while, a woman came in from outside. She was dressed in palace clothes and lowered her head. She looked no different from other palace maids.
After the man walked in, he stood up straight, knelt on one knee, and kept his upper body straight.
"Greetings, Your Highness." The man said in a soft voice.
Li Yueyao said, "Raise your head."
Chen Yue responded and looked up.
Qian Lou was suddenly shocked when he discovered that the other person had an Adam's apple.
All I heard was Li Yueyao saying, "Why are you dressed like this?"
"In order to avoid being noticed, this is how I dress when I enter the palace."
This time it wasn't just Qian Lou. Nanny Qin was surprised to hear the voice was actually a man.
Li Yueyao introduced to Nanny Qin and Qian Lou, "This is Chen Yue, the leader of my secret guards."
Then she introduced them to Chen Yue: "Cuiwei, you already know them. This is Nanny Qin, and this is Qianlou.
The four of you should get to know each other and avoid hurting each other in the future."
Chen Yue turned around, looked at the three of them, and nodded.
The White Jade and White Flower Token was held by the first empress. With this token, she could mobilize the Kun-level royal secret guards for her own use.
This Chen Yue is the leader of the Kun-brand secret guards of this generation.
"Qian Lou, you will hand over the affairs of the Imperial Concubine to Chen Yue. From now on, let Chen Yue handle matters outside the palace, and you will handle matters inside the palace."
"Yes." Chen Yue and Qian Lou responded in unison.
…
In the west wing hall, His Majesty the Emperor and Concubine Xian were staring at each other.
"Your Majesty, you have aged a lot." The virtuous concubine said bluntly with a pout.
The emperor grumbled and said stubbornly, "I am ill, not old."
"You are old, so why don't you admit it?" The virtuous concubine glared at the emperor.
"You haven't aged, you've just become cold and icy. You're nothing like you used to be."
"I am not as gentle and lovely as the imperial concubine. Your Majesty, you should go find the imperial concubine." The virtuous concubine curled her lips after hearing this.
"That's right. When it comes to gentleness and kindness, no one in the palace can compare to the imperial concubine."
Xian Fei sneered after hearing this: "You really haven't made any progress in all these years. Don't you even think about who put the medicine under your bed?
She is still gentle and lovely."
The emperor frowned and asked, "How is this poison related to the imperial concubine? What have you found out?"
The virtuous concubine took a sip from her teacup and said, "Why are you so restless when I talk about your gentle and lovely concubine?"
The emperor said sternly, "Weiyang, I want to talk to you about something serious. Does this matter have anything to do with the imperial concubine?"
Seeing that the emperor suddenly became serious, Concubine Xian said, "I just opened the palace yesterday, and it's not even a day yet, so the matter has not been thoroughly investigated.
But there must be something wrong with the imperial concubine. As to how big the problem is and how much it is, we will have a conclusion in three days.
Your Majesty, can you wait three days?"
The emperor was skeptical and asked, "Do you have any evidence now?"
"There are always clues. Confirmation will take at least three days. Your Majesty, can you wait?"
The virtuous concubine looked at the emperor. If the emperor disagreed and insisted on defending the noble concubine, she would just quit.
But the emperor thought for a moment, looked up at Xian, and his thoughts seemed to drift back to a distant past:
"In the harem, if we talk about wisdom and cleverness, you are the best.
Back then, the emperor praised you for your talent as the top scholar and asked me to choose you as my principal wife.
But my mother said that Concubine Shu was the daughter of a general, and was both talented in both civil and military affairs, so she asked me to choose Concubine Shu.
They were deadlocked, so they asked me to go over and choose one myself.
When I arrived, you and Concubine Shu were both smiling faintly, standing not too far away, and with a respectful attitude.
Only when Xie Wanrou saw me for the first time, she seemed disdainful of being associated with me, with an arrogant and cold look.
Over the years, I have met countless noble ladies, and they all flattered me, but only Xie Wanrou was special to me.
So I insisted on choosing her as the principal wife."
The virtuous concubine didn't know why the emperor suddenly talked about something from such a long time ago, but she still listened attentively.
"After we got married, I realized I should have listened to my father and chosen you. Having you in the harem saved me a lot of worries.
We were quite happy during those times when we were quarreling.
Do you know why I fell in love with the imperial concubine later on?"
"The imperial concubine is gentle and kind, and she always goes along with you in everything." The virtuous concubine replied.
"Yes, it's just because you are too smart, and you can always guess the outcome when things first appear.
Over time, I feel that I am not as good as you.
But I am the emperor, how can I admit that I am inferior to a woman?
It was at this time that you kept arguing with me about the Imperial Concubine and Zhao Qing, and that’s when I said those angry words.”
After hearing this, the virtuous concubine remained silent. The emperor was right. He was the supreme ruler, and her intelligence made the emperor feel pressured.
She had realized this during the long five years when the palace was closed.
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