Unlike Xiao Huanghou, Jing Fei was never stingy with the people around her and did not maliciously scheme against them. Even though Fang Cai Ren wasn't intelligent enough to be of great use, she still gave Fang Cai Ren many benefits.

  She and Lin Wan had the same idea: never show mercy to enemies, but be sincere with collaborators.

  Only after the guests had left with excitement and gratitude did her expression gradually calm down. She slowly walked to the windowsill, sat down quietly, and remained silent.

  The next day, the concubines followed the usual practice to come to Huayang Palace to pay their respects to Jing Fei. Lin Yuan came diligently with her belly, but arrived the latest.

  Jing Fei's complexion was somewhat haggard, and her spirit didn't seem as lively as before. She beckoned to Lin Yuan with a wave of her hand: "I wasn't originally the main consort, so coming here to pay respects doesn't count as following any rules. Now that Hui Bin is pregnant, she can just not come." As she spoke, she let out a faint sigh: "It seems like Hui Bin slept well last night and has a good complexion too."

  Lin Wan sat in her own seat, smiling: "The concubine is lazy and has slept for a whole time." Seeing a plate of chestnuts on the small table in front of her, she quickly picked it up to eat: "Hmm, the sugar-roasted chestnuts from Hehuan Hall are the most authentic."

  "You like it? I'll have some sent over to you later." Jing Fei seemed to be both perfunctory and bored with the conversation.

  Lin Wan just smiled and chatted with the concubines beside her.

  No one mentioned a word about the Imperial Palace early in the morning. Rumors spread quickly within the palace, but when it came to Empress Xiao, both masters and servants dared not speak out loud. What everyone was thinking was that the Emperor's move this time might be to depose the Empress, and once the Empress was shaken, the forces that had followed her in the past would certainly be purged. At that time, there would be a bloody storm, but many concubines were already anxious and unable to rest.

  People around her didn't even dare to mention a word about Empress Xiao, fearing that they would be considered as part of the empress's faction.

  The Changxin Palace has had no new news since the Emperor went there yesterday until this morning.

  The Empress Dowager dismissed the consorts early, and they all returned to the palace in groups of three or five, no one having the heart to go to the Upper Forest Garden for a stroll or gather together to watch a play.

  On this day's dusk, Changxin Palace, which had been closed for two months, opened its gate.

  For Empress Xiao, the emperor's public statement was that the empress was seriously ill and needed to rest, which was undoubtedly a disguised form of house arrest. Although she was the noble empress, Xiao Yueyi was also miserable and destitute after being put under house arrest. The heavy bronze lock on the gate of Changxin Palace tightly sealed it off, and except for the daily delivery of meals through the side door, no one was allowed to enter or leave, nor were they allowed to visit her. Empress Xiao was like a prisoner in jail.

  But on this day, the copper lock on the palace gate was opened.

  The emperor went on a trip yesterday and left soon. But today there was such a change.

  Everyone in the palace had their eyes fixed on Changxin Palace, but no one dared to participate and ask for any news.

  After Changxin Palace lifted its foot ban, the emperor went there again that night. Later at night, Changxin Palace sent for the imperial physician, but the emperor did not come out again.

  The Empress Dowager Xiao was previously "seriously ill", but the Emperor refused to let her summon imperial physicians. Everyone in the palace and court understood what was going on. Now, however, more than half of the doctors from the Imperial Hospital were summoned to Changxin Palace to examine the Empress Dowager.

  Many people sleepless for one night. Changxin Palace was dead silent for one night.

  At dawn, Zaixiang entered the palace again by imperial order, a special favor granted by Shengshan, to pay his respects to the empress.

  When the Left Chancellor entered the palace, Jing Fei in Huayang Palace accidentally broke a teacup. There was no one else in the room except her trusted palace maid, and she collapsed onto the soft couch, panting heavily and muttering: "Empress..."

  "Your Highness!" The palace maid hastily came forward to support her, while calling out to others: "Quickly summon the imperial physician..."

  Jing Fei immediately grabbed her wrist: "Don't!" She said, stroking her own chest: "The imperial physicians are all in Changxin Palace, I shouldn't disturb them at this time, the Emperor will definitely not be pleased."

  She was not seriously ill, just momentarily frightened, and her chest felt suffocated. She gasped for a moment before finally recovering, pulling over her trusted palace maid: "A Liang, has the Emperor been in Changxin Palace all along?"

  The palace maid called Aliang nodded blankly: "Yes, she hasn't come out all night, and Left Chancellor is also there." Suddenly thinking of something, her face turned pale white: "Your Majesty, are you saying... the Emperor will pardon Empress Dowager?"

  The day before yesterday, the Emperor first entered Changxin Palace, but it was likely to issue an edict to depose the Empress. The people were still rejoicing for half a day. But then he lifted the ban on Changxin Palace and even sent imperial doctors to treat the Empress. It seems that things may have taken a turn.

  But now, even the Left Chancellor has entered the palace and met with the Empress Dowager.

  A Liang keenly felt that this time the queen was going to turn over a new leaf.

  "It's not forgiveness." Jing Fei shook her head: "This way, the Emperor must have investigated the matter clearly. He has investigated clearly, and the Empress was originally innocent."

  "Is the Chang Le Palace affair really unrelated to the Empress?!" Ah Liang's voice was barely audible, but full of terror: "At first, we set up Xiao Dengzi and let him frame the Empress for having a connection with Xu Ronghua... But although it was a trap, it was also true that Xu Ronghua was the Empress' secret agent, always helping her do things..."

