Standing outside the side hall, the emperor asked sternly, “Where is Prince Xin?”

Outside the side hall, Shuqi stood there with a pale face, staring blankly at the emperor. Then, she dropped to her knees.

Why was the emperor here? How could the emperor be here?

“It should be the general steward who came here with some people, shouldn’t he? How could it not be him?” Even if she didn’t know the emperor, she knew that only the emperor could wear such clothes in the palace.

“Where is Prince Xin?” Seeing the maid standing a little far from the room door outside, the emperor became angrier. He strode forward, lifted the door curtain, and went straight into the room.

“A man and a woman in the room alone without even a maid watching them! What does Shao Jing’s daughter want to do?”

Inside the room, Chu Liuxin closed his eyes for a moment, feeling even hotter. In his eyes, Shao Yanru looked even more delicate and alluring and her watery eyes seemed to contain great charms. He felt that his heart was so itchy that he couldn’t help wanting to see the water in Shao Yanru’s eyes clearly.

When he suddenly heard a sound coming from the door, he looked back but was surprised to see that his father was standing there. The heat that was gushing forth from his heart vanished as if someone had immediately poured a basin of cold water down his head. He was cold all over.

He said bluntly, “Father…”

“Get out!” The emperor looked at him and said coldly.

Chu Liuxin finally realized that something had been wrong moments earlier, so he became anxious, wishing to explain. “Father, I’m not…”

“Get out!” The emperor rebuked with a dark face.

Chu Liuxin did not dare to explain anymore. Instead, he ran out hurriedly. When he was outside, he took a deep breath. Instantly, the clean and cold air drove away all the surging heat in him, but he suddenly had a sense of horror.

Why did he think Shao Yanru was very beautiful just now? He even thought that she was the most beautiful woman, and he even wanted to hold her in his arms and enjoy her.

He liked Fifth Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion, but when did he have this intent toward her? Obviously, he wanted to get close to Fifth Miss Shao by taking the chance of visiting First Miss Shao in her sickbed. “What happened to him just now?”

He rubbed his forehead and knitted his eyebrows, depressed and ashamed. How could he do that?

The general steward of the Phoenix Palace walked up to him with a grin and greeted him. “Fifth Prince!”

Chu Liuxin calmed down and tried to look indifferent, asking, “Why is my father here?”

“The emperor heard that you were here, so he came over to have a look. Where were you just now, Prince Xin?” The general steward looked back and asked uneasily. The situation today was obviously bad. As soon as he heard that Prince Xin was in First Miss Shao’s place, the emperor came over angrily. Was there any other secret behind it?

When he suddenly thought of something, he gasped and narrowed his eyes. The incident with Prince Zhou and Prince Yue involved was still vivid in his mind. “Is the emperor also involved?”

First Miss Shao was really sophisticated. She could even make so many people interest in her, and they were the emperor and his sons. He must report it to the empress and let her make a decision.

The general steward was the general keeper of the Phoenix Palace, not the chief eunuch of the emperor, so he didn’t know about the emperor’s thoughts.

Rolling his eyes, he didn’t think that he could make a decision about the current situation, so he took a few steps outside and pointed at a little eunuch who was sweeping the floor outside, asking him to come over. Then he took him aside and whispered a few words to him.

The little eunuch threw away his broom, turned around, and trotted to report to the empress.

Shao Wanru came out of the small room on the side and looked at the eyes of Chu Liuxin, who was standing outside in a daze. At the sight of Shao Wanru, Chu Liuxin became even more ashamed and blushed, feeling that he didn’t know how to face her. With a red face, he swung his sleeves and strode away.

He didn’t know how to face Shao Wanru now.

At the moment when he was in the room just now, he even had a crush on Shao Yanru, which was beyond his imagination. How could he be interested in Shao Yanru? He obviously liked Shao Wanru and wanted her to be his princess.

With his mind being in a mess, he was too ashamed to see Shao Wanru, especially at this time. Now he felt like he had been caught while fornicating with a woman in bed. Being upset, how could he have the mood to continue to stay here at this time?

Seeing Chu Liuxin turn around and leave without saying anything, Yujie asked curiously, “What’s wrong with Chu Liuxin, Miss?”

Shao Wanru shook her head and fixed her eyes on the general steward of the Phoenix Palace. Judging from the eunuch’s clothes, she could tell that this man should be the general steward of the Phoenix Palace. And she frowned.

Although she was in the small room just now, she clearly saw the emperor enter the room and drive Chu Liuxin out, so now the person in the room was emperor, right?

She subconsciously twisted her handkerchief and frowned slightly, feeling something different. “Does it mean that this incident will be the same as what happened in my previous life?”

Would Shao Yanru still be the emperor’s Zhaoyi in this life? Shao Yanru had put an aphrodisiac powder in the bowl of medicine. There was no need to take this powder because it would work when one smelled it for some time.

