The long night passed in anxiety. The next morning, Xie Nanjia got up, washed, changed clothes, and went to Kunning Palace alone to meet the Queen Mother according to the plan agreed upon last night.
When everyone in the Duke's Mansion heard this, they all expressed their opposition, believing that a little girl like her should not be allowed to take part in such a dangerous matter.
The three masters said that this was a matter for men to worry about, and told her to stay at home and they would find a way to rescue her brother.
The Su brothers were also eager to try and promised her that they would try their best to rescue their uncle.
Even the old Duke changed into court robes, intending to go to the palace to meet the emperor in person.
Xie Nanjia dissuaded them one by one, saying that the current situation was unclear and no one should openly confront the queen without any evidence. She was the daughter of the Phoenix who the queen and the prince were determined to get, and was the person least likely to be in danger. She asked everyone not to worry and to wait for her good news at home.
Sheng Qingyun was reluctant to let his daughter take risks, but he knew rationally that it would be safest for her to do so in this situation. Besides, she appeared to be very confident from beginning to end, so she must have been very sure of it.
So, Sheng Qingyun helped her persuade her family members, and Su Jincheng personally drove the carriage to escort her into the palace.
Queen Meng had anticipated her coming and had sent eunuchs to wait for her at the palace gate.
The brother and sister followed the eunuch to Kunning Palace, but Su Jincheng was stopped outside the door and not allowed to enter.
Su Jincheng was worried about his sister and insisted on going in, resulting in a stalemate with the eunuch.
Xie Nanjia comforted him and stuffed a brocade bag into his hand in front of the eunuchs, and asked him to wait outside. When she didn't come out after half an hour, she showed the brocade bag to the emperor.
The eunuch's eyes flickered. After leading Xie Nanjia in, he quietly told Wang Lu about the matter.
Queen Meng sat in the main seat, her bright yellow phoenix robe showing the majesty of the royal family. Xie Nanjia walked forward slowly, bowed down and kowtowed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a piece of men's robe behind the screen and guessed that the prince must be hiding there and eavesdropping.
Queen Meng smiled and asked Xie Nanjia to stand up. She ordered someone to seat her and serve her tea. Then she said in a friendly manner, "Miss Xiu'er suddenly came to see me. I wonder why?"
Xie Nanjia took a sip of tea, put down the teacup and got straight to the point: "To answer your question, Queen, my father went to the palace to attend the banquet for all officials yesterday and has not returned home yet. My family has searched the entire city for him but still can't find him. So I came here to ask your Majesty if you have seen my father since the banquet?"
Queen Meng certainly knew the purpose of her visit, but she didn't expect her to ask so openly. She was slightly stunned, then she put away her smile and said, "Do you know how rude your words are?"
"Xiu'er knows, but she is eager to find her father. Please forgive me, Your Majesty." Xie Nanjia bowed and said, looking normal without a trace of panic.
Queen Meng observed secretly and had to admit that based on her temperament, she was far more suitable to be the Crown Princess than that fake county lady.
She is worthy of being the girl with the Phoenix destiny personally approved by Abbot Wuchen. She is absolutely incomparable to ordinary women.
"I understand your filial piety, but I have never seen the young duke. If you are willing, I can send someone to help you find him. I can't say anything else, but I have enough manpower here. Besides, the young duke is my relative, so I will naturally spare no effort to find him."
"If the Queen is willing to help, Xiu'er will be more than happy to do so. I wonder how long it will take for the Queen to find the person?" Xie Nanjia asked.
"How can we be sure of finding someone?" Queen Meng said meaningfully, "If it goes well, it may take a while, but if it doesn't go well, like you, didn't it take you more than ten years to find him?"
"What does the Queen think is considered successful?" Xie Nanjia asked.
Queen Meng did not answer immediately. She looked at her silently, avoided her question, and asked, "You must have heard the rumors about the daughter of the Phoenix, what do you think about it?"
After going around in circles for a long time, we finally get to the point.
Xie Nanjia smiled calmly and said, "I don't believe in fate. The theory of fate is pure nonsense to me. There are countless people in the world. Thousands of people are born and die every moment. If we can calculate who is destined to be born based on the eight characters of birth, then aren't all people with the same eight characters destined to be born to be born?"
