The Queen has arrived: An Lingrong does not want to fight in the palace after her rebirth

That night, the moon was like a crescent.

The guards were patrolling as usual. Before they reached the shore of Fuhai Sea, they heard the sound of "swish" in the water, as if something was breaking through the water.

When they got closer, they saw countless carp on the lake tumbling under the faint moonlight, causing millions of ripples on the lake, some rolling and some splashing, like dazzling flowers in the water blooming.

This strange sight made the guards stunned for a moment, but they quickly reacted and thought it was a good sign and should be reported to their superiors, perhaps they would get rewarded by the emperor.

The leader was more sober: "It is night time, and the emperor is ill. It is hot and humid at the turn of summer and autumn, so it looks like fish leaping out of the water. If you and I disturb the emperor, it will be a serious crime. It is better to wait and see."

After he said that, the guards realized that being so jumpy was not the right way to serve the emperor, so they continued patrolling.

A quarter of an hour later, the school of fish that had been leaping up and down finally sank to the bottom of the water, leaving only circles of ripples.

Unexpectedly, on the second and third nights, the fish became even more excited, and the noise lasted longer and longer, up to several hours. The emperor witnessed this strange phenomenon with his own eyes without the guards having to report it.

At that time, the sky was about to brighten, and under the dim palace lanterns, the emperor's face was gloomy.

Among the crowd of onlookers, Cao Qinmo's eyes flickered. She was good at seizing opportunities, and within a few breaths she thought of taking advantage of this opportunity to cause trouble.

She looked at everyone calmly, then quietly moved to the side of the curious Concubine Zhen, and muttered in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "Weird things have happened frequently since the beginning of spring this year. The last time such a situation occurred was when fish competed to play in the stream outside Anqi Temple. Then there was the matter of Concubine Wan returning to the palace. I wonder what this time will correspond to?"

Concubine Zhen grew up in Mongolia and had a rather straightforward personality. As soon as Cao Qinmo mentioned it, she took it for granted and continued:

"I heard from people that the last time the fish leaped over the dragon gate, it was deliberately created by someone to seduce His Majesty. Could it be that this time it is another trick to flatter His Majesty?"

Her voice was loud, and she was not as cautious as Cao Qinmo. As the object of the marriage between Manchu and Mongolia, she could live safely in the palace as long as Mongolia did not rebel. Therefore, she did many things as she pleased, based on her own preferences. She did not hate Zhen Huan, but simply looked down on her behavior and thought that she was seducing the emperor, so she wanted to make a few sarcastic remarks whenever she had the chance.

As soon as Concubine Zhen finished speaking, the Queen gave her a glare. Zhen Huan's relationship with the Emperor had finally improved a little in the past few days, and she didn't want it to be ruined at this critical juncture.

An Lingrong, who had been waiting on the side for a long time, was just waiting for someone to provoke her. She spoke before the Queen could speak:

"Not necessarily. Such a scene is beyond human power. Miscellaneous books have recorded that fish are naturally sensitive and more alert to changes in the world. Maybe this has something to do with it."

An Lingrong's heart was in a knot when she said this. Nowadays, the royal family valued good luck in everything, and giving an early warning like this would be considered as bringing bad luck.

As expected, An Lingrong was reprimanded by the Queen as soon as she finished speaking:

"Empress Wen, as a concubine in the harem, you should be careful with your words and actions. If your words were to spread outside, it would surely cause panic and disturb the people. Do you deserve it?"

Seeing that the emperor remained silent, An Lingrong knew what was going on. She raised her head and chest and smiled sweetly, "Your Majesty is trying to accuse me. I am just telling you what I have seen in a book. Besides, I was just chatting with Concubine Zhen. Why is Your Majesty holding on to this? Where do you want to put me?"

Although she was smiling and her attitude seemed gentle, she showed no respect for the Queen in her words. She almost pointed out in front of everyone that the Queen was targeting her everywhere, and her eyes were even more aggressive.

The Queen never thought that An Lingrong would contradict her in front of the Emperor. Facing the provocation in An Lingrong's eyes, she smiled gracefully without fear:

"As the queen, it is my duty to discipline the concubines. You have used a random book to spread nonsense, and the world is about to change. Naturally, I have to discipline you according to my duty. How can I say that I have any selfish motives?"

An Lingrong smiled even more brightly: "Whether it is right or wrong is up to the Majesty. I am a concubine of low rank and my words do not count. I dare not question the Majesty's impartiality. The sisters in the palace always remember the Majesty's kindness and compassion."

The Queen's eyes became fierce. An Lingrong was openly being hypocritical. She kept smiling and was about to scold him more harshly when the Emperor spoke up:

"What's all the fuss about?"

Seeing the emperor's gloomy expression, the queen and An Lingrong shut up.