  "The Queen and Madame Hsu's collusion is true, but harming the Empress Dowager, even if I thought it wasn't the Queen's doing." Ah Liang was Jing Fei's confidant, usually very capable and efficient, Jing Fei also trusted her: "You remember when we secretly investigated Madame Hsu before, we found out she's a very complicated person, with more than one master behind her back. Madame Hsu is cunning and ruthless, if there's another power that wants her to cooperate in killing the Empress Dowager, as long as the benefits are sufficient, Madame Hsu is willing to take risks."

  "Although the Empress Dowager was not good to the Queen, it is also far-fetched to say that the Queen wanted to kill the Empress Dowager to eliminate obstacles."

  "I entered the palace ten years ago and have been with Xiao for a long time. From my understanding, Xiao is skilled in calculation and can see through the overall situation, she won't do stupid things that are too risky but yield little return."

  In Jing Fei's opinion, the Empress choosing to get rid of the Dowager Empress was foolish. The Dowager Empress may have been in her way, but she was an old woman with little time left and a weak body; the best way to deal with her would be to wait for her to die naturally.

  With such energy, the empress would rather find a way to get rid of Zhao Wang and his group of princes, or get rid of this quiet consort.

  If it's really innocent, the emperor will find out... The restoration of Xiao Huanghou is inevitable.

  Jing Fei was unwilling to give up. After planning for so long, she had already obtained imperial power and was only one step away from the position, but overnight, all her previous efforts were abandoned.

  Is this fate? Since recovering from her illness, she has been planning step by step, even taking risks to do many things... She thought that this return would be a phoenix rebirth, reborn from the ashes. But everything went wrong.

  She went to great lengths to support the Lin family in order to block the Chu family, and secretly manipulated the situation in the harem. However, six newly appointed concubines suddenly appeared, disrupting her plans. She had originally intended to use the Long Le Palace poisoning incident to get rid of a few of the new concubines, but things took an unexpected turn. In the end, she risked everything and splashed dirty water on the Empress's body. With great difficulty, she succeeded, only to be overthrown by the Empress again in just a few short months...

  Jingfei was guessing and speculating in her room, feeling restless, while on the other side, the Hongyan Building was also not peaceful.

  Chu Xue and Chu Tao were the first to get anxious. They kept asking Lin Yuan tremulously, whether it was true that two months ago Wu Yu's movements in the Purple Bamboo Forest had been discovered by someone, leading the Emperor to investigate the Empress Dowager's murder case which turned out to be entirely fabricated.

  Lin Yujing sat silently. The little Shengzi who had just been sent out by her had already heard the sound of porcelain breaking in the Hehuan Hall, and she smiled lightly, saying: "The Empress is indeed a bit restless."

  "Niang niang now has the heart to care about Jing Fei!" Chu Xue hastily said.

  "Compared to the Emperor and Empress Xiao, what I fear most is actually my own position, Quiet Consort." Lin Yu exhaled softly: "Wu Imperial Physician's methods are secretive, that one time, no one will know, but I'm afraid of Quiet Consort. I can sense that she has already intervened in the Long Le Palace affair. I'm just worried that she suspects me."

  She thought for a moment and then smiled, saying: "I've always been confident in what I do, she won't find out."

  Lin Wan was right, Jing Fei indeed did not know her actions in the Purple Bamboo Forest, and Jing Fei treated this matter as a murder in Chang Le Palace, eventually overthrowing the Empress.

  Xiao Huanghou was banned on the same day, it can be said that Lin Wan and Jing Fei's ghostly collaboration.

  "But Your Majesty, now that the Empress is about to turn over a new leaf, could it be that His Majesty has discovered something?" Although Chū Táo was young in years, her mind had always been clear and sharp.

  "What can the Emperor investigate? Investigate that the murder in Chang Le Palace was fabricated by me?" Lin Yuen coldly smiled: "Enough, this matter ends here. From now on, none of you are allowed to mention it again."

  "Your Highness..." Chuxue couldn't help but want to persuade again.

  "First snow!" Lin Wan called out in a low voice: "Shut up! Really, don't say another word. Do you really think the Chang Le Palace affair was something I orchestrated? In the end, the Emperor is still going to deal with the Empress because of this matter? This thing is more serious than you imagine, if it's privately discussed and spread around, and someone gets implicated, who knows how they'll die."

  The little girl was frightened by the sudden appearance of peach blossoms and stared at Lin Yuan with a pair of deer-like eyes.

  "The emperor found out that the connection between Madame Hsu and the empress was true, but he did not immediately put the empress under house arrest." Lin Yuen's voice was very low: "Later, the emperor handed over the matter to the Ministry of Justice for handling. Several days later, the emperor personally went to Changxin Palace to search. In the end, the empress was put under house arrest."

  The first snowfall was heard with some confusion, but also with a bit of understanding.

  The two palace maids did not dare say another word and retreated with their heads lowered.

  Lin Yan let out a long sigh, she could feel that the real storm in the palace had only just begun.

  The emperor severely punished Empress Xiao, imprisoning her and continuing to gather evidence of her crimes. It was not just because of her connection with the Xu family - it was true that she had a private relationship with them, but this did not mean that she had instructed them to harm the empress dowager. Such a big matter, without any evidence, could the empress be convicted solely on the basis of "private relations"?

  The emperor ordered a thorough investigation into the matter and instructed the Ministry of Justice to take charge. He must have discovered something else.