Zhao Chuhe, the elder brother of Zhao Chuyan, was overjoyed after a period of silence when he learned that the Prince of Yuzhang had left the imperial capital and gone to Danyang City to suppress the plague.
Coincidentally, as the Wei family had recently fallen out of favor, Zhao Chuyan had gained a bit more of Emperor Wenhui's affection. As a result, she visited the Phoenix and Luan Palace of the queen less frequently.
Du Gu Luanyue stood in the back hall of the Phoenix and Luan Palace and sneered, "Taking over the power of the imperial guards in proxy. Zhao Chuhe is really in a hurry. Huo Wei has only been gone for a few days, and the Zhao family is so eager to seize the power of the imperial guards."
Yu Zan was applying nail polish for her on one side and asked cautiously, "I suppose it's because Concubine Zhao has been in favor recently, so the Zhao family is having an easier time. Why has your majesty been a bit estranged from the emperor recently? Why not find a way to win the emperor back?"
Aunt Mei Jiang walked over from behind with a bowl of peach blossom milk soup and said in a cold tone, "The queen has her own plans. It's not your place to question the relationship between her and the emperor."
Yu Zan quickly shut up. She was just annoyed that Murong Min hadn't come to the Phoenix and Luan Palace for the past few days. It was always the queen who went to the Purple Imperial Hall during the day to see the emperor. And now Su Rou was also accompanying the emperor at night, leaving her with no chance at all.
Yu Zan placed Du Gu Luanyue's jade hand on the cushion and replied in a low voice, "I'm just concerned about the queen. After all, in the harem, the emperor's favor is extremely important. I don't know why aunt has been so hostile to me for so long!"
Seeing that the two were about to argue again, Du Gu Luanyue said, "Stop. I know what I'm doing. Now the most important thing is not to gain the emperor's favor, but to stabilize the rear for the Prince of Yuzhang. I'm already the queen, the mistress of the central palace, and I hold the phoenix seal. I don't need to go to great lengths to win the emperor's favor like before."
Aunt Mei Jiang said, "Your majesty is quite right. Now the Zhao family wants to seize the power of the Prince of Yuzhang again. Your majesty may have to make some plans for the prince."
Du Gu Luanyue frowned slightly. "Yes."
She knew very well that Murong Min was extremely on guard against her. Moreover, Murong Min was an emperor who didn't like women to be too smart. So, if she wanted to regain the position of the commander of the imperial guards for Huo Wei, she couldn't rely on political means but had to take advantage of human weaknesses.
In the Purple Imperial Hall, Su Rou was standing in front of the dragon desk, singing a southern Chu song from Jinling. Du Gu Luanyue leaned on Murong Min's shoulder. While pouring wine for him, she said coquettishly, "Your majesty, it seems that there are fewer patrols in the Phoenix and Luan Palace recently. Is this your intention?"
Murong Min took a sip of wine. "The deployment of the imperial guards is all under Zhao Chuhe's management. I haven't heard him say there's any change. What's wrong, queen? Do you want to add more people to patrol around the Phoenix and Luan Palace?"
She smiled, a somewhat sly smile. "No need. I must be overthinking."
These days, she had been pulling Murong Min around the palace for fun, constantly exhausting his energy, and at the same time, searching for fine wines and beautiful women for him everywhere.
Murong Min naturally liked the queen. She never advised him, never nagged, and never asked too much about state affairs. She just followed his wishes and made him happy. Even Zhao Chuyan couldn't do this, because Zhao Chuyan was competitive and easily annoyed, while the queen was extremely beautiful, young, and didn't fight for anything, which suited his heart more.
After dinner in the Purple Imperial Hall, Du Gu Luanyue still had a charming look in her eyes and said coquettishly, "Your majesty, I haven't played hide - and - seek with you for a long time. Since your majesty is a bit tipsy, why don't we call Su Rou and play in the garden for a while?"
Murong Min readily agreed. After all, at his age, he still liked to play with young concubines. "That's fine."
Du Gu Luanyue and Su Rou walked into the garden outside the Purple Imperial Hall. They glanced at each other. Su Rou held something in her hand and said with a charming smile, "Your majesty, come and catch me!" Then she ran away and disappeared.
Du Gu Luanyue walked a few steps and said, "Oh, I'm tired. I'll go into the hall to rest for a while."
Taking advantage of the fact that Murong Min was half - drunk and his confidants like Eunuch Yingxi were outside, she found the right time to enter the study in the Purple Imperial Hall where Murong Min reviewed memorials.
Aunt Mei Jiang supported her arm and said in a low voice, "Your majesty, you have to be quick. I'll go and keep watch for you first."
Du Gu Luanyue nodded slightly and quietly walked in, lifting her skirt.
Before Huo Wei left, he gave her a list and said that if she encountered any trouble, she could contact the officials on the list first.
A few days ago, an official sent a secret letter to Du Gu Luanyue, saying that the disaster - relief silver allocated by the emperor from the Ministry of Revenue had been intercepted. The official had repeatedly inquired, but the emperor had given no explanation.
So, Du Gu Luanyue decided to find that memorial herself. She had recently figured out the pattern of how Murong Min arranged the memorials. She walked forward and found the memorial sent up by the Ministry of Revenue.
Du Gu Luanyue opened the memorial. Sure enough, Murong Min had reduced the disaster - relief silver for controlling the plague in Danyang City by eight or nine tenths, and there were also shortages of various supplies.
Huo Wei was sent as an imperial envoy of the court. If the court didn't even provide these basic things, once Huo Wei arrived in Danyang City, he would arouse the resentment of all the common people, and then they would be in a passive position.
But it was definitely not feasible to talk to Murong Min indirectly, as it would waste too much time.
Aunt Mei Jiang said outside the hall, "Your majesty, hurry up!"
Du Gu Luanyue raised her eyes. "Okay, I know!"
She couldn't care about so much. The memorial stated that "the Ministry of Revenue allocated 14,000 taels of silver to relieve the plight of Danyang City."
Du Gu Luanyue bit her lip, took a deep breath, picked up Murong Min's imperial pen, and added a vertical stroke to the character "one" in "14,000 taels of silver."
The amount suddenly became "104,000 taels of silver." Her hand trembled slightly as she quietly put down the imperial pen and blew hard on the wet ink.
After the ink dried, she placed the memorial under the urgent documents and covered it with other memorials.
At the latest, this memorial would be sent to the Ministry of Revenue tomorrow morning, and the official who was Huo Wei's confidant in the Ministry of Revenue would allocate the silver as quickly as possible.
In this way, Huo Wei wouldn't be in a situation where he had to cook a meal without rice.
There were so many things happening in the court every day. By the time Murong Min realized it, who knew how long it would be. Anyway, Murong Min had drunk a lot of wine this afternoon. Once something went wrong, she would firmly insist that it was his problem of drinking.
But Du Gu Luanyue really couldn't figure out why Murong Min would do this. Danyang City was also part of his territory.
Murong Min was a very suspicious emperor. Seeing Du Gu Luanyue enter his bedroom to drink water, he was a bit worried, especially since some time had passed.
He strode towards the Purple Imperial Hall. Aunt Mei Jiang held her breath. "Your majesty, it's bad. The emperor is coming!"
Du Gu Luanyue's pupils shrank suddenly. Oh no. Murong Min had actually come.
In a moment, Murong Min had reached the door of the room with the dragon desk. Du Gu Luanyue couldn't get out.
If she was caught red - handed by Murong Min, she would really die a miserable death.