Mad Queen Leaves the Palace

Chapter 122 Chaos

Half a month later, Consort Tong summoned Xiao Lan to the palace in secret. Xiao Lan arrived early in the morning and stayed until after dinner before leaving. Of course, this did not escape the notice of the Emperor and Empress's spies.

However, since neither the emperor nor the empress said anything, Consort Ye, who was far away at a temple praying for blessings, was even less able to say anything.

Seven days later, at the end of March, Emperor Yan Zhen issued an imperial decree to take the Empress and all the princes on a spring hunting expedition. Because Consort Tong was heavily pregnant, she remained in the palace, and in the Empress's absence, she temporarily held the Phoenix Seal and managed the affairs of the inner palace.

Prince Su and Prime Minister Lin were also kept in the capital because they were jointly managing the imperial examination that would take place in half a month later.

So after the emperor left, Xiao Lan would secretly enter the palace whenever she had free time, and instead of Yue'er and Dingding, she was accompanied by another young woman.

However, experienced palace maids could tell that this woman was not a young girl, but a woman who had given birth.

However, since the master didn't say anything, the servants naturally couldn't say much, especially since this was someone brought by the Imperial Concubine's prospective daughter-in-law.

So, apart from sending her brother to the examination hall on the tenth day of the fourth month, Xiao Lan spent the rest of her time going to the palace early in the morning to accompany Consort Tong, and only leaving the palace to return to Wutong Residence after lunch. Several more days passed like this.

News came from the Western Hills hunting grounds that the emperor and his entourage had returned to the palace ahead of schedule.

The next day, when Xiao Lan went to pay her respects to Consort Tong, she learned that the Emperor had returned because of the Crown Prince's matter.

After Consort Tong explained the situation to Xiao Lan, Xiao Lan learned that the Crown Prince had lost his temper while drunk and had slept with Ye Lanyi. The Emperor was furious and immediately set off back to the palace.

"If Consort Ye is not under house arrest, how could Ye Lanyi go to the hunting grounds?" Xiao Lan asked in confusion after hearing this.

Before Consort Tong could even speak, the nanny who had been gathering information brought back another shocking piece of gossip: it wasn't that the Crown Prince and Ye Lanyi were together, but that the Crown Prince, Yan Linfeng, Ye Lanyi, and Lin Rou'er were all together.

Not long after the nanny finished speaking, Consort Tong didn't react, but Xiao Lan, a person who had transmigrated from the modern era, understood. Wasn't that utter chaos?

Then the nanny told him everything she had found out. It turned out that the day before yesterday, the Crown Prince had hunted a white fox and presented it to Yan Zhen. The Emperor was so happy that he praised the Crown Prince and held a banquet to celebrate. Everyone drank too much that night, and even the Empress, who was usually very proper, got a little tipsy.

Because Consort Tong was pregnant, the Emperor would visit the Empress's palace on the first day of each month as was customary, and spend most of the rest of his time with Consort Tong.

The Empress had thought that since Consort Tong wouldn't be coming to the hunt, she would be able to get closer to the Emperor. However, she didn't expect that they would encounter Consort Ye, who was returning, on the way.

At the time, Consort Ye's excuse was that the Empress Dowager's birthday was approaching, but everyone knew that the Empress Dowager's birthday was on the tenth day of the sixth lunar month. Consort Ye probably timed it perfectly and deliberately made it coincide with the Emperor's birthday.

Moreover, ever since Consort Ye arrived, she actually lowered herself to the level of other concubines and fawned over them. For several days in a row, except for the first day when the emperor was drunk and spent the night with the empress, he basically stayed in Consort Ye's tent. However, as the mother of the nation, the empress really didn't have the face to do the same thing as Consort Ye.

On the day of the incident, the emperor was so happy about the crown prince's sacrifice that he seemed to be getting drunk again. So the empress instructed the maids around her to drink with the emperor.

As a result, the accompanying officials and nobles, seeing the emperor and empress drinking so happily, also joined in the drinking and conversation.

No one noticed that Yan Linfeng, Lin Rou'er, and Ye Lanyi all ended up sleeping in the Crown Prince's bed.

The first to discover it were two young maids, who, being inexperienced, shouted loudly. Because of their shouts, the surrounding guards were attracted, so when the Empress arrived, there was no way to cover it up.

However, the only thing the Empress was truly happy about was that Consort Ye's son and niece were also lying there.

The same thing probably happened with Consort Ye. However, when the news reached the Emperor's ears, he summoned all four of them to his tent. Upon investigation, he discovered that the Crown Prince and the Third Prince had both been drugged, and with two different drugs. As for Lin Rou'er and Ye Lanyi, they had each been drugged with a different drug.

Finally, the nanny examined the two women and found that neither of them were young girls anymore.

However, no one can say for sure what exactly happened. If it were just a sex scandal, it would only be embarrassing at most, but now that this matter has blown up, basically all the officials, their relatives, and members of the royal family who went with them know about it, and it can no longer be kept secret.

