After my whole family overheard my thoughts, they went berserk.

"Of course you have good intentions. You rely on the fact that the Empress Dowager is a member of your Rong family to place your daughter in Qingning Palace and use the Empress Dowager to put pressure on me, to return the throne to me..."

The ministers pricked up their ears, listening with great interest, but the emperor hesitated to speak.

So everyone racked their brains to think it over.

What to do...

Play chess?

Or should I kneel?

The Emperor looked at his ministers and, knowing they were gossipy and talkative, decided not to elaborate.

As an emperor, he was very concerned about his image.

"You should know perfectly well how your daughter became pregnant with the emperor's child and how she gave birth to the little princess!"

Rong Li was struck as if by a bolt from the blue.

Does the Emperor know about the drugging?

This is a grave crime of deceiving the emperor.

The ministers were greatly surprised; it seemed there was an even deeper secret at play.

They encouraged Zhao Meng to continue digging into the inside story.

"Prime Minister Rong, is this...is this true? Consort Rong, how...how could she have given birth to a little princess?"

Rong Li's expression turned cold, showing his disdain.

"Get lost! You can't even speak properly, yet you're trying to gossip!"

Twenty or thirty ministers were whispering among themselves in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"Pah! As the head of all officials, how shameless of you to do such a despicable thing."

"That's right, she actually knelt down and begged the emperor to take her woman as a concubine, how shameless!"

Rong Lizheng wiped away a cold sweat.

Fortunately, the ministers were unaware of the drugging incident; otherwise, if word got out, where would he, as the prime minister, put his face?

"And you lot too!"

With the Emperor's anger diverted, Rong Lizheng immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

The adults who came yesterday were on tenterhooks.

Could it be that the Emperor also knows their secret?

The other courtiers also pricked up their ears, unable to contain their excitement.

There's more to the story! There's more to the story!

"Lord Wu, you say your daughter has been married into the palace for five years, but have you ever personally seen how she is doing in the harem? Taking advantage of the fact that I rarely visit Xinyi Palace, she has become indulgent and dissolute, truly treating the harem as her own home!"

"Tsk tsk, how ignorant! How vulgar!" the ministers condemned.

Wu Xu was sweating profusely and too scared to lift his head.

"General Chen, your sister is indeed suffering from delusions. That's why you tried to find her a husband everywhere, but to no avail. In the end, you put her in my harem. What is the punishment for such deceiving the emperor!"

"He has deceived the emperor! He should be killed!" the ministers exclaimed in unison.

Chen Yizhi's face was deathly pale. He buried his head in his hands, trembling all over, and his teeth chattered so hard he couldn't even speak.

The emperor glared angrily at Zhao Meng again.

"Lord Zhao, do you still miss your concubine?"

The ministers exclaimed in surprise, "We never imagined there was something even more powerful!"

Zhao Meng suddenly raised his head and met the Emperor's gaze. The Emperor's sharp eyes made his vision go black, and he collapsed to the ground!

After the ministers finished eating the melon, they all started to worry for themselves, since they all had their own secrets to some extent.

"You all deceive me, scheme against me, do you even respect me? Where is my imperial authority? Where is my dignity?!"

If a mouse doesn't show its power, you might mistake it for a sick cat.

They all act so boldly and recklessly, showing contempt for imperial authority, just because they are founding fathers!

"Prime Minister Rong, aren't you always worrying? Then tell me, what's your plan for dealing with the Gui County matter?"

Faced with the emperor's show of force, Rong Lizheng no longer had the imposing manner he had when he arrived.

He reached out and adjusted his official hat, his legs trembling uncontrollably.

"Your Majesty, Gui County has been hit by a flood, and the people are suffering terribly. I am willing to donate 10,000 taels of gold for disaster relief!"

These court officials all owned medicinal herb gardens or mountains, or at the very least, medicinal herb fields. They were extremely wealthy, yet they never contributed a single penny to the court.

"Are you sure?" the Emperor asked.

Rong Li was looking at the emperor's serious expression. Could it be that the donation was too small?

"Your Majesty, I forgot to say a zero earlier. It should be one hundred thousand taels!"

Following Rong Xiang's lead, the other ministers also followed suit in order to quell their anger.

"Your Majesty, I will donate 80,000 taels!"

"Your Majesty, I hereby donate fifty thousand taels!"

