The Legend of Zhen Huan: Rebirth of An Lingrong: Counterattack to Become the Queen Mother

Zhen Huan was talking to An Lingrong when she caught a glimpse of the little palace maid leaving from the corner of her eye. Her brows furrowed, her eyes sharpened, and she whispered to An Lingrong, "Lingrong, look at that little palace maid. She's acting suspiciously. There must be something wrong!"

An Lingrong followed Zhen Huan's gaze, nodded slightly, and said solemnly: "Sister, I also feel something is wrong. We have to send someone to follow her and see what she is going to do." She winked at a guard beside her, and the guard took the order and followed quietly.

Chun'er came skipping over, holding a piece of cake in her hand and her mouth full, and asked vaguely, "Sisters, what are you looking at? Why are you so serious?"

Zhen Huan patted Chun Er's head gently and said, "Chun Er, we found a young palace maid acting suspiciously and have sent someone to follow her."

Chun'er swallowed the pastry, her eyes wide open: "Ah? Another conspiracy? These people are so annoying, can't they let the harem have peace for a while?" She puffed up her cheeks in anger.

Jingpin and Meizhuang also came over. Jingpin looked at Zhen Huan and An Lingrong and asked, "What's going on? I see that you don't look right."

An Lingrong recounted the story of the young palace maid, and Mei Zhuang frowned, "It seems this banquet isn't going to go smoothly either. We need to be careful and not put anyone in danger."

After a while, the guards who had been following her returned with a nervous look on their faces. "Empress Wan, Empress An, the young maid went to a secluded corner of the Imperial Garden and met a masked man. They seemed to be discussing something, but I couldn't hear clearly."

Zhen Huan's eyes flashed: "Let's go and take a look!"

When everyone rushed to the corner of the Imperial Garden, they only saw some messy footprints on the ground, and the person was gone.

"Damn it! Let them run away!" Chun'er stomped her feet.

An Lingrong squatted down to examine the footprints, her brows furrowed. "Sister, looking at these footprints, they left in a hurry, so they probably didn't get far. Let's look around."

So, everyone split up into several groups and searched around the Imperial Garden. Zhen Huan and An Lingrong were in one group. As they walked cautiously, they suddenly heard a faint sound of talking.

"The plan cannot fail. This time, Zhen Huan and An Lingrong must be brought to ruin!" said a hoarse voice.

"Yes, my lord. We will proceed as planned." Another voice replied, sounding like the little palace maid.

Zhen Huan and An Lingrong looked at each other, anger flashed in their eyes. Zhen Huan shouted, "What are you doing?" and then rushed over.

The young palace maid and the masked man panicked. When the young palace maid saw Zhen Huan and An An Lingrong, her face turned pale: "Your Majesty, we...we didn't do anything."

The masked man wanted to escape, but Zhen Huan was quick-witted and pulled off his mask, revealing a strange man.

"Who are you? How dare you do evil in the harem!" Zhen Huan shouted angrily, her eyes full of rage, her chest heaving violently.

The man sneered: "Hmph! Zhen Huan, you meddle too much. Today is the day you die!" As he said that, he took out a dagger from his arms and stabbed Zhen Huan.

An Lingrong exclaimed, "Sister, be careful!" She quickly stood in front of Zhen Huan. At the same time, the guards arrived and subdued the man.

Zhen Huan looked at An Lingrong with lingering fear: "Lingrong, are you okay? Thank you."

An Lingrong smiled slightly: "Sister, we are sisters, there is no need to talk about this."

Everyone took the young maid and the man back to the palace for interrogation.

"Tell me! Who sent you?" Zhen Huan sat on the chair and looked at them majestically.

The young maid was so frightened that she trembled all over and cried, "Your Majesty, it's... it's the former subordinates of Concubine Hua's brother, Nian Gengyao. They are unwilling to accept defeat and want to use us to frame you and Concubine An and stir up the harem strife again."

"Humph! They are so wishful thinking! Nian Gengyao committed treason and deserved his punishment, yet they still want to stir up trouble!" An Lingrong said angrily, her eyes filled with anger and disdain. "Hand them over to the Emperor for punishment!"

When the emperor learned of this, he was furious: "How dare these traitors cause trouble in the harem! Behead them and make a public display!"

After this incident, Zhen Huan and An Lingrong realized that although the queen had been deposed, there were still some residual forces secretly working to destroy the peace of the harem.

"Sister, we have to strengthen the security in the palace and not let these people take advantage of the opportunity." An Rong said to Zhen Huan.

