The quiet and elegant ancestral hall was filled with a certain silence accompanied by the lingering Buddhist incense. The queen mother sat aside, tapping the pear wood table with her fingertips shining with the luster of colored glaze. Her narrow eyebrows were lowered and her emotions could not be seen clearly, but the tension that enveloped the entire hall made the people standing around her tremble uncontrollably.
After a moment, the Queen Mother took action. Her white fingertips gently stroked the rim of the cup and she said softly, "Go and invite the Emperor over."
"Huh." The sharp voice gradually faded away along with the tiny footsteps, carrying a hint of imperceptible panic.
When the messenger came over, Fu Yuheng was sitting in the imperial study, with memorials placed randomly on the table.
The red brush in his hand was half suspended in the air, and the dripping red ink had already dyed the white paper red. It was not until the eunuch's voice sounded that Fu Yuheng came back to his senses from his deep thoughts.
Fu Yuheng knew exactly what the Queen Mother wanted to talk to him about. He sighed and straightened his robes. "Let's go to the Queen Mother."
The distance from the imperial study to the ancestral hall was not short, but even so, it still felt too fast to him. In just a short while, he arrived at the destination.
Fu Yuheng narrowed his eyes, looked back with an ambiguous expression, and then smiled, "Wait for me outside the palace."
Shaking his sleeves, Fu Yuheng stepped forward and said, "I pay my respects to the Queen Mother. I wonder if the Queen Mother has been happy these days?"
"Relaxed?" The Queen Mother sighed softly, picked up the tea with her slender fingers and took a sip. "Such a big thing happened in the harem. How can I feel relieved?"
Fu Yuheng's eyebrows jumped, and he lowered his head, "Don't worry, mother. I will handle this matter properly and give the princess an explanation."
After hearing this, the Queen Mother suddenly chuckled, and her slender eyes glanced down coldly and stared at Fu Yuheng steadily, without any warmth, "Of course I believe the emperor, I wonder how the emperor plans to deal with it?"
"Mother, this matter has not yet been concluded..." Before Fu Yuheng could finish his words, a teacup exploded in front of him and blocked his mouth.
The Queen Mother's smile had already disappeared from her face. "In my opinion, you have been bewitched by that woman! You actually turned a blind eye to her vicious and vicious heart that killed the princess!"
Fu Yuheng's brows were tightly furrowed, his thin lips moved twice but he didn't say anything.
The whole story was already clear, but for some reason, he always felt that there was something weird and strange about it.
Looking up, Fu Yuheng's sharp eyes met the Queen Mother's, "Please calm down for a moment, Mother. I will take my leave now."
Having said that, he left.
As soon as he left the hall, he waved his hand and asked the person waiting to leave. He walked slowly along the narrow path in the garden with his hands behind his back.
Since ancient times, the intentions of emperors have been unpredictable, and the eunuch following beside him dared not guess it at will. He could only follow quietly, holding the whisk in his hand.
At this time, he wanted to have some peace and quiet, but the harem was never a quiet place. Before he walked far, he saw a beautiful figure walking towards him from afar.
She walked towards me with graceful steps, and the hairpins on her bun swayed slightly in the breeze.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you." Xiao Shushen bowed gently, and her eyes, shining with water, met Fu Yuheng's eyes with affection.
Fu Yuheng walked forward and helped the man up, then calmed down and said, "My queen is here to appreciate the flowers today too? She and I are in tune with each other."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Shushen smiled slightly, "Your Majesty, please don't make fun of me. It's because of your great charm that you have charmed everyone in the palaces and courtyards whenever you go out."
Sitting down in the pavilion, he stared at the ripples in the pond with his deep eyes and teased her.
She turned around and bowed, her posture still as generous and decent as usual, "Your Majesty, such a big thing has happened in the harem these few days. It is because I did not manage it well. Today I came to apologize to Your Majesty."
Raising his hand and holding the Queen's fingers, Fu Yuheng didn't seem to care much, "You are not to blame for this matter, Queen, don't blame yourself."
“Ah…” The queen sighed, a few rays of light flashed in her eyes, but then disappeared into the darkness. “I don’t know what’s wrong with Shen Qingwan. How could she be so cruel? Even if…” She stopped talking halfway and sat beside him with a sad look on her face.
Fu Yuheng raised an eyebrow, somewhat confused, "Even if it is what? The Queen just said it directly. Is there anything that cannot be said to my Queen?"
"Of course not!" As if she was afraid that the emperor had misunderstood her, she waved her hands repeatedly and widened her eyes in fear.
His bony fingers tapped lightly on the stone table, his eyes concealing emotions that others dared not guess, "Then tell me."
After receiving the order, Xiao Shushen pondered for a while, as if she was organizing her words, and then she slowly spoke, "Some trivial things that happened in the harem are not worth bothering the emperor with. In the past few days, there seems to be some conflicts between the princess and the virtuous concubine. The princess treated her a little harshly, which may have added some resentment to her heart, so she... did this."
Fu Yuheng listened to it and seemed to agree with it. She nodded gently and said, "This harem has too many trivial matters. The queen has worked hard."
The queen smiled and said, "It is my blessing to be able to share the emperor's worries."
Reaching out to tuck the queen's hair that was messed up by the wind behind her ears, Fu Yuheng stood up and said, "I have something else to do. The queen should go back early. It's getting late and the wind is cold."
After saying that, he slowly walked out of the pavilion and called the eunuch who had been waiting beside him, "Is what the queen just said true?"
The eunuch could not guess what the emperor meant, so he could only answer truthfully, "I have heard something."
Fu Yuheng nodded thoughtfully, raised his hand and rubbed his throbbing brow, "Go find someone to check and see if there are any other clues."
The people under him worked hard to carry out the emperor's orders, but after two days of thorough investigation, they still found no clues.
Fu Yuheng waved his hand irritably to let the person who came to report go away, and threw the pen on the table in front of him. His sharp eyes were tightly closed, and his furrowed brows showed that his owner was in a bad mood.
"Your Majesty, the Queen requests an audience."
Fu Yuheng took a deep breath, and when he opened his eyes again, he regained his previous calmness, "Please come in."
The Queen had no other business this time. As soon as she entered the room, she sat next to Fu Yuheng and said, "Your Majesty, the princess's affair has caused a lot of uproar. If there is no result, I'm afraid it will be difficult to convince the people."
After thinking for a moment, I couldn't think of a better way.