Peach Blossom.

When Concubine Zhou arrived at Anshou Palace, she saw from afar Empress Dowager Meng and Princess Si Yao admiring the plum blossoms in the courtyard with great interest. She was in no hurry to go in and disturb them, but just watched quietly from outside the door.

The maids Ruchun and Ruxia had just picked a few plum blossoms, put them in a vase, and handed them to Si Yao.

Si Yao took it in his hand, sniffed the fragrance, smiled, and presented it to Queen Mother Meng.

The mother and daughter appreciated the plum blossoms, and then asked someone to pick some fresh plum blossoms to dry in the sun for making tea.

Seeing how contented the mother and daughter always were in their lives, Concubine Zhou suddenly recalled a lot of things.

She remembered that when Si Yu was still a prince, she, as a concubine, had never been bullied by the principal wife. However, she was teased like a toy by her sister-in-law more than once, but she could do nothing because of her mother-in-law's protection!

She endured and endured, and finally waited until Si Yu ascended the throne, but it happened that the queen passed away... As the most qualified concubine, she was reduced to not even having a title because she had fought for the position of queen!

It was not until she gave birth to the eldest prince, Si De, that she was reluctantly canonized as a Jieyushi. In the following ten years, the concubines who entered the palace later than her were successively promoted, but she remained a Jieyushi and continued to be bullied by her mother-in-law and sister-in-law...

The two women who can best be described as "rich and idle" in the world are none other than these two: one is self-righteous and always wants to cover up everything; the other is selfish and always thinks that any of her desires are justified!

Zhou Jieyu could never accept it. Why did this mother and daughter have such a good life? She just didn't believe that anyone could have a good life forever!

Nanny Zheng, who was standing behind the empress dowager, suddenly saw Concubine Zhou outside the door and hurriedly informed the empress dowager.

Empress Dowager Meng also looked outside the door, and sure enough, she saw Concubine Zhou standing outside the door in a daze, not knowing what she was thinking about.

Empress Dowager Meng felt unhappy and looked at Nanny Zheng again.

Madam Zheng then shouted, "Since Concubine Zhou is here, she should pay her respects to the Queen Mother first! Standing outside the door and watching, isn't that disrespectful to the Queen Mother?"

Just at this moment, Concubine Zhou's maid Xin'er hurried to Concubine Zhou's side and gave her a wink.

Concubine Zhou knew that "the message has been conveyed and everything is going well", and she finally felt relieved, so she walked in and bowed to the Queen Mother.

Princess Si Yao just played with the plum blossoms in the vase and asked the maids to continue picking plum blossoms, as if she didn't see Concubine Zhou.

Queen Mother Meng glanced at Concubine Zhou and asked calmly, "Concubine Zhou stood outside the door for a long time just now. What were you thinking about?"

Concubine Zhou replied, "I have something important to report to the Queen Mother, but I am afraid that she will be upset, so I dare not come in easily."

Hearing the word "sad", Queen Mother Meng couldn't help but wonder: "What's the matter?"

Concubine Zhou had already made up her mind. She looked up at Empress Dowager Meng and her voice was even louder than when Nanny Zheng called her just now: "Your Majesty, the emperor stayed in Fangle Palace last night and died in his sleep!"

The Queen Mother was shocked. The vase in Si Yao's hand suddenly fell to the ground and broke into pieces!

All the palace servants in Anshou Palace looked at Concubine Zhou.

"What did you say?" The Queen Mother had heard it clearly just now, but she asked again.

Concubine Zhou replied again: "The emperor had a nightmare in Fangle Palace last night. Zhang Shuyuan only found out this morning and was extremely frightened. She did not dare to come and report to the empress dowager, so she asked me to report it!"

"Nightmare collapse?" Queen Mother Meng moved her lips and teeth slightly, pausing after each word, as if these two words were bitten hard on her lips, making it very difficult for her to repeat them.

Si Yao hurriedly supported Queen Mother Meng and called out worriedly, "Mother..."

"Asshole! Who is she trying to fool?" Queen Mother Meng cursed angrily and grabbed Si Yao's hand: "Come with me to settle the score with Zhang Xiaowan!"

"I... I dare not..." Si Yao's feet felt like glue and he didn't dare to take a single step forward.

