The Legend of Zhen Huan: Year after year, we share the spring breeze

Seeing that she didn't say anything, Yongzheng snorted coldly from his nose and tapped lightly on the table with his slender fingers.

This girl was quite clever, able to see through his thoughts. But she was still a woman in the inner palace, with limited vision. How could she truly understand the deep meaning of his rectification of officialdom and the cleansing of the imperial system?

But on second thought, these crudely fabricated "evidence" weren't completely useless. If they could use it to lift the Imperial Noble Consort's confinement, and then pass all these daunting palace duties on to Noble Consort Hui...

Yongzheng narrowed his eyes and the rhythm of his knuckle tapping gradually slowed down.

As for that child, he is just an insignificant child anyway, so it doesn't matter if we turn a blind eye to it.

His eyes fell back on the so-called evidence, and his thin lips were pursed into a straight line.

An Lingrong kept her head lowered, her thick eyelashes casting a trembling shadow on her face. She seemed submissive, but in fact, the corner of her eye was always fixed on Yongzheng's every move.

This was a conspiracy she had carefully designed - all her calculations were laid out clearly before Yongzheng's eyes without any cover-up.

She knew the emperor too well. He didn't like the people in the harem to be scheming, but he hated deception even more.

So she deliberately left a loophole so that Yongzheng could clearly see through her thoughts and calculations.

Only in this way would Yongzheng feel that everything was under control. Even if he was angry, he would only scold her a few words and would not really punish her.

She asked Zhao Yingjiu to move the piles of palace affairs to the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and asked Su Peisheng to whisper in Yongzheng's ear from time to time, making him extremely annoyed by these tedious and complicated affairs and wanting to throw them to others immediately.

Although these so-called "evidences" are full of loopholes, they can solve his urgent needs - they can not only pardon Zhen Huan with justification and shut up the concubines in the harem, but also allow Shen Meizhuang to regain power and return the palace affairs to her.

Killing two birds with one stone, how could he refuse?

As for the child, as long as she could get through to Yongzheng, she could openly and "secretly" operate to rescue him.

An Lingrong's lips curved up imperceptibly, then quickly smoothed. She was betting on Yongzheng's current considerations—rather than delving into her calculations, he would be more willing to accept this favorable situation.

Sure enough, Yongzheng glanced at her coldly, his eyes as sharp as a knife, but he did not get angry in the end.

Slowly, his expression relaxed.

An Lingrong's tense shoulders relaxed a little, but before she could be happy, Yongzheng's expression suddenly turned cold.

He looked at the evidence in front of him and keenly discovered the loopholes in it.

Although these evidences are fabricated, there is a real true story mixed in with them.

The evidence of Muling's corruption was indeed submitted by members of the Ulanara clan.

Since Mu Jingqiu's reason for assassinating the queen was false, it meant that the Ulanara family had no idea about Muleng's corruption. Then where did they get the evidence?

These were all planned by An Lingrong, so the evidence was naturally handed over to the Ulanara clan by An Lingrong.

In other words, An Lingrong had already found evidence of Mu Leng's crimes and started planning.

In other words, the moment An Lingrong got the evidence of Mu Leng's guilt, she had anticipated how she would deal with the Mu family. She had anticipated that Mu Jingqiu would take the initiative to take the blame for assassinating the queen in order to save the Mu family's bloodline, and she even found the motive for her in advance.

This case that shocked the court and the public was actually caused by a woman in the deep palace!

Thinking of this, Yongzheng was frightened. He had never expected that there was such a smart person in his harem who understood everyone's thoughts and ideas clearly, and could find the beneficial aspects from them, and quickly make plans to achieve his goals.

When he looked at An Lingrong again, there was a hint of coldness in his eyes.

An Lingrong had keenly sensed the murderous aura emanating from Yongzheng.

The evidence of Muling's guilt submitted by the Ulanara clan was the most crucial part of the plan, otherwise the plan could not proceed, but it was also the part with the biggest loophole.

She had been hoping that Yongzheng might not find out, but unfortunately, Yongzheng did not let her down!

He is indeed a thousand-year-old fox. Playing "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" in front of him is really shooting oneself in the foot.

As expected, Yongzheng's voice came faintly: "When did you find the evidence of Muleng's corruption?"

Now that things have come to this, we have no choice but to accept it.

An Lingrong brought out the story she had prepared in advance: "Your Majesty, Concubine Shun framed me for pushing her in the Imperial Garden. I have no past or present grudge against her, so why would she do this? I felt something was amiss, so I sent people to Lianghuai to investigate her family background, but I didn't expect to find this incriminating evidence. When the evidence came back, Sister Zhen had already been confined to her house, so I began to plan."

Her words were half true and half false, making it difficult for Yongzheng to distinguish them.

Yongzheng's fingers tapped lightly on the dragon table, making a dull sound. "How did you find this? This evidence is not something that ordinary people can find."

"I wrote to my father and asked him to find distant relatives in the Lianghuai Salt Gang and to start looking for evidence from the Salt Gang."

No matter what, she couldn't betray the Shen family, so An Lingrong had to drag her own father out to trick them.

"Salt Gang?"

"Yes, the salt gang's porters know exactly how much salt is shipped out of Lianghuai and how much tax can be collected. By comparing it with the salt tax reported by Muling, they can find loopholes."

Yongzheng nodded: "You are a smart man."

"I was born in Jiangnan, so I know a little bit about the ins and outs of this."

Yongzheng no longer dwelled on this issue. He stood up and walked to An Lingrong, stood with his hands behind his back, and looked down at her condescendingly.

Time passed by drop by drop, but Yongzheng never spoke.

An Lingrong still had her head lowered, her posture submissive, but her back was straight, not bent at all.

She could feel the sharp gaze sweeping across her hair, her eyebrows, and her fingertips, as if it wanted to cut her open and see every calculation hidden within.

Yongzheng's eyes were heavy, but in his mind he had already gone over everything she had done in the years since she entered the palace.

When she first entered the palace, she was just a timid concubine, gentle as water, even speaking softly, for fear of disturbing others. But now? She could set up a chess game right under his nose, forcing him to follow her way.

"I didn't expect that there would be such a resourceful person in my harem. I underestimated you."

An Lingrong lay on the ground, her slender back still straight: "I dare not."

"You dare not?" Yongzheng sneered, his voice low. "You are kneeling on the ground now, saying you dare not, but I can feel it - your heart, and even your body, have never surrendered."