"Princess Heyue is truly capable. She did a great job at the Duke of Zhenguo's birthday banquet today! It's such a blessing to have you to take care of her."
Just now, the Empress praised her niece Zhao Min, and now Consort Min is praising Xu Yuehuai, who is by the Empress's side.
"Thank you for your praise, Your Majesty." This was a battle of gods; how could an ordinary person like Xu Yuehuai possibly speak? She replied politely as usual.
"So well-mannered. It seems Zhao Min has a lot to learn from Princess Heyue." Consort Min continued to praise Xu Yuehuai, while observing the Empress's expression.
And so, the three women chatted casually.
Just then, Amber came to inform the Empress: "Ah Qi has arrived."
Upon hearing this, Xu Yuehuai couldn't help but frown.
She knew that Ah Qi was not close to the Empress, but was very close to Consort Min. Moreover, the Empress was full of disgust for Ah Qi. When she lived in the East Palace, she never even saw Ah Qi come to the Phoenix Palace. Instead, Ah Qi was more closely associated with Consort Min.
Xu Yuehuai knew that something big was about to happen.
Upon hearing this, the Empress frowned immediately, her eyes revealing a hint of impatience.
"What is he doing here?" Her dissatisfaction was written all over her face.
Amber glanced at Consort Min's expression and immediately went to give the Empress a wink, even shaking her head.
Although the Empress was displeased, she suppressed her anger for the time being and said, "Let him in."
"yes."
When Amber returned, she brought back a child dressed in expensive clothes.
Xu Yuehuai thought she looked very much like the Empress.
"Your subject greets Your Majesty." A small, chubby-cheeked child greeted the Empress.
Upon seeing her son, the Empress showed no smile.
Ah Qi was already used to these things, but he still couldn't hide his disappointment on his face. However, after a moment, he composed himself and said, "I see Consort Quan."
"Get up quickly." Consort Min smiled, her eyes crinkling.
After obediently finishing his greetings, Ah Qi stood up and, ignoring Amber's guidance, sat directly next to Consort Min.
Seeing that her son was not close to her, the Empress's face instantly turned three degrees more unpleasant. If Consort Min had the support of the Crown Prince, she would probably become even more unscrupulous in the future.
"How has Mother been lately? Has she been taking her medicine obediently?" Ah Qi asked the Empress.
The Empress acted as if she hadn't heard a thing.
Afraid of embarrassment, Amber quickly answered for her, "We hadn't finished eating yet when the Crown Prince arrived. Coincidentally, Princess Heyue was feeding the Empress her medicine."
"Haven't you finished drinking yet? That won't do. Son, let me feed your mother her medicine." With that, he stood up and walked towards Xu Yuehuai.
Although he knew that the Empress was not close to him, he was unwilling to give up any opportunity to get close to her, just in case she accepted him one day.
The Empress frowned: "No need."
"Your Highness, please don't refuse His Highness's filial piety," Xu Yuehuai said.
Even though she knew all about Ah Qi's background, she knew she couldn't ruin their relationship. If the real crown prince couldn't be found, having Ah Qi would be enough to ease the loneliness in the empress's heart.
After Xu Yuehuai finished speaking, she quickly handed the medicine bowl to Aqi. Aqi sat in the seat closest to the Empress and began to feed the Empress medicine spoonful by spoonful.
Seeing how filial Ah Qi was, the Empress couldn't help but wonder what the child was up to.
The Empress was puzzled, but Consort Min broke the warmth with her words: "His Highness the Crown Prince is so filial. He hasn't come to my palace for several days. It turns out he's been serving Your Majesty the Empress all this time."
The Empress couldn't help but sneer inwardly. Who said that Ah Qi had come to take care of her a few days ago? Consort Min was just trying to show off how close Ah Qi was to her and how rarely she came to Fengyi Palace.
But she didn't care where Ah Qi was going, and she wouldn't get angry over such trivial matters.
The Empress knew Consort Min's thoughts well and naturally wouldn't let her succeed so easily.
"No, I had a lot of homework these past few days, that's why I didn't go to Consort Min's place." But Aqi spoke first.
His words were like cold water poured into the Empress's heart.
If it were his own son, how could he...
However, because Ah Qi was present, the Empress could not get angry, and she could not suspect that His Majesty and Qi Gu Ze had found a fake Crown Prince.
She paused for a moment, then smiled to ease the stiffness in her face, but her red eyes betrayed her thoughts.
Xu Yuehuai saw it all.
After the Empress finished her medicine, as Ah Qi put down the bowl, her eyes widened, and she glared fiercely at Consort Min: "My son is not filial to me, so why should he be filial to you? Tell me, isn't that right, Consort Min?"
Although she didn't care about Ah Qi, she didn't want Consort Min to be smug.
Xu Yuehuai was also startled by the Empress's sudden change of heart; the Duchess of Zhenguo was right after all. In this deep palace, appearances can be deceiving.
After exchanging compliments with the Empress, Consort Min had already let her guard down and was frightened by the Empress's words.
"It was my fault for speaking out of turn, Your Majesty. Please forgive me." Consort Min could no longer remain seated and quickly knelt before the Empress.
After saying that, he lowered his head and kowtowed vigorously.
Consort Min begged for mercy repeatedly. In truth, she wasn't that afraid of the Empress. However, with both old and new grudges, she couldn't guarantee that the Empress, this madwoman, wouldn't harm Zhao Min.
For the sake of her clan's safety, she still had to soften her stance appropriately.
After handing the empty bowl to Amber, Ah Qi turned around and saw Consort Min like this. Without caring why, he ran over and knelt down with Consort Min.
"Mother, Consort Min didn't do it on purpose, and neither did Sister Zhao Min."
"Mother, please spare them."
Even in her anger, the Empress couldn't help but shed a tear when she saw Ah Qi siding with Consort Min.
She was speechless for a moment. "I am the Empress," the Empress comforted herself, then wiped away her tears.
"Excellent! Excellent! The love between you two, mother and son, is truly touching!"
"Since you like this bitch so much, then you can go and be her son, and stop calling me mother."
The Empress practically roared, "Get out of here!"
In this way, she can also get rid of this scourge.
She simply couldn't believe that her son would recognize another woman as his mother.
Xu Yuehuai was quite frightened. In her memory, the Empress was gentle and well-mannered.
Ah Qi was startled by the roar, and Consort Min quickly pulled Ah Qi into her arms, saying, "Get out, we're leaving now."
After saying that, he slunk away.
The Empress watched the two figures disappear into the distance and wept bitterly, crying out, "My child, my child, where are you?"
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