Queen Mother Meng asked in confusion: "What are you afraid of?"

"The emperor has always hated me... and it was me who sent Zhang Xiaowan into the palace. I...the emperor must hate me to death..." Si Yao's fright was exaggerated, as if he had seen Si Yu's ghost.

"You are such a loser!" Queen Mother Meng glared at Si Yao and ordered Nanny Zheng, "Go and call the Queen over!"

Nanny Zheng took the order and left.

Concubine Zhou just stood aside, waiting quietly.

After a while, Madam Zheng came back to report in a hurry: "Empress Dowager, the Queen is not in the palace. The palace servants said that she prepared a carriage early in the morning and went out of the palace to visit Master Shen!"

Queen Mother Meng was stunned for a moment, as if she felt something was wrong: "How could the Queen leave the palace without informing me? Wasn't it always Madam Shen who visited the Queen in the past?"

Nanny Zheng smiled and speculated, "Perhaps Master Shen or Madam Shen was ill, and the Empress was anxious for the moment, so she didn't come to ask the Empress Dowager..."

After hearing this, Concubine Zhou became suspicious: Why didn't Empress Shen leave the palace earlier or later, but at this time?

"This queen is really spoiled! She is getting worse and worse!" Queen Mother Meng shook her head and sighed, and ordered Madam Zheng: "Go to the Shen family immediately and call the queen back! Such a big thing happened in the palace, how can she be outside the palace?"

Just as Madam Zheng was about to leave, Concubine Zhou stopped her: "Wait a minute!"

Concubine Zhou suddenly knelt before the Queen Mother and kowtowed to the ground: "Queen Mother, please allow me to report! The emperor died unexpectedly in his prime. Once the news gets out, it will surely shock the subjects! For the stability of the country, we should stabilize the country first and then announce the important event. In order to avoid the news leaking out too early, the palace maids should not leave the palace at this moment."

"An Nei?" Queen Mother Meng smiled coldly: "Don't you just want to say that your son has not yet taken the throne of the Crown Prince?"

Concubine Zhou stood up, looked up at the Queen Mother, and said righteously: "The Queen Mother is wise. The late emperor left an edict to pass the throne to the emperor, which was legitimate, but when the emperor inherited the throne, there were still voices of obstruction. Now the emperor has passed away in a hurry and did not leave an edict. Although the emperor has only one prince, which is indisputable, the eldest prince is still young after all. There is no guarantee that those royal relatives who are enfeoffed outside will have rebellious intentions! If any eunuchs collude with them, disaster will surely occur! I ask the Queen Mother to order the palace gates to be sealed immediately!"

Queen Mother Meng looked at Concubine Zhou and sneered again: "According to what you mean, not only can the palace maids not leave the palace, but I will also have to have someone watch over the ministers who come to court today and lock them in the palace as well?"

Concubine Zhou looked at the Queen Mother with a calm expression and did not respond immediately.

Queen Mother Meng seemed to have read something from Concubine Zhou's face... If it were a normal day, the court would have been dismissed by this time, but today Si Yu did not go to the court, so it was hard to say what the ministers were like... But Concubine Zhou seemed to be confident...

Queen Mother Meng probably guessed it: "You have already controlled the court officials?"

Concubine Zhou kowtowed again: "Please forgive me, Queen Mother! In an emergency, I had to act according to the rules. When I received the news, it was already late. All the ministers gathered in the court, but the emperor could not show up. Even Chief Steward Xie was nowhere to be found! I had no choice but to falsely convey the Queen Mother's oral instructions and order the Grand Marshal to keep an eye on the ministers and not to leave without permission! Fortunately, the Grand Marshal was loyal to the Queen Mother and did not ask any more questions. He has already obeyed your order..."

"You are not falsely conveying the Empress Dowager's order! You think that the position of Empress Dowager will be yours soon, and it won't matter if you exercise power a little earlier!" Empress Dowager Meng smiled faintly, her tone full of sarcasm.

Concubine Zhou did not refute the Queen Mother's statement, but still showed a pious attitude: "I am of humble origin and short-sighted. Even if I reach that position, I will be a mere decoration at best! The eldest prince is young and ignorant. He needs the guidance of the grandmother and the supervision of government affairs in order to secure his throne!"

