How could my childhood sweetheart be the current empress?

"My Lord, the envoy from the palace has arrived, and he specifically wants to see you."

"Looking for me?"

Xu Chengling frowned. As far as he knew, envoys from the palace were generally responsible for conveying the emperor's oral instructions.

The envoy came to see him early in the morning, probably to invite him into the palace.

You should know that although he succeeded to the position of prime minister, he had never been to the palace, not even to the court once.

"Could it be that the Empress already knows that I instigated her sister to rebel together?"

The more Xu Chengling thought about it, the more scared he became. The empress suddenly sending someone to find him could definitely not be a good thing.

Considering what happened to Lord Liu An, I’m afraid he might be the next one.

"Where is the envoy?"

Xu Chengling tried hard to stay calm, knowing that what was coming would eventually come.

"In the main hall."

"Okay, come with me. Before that, dye your conspicuous red hair first."

"Yes, my lord."

Tong Xin nodded and stretched out her little hand to brush her hair. She saw that her red hair was dyed black at a speed visible to the naked eye.

This is a long-lost secret technique that can quickly dye hair to hide one's identity.

Then Xu Chengling asked her to put on a special kind of contact lenses, and her green eyes turned into normal black ones, making her look like an ordinary girl.

After getting ready, he took Tongxin to the main hall.

……

After an unknown amount of time, Yan Jixue slowly opened her eyes and rubbed her sleepy eyes with her hands.

She was stunned for a moment. When did she fall asleep?

"Could it be that he..."

Yan Jixue quickly touched her clothes and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

There were no signs that her clothes had been touched, and she didn't feel any strange sensations on her body.

In other words, he abided by the agreement between them and did not touch her other parts.

"He's still a man of his word."

Yan Jixue was delighted and murmured.

She stood up from the bed. The pain was no longer as severe as it was yesterday and she could barely walk.

"Where are the others? They are gone again."

Yan Jixue glanced around the room and found no trace of Xu Chengling. He should have woken up long ago.

Speaking of which, she stayed in the house the whole day yesterday and didn't go out.

So Yan Jixue walked out of the house.

In front of her was a quiet and elegant courtyard with a pavilion and a pond. There were a few peach trees planted on both sides of the entrance, but it was not yet the flowering season.

"Good morning, madam."

A maid was sweeping fallen leaves in the yard. Seeing the mistress coming out of the house, she remembered the master's instructions yesterday and said:

"Madam, the master has instructed that from now on, everything in the mansion will be managed by you, and there is no need to ask his opinion."

"That's what he said?"

"Well, that's what the master said."

Yan Jixue was a little surprised. The Prime Minister's Mansion was not small, with more than hundreds of servants alone.

Is he essentially handing over the entire Xiangguo Mansion to her to manage?

But it is not easy to manage the Prime Minister's Mansion, and she does not have the extra energy.

"What about others?"

Yan Jixue asked the maid in front of her.

"The master seems to have gone to the main hall to receive the envoys."

"Envoy?"

Yan Jixue frowned slightly. Envoys were usually ministers who conveyed the emperor's oral orders and belonged to the emperor's power.

However, she is currently in the Prime Minister's Mansion and has not conveyed any oral instructions.

That is to say, someone used her identity to convey the emperor's oral instructions to the prime minister.

According to Yan Jixue's idea, this person must be her sister Yan Qiaoling. She is very good at imitating things, and it is not difficult to imitate her tone of voice.

But it could also be someone else. If that was the case, then her imperial power might have been hollowed out.

Yan Jixue currently has no way to return to the palace, and even her loyal confidants are not around.

"When he comes back, I'll ask him about the details."

……

At the same time, Xu Chengling received the empress's oral order and was summoned to the empress's imperial study.

To go or not to go, if he doesn't go, he will be disobeying the imperial edict, which is equivalent to disobeying the order of the empress.

In TV dramas, those who openly disobey the imperial edict are usually sentenced to death by the emperor.

The empress suddenly called him into the palace at this time. Could it be that she was going to trigger the plot of the original novel and kill him?

In Xu Chengling's impression, this young prime minister was killed by the empress because he had been obsessed with her beauty the first time he entered the palace.

Xu Chengling naturally didn't believe it. Anyway, he felt that it was impossible for him to be attracted to the empress, absolutely impossible!

This entry into the palace might be a Hongmen Banquet carefully designed by the empress, just waiting for him to take the bait.

But what is coming will come, and he can't escape it.

Xu Chengling took Tongxin with him, asked the servants to prepare the carriage, and headed for the palace.

Chapter 13: How many times did you do it?

