Chapter 69: Why Didn’t You Kill Me First? (I)

Although Long Xiaoyuan still thought it was a little strange, Liu Xiangyang’s investigation showed that it was just a coincidence! Liu checked it several times and even asked some people separately, but the result was still the same.

In the end, Long had to come to the conclusion that he was just overthinking it!

After dealing with the affairs in the Imperial Study, he thought that Shi Qingzhou wouldn’t finish his business so soon.

Therefore, he drank a cup of tea leisurely and thought about several countermeasures for the defense and security affairs of Qiankun Palace. He ordered the Shadow Guardians to implement them before leaving.

There were guards around Qiankun Palace during the day, but Shadow Guardians weren’t usually there.

The guards wouldn’t dare to stop Lady Shan in broad daylight because they were not qualified.

However, if Shadow Guardians were doing their duty under the order of the emperor, they would be qualified to stop anyone!

Thus, Long Xiaoyuan sent two Shadow Guardians to Qiankun Palace.

They would guard there in shifts for 12 hours every day so that Qiankun Palace wouldn’t be under no one’s protection again like that.

After that, Long went back to Shi’s place. Shi hadn’t come back as expected.

But the eunuchs and maids who were sent by him to work had all returned.

Long asked them some questions, but found nothing special.

Liu Xiangyang also said that there was nothing suspicious. Even though all those people said that everything was all alright, Long still felt that it was weird. Was he having a persecutory delusion?

Or were all the emperors paranoid by nature since ancient times? Was he also like that even if he was reborn as an emperor?

At last, Long couldn’t do anything but sigh.

Since Shi hadn’t returned, Long took a nap.

Finally, when Long woke up, Shi had come back!

“Your Majesty, are you tired?” Seeing that Long was resting there, Shi asked immediately.

Long shook his head. “No, I’m not. It’s just that because you were not around and nobody talked to me, I was a bit bored. By the way, how is your business going?”

Shi smiled. “It started well, but a talent can’t be made overnight. Besides, I’ve got a little information that I wanted.”

“Oh?” Long was really surprised and admired his empress a lot.

“You’ve made him surrender in such a short while?”

Shi smiled slightly. “It’s much easier to talk to smart people, but you must have the ability to control them. Otherwise, it will backfire.”

Long kept silent, and then he waved his hand. “Qingzhou, you’re definitely the smartest person in the world. Don’t you worry about that.”

After hearing his words, Shi looked at him with a smile while saying, “Your Majesty, you have so much confidence in me?”

“Of course!” Long nodded with great force. “If I don’t have confidence in my sweetheart, who else can I have confidence in in this world?”

Though those love words… were a bit dramatic, they indeed had a good effect because Shi really liked hearing such words.

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Long was very satisfied with that.

Two days later, Hu Qingyuan arrived.

It could be said that Hu had been travel-worn after a long journey from the remote place just because of the transfer order of Long Xiaoyuan.

However, apart from the emperor’s order, Hu also received the secret words of the empress Shi Qingzhou, so he was very willing to come.

Since all the common people in the nation knew what kind of person Long was in the past, all the officials knew that even better.

So Hu Qingyuan naturally knew that!

It was all because the emperor was so fatuous and the ministers always tried to squeeze Hu out. Besides, Hu was unwilling to change his own principles. Otherwise, how could he be reduced to such a situation with the result of ranking third in the palace examination?

If not for that, he wouldn’t have been disappointed in the emperor and… Alright, he accepted the empress’ solicitation.

He knew the relationship between the empress and the emperor.

Hu was never a fool and even had already made the worst plan. He guessed that the empress would replace the emperor someday.

On that day, if he succeeded, he would be a meritorious statesman for the new emperor.

If not, his whole clan would be killed!

In fact, he knew that clearly. Fortunately, although he had a family, he wasn’t encumbered by a big clan.

He didn’t have many family members. His mother had passed away and he had only a wife and a son left. If that day really came, he would help his wife and child settle down first, regardless of success or failure.

He would ask them to go to a faraway place and live in anonymity for a lifetime.

In fact, he had thought about that.

Over those days, he heard some rumors about the emperor’s sudden favor for the empress. He also learned that the empress was made a general to lead the army to the battlefield!

Hu Qingyuan was worried about that. He thought that the sudden favor was actually a sign that the emperor was about to take action. The empress was a smart person and he must have known that.

Even when the empress was on the march, he was also mentally prepared. He thought Shi family would lead the army to revolt!

However, he hadn’t expected that Shi was really conferred the title of empress and then came back to the capital!

Seeing that the emperor and the empress were living in harmony at the moment, he wondered if it was true that the two supreme men had really ended up being together.

Was it possible?

For a moment, many things flashed through Hu Qingyuan’s mind, but eventually, he calmed himself down.

Long Xiaoyuan met Hu in the Imperial Study. Shi Qingzhou was also there.

From some interaction between the two men, Hu found… they seemed to be really intimate!

For example, the empress ground ink for the emperor.

When there was no tea in the emperor’s cup, the empress filled it before the emperor had realized it.

After the empress stood there for a long time, the emperor asked him to sit down and he even moved the chair himself.

When the empress didn’t drink tea, the emperor seemed to be afraid that he’d be thirsty and handed over his own cup to him. Then, the empress just naturally took it and drank the tea.

All of those details showed that the emperor and empress really had an intimate relationship! They were really intimate!

That was what Hu found by himself when he was reporting his duties.

In the end, he left almost in a daze.