On our wedding night, my wife acted strangely.

The temperature inside Kunning Palace was so high that people's faces felt slightly hot.

Zhao Shuyu stared at Lin Yi for a long while, her lips slowly curving downwards. When she spoke, her voice was flat: "Regent, what a grand display! Five thousand soldiers stormed into the palace, smashed the Xuanwu Gate, and now they've even stepped into my Kunning Palace. Lin Yi, do you think you've already won?"

After saying that, she placed the handkerchief in her hand on her knees and dusted off her sleeves.

Lin Yi smiled dismissively: "I don't feel like I've won. I came to Kunning Palace today to say a few words to Her Majesty."

"explain."

"From now on, Your Majesty, before you do anything in the inner palace, please inform me first."

Zhao Shuyu didn't reply, but her eyes turned cold.

Lin Yi didn't rush her, and picked up the teapot to pour himself another cup.

The spout was slightly crooked, and a few drops of tea spilled onto the table, which wasn't wiped away.

Seeing his nonchalant attitude, Zhao Shuyu finally couldn't hold back any longer: "I can do whatever I want, what's it to you? I am the Empress, the Empress Consort appointed by the late Emperor and personally welcomed by His Majesty. You, a mere foreign official, can barge in with troops, but do you even dare to interfere in the affairs of the inner palace?"

Lin Yi tilted his head, not answering directly: "Your Majesty, do you still remember what happened last autumn?"

Zhao Shuyu was taken aback.

Lin Yi continued, "Imperial Physician Zhou, Consort Hui, medicine to prevent miscarriage."

These few words are completely incoherent; they can't even form a sentence when put together.

But Zhao Shuyu's expression changed upon hearing this.

Lin Yi continued, "Imperial Physician Zhou added something to Consort Hui's pregnancy-stabilizing medicine. Safflower is too easy to detect. Her Majesty used another medicine, what was it called again..."

He pretended to think for a moment and said, "Oh, it's Atractylodes macrocephala combined with Euphorbia kansui. On the surface, it's a prescription to stabilize the pregnancy and replenish qi, but in reality, Euphorbia kansui and Atractylodes macrocephala are incompatible, and taking it will lead to miscarriage. Brilliant, Your Majesty, even the imperial physicians in the Imperial Hospital will have a hard time detecting this prescription."

As he spoke, Zhao Shuyu's body began to tremble.

"After Consort Hui died, Her Majesty was still worried and sent Cuiping to inquire about the situation. Only after confirming that the coffin had left the capital did she breathe a sigh of relief. Later, Her Majesty had Sun Fu deliver a letter to the Zhao family in Jiangnan, and I know the contents of that letter."

Zhao Shuyu finally spoke, gritting her teeth as she said, "Your information network is quite impressive."

"Having people under my command is nothing special. Your Majesty has been in the palace for so many years, don't you also have people under your command?"

Zhao Shuyu didn't respond to that.

It's not surprising that Lin Yi knew about Physician Zhou's affairs. After all, Consort Hui had been "dead" for so long, he could always find some clues if he wanted to investigate.

But he even knew the details of the prescription, such as the combination of Atractylodes macrocephala and Euphorbia kansui, which suggests that there was a traitor among his subordinates.

Either Physician Zhou confessed, or—

Lin Yi interrupted her thoughts, smiling knowingly: "Your Majesty is wondering if Imperial Physician Zhou betrayed you?"

Zhao Shuyu's body stiffened slightly.

Lin Yi shook his head and said, "It wasn't him. Imperial Physician Zhou still doesn't know he's been used. He only thinks that the prescription he wrote was on the Empress's orders to treat Consort Hui's body, and he has no idea that those herbs together can cause a miscarriage. He has no idea who wrote the prescription or how it ended up in his hands."

"But I know. The person who prescribed the medicine was surnamed Wu, a nanny who was brought to the palace from Jiangnan by Your Majesty's maternal family and knew about medicine. This nanny is no longer in the palace; Your Majesty sent her back to her hometown in Jiangdu last winter. Is that right?"

Zhao Shuyu could no longer sit still.

She leaned forward half an inch, her voice low: "What else did you find out?"

"I also know that the night Nangong Jin escaped from the capital, he took the Zhao family's secret passage in the capital. That secret passage leads from the Ninth Prince's mansion to Liu's blacksmith shop in the south of the city. The waterway behind the blacksmith shop leads directly to the Cao River. It takes three days to reach Yangzhou by following the river."

"This road is a secret passage that the Zhao family has kept hidden in the capital for more than 20 years, and it is not used lightly. For Your Majesty to risk lending this secret passage to Nangong Jin for his escape, it seems that Your Majesty has a very close relationship with the Zhao family, which is truly beyond my imagination."

