"My beloved concubine, please don't go out too much these days. Just rest well in the palace." Fu Yuheng said after dealing with Shen Qingwan's dominance.
"I understand." Shen Qingwan nodded and smiled gently at Fu Yuheng. Although she knew that the two of them could not always be like this, his concern for her was still very useful.
"Well. Then I will go back to take care of government affairs first. I will come to see you when I have time. Lianyun, pay attention to your mother's injuries and make sure she recovers." Fu Yuheng said.
"Yes, I understand." Lianyun lowered her head and agreed.
Shen Qingwan watched Fu Yuheng leave, feeling reluctant and regretful. If Fu Yuheng was not the emperor, they would not be in such a power center, and they might not be able to live a loving life like ordinary people.
"Empress, what are you thinking about?" Lianyun called Shen Qingwan several times but no one responded. She had no choice but to stretch out her hand and wave it in front of her to wake her up.
"Ah, nothing. What's wrong?" Shen Qingwan quickly came back to her senses, a little shy about what she was thinking, and her face turned red. The light in the room was dim, and Lianyun didn't notice it.
"I asked Your Majesty if she needed some pastries. The Queen Mother was so cruel that she made Your Majesty kneel for two full hours. Your Majesty must be very tired." Lianyun complained a little.
"Okay, don't talk about the Queen Mother's right and wrong. Go and ask the kitchen to prepare something to eat." Shen Qingwan waved her hand, motioning Lianyun to go out.
After a while, Shen Qingwan did not wait for Lianyun to bring pastries, but received another piece of news.
"Empress, didn't you find out that Liu Yangao is a spy on the border? The emperor just promoted him to general, this..." When Lian Yun heard the news, she didn't even go to the kitchen, but hurried back to report to Shen Qingwan.
Shen Qingwan frowned. She told Fu Yuheng everything she had found out. He also knew about the spy. Why would he do this? Unable to figure it out, she simply took Lianyun to ask for an audience with the emperor.
The emperor met Shen Qingwan in the imperial study and was surprised to see her rushing in: "Didn't I tell you to have a good rest? What are you doing here?"
Shen Qingwan didn't beat around the bush and said, "I heard that Your Majesty promoted Liu Yan to general? Why is that?"
"So that's what it is. I have my own plans. You can go back." Fu Yuheng didn't want to explain any more.
Shen Qingwan was silent for a while, but she knew it was inconvenient to ask in detail, so she had to return to the palace with doubts.
After Fu Yuheng finished dealing with the important government affairs at hand, he went to General Shen with his guards.
“Your Majesty, why are you here…” When General Shen saw the emperor coming, he hurriedly wanted to get out of bed and salute.
Fu Yuheng hurried over to stop him and said, "My dear, there is no need to be so polite. I just came to visit you. You are injured now, so you don't need to care about these red tapes."
"Hey," General Shen did not reject the emperor's kindness and talked to him while lying down, "The emperor is thoughtful."
"I have wronged you," Fu Yuheng patted his shoulder, "I know there is a spy at the border, and I have made arrangements to never let him escape. General Shen just needs to take good care of his health. When the time is right, I will capture him and bring him back to you for you to deal with personally."
General Shen was very grateful that the emperor came to visit him personally and told him this matter, and he became even more determined to protect the country for him.
On the other side, Liu Churong was in a good mood dressing up in her palace, with her maid helping her.
"Hmph, this virtuous concubine has been in the limelight for a long time, but now she has lost her image in front of the Queen Mother." Liu Churong sneered, looked at herself in the mirror again, and was very satisfied with her beauty.
The maid beside her remained silent and just stayed beside Liu Churong obediently.
"My queen, there's a letter." La Mei hurried in from outside, holding a letter in her hand.
Liu Churong signaled the maid beside her to go out with her eyes. When she and Lamei were the only ones left in the room, she opened the letter and started reading.
"Why are there so many problems?" Liu Churong angrily threw the letter down. "You asked me to poison Xiao Shushen. Is it that easy?!"
La Mei silently picked up the letter on the ground, folded it carefully, and whispered: "Your Majesty, please calm down. This is probably part of the prince's plan, but it is indeed difficult to do. How about you write back and ask the prince to find someone else?"
Liu Churong said irritably, "Let me think about it again."
She really didn't want to do this, the risk was too great and it was difficult to do. But she also understood that this must be a very important part of Fu Huaiyu's plan, and he must have asked her to do this because he couldn't find a suitable candidate. After all, if she was exposed, it would not benefit him at all, and he might even be implicated.
"But just now on my way back, I heard the palace maids in the imperial kitchen passing by saying that the Queen Mother asked them to send some cakes over. But they forgot that the Queen Mother also needed them, so they sent them to her first. The cakes for the Queen Mother should still be in the imperial kitchen now." La Mei mentioned the news at the right time.
Liu Churong looked at her with satisfaction, but was still hesitant about whether to do it.
"The virtuous concubine just went to get the pastries. The palace maids on duty in the imperial kitchen should not be there at this time." La Mei added.
Liu Churong thought about it and decided to take a risk.
The two of them came to the imperial kitchen and saw a plate of the Queen's favorite pastry in a conspicuous place. Liu Churong asked Lamei to keep watch outside, and he walked in quietly and sprinkled the prepared poison on the outermost piece.
After doing all this and making sure that there were no traces of the star left, Liu Churong said to La Mei: "You go back first and see what happens in the palace. I want to see the queen eat it myself."
Lamei agreed and left in a hurry.
Sure enough, after a while, two palace maids came over and took the plates out. Liu Churong took a more detour and took a short route, hiding in the flowerbed outside the garden where the queen was before the palace maids arrived to peek.
The queen blamed the palace maid for being late, and picked up the outermost layer of the pastry unhappily and prepared to eat it.
Liu Churong was watching this scene happily, but was unexpectedly seen by Concubine Qi who happened to pass by and exclaimed: "Ah! Isn't this the Imperial Concubine Sister?"
The queen was startled by the loud shout and the cake in her hand fell to the ground.
Liu Churong stood up awkwardly and hastily found an excuse for her disgraceful posture: "I think this flower is very beautiful. I want to pick one to take back and enjoy it."
"Sister, you really love beauty, but why do you have to pick them yourself? Be careful not to prick your hands." Concubine Qi said sarcastically.
Liu Churong had no time to pay attention to Concubine Qi's sarcasm. She was afraid that her plan would be exposed, so she could only hurriedly make an excuse that something happened in the palace and leave in embarrassment.