"But so far, you are the only one in the entire Great Zhou, and this was calculated by Abbot Wuchen." Queen Meng simply made her thoughts clear, "This palace and the ministers all believe that a girl with the Phoenix destiny should marry a true dragon emperor, and the prince is the crown prince of the Great Zhou, the future emperor, so the position of the crown princess belongs to you."
Xie Nanjia pretended to be panicked and stood up and knelt on the ground, saying earnestly: "Her Majesty, have you forgotten that my sister was the one you personally selected as the Crown Princess, and I have already been engaged to the Second Young Master Zhao. As the saying goes, a good woman will not marry two husbands. Please don't let our sisters become the laughing stock of the world at the same time because of a nonsense."
"Your sister is a fake, we all know this, but at that time, for the sake of the royal family's face, we had to make do with it. Now that we have a daughter with the Phoenix destiny, we have a good reason to replace her." Queen Meng straightened her posture and said solemnly, "As for your marriage with the second son of Zhao, it has not been completely confirmed. Even if it is confirmed, you can't get married, because the daughter of the Phoenix destiny can only marry the real dragon emperor. If someone else marries her, it will be a crime of treason."
Having said that, there was basically no need to hide it anymore. Xie Nanjia quietly turned her head to glance behind the screen, straightened her body and looked at Queen Meng, and said bluntly: "Your Majesty insists that I am a phoenix, and I can't help it. But whether the dragon is a real dragon or not is uncertain."
Queen Meng was stunned at first, then her face changed drastically. She supported herself on the armrest of the chair and was about to stand up, but then she thought of something and glanced behind the screen. She stopped abruptly, leaned back, and her chest heaved rapidly.
Xie Nanjia raised her eyebrows slightly and a smile appeared at the corners of her lips.
"Your Majesty is the true dragon emperor, and the crown prince is his only son. Naturally, he will be the future true dragon emperor. There is no doubt about that." Queen Meng said firmly, as if she was speaking to Xie Nanjia, but also as if she was speaking to someone else.
The figure behind the screen moved, revealing the tip of his shoe, as if he wanted to walk out, but he was not sure whether to show up. After hesitating for a moment, he shrank back.
Xie Nanjia did not respond to Queen Meng's words, but abruptly said something irrelevant: "Yesterday, at the banquet for all officials, I heard that all the princes from various fiefdoms came. I once followed Mr. Zhao Er to the enclosure to see the demeanor of the princes. In my opinion, among the four princes, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei is the youngest, the most suave, and looks the most like the emperor. What do you think, Your Majesty?"
Queen Meng's expression froze. She gripped the armrests tightly with both hands until her knuckles turned white. She managed to control herself from making any unusual movements.
"Why are you suddenly talking about this?" she asked with a stiff smile, and her tone was not as calm as before.
Xie Nanjia smiled slightly and explained, "I don't have any other intentions. I just thought that the princes and His Majesty are all descendants of the late emperor. When the late emperor was alive, they were all considered sons of the dragon. If a daughter with the fate of a phoenix appeared at that time, I don't know which son of the dragon should be married to her."
"..." Queen Meng felt a little dizzy due to the sudden emotional ups and downs. She squinted her eyes and looked at the girl who was kneeling in front of her with a sweet smile. Her phoenix eyes, which were slightly raised because of her smile, became narrow and hazy. Her black eyeballs were like a bottomless pool of water, and who knows how many secrets were hidden in them.
Queen Meng felt pressure like never before. What annoyed her most was that this pressure came from a little girl of fifteen or sixteen years old.
She had been the queen for many years. She was the mother of the country and the mistress of the Great Zhou Dynasty, second only to the emperor. All the people in the world were her subjects. She had long forgotten what fear and terror were. But today, a yellow-haired girl awakened the deepest fear in her heart with a few ambiguous words.
This girl, what secret does she hold on to
What did she mean when she said the late emperor had many sons
Did she know that the emperor had more than one son, the prince? Did she know that Zhao Jingyu was also the emperor's son
What did she mean when she said the King of Wei was the youngest and most suave
Did she know... No, she couldn't possibly know, and no one in the world could possibly know!
But then again, what if she really knew
Queen Meng was so upset that she could no longer think normally, and pretended to accidentally brush away the teacup beside her.
