The Queen sealed her heart and locked up her love, and the Emperor was trapped in the crematorium

After the Empress Dowager returned to the palace, as expected, Concubine Qi "recovered" from her illness soon and became active in the harem again. However, this time, she was much more low-key and spent most of her time quietly staying in the Qionghua Palace and going out less often.

Whenever concubines came to Kunning Palace to pay their respects to her, Xie Yaoqing had to personally lead them to Cining Palace to pay homage to the empress dowager. She also had to visit the Cining Palace from time to time on weekdays, under the pretext of serving her mother-in-law as a filial duty as a daughter-in-law.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Xie Yaoqing was about to find an excuse to leave, but suddenly heard the Queen Mother say: "Queen, please stay for a while. I have something to say to you."

Hearing this, all the concubines present understood what he meant and tactfully bowed and said goodbye.

Faced with this situation, Xie Yaoqing sighed in his heart and stayed helplessly.

But Xie Yaoqing was not afraid. He would just fight back when the enemy came and block the water with earth.

The Queen Mother waved her hand gently, signaling the maids and eunuchs around to leave. When there was no one else in the room, she took Xie Yaoqing's hand and said in a heavy tone, "Queen, you must never indulge other concubines like this again."

Hearing the Queen Mother's words, Xie Yaoqing raised her eyebrows slightly, with a puzzled look on her face, and asked, "Mother, why do you say that?"

The Queen Mother looked at Xie Yaoqing with a look of dissatisfaction on her face, and said, "Look at the clothes and attire of these concubines now. They are all gaudy and heavily made up. How can they be people who follow the rules? If the Emperor saw them, wouldn't he be fascinated by them? If the Emperor favors any of the concubines by then, it will be too late for you to regret it."

Faced with the Queen Mother's accusations, Xie Yaoqing was speechless for a moment.

Most of the concubines in the harem were only 18 or 19 years old or in their early twenties, and they were in their prime. As women, who doesn't love beauty? What's wrong with dressing up a little? If they had to dress old-fashioned, how ugly would it be? Besides, even if many concubines didn't dress up deliberately, they were naturally beautiful, fresh and natural.

"Mother, the concubines are young and beautiful, so it is natural for them to like to dress up. They are naturally beautiful, and even without makeup, they are still beautiful."

Xie Yaoqing paused and continued, "As the mother of a country, I am more concerned about how to maintain harmony and order in the palace and the health of the emperor. As for the concubines' clothing and appearance, as long as it is not out of line and does not exceed the etiquette, they can follow their wishes."

Although there has been a saying since ancient times that "women dress up to please themselves", does it mean that women can only dress up to please men? If it is just to make themselves happy, is it not okay?

Anyway, when she saw the concubines in the room dressed up beautifully, like exotic flowers and plants competing for beauty, she felt very comfortable because it was pleasing to the eye.

As for whether Xiao Chengxu would be attracted by one of the concubines, that was not something she had to consider. Could it be that she had to make all of these concubines look ugly and have no sense of beauty?

Xie Yaoqing suddenly recalled that she had done such a stupid thing before. Whenever any concubine dressed herself up a little more brightly and beautifully, she would be displeased with her, always nitpicking and finding all kinds of reasons to deliberately make things difficult for her. If she met a concubine who wanted to win favor and flatter her, she would never give up easily. Even if she had to find faults in an egg, she would find some mistakes for them, and then punish them by kneeling, confining them, or slapping them directly... In short, she would find ways to suppress their ambitions to win favor and love.

No wonder she had such a bad relationship with people. When she was abandoned in the cold palace in her previous life, no one stood up to say a good word for her. If you think carefully, which concubine had not been troubled by her? In their eyes, she was a jealous, narrow-minded and vicious queen. The Queen Mother had contributed a lot to all this.

As soon as he returned to the palace, he couldn't help but give her some advice and teach her how to do things.

Seeing Xie Yaoqing remained silent, the Queen Mother thought that what she had just said had worked, so she could not help but sigh softly and said earnestly: "I know that you and the Emperor are deeply in love, but being born in an imperial family, there are always many things that are beyond your control. Even if the Emperor is unwilling to expand his harem, he still took in new people. I can understand the Emperor's difficulties, but I feel more sorry for the Queen. The grievances you have suffered are indeed not small, but you must not let it go and accept it, and you must not let those vixen deceive the Emperor."

Since ancient times, the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law has always been a big problem. It is rare for mother-in-law and daughter-in-law to coexist peacefully, but the queen mother kept saying that she felt sorry for Xie Yaoqing, and tried her best to persuade and enlighten her, pretending to be wholeheartedly thinking about Xie Yaoqing. It is not an exaggeration to praise her as the best mother-in-law in the world.

