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

After Yunhe's voice fell, the people in the hall immediately became alarmed, especially the two little girls Zhuxi and Zhuxia.

"Qiu Chan is Liang Guiyi's personal maid. She came to Kunning Palace stealthily. Maybe she wanted to find out what birthday gift the Empress was going to give to the Queen Mother?" Zhu Xia couldn't help but guess.

Zhuxi frowned, "It's not impossible, but the Empress is in great favor right now, and all the concubines in the palace are watching. Maybe they have some bad intentions and want to deal with the Empress."

After Zhu Xi's analysis, he looked at Gu Jianchu with concern, "Empress Liang Guiyi is very thoughtful, we have to be on guard."

Gu Jianchu felt suspicious about Qiu Chan's appearance and turned to ask the system.

Liang Guiyi is indeed smarter than both the mad Consort Xian and the deceased Consort Li. She'd even found out from the Imperial Household Department that the demand for needlework in Kunning Palace had doubled recently, and guessed I might be sending embroidery to the Empress Dowager.

Liang Guiyi sent Qiu Chan here to secretly replace the feather thread I was using with silk thread, which the Queen Mother was allergic to.

Liang Guiyi is trying to use the Empress Dowager to deal with me, killing two birds with one stone.

[Unfortunately, ever since Li Zhaoyi attempted to assassinate me, Kunning Palace has strengthened its defenses, and Qiu Chan has been unable to take action, so he has not succeeded until now.]

"It is also possible that they want to frame me by holding a birthday banquet for the Queen Mother." Gu Jianchu continued to embroider the mountains and rivers below the embroidered screen.

Zhu Xia's temper was much more impatient than Zhu Xi's. After hearing Gu Jianchu's words, she stood up quickly like a firecracker. "Then they will definitely attack the embroidery made by the Empress. I will have them strengthen the defense of Kunning Palace to prevent Qiu Chan from succeeding."

Before Zhu Xia left the hall, Gu Jianchu immediately stopped her action, "Don't ask them to strengthen their defenses, instead ask them to remove half of their defenses."

Zhu Xia has always been slow to react since she was a child. "Why is your Majesty withdrawing the troops?"

"Since we know Liang Guiyi has sent people to cause trouble, let's take this opportunity to help them. If we don't let them succeed this time, they might find other ways to deal with me, and we won't be able to defend ourselves."

"Instead of preventing their tricks, sometimes it's better to take the initiative." Gu Jianchu's mouth curled up with a shrewd smile like a little fox.

"I heard that Liang Guiyi has been practicing the piano recently." Gu Jianchu suddenly mentioned something else.

Yun He immediately nodded in response, "Yes, when passing by Liang Guiyi's palace, you can hear the sound of the Beiqin."

"I remember that Liang Guiyi was best at playing the pipa." Gu Jianchu vaguely remembered that Liang Guiyi had played the pipa at a previous family banquet, and she played the pipa to perfection.

Yun He followed Gu Jianchu's thoughts and guessed, "The Queen means that Liang Guiyi is trying to hide her tracks."

"Liang Guiyi sends her precious Yuewei Pipa to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for maintenance every month. If it is contaminated by something else, the Yuewei Pipa will probably be ruined." Gu Jianchu's hint was already very obvious.

Yun He, who followed Gu Jianchu, was not only loyal but also had better vision than other palace servants. "I will do it now."

Gu Jianchu just laid off half of his staff.

News came from Zhu Xia shortly afterwards, "Your Majesty, you guessed correctly. At night, I watched Qiu Chan sneak into the storeroom of Kunning Palace and replace the feather silk Your Majesty used with silk."

"The silk is made to look exactly like feather silk. If it weren't for the master craftsman, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference. It would be unfair to accuse someone. I even had the Shang Gong Lady from the Shangyi Bureau look at it, and she was absolutely certain that it was silk."

"If Yunhe hadn't discovered this in advance and Qiuchan had secretly replaced it, once Her Majesty used it on the embroidered screen for the Empress Dowager, she would have had an allergic reaction. Then Her Majesty would have been unable to defend herself."

In this cannibalistic palace, there is never any chance to argue.

"Your Highness has never offended Liang Guiyi. I never thought Liang Guiyi would harm your Highness in this way. Should we report this matter to the Emperor?"

"Your Majesty is now the only one favored by the Emperor. If the Emperor knew about this, he would definitely punish Liang Guiyi." Zhu Xia looked at Gu Jianchu earnestly.

Gu Jianchu paused holding the needle. "Give this silk thread to Cheng Song. Cheng Song will naturally know how to handle it."

Although this evidence cannot convict Liang Guiyi, the emperor must be informed of these things.

Zhu Xia delivered the silk to Chuigong Palace as Gu Jianchu had instructed. Since the emperor was still handling government affairs, she handed the things to Cheng Song as Gu Jianchu had instructed, and told him about what they had seen Qiu Chan exchanging things.

After Zhu Xia left, Cheng Song frowned and handed the things to Xie Ci'an.

Xie Ci'an frowned and took a look at the silk thread with his fingers.

"How should the emperor handle this matter?" Cheng Song was already prepared for Liang Guiyi to be banished to the cold palace. After all, the emperor only had the queen in his heart now.

Xie Ci'an remained silent. "Put the things away first and don't make it public for now. Also, send the pearls from the East China Sea in my storehouse to the Queen to appease her."

Gu Jianchu sent the things to him just to remind him and didn't intend for him to deal with them directly, otherwise the Queen would have caught Qiu Chan and exposed her in front of him.

Cheng Song didn't react for a moment.

Are you not going to deal with Liang Guiyi?

Seeing that Cheng Song hadn't moved, Xie Ci'an looked over with a frown.

"I'll do it right away." Cheng Song lowered his head and left the hall.

Time flies, and before we knew it, it was the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet.

Since this was the first time the Emperor celebrated the Empress Dowager's birthday since he ascended the throne, Xie Ci'an originally wanted to hold a grand banquet for his nominal mother in Qingliang Palace and invite court officials and ladies to celebrate for the Empress Dowager.

Unexpectedly, this idea was rejected by the Queen Mother.

The Queen Mother claimed that she was old and did not like crowds, so she forbade court officials and ladies from entering the palace and only invited members of the royal family.

In order to show the mother's love and the son's filial piety, Xie Ci'an and the Queen arrived early. Today was the Queen Mother's birthday, so the main seat was given to the Queen Mother, and Gu Jianchu and Xie Ci'an sat on both sides of the Queen Mother respectively.

Although they were not far away, Xie Ci'an could still hear Gu Jianchu's inner thoughts clearly.

I heard they're sending sea bass from Jiangnan tonight. The meat is incredibly delicious and you don't usually get to eat it. I'm definitely going to eat a lot tonight.

[Not only sea bass, but also bracken. This is a rare thing, and usually only available in early spring. I didn't expect to find it in winter for the Empress Dowager's birthday. The Imperial Household Department is really going too far to celebrate the Empress Dowager's birthday.]

[Oh my god, what's going on? Why is Prince of Etiquette Xie Cilin here too?]

Just as Gu Jianchu finished speaking, he saw a handsome young man walking lightly into the hall with his wife and children.

The man was wearing a black robe embroidered with a five-clawed python and had several jade pendants hanging around his waist. His originally handsome face had become a little rough due to years of exposure to the northwest wind, sand and sun.