After all, Qingying overestimated herself.

She never thought that except for Sanbao and Hailan's Ye Xin, all the other palace maids and eunuchs in her Jingren Palace were people planted in various palaces or had been bribed.

She is not the real master, so how could anyone work for her sincerely? Not to mention that she has never valued rewards, let alone people who are loyal to her.

An hour and a half later, Qingying looked at the prepared fragrant soup and went to the Yangxin Palace with the two senior palace maids Lingzhi and Yunzhi.

When Qingying arrived at the Hall of Mental Cultivation, only Jinbao was guarding outside the door. Hongli inside looked at the evidence presented by Li Yu and the list of palace maids and nannies left by the Empress of Jingren Palace and sneered.

"Jinzhong, interrogate them one by one according to the list. I also want to know how cruel and ruthless the women of the Ulanara clan can be."

"Eunuch Jinbao."

Jinbao was so frightened when he saw Qingying bowing her head to greet him that he was worried that if this happened to someone else, he would not be able to survive.

"Your servant greets Her Majesty the Concubine Xian."

"Eunuch Jinbao, is the emperor busy? Do you have time to see me?"

Jinbao nodded and said, "Please wait a moment, Empress Xian. I will go in and report."

The sound of Jinbao coming in the doorway made Hongli put away his gloomy expression, and he continued to instruct: "Li Yu, go to my private storehouse in person and find a pair of the best quality southern red agate bracelets and red agate bracelets."

"嗻"

"Your Majesty, Empress Xian is here."

"Let Concubine Xian come in."

When Li Yu, Jinzhong and Qingying passed by each other, he felt inexplicably nervous for a moment.

Then he observed Hongli and found that Hongli looked relieved, thinking that what he had done had not been discovered.

"How did you come?"

"I remember that the emperor once liked the fragrant soup I made myself very much..."

Hongli nonchalantly used a spoon to pick at the plum blossoms in the bowl: "It hasn't been long since the plum blossoms came. It's hard for Concubine Xian to make the fragrant soup in advance."

Qingying heard that her young man no longer called her by her name since some time ago, but instead called her Empress Xian.

"Your armor..." Hongli frowned as he looked at Qingying's short and thick fingers wearing short armor that was obviously not made by the Imperial Household Department.

Qingying looked at her ten fingers and said nostalgically, "This armor was brought by me before I entered the residence."

Hongli put down the spoon in his hand and pushed the bowl of fragrant soup a little further away and said, "This armor is too small and short, which makes your already thick and short fingers look even worse. Wear the armor made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs from now on."

After hearing what Hongli said, Qingying uncomfortably retracted her hand and said unhappily, "Your Majesty, why do you say that to me?"

"Qingying, you are not young anymore. You should be more steady in what you say and do. Pouting and acting like a spoiled child are no longer suitable for you."

Qingying lowered her head and bit her lip, looking at her young man in disbelief, tears slowly welling up in her eyes: "Yes, I understand."

"Your Majesty is busy with government affairs, so I will not disturb you." Qingying said this, bowed lightly, and slowly turned around to leave.

"and many more."

Hongli's voice made Qingying stop and turn around with a hint of expectation in her eyes.

"It would be better for you and Hai Lan to see Concubine Ling less often in the future. I am afraid that she will be reminded of the unhappy things that happened in the past when she sees you."

"Brother Hongli..." Qingying looked at Hongli steadily and continued, "Is the Emperor only thinking of Concubine Ling? Then what am I?"

When Hongli heard Qingying's initial address to him, he frowned and said, "What is what?"

"We were childhood sweethearts and had a deep affection for each other. What does this mean?"

"Qingying, your childhood sweetheart thing doesn't make sense at all."

"what?"

"You grew up in Jiangnan, and I was born in Rehe Palace and grew up in Yuanmingyuan. This is the first time we've met, and there are so many of my brothers and sisters here, why are we the only ones who have been childhood sweethearts?"

"..."

"When we met again after growing up, it was the Queen of Jingren Palace, your aunt, who wanted you to be the wife of the third brother. She hoped that the third brother would ascend the throne and let you continue the glory of the Ulanara Phoenix Clan, so she took you into the palace to live for a while, right?"

When Qingying heard this, she couldn't hold back her tears any longer. Tears flowed down her cheeks and she asked in a trembling voice, "What does the emperor want to say?"

"Qingying, we have never been childhood sweethearts. If we can barely be considered childhood sweethearts, there are definitely more than just the two of us."

Hongli did not give Qingying much opportunity to respond and continued, "I don't know why, but now that I think about it, it seems full of loopholes, but I didn't notice it at all and never thought about it carefully before."

As Qingying was the niece of the Queen of Jingren Palace, she naturally knew that what Hongli hated the most was the Rehe Palace. As a result, in order to prove that he and she were not childhood sweethearts, he exposed his own scars.

"Your Majesty, do you mean that everything that happened before was just my own wishful thinking?"

"Empress Xian, are those things in the past so important? No matter what, I took you into the palace and made you a concubine. Now you are also a concubine, right?"

"But these are very important to me. Your Majesty, do you still remember that you personally handed me the jade ruyi symbolizing the legitimate wife?"

Hongli got a headache when he thought of this: "Didn't you also say that you wouldn't participate in my selection of a wife?"

"Then why did the emperor give the Ruyi, which symbolizes the legitimate wife, to me?"

"Speaking of this, I don't know what I was thinking at the beginning. I had already agreed with the Empress Dowager and the Emperor to choose Langya as my wife, but when I saw you appear, I couldn't help but give you Ruyi."

Qingying now felt that her mind was completely confused: "So what? What does the emperor want to say?"

"Fortunately, the Emperor stopped it, and in the end there wasn't much trouble."

"So in your heart, the reason why you gave Ruyi to me was just because you were impulsive?"

After seeing Li Yu come in with three boxes and then walk out, Hongli no longer had the patience to reminisce about the past with Qingying.

"Qingying, be your Concubine Xian in the future and fulfill your duties as a concubine to the Queen. I will treat you well because of our past friendship."

"My responsibilities as a concubine... my concubine... Ha, Your Majesty married into the family of a noble or minister as a concubine. Why should I be a concubine..."

"Before your aunt, the Queen of Jingren Palace, made a mistake and was deposed by the Emperor, you might have been able to marry into a minister's family and become his legal wife with the help of Queen Chunyuan and the Queen of Jingren Palace."

Qingying's breathing paused after hearing Hongli's words. Thinking about it carefully, the Ulanara family had already fallen into poverty at that time.

Even if her aunt had no ambition to take the throne, it would have been difficult for her to marry into the family of an important official and become his principal wife.

Qingying couldn't accept that her family background, which she had always been proud of, was just an empty shell. It sounded good but was actually useless.

"The emperor has been bewitched by Wei Jiashi and has naturally forgotten the friendship between you and me. Just look at her seductive face that seduces the emperor..."

"Empress Xian has started talking nonsense again. I am too lazy to argue with you anymore. Go back to your Jingren Palace and stay under house arrest."

"Under house arrest?" Qingying stumbled back a few steps, looking at the strange man in front of her in disbelief.

"Jinbao, send Concubine Xian back. She will come out when she has figured it out."

On the way back to Jingren Palace, Qingying still couldn't believe that she would end up being imprisoned in Jingren Palace like her aunt.

What went wrong?

Wei Jia, yes, it must be because of Wei Jia.

If it weren't for Wei Jiashi... I would never have fallen to this point.

What love in past lives, what woman in dreams, they are all sorcery of Wei Jia.

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