The queen is spoiling the king and madly criticizing him for spoiling her

Xie Ci'an opened the envelope, took out the letter inside, glanced at the contents, and then turned to the last page, where he saw the private seal.

What on earth was the Queen Mother thinking? She actually sold those weapons to small foreign nations for money, and then let those small nations use them to attack the border. Countless soldiers and civilians died from those weapons. They even sold them to bandits, leaving no one behind just to make money.

Even if the Queen Mother hates the Emperor, she wouldn't joke with the lives of the people.

[She is merely using her dislike for the Emperor as a pretext to justify her evil deeds. Such an Empress Dowager does not deserve the respect of the people.]

Xie Ci'an presented the letter to the Empress Dowager, his tone tinged with kindness. "Does your mother have any explanation for this? Perhaps your private seal was lost and picked up by the Governor of Zhejiang or Wang Liu, who deliberately stamped it with yours."

"But there is no way for them to imitate the Queen Mother's handwriting, or maybe Wang Liu threatened you to write it by holding your neck." Xie Ci'an slapped the table hard. The loud noise made the maids and eunuchs serving on the side kneel on the ground.

The Queen Mother hesitated and had no idea how to explain.

Xie Ci'an continued to ask, "Were you the one who went to the Imperial City Prison to assassinate Yang Shilin?"

"It's me."

"Who sent you there?"

Wang Liu thought for a moment, confused, and then spoke like a stream of beans, "It was the Empress Dowager who sent me there. Yang Shilin knew too much, and the Empress Dowager was afraid he would reveal other things, so she sent me to the Imperial City Prison to kill someone and silence him. The Imperial City Prison was not easy to get into, so the Empress Dowager found me some cleaning clothes and bribed a guard to take me to the prison. The guard was afraid his identity would be exposed, so he only took me so far and left in a hurry."

"Everything was going smoothly. But when I was about to end Yang Shilin's life, some guards came in, spotted me, and attracted more people. I had no choice but to use drugs to knock the guards unconscious and quickly escape."

"The whole city is searching for me now. I have no choice but to contact the Empress Dowager again and threaten her to protect me. The Empress Dowager then used her identity as a eunuch to hide me in the Cining Palace."

After Wang Liu finished speaking in one breath, Chongfeng pushed him aside in disgust.

Something's wrong.

Not only did Gu Jianchu notice something was wrong, but Xie Ci'an also noticed it.

Since Yang Shilin was unaware of the Empress Dowager's existence, there was no need for her to go to the trouble of sending Wang Liu to assassinate him. The Empress Dowager and the Governor-General of Zhejiang wouldn't cooperate to the point of having Wang Liu clean up the mess for him. Previously, officials who had gotten into trouble had been abandoned by the Empress Dowager at her behest.

Even if Yang Shilin was killed, the Governor of Zhejiang would have been exposed. It would have been easier to find a new partner. Unless the Queen Mother wanted to kill Wang Liu, who knew more secrets, rather than Yang Shilin.

The Queen Mother had no way of killing Wang Liu, so she decided to use him as a tool to kill him. She sent Wang Liu to the Imperial City Office and used the Emperor's hand to get rid of him, thus resolving her own worries. However, what the Queen Mother didn't expect was that Wang Liu was lucky enough to have made preparations in advance and escaped. The Queen Mother had no choice but to be controlled by Wang Liu and act as his protective umbrella.

【My dear, you are eating melons more and more clearly now. 】

[Of course, after eating so many melons, I'm getting more and more comfortable with it.]

"Very good, very good. The Queen Mother's current methods are really incomprehensible." Xie Ci'an had Wang Liu taken away and continued to interrogate him about some details about the Governor of Zhejiang and the sale of weapons.

Xie Ci'an tapped the letter on the table with his fingers. "Now that the evidence is irrefutable, what else can the Queen Mother say in her defense?"

The Queen Mother knew that the matter was now settled and there was no point in saying more.

The Queen Mother slumped in her chair, a look of disillusionment on her face. "There's nothing to defend. I did all these things, and I admit defeat. Your Majesty, please kill me or chop me up as you wish."

"My mother is the wife of the late emperor. How could I kill you so easily?"

"Cheng Song ordered the Minister of the Central Secretariat to enter the palace, announce the Queen Mother's crimes to the world, strip her of her title, and send her to the imperial mausoleum."

"You should keep vigil for the late emperor while sincerely confessing the evil deeds you have done to him." Xie Ci'an would not help cover up the crimes of the empress dowager or take the blame for her. He wanted to let the people of the world see the crimes committed by the empress dowager and send her to the imperial mausoleum. No matter whether it was the censors or the common people, they would be unable to say a word.

Upon hearing this, the Queen Mother completely collapsed to the ground, and the light in her expression gradually dissipated.

Upon receiving the order, the Minister of the Central Secretariat quickly entered the palace to deal with the mess.

At that time, Gu Jianchu had already followed Xie Ci'an back to Chuigong Hall.

Without any obstruction, the empress dowager was moved out of the palace and sent to the imperial mausoleum in just one day.

Those officials who once had the support of the Empress Dowager and were close to her could not help but tremble in fear and lived in fear every day, fearing that the Emperor would be in a bad mood and follow the Empress Dowager's clues to investigate, and they would be the ones who would be in trouble.

Nothing major happened for several days in a row, and the ministers in the court felt relieved.

In the early morning, sunlight streamed into the room through the window. When Gu Jianchu opened his eyes, he saw Xie Ci'an sitting beside the bed.

The moment he saw Xie Ci'an, Gu Jianchu still felt severe pain in his thighs. He moved his arms, and his untied clothes instantly slid down his shoulders to his waist, revealing red marks of varying depths, all left by Xie Ci'an in the past two days.

The moment Xie Ci'an saw the red marks on Gu Jianchu's body, he felt a little guilty.

He picked up Gu Jianchu and held her in his arms. His fingers skillfully tied Gu Jianchu's clothes back together, then slowly moved to her lower back. His fingers gently pinched her waist, "How is it? Does your waist still hurt?"

"much better."

"It's all my fault for being too unrestrained. Ah Chu has suffered. Do you want to eat something? The imperial kitchen has made red bean paste soup." Xie Ci'an leaned close to her earlobe, and the hot air he exhaled sprayed all over Gu Jianchu's earlobe. An itchy feeling instantly spread all over her body.

"It just so happens that I'm hungry too." Gu Jianchu didn't want to continue lying in bed.

The consequence of lying in bed might be that Xie Ci'an didn't want her to get out of bed at all.

Gu Jianchu called Zhu Xia in to help her dress and wash up, while Xie Ci'an looked at the new memorials delivered today. After she changed her clothes, Xiao Fuzi brought people to put breakfast on the table.

Every dish was Gu Jianchu’s favorite.

After finishing a bowl of red bean paste and some breakfast, Gu Jianchu's stomach was so full that he leaned back on the soft pillow and didn't want to move.

Xie Ci'an came forward, held Gu Jianchu in his arms and continued to deal with the memorials.

Gu Jianchu was already tired and nestled in Xie Ci'an's arms, not wanting to move.

Xie Ci'an then threw out a memorial, "I think the Censorate has too much free time every day, even having to report on something like General Zhang taking a concubine."