[It’s not that I failed, it’s just that after I came back yesterday afternoon, I slept from 4:00 to midnight, so I didn’t even send a leave request... I feel better today, so I’ll try to do more. 】

Two quarters of an hour later, inside the Qianqing Palace.

"Okay, okay!"

Half of Emperor Longyuan's face was glowing red excitedly, and he praised continuously: "Ai Qing is really deeply in my heart, so I came to Renshou Palace in person, and what I said and said was nothing more than this!"

"I really don't dare to take it as your Majesty's false praise. I have just been around His Majesty for a long time and have some experience. Compared with the beginning of His Majesty's accession to the throne, before the Wuxi Kingdom invaded the sea area, he clearly understood the details and made far-sighted plans to formulate the major policy of an industrial power. As for the policy, what I say and do is nothing more than trivial tricks, how can it be as good as your Majesty's plan?"

These words obviously scratched the emperor's itch again. Although he first wanted to engage in industrial innovation, it was mainly because he worshiped Taizu, so he wanted to copy the gourd.

But now it seems that it was a mistake...

No, it should be said that it is God’s will!

"I love you too modestly..."

"Your Majesty is far-sighted..."

Concubine Rong stood in the corner, secretly looking at the monarch and his ministers who were chatting happily, especially looking at Emperor Longyuan's excited but ferocious expression, and she felt a secret sadness in her heart.

Ever since she was given the opportunity to take the rotation, she could be said to have tried her best, but the feedback she received was far less than Jiao Shun's compliments - her flattery sometimes even had the opposite effect.

Sure enough, now that things have happened, it is no longer possible to entertain people with sex.

Concubine Rong bit her red lips and hesitated for a moment, then silently exited the curtain, looking for the queen who had left with some excuse.

If a concubine like her who has no heirs wants to have a good ending after the emperor's success, she must either let the emperor make arrangements in advance, or she can only have a good relationship with the future queen mother and dowager [Wu Guifei].

Now that there is no way forward, we can only resort to the next best thing.

In fact, Concubine Rong was not willing to take this path. After all, in the past few years, she had been competing for favors and her relationship with the Queen and Concubine Wu was not close. But now she has to lower her head...

Alas~

Concubine Rong unconsciously stretched out her hand to caress her belly, secretly thinking that it was her belly that was not up to par. If she could have given birth to a baby early, why would she be so anxious?

At this moment, her eyes glanced at the Queen's figure, but it turned out that the Queen was not far away, but was listening attentively in the corner near the curtain.

This is a bit strange.

The conversation between the Emperor and Jiao Shun did not involve any secrets. Even she was allowed to observe it, so why did the Queen need to hide outside to listen?

"Empress?"

Confused, she cautiously approached and called out softly. Unexpectedly, the queen's delicate body suddenly trembled, as if she was frightened.

"Ah~"

Seeing her covering her heart with her hands, she said in shock: "It turns out to be Concubine Rong's sister. Why? Does your Majesty have some mission?"

So she was in a daze here?

Concubine Rong felt more and more strange, but she did not ask rashly. She just shook her head and sighed: "Master Jiao is really quite capable. No wonder after the incident with Concubine De, not only was he not implicated, but he was even more honored and favored than before."

The Queen still couldn't calm down about this matter. After hearing Concubine Rong's words, she subconsciously shook her head and said: "Your Majesty relies heavily on Jiao Changqing, not entirely because of his talents and skills. The most important thing is that he and Your Majesty share the same goals and intend to implement the New Deal. Plus..."

Halfway through her words, she suddenly woke up and quickly covered her mouth.

"What else?"

Concubine Rong asked instinctively.

"nothing!"

The queen knew she had made a mistake, so she was willing to say anything else. She hurriedly said: "Now that the matter of ranking in the palace examination has been settled, I will leave it to sister Rong Fei. I will go to Cining Palace to say hello to the Queen Mother, and by the way, I will tell you what happened just now.

Let her elders know."

Seeing this situation, Concubine Rong knew that her previous guess was indeed correct. The queen must have something on her hands that related to Jiao Shun's secrets!

And because she heard the queen mention Cining Palace, she said casually: "Speaking of Cining Palace, I heard that recently..."

However, halfway through the sentence, Concubine Rong suddenly stopped talking.

"How did you hear it?"

This time it was the queen's turn to be curious.

In fact, what Concubine Rong originally wanted to say was that Jia Yuanchun was often summoned by the Queen Mother recently, but when the provocative words came to her lips, she suddenly felt that they were uninteresting.

She and Jia Yuanchun were not on good terms at the beginning, mainly because the two families were close to each other, and Jia Yuanchun was more favored than her, and his fake and noble face was annoying.