"Do I need to say more?" Lin Yi leaned back in his chair with a relaxed expression. "The third thing."

"Enough!" Zhao Shuyu interrupted him before he could finish, then took a deep breath, trying to suppress her earlier panic.

Having been in the palace for twenty years, what storms hadn't she weathered? A moment of panic wouldn't have caused her to completely lose her composure.

"You've investigated me so thoroughly, and then you led troops into the palace, disarming the Imperial Guards... Lin Yi..." She raised her head, looking at him with resentment, "What exactly do you want? To depose me or to kill me, bring it on."

Lin Yi didn't respond to her question, but instead asked, "What does Your Majesty think?"

Zhao Shuyu sneered, "Heh, if you wanted to depose me, you wouldn't have bothered coming to Kunning Palace to argue with me. If you wanted to kill me, those soldiers outside could have just come in and done it. The fact that you neither deposed nor killed me means you have other plans."

I have to say, this woman is really smart.

Even at this point, they can still grasp the situation clearly in a very short time.

Lin Yi nodded slightly in his heart.

This is what a woman who has lived in the harem for over twenty years should be like.

"Your Majesty is right." Lin Yi stood up, walked to the bronze crane incense burner in the hall, and picked up the fire tongs to stir the incense ash in the burner.

Zhao Shuyu sat there watching his back, her hand still clutching the fabric of her skirt.

After Lin Yi finished removing the incense ash, he put the fire tongs back on the shelf and turned around: "Your Majesty, I will neither depose you nor kill you. I only wish to make a deal with you."

Zhao Shuyu narrowed her eyes slightly: "A deal?"

Lin Yi didn't rush to state his conditions and sat back down.

Suddenly, he noticed that the teapot on the table had gone warm, so he picked it up and poured himself another cup.

Seeing his unhurried demeanor, Zhao Shuyu felt even more uneasy than before.

Because people who are truly strategic don't rush.

Those who are being plotted against are the ones who are anxious.

"Before the transaction, I have something to say to Your Majesty." Lin Yi held his teacup without drinking, "The Zhao, Song, Chen, and Wang families—the four great families—Your Majesty has always considered the Zhao family to be your greatest backer, hasn't she?"

Zhao Shuyu did not answer.

"Her Majesty comes from the direct line of the Zhao family in Jiangnan. She has been married into the royal family for over twenty years and has been guarding the Zhao family's gate in the capital. Her Majesty helped build more than half of the Zhao family's connections, spies, and relationships in the court. Even when Nangong Jin went to Jiangnan to seek refuge with the Zhao family, it was Her Majesty who paved the way and wrote the letter."

"Your Majesty has done so much for the Zhao family, but how has the Zhao family repaid Your Majesty?" Lin Yi put down his teacup, took out a letter from his sleeve, and placed it on the table.

Zhao Shuyu glanced down at the letter.

The bamboo paper was sealed with sealing wax and had a small stamp on it.

Her eyes widened suddenly.

Because that stamp was a private seal used exclusively by the Zhao family's inner quarters, and only the direct descendants could use it.

"This letter was sent to the capital by Zhao Boduan last month," Lin Yi said. "The messenger couldn't find me, so he went to Sun Fu. Sun Fu then handed it over to me."

Zhao Boduan was Zhao Tiande's eldest son and Zhao Shuyu's younger brother.

When she entered the palace, Zhao Boduan was only ten years old. Although they haven't been in much contact over the years, they always exchange letters during festivals.

In her heart, Zhao Boduan and she had a good relationship.

But now, the letter from his younger brother isn't for him, but for Lin Yi?

"May I read it to Your Majesty?"

Zhao Shuyu looked at the letter, pursed her lips, and said, "Read it."

Lin Yi opened the letter; it was short, only about a hundred words.

The gist of the proposal is this: Zhao Boduan, representing the Zhao family, is willing to "turn hostility into friendship" with the Regent. However, there are three conditions: First, the Zhao family's businesses and private armies in Jiangnan will not be interfered with by the court. Second, the Zhao family will pay a fixed amount of taxes to the capital annually as a sign of sincerity. Third, the Zhao family is willing to cooperate with the Regent in making a personnel reshuffle in the capital.

The so-called personnel adjustment refers to replacing the person in Kunning Palace.

Zhao Boduan's original words in the letter were: "That person in Kunning Palace has been in the inner palace for a long time, and her actions are often inappropriate, which is not what the Zhao family wants. If Your Highness has this intention, the Zhao family is willing to prioritize the overall situation and not obstruct it."