Dress up as a sickly person to capture the villain princess!

When Concubine De saw the woman in front of her trying to understand, she nodded and smiled.

He said, "I have always heard that you are smart. Today, I see that your reputation is well-deserved. However, I have finished speaking for our queen mother. I have something to say to you now."

Everyone says that the harem should not interfere in politics, but how can the harem be separated from the court overnight?

That is of course impossible.

It's just the high-sounding words of those civil servants who give advice. The affairs of the harem are closely related to the court.

The emperor had to be cautious and careful when choosing a wife and having children.

Xia Zhiyuan pricked up her ears and listened carefully. She knew there was no way Concubine De was just conveying a message for the Empress Dowager.

"Please speak, Madam Defei."

"You are Welcome."

Sitting down obediently, Xia Zhiyuan put down his chopsticks, took the handkerchief handed to him by Chunni, and gently wiped the corners of his mouth.

With a smile in his eyes, he looked at Concubine De.

The hand holding the handkerchief was raised.

The palace maids standing in the hall tactfully withdrew, leaving the silent hall to the two of them.

Seeing that she was calm in the face of danger, Concubine De did not continue to put on airs. Instead, she spoke directly and frankly: "Miss Xia left the palace that day... and went to the general's mansion?"

"So Miss Xia knows what General Sima's intentions are?"

Um……?

Just ask it so innocently?

Although Xia Zhiyuan knew that the fact that he left the imperial city that day would inevitably be known to everyone in the palace, there was no need to make it known to everyone!

Defei started talking very loudly right from the start, obviously wanting to get something out of me. At the moment, I don't know what her intention is if I say it directly.

What's the difference between that and seeking death?

But since she dared to come up and ask me, she must have made sufficient preparations and had already sharpened her knife to attack the pigs and sheep.

"System, I want to start scanning!"

If you have a plug-in, use it immediately.

"Got it, host. I'll deduct two points from you. The system is scanning all the information about Concubine De."

“50%——100%——”

"De Fei - her ancestral home is in Moxi. Her father is a Grand Secretary in the cabinet and holds great power. She is currently in the Queen Mother's camp. Her favorability towards the Emperor is -100%, her favorability towards the Queen Mother is 100%, her favorability towards the Princess is 68% - her favorability towards you, the host, is 70%..."

Wait, something seems wrong. Why is my favorability higher than that of Her Royal Highness the Princess?

Did I do something wrong?

"Are you sure...you didn't make a mistake. This is the first time we meet?"

Xia Zhiyuan seriously doubted whether the system had made a mistake in calculation. Please, she had worked so hard to conquer Her Royal Highness the Princess and had only managed to accumulate about 50%, but how come Concubine De almost maxed it out right away? This was simply a bug!

"Host objection received - system is rescanning - 98% - 100%"

"Confirmed once again, the Empress De's favorability towards you is indeed 70%."

"This is a precise scan using the Alpha Engine. There will be no mistakes. As a system, we have received professional training to serve the host..."

"Let's not waste time on this nonsense. What on earth is the reason for this 70% favorable impression?"

Xia Zhiyuan looked at the smiling face of Concubine De in front of him and always felt that something was wrong. Her eyes were different from the way His Highness looked at him. Although His Highness would sometimes be so frivolous, Xia Zhiyuan was sure that His Highness was definitely pretending to be like that for him.

Your Highness is not really frivolous.

But Concubine De was completely different. She looked as if she wanted to... tear herself apart and eat herself?

"Okay, I'm looking up the sources of favor for Concubine De for the host - appearance accounts for 99%, personality accounts for 1%."

"To sum up, host, your appearance is exactly what this NPC likes, so his favorability is increasing so quickly!"

Is the reason so superficial?!

It seems that Concubine De is a complete face lover. Then why does she dislike Her Royal Highness the Princess?

"Apply! I want to see how much the Concubine favors your Highness!"

Sorry, forgive her for being a little gossipy.

This is the only little hobby I have left in my life, I can’t miss it.

"Ok, I am adjusting the host's favorability towards Her Royal Highness the Princess. Her favorability towards the Princess' personality is -100%, and her favorability towards the Princess' appearance is 100%, the positive and negative cancel each other out."

"The remaining 68% of the favorability is all made up of the favorability of the eldest princess' biological mother, the late queen~"

Why is personality favorability negative?

Is there any secret behind this?

Xia Zhiyuan imagined a picture in his mind, in which the young Zhao Changlin grabbed Concubine De who came to "care" about the late queen, and waved his little hand.

Empress Defei's hair was in disarray and scattered all over the floor.

Or maybe Zhao Changlin was being naughty and made Concubine De, who was helping to take care of the baby, so angry that her lungs almost exploded.

Seeing Xia Zhiyuan thinking, Concubine De knew that Xia Zhiyuan would definitely not tell the answer to such an easy question.

You must give all the sweet rewards and sweet dates that you deserve.

Well, just show your sincerity.

"Miss Xia, rest assured. The Queen Mother likes the Princess very much and will definitely not have any conflict with Her Royal Highness the Princess over a bastard from a remote place."

"As the saying goes, family members don't fight against each other."

"Even if that old man has the nerve to beg the Queen Mother, she will turn a blind eye."

When Defei said this, she was naturally stating her position in front of Xia Zhiyuan, and it also meant that everyone in the Queen Mother's camp would support Her Royal Highness the Princess.

In fact, Xia Zhiyuan can believe this, because in the original work, the Queen Mother and her party also support His Highness to succeed to the throne, and oppose King Wen and the male protagonist.

The relationships in the harem are complicated and the open statements of the concubines naturally represent the entire family.

The fundamental reason is that King Wen was born a concubine's son. If he gained power, he would surely further enhance the power of his mother's family.

The infiltration of external relatives' power will inevitably squeeze the interests of some people.

Who is the emperor is not important to the aristocratic families. What is important is which lineage becomes the emperor, whether it is beneficial to them or not, and whether it will pose a threat to them.

Thinking about it this way, the Empress Defei must have asked me such a presumptuous question today in order to make me show my sincerity first.

If they want to protect His Highness and stand with His Highness, they will naturally be suspicious of this "big shot around His Highness" who has recently emerged.

"Since Her Majesty the Virtuous Consort wants to know, it's okay for Zhiyuan to tell her."

"Actually, the reason why we visited the General's Mansion that day was because the daughter of the Nuo family invited Zhiyuan to enjoy the flowers together, but they also talked about some random things along the way."

"Ms. Nuo didn't make any promises to Zhiyuan. She just said that the general was waiting for an answer."

This sentence really attracted the attention of Concubine De. Her eyes lit up and she keenly sensed the hidden meaning in Xia Zhiyuan's words, and she became extremely alert.

"what is the answer?"