When Xiao Yuanzhao returned to the palace, he ordered people to investigate the background of Grand Tutor Chen's eldest granddaughter. He found that this woman was indeed very strange.
The woman's name was Chen Wanqing. When her birth mother was dying, she was afraid that her stepmother would neglect her, so she was sent to her maternal grandfather's house to be raised. She had been weak and sickly for many years, but suddenly recovered half a year ago. It was like an immortal had entered her dreams. Her birth mother prayed for her in the underworld, and she would have great fortune in the future.
She insisted on going to the capital, so her maternal grandfather's house had no choice but to send her back. After that, she won the favor of her grandfather and grandmother. She outsmarted her stepmother and cousin, and showed amazing talent at a gathering in the capital. Because of her intelligence, her family allowed her to open a shop and manage it herself. The jewelry she designed was original and quickly became famous. It was said that she was preparing to open some "beauty salon" recently, a place to help madams and sisters become beautiful. With her good skin as an example, many women had already booked the "opening package" in advance.
According to the secret guards' investigation, she had told her grandmother in private that she wanted to enter the palace and become the Empress. If she could only be in a low position when she entered the palace, she would definitely be able to climb to the position of Empress in the future. She hoped that Grand Tutor Chen could help her get a higher position for her.
Xiao Yuanzhao was very unfamiliar with terms like "beauty salon" and "opening package", so he became more and more curious about the so-called "modern era." Chen Wanqing had secretly killed the servant girl who offended her. She knew that Chu Xiang was about to be conferred the Empress, but she still wanted the position of Empress. She had already touched his reverse scale.
He was not polite at all and directly summoned Grand Tutor Chen to the palace, ordering him to explain why Chen Wanqing was so different. If he could not explain it clearly, then who knew if Chen Wanqing was a spy sent by the enemy?
When Grand Tutor Chen heard this, he broke out in cold sweat and hurriedly knelt to beg for forgiveness. That day, he heard that his granddaughter had met the Emperor on her way home. The Emperor had a good impression of her and even believed it, thinking that his family could really have a favorite concubine. Now it seemed that the Emperor had a good impression of her? He clearly wanted his granddaughter's life!
He could explain that Chen Wanqing had grown up and became beautiful because her body had recovered, but he could not explain the things that Chen Wanqing had made. The mask and glass mirror prepared by the beauty salon could not be hidden. This was not something that a woman could casually make without any research. Chen Wanqing's maternal family and even the place where her maternal family lived did not have these. How did Chen Wanqing know them?
The more Grand Tutor Chen explained, the more shocked he became. It wasn't that he hadn't been suspicious in the past, but Chen Wanqing had profited greatly, and her fame would only be good for the Chen family. If she could become a favored concubine, it would bring great wealth to the Chen family. There was no harm in that. Therefore, he had never pursued these details. Now that he was being questioned by the Emperor, there was only one word left in his heart — — finished.
Xiao Yuan Zhao kept looking at him with a cold face. When he did not speak, he said lightly, "This girl is not the Chen family's biological daughter. She is a spy in disguise. Immediately send her to the palace and someone will interrogate her. "
Grand Tutor Chen was taken aback. He didn't dare to say anything and left to escort Chen Wanqing into the palace as fast as he could.
Chen Wanqing was pleasantly surprised, thinking that the Emperor had fallen in love with her at first sight and couldn't wait to see her. Along the way, she complained to the system that she hadn't changed into her best clothes. As a result, once she entered the palace, before she could take a good look at what the palace looked like, she was suddenly taken into a secret room by a few secret guards who suddenly appeared.
Xiao Yuan Zhao did not appear at all. It was still very easy for his subordinates to get someone to speak the truth. Otherwise, if he had to use mind reading for something like an interrogation, then he wouldn't be the Emperor anymore.
He thought that this girl was malicious and had ill intentions towards him and Chu Xiang. She had even hinted vaguely that she would be the birth mother of the next Emperor. Xiao Yuan Zhao was very disgusted. After he caught her, he did not pay any more attention to her and did not mention it to Chu Xiang.
The Regent had fallen. He held the imperial power in his hands. Now, the most important thing to do was to benefit the country and the people. His subordinates and subjects would willingly submit to him, and other things would have to be put behind.
Chu Xiang let the Heaven and Earth Mirror monitor Chen Wanqing to see if there was anything unusual about her. Before long, Chen Wanqing was locked up. She was a little surprised. She had thought that Xiao Yuan Zhao could hear Chen Wanqing's thoughts. Chen Wanqing was so beautiful and behaved so well. Perhaps Xiao Yuan Zhao would find out about her abnormality and take her into the palace, then find an excuse not to touch her.
She did not expect Xiao Yuan Zhao to be so cold and heartless towards people with abnormalities. She was interested to see how the secret guards interrogated Chen Wanqing. She found that the secret guards did not hurt Chen Wanqing. Instead, they used feathers to torture the soles of her feet, making her itchy and unbearable. They tied her to a rotating wooden stake and spun her crazily, making her dizzy and vomiting. There were many other ways to torture her like this.
At first, Chen Wanqing was very stubborn, and her eyes were vicious. She even unknowingly broke the rope that tied her up again and spilled powder to knock down a secret guard. Unfortunately, the secret guards were very strict. Chen Wanqing did not know where they were hiding. In the blink of an eye, she was caught again. Then, they "tortured" her without sleep and rest, studying where her powder came from and where the sharp weapon to cut the rope came from.
