Xia Dongchun from Legend of Zhen Huan: I want to live till the last episode

An Lingrong's expression froze. She thought for a moment and realized that the Queen must have guessed something. If she continued to hide it, she would probably offend the Queen. So she lowered her eyes and said, "Your Majesty is wise. I, your humble servant, cannot hide this from you."

When the Queen saw that she admitted it so straightforwardly, her anger subsided a lot. She was not angry because An Lingrong plotted to murder the royal heir and framed the concubines, but because she dared to make decisions on her own and do such a thing behind her back.

Seeing An Lingrong was very obedient, and no longer hiding anything from him, his tone softened, "I am angry not because of what you did, but because I am worried about you."

An Lingrong lowered her head: "It was all my own decision. It doesn't matter if the Queen wants to punish me or punish me. It's fine even if you want to hand me over to the Emperor for disposal. It's just...it's just that I saw that Concubine Zhao already has a daughter and is pregnant with twins. I'm worried that she will become the second Nian Concubine in the future, which will give the Queen a headache, so..."

The Queen naturally would not believe An Lingrong's words that all this was for her. If she believed such words, the throne of Queen would have belonged to someone else long ago.

But the Queen would not point it out, and just believed it: "I know you have good intentions, but what if someone betrays you, or if the maid named Lan'er beside Noble Lady Fucha suddenly betrays you and jumps out to identify you, what should I do? By then, I am afraid that even I can't protect you."

When An Lingrong heard what the Queen said, she knew that the Queen did not really want to blame her, but was worried that she would leave some traces for others to find out, so she immediately said, "Don't worry, Queen, Lan'er has been resentful of Noble Fucha before, and Bai Yu helped her several times. In addition, Lan'er's hometown is Songyang, so I promise that after she succeeds, her whole family will have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of their lives."

"Where is that little Shuozi?" the queen asked after taking a sip of tea.

An Lingrong replied, "Xiao Shuozi's father is ill and needs money urgently. He is a filial son. Although my family is not rich and I don't have much money, it is enough to treat Xiao Shuozi's father. So I gave him the money and used my connections to help him leave the palace."

"I'm sorry to trouble you. Money is really important in this palace. Otherwise, how can the servants do their work well?" The queen looked at her meaningfully and continued, "I recently got two pieces of good ink. Take them with you when you go back."

"Yes, thank you, Your Majesty." An Lingrong had not read much and did not often practice calligraphy. Although she did not understand why the Queen suddenly wanted to reward her with two pieces of ink, she still thanked her first.

"Alright, since this incident was definitely done by Noble Lady Fucha, no matter how heartbroken I am, there is nothing I can do. She did such a thing, which simply brought shame to the entire military." The Queen sighed, "But she has been punished by the Emperor to be grounded, so I can't say anything more. You and she are both in the Yanxi Palace, and Noble Lady Fucha is useless now. Concubine Zhao just had a miscarriage, so try not to provoke Concubine Zhao during this period."

"Yes, I will keep in mind the Empress's teachings." An Lingrong nodded. She knew that even if the matter was over, no matter what the truth was, when others mentioned it in the future, they would only say that it was Concubine Fucha who was resentful and plotted to murder the royal heir, and it had nothing to do with her.

After An Lingrong left, Jianqiu fanned the Queen and asked, "Your Majesty, is it really okay for Concubine An to do this?"

"She is smart," the queen sneered, "and she even knew to drag me into this."

Jianqiu didn't react for a moment.

Seeing her like this, the Queen curled her lips and said, "Didn't you hear what she said just now? She even emphasized that Lan'er had received favors from Bai Yu several times. Wasn't it to tell me that I was also involved in this matter so that I could help her cover it up?"

Jianqiu paused in fanning herself.

Then the Queen continued, "It doesn't matter. These are all minor matters. The most important thing is that she really got rid of the twins in Zhaopin's belly, and she cleared herself of all charges."

"Yes, it can be said that Concubine An has saved the Empress from worries." Jianqiu echoed.

"But..." The Queen changed the subject and turned her head to meet Jianqiu's gaze, "Bai Yu cannot be kept. She will act on her own before I give her any orders. If such a person is kept by my side, she will be a disaster sooner or later."

Jianqiu nodded: "I understand, Madam, don't worry."

On the other hand, after An Lingrong returned, she opened the two ink boxes and found neatly stacked silver inside.

Bao Juan exclaimed in a low voice: "My lady, is this something specially given by the Queen?"

An Lingrong stared at the silver for a while, and remembered what she had said in Jingren Palace that she had spent a lot of silver on this matter. It seemed that the Queen Mother also heard her words and was worried that she would not have enough silver when she did something else, so she took the opportunity of rewarding her with the two squares of ink to give her the silver.

After figuring this out, An Lingrong nodded and responded to Baojuan's question: "That should be it. When we were in Jingren Palace just now, didn't I mention that we spent a lot of money on this matter? I think the Queen is worried that giving money directly would seem awkward, so she made an excuse to give ink as a gift."

Bao Juan hummed, and said, "Then young master, I will put all these things away."

An Lingrong watched Baojuan put away her things. She didn't know what she was thinking, but her face showed no expression. After Baojuan put her things away, she turned around and saw An Lingrong like this. She quickly stepped forward and asked, "Young Master, what's wrong?"

But she didn't get a response for a long time. Just when Baojuan was about to ask again, An Lingrong spoke up: "Baojuan, this matter has been resolved, but... do you feel that Sister Wan has become more distant to me? She is not as caring and close to me as before."

Baojuan rolled her eyes, recalled the recent events, and frowned, saying, "Yes, I know I shouldn't say this, but...but I see that recently Concubine Wan has not treated the young lady as well as before, but I don't know why."

An Lingrong didn't say anything else, but she was wondering in her heart whether Zhen Huan knew about the matter of the scar-removing glue.

But...if Zhen Huan knew about this, who would tell her? An Lingrong thought about it and two candidates came to her mind - either Wen Shichu or...Xia Dongchun.

After all, Xia Dongchun had previously revealed that she knew there was something wrong with the Scar Removing Glue.