Following the sound, Shen Qingqiu walked to the pavilion in the Imperial Garden. It was the Queen and her maids flying kites in the Imperial Garden.
Shen Qingqiu hesitated for a while, but still walked over.
"Greetings, Her Majesty the Queen."
Looking at the girl who suddenly appeared in front of her, the queen frowned and took a closer look before she smiled and said, "It turns out to be Princess Kangle. I've heard that you entered the palace a long time ago, but today is the first time I see you. I didn't know that Princess Kangle was so pretty."
The Queen was smiling in the sunshine, looking so kind. Shen Qingqiu looked at her at this moment and could not connect her with what happened back then.
"Thank you for the compliment, Queen."
"I heard that you discovered the princess's conspiracy as soon as you arrived. Princess Kangle is not only beautiful, but also very smart!"
"Your Majesty, you are too kind."
The Queen looked behind Shen Qingqiu and asked, "Why aren't you with the Ninth Prince today? Why are you here admiring the flowers alone?"
Shen Qingqiu nodded, "When I came here, the Ninth Prince was still attending court and hadn't returned yet."
The queen nodded, raised her hand and was helped up by the palace maid, saying, "It's getting late. The emperor should be leaving court soon. I have to go back and wait. If the county lord likes this flower, please come and walk around more often."
Shen Qingqiu nodded, "See you off, Her Majesty the Queen."
After watching the Queen leave, Shen Qingqiu turned around and walked back to where he came from.
"Empress, what should we do now? This Princess Kangle is damnable. We have been planning with the Princess for so long, but she ruined it just like that. She almost implicated the Empress."
The queen walked with her head held high, and the kindness in her eyes no longer existed.
"Don't worry, as long as she is still in this palace, I have plenty of ways to deal with her."
When Shen Qingqiu returned to the Ninth Prince's residence, Gu Yanwei had already returned from court. Seeing Shen Qingqiu approaching, Gu Yanwei smiled and asked, "Where did you go?"
Shen Qingqiu sat beside Gu Yanwei, "Imperial Garden."
Gu Yanwei nodded, "The flowers in the Imperial Garden are in full bloom at this time of year."
Seeing Shen Qingqiu lost in thought, Gu Yanwei asked, "What's wrong? What are you thinking about?"
Shen Qingqiu turned his head, looked at Gu Yanwei and said, "I just saw the Queen in the Imperial Garden. She looked very nice, not like what I imagined."
Gu Yanwei was silent for a while before he slowly said, "Oh? Then what do you imagine the queen to be like?"
Shen Qingqiu looked at Gu Yanwei and said with some doubt: "I have always felt that the Queen does not fight or compete, and can live so comfortably here. She must be a very powerful woman. I didn't expect her to look so kind when I met her today. She is not what I imagined at all." Shen Qingqiu kept looking at Gu Yanwei's face and said tentatively.
Gu Yanwei smiled, but this time his smile did not make Shen Qingqiu feel warm like in the past.
"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. The princess's matter has gone smoothly. My father has rewarded me with a good thing today. Do you want to go and take a look?"
Shen Qingqiu nodded, "Okay."
Before she knew it, it was already night. Shen Qingqiu tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep. She still felt that she must get to the bottom of what happened that year, so she finally turned over and sat up.
When he reached the main hall, he found that the Ninth Prince's lamp was still on, so he opened the door and walked in.
In the dimly lit room, the figure of the Ninth Prince was reflected on the inside of the room. Shen Qingqiu walked in lightly.
At this moment, the Ninth Prince was standing in front of a portrait, looking sad.
"This is my mother." The Ninth Prince suddenly said. Shen Qingqiu paused, and then he realized that Gu Yanwei had already noticed her.
She looked up and walked closer, and saw the woman in the portrait clearly. She was wearing a plain dress. Unlike the other women in the palace, she looked very dignified and beautiful.
Shen Qingqiu said silently: "Very beautiful."
Gu Yanwei turned his head and looked at Shen Qingqiu, the sadness in his eyes no longer visible.
"Come out."
Shen Qingqiu looked in the direction of the voice and saw a palace maid coming out from behind the screen.
"What is this?" Shen Qingqiu frowned.
"I heard from Chen Jie that you asked a lot of questions about my mother today."
Shen Qingqiu nodded.
"You are so smart, you must have known something." Gu Yanwei pointed at the girl standing in front of them and said, "She is the maid who served the queen back then."
Shen Qingqiu asked in confusion: "How could that be..."
Gu Yanwei sneered, "When I found her, she had been drugged. Although her life was saved, she could not speak from then on." Gu Yanwei said sadly, "She was the maid who was ordered by the Queen to deliver meals to my mother's palace every day."
At this point, Shen Qingqiu had roughly understood that after the Queen achieved her goal, she was afraid that the matter would be exposed, so she wanted to kill the palace maid. However, the palace maid was finally rescued by Gu Yanwei and had been hiding in the palace ever since.
"Ruo'er is the only one who can testify against the queen, but over the years, I have searched all over the world for good doctors, but no one can cure her muteness."
It was the first time Shen Qingqiu saw Gu Yanwei like this, and he couldn't help but feel sad.
