In the grand hall at the center of the Black Yamen, the atmosphere was solemn. Several civilian staff members were constantly summarizing the reported information, and the chief constable was on standby, ready to set out for inspections as soon as there was any news.
Dongfang Liren sat upright in front of the hall, directing and dispatching the personnel. Having been assassinated last night, she had thought that the female emperor would summon her to the palace and reprimand her, and she had been waiting for the imperial edict from the palace.
However, to her surprise, instead of the person delivering the imperial edict from the palace, a maid from the prince's mansion came trotting into the hall and whispered in her ear,
"Your Highness, His Majesty is here..."
"Hmm?!"
There was still a man hidden in Dongfang Liren's bed. Upon hearing this, her face naturally turned pale with shock, and she asked nervously,
"Is His Majesty in the Mingyu Building?"
"No, His Majesty is waiting for you in the garden and asks you to go there quickly."
Dongfang Liren secretly let out a sigh of relief. She quickly got up to tidy her robe. After walking out of the Black Yamen's grand hall, she whispered another instruction,
"Quickly ask Ye Jingtang to go back and leave through the back door. Make sure he doesn't run into His Majesty."
"I understand, miss."
After making the arrangements, Dongfang Liren suppressed the chaotic emotions in her heart and, accompanied by her maidservant, slowly walked through the Mingyu Building and arrived at the prince's mansion garden where flowers were in full bloom.
The prince's mansion garden was quite large. There was a lake on the side of the Mingyu Building, where tens of thousands of colorful koi carps were raised.
In the corridor by the lake, the female emperor of the Great Wei, dressed in a red dress, was leaning against the beauty couch, holding a porcelain cup and feeding the fish. Several maids from the prince's mansion stood respectfully not far away, bowing their heads and waiting for orders.
Dongfang Liren asked the maids to retreat and approached alone, saying,
"Sister, why have you come?"
The female emperor looked at the koi carps in the pond and said in a rather affectionate tone,
"You were assassinated by rebels yesterday, so of course I came to visit you. Sit down."
Dongfang Liren hesitated for a moment and then sat down beside her. Her silver robe embroidered with a chubby dragon python, when placed next to the female emperor's red dress, created a striking contrast, as if there were two completely different worlds.
"Did you go to the Mingyu Building to look for me just now, sister?"
"I saw that you were busy with official business in the Black Yamen, so I didn't go up."
"Oh..."
Dongfang Liren felt relieved. "I didn't make any mistakes last night, but the assassin hasn't been found yet. I will spare no effort in the inspection and bring the culprit to justice..."
The female emperor turned her head and looked at her dear younger sister.
"Who was by your side protecting you last night? Whoever it was, they have quite some skills to be able to fend off Blood Bodhi."
Dongfang Liren didn't dare to blatantly deceive the female emperor. After thinking for a moment, she said,
"He's a new helper in the Black Yamen named Ye Jingtang, a son of a merchant family near Tianshui Bridge. He has excellent martial arts skills, and I plan to recruit him into the Black Yamen and give him an important position..."
"He has such high alertness and is loyal and fearless of death. Naturally, he should be entrusted with important tasks. The assassin hasn't been caught yet. If he sneaks into the imperial palace and causes trouble, it will be difficult to explain to the court officials. Ask that Ye Jingtang to patrol the imperial city together with the experts from the Black Yamen in the coming days. The Empress Dowager is timid and was also frightened yesterday. Patrol more around the Fushou Palace to make the Empress Dowager feel at ease when she sleeps."
Huh?
Dongfang Liren was puzzled. There was nothing wrong with patrolling the imperial palace, but asking Ye Jingtang to patrol around the Empress Dowager's bedroom was like inviting a wolf into the house... No, it was like sending a sheep into the tiger's mouth!
Would the Empress Dowager, who was lonely in her boudoir, be able to sleep soundly if she discovered him?
She couldn't say this directly, so Dongfang Liren said euphemistically,
"Ye Jingtang was injured while protecting my safety last night..."
The female emperor had just seen Ye Jingtang in high spirits. She asked with concern,
"Is the injury serious? Should I send an imperial physician to take a look?"