At this time, a ray of dawn finally appeared in the sky, but this light was not enough to illuminate the emperor's mood at the moment.

Ever since he dealt with the eighth, ninth and tenth sons, rumors have been circulating among the people that he came to power by illegal means. Although he has a clear conscience, he cannot resist the ignorant people's relish for gossip. There was a solar eclipse at the beginning of this spring, and he has been ill ever since. The country's military operations have also suffered defeat. If there is anything unusual in the world again at this time, rumors about the king's immorality will be everywhere.

Since ancient times, these have been the means for those in power to control people's hearts and minds, and they are invisible killing moves to attack political enemies. The monarch uses them to keep the people safe, but others use them with ill intentions. The emperor's mind turned for a while, and he no longer cared to listen to the queen and An Lingrong's bland argument.

"Everyone, disperse. I will hand this matter over to the Imperial Observatory for a thorough investigation. You don't need to make groundless speculations."

At this point, An Lingrong had achieved her goal. For many days in a row, she asked Rendong to pour a small amount of ylang-ylang fragrance into the lake in order to excite the fish.

It was said that before an earthquake, the clouds and animals would behave strangely, and she just wanted to use this to guide the direction.

The Imperial Observatory has always been cautious in its work. Now that the emperor has ordered them to check, they will certainly pay close attention. Maybe they can really see some clues early on, which would be good for them to be alert then.

The Queen was very upset. In her opinion, the Emperor's move was to openly protect An Lingrong and condone An Lingrong's challenge to her honor. Looking at An Lingrong's smug face, the Queen felt very angry. She turned her eyes and saw Zhen Huan who was thinking about something, and she had an idea in her mind.

Zhen Huan didn't say a word from beginning to end. Her attention was always on An Lingrong. She was surprised to find that An Lingrong was more sharp when facing the Queen today, and less cunning than usual.

This change was not only noticed by Zhen Huan, Cao Qinmo also felt something was wrong. In the past, she and An Lingrong had cooperated well, but today she wanted to take the opportunity to attack Zhen Huan and lead the topic to the evil concubine, so as to plant a thorn in the emperor's heart again. However, An Lingrong not only did not help her, but also changed the topic, making her instinctively feel that An Lingrong was hiding something from her.

As an ally, Cao Qinmo didn't like this feeling very much. It made her feel like she was no longer needed by An Lingrong, or that An Lingrong had someone else to rely on.

Yes, as time passed and things changed, she herself had things to hide from An Lingrong. Their respective interests were different, and it was not easy for them to travel together. They would then act on their own and there might be unexpected gains.

Cao Qinmo suppressed the discomfort in her heart and quietly followed the crowd away.

In order to make the Imperial Observatory pay more attention, An Lingrong asked Rendong to secretly pour ylang-ylang fragrance into the lake for the next two nights.

On the morning of August 13, cloud bands shaped like ribs appeared in the sky above the capital. The officials of the Imperial Astronomical Observatory looked up records from previous dynasties and found out that such clouds also appeared in the sky before the great earthquake in Guanzhong during the Jiajing period.

The Imperial Observatory did not dare to be careless and quickly reported the matter to the emperor.

The emperor was worried about something that had not happened. If he told the people the truth and it turned out to be a false alarm, his prestige among the people would be damaged. But if there was a real earthquake and the people did not take precautions, countless casualties would occur, and there would also be voices of doubt.

In a dilemma, the emperor thought of a clever idea. He borrowed the late emperor's dream and said that there would be an earth dragon rising near the capital. The late emperor was moved by his virtue because he saw that he was diligent and dedicated to the country, so he told him in the dream so that the people could take precautions early to avoid worrying about their lives.

In order to show his kindness to the end, the emperor also sent officers and soldiers from the patrol battalion to inspect the outer city, and all the people living in dangerous houses were temporarily settled in vacant barracks.

After receiving the emperor's oral order, the dignitaries and wealthy families in the inner city were busy moving their valuables to a safe place.

Inside the imperial city, the Ministry of Internal Affairs was also busy placing all kinds of fragile treasures, and the people who were spending the summer in the Old Summer Palace were also anxious every day, hoping to have peace and quiet as soon as possible.

Only one person still didn't take it seriously.

In the Xinghuachun Pavilion, the Third Prince hugged the palace maid Huaying who came to bring him tea.

Huaying lowered her head shyly and said softly, "Third brother, this is not good."

Seeing the faint blush on Huaying's creamy skin, the Third Prince felt his heart beating wildly. He grabbed Huaying's hand and played with it carefully, mumbling:

"What are you afraid of? When the Emperor recovers, I will report to him and take you as my concubine. Is that okay?"

After getting the promise, Huaying stopped talking and shyly buried her head in the Third Prince's arms.

