Chapter 80


    After Zhuang Laoyan had apanied the emperor for a meal and sent him off, she reclined on a chaise lounge and had a pce maid massage her legs.


    Zhuang Laoyan yawned. Then she took her time saying, “Yunxi, let the Luyi who’s kneeling outsidee in.”


    Luyi had kneeled for approximately four hours. So she somewhat shook as she walked. But the moment she caught sight of the reclining Zhuang Laoyan, her legs shook even more. She knelt with a bang in front of her. “Begging Your Highness for forgiveness.”


    “When this pce was still at Taoyu Pavilion, this pce had another personal first-ranked pce maid named Luyi. Do you know where she is right now?” Zhuang Laoyan slowly opened her eyes. Looked at the pretty Luyi. “You were sent to us when this pce moved to Xihe Pce. Therefore, this pce personally conferred you this name. Who would have imagined that after you took this name, you would have unclean thoughts just like your predecessor.”


    “Your Highness, this ve doesn’t dare!” Luyi paled. She naturally knew there used to be another pce maid named Luyi by her master’s side. Later on, that pce maid was sent to Shangyi Bureau for some reason. Through the grapevine, that previous Luyi went through much suffering these days. Now that her master had said these words, was it pointing to the fact that she was even worse than thest Luyi?


    “What don’t you dare?” Tingzhu snorted coldly. “When His Majesty and Her Highness were having a conversation, who were you showing off your good looks to?! And you even specially carried that pine bonsai tree?!”


    Tingzhu went forward. Grabbed some of the soil in the pot. She had only dug lightly, and already found the old tea leaves that had been buried underneath the soil. “I actually didn’t know. Just pouring a little bit of water and one could smell the tea leaves. You truly have good methods.”


    “What do you mean, Miss Tingzhu? I don’t understand.” Luyi looked at her with a face full of grievances, as if she had no idea what Tingzhu meant.


    “You helped Zhaorong Xu’s people craft those ropes of grass in the pond. Do you understand? You helped ce the female corpse in the lotus pond. Do you understand? And you secretly harmed Master, intentionally leaving behind a hairpin from a pce maid of Jingyang Pce. So do you understand now?” Yunxi pulled out a hairpin from her sleeve. A few days ago, the empress had rewarded her servants with this same hairpin.


    Seeing Luyi’s expression be so unsightly, Yunxi smiled as she yed with it. “Perhaps you’ve been wondering these past few days where the hairpin you left at the pond went. You should know now, right?”


    Luyi bit her lips, staring at Yunxi hatefully. “If Yunxi Gugu wants to ce all the me regarding these things onto this ve, then there’s nothing this ve can say. After all, Yunxi Gugu is someone capable that has followed many different masters.”


    “I’ve only followed two masters, and I am very loyal to my current one. It’s better than someone like you, who follows a master on the surface, but has a different master in your heart.” Yunxi ced the hairpin onto a tray. An insincere smile spread across her lips. “Don’t talk back. If it wasn’t for the fact that we purposely buried the old tea leaves under the soil of the pine bonsai tree, one would fear you wouldn’t have jumped out so urgently.”


    Luyi’s face wentpletely white. She truly never imagined that the secret she discovered had actually been nted by Xianrong Zhao. Recently, Xianrong Zhao suffered an injury. Even if the emperor came to visit often, he wouldn’t be able to do much of anything together. Even if someone wanted to borrow this aspect to climb up the dragon bed, no one would me Xianrong Zhao.


    Xianrong Zhao had never treated any of servants harshly. She waspletely different from what the previous rumors had described her as. However, she didn’t seem like someone who schemed a lot. So why did she appear so clear about what’s happening? Could it be… Luyi’s expression changed immensely, and she suddenly looked at Zhuang Laoyan who was lying in anguid manner upon a chaise lounge.


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    Could it be that Xianrong Zhao, who had always appeared like someone who didn’t scheme, was actually disguising as a pig to eat a tiger? A master who seemed harmless and simple, yet had manyplicated schemes?


