After being reborn, the aloof prime minister was once again forced by a tyrant.

As Xiao Jingyuan stepped out of the vermilion threshold of Tingxue Pavilion, the morning dew dampened the hem of his robe. Still throbbing from a hangover, his head throbbed, and he gathered his disheveled clothes before staggering toward the Imperial Study.

"Your Majesty! You're finally back!"

Gao An's voice came from the other end of the palace road, sounding somewhat urgent, as he jogged to meet him.

Upon seeing Xiao Jingyuan's appearance, he suddenly stopped, his eyes widening like saucers, his mouth agape enough to fit an egg, and he froze on the spot.

The man before me—his hair was mostly disheveled, his dragon robe was wrinkled as if he had just been pulled out of a wine jar, and several dried tear stains on his face reflected the morning light. He bore not a trace of an emperor.

Xiao Jingyuan frowned: "What are you looking at?"

"N-nothing, nothing!" Gao An hurriedly lowered his head.

Xiao Jingyuan glanced at him and walked straight ahead.

Gao An chased after him, and as soon as he got close, he was almost choked by the strong smell of alcohol. He quickly held his breath and leaned back.

Xiao Jingyuan strode towards the imperial study without stopping, with Gao An following behind. He lowered his voice and said cautiously, "Your Majesty, today is a day off from court. Would you like to go back to your palace for a bath first?"

Xiao Jingyuan stopped and turned around, his eyes, still slightly narrowed from a hangover, squinting slightly: "You despise me?"

"This servant wouldn't dare!" Gao An waved his hands repeatedly in fright, then took a half step forward, lowered his voice, and put on an expression that was both nervous and unable to hide his gossip. "This servant dares to ask—Your Majesty, did you stay in Tingxue Pavilion all night looking like this?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

Gao An's eyes lit up instantly. He straightened up, his gossipy expression turning into wild joy. He slapped his thighs with both hands, his voice rising several decibels: "Great joy! Your Majesty! That you, in your current state, could stay overnight at Tingxue Pavilion is truly a momentous occasion!"

Xiao Jingyuan was taken aback by his sudden excitement, then straightened his face and said, "What nonsense are you talking about!"

"This servant is not lying!" Gao An hurriedly defended himself, his tone so certain as if he were stating an irrefutable fact. "This servant has served Lord Xie for so long and knows that Lord Xie is very clean. He even personally wipes away a fallen leaf that lands on the stone table. He changes his sleeping clothes every day, and the palace is spotless."

He paused, chuckled awkwardly, and mustered his courage to continue, "In your current state—if it were anyone else, let alone staying overnight at Tingxuexuan, they would be chopped into seven or eight pieces and thrown out to feed the dogs as soon as they entered the door."

Xiao Jingyuan opened his mouth as if to say something, but his Adam's apple bobbed up and down, and he said nothing.

He coughed lightly, then put on a stern face and adopted an imperial air: "Alright, enough with the gossip. Have all the official documents in the Imperial Study been prepared?"

"Everything is sorted out, categorized by importance and urgency," Gao An replied hastily, then couldn't help but add, "But Your Majesty, are you really not going back to wash up first? The way you look... if Lord Xie sees you, it will be quite damaging to your imperial dignity."

Xiao Jingyuan: "..."

"You don't need to say anything, I'll go myself!"

Xiao Jingyuan returned to his palace and stood in front of the bronze mirror.

One glance was enough to make me feel like the sky was falling.

His imperial majesty and heroic image were completely lost in front of Xie Qinglan.

He actually walked around in front of Xie Qinglan for so long looking like that.

No wonder Xie Qinglan stared at him for so long. He didn't understand that look at the time, but now that he thinks about it—was she trying to suppress a laugh?

Xiao Jingyuan suddenly covered his face, letting out a suppressed wail: "It's over...it's all over..."

In the afternoon, Xiao Jingyuan tidied himself up again, his dragon robe was straight, his hair was neatly styled, and his face regained its cold and indifferent imperial majesty.

Only Gao An knew that his emperor had spent a full hour fussing over himself in front of the bronze mirror, changing his robes several times before he was finally satisfied.

When Ling Feng requested an audience, Xiao Jingyuan was sitting behind his desk reviewing memorials. Ling Feng's expression was even more stern than usual, with a barely perceptible furrow between his brows. After kneeling on one knee to pay his respects, he went straight to the point: "Your Majesty, the source of the bribery case has been traced. The silver used to bribe court officials flowed out from the palace of Consort Xian."

Xiao Jingyuan put down his vermilion pen and looked up.

