The abandoned queen is reborn: she makes the prince cry and seizes the throne!

Royal Palace

In the Palace of Qianqing.

Ning Huaixuan sat on the pear wood chair with a sullen look on his face, and the tea on the table beside him was quietly placed aside.

Not long after, the Queen Mother came out slowly, her eyes fixed on him for a moment, then looked away.

"Greetings, Royal Grandmother. Is she feeling better?" Ning Huaixuan lowered his head, his eyes hiding all his thoughts, making it impossible to see his expression.

The Queen Mother snorted, somewhat weakly, "Emperor, you are too bold to listen to my flowery words..."

Ning Huaixuan leaned forward and saluted, "Grandmother, please forgive me. The situation was very chaotic that day, and I couldn't think of any other way. Prince Changping broke into the palace and wanted to kill me!"

"Prince Changping was plotting rebellion because your policy of reducing the number of vassal princes was too harsh. You demoted two princes in a row. How could you expect them to sit still?" The Queen Mother waved her hand weakly, and Nanny Huang brought a cup of tea. "But you killed Prince Changping in public. He is your uncle. Your actions will only intensify the conflict between the royal family and the vassal princes."

Ning Huaixuan said, "Grandson understands that the princes are now in the capital. Grandson will find a way to appease them..."

"Emperor, I am old and cannot support you forever...When I die, who in the court will be willing to help you?"

As soon as these words came out, Ning Huaixuan knelt down quickly, "Grandmother, you are a lucky person, and you will surely be blessed by heaven for a long time."

The Queen Mother shook her head and handed the teacup to Huang Ma with trembling fingers. "The previous dynasty believed in becoming an immortal and living forever, but I don't believe that... No matter how rich or poor a person is, there will be a day when they die... But before I die, I hope to see you marry Shu'er as your queen and firmly hold the chess piece of the Ji family in your hands. I am tired, so please step down."

After coming out of the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Ning Huaixuan breathed a sigh of relief. The eunuch beside him followed him and said, "Your Majesty, the princes have not made any unusual moves."

"Okay, pass down the order to invite those princes and the Ji family, and tell them that the Mid-Autumn Palace Banquet was not satisfying, so let's have a flower-viewing banquet." Ning Huaixuan left in a hurry after saying this.

Anyway, appeasing those vassal kings is the most important thing now. Ning Huaixuan left the Qianqing Palace and went straight into the Zhongcui Palace. Liu Huachao came out of the inner hall and saw someone coming. She smiled again, "Your Majesty, I miss you so much."

"But since you didn't come last night, you've been thinking about it every morning?" The man's explicit voice gradually returned to the room, accompanied by the sound of the door closing as the maids filed out of the palace.

After a long while, Ning Huaixuan kissed her hand carefully and said, "Chao Chao, the Royal Grandmother is ill, but I want to hold a flower-viewing banquet in the harem. Can you take care of this?"

Flower viewing party?

Liu Huachao teased, "Could it be that Your Majesty invited the concubines in the harem to watch it together?" She pulled her hand away from his palm, seeming a little angry.

"What are you talking about? No matter whether it's people or flowers in the harem, none of them are as beautiful as Chao Chao..." When talking about political affairs, Ning Huaixuan couldn't suppress his irritation, "It's because something happened at the last Mid-Autumn Festival banquet. The Empress Dowager asked me to comfort those frightened princes..."

The person who was lying obediently on Liu Huachao spoke with deep disgust, as if he was a child who was making trouble just to eat candy.

"Your Majesty, don't worry. Why don't we leave the flower viewing banquet to Chao Chao?"

Ning Huaixuan raised his head to look at her, "With Chaochao by my side, I feel much more at ease..."

When the imperial edict reached the Ji residence, Ji Mengshu was still in the teahouse, drinking tea and listening to songs. He could also hear the people talking downstairs.

Seeing her calm appearance, Li Huaixiang couldn't help but think of a few days ago, when many people were talking about the young ladies of the Ji Mansion. So she asked tentatively, "Mengshu, did something happen a few days ago?"

Ji Mengshu was confused, "Besides assassination..."

"It's not that. A few days ago, I heard a few things about the girl from the Ji family from time to time outside. These commoners are really bold. Not only do they dare to talk about the royal family in the teahouse, they even dare to talk about the girl from the Ji family." Li Huaixiang thought about what he heard the servants whispering in his own mansion that day, and he wished he could whip them. After a harsh rebuke, those people told him all the rumors outside.

Ji Mengshu understood, "Are you talking about the rumor that I was secretly meeting a man?"

"No, no, no," Li Huaixiang objected with both hands and immediately explained, "That's not what I meant—"

"I know—" The sweet and sour apricot was a little sour, and Ji Mengshu took a bite of it. "Huai Xiang, you don't have any sisters at home, how can you understand the pain of being missed by others like me?"

Li Huaixiang was surprised, "No way... Your sisters at home want to harm you?"

"To be honest, the rumor was spread by the Second House. Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, they caused a big fuss, saying that I was keeping a man in my house on the outskirts of the city—"

With a bang, Li Huaixiang slammed the table and stood up, "How can this be tolerated?! Mengshu, wait for me to teach Ji Ningqiu a lesson, so that I can vent your anger!"

"Wait a minute," Ji Mengshu was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. Huai Xiang had always been impatient, so she quickly pulled him to sit down. Ji Mengshu then said, "Do you think I will be bullied?"

Li Huaixiang said nothing, looking at her from bottom to top. Could it be that this small body could still bully others? Although she didn't say so, she still had doubts in her heart.

"Although I am not as strong as you in martial arts, I am still good at speaking," Ji Mengshu recounted the whole story. "That day, the Second Madam and Ji Ningqiu insisted that the person in the house was my lover. On the one hand, they accused me of being jealous of Ji Ningqiu and unwilling to accept the reward. On the other hand, they persuaded me with both reason and emotion, as if I was the one who caused the reputation of the sisters in the family to be damaged."

"Mother took the initiative to invite people from the mansion over. Guess what happened?" Ji Mengshu said with a sly smile, "When I said that they were the secret guards I hired for father, Second Madam and Ji Ningqiu's faces turned green. You didn't see that scene - hahahaha -"

In the private room next door, the windows were swaying in the wind. Ning Rongzhang was sitting on the couch, listening to the conversations from next door and couldn't help laughing. He was a man who would not suffer any loss.

Li Huaixiang let out a heavy breath, "Mengshu, your second sister has bad intentions to begin with, so you just let her do whatever she wants?"

Ji Ningqiu was ambitious, and she indulged him instead of suppressing him, which made her look like she was aiding and abetting the evil. Ji Mengshu shook his head mysteriously, as if he had a plan of his own, "It cannot be said, it cannot be said."

"Can't even tell me?"

Ji Mengshu stretched out his index finger and shook it, "The secret cannot be revealed."