    Sensing Luyi’s expression, Zhuang Laoyan opened her eyes and looked her in the face. She did not look away at all, expressionless. But it brought chills all over Luyi ‘s body for some reason.


    “Send this hairpin to Her Majesty the empress,” said Zhuang Laoyan, looking down. “I’m sure the empress will definitely make a decision. As for Luyi… Keep her under watch for now.”


    But Luyi was very unwilling regarding this turn of events. There obviously had been many things that were kept secret, so how could Xianrong Zhao have found out? She stared at Zhuang Laoyan, eyes wide. “Your Highness, this ve doesn’t understand. Why do you think this has something to do with this ve?”


    A fake smile on her lips, Zhuang Laoyan returned her gaze. Slowly, she stood, turning around. She made for the window and gazed at the beautiful scenery outside. “You’ll understand very soon.” Then she turned around again. Looked at the shock stered on Luyi’s face. “There’s still the person behind you. Since she has schemed against me so many times, I ought to return something to her.”


    Watching as the shock on Luyi’s features transformed into rm, Zhuang Laoyan cocked a brow. Smiled as beautiful as a flower in bloom.


    Within Jingyang Pce, the empress opened a gold-ted jewelry box with fretwork and decorated with chrysoberyls in front of Tingzhu. Inside wasn’t anything precious. Rather, there was only a hairpin. Despite this, the hairpin caused the empress’ expression to change. “Where did your master find this hairpin?”


    “Reporting to Your Majesty the empress, this hairpin was picked up from the side of the lotus pond on the day Master was attacked. At that time, this ve picked up this hairpin while flustered and forgot about it. Today, this ve suddenly remembered and mentioned it to Her Highness. Another personal attendant gave an exnation, and it was only then that Master knew this: Your Majesty the empress specially gave the pce maids in Jingyang Pce this same hairpin. As such, Her Highness instructed this ve to return the hairpin to Jingyang Pce.”


    The empress shut the jewelry box. A smile graced her lips. “Your master is considerate.” Following that, she had someone give Tingzhu a pouch of money. Then Tingzhu left.


    “Your Majesty, what’s Xianrong Zhao’s intention?” asked Heyu, frowning. “This is a hairpin that only belongs to the servants of Jingyang Pce. How could it have gotten to Xihe Pce? And it just had to be…” <i>And it just had to be found on the night Xianrong Zhao had been attacked. </i>


    “Xianrong Zhao is informing this pce that there is a spy in Jingyang Pce. Furthermore, she’s telling this pce that she trusts me extremely. That her attack definitely had nothing to do with me.” The empress ced the jewelry box aside, expression dark. “This pce really wants to know just who wanted to kill two birds with one stone.”


    “But why did Xianrong Zhao only send this thing over now?” Heyu nced at the jewelry box, suspicion in her gaze. “She could actually endure it for so long and not directly go to the emperor.”


    “She wanted to know if someone had truly wanted to frame her with the hairpin or if someone had just identally dropped it.” The empress snickered. “Now, this pce owes her a favor. This pce has truly underestimated her in the past.”


    Heyu called into mind that the emperor frequently stopped by Xihe Pce in recent. And she said with hesitation, “Your Majesty, recently, the emperor visits Xianrong Zhao often. Then does that mean he has started to treat Noble Lady Qian coldly?”


    “Although Noble Lady Qian has a stunning appearance, she has an arrogant personality. The emperor isn’t a typical man. So how could wrack his brains to make her happy?” The empress sneered. “What kind of woman does the imperial haremck? What’s that arrogance of hers worth? It’s merely a joke. As for the one in Xihe Pce, try your best to respect her and stay away from her. This pce really wants to know how the one in Anqing Pce can keep herposure.”


    At the sound of these words, Heyu did not speak anymore. She only watched as the empress opened the jewelry box once more, forcibly digging out the pearl from the hairpin.


    Phew. Now the empress owes our girl ZL a favor…


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