Reborn Princess

Shen Xilan felt Zhou Cechen's low pressure, so she reached out and held Zhou Cechen's large hand.

Zhou Cechen looked down at the hand holding his. It was so white, tender and delicate, but unfortunately it was wrapped with a circle of gauze, which was a bit dazzling.

Zhou Cechen carefully placed Shen Lilan's hand in his own palm and gently stroked the gauze on Shen Lilan's hand with his thumb.

"I'll make her pay."

Shen Lilan: "Ye Qinghe told me this on the condition that I help her."

"She hurt you, too."

"There is gain and loss. I won't treat her as an innocent person, but I will help her with what I promised."

"Help her keep this unknown secret and get rid of Yang Ruowei."

Zhou Cechen stroked Shen Lilan's fingers and said, "Okay."

The carriage stopped in front of Fanlou, and several people went up to the third floor of Fanlou and entered the private room.

"Sister-in-law!" Lu Hanze waved to Shen Lilan.

Shen Lilan nodded and said, "Thank you for your help today, Young Marquis Lu."

Lu Hanze waved his hand and said, "It's just a small matter."

"I didn't expect my sister-in-law to be disguised as a maid. I was wondering why Jin Zhi found an excuse to leave when she was talking with Ye Chongyi in the study. It turned out that she was worried about my sister-in-law's safety."

Zhou Cechen was pouring tea for Shen Lilan. He took the time to raise his eyelids and glance at Lu Hanze.

This glance made Lu Hanze even more excited.

"Sister-in-law, you don't know, Jin Zhi was quite anxious when he left just now, probably because he was worried that something might happen to you."

Tang Yi sat next to Lu Hanze, smiling and shaking his head.

Shen Lilan glanced at Zhou Cechen standing beside him, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised.

"Fortunately, he is here."

Lu Hanze was not a fool, he saw clearly that there was affection in Shen Xilan's eyes when he looked at Zhou Cechen, which was very different from the cold and noble person a few months ago.

"How did Tang Yi get rid of that maid?" Shen Lilan asked.

"She was knocked unconscious with drugs. Don't worry, ordinary people can't detect this drug. The maid would only be considered to have fainted due to overwork."

Without extraordinary abilities, it would be impossible to stay by Zhou Cechen's side. Tang Yi's medical skills are probably matched by few people in Yanjing or even the entire Great Zhou.

Tang Yi is good at using incense, especially various kinds of bewitching incense, and he uses them to the extreme, hurting people without them even realizing it.

"Doctor Tang is amazing." Lu Hanze praised her.

"That's not as good as the eloquence of Young Marquis Lu. Today, he has made Marquis Yongyi very happy again."

Hearing Tang Yi's joke, Shen Lilan turned his gaze towards Lu Hanze.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Lu Hanze smiled and said, "Thank you for the compliment. I'm not overjoyed, but I think I've calmed down a lot."

"Otherwise, Ye Chongyi wouldn't have personally gone to invite our Prince Ding'an."

Zhou Cechen: "You didn't mention a word about the bargaining chips you offered."

Lu Hanze held his forehead with his hand.

"Bargaining chips?" Shen Xilan looked at Zhou Cechen. She wanted to know what it was.

"Thanks to Censor Song, Ye Chongyi now has evidence of the crimes of many officials in his hands."

"The Emperor is going to punish them?"

The Censorate is under the emperor's command, which means it takes orders directly from Zhou Hengyan. Although Song Yan intends to unite with Zhou Cechen, once Zhou Hengyan gets to know that the Censorate has close ties with the royal palace, he will definitely not use Song Yan anymore.

Song Yan was able to give these evidences to Zhou Cechen, which must have been approved by the emperor.

This is how the emperor's power works. Without saying a word, he can make his ministers check and balance each other. If there is an imbalance one day, he will deal with those bastards. The emperor does not need to do it himself, because naturally someone will take advantage of the situation.

