Favored concubine deposed empress? I'll seize your throne and marry you to a powerful minister.

"Her Highness seems to have an excessive curiosity lately." Ling Xianru held up incense and bowed three times. "Have you figured out how to handle the matter of the palace maid who died in Fengluan Palace?"

Her hand trembled, and scalding hot incense ash suddenly fell onto the back of her hand. Shen Mingxiu opened her eyes in fear, but dared not utter a sound: "What did the Prime Minister say? I don't understand."

"Since the person is already dead, this matter must be brought to a close. If Your Majesty wishes to extricate yourself unscathed, then return the body to the Empress as an 'accidental' death to avoid causing further trouble."

After Xiao Heng kowtowed three times, he inserted the incense sticks into the incense burner.

Wei Rong followed his movements and then went to wash her hands.

Shen Mingxiu was somewhat touched, but dared not look away: "Is the Prime Minister worried about me?"

"..." Ling Xianru lied without thinking: "It was advice."

After saying that, he first inserted the incense into the incense burner, then went to wash his hands. He noticed that Wei Rong's hand was burned red by the incense ash. She roughly wiped it off herself, showing none of the care she had shown earlier when she felt sorry for Lin Changying's hand injury.

"Your Majesty," Shen Mingxiu said, tearfully showing her injury to Xiao Heng, "I've been burned."

Despite her serious illness, she insisted on praying for the people of Dajing. Xiao Heng felt great pity for her and immediately ordered the accompanying imperial physician to examine her wounds and carefully apply medicine.

Wei Rong looked at it, but didn't feel anything.

Before nightfall, Caiyue's matter had already come to a conclusion.

It was the guards on patrol who discovered a female corpse that had swelled up in the lotus pond.

Based on the waist tag, it was determined that it was indeed Caiyue, whom the Empress was looking for, and the news was quickly reported to the Emperor.

On the eve of the Lunar New Year, the water in the lotus pond was still bone-chillingly cold. The corpses that had been soaking for several days were swollen and difficult to recognize.

"The preliminary conclusion is that he slipped and fell into the water and drowned," the guard said, not daring to look at the Emperor and Empress. "He lost one shoe, and there were no other external injuries on his body."

Shen Mingxiu looked anxious, but forced herself to remain calm, saying, "Since it was an accident, it's quite pitiful. Your Majesty, why don't you have a Taoist priest perform a ritual to help them pass on to the afterlife?"

"I will go and take a look."

Wei Rong started to get up as she spoke.

The guard was terrified: "Your Highness, please reconsider! After being soaked for four or five days, your face might offend your health. It's best not to look!"

Xiao Heng felt that Wei Rong was making a mountain out of a molehill, since she was just a palace maid: "Just bury her, the Empress is not allowed to go."

"Only those who have done something wrong are frightened. I am not afraid of such things. Whether it was an accident or intentional, I will know after I can figure it out."

No one could stop her; Wei Rong was the first to leave the ceremony.

The sacrificial ceremony was nearing its end, but Xiao Heng was still furious at Wei Rong's attitude: "You always know how to contradict me!"

"Your Majesty, why don't you consider whether the palace patrols need to be adjusted if it really wasn't an accident? After all, Your Majesty's safety is of paramount importance. Although the one who died this time was just a lowly palace maid, she was still the Empress's maid. So, this matter is not insignificant."

Unexpectedly, Ling Xianru suddenly spoke up, and what she said made sense.

After ascending the throne, Xiao Heng focused on securing his position, and therefore relied heavily on personal connections and interests in his personnel appointments.

Take the Imperial Guards and the Patrol Battalion for example. The people the late emperor trusted when he was on the throne have long been replaced by the close ministers who helped him ascend to the throne.

Shen Minglan was promoted to first-class guard because of Shen Mingxiu.

Xiao Heng himself didn't believe that there were no derelict personnel in the patrol system.

Could it be—that it really wasn't an accident?

He was somewhat relaxed.

