Five years after her death, she awoke on the dragon bed.

Chapter 305 Sudden Death
Before long, Granny Qiao returned to Xianfu Palace and handed over the information she had found to Lou Suyi.

Lou Suyi frowned after looking through the document and discovered that Lanlan had no family, let alone anyone she cared about.

In other words, Lanlan has no weaknesses.

Recalling the scene of Lan Lan's torture, Lou Suyi suddenly asked, "Is it possible that Lan Lan received special training?"

Otherwise, how could a delicate and weak woman endure such torture?

Of course, there is another type of person who is determined, has faith in their heart, and can withstand torture.

Could it be that Lanlan received a favor from the person behind the scenes?

Just as she was pondering this, Jili hurriedly entered.

Lou Suying saw that he was in a hurry and knew that something had happened: "What's wrong?"

"Lanlan couldn't withstand the torture and died suddenly!" Given the gravity of the situation, Jili reported the truth.

Lou Suyi was speechless.

She had specifically instructed that Lanlan's life be spared, but she never expected that the executioner would kill the suspect directly.

In this way, the clues ended with Lanlan.

Her eyes flashed, and she suddenly realized something was wrong.

An executioner wouldn't be so reckless when carrying out an execution, so why would he suddenly kill someone? Could it be that someone bribed the executioner?

Murong and Lou Suyi had the same idea. After discussing it, they decided to order the executioner to be arrested and interrogated.

This trial did indeed uncover a problem; the executioner had indeed received benefits.

The executioner thought that Lanlan wouldn't survive anyway, and he could still get benefits after killing her, so he was immediately tempted by greed.

But the person who contacted him last night had their back to him and spoke in a low voice, so he could only guess that it was a young palace maid.

Afterwards, Gilly went to the executioner's house and found a box of gold nuggets.

The gold nuggets were common and unremarkable, and the wooden box was also ordinary.

Lou Suyi poured out all the gold nuggets, examined the wooden box carefully, and then smelled it. She immediately caught a faint floral fragrance.

She felt that she had smelled this fragrance somewhere before.

Seeing that she was lost in thought, Murong also leaned in to sniff.

"Does Your Majesty find this fragrance familiar?" Lou Suyi asked Murong.

Murong asked in confusion, "Does it smell fragrant?"

Lou Suyi: ...

"I really didn't smell any fragrance," Murong said, noticing the disdain in Lou Suyi's eyes.

Lou Suyi was speechless. There was a faint floral fragrance, but he couldn't smell it.
"Jinshu, come and smell it." Lou Suyi called Jinshu over.

Jinshu leaned close to the wooden box and sniffed it again and again, then said innocently, "This servant didn't smell any fragrance either."

Lou Suyi was somewhat surprised: "Why do I smell a floral fragrance?"

Yan Hui also came over to smell it and found a faint fragrance. Later, Imperial Physician Liu gave an explanation for this phenomenon: people who are sensitive to smells have a more acute sense of smell than ordinary people, and Lou Suying clearly belonged to the former category.

In other words, this was not Lou Suyi's illusion; the wooden box did indeed have a floral fragrance.

Moreover, this floral scent was familiar to Lou Suyi, meaning she had smelled it on someone before. It was a pity she hadn't paid attention to this before, otherwise she could have used this scent to find the person behind it all.

Although she didn't know who had smelled the fragrance of the flowers, Lou Suyi felt that she had found a breakthrough.

From then on, whenever she smelled that floral fragrance again, she would know who it was.

The next day, her wounds were no longer painful, and she ordered all the concubines in the harem to come to Xianfu Palace.

Murong hoped she could rest for a few more days before worrying about this matter, but seeing Lou Suyi's high spirits, he didn't want to dampen her enthusiasm.

Once all the concubines in the harem had arrived, the room was filled with people.

Consort De found the sight of Murong and Lou Suyi sitting together irritating. Lou Suyi suddenly summoned them; could it be that she wanted them to watch her and Murong flaunt their affection?
"May I ask why Your Majesty has summoned us here?" Consort De asked loudly.

“An assassination attempt occurred on New Year’s Eve, and His Majesty is very unhappy. He summoned you all here to give you a lecture.” Lou Suyi naturally pushed Murong forward.

Murong was surprised that Lou Suyi would push him forward. He looked at the many beauties standing in the hall, and then at Lou Suyi.

Lou Suyi teased in a low voice, "Your Majesty isn't reluctant to give a lecture, is he?"

Seeing so many beautiful women, it's normal that Murong couldn't bear to say anything harsh.

Murong glanced at her indifferently, then looked at the many concubines present, and said with a smile, "It seems I have been too lenient with you all, which has emboldened some to attempt to assassinate the Empress Dowager. If I find out who the mastermind is, I will exterminate their entire family, leaving no one alive!"

Lou Suyi was surprised that Murong would make such a harsh statement, and it was clear that the other concubines were also surprised that Murong would be so ruthless.

Although someone did attempt to assassinate Empress Dowager Chen, it didn't succeed, did it? Even if no one was killed, Murong still wants to exterminate the perpetrator's entire family.

Even though they already knew the new emperor was cold-blooded and ruthless, hearing his words still sent chills down everyone's spines.

After her initial surprise, Lou Suyi remembered her important business.

She rose and walked around the concubines, making new discoveries about details she hadn't noticed before. It turned out that all the concubines wore incense, each with a different scent, but none of these were the floral fragrance she was looking for.

She was indeed sensitive to fragrances and firmly believed that she had smelled that unusual floral scent, but unfortunately, she did not smell it at the scene.

When she walked to Consort De's side, Consort De looked at her with a sharp look in her eyes: "What is Your Majesty doing?"

Consort De thought Lou Suyi looked lewd and didn't seem normal at all.

Lou Suying smiled calmly: "His Majesty is giving a speech, so of course I'm helping to make sure everyone is listening attentively. You must know that this concerns your life and your family's interests. If one person makes a mistake, the entire family will be buried with him. I wonder who can afford such a price."

Everyone present remained silent; no one dared to speak.

Lou Suyi observed everyone's expressions and saw that they all looked solemn, and none of them dared to meet Murong's gaze.

Lou Suying circled around in front of everyone again, but still couldn't smell the fragrance of the flowers she wanted, so she turned back and stood next to Murong.

"Although Lanlan died suddenly, I can somewhat guess the other party's conspiracy. The murderer pretended to want to harm the Empress Dowager, but the real target was me. This is the first time I have hosted a New Year's Eve banquet since I was made Empress. If something happens to the Empress Dowager, I will be held responsible, and His Majesty will blame me..."

Lou Suyi had barely finished speaking when Murong looked at her, his eyes filled with disapproval.

"In other words, their real purpose is to create conflict between me and His Majesty. If it's serious, it could affect our marital relationship; if it's even more serious, His Majesty might depose me from my position as Empress—"

Before Lou Suyi could finish speaking, Murong said, "I am not so foolish as to be so incompetent. Since I chose you as my empress, I should trust you."