This was something she had agreed with Wang Lu in advance. As soon as the teacup fell to the ground, she controlled Xie Nanjia and sent her to the East Palace through a secret passage, where she forced the prince to sleep with her. Afterwards, she claimed to the outside world that it was her initiative. As long as the matter was done, no one could change the result.
The teacup rolled onto the carpet at her feet, but Wang Lu did not act quickly as he had agreed before. Instead, he looked at her hesitantly, as if he was about to say something.
"Are you stupid? Come and clean up!" Queen Meng scolded.
Wang Lu agreed, took the opportunity to walk to her side, and whispered to her that Xie Nanjia had given Su Jincheng a magic bag before coming in.
Queen Meng was stunned. She couldn't believe that the girl could have thought of this and left a way out for herself in advance.
So, what's in that magic bag
Could it be... that secret
"Is there anyone here who can control Su Jincheng?" she asked Wang Lu in a low voice.
Wang Lu shook his head, looking embarrassed: "Commander Su is responsible for protecting the emperor. No one can beat him."
Queen Meng: “…”
Yes, every one of the people who protect the emperor is carefully selected from thousands and millions of people. How can they be easily controlled by others
She looked at Xie Nanjia helplessly and resentfully, her teeth almost breaking with anger.
How could there be such a difficult girl in the world? Is she really a country girl who has been living among the people for twelve years
Who taught her such scheming and tactics
Xie Nanjia met Queen Meng's gaze and said calmly, "Queen, Xiu'er and my brother have to go out to look for their father, so we won't stay here any longer. If you can help find my father, please send him home as soon as possible. Our whole family will thank you for your kindness."
"…" Queen Meng gritted her teeth, veins popping out on her forehead, "Go ahead, I'll have someone try their best to find the young Duke."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Xie Nanjia kowtowed respectfully, then stood up and left the hall.
Su Jincheng was waiting anxiously, and when he saw her come out, he hurried forward to ask her how she was doing.
"Let's talk about it outside." Xie Nanjia responded briefly, pulling him away quickly.
Su Jincheng didn't dare to ask more questions, and hurried with her to Donghuamen.
As they approached Donghua Gate, Xie Nanjia saw from afar a tall, slender figure in red pacing outside the gate, and the nervousness in his heart disappeared without a trace in an instant.
"Why is he here?" Su Jincheng frowned. At this critical moment in time, instead of staying at home, he came here to show off. He was really brave.
"I'm afraid he is a fool!" Xie Nanjia said, but the corners of his mouth could not help but rise.
"You idiot, why are you getting married?" Su Jincheng glared at her.
"Marry? Of course I should marry. I just like fools." Xie Nanjia said with a smile.
Su Jincheng: “…”
After leaving Donghua Gate, Zhao Jingyu saw the brother and sister and hurried over to them. He reached out to pull Xie Nanjia, but Su Jincheng stopped him and said with a stern face, "Let's talk about it when we get back."
“…” Zhao Jingyu didn’t dare to contradict his brother-in-law, so he had to follow them to the carriage with a lot to say.
Just as he was about to get in the car, Su Jincheng stuffed the whip into his hand and said, "You drive the car."
"..." Zhao Jingyu rolled his eyes and handed the whip to Wei Jun behind him, "You come!"
Wei Jun: “…”
The carriage rumbled out of the imperial city until it turned onto the main street, where there were more and more pedestrians. Only then did Xie Nanjia let out a long breath, relaxed his body and leaned against the wall of the carriage.
Zhao Jingyu sat opposite her politely and asked, "What did you and the queen talk about?"
Xie Nanjia shook her head and didn't intend to tell him.
"Aren't you afraid that the Queen will play tricks on you?" Zhao Jingyu asked again.
Xie Nanjia smiled: "Don't worry, I have a great plan."
"What's the secret?" Zhao Jingyu asked curiously.
Su Jincheng thought of the brocade bag, took it out from his arms and asked, "What's in it?"
Xie Nanjia blinked: "Open it and take a look."
Su Jincheng looked at her in confusion, then at Zhao Jingyu, opened the brocade bag, took out a note from it, and after unfolding it, he froze there.
The note was blank, with nothing on it.
(End of this chapter)