"Your Majesty, I possess thirty thousand taels!"

"Ten thousand taels!"

One by one, the ministers stepped forward, even those who had only come to make up the numbers.

At the same time, they also resented Prime Minister Rong. They came to put pressure on the Emperor, but instead they were reprimanded by the Emperor. They didn't send any daughters or concubines into the palace, but they still had to spend money for nothing.

A minister who was always frugal hid in a corner, tears streaming down his face.

"This melon... is really expensive!"

Soon, the ledger was filled with entries for several pages.

The emperor was also very clever; he sent a group of people to accompany them out of the palace to collect the silver.

After the minister left, he immediately issued an imperial edict.

The imperial harem is in turmoil!

A large number of concubines rushed to Huayao Palace.

"Queen!"

"elder sister!"

The concubines wiped away their tears and complained.

"Please, elder sister, help me plead with the Emperor! After court today, the Emperor suddenly issued an imperial edict to dismiss all the concubines in the harem."

"If they are banished from the palace, how will my sisters face themselves in the future!"

"Please, sister, have mercy! Please beg the Emperor to let us stay. We will not compete with you for his favor; we are willing to serve you as his servants!"

Shi Miaomiao quietly observed the subtle actions of the concubines.

Some concubines even secretly applied chili powder to the corners of their eyes, and their crying was truly pitiful.

"Hmph, this is outrageous! You're trying to steal my father from my mother, and you even want her to help you! My father belongs to my mother, and he can only belong to my mother!"

The Empress looked at Shi Miaomiao and vaguely sensed that this matter was related to her.

She had only been back from the Hall of Mental Cultivation for a short time when the Emperor issued an imperial edict.

Although she didn't know the reason, she felt that Miaomiao must have her own ideas, and she had to support her.

"Since it is His Majesty's will, there is nothing I can do to help."

She adopted the demeanor befitting an empress and gave instructions to Qing Sui and Qian He.

"Send some men to accompany the ladies of the palace. Make sure they keep an eye on what they are packing. Not a single thing in the palace is allowed to be taken away. If anyone is found to be smuggling public property, I will report it to the Emperor and have their entire family investigated!"

The concubines were dumbfounded.

They came to plead with the Empress, not to shoot themselves in the foot!

The Empress is usually soft-hearted, why is she so ruthless now!

"Hmph, you bunch of liars, it's a miracle my father didn't chop your heads off."

Shi Miaomiao felt that it was great to be a live spectator.

She has so many more scandals to tell.

Anyone who offends her and her mother, she'll expose their scandals, one by one.

After hearing Shi Miaomiao's heartfelt words, the Empress gave an extremely serious order.

"You'd better pack up quickly, or you'll lose your heads if the Emperor changes his mind."

Upon hearing this, the concubines' expressions changed drastically, and they all rushed out of Huayao Palace.

More important than money is saving your life!

Within half a day, the harem became exceptionally quiet, and the number of people in it was greatly reduced.

"Your Majesty, all the concubines have left the palace, except for Consort Rong."

The Empress knew that Consort Rong was unwilling to leave the palace.

Back then, ministers frequently sent people into the palace, and the Empress Dowager also put pressure on the emperor. The emperor was so worried that he couldn't sleep all night and was losing clumps of hair.

She knew that it would be unreasonable for a monarch not to expand his harem. To ease the emperor's burden, she placed them in various palaces and treated them with the respect due to their rank as imperial concubines.

But now, the ministers are frequently pressuring the emperor to favor her because of this matter, which has become a source of anxiety for her.

If other concubines give birth to princesses for the emperor, will the emperor still favor Miao exclusively?

Now, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. All of this is thanks to Miaomiao.

"Why doesn't Consort Rong leave?" the Empress asked.

Consort Rong is so audacious because her father is the prime minister. Does she still dare to defy the imperial decree?

"It's all because they have the Empress Dowager backing them up. When we went there, the Empress Dowager was visiting Princess Yun in the palace and said that no one was allowed to disturb her. We didn't dare to trespass, so we had to go back to Huayao Palace," Qianhe said angrily.

"Forget it. Now that she has the little princess by her side, if we rashly drive her out of the palace, the court officials will definitely make a fuss about it, which will damage His Majesty's reputation."

"Mother, don't be afraid of her, and we're not easy to bully."

Shi Miaomiao grinned mischievously.

She will help her mother share her burdens.