After repeating this a few times, Chen Wanqing could not hold on any longer. Mentally, she gave in and finally realized the terror of imperial power. This was not a game. This was a real ancient imperial family. The Emperor was not an NPC that she could attack at will. She exposed her abnormality, and this was the result she got.
She regretted going up to talk to the Emperor when she met him by chance. But after thinking about it, the Emperor was so suspicious. Even if she never met him, she would still give herself away when she entered the palace in the future. She did not hide her ability much in Jiangnan. Now, it was useless to make up for it.
Chen Wanqing explained everything, including her identity in the modern world, how she was bound to the System, what the System could do, how she looked like in the modern world, and her guess that Chu Xiang was a time traveler.
Xiao Yuan Zhao gave the secret guards a gag order, ordering them to not reveal their guess that Chu Xiang was a time traveler at any time and under any circumstances. Then, he carefully compared and felt that Chu Xiang's change was not obvious. Because he could hear Chu Xiang's thoughts, he felt that Chu Xiang was different from before. Just from the surface, Chu Xiang had always been like that.
Also, Chu Xiang was very familiar with everything in the ancient world. The clothes and jewelry she opened did not have any strange things that were out of this era. Even the accounting method was not Chen Wanqing's Arabic numerals.
Everything about Chu Xiang could be traced. Now that she was so open and cheerful, it was very likely that it was because she was in love with him. She no longer wanted to be low-key and pretend to be invisible, and then secretly left the palace. Although Chu Xiang's skills and ability to make medicine could not be explained, Xiao Yuan Zhao felt that she was definitely different from Chen Wanqing.
After Chen Wanqing revealed everything, Xiao Yuan Zhao arranged for her to stay in a remote courtyard and ordered the secret guards to guard it, not allowing her to take a step out of the courtyard. Then, he made good use of her system and recorded her description of the modern world day by day, ordering people to organize the information that was beneficial to the current dynasty.
Chu Xiang saw that Xiao Yuan Zhao had done everything he could, so she did not care about Chen Wanqing anymore. She wanted to do some things, but she did not want to bring too many modern things over. Ever since she decided to stay and be the Empress, she began to read the history books of this world to understand the situation of the people of the current dynasty. Now, she had already determined the most helpful thing for the current dynasty, and that was to develop agriculture.
The people needed food, especially in this dynasty where people could starve to death. Increasing the production of food was the most important thing. With food as the foundation, many other things would have room for development.
Therefore, Chu Xiang acted as if she was on a whim. After destroying the medicine in the storehouse, she had people open up a plot of land to plant medicine. Then, because the palace servants and gardeners did not know much about planting medicine, she lost interest and pulled out the medicine to plant food.
Xiao Yuan Zhao could hear her thoughts and found that she was just bored and interested in this, so he let her be. He even specially picked a very large garden for her and found a woman who was good at farming to come into the palace to plant with her, treating it as playing with her.
The three fei did not know what to do with this change. They could already tell when Xi Fei's accident happened that the Emperor really liked the Imperial Gui Fei. They could not compare to her no matter what. They wanted to fight for favour, but they could not even see the Emperor's face. They wanted to harm Chu Xiang, but Chu Xiang often stayed in the Emperor's bedroom and was surrounded by the Emperor's people. They could not even touch a single strand of her hair.
They were still on guard that Chu Xiang would cause trouble for them. Who knew that Chu Xiang seemed to have forgotten about them and actually started to plant for fun.
The jealousy and schemes in their hearts faded day by day. All that was left was unwillingness. They were not yet twenty years old and were still good girls. How could they be willing to wait for death in the palace alone? The Emperor did not favor them. Even if they were willing to stay in the palace and find something to do to relieve their boredom, no one cared.
Therefore, when Xiao Yuan Zhao finally summoned them and asked if they were willing to leave the palace and marry someone else, they only thought about it for a night before agreeing. They had no choice but to agree. Xiao Yuan Zhao already knew that he would not see them for the rest of his life. Even if they did not believe that Xiao Yuan Zhao would like Chu Xiang for the rest of his life, Xiao Yuan Zhao's change of heart would not affect them in the future. They definitely would not have good days if they stayed.
Therefore, they all left. Chu Xiang was busy planting in the fields. She only found out about this when Xiao Yuan Zhao said he wanted to give her a surprise.
Chu Xiang saw the bright smile in his eyes and couldn't help but smile with him. She said to him: "I also have a surprise for you. You will know what it is soon. You will definitely like it. "
Xiao Yuan Zhao was slightly proud. He used his mind reading to know many of Chu Xiang's thoughts. Everything he did could make Chu Xiang happy. Sometimes, he thought that they might be the most loving Emperor and Empress in history. Their deeds might be passed down for thousands of years.
However, when future generations studied them, they would definitely find many inconsistencies that could not be explained. Because no one would know that he could read minds. His Empress could poison the Regent without anyone noticing. Maybe when future generations mentioned some of their experiences, they would feel that they were very lucky and were people who were favored by the Emperor.
The coronation ceremony came as scheduled. It was unusually grand. All the people in the capital were celebrating for them. Chu Xiang became the legitimate mother of the country.
Many officials looked at the flourishing Chu family and were very envious. The Emperor had appointed an Empress and overthrown the Regent. Next, he would choose concubines and fill up the harem, right?
They presented a memorial together in the imperial court to ask about the selection of concubines. Who knew that Xiao Yuan Zhao had Liang Zhong read the imperial edict that had been written long ago. He declared that there would be no concubines while he was on the throne. The three concubines in the palace would also return home and marry. From then on, there would be no harem.
When these words came out, it instantly caused a huge uproar!
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
