Tuoba Hong didn't have much regard for Hui Ci, and he didn't have a lot of fatherly affection for Shan Yu either. But what Shan Yu said made some sense; she just wanted to give Hui Ci a place to stay, and wasn't asking for too much. Tuoba Hong thought for a moment before nodding his head: "Alright. For the sake of the imperial eldest daughter, I'll allow her to continue staying at Mingjue Temple as a nun."

  Shan Yu's face lit up with joy, and she hastily thanked Tuoba Hong before rushing over to instruct the female nun beside Hui Ci: "Hui Ci has after all been an abbot. You must treat her well and let her cultivate herself in front of the Buddha to atone for her sins. Absolutely do not ostracize her. Hui Ci once had kindness towards me, if I find out someone is driving her out of Ming Jue Temple, I will definitely investigate."

  "The emperor's eldest daughter is really softhearted." The concubines beside Lin Yu whispered: "After all, she has been in the Buddhist temple for a long time."

  The speaker was Zhang Wan'er, and another Liu Jieyou said: "Isn't that right? Such a kind-hearted person in the palace can't get a good ending. The eldest princess of the emperor has just entered the palace, and many things are not understood. In the palace, the most useless thing is kindness..."

  Lin Wan listened, but it was a sneer. She raised her eyes and looked far away at Shan Yu, the young girl's profile hidden in the shadow of the torches, unable to see the expression on her face.

  Lin Wan sighed, even an eight-year-old child knew how to scheme and manipulate people's hearts. If Hui Ci left Ming Jue Temple, her life wouldn't be too difficult. Over the years, she had saved up a fortune, bought a house in a village on the outskirts of Beijing, and purchased some slaves to support her old age, which could be considered a comfortable retirement, only losing her former honor and status. Tuoba Hong was an emperor who had long resided in the temple, naturally couldn't think of these trivial matters, thinking that as long as Hui Ci's reputation was ruined, it would be a severe enough punishment.

  But if Hui Ci returned to Ming Jue Temple... Ming Jue Temple was a national temple, where palace people often went to pray for blessings and donate incense money, but they didn't know about the dirty things inside. Precisely because it was a national temple, the masters in the palace would frequently bestow rewards of thousands of taels of gold, and having become rich and noble, they wouldn't have the purity of Buddhism. Those nuns fought fiercely for the positions of abbess and supervisor, making people think about things that couldn't be thought about. Lin Yuan heard Fan Yu mention that Hui Ci had once poisoned an elderly monk who threatened her position.

  For over twenty years, Huì Cí had been sitting firmly in the position of Fang Zhang, and there were many people who did not submit to her. Now that she has nothing and is being sent back, those old opponents do not know how they will avenge themselves on her. And Shan Yu, as the eldest princess, ordered that the nuns are not allowed to drive her out of Ming Jue Temple. The meaning of this statement goes beyond just that; even if Huì Cí wants to leave herself in the future, it is impossible. Ming Jue Temple is her hell and grave, where she can only endure a painful life.

  It's laughable that Fan Yu is still being praised for her kindness. With such a mind, how can she be like an eight-year-old child? Although Fan Yu has been in the palace for a short time, she is more intelligent than any of the princes and princesses because she has experienced the most unbearable childhood. In comparison, Zhao Wang, who cannot let go of his mother's death and dares to defy the Emperor, seems too immature.

  After a short while, an imperial guard came in to report that Shen had hanged herself and the two puppets had been burned. Emperor Taizong of Northern Wei nodded and asked him: "What about Ye of Changxin Palace?"

  "Reporting to Your Majesty, just now I spoke with Liang Gong and he said that Ye Xiaozhu has taken her medicine and is calm and stable. She is asleep at the moment." The eunuch replied clearly, and upon hearing this, Emperor Taizong of Tang also smiled and said: "Reward... reward all the staff in the Imperial Hospital, reward all the staff in the Imperial Medical Office, and reward the palace maids by Ye's side. Also, pass on my decree to order the Imperial Medical Office to send skilled female doctors to attend to Ye, from now on everyone in the palace must prioritize Ye until she gives birth to an imperial heir."

  Lord Feng accepted the reward and hastily kowtowed before retreating. The various consorts heard the news of Ye Liangyu's recovery with different expressions. Since Ye Liangyu had indeed recovered, it meant that the palace's evil spirits had been eliminated, and everyone could return home at ease. However, many people were still worried and depressed about Ye Liangyu, who was pregnant with the dragon child, narrowly escaping death; they wished for Ye to fall ill again and miscarry.

  The emperor personally issued an edict to prioritize Ye's family in the palace, a treatment that even Consort Xiang had never received. This shows just how much the emperor values this pregnancy. If Ye truly gives birth to a prince, and Prince Zhao has just lost his mother... it's hard to say what the future holds for this palace.

  At this moment, the concubines couldn't help but put on a happy face, congratulating the emperor and Ye Shi one after another. Emperor Taizong of Northern Wei originally had an unhappy mood due to his empress's illness, but now he also relaxed his expression because of the good news about Ye Liangyu.

  "Enough for half a day, you all can go back." Emperor Taizong of Northern Wei waved his hand at the crowd of concubines.

  The imperial consorts were already exhausted, who would be willing to stay here and freeze, and the originally accused Xiang Fei and Hui Jie Yu were both unscathed, which one could have a good mood, so they all retreated back to the palace.

  Xiao Huanghou was the last to get up. After waiting for all the concubines to leave, she then walked towards Tuoba Hong with a pale face and saluted: "Your servant will also take her leave first. I wonder if Your Majesty plans to return to Changxin Palace later to visit Ye Liangyu? Your servant can prepare accordingly."