It sounded so hypocritical. Xie Yaoqing couldn't help but sigh that she was so foolish in her previous life that she actually believed the Queen Mother's lies and obeyed her every word.

"As the queen, I need to be strict and lenient in managing the harem. If I am just strict and harsh, I am afraid it will be difficult to convince everyone. Although mother understands my difficulties, serving the emperor is the duty of the concubines. If they can really gain the emperor's favor, it is also their good fortune."

"Don't blame me for my harsh words, mother. If it rains, it will rain. If I marry, I will marry. If the king of a country wants to favor a concubine, it is unstoppable."

Xie Yaoqing had a perfect smile on her face, she was dignified and generous, without any jealousy on her face, which surprised the empress dowager.

I originally thought that the queen was just pretending to be virtuous and kind, and had a noble character. But pretending to be magnanimous can only last for a short time. However, it seems that the queen is not pretending, as if she really doesn't care about the concubines' competition for favor.

"And I believe in Your Majesty. As long as Your Majesty still has me in his heart and remembers the oath we made in the past, I will be able to sit firmly on the throne of Empress, and no one can replace me."

Xie Yaoqing deliberately emphasized the tone of the three words "anyone", the deep meaning of which is self-evident, even Concubine Qi is no exception.

The Queen Mother shook her head and sighed, "You think too simply, Queen. People's hearts are fickle. When you reach my age, you will understand that men's hearts are the most difficult to control. If you don't make plans early and eliminate the threat as soon as possible, it may become a big problem in the future."

Hearing this, Xie Yaoqing was speechless and almost rolled his eyes.

How could she not know what the Queen Mother was planning? Wasn't she just trying to get her to deal with other concubines in the harem in various ways? And she said it so righteously, as if everything was for her own good. Wasn't it also paving the way for Concubine Qi? If she defeated the other concubines, and Concubine Qi defeated her, wouldn't she be the final winner?

Since she herself said that men's hearts are hard to grasp, isn't it unnecessary for her to spend so much effort? Should she dig out Xiao Chengxu's heart to see if it is her, and stare at him like a thief every day, fearing that he will suddenly change his mind?

Xie Yaoqing was secretly complaining, but on the surface, she pretended to agree with him, frowned and said with a distressed look, "What the queen mother said is very true."

Seeing this, the Queen Mother nodded with satisfaction. Just as she was about to continue, she heard Xie Yaoqing say excitedly, "Your Majesty, you care so much about me. I have a way to solve the problem once and for all. Since you and I both think that the concubines in the palace are really annoying, why don't you issue an imperial decree to give them each three feet of white silk and a cup of poisoned wine so that they can die soon? The living are not as peaceful as the dead. No matter how we warn and admonish, there will always be people with ulterior motives who try to compete for favor and love. Only by completely solving their problems can we eliminate future troubles. In this way, I believe that no family will be willing to send their daughters to the palace in the future. By then, Your Majesty and I can naturally accompany each other for the rest of our lives and grow old together."

Xie Yaoqing's eyes were as bright as stars, and her smile was elegant and calm, as if she was not talking about life and death, but about the sunny sky and pleasant weather today. No one could have imagined that she would be so calm and serious in offering advice to the Queen Mother, asking her to execute the concubines in the harem.

"The imperial concubine is my mother's niece, so naturally my mother cannot bear to see her die. Well, let's give my mother some face and let her live. We only need to disfigure her, poison her and make her mute, and then blind her. I am not a narrow-minded person, and I can tolerate a person who is both disabled and ugly."

It was a sunny day outside, the sky was clear blue and cloudless, but the empress dowager couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. She stared at the elegant woman in front of her with wide eyes in disbelief.

"Queen, have you lost your mind? How can you speak so nonsense? It's simply ridiculous." The Queen Mother was so angry that her voice trembled, her face turned pale, and she spoke harshly.

She probably never dreamed that Xie Yaoqing would come up with such an incredible method - asking her to order the execution of many concubines in the harem.

Although she was the Empress Dowager, how could she easily execute the emperor's concubines? Wouldn't that be disregarding human life? Not only would she be attacked by the imperial censors, but she would also likely provoke a strong backlash and retaliation from the huge family forces behind the concubines.

Unless the Queen Mother is crazy or stupid, why would she do something that would do herself no good but only harm?

Xie Yaoqing shook his head seriously and said, "I am not crazy. I just feel bad for you, mother, because I see you are working so hard for me. I just want to share your worries and do my filial duty. It is the same as the saying 'eradicate all evil'. You have been caring and protecting me for so many years. I thought you would be willing to take a risk for me, or is your love and care for me just a formality and unworthy of further investigation? Was your care and love for me in the past all fake?"

When he said the last sentence, Xie Yaoqing's voice lowered slightly, with a hint of resentment and questioning.