Peach Blossom.

"Give them a helping hand?" Si Yao's confused eyes were still full of ignorance.

Meng nodded and reiterated what should be done next: "Yes, depose the unlearned young emperor Si De and make Si Yuan, the Prince of Yongchang, who is deeply loved by the people, the new emperor."

Si Yao was shocked, and his head became even more confused: "This... now the two Queen Mothers are jointly assisting in the administration, will Zhou allow you to depose his son?"

Meng smiled coldly: "We don't need to worry about this. As long as I give the nod, those officials from Yongchang will naturally find a way to deal with this adulterous couple."

Si Yao lowered his head and pouted silently, a hint of displeasure appearing on his fair face.

Mrs. Meng could see that her daughter had some thoughts in mind: "You don't seem to agree with what I'm doing?"

"I think... deposing and enthroning is not a trivial matter... When the emperor's elder brother passed away, his only son ascended the throne, which was legitimate, but the palace was still in chaos. Now that the world is at peace, why bother making a fuss? The emperor's elder brother is not your biological son, and no matter who Zhou had the child with, Si De is not your biological grandson, and he cannot be related to you! Anyway, Zhou and Chen Xi dare not publicly admit that Si De is not of royal blood, so Si De must regard himself as the son of the emperor's elder brother all his life. Can't we just turn a blind eye?" Si Yao muttered, she felt that what she said made sense.

Although Mrs. Meng was somewhat speechless, she still patiently analyzed the situation with Si Yao: "My silly daughter, how could you say that? Si De's life story has been spread all over the city. Can I just turn a blind eye to it?

Can't you see? The purpose of the son of Prince Yongchang coming to Beijing this time is not to get married. They are spreading Zhou's scandals in order to shake Si De's throne. Sooner or later, these two groups will have a fierce battle. Zhou and Chen Xi are infamous, and they will lose if they fight.

But the Yongchang people did not declare war directly, but secretly passed the news to you and me. Do you know what this means? They hope to get my support, to cooperate with me from inside and outside, so as to reduce their loss of troops and increase their chances of winning.

If we help Si Yuan now, he will have to acknowledge me as his mother and you as his sister for the sake of the overall situation. Then I will still be the queen mother and you will still be the princess. If we don't seize this opportunity, when Si De is driven off the throne, we will also become prisoners. Do you understand?"

These insightful remarks finally woke up Si Yao, the stubborn man.

But when she understood this truth, she seemed lost instead: "Wang Jing promised me that the day Yu'er gets married, we will be reconciled. He will come to the palace to pick me up personally... If my eldest brother ascends the throne, his son Si Xiu will be the crown prince. Will they marry a disfigured crown princess? They will definitely regret the engagement... Then Wang Jing and I..."

"Wang Jing, Wang Jing, I knew you were doing this for Wang Jing. What else do you know in this life besides Wang Jing?" Before Si Yao could finish his words, Meng scolded him harshly.

Si Yao was shocked to hear his mother, who always doted on him, getting angry like this.

But Mrs. Meng's rebuke was not over yet: "Do you think that only Prince Yongchang is pretending to marry? I tell you, Wang Jing has probably already joined Si Yuan. His so-called promise of marrying his daughter is simply "letting a wolf into the house". His promise to you is just an exploitation of you!"

"You mean, he never planned to reconcile with me?" Si Yao was at a loss for a moment, and suddenly couldn't help crying: "Then...then I waited for him for so many years, what exactly did I wait for?"

Seeing Si Yao crying, Meng couldn't help but feel distressed again. She held Si Yao's hand and tried to comfort her earnestly: "Son, at this point, you can't keep Wang Jing no matter what. If Si Yuan gets the throne, Wang Jing will be a meritorious official, and he will definitely ask for a divorce from you based on his merits. If Si Yuan fails, once Si De takes power, you may not even be able to keep your status as a princess... In that case, I'm afraid Wang Jing won't just divorce you, he'll want to kill you!"

Si Yao glanced at Meng in surprise.

"Do you still have time to sit here and grieve over the loss of Wang Jing? You might as well think about it. If you were no longer a princess... if your mother died... and you knew nothing, how would you survive? Would you be living worse than a beggar on the street?" At this point, Meng couldn't help but shed tears.

At this moment, Meng regretted all the years of indulging and pampering Si Yao.

Si Yao suddenly threw himself into Meng's arms and burst into tears.

Meng remained silent and just patted Si Yao gently in her arms, just like she did when Si Yao was a child.

In the afternoon, Meng announced that she was not feeling well and summoned the imperial physician Tian Yuan to enter the palace.

Not long after, another chief physician came to see the patient in place of Tian Yuan, and told Mrs. Meng the truth, saying that the imperial physician Tian Yuan had been kidnapped a few days ago. The Censorate had arrested the suspect, but had not yet tracked down the imperial physician's whereabouts.

Meng pretended that she had just learned about the disappearance of the imperial physician. After the chief medical officer examined the patient, she summoned the chief censor Wang Min to bring the suspect into the palace for questioning, on the grounds that the imperial physician "held an important position and the matter was of great importance."

According to the old custom of imperial trial, Meng had to go to Hanzhang Palace where the emperor usually handled government affairs, and ask someone to invite Empress Dowager Zhou.

However, when Meng and Zhou arrived at Hanzhang Palace, they found out that Si De had sneaked out of the palace to play again, and the palace servants could not tell where the emperor had gone.

Zhou was furious and dragged several eunuchs who often followed the emperor out of the palace and gave each of them twenty strokes of the cane.

Meng was watching from the side, looking as if it had nothing to do with her.

