Forced to die for his loyalty, he was reborn in the arms of the cold and cruel regent!

Debao took the order and left.

The emperor paced back and forth behind his desk, and it was unknown what he was thinking in his deep, dark eyes.

If these old people hadn't reappeared, he would have almost forgotten the old events of the past.

"Sui'an, do you think the eldest prince knows Zhang Daozi's identity?" He asked with a hint of tentativeness in his voice.

Qi Sui'an naturally understood the emperor's intention to test him, and answered flawlessly: "The Taoism is profound, so it is normal for the eldest prince to be interested in it. Perhaps the thief is still determined to control the emperor's eldest son, but the eldest prince is reasonable and knows right from wrong, so he should not be easily deceived."

Obviously, the emperor was very satisfied with this answer.

He nodded slightly: "We need to consider this matter carefully."

"Your Majesty, this Zhang Daozi is a remnant of the Southern Barbarians, and he secretly planted orchids in the capital. It was the Duke who led the troops to massacre the Southern Barbarians, so the princess should not cooperate with him."

Qi Suian took this opportunity to defend Shen Mengyao.

The emperor also thought of this problem: "This matter has no direct connection, so let's not mention it."

Qi Sui'an was not in a hurry either, because the thing that actually poisoned the empress dowager had not been found in the harem yet, and there was still a missing piece of evidence. It was understandable that the emperor did not believe it.

Soon, Debao sent someone to bring back the message.

"Your Majesty, Zhang Daozi disappeared last night. The eldest prince will come to report in a while."

The emperor nodded slightly, not feeling surprised.

"After all the commotion yesterday, it's normal for him to run away. This man is a remnant of the traitor king. We must capture him!"

Just at this moment, the young eunuch outside came with a message.

"Your Majesty, Fu Qing from Xingqing Palace wants to see you."

"Xingqing Palace? Could something have happened to the Queen Mother again?" The Emperor focused his eyes, frowned, and said in a cold voice: "Let her in."

Fu Qing walked in quickly and handed over the box in his hand.

"Your Majesty, when I was checking the things around the Queen Mother, I found that a picture album sent by the Queen Mother was missing. I thought it was forgotten, but I didn't expect that I saw the palace maids secretly trying to bury it last night. I felt something was wrong, so I asked Your Majesty to take a look."

In fact, the previous tactic of alerting the enemy had worked. The palace maid was probably afraid that she would not be able to explain herself if the thing was found in her place, and even her life would be in danger. So she wanted to find a place to bury it secretly last night, but she was caught by the guards who were patrolling nearby.

"What's wrong with a picture album?" The emperor frowned.

Fu Qing said meticulously, "Your Majesty, this album has a special fragrance that can be smelled from a long distance. When the empress brought it to me, I thought there was nothing wrong with it. But when I sorted out the empress dowager's belongings a few days ago, I found that something was missing. Then I thought of the thing that poisoned the empress dowager, so I couldn't help but make random guesses."

The emperor smelled it and found that the fragrance was indeed rare.

"Moreover, the tranquilizer from the Imperial Hospital was once given to *** when she entered the palace before the Queen Mother fell ill. This combination of evidence makes me doubt..."

Fu Qing spoke cautiously. She shouldn't have been so radical, but she had to do so in order to rescue Shen Mengyao.

Seeing that the emperor looked unhappy, she immediately knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "Your Majesty, I am only analyzing this, and this album is indeed puzzling. Why don't you ask the imperial doctors to take a look?"

"Please ask Lord Zhang and a few experienced imperial doctors to come and take a look." The emperor made the decision.

Not long after, several imperial doctors arrived.

Several imperial doctors looked at each other. Even if there were people with ulterior motives among them, they would not dare to change the results in public under the appraisal of the imperial doctors.

Several imperial doctors were called to take a closer look and then covered their noses decisively.

It was Lord Zhang who came out to report.

"Your Majesty, this is mixed with enough powder and juice of orchids, which is more poisonous than orchid seeds. The main thing is that if you keep it around and smell it, even a strong man will gradually become listless over time, not to mention that the queen mother is old. No wonder she lost consciousness in a few days."

The emperor was stunned for a moment, his expression was extremely complicated: "Is this really the atlas that *** sent over?"

Fu Qing was very sure: "Yes, all of them are embroidered patterns of wedding gowns. The queen said she wanted to make a wedding gown, so she asked the queen mother to help her choose the most suitable pattern. The queen mother couldn't choose at the moment, so she left it in Xingqing Palace for her to take a closer look. Since the queen mother fell into a coma, this album has disappeared, and now it has been secretly covered up. There must be something wrong, and all the palace people can testify to it."

The emperor nodded slightly, and he also expected that Fuqing would not dare to accuse *** if he had no evidence.

But he didn't believe that his daughter actually wanted to murder her grandmother. He pondered for a moment, took a deep breath and said, "Could it be that she joined in at the last minute to frame ***?"

Master Zhang shook his head slightly. "That shouldn't be possible. This painting doesn't have alum added to fix the color. It seems that it was added to make the pigment evaporate more easily. This substance must have been mixed into the pigment when it was painted."

It seems that all of these things involve ***, and *** and the eldest prince are sisters from the same mother in public. Now the orchid flowers planted by Zhang Daozi have appeared in ***'s hands to murder the empress dowager.

What was the connection between them? The emperor didn't dare to think about it any further.

Could it be that they are still trying to restore the Southern Barbarians?

"Call the queen into the palace!" The emperor calmed himself down and looked up.

Following the emperor's order, the entire palace seemed to be pulled by an invisible force, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.

The guards moved quickly and went to the emperor's residence to convey the emperor's will. The emperor sat on the dragon throne, holding the armrests tightly with both hands, his eyes deep, and complex emotions surging in his heart.

He couldn't believe that his eldest daughter, who had been his daughter since childhood and was smart and gentle, would do such a rebellious thing. But the evidence was in front of him, and he couldn't help but believe it.

He began to recall every detail of his time with ***. Those heartwarming memories were intertwined with the cruel reality before his eyes, causing him to feel a heart-wrenching pain.

Inside the *** residence, upon hearing the news that the emperor had summoned her, *** narrowed her eyes slightly: "Isn't the emperor busy with government affairs recently? How can he have time to see me?"

Because they were questioning her about a crime, the guards were not polite in their tone towards her.

"The emperor has summoned us, and we are just following his orders. We don't know why. Please come in quickly, don't make things difficult for me."