"Well, we also need to conduct a check on the palace maids and eunuchs to see if there are any other suspicious people." Zhen Huan nodded.

So they started an investigation, and during the process, they discovered that some palace maids and eunuchs had correspondence with people outside the palace.

"These people are so bold!" Chun'er said angrily, "Sisters, we must punish them severely!"

Mei Zhuang calmly analyzed, "Chun'er, don't be impatient. We need to first find out the content of their correspondence and see if they were coerced or participated voluntarily before making a decision."

Zhen Huan nodded in agreement: "Mei Zhuang is right. We must not act rashly, or we might wrongly accuse someone."

So they began to carefully interrogate the palace maids and eunuchs who had exchanged letters. One of the maids cried and begged for mercy: "Your Majesty, I was forced! People outside the palace arrested my family and said they would kill them if we didn't pass on the message." As she spoke, she kowtowed repeatedly, leaving blood marks on her forehead.

A hint of pity flashed across An Lingrong's eyes, but she still asked seriously, "So what message did they ask you to deliver?"

The maid replied tremblingly, "They want to know the daily schedules of the ladies and the shift changes of some of the palace guards."

Zhen Huan frowned. "It seems they're still looking for an opportunity to harm us. Are the others in the same situation as you?"

After questioning one by one, it was found that most of the palace maids and eunuchs were coerced, but a few were tempted by interests and took the initiative to participate.

Zhen Huan said sternly, "Those who were coerced will be given lenient sentences, but they will be transferred from important positions. As for those who actively participated in the conspiracy, no leniency will be shown!"

After dealing with these people, the harem seemed to be much calmer, but Zhen Huan and An Lingrong knew that there might still be undercurrents beneath the calm.

One day, Zhen Huan was reading in her palace when a young eunuch rushed in and said, "Empress Wan, something bad has happened! Something strange has happened in the imperial kitchen!"

Zhen Huan put down the book and immediately stood up: "What are you so scared about? Tell me slowly."

The young eunuch panted and said, "Your Majesty, the ingredients in the imperial kitchen are inexplicably missing, and someone saw a dark figure lurking nearby."

Zhen Huan, An Lingrong, Mei Zhuang and others rushed to the imperial kitchen, only to find it in a mess with food scattered all over the floor.

An Lingrong squatted down to investigate, her brows furrowed. "Sister, it looks like someone did this on purpose, trying to disrupt the harem's food supply."

Zhen Huan's eyes glared. "No matter who it is, we can't let the harem fall into chaos. Strengthen the guards around the imperial kitchen and investigate this matter thoroughly!"

During the investigation, a young cook from the imperial kitchen said tremblingly, "Your Majesty, I saw a dark figure running towards the cold palace last night."

"Cold Palace?" Zhen Huan's heart moved, "Let's go to the Cold Palace and take a look!"

Everyone arrived at the cold palace, which was eerie and cold, with a strange atmosphere. Suddenly, a strange sound was heard.

Chun Er grabbed Zhen Huan's sleeve tightly and said, "Sister, I'm scared."

Zhen Huan patted her hands: "Don't be afraid, we are here."

They followed the sound and found a dilapidated house filled with junk. When they pushed aside the junk, they discovered a tunnel.

"So that's how it is. They enter and exit the harem through the tunnel." An Lingrong suddenly realized.

"Chase! We can't let them get away!" Zhen Huan ordered.

The guards entered the tunnel and tracked them all the way, and finally caught several suspicious people and some stolen food at the end of the tunnel.

After interrogation, it was found that these people were the remnants of the forces that had been dealt with before. They attempted to cause panic in the harem by destroying the imperial kitchen.

Zhen Huan looked at these people, her eyes filled with anger: "You are so stubborn! Do you think these little tricks can succeed?"

This incident made Zhen Huan and An Lingrong more aware of the complexity of harem security.

"Sister, we need to conduct a comprehensive search of the entire harem to see if there are any other tunnels or secret compartments." An Lingrong suggested.

"Well, we also need to strengthen the guards at the palace gates and important places, and arrange more secret sentries." Zhen Huan added.

During the comprehensive investigation, they indeed discovered some minor loopholes and hidden dangers, which they addressed one by one. At the same time, everyone in the harem became more dependent on and trusted Zhen Huan and An Lingrong. In this complex and dangerous harem environment, they became the backbone of everyone's hearts, guarding the peace and stability of the harem and continuing to write their own legendary stories. Their friendship also became more and more indestructible in these tests, like an unshakable wall, resisting all conspiracies and malice.