Harem Daily Life

Tao Yanyan looked at the Queen Mother, she knew that the Queen Mother already knew everything.

"Empress Dowager, I..." Tao Yan hesitated to speak, not knowing how to start.

The Queen Mother sighed, "Needless to say, the Emperor is destined to return. As long as we don't see his body, we can't give up the search. Now, you and I must not panic. There are many things waiting to be dealt with. The first thing is to clean up the harem and stabilize the court..."

Tao Yanyan listened carefully to the Queen Mother's instructions and wrote them down bit by bit.

This night is destined to be a sleepless night.

At the Xishan hunting ground, King Yong led his men to search all night in the rain, but they only found a dead horse and a broken carriage skeleton at the bottom of the cliff, but no human body was found.

"Search nearby again and search more thoroughly." Prince Yong ordered. Even though no one was found yet, there was still a glimmer of hope. Prince Yong believed that His Majesty must still be alive, otherwise it would be impossible for even his shadow guard to disappear.

On Tao Yanyan's side, he sent more people to guard the children, and asked Ningyuan Hou to send an urgent message to Gu Yi over 800 miles away, asking him to lead his troops back to the capital as soon as possible.

In the court, all the ministers were in a panic. Fortunately, the empress dowager was behind the scenes and temporarily took over the government on behalf of His Majesty, so no major problems occurred.

The concubines in the harem gathered in Changle Palace crying, each of them looking as pale as death, not knowing what to do next.

"Empress, now we can only follow you. Your Majesty's life or death is uncertain. What should we do in the future?" said the virtuous concubine, wiping her tears.

Tao Yanyan had sent people to inquire many times, but no news came back. If the empress dowager had not forbade her to go, she would have wanted to take people to Xishan immediately.

She looked at everyone, her eyes reddening as she spoke, "No news is the best news. None of the people who followed His Majesty have been found, so don't scare yourselves. Believe that His Majesty will definitely return. From today on, if you have any problems, please consult Consort Xian or Consort Xu first. I still have many things to attend to and cannot take care of you. Don't worry, with the Empress Dowager here, the sky won't fall!"

Tao Yanyan's words were powerful and gave everyone great confidence. The concubines were in much better spirits than when they first arrived.

After everyone knelt down to pay their respects, Tao Yanyan fell into great sorrow.

Chang Tai hurried in and said, "Your Majesty, as per your instructions, I have led some men to stop the Director of the Imperial Observatory who was leaving the palace. He is now waiting outside the palace. Shall we summon him in?"

Tao Yanyan nodded, straightened his clothes, and sat in the upper seat waiting for the director of the Imperial Observatory.

"Your servant Li Zheng pays homage to Her Majesty the Queen." Li Jianzheng saluted the Queen, looking quite calm.

"I heard Li Jianzheng has been in this position for twelve years? He's a veteran in this field," Tao Yanyan asked. "How come he couldn't even see the heavy rain, and instead reported it was just a light rain that would soon stop?"

Li Jianzheng glanced up at the Empress and said calmly, "Observing the celestial phenomena cannot guarantee perfect accuracy every time. The affairs of the heavens are ever-changing, so occasional mistakes are inevitable. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

Tao Yanyan sneered, "I've reviewed your records from the past eleven years. You're quite accurate, rarely making mistakes. Even if you do make a mistake, it's not a big deal. It's safe to say your career over the past eleven years has been flawless. But I can't understand why you've been making so many mistakes lately. What are you trying to do?"

Tao Yanyan's face turned cold, and his eyes were sharp, staring directly at Li Jianzheng.

A hint of fear flashed across Li Jian's face as he replied, "I can only say that a horse stumbles, and a monitoring error occasionally leads to a disaster. This was not intentional on my part. I hope Your Majesty will investigate!"

Seeing that he wouldn't cry until he saw the coffin, Tao Yanyan simply didn't bother to beat around the bush with him. He took the file in his hand and said leisurely, "You went to Miaoyinfang five times last month, spending a hundred taels of silver. You took a new concubine, and this concubine... turned out to be the concubine of the former Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery."

Upon hearing this, Li Jianzheng's face paled visibly, but he still stood straight and said, "I love music, so there's nothing wrong with going to Miaoyinfang. Many court officials go there after court, not just me. As for this concubine, I only found out about her relationship with the Loyal and Brave Marquis's Mansion after I took her in. This... isn't really a mistake, is it?"

Tao Yanyan gave him a cold look. "Really? Your annual salary has to support the expenses of a large family, and you also have to keep a concubine. In the past eleven years, I haven't seen you so good at music, going to Miaoyinfang five times a month."

Tao Yanyan closed the file and said, "This concubine not only brought a generous dowry, but also a mission, right?"

Tao Yanyan stood up and paced as he spoke: "Let me guess, what mission someone has assigned you."

"The first task must be to alienate the relationship between the First Prince and me, saying that I am hindering the First Prince, right? My reputation is ruined, and if the First Prince continues to stay in the palace, he will be harmed by me. Therefore, we must find a place for the First Prince to go."

"The second task is to use the Yong Palace's intention to adopt a male child as the crown prince. I calculated that the eldest prince has a connection with the Yong Palace, and found a place for the eldest prince to go naturally."

When Li Jianzheng heard this, he was almost unable to stand. He really didn't expect that the Queen Mother was so smart that she could guess it.

Tao Yanyan glanced at him and continued, "What you didn't expect is that His Majesty didn't agree to let the eldest prince be adopted. So let me guess again, what are your plans for moving the eldest prince to Prince Yong's mansion?"

Sweat was oozing from Li Jianzheng's forehead. He couldn't help but raise his sleeve to wipe it. This gesture made Tao Yanyan understand that what she said was right.

She narrowed her eyes. "Is this person behind this from the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery? By adopting the eldest prince, will he instigate Prince Yong to rebel? With such a deep connection to the eldest prince, could this person be Rong Ze, the one who used soldiers to die in his place and then disguised himself to escape?"

Li Jianzheng hurriedly knelt on the ground: "Your Majesty, please spare me, Your Majesty, please spare me. I was blinded by greed and fell for the schemes of the Rong brothers and sisters. They made me do this, and I was forced into this."

Tao Yanyan hated his mean behavior the most. He rolled his eyes at him and asked directly, "Where is he?"

Li Jianzheng looked as if he had given up hope and shook his head. "I don't know. It was always the Rong family who contacted me. I have never met Rong Ze and don't know his whereabouts."

Tao Yanyan said to Chang Tai, "Please ask the Ningyuan Marquis to lead his troops to surround the Li Mansion, arrest the concubine Rong, and bring her to justice for strict interrogation."

Li Jianzheng panicked: "Your Majesty, please spare my life. Rong is pregnant. If she gets frightened, the fetus in her belly will be hurt..." He begged the Queen to show mercy.

Tao Yanyan took a deep breath and said, "Now you know how to beg for mercy. But when you were plotting to harm me and His Majesty, did you ever imagine that this would be the outcome you're facing today?"

She looked at Li Jianzheng and said, "You'd better pray that the Rong family will understand the situation and explain things clearly as soon as possible so that Rong Ze can be captured. Otherwise, no one can save your Li family."