Today, Shao Yanru’s cleaning and her action of letting Chu Liuxin stay all showed that she had an attempt on him but was afraid that he had no interest in her, so she came up with this plan. Even if something was found out by then, it would have nothing to do with her. She would just be a victim, and it was she, Shao Wanru, who had dealt with the powder.

She was the one who had been to the Imperial Institute of Medicine, and it was possible that she had touched this powder. At that time, there was no one in the Imperial Institute of Medicine. The little eunuch who took her to get the powder did not know herbs, but each one’s name was on each cabinet box. One who could read could tell which was which.

Besides, she knew something about medicine, so it was normal for her to know some special functions of herbs. She and Shao Yanru were not on good terms, so she had put some doses of aphrodisiac powder into Shao Yanru’s painkiller, which she took regularly, and decocted them. If something went wrong, it was she who had trapped Shao Yanru.

Even if the victim Shao Yanru lost her reputation, it was her fault and the victim was innocent. Since she was so innocent and she was also supported by Duke Xing’s Mansion, she could be Princess Xin anyway.

In order to frame her, she even prepared a medicine bag, which was in the room where she had decocted herbs in the past. Among the pile of paper, there was a small sheet of wrapping paper giving off such a smell.

The wrapping paper was there and anyone could smell it. If someone investigated it, it was easy to find something.

After finding out her scheme, she had deliberately asked Han Dan to take the general steward of the Phoniex Palace here and let him take Chu Liuxin out of the room.

Just now, she looked at Chu Liuxin’s face and saw that his face was slightly red, but it turned quite red when he saw her. It was obvious that he had not inhaled so much of the powder.

But it would be hard to tell if he stayed there a little longer. If he was seriously poisoned, the general steward of the Phoenix Palace would inevitably find something unusual after going inside. But now, when she saw Chu Liuxin’s ashamed and annoyed face, she could not guess anything.

But she did not expect the emperor to come. “Why did the emperor come at this time?” Her fingers went into spasm and twitched, and her eyes looked blank for a moment. “Can’t I really change anything?”

She lowered her head slightly to hide the coldness and panic in her eyes and squeezed the handkerchief in her hand hard to give herself some strength.

The general steward of the Phoenix Palace was stunned for a moment when he saw Shao Wanru coming out of the small room on the side. Then he saw that she, who seemed to have found something, stood there and lowered her head without making any sound. Therefore, he thought that Fifth Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion was sensible and that she was much better compared with First Miss Shao who ignored ladies’ precepts.

The general steward was flustered. “The emperor is interested in First Miss Shao?” If he had known this earlier, he would have advised the empress to drive her away. Now, a sordid affair was about to happen in the Phoenix Palace of the empress.

How could she be called the most beautiful woman in the capital? It seemed that the Fifth Miss Shao in front of him was a real beauty. She was much better than the pretentious First Miss Shao.

She was a girl from an aristocratic family, not a prostitute who often showed up in public, so why did she become the so-called most beautiful woman? This title sounded unpleasant, and First Miss Shao tried her best not to behave herself. If she became a palace concubine, she would mess up the whole palace.

The general steward was so worried that he had no mind to care about Shao Wanru. He took a glance at her and then lowered his head to think about what he would say when the empress arrived.

The emperor and First Miss Shao were alone in the room now. In fact, the general steward also wanted to go in and keep an eye on the emperor, but he didn’t dare. He was the confidant of the empress. If he rashly went in and caused trouble, even the empress would not be able to protect him, so he could only wait here anxiously.

The empress was here soon with a few people, with Derong, the chief eunuch of the emperor, being among them.

Seeing the empress, the general steward of the Phoenix Palace heaved a sigh of relief and hurriedly went up to bow. “Your Majesty!”

Shao Wanru fell on her knees in the corridor.

The empress looked sharply at Shao Wanru in the corridor and then the general steward. After that, she asked coldly, “Where is His Majesty?”

The general steward pointed inside and whispered, “His Majesty has been inside for a while!”

The empress’s expression changed drastically. She suddenly took two steps forward and was about to rush in, but Derong stopped her and said, “Empress, please wait. Let me go in!”

If nothing was wrong inside, it was fine for the empress to go in. But if something was going on inside, the emperor would be furious if the empress rushed in like this.

She took a deep breath, knowing that she could not act rashly at this time. She gritted her teeth and said, “Please go, Eunuch Derong!”

She was not opposed to the thing that the emperor took women as his concubines. During the Consort Selection, she had wanted to pick a few beauties and bring them to the palace. But such a thing happened in her own palace and under her nose without her knowledge, which was like slapping her hard in the face. She was the empress of the imperial harem, but such a sordid affair occurred under her nose, then how could she bear it?

“This is what I should do!” Derong said helplessly.