The Third Prince grinned and lowered his head to sniff the fragrance around Huaying's neck.

This Mid-Autumn Festival was just a mere spectacle due to the shadow of the earthquake.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, everything was stable, but some people in the palace could no longer sit still and started to spread rumors that An Lingrong was actually the reincarnation of a demon concubine, who took advantage of the emperor's favor to confuse the people and manipulated the people of the world at will.

These remarks spread quickly, first within the palace, and then spread throughout the inner and outer cities, as if they were trying to use public opinion to force the emperor to deal with An Lingrong.

When the emperor heard the rumor, he laughed out of anger:

"They say that Concubine Wen, a weak woman, is like the reincarnation of Daji. If An is Daji, then I am the King Zhou who lost the country. They really can't wait even a day."

These words made the important officials in the court feel uneasy. When they were thinking about how to respond, the emperor raised his voice and said:

"Ignore these evil spirits for now and wait for a few more days. If there is really nothing wrong, they will jump out. It won't be too late for me to deal with them then."

Inside Wufu Hall, Rendong anxiously gave An Lingrong some advice:

"Your Highness, the person who spreads such words is the one who has evil intentions. Every word he says is aimed at your life. Your Highness, you must go before the Emperor to explain yourself. Otherwise, if the Emperor believes it, you will be in danger."

An Lingrong smiled at Ren Dong to comfort her:

"Since ancient times, the more you debate rumors, the easier it is for people to seize on them and stir up trouble. It's better to do nothing. People will no longer be interested in watching the fun, so the rumors will naturally fade away."

Honeysuckle frowned and didn't relax: "But Madam, what they said is really too much. I feel unfair for you and I want to go up and argue with them."

An Lingrong smoothed Ren Dong's brows with her hand: "The people who set up the trap want me to jump into it. Only by falling into it can they achieve their goal. As long as they catch the main culprit, everything will be solved."

Ren Dong asked anxiously, "Does your Majesty know who instigated this?"

An Lingrong said calmly, "Whoever in the palace wants to kill me the most is the one."

Honeysuckle's face changed: "Are you saying it's the Queen again?"

An Lingrong nodded, with a hint of anticipation in her voice: "For such a deep-rooted enemy, we can only destroy her roots first and make her lose her support before we can deal with her. Otherwise, everything will be in vain."

Two days later, when the rumors were at their most rampant, at 9:00 a.m., the water on the Fu Hai Lake in the Old Summer Palace tilted, and then countless tiles fell from the roof and shattered into pieces.

A creaking sound could be heard from the beams in the house. Tables and chairs began to fall over. Tea bowls and vases that had not been collected in time smashed to the ground in an instant, making the house a mess. Even people standing on the ground felt dizzy.

Someone shouted, "The earth dragon is turning over!"

In an instant, countless people ran to the spacious area outside to take shelter.

The emperor, surrounded by his guards, came to the outdoor high ground and issued orders:

"Outside the palace, the Nine Gates Commander will lead the Infantry Yamen to patrol everywhere. The palaces in the palace will be inspected by Prince Guo. The harem will be inspected by Consort Jing and Consort Wen. Report to me the damage to the houses and the casualties of people and animals."

After receiving the imperial edict, An Lingrong hurriedly took Rendong to Concubine Jing.

The two of them divided the work and began to lead people to inspect everywhere.

The area that An Lingrong was responsible for included the Queen's Taohuawu and the Qingliang Palace where Cao Qinmo lived.

The places that Concubine Jing visited included Wan'an Fanghe, where the Empress Dowager lived, and Xinghuachun Pavilion, where the Third Prince lived.

As luck would have it, when Concubine Jing arrived near the Xinghuachun Pavilion, she saw a team of guards rushing into the pavilion.

Concubine Jing asked Ruyi to stop the leader and asked, "What's going on?"

The team leader had a worried look on his face. "Your Highness, I am responsible for inspecting this area. All the palace staff have been evacuated in time. Only the Third Prince is trapped in the room by the collapsed cabinet. I have to lead people to rescue the Third Prince."

Concubine Jing was very surprised. The furnishings in the room where the prince lived had their own directions, so how could they be blocked by the cabinets?

She felt something was wrong for a moment, thinking that the princes had not yet married, and as a concubine's mother, she was in charge of the six palaces, so it was normal for her to care about the safety of the princes, so she opened her mouth and said:

"I will go with you to have a look."

The guards were very happy to have a high-ranking lady guarding outside, so if anything really happened, it would be good to have someone to make decisions.

After a while, the guards straightened the collapsed cabinet in the Third Prince's study.

For a moment, Concubine Jing regretted why she had come in here.

Because between the two bookcases, besides the disheveled Third Prince, there was also Huaying who was sobbing silently.