  "It's not necessary, anyway. I think Ye Shi is almost fine now." Taizong said with a hint of cold smile at the corner of his lips: "As long as the Empress doesn't pretend to be mysterious and play tricks, Ye Shi will be fine, and I won't have to worry anymore. Since I agreed to let Ye Shi live in your palace, you'd better do your job properly and not let her work hard or get frightened while she's pregnant."

  "Your Majesty!!" The empress's face suddenly turned as white as snow, and her body also began to tremble.

  "Don't think that I don't know what you're secretly up to!" Emperor Taizong of Northern Wei shouted in anger. He had become increasingly displeased with the Empress, knowing that she had used her cunning to harm Consort Shang and that it was also her doing when Prince Zhao disappeared during the hunting trip. This time's witchcraft disaster was also her handiwork. Emperor Taizong was not a benevolent ruler; he allowed and even enjoyed seeing the women in the harem fight each other, and didn't mind them using dirty tricks - in his heart, only those who had the ability to survive were strong, and only they had the qualifications to stand alongside him and gaze out at the mountains and rivers, and to inherit the throne.

  It was just that Empress Xia's methods had clearly crossed his bottom line. Due to the struggle between the Xiao, Shangguan and Shen families, the harem was controlled by Empress Xia, Consort Xiang and Consort Shen, which led to the mysterious death of his children one after another. The power of these three women was too strong, and the other consorts were powerless to resist, allowing them to do as they pleased. And Xiao Yueyi was even more ruthless, almost designing the death of his only son in the struggle for the throne, which was something that Emperor Xiaowen could not tolerate.

  This time she made a big fuss again, wanting to kill two birds with one stone and eliminate both Xiang Fei and Lin Shi at the same time. Tuoba Hong was very annoyed in his heart, if it were as she wished, both of his favorite concubines would lose their power, and Shen Yunrong would have to be killed this time, then truly only she would be in power in the palace. Ye Liangyu's illness came on suddenly, and the imperial physician couldn't diagnose it. Tuoba Hong was initially startled, and thought that the witchcraft was really effective. It wasn't until the blue maid beside Xiang Fei secretly took her pulse that he realized she had just eaten some special food, making it seem like she was weak and seriously ill, but actually there was no harm to her body at all. Tuoba Hong was both angry and didn't know how to react, Ye Liangyu deceived him and played tricks on him, but also because of the empress's orders had no choice. It was so pitiful, Tuoba Hong couldn't bear to punish her either.

  It's just that I resent Empress for being greedy and autocratic. This harem is the emperor's harem, how can it be controlled by her whims?

  If it weren't for Xiao Yueyi's contributions in supporting Emperor Xianwen's throne at the beginning, Tuoba Hong would have probably been deposed long ago.

  Xiao Yueyi was so frightened that she stared blankly at Tuoba Hong, but couldn't say a word. The emperor and empress were at odds with each other, and Lin Yuan had never seen such a scene before. She was also embarrassed by Tuoba Hong's occupation of her small courtyard, which made it impossible for her to return to her room. All she could do was shrink her body into a ball and hide in the corner of the wall, trying to reduce her presence.

  "Empress, do you know why I want to sentence Shen Shi to death?" After saying that, Tuoba Hong looked at the empress with profound meaning: "It's because her ambition is too great."

  Xiao Huanghou took a cold breath, her mind racing - the Emperor knew everything, he knew everything... Since he knew and still tolerated the witchcraft disaster, it was because he wanted to use this opportunity to kill Shen Yunrong!

  However, he had set his sights on Xiang Fei and Lin Yuan, which was at odds with his goal, so he would get angry. Being able to kill Shen Yun Rong would be a great thing, but the fact that Prince Zhao disappeared in the hunting grounds was only two months ago, and at that time, he had already been suspected by the Emperor, where did he dare to make another move against Shen Yun Rong so quickly?

  Shen Yunrong, Shen Yunrong...

  Hah, that woman finally died, but in her heart there was no joy.

  Xiao Huanghou's current mood is similar to that of Empress Dowager when she first heard about the execution of Mu Wu Wang.

  There isn't any happy feeling...

  Instead, she felt weak all over. Every step was a struggle, and in the end, it wasn't even worth taking a step forward. If she didn't have ambition, this empress would have been dragged down from her position long ago, without even leaving any bones behind. But with her ambitious heart, she had provoked Tuoba Hong's anger.

  What should I do, how can I go on living? These were the words that Empress Xiao muttered to herself as she watched the emperor's back disappear into the distance.

  It was already past the third watch, and the sound of the water clock in the room was ticking away, with a clear and crisp tone that seemed to pierce through the stillness. Lin Yuankong had escorted the Emperor and Empress away before he could finally rest.

  It was a mess after the commotion that lasted half the night, and the Mirror Pavilion was now in shambles inside and out. Chunxue led the palace staff to clean up the small courtyard, and a rough-looking young palace maid pointed at the dirty water on the ground and said: "Those nuns must have added something to the water, it's so hard to scrub off. Snow Auntie, it's not that we slaves are lazy, but this floor might need to be relaid with new bricks before it can be clean again."

  The first snow was quite good, and she smiled at the complaints of the little palace maid: "If you can't wipe it clean, just forget it. You guys put away what you can, hurry back to bed and sleep, don't disturb the young master." Her words were quite light and carefree, and she laughed again: "Anyway, we won't be able to stay here for a few more days."