Ye Lanyi is manageable; we can just find a chance to kill her later. The key issue is that Lin Rou'er is Prime Minister Lin's granddaughter and the Empress's preferred candidate for Crown Princess. If she were only in bed with the Crown Prince, it would at most be considered premarital indiscretion, and she could simply not become the primary wife. However, the crucial point is that there is also the Third Prince in bed with her, so things are quite chaotic now.

In the end, the Empress and Consort Ye almost came to blows, and were about to put on a full-blown brawl.

In a fit of anger, the emperor issued a direct decree that Lin Rou'er be given to the third prince as a concubine, and Ye Lanyi be given to the crown prince as a concubine. They would be brought to the princes' residences after the two princes married their principal wives.

If anyone refused, he would simply hang himself with a white silk ribbon. Then, ignoring everyone else, he returned to the palace and announced that he was unwell and would not attend court for three days.

He was to rest in the Hall of Mental Cultivation and was not to be summoned. However, fearing something might happen to Consort Tong, he summoned his personal nanny to speak to her. Therefore, with the Emperor's tacit approval, the nanny explained the hunting grounds in detail. Xiao Lan, having eaten a large mouthful of melon, didn't know how to manage her expression and could only lower her head, feigning shyness.

The old woman didn't stay long because she still needed to reply to Yan Zhen. However, she did share a lot of gossip with Consort Tong.

For example, the Empress and Consort Ye fought over Lin Rou'er to become their daughter-in-law. The Empress originally wanted a girl from the Lin family to marry the Crown Prince, but compared to Ye Lanyi, who was only a distant illegitimate child of her own family, Consort Ye also wanted Lin Rou'er, the legitimate granddaughter of Prime Minister Lin.

Finally, the emperor declared that the Lin family's daughter was not allowed to enter the Eastern Palace, and that if Yan Jingtian insisted on marrying her, the crown prince would be deposed.

One sentence was enough to leave the Empress speechless. However, this matter also made Consort Ye very happy. Although the matter was not very honorable, at least her son married the Prime Minister's granddaughter in the end. Who knows who the Lin family would favor in the future?

After Consort Tong and the other maids had completely left, she sent everyone else away and instructed Qiuyue to guard the entrance to prevent unrelated people from getting close.

"Lanlan, what do you think of this matter?" Consort Tong asked.

Xiao Lan thought for a moment and said, "I guess Ye Lanyi is trying to use the same trick again. After all, the matter at the Princess's Mansion was eventually dropped. I think Lin Rou'er was probably implicated by her this time. As for how the Crown Prince got involved, that's not clear. But even if Ye Lanyi marries into the Eastern Palace, it's only a matter of time before Prime Minister Lin finds out. In the end, she will only end up trapping herself."

"The Ye family daughter only knows these underhanded tricks, but the Lin family is the same. They're all birds of a feather."

Seeing that Consort Tong was about to get angry again because of the past, Xiao Lan quickly advised, "Your Highness is about to give birth to twins. Now, don't bother with their dirty business. If His Majesty asks, Your Highness doesn't need to say anything else. After all, whether this baby is a boy or a girl, twins already make Your Highness unmatched in the harem. Please don't harm your health for the sake of unrelated people."

After Xiao Lan finished speaking, Consort Tong indeed said nothing more. In fact, sometimes Consort Tong felt that Xiao Lan was not like a girl who had only turned seventeen. Her actions and words seemed to be made without thinking because of her young age, but every time she made her opponents suffer a crushing defeat.

It felt like she was actually someone who knew everything and was doing it on purpose. So ever since the imperial decree made her his prospective daughter-in-law, Consort Tong felt that things had become much smoother.

Just like those tonics last time, I thought I was just overthinking it, but Xiao Lan came back and said that Madam Xiao was pregnant and the doctor told her not to take too many tonics, saying that if the pregnant woman took too many tonics, the baby would grow too big and she would have a difficult delivery.

I was just listening to it, but I didn't expect Qiuyue to take it to heart and tell me after Xiao Lan left.

Furthermore, it was said that Xiao Lan actually said a lot of things there, but she mentioned the matter of the large fetus and difficult labor at least three times.

This caught Qiu Yue's attention. Later, when talking to Xiao Lan, except for particularly private matters, Consort Tong would have Qiu Yue stay by her side to listen and think, and then analyze the situation after the person left.

Later, perhaps realizing this, whenever Qiu Yue wasn't around, Xiao Lan would speak more directly and bluntly, often pretending to speak without thinking, clearly hinting at her own words.

However, because of her conversations with Xiao Lan during this time, Consort Tong suddenly understood many things from the past, including the Empress's position back then. However, Xiao Lan did not express any opinion on this matter, but only said every time she came that giving birth to a prince smoothly was the most important thing.

Consort Tong understood and stopped mentioning it. However, she had a vague idea in her mind that Xiao Lan and Nan Hui had set up a grand scheme outside. And the final move on the chessboard would be when she gave birth to the prince.