Young Master Gao? Call me Little Grand Secretary!

As night fell, Gao Qiu returned to his residence.

As the Commander of the Palace Guard, he was very busy. In addition to training the Imperial Guards, he was also in charge of the palace guards and oversaw all the guards in the palace.

During this time, he was busy dealing with the funeral arrangements of a foolish woman!

Empress Dowager Chongen, the current emperor's sister-in-law and the wife of Emperor Zhezong, is arrogant and conceited because she thought she had defeated Empress Meng.

He even shamelessly commented on Empress Zhangxian Mingsu, saying that she lacked courage and should have rolled up her turban and faced the officials directly!

Is that something you should say? With your brain and that foul mouth, you think you can be Wu Zetian?

The Emperor fell ill recently, and she became even more audacious, attempting to rule from behind the curtain...

The emperor was so frightened that he even armed the palace guards outside the gate with swords and told them that anyone who entered without permission would be killed without mercy!

Not long after, the Emperor told his ministers about her "immoral" affairs and wanted to depose her. Cai Jing, that old fox, was cunning and said that there were many construction projects in the palace and mistakes were inevitable, so it was no big deal!

Fearing that the Emperor might not understand, He Zhizhong bluntly told him to send more people around the Empress Dowager to prevent her from committing suicide out of fear and causing the Emperor to bear the name of killing his sister-in-law!

These scholars are truly wicked! The man died that very night!

Gao Qiu pondered the mark on the neck for a long time before realizing it was caused by the curtain hook that hung the bed curtains...

No one would think of using this thing to commit suicide!

They came up with the idea quickly, but Gao Qiu had a hard time not only cleaning up the mess but also covering up the news!

Sigh! Working with a bunch of treacherous officials is exhausting!

Fortunately, nothing went wrong. Once the person is buried in Yongtai Mausoleum next month, everything will be fine!

This can be considered as a reunion between her and Emperor Zhezong!

I wonder if Emperor Zhezong would kill her again if he knew about her affair with Shan He?

As Gao Qiu pondered this, he returned to his room. Upon entering, he saw his old wife sitting sideways. When she saw him return, she snorted and turned her head away.

He wanted to curse out loud right then and there. He's so old, yet he's still acting like a young girl with a haughty attitude!

If you had used this trick twenty years ago, it would have made this old man's heart itch with desire, and he wouldn't have been able to resist. But if you did it now, it would be disgusting!

"What are you doing now!" Gao Qiu sat down in the hall, already regretting that he had been distracted on the way and had accidentally come here!

"Me, causing trouble?" The old wife sneered, her tone sarcastic. "You should ask your brother what he's up to! If we hadn't stopped him, he would have barged into the inner quarters!"

"What brother..." Gao Qiu was taken aback, then realized who she was talking about, and frowned, "How many times have I told you, Gao Zhao was raised by our own hands, and he has Gao family blood, so he's our son!"

The old wife scoffed, "You're willing to acknowledge him as your son, but I'm not willing to be his mother!"

Gao Qiu grew increasingly impatient: "Isn't it all because your womb is useless? Otherwise, I wouldn't have needed to beg my third uncle to adopt a child. Do you think I wanted to do this?"

His wife choked, about to retort, but seeing his expression, she held back and softened her tone, saying gently, "I'm not saying we can't have children, but you have to adopt a good one. Listen to his reputation outside—a playboy. Is that a good person's reputation?"

Gao Qiu's face was ashen, and he said calmly, "My Gao family has few descendants. Who do you think should be adopted?"

"If we don't have one from our clan, we can look elsewhere!" The old wife immediately beamed. "My brother's family just had a son. He's handsome and looks like a lucky child. We should..."

"That's enough!"

Gao Qiu roared and slammed his hand on the table with a loud bang, startling his wife, who exclaimed, "What are you doing?"

"What are you doing?" Gao Qiu stared coldly at her, his voice chilling. "I'm not dead yet, why are you all so impatient? Should I hand over my entire fortune to you right now!"

"What kind of talk is that! I only did this because I saw that Gao Zhao was a good-for-nothing playboy, incapable of achieving anything great..."

The older wife grew increasingly aggrieved as she spoke, and was about to sob a few more times to put some pressure on him when Gao Qiu said in a low voice, "The reason he's in this state is all thanks to you!"

"boom!"

Like a bolt of lightning striking from a clear sky, the old wife was stunned into silence, and after a long while, she finally managed to stammer, "You... what nonsense are you spouting..."

Gao Qiu's gaze towards her grew increasingly disgusted, yet he spoke calmly, "From the day you brought him here, you disliked him. On one hand, you isolated and neglected him within the household, and on the other hand, you allowed idle men outside to entice him into causing trouble!"

"He was filled with resentment, but when he went out, he discovered he could do whatever he wanted using my power, and naturally, he spiraled out of control!"

Gao Qiu remained expressionless and said calmly, "You think your methods are clever? You've forgotten my background. I did this kind of thing a lot when I was young, but I kept quiet to save you some face. But you've gone too far now!"

"You...you..." His wife looked at him in horror, trembling all over.

"Think it over carefully!" Gao Qiu, unwilling to say more, stood up and said, "Think about your identity. Do you want to be a noblewoman of the Gao family, or a daughter of the Guo family?"

"You...you want to divorce me!" The old wife was both shocked and furious, pointing at Gao Qiu as he walked out and yelling, "Now that you've gained power, you want to divorce your wife! You're ungrateful!"

Gao Qiu stopped, turned around, and coldly glanced at her, saying disdainfully, "I, Gao Qiu, owe my current position to the help of many people: Scholar Su, Prince Consort Wang, Liu Zhongwu—they have all been kind to me. But have I ever received even the slightest favor from your Guo family!"

"On the contrary, your Guo family has received many favors from the officials through me over the years!"

A mocking smile appeared on Gao Qiu's lips:

"Why don't you go ask your brothers? Tell them you're planning to divorce me, and see if they side with you, their good sister, or with me!"

"That's my own brother, of course he'll side with me!" The old wife raised an eyebrow and retorted, "And I observed three years of mourning for your mother, how dare you divorce me!"

Gao Qiu's face darkened again, and he said coldly, "You stupid and ignorant fool, Gao Zhao is my adopted son. Based on what you've done to him, if word gets out, do you have any other option but to hang yourself?"

The old woman froze, her face filled with terror. According to the rules of propriety, Gao Qiu might not be able to divorce her, but he could use those rules to force her to her death!

Gao Qiu was too lazy to waste any more words with her, so he flicked his sleeves and turned to leave.

After leaving the main room, Gao Qiu looked at the waning moon in the sky, feeling annoyed. He thought that he had made things clear to her today, and she would probably be more restrained in the future.

Tomorrow, we should summon Gao Zhao and give him a good talking-to to see if he can turn over a new leaf. Otherwise, we'll have to make other plans!

Meanwhile, Gao Zhao was cursing and swearing. He had spent the whole day wandering around the Gao family's house, only to be met with countless glares and a bag of money...

As expected of a family of treacherous officials, there isn't a single good person among them!

He then unbuttoned his clothes and began to study how this thing was worn. There were several layers inside and out, and he wondered if there were any rules or regulations. He was worried about wearing his underwear on the outside and making a fool of himself.

Just as he was engrossed in his work, the maid who had taken his money during the day suddenly burst in and began to take off her clothes as soon as she entered!

Gao Zhao quickly covered his chest, completely terrified!