Shen Mingxiu murmured from the side, "No matter what, just send someone to check it. There's no reason for His Majesty and the Empress to go and check it themselves. It's New Year's Eve, so we should avoid any ominous signs."

Xiao Heng hesitated again.

Ling Xianru glanced at her and chuckled, "Your Highness is right. Why not send a coroner to examine the body? That way we'll know the truth."

Why would a coroner be needed for a mere palace maid?!

Startled, Shen Mingxiu hurriedly looked at Ling Xianru, wondering if this person was actually going to help her.

"That makes sense," Xiao Heng thought that Ling Xianru could share his burdens: "Then let my beloved minister share my burdens and make a trip."

"Your Majesty is too kind; I would gladly give my life for you."

As the emperor returned to the palace, Shen Mingxiu, who was walking beside him with trepidation, kept looking back.

She pondered this over and over. She hadn't even given the order to "hand over" Caiyue's body yet, so why did she appear at this very moment?

What did Ling Xianru mean by that? Was he genuinely trying to help the emperor, or was he trying to make things even more complicated?

No, he won't.

Shen Mingxiu thought that he would definitely not want to put her in danger, and that she should feel at ease letting him go.

Shen Mingxiu convinced herself.

So much so that she completely forgot to think about who had secretly replaced the blouse that was supposed to be on the tray on New Year's Eve with the real one.

·

When Wei Rong arrived, a section of the open space in the lotus pond had been partitioned off.

The guards and palace servants mingled together, surrounding the wet figure in the open space.

Although it was cold, after a few days, some strange smells inevitably wafted out. The more timid palace servants dared not look and stood outside the crowd whispering among themselves.

Someone shouted, "The Empress has arrived!" and the crowd hurriedly made way and knelt down.

Wei Rong was about to see that hideous, pale face directly—

With a "snap," came the sound of a folding fan being opened, and her view was immediately blocked by the wolf-hair brush on the fan paper, leaving her only able to see a painting.

The faint stench of decay that had been lingering at the tip of my nose was replaced by a light fruity fragrance emanating from the newcomer.

She looked up and saw only a smooth chin, his lips pursed in a serious expression. His gaze fell on Caiyue's corpse, then returned to her, looking down at her: "Your Majesty, are you not afraid?"

Although she had never been to the battlefield, she was the daughter of the Wei family. She had stayed with her father's body, whose head had not been turned back, for a whole night. How could she be afraid of Caiyue, whose body was still intact?

Her response was to lift her handkerchief and use it to block Ling Xianru's wrist.

—Caiyue's eyes were not closed. Because she had been soaking in the water for too long, her face was swollen, her eyeballs were bulging, and her skin was as white as a ghost.

Even though she was mentally prepared, Wei Rong was still shocked by what she saw.

A soft sigh came from beside me.

"Dismiss all irrelevant people and bring the person into the Anle Hall."

Anle Hall was specifically used to house palace maids and eunuchs who died of illness or accident. The Imperial Household Department would then notify their families to retrieve them.

But this place has never been visited by imperial concubines before, let alone by the empress and the prime minister.

The Imperial Household Department staff were on high alert. The Empress was a woman and there was nothing to be afraid of, but with the Prime Minister standing in the room, the beams of the room seemed to drop two feet, creating a very oppressive atmosphere.

The coroner that Ling Xianru had sent to fetch had arrived, and it turned out to be a woman.

He exchanged a few words with the coroner, and Wei Rong stared intently at him. However, he showed no intention of showing favoritism, which made her even more suspicious as if she were afraid that he might switch Caiyue's body with his own if she looked away.

When Ling Xianru turned around, she saw a pair of big, bright eyes like a little tiger's, and her hand gripping the hot teacup tightly, indicating that she was nervous—or rather, frightened.

I don't know how he developed such a stubborn personality.

"Go and do it." He waved to the coroner and came to Wei Rong's side: "Does Your Majesty wish to personally guard the place?"

As he expected, Wei Rong decisively replied, "Yes."

He turned his head away, unsure whether to feel helpless or amused: "Then go ahead."