After having sex with a fake eunuch, I became the queen

Qiao Wan'er was stunned by the Queen Mother's imagination. The burning pain on her face was reduced a lot. "Please understand, Your Highness, how dare I have such thoughts? I am just a humble maid beside the Emperor. I only want to serve my master well. How could I have such unreasonable thoughts?"

There is a basis for Empress Dowager Xiao's statement. In the previous dynasty, an emperor married his wet nurse as his concubine and doted on her alone.

When Xiao Qian was young, she competed for favor with the concubines. When she got old, she was worried that someone would compete with her for the favor of her grandson. So after going through many battles, she had honed her imagination to the point that everyone she saw seemed to be competing for favor with her, and everything someone did seemed to be a means of winning favor.

"It seems that this slap in the face is not enough. Madam Zhang, give her ten more slaps." Xiao Qian sneered and continued to give orders.

"Yes!" Nanny Zhang took the order, rolled up her sleeves, and raised one arm to prepare for further hard work.

Just as he raised his arm, he heard a loud voice coming from outside the door: "Wait a minute!"

Hearing this sound, the person who raised his arm subconsciously stopped the action, and his arm remained in the air without falling.

A man in an official uniform pushed open the door of the "Imperial Study" and the eunuch guarding the door announced afterward: "Master Fan... Oh... Master Fan has gone in."

As soon as he heard the tone of the messenger, he knew that Fan Mingchu had barged in without waiting for the announcement. He was indeed the first manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and he dared to act so willfully in front of the Empress Dowager.

When Nanny Zhang saw that it was General Manager Fan who stepped forward to stop the fight, she turned to look at Xiao Qian - to see what the empress dowager meant first, and then decide whether to continue the fight.

When she saw that the Queen Mother's look was for her to stop, she stepped aside.

Xiao Qian was not too surprised when he saw Fan Mingchu rushing in - Ji Ning treated this woman like a treasure by his side, and Fan Mingchu had always stood on his side in this matter. She probably came here when she heard some news.

She had deliberately picked the day when the little emperor went to the Shangshu Hall today, just to avoid her grandson to deal with this girl. Unexpectedly, there was someone here to help look after the house, and his legs were quite fast, running faster than when she called him over for something.

Does Fan Mingchu really think that the "backyard" is under the full management of the little emperor?
Today, he will see clearly that the reason why he has been indifferent to the affairs of the harem in the past few days is not because he has given up power, but because he has no time. In the front and back yards, she, the Empress Dowager, is still the only one who has the final say.

At this point, there is both witnesses and evidence, so it will be useless even if this person brings up the emperor's decree.

Thinking of this, Xiao Qian felt like staying with him to the end - she wanted to see what tricks Fan Mingchu could come up with in this matter.

"Master Fan, you've come just in time. I'm helping you discipline your subordinates. You're not doing your job well as the head of the Internal Affairs Department. You haven't even disciplined your subordinates well, and you still need me to do it for you."

Upon hearing this, Fan Mingchu stood below and bowed, saying, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your concern. I wonder what crime this Qiao Wan'er has committed?"

Xiao Qian ordered his men to show all the witnesses and evidence to Fan Mingchu.

As Fan Mingchu listened, his expression gradually became ugly and his brows couldn't help but frown.

Xiao Qian looked at the change in his expression and felt quite pleased. The last time he helped Ji Ning keep Qiao Wan'er, it really caught her off guard. This time, he was finally able to turn the tables.

"Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, I have something to say. Could you please ask your Majesty to send the servants away first?" After listening, Fan Mingchu bowed to the Empress Dowager.

"Sir Fan, is there anything you can't say? Even if Qiao Wan'er is a palace maid beside the emperor, there is no need to cover up for her if she makes a mistake. There are not many outsiders around me, so Sir Fan, just tell me what you have to say." Xiao Qian saw that Fan Mingchu seemed to be hesitant to speak, and he became very curious, so he urged him hurriedly.