"The person in charge was Cuilan, the personal maid of Consort Xian. But when we arrived at Consort Xian's palace last night, Cuilan was already dead in the woodshed of the side hall. There were ligature marks on her neck, which appeared to be suicide by hanging, but the autopsy revealed that the direction of the fractured trachea was wrong—she was strangled from behind and then hung up to make it look like a suicide by hanging."

Xiao Jingyuan was silent for a moment. Consort Xian. He searched his mind for a long time before he remembered her—she had been in the palace for many years, obedient and well-behaved, never standing out. His impression of her was as bland as a glass of water.

But Cuilan was Consort Xian's personal maid, and the silver flowed out of her palace. Cuilan was also silenced after the incident. All the clues pointed to Consort Xian, which made perfect sense.

"What was Consort Xian's reaction?"

"Consort Xian claims she knew nothing about it and is crying out for justice in the palace."

Consort Xian is weak-willed and timid; even if she had ten times the courage, she wouldn't dare to bribe court officials to target Xie Qinglan. There must be someone else behind this.

Xiao Jingyuan tapped his fingertips lightly on the armrest, making a soft "tap-tap" sound, before speaking after a long pause: "Issue my decree: Consort Xian has failed to properly discipline her servants, which has implicated her in this case. She is hereby confined to Jingren Palace and is not to leave without an imperial edict. Continue the investigation and find out who is behind it all."

"Yes!" Ling Feng responded and withdrew.

When the news reached Tingxuexuan, Xie Qinglan was sitting under the crabapple tree, flipping through a book. Gao An stood beside him and carefully recounted the results Ling Feng had found. When he mentioned that Consort Xian had been confined to her quarters, Xie Qinglan's fingers stopped turning the pages.

"Consort Xian?"

These two words floated lightly on the wind, carrying no emotion whatsoever, but Gao An felt as if his foot had been burned by a red-hot iron. He staggered forward half a step, his voice trembling with urgency:

"Lord Xie, please don't overthink it!"

He wrung his hands anxiously, speaking rapidly like a machine gun, "His Majesty did take in some concubines before, but they were all forced in by those old ministers according to ancestral rules! They said that the continuation of the royal family was of paramount importance, and they knelt at the entrance of the Hall of Supreme Harmony for three days and three nights. His Majesty couldn't persuade them otherwise, so he closed his eyes and randomly picked a few names to fill the quota. Who knows what they even looked like!"

Xie Qinglan calmly raised his eyes. Gao An felt a chill run down his spine from that gaze, so he steeled himself and spoke even faster: "This servant swears on his life! His Majesty has been on the throne for ten whole years, and those concubines in the harem, let alone serving him in bed, have never even seen His Majesty's face more than three times! His Majesty never goes to the harem; after court, he's either glued to the Imperial Study reviewing memorials or practicing martial arts in the training grounds. Taking Consort Ning was only for the sake of diplomatic relations between the two countries; His Majesty's heart—"

He suddenly stopped, not daring to continue.

Xie Qinglan lowered her eyes, her fingertips gently tracing the cool surface of the teacup. After a long while, she spoke, her voice still calm and indifferent, revealing neither joy nor anger: "I know."

He closed the book and placed it on the stone table, then looked up at Gao An, his tone unwavering and resolute: "It's not Consort Xian. Go tell His Majesty to release her."

Gao An was taken aback: "Lord Xie, you're so sure it's not her without even asking Consort Xian?"

"No one would be foolish enough to send their personal maid to do such a thing." Xie Qinglan stood up, straightened her cuffs, and turned to walk out of the courtyard gate.

Gao An took two steps to catch up: "Lord Xie, where are you going?"

"Just taking a walk."

Xie Qinglan didn't go to just any random place. He walked through the palace road, turned into the alley, and went straight to Chang Le Palace.

Inside the hall, Pei Yuning was sitting in front of a bronze mirror, drawing her eyebrows. Her movements were unhurried, her fingertips holding the end of the eyebrow pencil, drawing each stroke with exquisite detail.

The bronze mirror reflected half of her beautiful profile; the corners of her lips were slightly upturned, and she seemed to be in a good mood.

Hearing footsteps, she looked up and saw the person in the mirror. Her eyebrow pencil paused for a moment, then she continued drawing, her smile deepening.

"Brother Qinglan! What brings you here? Did you come to see Ning'er?" She put down her eyebrow pencil and turned around, her face showing just the right amount of surprise, like a younger sister who had been neglected for too long and was finally waiting for her brother to visit.

Xie Qinglan stood in the center of the hall, his moon-white brocade robe spotless. His gaze fell on her face, devoid of any warmth: "You're the one who silenced Cuilan."