Chapter 338

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Xiao Juan repeated Liu Zhi’s words concisely.

“Noble Consort Shu must have deliberately pretended to faint to stall for time so that someone could secretly send the Yunque out of the palace. As long as we can’t find Yunque, we can’t do anything to her.”

Yu Niaoniao thought for a moment and said, “Yunque is from the Crystal Spring Palace. Won’t the Empress Dowager have any objections if she’s suddenly sent out of the palace?”

Xiao Juan explained patiently.

“You don’t know much about the palace. The Empress Dowager is Noble Consort Shuts aunt. The two of them are usually very close.”

“Yunque is just a small palace maid. She is far inferior to Noble Consort Shu in the Empress Dowager’s heart.”

“Even if something happens to her, the Empress Dowager won’t care.”

It sounded cruel, but this was the real situation in the palace. In the eyes of the higher-ups, eunuchs and palace maids were like ants under their feet.

No one cared about the life and death of ants.

Yu Niaoniao recalled how close Empress Dowager Deng was to Noble Consort

Shu in Crystal Spring Palace. She had thought that it was due to Noble Consort Shu’s talent for sweet talking, but now she knew that the two of them were related.

In that case, her strategy of asking Empress Dowager Deng to pressure her would not work.

Yu Niaoniao asked, “Then what do we do next?”

Xiao Juan said, “Let’s track Yunque and see if we can stop her.” They hurried out of the palace.

In the Startling Palace, Liu Zhi helped Noble Consort Shu sit up.

“Your Highness, I’ve already done as you said. Duke Lang can’t see the Yunque, so he can only leave.”

Noble Consort Shu nodded slightly. “You did very well.”

At this moment, the sixth prince, Shen Rui, arrived.

He hurried to the bed and spoke with concern, “When I heard that Mother was sick, I was so anxious. What illness do you have? Is it serious?”

Noble Consort Shu’s gaze softened involuntarily when she saw her son.

“Don’t be anxious. I’m fine. Sit down and talk.”

Liu Zhi brought a round stool over and placed it by the bed.

Shen Rui sat on the stool, his eyes still on Noble Consort Shu. His heart ached when he saw her pale face.

“I heard that you fell sick from anger because of Duke Lang. Duke Lang is too much. He actually doesn’t take you seriously just because he has some power. I’ll teach him a lesson now and avenge Mother!”

With that, he was about to get up.

Noble Consort Shu quickly stopped him. “Don’t be rash. Duke Lang is heavily relied on by the emperor. If you attack him, the emperor will definitely not let you off easily.”

Shen Rui was indignant. “But you’re sick from anger because of him. Are we just going to let this matter go?”

Noble Consort Shu glanced at Liu Zhi.

Liu Zhi understood and retreated with the others.

Only Noble Consort Shu and Shen Rui were left in the room.

Noble Consort Shu spoke slowly.

“Rui’er, you’re already an adult. There are some things I can’t hide from you.” “Duke Lang was investigating Imperial Concubine Yue’s case. He had now found out about me.

“If he continues to investigate, I might lose my life.”

Shen Rui said without thinking, “Let him investigate! Anyway, Mother, you haven’t done anything. No matter how he investigates, it will all be in vain!” Noble Consort Shu looked at him with a complicated expression.

Shen Rui’s heart skipped a beat.

He asked instinctively, “Don’t tell me Imperial Concubine Yue’s death is really related to you?”

For so many years, Noble Consort Shu had protected her son very well. She tried her best not to let Shen Rui know about the dirty things hidden in the dark. But now that things had come to this, she could not hide it anymore.

Noble Consort Shu took a deep breath and said slowly, “You were just born back then and didn’t know how favored Imperial Concubine Yue was. If she and the child in her womb were allowed to live, we would only be a foil to them. Be it my current position as Noble Consort or your right to fight for the throne in

the future, they would no longer exist.”

Shen Rui looked at her in a daze and said with difficulty.

“So you killed Imperial Concubine Yue?”

Noble Consort Shu felt very uncomfortable admitting that she had killed someone in front of her child.

She subconsciously avoided Shen Rui’s gaze and said softly.

“I don’t want to be Imperial Concubine Yue’s foil forever, and I don’t want you to only be a nameless idle prince in the future.” “I want to get rid of any obstacle that stands in our way.”

“Imperial Concubine Yue is like this, and so is Duke Lang.”

Shen Rui took in too much information at once and was not able to cope with the overload.

He asked hesitantly, “What do you want to do to Duke Lang?”

A ruthless glint appeared in Noble Consort Shut s eyes.

“I wanted to shift the suspicion to Empress Wen. As long as Empress Wen died, the Seventh Prince would no longer be a threat. The position of the future heir would be yours.”

“However, Duke Lang should not have appeared halfway! He ruined my plan and even targeted me. I can’t let him live anymore.”

Shen Rui had never seen his mother like this before, and his heart could not help but tremble.

He spoke carefully.

“Duke Lang has no conclusive evidence. He can’t convict you.”

Noble Consort Shu sighed. “You’re still too naive. Once a person like Duke Lang became suspicious, he would definitely investigate.”

“Although I sent Yunque out of the palace today, this is only treating the symptoms and not the root cause.”

“Without Yunque, Duke Lang would continue to investigate in other ways. Once he finds out the truth, I’m finished.”

“Rui’er, you don’t want to see Mother die, do you?”

Shen Rui hurriedly shook his head. “Of course not! Mother, you have to live well. Anyone who wants to hurt Mother is my enemy!”

Hearing this, Noble Consort Shu was very relieved.

“Good son, I didn’t raise you for nothing.”

Shen Rui hesitated and said, “But Duke Lang is not an ordinary person. He’s skilled and is highly valued by Father. It’s very difficult for us to deal with him.” Noble Consort Shu had already planned this.

She whispered, “Of course, we can’t deal with Duke Lang directly. We have to rely on others for this.”

“What do you mean?”

Noble Consort Shu’s eyes lit up as she slowly explained her plan, “The Chen

Nation’s diplomatic mission will arrive at the Imperial Capital soon.”

“Back then, it was because of Duke Lang’s interference that the Chen Nation’s plan to ambush Liaodong County failed. Those people from the Chen Nation must hate Duke Lang very much.”

“We can work with the Chen Nation’s diplomatic mission. We will be responsible for providing opportunities. They were responsible for killing.”

“After it’s done, they’ll leave the Imperial Capital. Even the emperor can’t do anything about it.”

Shen Rui was a little hesitant. “But they’re from the Chen Nation after all. Wouldn’t we be colluding with external enemies if we do this?”

Noble Consort Shu glared at him.

“What nonsense are you talking about? The Chen Nation’s diplomatic mission is here to seek peace. I heard that the emperor plans to reconcile with them. They’re no longer considered enemies, so how can we be colluding with external enemies?

Seeing that her son was still hesitating, Noble Consort Shu continued, “Look further into the future. Working with the Chen Nation this time is equivalent to establishing a friendly relationship with them. In the future, when you fight for the throne, the Chen Nation might even help you.”

Thinking of the position of Crown Prince, Shen Rui’s heart immediately burned as if it had been doused with hot oil.

He nodded vigorously.. “We’ll do as Mother says!”