"Maybe if you give her to me, I can cure her."
Gu Yanwei looked at the woman in front of him in disbelief. Shen Qingqiu smiled and said, "If you don't trust my medical skills, then others will not trust me either."
In the end, Gu Yanwei handed the palace maid over to Shen Qingqiu.
Summer has arrived in the blink of an eye, and the dispute over the crown prince has begun to intensify with the restlessness of summer.
Shen Qingqiu was sitting peacefully in the courtyard drinking tea, with a large block of shaved ice in front of him. When he looked up again, Gu Yanwei had appeared in front of him.
Shen Qingqiu quickly placed the iced watermelon juice in front of Gu Yanwei. Seeing that he looked unhappy, Shen Qingqiu asked, "Did the Eighth Prince embarrass you again in the court?"
Gu Yanwei didn't say anything, just quietly drank the watermelon juice. Shen Qingqiu didn't ask any more questions, and after a while he said, "I have good news to tell you today."
"What's up?"
"Come with me." As he said that, Shen Qingqiu naturally took Gu Yanwei's hand and led him towards his room.
When Gu Yanwei walked into the room, Ruoer had been standing there waiting for a long time.
Gu Yanwei frowned as he looked at Ruo'er in front of him and asked, "What are you doing?"
Shen Qingqiu smiled, helped Gu Yanwei sit down, and said to Ruo'er: "Go and make a cup of tea for His Highness."
Ruo'er nodded and walked towards the table behind her. Looking at their actions, Gu Yanwei was a little confused and smiled and said, "What's the matter?"
"Your Highness, just wait."
Just as he was wondering, Ruo'er had already brewed the tea and brought it to Gu Yanwei.
"Your Highness, please have some tea."
Gu Yanwei sat up suddenly and knocked over the tea in Ruoer's hand.
"Your Highness." Shen Qingqiu was busy wiping the tea that had spilled on Gu Yanwei.
"Did I hear correctly just now?" Gu Yanwei looked at Shen Qingqiu and said.
Shen Qingqiu nodded, "Yes, Your Highness, Ruo'er can speak now."
Just when Gu Yanwei couldn't believe what he was seeing, Ruo'er suddenly knelt down in front of the Ninth Prince and said, "Your Highness, I'm so sorry. If it weren't for Your Highness, I would have died long ago." Her voice sounded a little hoarse, but Gu Yanwei heard every word clearly.
Gu Yanwei was even happier than Ruoer to be able to speak again.
"Your Highness, let's take Ruo'er to the Emperor now and seek justice for Concubine Shu!"
Gu Yanwei shook his head, "Not yet."
Shen Qingqiu frowned, "Why? Haven't you been planning this for years? Finally, Ruo'er can speak, why are you doing this again?"
Gu Yanwei turned his head and looked at Shen Qingqiu and said, "Because I discovered something else."
"What?"
"Ruo'er, you go down first."
After Ruo'er left, Gu Yanwei sat down slowly, "I want justice for my mother more than you do, but there is something more important that we need to do right now."
"What is it?"
"The eldest princess is the emperor's favorite sister. She has been married to the prince consort for so many years and has always behaved herself. But he suddenly did this, and I have been wondering why."
"Didn't she say that she wanted to make plans for the prince?"
"The eldest princess has watched me grow up since I was a child, so I know a little bit about what kind of person he is. From that incident until now, I have always felt that it is not simple, so I have sent people to investigate secretly these days, and then I found out that the queen is also involved."
"What did you say? The Queen has something to do with this?"
Gu Yanwei nodded. "When the princess left, I met her. She regretted what she had done and told me everything. The queen had no children, and she wanted to support the prince to ascend the throne."
"What?!" Shen Qingqiu never imagined that the queen who was so kind and benevolent that he saw in the imperial garden could be so cruel and ruthless that she could even kill her husband who she had lived with day and night for many years.
"So what should we do now?"
"If we rashly expose her in front of the emperor, she will definitely not admit it, and she might even turn the tables. We must have evidence now!"
"But the Emperor may not believe us based on the Princess's one-sided statement."
"Yes, so I have planted someone in the Queen's palace. The eldest princess told me that the prescription for the medicine was actually given by the Queen. If we can find the prescription in the Queen's bedroom, then we will have enough evidence to expose her in front of the Emperor."
Shen Qingqiu had been in the palace for such a long time, but only today did she realize that the intricacies of the palace were far from as simple as she had imagined.
Looking at Gu Yanwei in front of him, Shen Qingqiu unconsciously raised his foot and touched his hair, "Your Highness, how hard must you have worked to grow up this big in this palace by yourself."
The dim moonlight filtered through the thin window paper, shining faintly on Shen Qingqiu's face. Gu Yanwei was so fascinated by the sight that he unconsciously lowered his head and kissed him.
When the sunlight came in again, Shen Qingqiu had not woken up yet, but Gu Yanwei had already put on his clothes early. Seeing that Shen Qingqiu was still asleep, he walked over unconsciously and kissed her cheek. He didn't want to wake her up, but Chen Jie's voice came from outside the door.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
