Xing Fu gently waved away several palace eunuchs and stood aside, holding a towel with a smile on his face, waiting for Emperor Jian Zhang to come out of the horse arena.

  "How come you're doing this today?" Jian Zhang Emperor walked past him with his hands behind his back, noticing that Xing Fu was also following closely: "Does the Imperial Censorate have nothing to do?"

  Xing Fu felt a bit apprehensive in his heart. Under his instructions, the Minister of War had already shifted the blame for the Tongzhou incident to Yuan Hong, the commander of the Zijinguan Pass, accusing him of dereliction of duty and allowing the Tartar troops to break in, resulting in the devastation of Tongzhou. However, the Minister of War, Cen Bilang, Commander Yuan Hong, and a group of imperial censors from the Ducha Yuan all submitted memorials stating that there were other hidden circumstances surrounding the incident.

  He had accepted a lot of money from the Tartars through his adopted son in previous years, and his adopted son was also in correspondence with the high-ranking Tartars from time to time. Now that things were getting bigger and bigger, he was already starting to panic in his heart.

  Now the emperor's attitude is also unclear, and he is even more nervous in his heart. He was about to speak when he heard the voice of Jian Zhang Emperor like a spring thunder exploding in his ears: "All the memorials related to the Tongzhou Rebellion will be presented directly to me by the Grand Council. I want to review them personally!"

  His face turned pale, and he suddenly felt his legs go weak, unable to stand for a moment, already covered in cold sweat.

  The eunuch who followed Jian Zhang Emperor looked at him calmly and replied in a low voice, "Your Majesty, the person from Qingning Palace just reported that Princess Duanhui has entered the palace for more than two hours."

  At the mention of his only niece, Jian Zhang Emperor's expression softened slightly. Xing Fu, who was following behind him, felt a sudden lightness in his heart and couldn't help but wipe away the cold sweat on his forehead with his hand.

  Duan Hui, the Princess of Jun, entered the palace. The Emperor was going to have a meal in the Qingning Palace with the Empress, but Xing Fu didn't want to continue following him, so he reluctantly excused himself and left.

  Xing An, who had been waiting in the mansion, hastily threw down his beautiful servant girl and came out to greet him. While tying his belt, he nodded and bowed his head, asking: "What's going on, Uncle? What does His Majesty mean?"

  Xing Fu had been indulged by the Xing family since he was a child, and although they were dissatisfied with his absurd behavior, they only gave him a stern look before turning their backs and walking away quickly.

  "Uncle, you'd better speak up!" Xing An hurriedly followed behind Xing Fu, step by step: "This is no small matter. The bunch of fools at the Censorate don't know what kind of medicine they've taken wrong, every one of them is biting us and won't let go."

  He suddenly stopped, and he didn't hold back his foot, directly colliding with Xingfu's back. He couldn't help but let out a cry of "aiyo" as he clutched at his head and began to chatter incessantly: "I'm telling you, Uncle, those bookworms are not to be trifled with when they cause trouble. If they really make a big deal out of it, won't our affair be exposed? Shouldn't we send some people to...?" He made a slashing motion across his neck, and his face, already flushed from excessive indulgence, took on an even more sinister look.

  Xing Fu glared at him with a bad temper: "On this festival, if something happens to them, won't it make us look even more suspicious?! Don't be so smart! I'll think of a way to handle this, you just behave yourself!"

  Xing An had never been very afraid of this uncle, scrunched up her nose and hung her head making a face.

  "The emperor must have known I was entering the palace today, and he deliberately chose this time to go horse riding. He's clearly trying to humiliate me." Madame Cui leaned against the rocking chair, chin in hand, gazing at the goldfish tank in the empress's palace: "This little red-tailed silver fish is still alive? Its life is really long, thanks to Your Majesty's patience. If it were up to me..."

  "It's gone long ago!" Jian Zhang Emperor arrived before his voice did: "With a temper like yours, can you even raise fish? I think it's just about enough to raise that precious son of yours."

  Everyone in the hall was busy paying their respects, and Emperor Jian Zhang waved his hand to excuse them. He smiled as he walked towards Empress: "You've really had a hard time, staying with this fool for so long, your ears must be numb from listening to him complain about me all morning."

  The queen smiled and shook her head, still sitting at the top with the emperor, personally taking over the tea handed by the female official, and then laughed: "It's just that you went horseback riding and didn't come to see her."

  Jian Zhang Emperor took a sip and put the cup on the kang table, his eyebrows filled with a clear smile, but his words seemed to be blaming: "She's indeed a wicked person who reports first. I didn't blame you for returning to Beijing without coming to the palace to see me and the Empress, but you're blaming me instead."

  Zhuang Wang died for Jian Zhang Emperor, blocking Tai Wang's arrow and dying. He was also the biological brother of Jian Zhang Emperor, with a very good relationship since childhood. After his death, Jian Zhang Emperor doted on this only niece extremely, treating her exactly like Rong Cheng Gong Zhu, raising her in the Empress' palace for eight whole years before marrying her off from the imperial palace.

  Duan Hui, the county princess, was originally bolder than Rong Cheng Gongzhu. At this moment, she heard the words and immediately raised her eyebrows, pretending to be angry: "Imperial Uncle still has the nerve to say that, knowing full well that it wasn't easy for me to return this time. If I hadn't encountered that frightening incident in Tongzhou, I would have returned long ago, let alone delayed until now?"

  As soon as the matter of Tongzhou was mentioned, Emperor Jianzhang's eyes flashed with a hint of unusual color, and then he immediately scolded her: "The matter of Tongzhou has been settled, but I haven't seen you come to the palace immediately. Didn't you go to the Longning Marquis' residence first? Now you've learned to shift the blame onto your imperial uncle, you've made progress!"

  Duan Hui, the young mistress of the manor, smiled as she picked up a jade hairpin to tease the golden fish, and muttered casually: "It's easy to say, after all, there is still the bloodline of the Cui family in that mansion. I couldn't just let them be bullied by others! If it weren't for me going to help them regain their reputation, who knows what would have happened by now!"

  The queen's eyes showed a curious expression, and after thinking for a moment, she said: "You just mentioned that the concubine of the Changning Bo Mansion was unscrupulous and almost harmed Tingting's children? The Changning Bo Mansion has always been known for its strict family rules, and with the old lady as the matriarch, how could such a thing happen?"

  Duan Hui, the princess, looked at Jian Zhang Emperor and nodded: "Isn't that so? If it weren't for her being the first to die, I would have come to ask the emperor and empress to issue a decree to properly deal with this sweet-faced but ruthless Li."

  "Think about how to fix yourself first." Emperor Jianzhang glared at her: "Still running to someone else's house to cause trouble, what's wrong with you? Relying on me to support you and now you're lawless? I'm telling you, stop causing trouble, that old guy Song Chengyu can't take your antics for a few times. Now everyone needs people, if you scare them away, you'll have to replace them yourself."

  Duan Hui County Master blinked at Empress Dowager Huang and muttered a sentence, finally being honest.

  The empress couldn't help but smile, turning her head to glance at the emperor and laughing: "Speaking of which, I haven't seen Tingting's daughter yet. I've heard that although she's young, she's very understanding and knows how to advance and retreat. When there's an opportunity, you should take a good look."