Empress Dowager Meng could tell that Concubine Zhou was simply hinting that the young emperor's ascension to the throne would be more conducive to the Empress Dowager's power than when Si Yu was in power.

At present, the power of the courtiers behind Concubine Zhou is naturally not as strong as that of Empress Dowager Meng. After the eldest prince Si De ascends the throne, it is not difficult for Empress Dowager Meng to control the government as the Grand Empress Dowager! But as time goes by, things may not always be the same...

Queen Mother Meng had foreseen the scene several years later: Si De would become an adult and, like Si Yu, would also want to control the real power. He would deeply understand that his mother was his biological mother, but his grandmother was not his biological grandmother... The ministers would then start to re-align their positions...

However, Queen Mother Meng had no other choice, since Si Yu only had one son.

Queen Mother Meng hated Concubine Zhou and had always hoped to select more new people and have more offspring sooner or later... She never expected that Si Yu would die young!

She hated the person who killed Si Yu, and she absolutely did not believe that Si Yu would be a "nightmare"!

"Okay! I agree to seal the palace gates. No one in the palace is allowed to leave without permission. If the queen and others return to the palace, they will be immediately confined and not allowed to leave again."

When Nanny Zheng heard this, she quickly ordered people to go to each palace gate to convey the order.

"Now, I'm going to settle accounts with that bitch who killed the prince!" Empress Dowager Meng walked out of Anshou Hall with a rage.

Concubine Zhou hurriedly followed with her maids.

Si Yao looked at the backs of Empress Dowager Meng and Concubine Zhou, hesitated for a while, and finally chased after them and went to Fangle Palace together.

In Fangle Palace, Tao Ye had been sleeping on the ground for who knows how long, and gradually woke up.

She opened her eyes, slowly got up, looked around, and realized that this was Xiaowan's bedroom, but Xiaowan was not here. It seemed that she was the only one in the bedroom.

She stood up and looked at the bed. There was a person lying there through the gauze curtains.

"Official family?"

The room was quiet and the person on the bed didn't move.

Tao Ye tried hard to recall and vaguely remembered what happened before she fainted: she and Cai Ling helped Xiao Wan in, and then... she must have been hit on the back of the head!

But she didn't see who hit her.

"Can't the emperor afford to pay it back?" Tao Ye walked to the bedside and pulled aside the gauze curtain.

The next second, a chill swept over Tao Ye's body, and she saw Si Yu's face turned pale!

It was like a bolt from the blue, hitting her head. She couldn't believe her eyes, and mustered up the courage to pull Si Yu's hand...

My hands are cold.

Tao Ye's heart also felt cold.

"how come?"

She remembered that snowy night, the only time she was alone with Si Yu.

She remembered two sentences Si Yu said:

One sentence is "I will not continue to be a coward. I am waiting for someone from afar to return. I have a big plan to realize, and it won't be long... You wait and see, one day, I will be an emperor who stands tall and proud!"

Another sentence is "When that day comes, if you are willing to come to my side, I will... wait for you at any time."

Si Yu’s smile at that time was so gentle and kind!

Tao Ye burst into tears: "Majesty...Majesty...how could you suddenly..."

A voice came from the courtyard: "The Queen Mother has arrived!"

Tao Ye was confused. With tears on her eyes, she ran to the door. Just as she was about to open it and go out, she found that it was locked from the outside.

Through the crack in the door, she saw Queen Mother Meng, Concubine Zhou, Princess Si Yao and a large group of palace maids walking in.

According to common sense, Xiaowan should have gone out to greet her, but Taoye did not see Xiaowan. Only Cailing and other maids were standing in the courtyard.

As soon as Queen Mother Meng entered the room, she brought with her a murderous look: "Where is that bitch Zhang Xiaowan? Hurry up and get out here!"

Cai Ling and the others knelt down hurriedly and said, "Your Majesty, Zhang Shuyuan stayed in Miss Taoye's room last night. When she woke up in the morning, she heard about the official's affairs and was so frightened that she became confused and could not get out of bed. She is still lying in Miss Taoye's room now!"

Queen Mother Meng was very surprised when she heard this: "She was in Taoye's room last night? Then who was the one who served the emperor last night?"

All the maids in Fangle Palace said in unison: "It's Miss Taoye."