The dim back

Zhang Yulu felt that something was amiss, so she began to ask Liu Zhongqing for his opinion: "What do you think about this matter?"

Liu Zhongqing shook his head and said, "It's not certain yet, but now there are all kinds of signs that the Queen Mother must have something else that I don't know about."

Zhang Yulu had a brilliant plan: "Since the Queen Mother is pretending that nothing happened, why don't we take advantage of her and let her expose herself."

Hearing Zhang Yulu say this, Liu Zhongqing felt that something was wrong: "Have you suspected something? Then what should we do?"

Zhang Yulu asked Liu Zhongqing a question abruptly: "What do you want to say? Let's discuss it together."

After hearing this, Liu Zhongqing thought of something: "I remember that the Empress Dowager seemed to have had a dispute with the late Emperor in her early years. This incident seems to be related to the current Empress."

Zhang Yulu felt that the matter was not simple: "It is said that the current queen is the daughter of the emperor's uncle. The late emperor once seized the country from the emperor's uncle. Could it be related to this matter?"

While the two were talking, they saw a flash of white light above the Queen Mother's roof, which looked like a ghost.

The maidservant next to her screamed in fear: "It's haunted."

After everyone was scared away, Zhang Yulu and Liu Zhongqing rushed over and saw that it was actually someone in disguise.

Zhang Yulu pulled down a paper figure hanging there and saw that it was covered with a layer of white cloth. It really looked vivid.

Zhang Yulu said to Liu Zhongqing, "Since things have come to this, it seems that the Queen Mother must have offended someone. Let's go to the front and take a look."

As soon as I reached the door of the house, I saw the Queen Mother sitting on the bed, shivering, wrapped in a quilt.

After seeing Liu Zhongqing come in, he immediately asked Liu Zhongqing: "What did you see outside?"

Liu Zhongqing shook his head and said, "I didn't see anything. I just saw a white shadow flash by."

The maid who served the Queen Mother said, "If I'm not mistaken, it must be Xiaoyu who is causing trouble again."

Hearing the Queen Mother say this, Zhang Yulu bit her lip fiercely: "Queen Mother, don't lie in front of the real person. Xiaoyu has done a lot for you. Please think about it clearly."

The Empress Dowager sighed and said, "In my early years, I was quite jealous of someone because the late emperor loved her, and I was the one who decided to marry her to the current emperor."

Liu Zhongqing was very surprised: "Empress Dowager, what does this mean? Is it something strange about what happened back then?"

Zhang Yulu obviously couldn't guess it either. After all, this part never appeared in the novel. Now it seems that history really needs to be rewritten.

Liu Zhongqing smiled and said, "Don't say anything you shouldn't say, so as to avoid giving me a headache."

The air around them became somewhat heavy, and the Queen Mother felt particularly embarrassed. She said to Liu Zhongqing, "It's a bit embarrassing to talk about this. Back then, your mother had a very good relationship with Xiaoyu."

Hearing that it was related to the eldest princess, Zhang Yulu immediately became excited: "Could it be that the Queen Mother deliberately kept Xiaoyu by her side? Your purpose is to find out the eldest princess's secret."

The Queen Mother nodded and said, "The eldest princess is a scheming person. She has always been very careful with me and has never been open with me, no matter how good I am to her."

Liu Zhongqing was even more confused: "What does this have to do with the current queen?"

Hearing this, the Queen Mother stood aside and said, "I was the one who specially selected the current Queen for the Emperor. In fact, the Emperor's favorite person is Xiaoyu. I was afraid that the Emperor and the Princess would unite against each other, so I intervened."

After hearing this, Liu Zhongqing smiled and said, "That's why the Queen Mother has more opinions about you. It seems that you have also done many immoral things to her."

The Empress Dowager nodded helplessly: "I kept Xiaoyu by my side and specially betrothed the current queen to the emperor. Because of this matter, the emperor has become quite estranged from me."

Liu Zhongqing felt very strange: "Why didn't my mother ever mention Xiaoyu when she talked to me? Who is Xiaoyu?"

The Queen Mother sat aside, feeling somewhat disappointed: "Back then, I used Xiaoyu's parents to arrest them, and asked Xiaoyu to testify against the Princess, saying that the Princess wanted to murder me."

Zhang Yulu found it incredible: "It seems that this is a complete frame-up. So it was because of this incident that Princess Zhang married an imperial merchant without hesitation."

The Queen Mother nodded and said, "That's what happened. Otherwise, she should have married a nobleman. Because of this incident, Sister Xiaoyu began to hate the Princess."

Liu Zhongqing understood: "He thought his mother had abandoned him, so would he do something resentful?"

After hearing this, the Queen Mother sighed and said, "Just like you said, no matter what you say or do, you have to use your brain, but this Xiaoyu makes me feel particularly embarrassed."

Liu Zhongqing had no other choice but to make a bold guess: "If Xiaoyu wants revenge, I think she will definitely take revenge on my mother and the current queen at the same time."

The Queen Mother nodded: "That's why you always doubt what I say. This is also what makes me even more angry."

Liu Zhongqing thought the matter was easy to handle, so he nodded and said, "Empress Dowager, you haven't told me the specific reason yet? Why did Xiaoyu die suddenly?"

The Queen Mother sighed and said, "I did want to kill Xiaoyu at that time, but the thing is strange. Here, Xiaoyu wanted to tell me that he wanted to go back to his hometown. Maybe I was too suspicious and suspected that Xiaoyu wanted to contact the emperor."

Zhang Yulu thought of the Empress at this time: "Could it be that the Empress Dowager and the Empress worked together to kill Xiaoyu?"

The Queen Mother nodded and said, "It's just as you said. We just asked Xiaoyu to go out and walk by the river at night. We deliberately asked him to go to the river to help us catch fish, but for some reason, Xiaoyu fell into the water."

Zhang Yulu was a little suspicious: "Didn't the Queen Mother push him into the water on purpose?"

Hearing Zhang Yulu say this, the Queen Mother smiled and said, "Everyone may suspect that I did it, but I can tell you clearly that I really have nothing to do with it."

Liu Zhongqing thought this was strange: "Who else has a grudge against Xiaoyu? Or who wants to take advantage of the conflict between the Queen Mother and the Empress? I think there must be a lot of people."

After hearing this, Zhang Yulu thought of one person: "I suspect Lin Xuefeng."

The Queen Mother was also a little surprised when she heard this: "Lord Lin, I don't think so. I trust him more."