Zhou Hengyan was like a trader, quietly and silently controlling the wheel of fate of the entire Great Zhou. His existence was like a master hidden in the darkness, seemingly invisible and traceless, but omnipresent.

The ministers in the court of the Great Zhou Dynasty became puppets bound by the imperceptible threads in his hands. They may think they are smart and powerful, but in fact they have never been able to escape the web carefully woven by Zhou Hengyan.

Whenever Zhou Hengyan made a move, the seemingly stable situation would collapse instantly, and his ministers would be as fragile as porcelain and easily shattered. In this intricate chess game, Zhou Hengyan used his extraordinary wisdom and political tactics to play with everyone.

In his previous life, Shen Lilan witnessed Zhou Hengyan's cruelty with his own eyes.

"Yes, the emperor can no longer tolerate the remnants of the former ministers."

"Then... given these evidences to Marquis Yongyi, why would he calm down?"

Lu Hanze took a sip of tea and spoke impatiently, "Because those remnants have become more and more rampant in the past two years. They have relied on their status as senior officials to amass wealth wantonly. Not only do they disregard the law, but they also oppose Ye Chongyi everywhere in the officialdom."

"Who is Ye Chongyi? He is a model of impartiality. If he catches those people, they will suffer."

Shen Lilan looked at Zhou Cechen and asked, "Did they also jointly impeach the prince?"

Lu Hanze cleared his throat and said, "That's right. The emperor is getting a headache from those remnants of the remnants who keep nagging him."

"It's time to deal with them. It's best if they are all destroyed." Shen Lilan said coldly.

Zhou Cechen curled his lips: "Princess, wait and see the show."

……

In the imperial study, Zhou Hengyan said to Zhou Cechen, "Try the newly-tributed Rainforest Longjing tea."

Zhou Cechen used the tea lid to skim off the foam and then took a sip and said, "It's rich and mellow, with a sweet aftertaste."

"You've been coming to the palace quite frequently these past two days."

Zhou Cechen said calmly: "The murderer has been found."

Zhou Hengyan: "Tell me about it."

"The maid poisoned herself but was abused by Zhou Chao who was poisoned by the Soul-Desiring Powder and eventually died of the poison."

"Who ordered it?"

"Your concubine, Yang Ruowei."

Zhou Hengyan glanced at Zhou Cechen and said, "She is your cousin."

"Your Majesty, be careful with your words."

Zhou Hengyan naturally knew the reason behind this and did not mention it again.

"Is there any evidence?"

"I guess she still has the powder in her palace. We'll know once we check."

"You want me to order a search of the palace? The Yang family is not something that can be manipulated by anyone."

"Brother, you have been the emperor for so many years, don't you know what to do?"

"The purpose of searching the palace is to find poison. Isn't this a common trick used in the harem?"

"Zhou Jinzhi, don't talk nonsense."

After that, Zhou Hengyan called out "Cheng Ci Sheng" and Eunuch Cheng hurried into the hall with a whisk in his hand. He bowed and said, "Your Majesty."

Zhou Hengyan wrote a handwritten imperial edict to Cheng Cisheng.

"Search Concubine Yang's palace immediately."

Cheng Cisheng tactfully took the imperial edict and left the imperial study.

"How do you think Yang Zhen will deal with this?"

Zhou Cechen sneered.

"With the means of the Yang family, all they have to do is continue to send their daughters to the palace. The Yang family has no shortage of women who want to enter the palace."

Zhou Hengyan then said, "Zhou Chao has been much more well-behaved these past two days."

"My brother has the eunuchs follow him every day, so he will be more cautious in what he does."

……

Shen Yanlan went back home alone first, while Zhou Cechen went to the palace on horseback.

"Your Majesty, the general and his wife will be returning to Yanjing in three days."

Hearing Lu Nong's words, Shen Lilan raised his head. He was coming back so soon.

She almost forgot that there were people around her who hadn't been dealt with yet.