General, you should rest now; the lady is even more ruthless.

After receiving the imperial decree, the empress led a group of female relatives to search for the missing women in various palaces.

The women in the inner quarters were usually idle, passing the time by engaging in palace intrigue and gossiping. Now that a huge piece of gossip was laid out before them, they were all incredibly excited.

The ladies and young women, who were usually so gentle and delicate, ran faster than anyone else.

Only Jiang Qiqi lazily walked at the very back, maintaining a pace that wouldn't fall behind.

She had already guessed most of it.

The Empress, a woman of great dignity, abandoned a perfectly good banquet and instead lowered herself to lead everyone out to search for someone.

Sima Zhao's intentions are obvious to everyone.

Jiang Qiqi actually realized that the conspiracy against the Fourth Princess was related to the Empress, since the Fourth Princess's older brother, the Second Prince, and the Empress's own son, the Third Prince, were currently vying fiercely for the position of Crown Prince.

It is perfectly reasonable to undermine the emperor's favor by targeting those close to him.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

After the empress and her entourage pretended to search several palaces, they headed straight for the small courtyard. However, they were nearly bumped into by a person who came out in a panic just as they reached the gate.

The maidservants behind her quickly stepped forward to support the Empress and shouted, "How dare you! Who is in such a panic, daring to offend Your Majesty the Empress?"

A palace maid ran out with her head down. When she looked up and saw the Empress in front of her, she was so frightened that she immediately knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, please spare me! Your Majesty, please spare me! I didn't mean to see that."

The Empress steadied herself, showing no anger, but rather a triumphant smile in her eyes.

She asked, "What do you mean, 'didn't see it on purpose'? What did you see?"

She deliberately raised her voice, as if afraid that the people around her wouldn't hear her.

The palace maid lowered her head and answered tremblingly, "Your Majesty, this servant did not mean to see the Fourth Princess with a man..."

The palace maid dared not say anything more, but a commotion arose around her.

"What did she just say? That the Fourth Princess was with a man?"

"No way? Could it be that the Fourth Princess wasn't kidnapped, but rather..."

"Could the Fourth Princess be in this little courtyard?"

A group of people were talking amongst themselves.

Seeing that things had escalated to a point where they were no longer acceptable, the Empress finally spoke up to stop them: "Alright, that's enough. Where is the princess? Is she in this courtyard?"

The palace maid dared not speak, but her eyes kept glancing into the courtyard, as if afraid that others would not know there was someone inside.

Clearly, this was someone arranged by the Queen and her entourage.

Jiang Qiqi couldn't help but shake her head. The last time they met, the Empress was such a calm and thoughtful person, but this time she seemed so anxious and full of loopholes. It was clear how important the Fourth Princess's matter was to her.

I don't know why it's important.

"Quickly send someone to inform the Emperor that I will guard this place and no one is allowed to enter." The Empress adopted a posture of concern for the Emperor and the Princess.

Jiang Qiqi could only laugh when she heard this.

Is she guarding this place to prevent people from going in, or to prevent the people inside from coming out?

The fewer people who know about this, the better. Now, this Empress not only doesn't help cover it up in front of so many people, but also sends someone to find the Emperor. She knows that once the Emperor arrives, the remaining ministers will definitely follow, and if things escalate, they will become even more uncontrollable.

Jiang Qiqi hid in the crowd, not missing a single movement or expression of the Empress.

She was very curious: what was the Empress's purpose in going to such lengths? What could the Fourth Princess's innocence possibly bring her?

She always had a vague feeling that the reason why the Empress would not hesitate to ruin the Spring Banquet she organized in order to frame the Fourth Princess was not simply to make the Emperor hate the Second Prince.

That's too complicated.

Although the emperor was old, he was still very agile and soon arrived with a large entourage.

Jiang Qiqi looked around and found that the Minister of Personnel and the Third Prince had also arrived. They were standing at the back of the crowd with their heads down, talking about something.

The second prince stood beside the emperor, his face so gloomy it could drip water.

"Your Majesty, a servant just reported that the Fourth Princess is in this courtyard. Is that true?"

The emperor, after all, was the emperor; he had seen many storms and was much calmer.

"Your Majesty, I dare not conceal the truth. The palace maid at the gate said that the princess was having a secret rendezvous with a man in this courtyard." The Empress's voice sounded very panicked, her disguise flawless.

The Emperor stared intently at the door, its vermilion lacquer completely peeled off and covered in rust, for a long time before finally speaking:

"If the princess has indeed done such a scandalous thing, I will not let her off lightly."

At such a grand banquet, the princess was exposed for having an affair with a man, with all the ministers and their families present. The emperor was utterly humiliated.

Even a beloved princess cannot compare to the emperor's prestige.

"Someone, open the gate to this courtyard."

The Imperial Guards kicked open the door, and a group of them rushed into the house.

The bed in the inner room was a mess, and the blankets were bulging, clearly indicating that someone had been there.

"Guards, pull back the covers and drag these two shameless people out."

"Yes." The guards immediately lifted the blanket, revealing the two intertwined bodies inside.

The two people on the bed were still asleep. The man was completely naked, and the woman was only wearing a bodice. The two lay on the bed, with the woman's body mostly covered by the man.

Seeing this, the Emperor closed his eyes as if he had given up, while the Empress's lips curved into a barely perceptible smile.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. I think Zhizhi probably didn't do it on purpose. She was probably deceived by someone." The Empress pretended to dissuade him, but the more she tried to persuade him, the angrier the Emperor became.

The emperor flicked his sleeve: "Drag them down."

"Yes."

But when the guards finally separated the two and dragged them off the bed, everyone realized that the woman on the bed was not the Fourth Princess, but a stranger.

Only Jiang Qiqi and the Minister of Personnel knew that the woman on the bed was the palace maid who had poured wine for the Fourth Princess and later brought her to this courtyard.

Behind the crowd, the Third Prince and the Minister of Personnel were also stunned by what they saw.

"How could this happen?" The Third Prince turned his questioning gaze to the Minister of Personnel. "Where is Chen Zhizhi?"

The Minister of Personnel was also full of questions. He clearly saw with his own eyes that this palace maid took the Fourth Princess away, so how come the Fourth Princess is now gone and the palace maid is lying on the bed in disheveled clothes?

He'd tried that drug before, and it worked fine.

The emperor breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this, but his mood was not particularly good.

Although she wasn't the fourth princess lying in bed, the harem still made a huge blunder in front of so many people.

He frowned, his tone restrained: "Empress, you'd better explain to me what's going on."

The Empress had no way of explaining it; she didn't even know where their plan had gone wrong. But now that the Emperor was angry, she could only kneel down and beg for forgiveness.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I heard the palace maid at the gate talking nonsense, saying that the Fourth Princess was having a secret rendezvous with a man in this courtyard."

The Empress's tone was full of worry: "The Fourth Princess is His Majesty's darling daughter. I was at a loss as to how to handle this, which is why I had the servants summon His Majesty. I know nothing about the situation in this courtyard either."

The Emperor took two deep breaths in anger, but there were priorities, and now was not the time to pursue this matter: "Where is the Fourth Princess? So all of you have searched for so long and still haven't found her?"