However, Xu Yuehuai and the others did not go far. After circling around a few times, they hid in the shadows and carefully observed the situation.
The news that Xu Yuehuai had taken a handful of soil quickly reached Consort Min's ears, and she hurriedly summoned Pingping to discuss countermeasures.
"A handful of dirt? There shouldn't be anything to be surprised about, right?" Pingping replied after considering her words for a moment.
“If it were anyone else, it wouldn’t matter, but that’s Xu Yuehuai. I think she has her own motives for everything she does,” Consort Min said, shaking her head.
"I'll go take a look there when it gets a little darker," Pingping nodded in reply.
...
"Miss Xu, what are we waiting for?" Hengniang had been waiting with Xu Yuehuai for almost two hours, but they still hadn't gotten anything, and she was getting a little impatient.
Upon hearing this, Xu Yuehuai looked up at the sky again and replied, "There are only two types of people who would return to the crime scene after committing a crime: one type is those investigating the case, and the other type is..."
She paused here, staring intently at the scene ahead.
"What about the other type?" Hengniang couldn't see anything from her angle, but she was curious why Xu Yuehuai stopped halfway through his sentence, so she asked.
“The other type is the perpetrator.” Xu Yuehuai gestured angrily ahead, then walked out first.
Hengniang followed behind Xu Yuehuai and took a few steps forward before seeing Pingping's figure. She immediately realized that the handful of soil that Xu Yuehua had grabbed was not of much use; it was just to lure out someone who felt guilty.
Pingping was searching the ground to see if she had missed any clues when she suddenly heard footsteps behind her. She glanced at them out of the corner of her eye and saw Xu Yuehuai's figure.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she knew she had fallen into someone's trap. Her eyes lit up, and a plan came to her.
“Miss Xu, what are you doing here? Take my advice, things aren’t very peaceful here lately. Consort Jia just had a miscarriage here.” Pingping pretended to be calm and took the initiative to say these words. Then she started to leave, but was stopped by the guards brought by Hengniang.
“Miss Xu, what do you mean by this?” Pingping remained calm and turned to ask directly.
"I just wanted to take Miss Pingping out for some tea and snacks," Xu Yuehuai replied with a light laugh.
“It’s getting late, it’s time for dinner. I have to hurry back to prepare dinner for Consort Min. If I’m not there, many things can’t be done. I can only visit Qiyun Pavilion another time.” Pingping directly declined, and even brought up Consort Min.
"I will explain to Consort Min," Xu Yuehuai replied, then beckoned and turned to leave.
The guards behind her led Pingping to follow Xu Yuehuai. Seeing that she couldn't avoid it, she had no choice but to give in and see what Xu Yuehuai was up to before making any plans.
The group quickly disappeared into the night.
On the other side, Qi Guze went to the palace and saw the Emperor holding the Crown Prince's placenta, reminiscing about his father.
"If Your Majesty misses the Crown Prince, you can simply summon him. Why bother looking at things that remind you of him?" Qi Guze asked knowingly, pretending to be confused.
“Ah Qi is both scholarly and martial, and he is developing in the way I envision. I should be happy, after all, the country will be handed over to him in the future,” the Emperor said without hesitation when Qi Guze asked him. “But as he gets better and better, I feel that he is getting further and further away from me. I always feel that he is missing the feeling of my childhood.”
“People grow up, which shows that the Crown Prince is making progress,” Qi Guze replied with a blink.
“You’ll understand when you have children. How can parents not notice problems in their own children?” The Emperor sighed and replied, “You can tell what a child will be like at three and what they will be like at seven, but I feel increasingly unfamiliar with Ah Qi.”
"Perhaps Your Majesty hasn't been resting well lately. After all, a lot has happened recently, which is why you feel this way." Qi Guze was still pretending to be ignorant, since sometimes those involved are blinded by their own perspective, and it was better to let His Majesty discover the clues himself.
“Absolutely impossible. Let me tell you, Ah Qi had a birthmark on his arm when he was a child,” the Emperor said, patting his arm. “When he was a child, he was playful and thought it was ugly, so he tried to remove it. But now, there are no traces of that birthmark on Ah Qi’s body.”
Qi Guze remained silent upon hearing this, and the emperor then directly changed the subject.
"The Kingdom of Mingyue hasn't invaded for more than half a year, right? It seems that the barter system has been very effective. If you have nothing to do here, you should go to Mingyue again and finalize these matters."
Qi Guze nodded in agreement, and after a moment's thought, he suggested, "I'd like to take Xu Yuehuai with me. The reason things took a turn for the better back then was because her cooking skills were quite popular with the little princess of Mingyue Kingdom, which ultimately led to the cooperation."
"That's right," the Emperor said with difficulty, tapping the armrest. "Xu Yuehuai is still investigating matters in the harem. You know what happened. I still hope she can investigate thoroughly before leaving. Otherwise, by the time she returns, it will be too late."
"It's alright, let her investigate the affairs of the harem first." Qi Guze nodded in agreement, but his brows furrowed slightly.
"Look at you," the Emperor said with a hearty laugh, "Your trip to the Underworld Moon can't be postponed any longer, anyway, there's no rush for such things."
Qi Guze's brows immediately relaxed, and he pressed his advantage by asking if he could meet Xu Yuehuai. The Emperor nodded in agreement, and he hurried off to find Xu Yuehuai.
After he left, the emperor was in a daze for a long time. The eunuch called out three or four times that the Duke of Zhenguo had arrived before he came to his senses and hurriedly summoned him to the palace.
"Your Majesty, why have you summoned me so late at night?" The Duke of Zhenguo was also pretending to be ignorant, even though he knew the truth.
"What have you thought about the matter I proposed?" the Emperor asked patiently.
"I find this quite inappropriate," said the Duke of Zhenguo, kneeling down.
"What's wrong with that? One is Princess Heyue, and the other is the top scholar in the imperial examination. It would be inappropriate if they didn't get married, wouldn't it?" the Emperor asked, frowning.
"That's true, but please forgive this old minister for not being able to comply." Upon hearing this, the Duke of Zhenguo shook his head and refused.
The Emperor spent a long time trying to persuade her, first blushing as he said, "Xu Yuehuai is a widow. For the sake of her reputation, it would be better for her to get married as soon as possible."
However, the Duke of Zhenguo replied, "That is Xu Yuehuai's own business, and it is not appropriate for me to interfere."
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