After swallowing my anger and taking the blame, I became the lucky little queen

At the entrance of Yulinju.

Deng Xiu stumbled out, looking helpless.

Li Yaoyuan crossed her arms and blocked the door, saying angrily, "Governor Deng, please go back. I don't accept the solution you gave me."

Deng Xiu wanted to persuade her and took a few steps forward, "Miss Yu, you..."

"Bang——" Li Yaoyuan closed the door.

Deng Xiu stood there in a daze.

"Oh!" He sighed heavily and walked away with heavy steps.

In a corner that he couldn't see, two men dressed as guards were staring at the door of Yulinju.

"Brother, judging from the way they are talking, I think they haven't reached an agreement."

"Humph, Deng Xiu didn't dare to offend the four major families, but Yu Yue was acquainted with many ladies and young ladies in Wu County, so Deng Xiu had to mediate between them. Unexpectedly, they didn't buy it at all!"

"If you don't accept my toast, you'll have to drink the forfeit! Yu Yue is the same. If she had only given up some of her customers, both sides could have lived in peace and made money together, but she insisted on keeping all the money for herself! She deserves the outcome now!"

"Okay, since Deng Xiu didn't reach an agreement with her, we don't need to intervene. Let's go back to the mansion."

-

Palace of Prayer for Good Harvests.

The carrier pigeon flew back to the bird stand of the Qinian Temple, flapped its wings a few times and finally folded into two pieces.

Qin Wenyuan heard the noise, looked in the direction of the bird stand, and put down the book in his hand.

Lin Shoude immediately understood and ran over to take the letter off the bird's leg.

"Fifth Prince, this is the emperor's reply." Lin Shoude handed over the letter with a smile.

After Qin Wenyuan finished reading the letter, a layer of gloom covered his young face, like the calm before a storm.

Lin Shoude poured him a cup of tea and asked, "What did the emperor say?"

"My brother said..." He frowned, thinking back to the words on the paper. He felt sorry for her, but he still told him calmly: "Put Shen Baolin in the death row, cut her tendons, feed her mute medicine to burn her throat, so that she can't tell anyone what she saw that night."

"And Lord Shen was exiled to the border of Southern Chu on the charge of instigating Shen Baolin to commit a secret assassination. All the members of the Shen family, males were exiled and females were enslaved. They are never allowed to return to the capital." Qin Wenyuan clenched the letter in his hand, his heart beating very fast.

Lin Shoude was startled and his face turned pale.

Obviously, neither of them expected that Qin Junyu would punish them so severely.

He is not a tyrannical official, nor is he a man of high spirits. He must have his reasons for doing this, the two men thought silently.

Qin Wenyuan burned the letter and continued reading as if nothing had happened, but in fact he could not read a single word.

Lin Shoude suddenly remembered something he had not told him and hesitated whether to say it.

After thinking for a moment, he felt that it was necessary to let the Fifth Prince know.

"Fifth Prince, on the night Shen Baolin sneaked into the Palace of Prayer for Good Harvests, a palace maid was found on her way back to the imperial kitchen from the Palace of Prayer for Good Harvests. After an autopsy, it was confirmed that she died of fright."

"This palace maid was responsible for delivering medicine to the emperor every night. It is very likely that she came with him that night, but she did not come in. After hearing Shen Baolin's cry, she ran away and ended up scaring herself to death." Lin Shoude lamented.

After all, it was a human life, and the palace maid did nothing wrong. It was all Shen Xinran who harmed her.

Qin Wenyuan closed his eyes and exhaled, "Since she is dead, bury her quietly and don't make it public. If she has any family outside the palace, send some money to them."

Lin Shoude responded and walked out.

……

Shen Xinran and a palace maid went to the Qinian Palace to deliver medicine, but the news of their disappearance spread quickly throughout the harem. The concubines were in a state of panic, always feeling that there were dirty things around them, and they dared not go out after dark.

Originally thought to be just a rumor, but since then, Shen Xinran has never appeared again. Combined with previous rumors, a new theory was born - the emperor captured Shen Xinran to break the deadlock.

There were two people who were in conflict with each other. If one of them became seriously ill, all he had to do was kill the other one, so Shen Xinran was killed.

As for the palace maid, no one cared...

A few days later, Shen Qiyuan was exiled to the frontier. The news of the Shen family's confiscation of property spread widely, and everyone was in danger for a while.

No one knows what secrets are hidden behind this. Is Shen Qiyuan's exile and the confiscation of the Shen family related to the emperor's illness? Is Shen Xinran really killed?

There is no way to know anything, and no one dares to mention it.

Shen Qiyuan had no idea what was happening when he was put in shackles. No one in the Shen family was spared. They probably won't know who harmed them until they die.

The concubines in the harem were so scared that they dared not go out during the day. Someone suggested inviting a monk to perform a ritual, but the emperor was still ill and the empress was secluded in the Buddhist temple and could not come out. Who could preside over the ceremony and make the decision?

Everyone turned their eyes to Qiu Minjing.

Lingxi Palace.

Yang Zhitao and Ma Chunxi each carried a piece of cloth into Qingya Pavilion.

"Sister Ma, don't be lazy this time. If you take it too seriously, you won't have any pretty clothes to wear in the winter."

Ma Chunxi looked impatient, "Oh, I know, I know." Then he smiled shamelessly, "If I can't finish it, you and Sister Qiu can help me."

Yang Zhitao wrinkled her nose. "Humph! You're doing this again! The autumn clothes you're wearing were sewn by me and Sister Qiu!"

Ma Chunxi curled her lips, "So what? The clothes you sew are warmer."

"Huh..." Yang Zhitao got goose bumps all over his body.

The two knew that Ma Chunxi was not good at needlework, so every time they started embroidering or sewing, they would always pull Ma Chunxi along to learn from them.

After three months of study, she only learned how to thread the needle and tie knots.

The two men walked into the yard and met Lin Jiayao.

"Madam Ma, Lady Yang." Lin Jiayao's face was pale. After the greetings, she walked away in a daze.

Ma Chunxi was confused.

Yang Zhitao nudged her with her elbow and said, "Let's go and stop looking."

"I guess they are here to ask Sister Qiu for help in exorcising evil spirits again."

Ma Chunxi was very disgusted, "Why are they so afraid of those things?"

In her opinion, ghosts are not scary, people are the scariest.

"Alas... Concubine Lin lives in the same palace as Shen Baolin, so it's normal for her to be afraid." Yang Zhitao lowered her voice and told her secretly: "I passed by Zhaoyang Palace that day and saw that the Risheng Hall was covered with yellow talisman paper. I also heard the palace maids say that Concubine Lin was looking for a peach wood sword and a Guan Gong statue everywhere."

Ma Chunxi clicked his tongue, not understanding but respecting.

As they talked, the two of them entered Qiu Minjing's bedroom.

"Why does it take you so long?" Qiu Minjing looked back at the two of them and continued to concentrate on threading the needle.

After putting the cloth on the table, Yang Zhitao was exhausted, and kept shaking his arms, frowning and saying, "The cotton materials in the weaving bureau were all used to make winter clothes for the palaces. There was no extra for us. It was only after Sister Ma scolded her that they moved two pieces for us."

Qiu Minjing was helpless. "Next time something like this happens, don't argue with them. At worst, we can just not use them. Anyway, we are just killing time. We are not waiting for these clothes to survive the winter."