"Well... well then!" Fan Mingchu first showed a look of hesitation and embarrassment, then he seemed to harden his heart and continued, "Reporting to the Queen Mother, I asked the palace maid Qiao to embroider the mandarin duck handkerchief."

"What? General Manager Fan, what did you say? You said it was you!" Empress Dowager Xiao originally had an expression of watching the fun, but when she heard Fan Mingchu say this, her face immediately changed to one of shock.

"Replying to the Queen Mother, Palace Lady Qiao brought me the embroidered handkerchief at my request. I was not satisfied with it, so I asked her to embroider another one. I also told her not to keep it and to burn it."

"Fan Mingchu, you actually dare..." The empress dowager stood up from her chair suddenly, with an expression of disbelief on her face. She pointed at the man who admitted that he was the "adulterer" and stopped talking halfway through.

"If the Queen Mother doesn't believe me, you can send someone to check my study. There are several paintings of mandarin ducks playing in the water that I painted recently. One of them was embroidered by Palace Lady Qiao." Fan Mingchu's face was full of helplessness and resentment, as if to say that since he didn't send the servants away, he would have to embarrass himself in front of so many people.

Empress Xiao really didn't believe it, so she immediately asked someone to search in Fan Mingchu's study, and they found it exactly at the location he said. Even a discarded painting of mandarin ducks playing in the water that he said was thrown in the trash can was found. The discarded painting was crumpled into a ball, and it was obvious that it had been painted just a few days ago.

When Xiao Qian heard Fan Mingchu's confession, his first reaction was that Ji Ning must have given him some instructions, so he used this excuse to save Qiao Wan'er. For the king's entrustment, he was really risking his life and not caring about his reputation.

Therefore, in order to verify whether his words were groundless or not, Empress Xiao had to ask someone to check the painting of mandarin ducks playing in the water that he mentioned. After all, it was impossible to fake something that was truly drawn on white paper.

I didn't expect that Fan Mingchu was really not trying to fool people.

So, could it be that he really wasn't just talking nonsense on impulse? Instead, he really had improper thoughts about Qiao Wan'er, the palace maid? The reason why Xiao Qian couldn't believe Fan Mingchu's admission that he was an adulterer was because she knew Fan Mingchu very well.

In his early years, Fan Mingchu was very resistant to eunuchs' involvement with women. When he was young, he was even more charming and dashing than he is now. He had been secretly approached by concubines or palace maids more than once, but he reported them all. Later, other concubines or palace maids did not dare to look at him even more when they saw him.

Could it be that he had grown older and changed, and that he really had some worldly thoughts about a palace maid? Since the two of them often met in Mingxin Palace, could it be that they really fell in love with each other over time?
In Empress Xiao's eyes, Fan Mingchu was a man who cared a lot about his reputation. He would always say things like "I examine myself three times a day" and "When I see a virtuous person, I want to emulate him." Today, for the sake of this woman, he really threw away his reputation, which showed that he was deeply in love with her.

"So it was General Manager Fan's order. I really wronged Concubine Qiao." After waiting for a moment, Empress Xiao finally suppressed her shock and anger. She glanced at Qiao Wan'er who was kneeling on the ground with her head down. Although her eyes were still filled with hatred, her tone was hypocritical and earnest. "But Master Fan, you still need to reflect on yourself. If you, the highest official, do not behave properly, how will the people below deal with it?"

Fan Mingchu was a hero in the Taiping Gate Incident. She personally promoted him to the position of the Imperial Household Department, and he has been in this position for 17 years. In this situation, the ministers in the court have already had various disagreements. If the highest official of the Imperial Household Department is touched at this critical juncture, it will undoubtedly give people the illusion that the situation is unstable.

So even if we want to deal with him, it's not now.

Since Fan Mingchu cannot be touched, Qiao Wan'er naturally cannot be touched either, so the only way is to treat this matter as a joke and let it go.

