Good luck in pregnancy, the daughter of the prime minister's mansion has a soft waist

"Your Highness, I respectfully welcome you."

"Be flat."

Upon hearing the order, Concubine Xie stood up and looked up at the person in front of her, and found that there was a beautiful woman standing next to the emperor.

Her skin was as white and flawless as snow, her thin and curved eyebrows were like willows in the morning mist, and her eyes seemed to contain clear autumn waves.

Especially those red lips, which were bright and eye-catching, even she, a woman, was attracted to them.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, and may you live happily ever after."

This beauty has graceful and smooth movements and a graceful figure.

Concubine Xie, who had come to her senses, replied calmly, "Sister, you are so beautiful. You are so polite even when we first met."

After the three of them were seated, the emperor spoke directly to Noble Concubine Xie, "Mu Xue is still young and has been pampered at home since she was young. Please take good care of her in the future, Noble Concubine Xie, and don't make things difficult for her."

Shen Muxue was stunned when she heard this. She didn't understand whether this was a kind of care for herself or a hint to the other party?

This sentence can easily arouse people's jealousy.

Concubine Xie was born in a humble family and was sent to the palace when she was young because of her family's poverty. Now that the emperor is praising Shen Muxue's background, it is undoubtedly equivalent to reminding the other party of the differences between the two.

However, faced with this situation, Concubine Xie did not show any dissatisfaction. Instead, she smiled and said, "Your Majesty is absolutely right. I loved Sister Mu Xue the moment I first met her. How could I bear to show her displeasure? From now on, every first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, all the concubines will see Sister Mu Xue when they come to pay their respects to me."

As the actual ruler of the harem, other concubines would come to pay their respects to him every day.

But today Mu Xue came late and the others had already left.

"Fortunately, you are sensible," the emperor expressed his affirmation, but his eyes were still fixed on Shen Muxue who was silent with her head down, fearing that she would be ignored or bullied.

"Actually, we don't have to do this every day. From now on, we will only have two fixed days each month to hold collective greetings."

Concubine Xie was so shocked by the sudden new rules that she almost lost her balance and fell to the ground.

"Have I behaved disrespectfully towards others during this period?"

The emperor's action did not seem to be a punishment for any wrongdoing, but rather an effort to protect his new favorite concubine.

Thinking of this, a chill arose from the bottom of my heart.

"What a woman who is good at deceiving the monarch! Just wait and see..."

Seeing the frosty look on her face, the emperor asked inquiringly, "Do you think there is something wrong?"

"I have no opinion."

The emperor held Shen Muxue's hand and left, leaving Concubine Xie standing alone in the wind.

Soon, the crisp sound of porcelain breaking was heard in Yuxiu Hall.

"Find out for me how Concubine Shu has charmed His Majesty and made him treat her with such care."

The palace maid Rurong next to her pretended to tremble, but she was laughing in her heart: Didn't he threaten yesterday that he would wait until Concubine Shu became pregnant before investigating?

How come you can't hold back so soon?

After a while, someone came to report: "I heard that His Majesty left the palace yesterday and went to the Xie Mansion, where he met the eldest daughter of the Shen family, and then issued an imperial decree to bring her into the palace."

"Go to Xie's house and ask what happened yesterday."

Concubine Xie paced anxiously in the room. The emperor was infertile, and although he doted on Concubine Shu now, he was just jealous, just like how he treated other concubines.

Such favor will not last long.

She needed to think calmly about why the emperor was suddenly interested in the Shen family's daughter.

General Shen controls 500,000 troops in the northern border. Is it because of the military power that the emperor deliberately shows favor to Shen Muxue?

Apart from this, she couldn't figure out what else about Shen Muxue that could attract the emperor's attention.

The people in Yuxiu Hall were efficient and had found out everything before noon.

"Your Majesty, according to the people in the Xie Mansion, Master Xie was attracted to Concubine Shu and had originally planned to have her take an aphrodisiac. However, by some strange coincidence, the Second Miss of the Shen family took the drug instead and ended up being possessed by the Master. Concubine Shu was fortunately rescued by Your Majesty and brought back to the palace."

In fact, this incident cannot be blamed entirely on King Xian'an.

After all, he had no experience in how to try a case, and all his energy was focused on pleasing the imperial concubine.

Whenever the imperial concubine's brother dislikes someone, he will add their name to the blacklist.

Add in some political rivals, and the number of people on the list naturally increases significantly.

The Minister of Justice and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court were well aware of the problems hidden behind this report, but after so much effort, they still could not find strong evidence to support or refute it.

Moreover, with King Xian'an as a shield in front of them, they felt that there was no need to worry too much.

As for the list of names mentioned in the memorial, the two were not worried at all.

The principle of "the law does not punish the masses" is deeply rooted in people's hearts. Moreover, although the victim was the nephew of the imperial concubine, it would not be the case that half of the officials in the entire court would be implicated and punished because of one person.

Therefore, it can be predicted that when dealing with such sensitive incidents, the emperor will ultimately choose to be lenient and avoid unnecessary turmoil.

So when they saw the memorial submitted by King Xian'an, the two did not raise any objections or make any adjustments, and directly allowed it to be submitted to the emperor.

The emperor felt very dissatisfied when he held the document in his hand, and even had the urge to throw it back in King Xian'an's face, but reason told him not to do so.

Having no children means that the successor will become an important decision concerning the fate of the country, and King Xian'an, as the only nephew, is likely to take over the government in the future.

If the experience of undertaking an important mission for the first time is too embarrassing, it will be detrimental to the stability of subsequent rule.

Coupled with the Empress Dowager's reminder and the worry expressed by Concubine Shu at night, the Emperor's emotions were further aggravated.

After much deliberation, the emperor suppressed his anger and said, "Continue investigating this case. There's no need to rush to close it. We must ensure a clear and transparent investigation."

Then he waved his hand and asked the three to leave.

On the way out of the hall, King Xian'an thought that the list might be a little long, so he planned to go back and streamline a few items before submitting it again, hoping to complete the task smoothly before his own coming-of-age ceremony.

If he could get the approval of the imperial concubine and have her say a few good words for him at the banquet, he might be able to get the position of crown prince earlier.

But the two veteran ministers nearby clearly interpreted the situation differently. They stopped Prince Xian'an as he was about to leave and explained, "I'm afraid the Emperor has other plans, not just dissatisfaction with the progress. In my humble opinion, we should proceed slowly until we receive clear instructions before making a final decision."

After hearing this, King Xian'an became even more confused. After all, in his opinion, it seemed that the current dilemma could be solved by simply removing a few names.

"Why do you two say this?"

King Xian'an asked in confusion.

The Minister of State replied, "It's quite possible that the Emperor simply doesn't trust the contents of this list. Therefore, he's requesting further verification to avoid any miscarriages of justice. Since His Majesty has already indicated there's no need to rush this matter, we'd better comply and delay."

In short, it is about finding ways to delay the development of things!