Entering the palace means entering a high position; I'm His Majesty's cousin, who am I afr

A startling hatred flashed in Consort Zhu's eyes.

Now Consort Chen has targeted the Zhu family, causing their entire family to be wiped out, but I'm afraid this is not the end.

Consort Chen is slowly torturing her, first her family, and soon it will be her turn.

Consort Zhu bit her tongue, letting the rusty taste spread in her mouth.

The pain dispelled the drowsiness in her mind. Consort Zhu took a deep breath, forced herself to calm down, and carefully considered the cause and effect.

Beyond her feelings of heartache, panic, and anger, she also harbored some doubts.

She didn't get involved in the Hu Manteng juice incident, and Xue Zhu took care of everything afterward. How could Consort Chen be so sure that she was the one who did it?

She handled it extremely well, destroying or framing all the evidence and clues.

How exactly did Consort Chen see through the truth?

Could it be that some of the spies and informants she had planted in the palace over the past ten years had betrayed her and defected to Consort Chen?

Consort Zhu was filled with surprise and doubt. She mentally reviewed all the people in the shadows, but ultimately found nothing.

Seeing that she was dressed in thin clothes, Huanxiang was afraid that she would catch a cold, so she quickly put an outer coat on her.

Afterwards, she observed Consort Zhu's pale face and cautiously asked, "Consort, what are your plans next?"

Consort Zhu raised her eyes and spoke in a cold voice, "I can no longer sit idly by and wait to be slaughtered."

Now that Consort Chen has a knife to her neck, if she doesn't resist, she'll probably disappear silently from the palace.

She had to find a way to turn the situation around.

But it's difficult.

Let's not even talk about how Yihua Palace is as solid as an iron barrel.

Now that Consort Chen is keeping a close eye on her, she is greatly restricted and cannot act freely.

Moreover, Consort Chen is a mad dog, a vicious wolf; once she sets her mind on someone, she won't let go.

To deal with her, we must go all in and strike a fatal blow.

Only by ensuring she cannot recover can we win this round. Otherwise, once Consort Chen recovers, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Consort Zhu's mind raced.

If it were just a minor disturbance, it wouldn't be enough to shake Consort Chen's foundation. His Majesty, out of respect for the Empress Dowager, would surely handle it leniently and wouldn't be too harsh.

She had to come up with a ruthless method, a method that, even if it meant showing some consideration for their relationship, would punish them severely without leniency!

If they can bring down Consort Chen, and she serves His Majesty well and bears an imperial heir, perhaps the Zhu family will have a chance to turn things around.

Therefore, every step that follows is crucial.

She couldn't be hasty or flustered about this; she had to remain calm and plan it out with all her might!

*

Since Shen Jiayu gave the order that day, everyone in Yihua Palace has been on high alert.

From food and lodging to daily necessities, everything that enters Yihua Palace is strictly controlled.

Lü'e personally oversaw the inspection of every item, fearing that something bad might sneak into the palace.

However, after more than ten days, everything was normal, and nothing seemed amiss.

Shen Jiayu teased her, "I just wanted you to be careful, why are you so nervous?"

In fact, the Sixth Bureau was extremely careful with the items sent to Yihua Palace, having two or three imperial physicians examine them before daring to send them over.

This is to prevent what happened last time from happening again.

It's worth noting that when Consort Chen was poisoned and fell into a coma last time, the punishment she received was far more severe than just dealing with Qi Ronghua.

Afterwards, the emperor questioned and punished a group of female officials, from the Shangqin Bureau to the Siyuan Bureau.

Therefore, everyone in the Sixth Bureau was on edge, fearing that something might go wrong with the matter concerning Consort Chen and bring disaster upon themselves, so everyone was extremely cautious.

Despite saying that, Lü'e was still worried and continued to personally oversee every item that came in.

Shen Jiayu couldn't dissuade her, so she went along with it.

These days, she has been living a very comfortable and carefree life in the palace.

Every day, I would enjoy tea, admire flowers, and tease Lin Shuang, and occasionally visit Empress Dowager Shen at Cining Palace.

Then, she spent time with Pei Yan.

After the emperor finished dealing with state affairs, it was usually in the afternoon or evening. After he came to Yihua Palace, the two had dinner together and then snuggled together.

Most of the time, it was Shen Jiayu who was pestering him. She would act coquettishly and pester him relentlessly, which gave Pei Yan a lot of headaches.

But there's nothing we can do about her. In most cases, as long as she doesn't go too far, we just let her do as she pleases.

When Shen Jiayu is quiet, she will tell him funny stories from his childhood, or play chess together, or read some leisure books.

When they're being dishonest, that's when...

However, she could never finish; the emperor would always stop, saying that she was still weak and couldn't take it anymore.

This greatly displeased Shen Jiayu.

She is delicate, but not that delicate.

Shen Jiayu did speak out in protest.

But Pei Yan always refused, often closing his eyes and going to sleep as soon as he got into bed, ignoring her completely.

Having been rejected so many times, Shen Jiayu became somewhat anxious. Ignoring her past painful lessons, she sat on the couch, glaring angrily at Pei Yan.

Looking at the man's noble and aloof features, she wondered if he was simply too old to continue.

Shen Jiayu thought this way, and she said it aloud.

Pei Yan, who was just about to fall asleep, opened his eyes and stared at her intently.

Shen Jiayu felt uncomfortable under the gaze, but remained defiant, "Your Majesty, are you tacitly agreeing?"

Pei Yan chuckled softly, closed his eyes, and continued sleeping.

His reaction was unclear, which annoyed Shen Jiayu, but she dared not push it too far.

So she came up with a pathetic way to protest: she deliberately slept at the very back of the bed, but as she slept, she rolled over again in the middle of the night.

She slept soundly, completely unaware, but as Pei Yan looked at the soft, fragrant body in his arms, a fire slowly rose within him, which he could not suppress.

He opened his deep eyes and looked at the sweet sleeping face of the woman in his arms.

He was already trying his best to restrain himself, but she was too reckless. Not content with just teasing him, she went even further and provoked him.

Pei Yan noted down all these accounts for her, waiting to be brought to light later.

As for why she had endured it all these days, Pei Yan thought about it more deeply than she did.

After she was poisoned, the remaining toxins had just been cleared, and her body was extremely weak.

She's still taking medication now. If she becomes favored and gets pregnant, she's afraid she won't be able to keep the baby.

Actually, if he didn't want to, he could have made her take contraceptive medicine. But Pei Yan was afraid she would overthink it.

Moreover, taking contraceptives is harmful to her health. She was already weak, and with this added to the problem, it's a big question when she will recover.

Pei Yan did not want to indulge in momentary pleasure and neglect her.

They have many years ahead of them, so there's no need to rush this moment.

The fire that had been ignited was hard to extinguish, especially since Pei Yan was in his prime and had the same desires as any ordinary man.

In the past, when he didn't want to summon those women, he would simply ignore them.

However, this method is no longer effective.

Their skin was pressed together, and through the thin inner garment, he could feel her warm body temperature. With a slight tilt of his head, he could smell her unique, faint fragrance.

The joyful memories and tender, lingering moments of the past resurfaced and lingered for a long time.

Pei Yan felt restless and unable to calm down.

He stared at the curtain for a long time, but the fire still did not subside.

He sighed helplessly, got out of bed, and went to take a cold bath in the back hall, just like he had done in the past few days.