"I will follow the Empress Dowager's teachings and change my past mistakes." Fan Mingchu bowed deeply to Xiao Qian to show his sincerity in accepting the teachings.

"Everyone please leave first. I have something to talk to Executive Fan alone."

In the imperial study, only Xiao Qian and Fan Mingchu were left as the "king" and his minister.

"Mingchu, is it true that only when people reach a certain age will they understand that everything will change?" Empress Dowager Xiao called Fan Mingchu by his pen name very affectionately.

"I wonder why the Queen Mother has such emotion?" Fan Mingchu heard that the Queen Mother seemed to want to talk to him in private, so he took two steps forward and stood opposite the desk.

"The situation has not been good recently. Mingchu, you must have heard about it, so I can only sigh. Life is short, but there are many changes. The situation will change, people's hearts will change, and it turns out that General Manager Fan will also change..." When Xiao Qian said this, he kept looking into Fan Mingchu's eyes.

Although the speaker did not continue, the listener had already fully understood his meaning - a man who had never been interested in women before actually started to have a private affair with a palace maid.

"Your Highness the Queen Mother, please forgive me for joking." Fan Mingchu continued to maintain his humble and calm expression. "The Queen Mother is the reincarnation of a lucky star. God will surely help you. Don't worry too much. Everything will be fine."

"Recently, a spy reported that a group of forces are secretly gathering under the banner of Prince Ying Geng, and they are trying to form alliances with rebels in various places." Xiao Qian spoke in a low voice, as if he was passing on some secret information. His eyes swept to Fan Mingchu again, as if to see his reaction to this matter.

"Oh? Your Highness, wasn't Ying Geng punished by the Queen Mother herself many years ago? Those villains are just using a dead man's name as a pretext. They can't do anything special." Fan Mingchu replied.

"Alas! I may be really old, and my state of mind is very different from before. I always have some suspicious thoughts. I always feel that it is really strange for those people to act under the banner of a dead person." Xiao Qian said with a worried look on his face.

"The Queen Mother was too worried, because Ying Geng was the crown prince appointed by the previous emperor. It was not surprising that the thieves wanted to use his name to gain justice. At that time, there were many such traitors in every dynasty."

"One of the leaders of that gang of thieves is named Wang Zhi. I suspect that man might be Wang Zhifei. He fled the country with a few people and disappeared for so many years. He finally couldn't wait to show up."

"Queen Mother, this is possible. Those thieves probably saw that there were rebels in Qiantang, so they wanted to take advantage of the situation to stir up trouble. They even used Ying Geng's name to do so. But a thief is a thief. Even if he uses the name of the royal bloodline, he is still a thief and will be punished by God."

"I hope it will be as Mingchu said!" Xiao Qian seemed to be comforted after listening to Fan Mingchu's words, and his originally nervous expression relaxed a little.

Then, he closed his eyes and rubbed his eyebrows to relieve his fatigue. After opening his eyes, he made a gesture to the person in front of him, indicating that he could leave.

"The Empress Dowager is the ruler of a country. Don't overwork yourself and please take care of your health!" After Fan Mingchu said goodbye, he left the imperial study.

After Fan Mingchu left, Empress Xiao continued to sit in the imperial study, rubbing her brows and closing her eyes to rest.

The things that happened in the court had already made her very upset. She had originally wanted to use the matter of dealing with Qiao Wan'er in the harem to calm herself down, but she didn't expect to be caught off guard by Fan Mingchu again.

When he thought of a woman like Qiao Wan'er, who not only bewitched the young emperor but also bewitched Fan Mingchu, he wished he could immediately issue an order to execute her.

However, if we want to deal with this girl, we cannot use such a simple and crude method, otherwise we will not be able to explain to the young emperor. Now we will not be able to explain to Fan Mingchu either, so we have to find another way.

Just as I was thinking of other methods, I suddenly heard the eunuch guarding the door announce, "Grand Empress Dowager, Concubine Yu wants to see you."

"Let her in!" replied Empress Dowager Xiao.

(End of this chapter)