Dongfang Liren found it hard to answer and hesitated for a moment.
"It's not too serious. He should be able to handle the patrol. I'll make the arrangements later. Hmm... Blood Bodhi is really powerful. With the manpower dispatched to the imperial city, I'm not at ease staying in the prince's mansion. I'll move into the palace and keep you company these two days, so as not to distract the subordinates."
The female emperor could see that her younger sister wanted to move into the palace to continue being sweet with her lover. She had just casually fulfilled Ye Jingtang's wish to see the thousand-year-old tree by asking him to patrol the palace, so she didn't say anything about it.
"Alright. There are many affairs in the court recently. With your help, I can have some leisure time. By the way, you're not young anymore. I asked you to choose a husband. Have you found anyone recently?"
Dongfang Liren sat up a little straighter. "Sister, why are you bringing this up again? You don't have a husband by your side. As your younger sister, even if I have a good candidate, I should let you have him first. How could I get married before you?"
Huh?
Liren, how can you have the nerve to say that?
The female emperor gave her dear younger sister a deep look. There were mixed feelings in her heart, but she didn't expose it. Instead, she turned her gaze to the lake.
"Heh~ I'm just afraid that you'll be in a hurry and do something stupid."
"You're overthinking it, sister. How could I be in a hurry... urry..."
Dongfang Liren followed the fish food thrown by the female emperor and looked into the clear bottom of the lake. There was a... a...
!!
Dongfang Liren's cold, noble face froze, and shock and confusion appeared in her eyes!
The female emperor let out a soft sigh. "You just throw away the things you use in your boudoir casually. I can even see them in the garden. I really don't dare to think about how many there are hidden in your room."
Dongfang Liren's scalp went numb. She thought back slightly. The Empress Dowager had said yesterday that she asked Hongyu to throw this dirty thing away...
So that stupid girl Hongyu threw it right in front of my door?!
Are you out of your mind...
Seeing that her sister had misunderstood, Dongfang Liren quickly explained,
"No, no, sister. Listen to my explanation. The Empress Dowager asked someone to throw this away..."
The female emperor had seen Ye Jingtang destroy the "evidence" with her own eyes. Seeing that her sister was still pushing the blame onto the Empress Dowager, she felt even more speechless.
"Sigh~ You're not a child anymore. It's normal to yearn for the joys of men and women. If you have a man you like, just tell me. Anyway, he will be warmer than a stone..."
Seeing that her sister didn't believe her, Dongfang Liren was unable to express her bitterness. She could only carefully explain the ins and outs of this thing and then coldly ordered,
"Someone, fish this thing out and throw it away. And drag Wang Chihu out and give him twenty strokes of the cane. If he dares to come up with such a bad idea again in the future..."
The female emperor had thought that her younger sister and Ye Jingtang had already reached the stage of using props to enhance their intimacy in bed.
But seeing Liren's innocent reaction of being angry and embarrassed, she didn't think it was the case. The female emperor shook her head and said,
"Forget it. Wang Chihu's original intention was to get rid of the evil for the people. I was just joking with you. Are you sure you don't have a crush?"
Dongfang Liren didn't want to talk about this topic with her sister at all, so she changed the subject.
"No, let's not talk about this. Hmm... Sister, you like poetry the most. Have you gotten any excellent works recently? Tell me, and I'll help you evaluate them."
The female emperor leaned against the railing, gently caressing her fragrant forehead. One could see a hint of helplessness between her eyebrows.
"Yes. When autumn comes on the eighth day of the ninth month, after my flowers bloom, all other flowers will wither. The fragrant array soars to the sky and permeates Yun'an. The whole city is dressed in golden armor. What do you think of it?"
Dongfang Liren was proficient in poetry and songs. As soon as she heard this poem, a hint of solemnity appeared between her eyebrows.
"This poem has a strong sense of murderous intent and seems to show dissatisfaction with the court... Who wrote it? I'll arrest him and interrogate him."
"No need."
The female emperor threw some fish food into the lake.
"A ruler should have the capacity to tolerate others. Banning this and that, and creating literary inquisitions based on speculation, shows a lack of confidence. I've never cared about the writings of scholars."
"You have a profound insight, sister..."
...