That's why she tried every possible means to step on Jia Yuanchun and ascend to the throne.

But given the current situation, what would happen even if Jia Yuanchun is doomed?

What's more, I am not trying to compete for favor now, but want to have a good relationship with the Queen and Concubine Wu. If I want to provoke them at this time, it may be counterproductive.

That's why she stopped talking in time.

However, the queen could directly choose to be cryptic, but she did not want to answer. She immediately said perfunctorily: "It's nothing. I heard that the empress is planning to postpone her birthday this year due to your majesty's illness. I don't know if it's true."

"It's true."

After the queen confirmed it, she casually mentioned: "But even so, we should not lack the least bit of filial piety."

"Don't worry, Madam, I won't do such stupid things!"

The queen nodded slightly, glanced behind the curtain subconsciously, and then stepped out of the palace.

Concubine Rong sent her to the entrance of the courtyard and was about to return to the palace when she suddenly heard someone yelling from outside the courtyard: "Who is sneaking around there? Come out!"

Concubine Rong subconsciously stopped, looked out, and saw a little eunuch with a sarcastic face walking out of the corner, who looked very familiar.

The eunuch in charge next to the queen had obviously recognized the young eunuch, and his tone and expression softened unconsciously, and he asked again: "It turns out to be Li Zhong. Why did you come to Qianqing Palace when you are not reading with His Highness?"

Only then did Concubine Rong recognize that the young eunuch was Li Zhong, Prince Yao's companion.

But I heard Li Zhong reply: "I am just under the orders of His Highness. I would like to ask Master Jiao when he can come to the palace to teach."

As he said this, he couldn't help but look forward to it.

Concubine Rong was secretly surprised. She had heard before that Jiao Shun was different from those great scholars and the knowledge he taught was very novel and interesting. However, she never expected that Prince Yao would be so interested in him in just a few lessons.

Even Li Zhong seemed to be looking forward to Jiao Shun's teaching.

You must know that although Li Zhong is not a prominent person now, in the future when Prince Yao succeeds to the throne, he will most likely become Dai Quan today. And considering the age of Prince Yao, the authority and reliance he has gained may be

It will also be better than Dai Quan.

Doesn't this mean...

Will Jiao Changqing be able to continue the current relationship between the monarch and his ministers in the future, or even go beyond it?

Thinking of this, Concubine Rong became more and more determined to win over Jiao Shun.

Compared to the empress, Concubine Wu, and Concubine Xiande, she has the deepest superstition about imperial power. She usually only cares about the competition within the palace, and does not pay much attention to the situation in the outer court, so she only thinks that she has gained the emperor's trust.

He could be invincible and invincible, but how could he know that once the civil servants joined forces, they would even give the emperor a headache?

So after sending the Queen off, she became more and more enthusiastic the more she thought about it, and walked around outside the curtain several times, but she still couldn't find the opportunity to 'take action'.

How dare the concubines in the palace have contact with foreign ministers without permission?

As for taking the family route...

Concubine Rong came from Fuyang Hou Zhou's family. Theoretically, her mother's family was quite powerful. Unfortunately, her father and brother had no ambitions and only carried out cages and racks. Previously, she secretly suggested that the family should make friends with Jiao Shun, but her father and brother's replies were all evasive.

Word.

So my mother-in-law's family couldn't count on it for the time being.

Then there is only...

Concubine Rong gradually strengthened her belief and made up her mind to find out the secret hidden by the queen.

The words are divided into two parts.

On the other side, the queen wandered around the Cining Palace and chatted with the Queen Mother about some family issues, then left again and returned to the Chuxiu Palace.

She sat down in front of the dressing table a little tiredly, and while instructing the palace maid to remove the heavy phoenix crown on her head, she applied her makeup in front of the mirror. Her eyes glanced at the mahogany box in the corner intentionally or unintentionally, and her eyes seemed to be stuck.

Usually, my mind is filled with the emperor's previous ridicule.

Your Majesty's joke is too much. How could she take the initiative to read such filthy words?

I was always afraid of it, and only when I needed to confirm whether the memorial was in good condition, I would carefully open the wooden box and take a look, but I didn't even dare to look at the cover, let alone open it and take a closer look.

The emperor himself, on the other hand, held these two memorials in his hands without putting them down, not knowing what they were so good about!

Again...

What does the emperor mean when he says that the words in the memorial cannot be believed at all?

Could it be that Jiao Shun still dared to commit fraud in his confession?

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty?"

Awakened by the gentle call of the palace maid, the queen hurriedly retracted her gaze and subconsciously said: "Okay, you are no longer needed here, please retreat."

After all the maids bowed and left, the queen was confused again. Why was she driving people out at this time?

Then unconsciously, she shifted her gaze to the red wooden box again.
To be continued...