This scene has been repeated countless times in the palace in recent years.

"Your Highnesses, Empress Dowager, the Chief Censor has arrived." A palace maid outside reported inside.

Only then did Zhou stop blaming the eunuchs and returned to Hanzhang Hall with Meng. They sat on the two seats behind the dragon throne on the high platform, one on the left and one on the right. Then they summoned the Chief Censor Wang Min to meet the emperor.

Wang Min brought Chen Ji and Ma Da into the Hanzhang Hall to pay homage to the two Empress Dowagers. Chen Ji and Ma Da's hands were chained with iron chains.

Meng looked at Chen Ji behind Wang Min and pretended to be surprised: "Isn't this the brother of the Grand Marshal who passed away many years ago?"

Wang Min replied, "Your Highness, the Empress Dowager, the suspect who kidnapped the Imperial Physician is indeed the Grand Marshal's brother, Chen Ji, who is currently the guard general of Prince Yongchang."

Chen Ji hurriedly bowed to the two Empress Dowagers and explained, "Grand Empress Dowager, please understand that I have never hijacked the Imperial Physician Order. It was just a misunderstanding by the Minister of Justice..."

Before he could finish his words, Zhou said, "Why are you butting in when I didn't ask you?"

Chen Ji was stunned for a moment and had to shut up. He secretly glanced at Zhou's face and found that Zhou, who became the empress dowager, was not as gentle as when she was a concubine.

Meng also glanced at Zhou, and felt that Zhou's gaze on Chen Ji was as sharp as a sword, as if she wanted to chop Chen Ji in half in an instant.

Meng smiled faintly and asked Wang Min again: "Lord Wang said that Chen Ji held the imperial physician hostage. What evidence do you have?"

Wang Min told the truth: "Three nights ago, the Grand Marshal and Second Young Master Chen exchanged hostages at the foot of Guanyin Mountain, and I caught them red-handed. The hostage in the Grand Marshal's hand was a relative of the trusted servant behind Second Young Master. He claimed to have voluntarily gone to the Grand Marshal's mansion and accused Second Young Master of holding the Imperial Physician hostage. The hostage in Second Young Master's hand at the time was the Imperial Physician who was conjured out of wood by the Taoist using Xuanmen magic. Therefore, I believe that the disappearance of the Imperial Physician is related to Second Young Master Chen."

"That's all?" Meng's voice was light and contained some disapproval.

Wang Min said: "These are all we have at the moment."

"A wooden dummy? Two confessions from ordinary people? Can this be considered evidence?" Meng smiled and shook her head, sighing, "If that's the case, can anyone bribe two people to testify that their enemies have committed a crime? Then how many people can be kept in the prison of the Censorate?"

Wang Min could see that Meng was biased towards Chen Ji. Faced with such contemptuous remarks, he was naturally dissatisfied, but he did not dare to show it. He could only respond: "At present, the evidence is indeed insufficient. I have only detained and interrogated him, but have not convicted him. Given time, I will be able to obtain more definite evidence."

"Since Chen Ji has come from his fiefdom, he is a guest. Detaining him for many days without sufficient evidence is not the way to treat a guest. In my opinion, it would be better to let him go first and then arrest him when the evidence is conclusive." Meng made the conclusion easily.

Zhou was suddenly dissatisfied when she heard this: "Mother, what you said is wrong. Whether we are the host or the guest, we are all citizens of Qi. How can we let them go just because they have violated the law?"

Wang Min couldn't help but sigh secretly when she saw that the two Empress Dowagers had conflicting opinions.

Chen Ji came up with a plan and just followed Zhou's words and interrupted: "The Queen Mother is right. How can we just let them go? The Minister of Justice initially arrested ten people, but now he has only released two. I'm sure it will be difficult to explain to the outside world."

There is clearly something else behind his words, and everyone can hear it.

Meng asked hurriedly: "How can you say that?"

Wang Min had no choice but to report another case: "Reporting to the Empress Dowager and the Queen Mother, in addition to Chen Ji and his servant, several other members of the Chen family were arrested that night. However, these people were secretly poisoned to death by the jailer with prison food the day before yesterday. I have sent the two jailers to the Supreme Court to interrogate the mastermind behind the incident."

"Oh?" Meng rolled her eyes, as if she was surprised and curious: "Who is so bold as to assassinate the suspect in the Censorate?"

Wang Min bowed his head and replied, "It is my fault for not managing my subordinates well. When the Supreme Court investigates this case thoroughly, I will give an explanation to the family of the deceased."

"Why do I feel that the person who wanted to poison the suspect who held the Imperial Physician hostage is more likely to be the one who actually kidnapped the Imperial Physician?" Mrs. Meng smiled happily, looking at Wang Min, then at Mrs. Zhou: "Why not... summon the Court Judge to the palace and ask everything at once, how about that?"

The topic involved the Supreme Court, and Zhou felt something was wrong. Everyone knew that the current Supreme Court Zhou Ziyan was the cousin of Empress Dowager Zhou.

But Zhou had no reason to object, and she was not sure whether she should object.

Then, the Minister of Justice Zhou Ziyan arrived and met with the two Empress Dowagers according to the royal etiquette.

Without further ado, Meng said to Zhou Ziyan, "I called you here to ask about the jailer that the Censorate sent to be interrogated the other day. How is the interrogation going for Mr. Zhou?"

When Zhou Ziyan heard that they were going to ask about this case, his face turned pale and he knelt down hurriedly: "Grand Empress Dowager, please forgive me, the two jailers that the Minister of Justice sent to us hanged themselves with their belts in the prison last night."