In the royal palace, in the royal study.

The Imperial Study was the place where the empress summoned ministers. It was filled with bookshelves. Since the empress had the habit of practicing calligraphy, this place could be considered her private study.

"Xue Yuan, do you think I look good in this outfit?"

Behind a pile of bookshelves, a girl in a dragon robe looked at herself in the mirror.

The girl wore a crown on her head and dressed in gorgeous clothes with gold embroidery. Her long black hair was neatly combed behind her, giving people a sense of solemnity and dignity.

What doesn't match the outfit is the girl's slightly immature and delicate face, and her clear and lively blue eyes.

She is two years younger than her sister and only reached adulthood a month ago.

The confidant named Xue Yuan stood behind Yan Qiaoling. She also took off her black clothes and put on a green skirt. She wore a golden kite decoration on her head. She was a very beautiful woman.

As the empress's confidant, Xue Yuan has been accompanying the empress's sisters since childhood and protecting them.

Needless to say, her martial arts skills are excellent. Born in Yujingfang, she was able to serve as the empress's bodyguard. Her martial arts skills are rarely rivaled in the entire imperial palace.

"Your Majesty is born with a royal appearance. No matter what you wear, it will suit you and look great."

Xue Yuan said lightly that the second princess and the empress had the same father and mother, and were very similar in temperament and appearance, but the second princess was younger.

"It's just that this dress is a little big."

Yan Qiaoling complained a little, because what she saw was clearly suitable for her sister.

"Your Majesty, people's physiques are different."

"Okay, okay, I don't want to listen anymore."

Yan Qiaoling quickly interrupted her and stared at the mirror to dress herself up again, checking to see if her hair was messy and the big hat on her head was a little crooked, so she adjusted it.

Xue Yuan sighed softly and looked at His Majesty in the mirror. He looked very much like those girls who had to dress up nicely before meeting their loved ones.

"Ahem, Your Majesty, you haven't reviewed today's memorial yet."

Xue Yuan coughed lightly and reminded.

There is a desk in front of Your Majesty, which is piled with memorials from yesterday, and today's will be arriving soon.

At this time of day, if His Majesty is not in court, he would already be reviewing memorials.

"I'm too lazy to read it. It must be a bunch of nonsense. Just ask a few people to stamp it with my seal."

Yan Qiaoling was trimming her fingernails at the time and was too lazy to even look at the memorial in front of her.

"This should be your Majesty's responsibility..."

Xue Yuan said that the contents of some memorials were very important, and often His Majesty had to make the decision personally.

"Are you His Majesty or am I?"

"Your Majesty has the final say."

"That's it. Have you finished what I asked you to do yesterday?"

"It's done."

Xue Yuan nodded, pointed to another pile of memorials on the table and said:

"These memorials are all about the Prime Minister. I have already had them sorted."

Your Majesty suddenly asked her to sort out the memorials concerning the Prime Minister. I believe Your Majesty has his own intentions.

Thinking of Lord Liu An who was beheaded and had his property confiscated yesterday, Your Majesty is collecting evidence against the Prime Minister. Could it be that the next target is the Prime Minister?

But the Prime Minister is not like other princes and dukes. He is an assistant minister appointed by the late emperor. He has great power in the court and is not so easy to deal with.

But as long as His Majesty wants to do it, she will fully support it.

"Xue Yuan, throw these memorials into the brazier and burn them."

"It's...what?"

Xue Yuan thought she had heard wrongly. She had people sort out these memorials for a long time, and it took them a lot of effort to collect so much evidence of the Prime Minister's crimes, most of which were reported by other ministers.

"Burned."

Yan Qiaoling said again that there were so many pieces of evidence against her and Xu Lang that they had to be burned quickly.

"Yes."

Although Xue Yuan was confused, she just had to obey His Majesty's orders.

Her Majesty must have her own hidden agenda in doing this.

After all, just yesterday, His Majesty found evidence of Lord Liu An's conspiracy to rebel and eliminated a treacherous minister.

"Your Majesty, it's all burned."

After a long time, Xue Yuan returned to the imperial study.

As for those important evidences, she burned them all.

"Did you burn it clean? Don't leave any evidence."

Yan Qiaoling asked with some concern.

"Don't worry, I have burned it completely. I guarantee that only ashes will be left."

"That's good."

Yan Qiaoling couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. This way, no one could harm Xu Lang.

As for the names of the ministers who reported Xu Lang, Yan Qiaoling also wrote them all down in a small notebook.

Humph, don’t let any of you escape.

"Xue Yuan, when will he arrive?"