Chapter 2136: Triple Agent Pt. 1

A while later, Rong Mo reported, “Your highness, Sir Bi has arrived.”

“Alright, have him wait in the study,” Bi Linglong said as she finally got up. She sorted out her clothes and hair, then walked out with a gloomy expression.

“I greet your highness.” Bi Qi, who had just raised his teacup in the study, hurriedly got up and greeted her when he saw her enter. Even though this was his own daughter, there were too many people in the palace, so he couldn't skip the necessary formalities.

Bi Linglong waved her hand and gestured for the others to leave for now. Then, she looked at him coldly and asked, “Did you go against the regent last night?”

Bi Qi didn’t respond to her question; instead, he asked, “Is there really something between you and the regent?”

Bi Linglong was embarrassed, but there weren't any actual changes in her expression as she replied, “No. You still haven’t answered my question.” Her relationship with Zu An was something she couldn't tell even her own father.

Bi Qi gave her a suspicious look for a moment and said, “It would be best if there isn’t. After all, you are the mother of the empire, so you shouldn’t be doing something that will make the whole world mock you.”

“I don’t need to listen to your lecturing.” Bi Linglong coldly cut him off. “Why would his majesty speak like this?”

“That’s something I'm not too clear on. I'll look into it,” Bi Qi replied.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

“Then what about the regent? Did you do all of that yesterday to target him?” Bi Linglong stared into his eyes.

Bi Qi said with a smile, “Our target is naturally the Liu clan. Why would it be the regent?”

“Really?” Bi Linglong frowned. She was a bit suspicious.

“Of course. Your dad still hasn’t become so confused that he wouldn’t understand that. There's no need for you to overthink it either. Now that we’ve eliminated the Liu clan overnight, from today on, you have the last say in the palace. There will no longer be an empress dowager to constantly nitpick from the side. Our Bi clan will also replace the Liu clan outside and become the world’s most influential clan. You should be happy.” Bi Qi’s mood was quite good. They had schemed for a long time, but when the plan was put into action, they had achieved a complete victory.

“Even so, I can’t bring myself to feel happy at all,” Bi Linglong said coldly. “There's no next time for this kind of thing. Otherwise, don’t blame me for not cherishing our familial connection.”

“But of course. We’ve already won, so why would we need a next time?” Bi Qi said with a nod. However, even though that was what he said, there was still a hint of something else in the depths of his eyes.

Bi Linglong suddenly said, “That King Wu has too much ambition and is hard to guard against. You absolutely can't let all of this end up just benefiting him instead.”

Strictly speaking, Bi Qi’s plans didn’t have too much of an effect of her interests, and it had even eliminated that annoying empress dowager for her. But if King Wu wanted to do something, that could end up changing her entire world. At that point, would she even have her position as the empress left?

“Don’t worry, father was only using him to deal with the Liu clan. We’ll let him have fun for a bit, and then slowly deal with him after.” Bi Qi had a mysterious expression.

Bi Linglong said with a cold laugh, “I hope that you really do have some plan and things don’t end up getting out of hand.”

...

Meanwhile. in the Sang manor, Aunt Mu and Sang Qien were both extremely nervous. They sighed in relief when they saw Sang Hong’s peaceful return.

“Just what happened last night?” Sang Qien and Zheng Dan couldn't help but ask

“Most likely, Bi Qi allied with the dissatisfied members of the royal family, additionally coordinating with the vassal kings King Wu and King Yi to conspire against the Liu clan. The Liu clan is already completely finished.” Sang Hong recalled the empress dowager and couldn't help but say, “Now that the court has already made their decision on the matter, saying that it was the empress dowager who colluded with the Liu clan in rebellion, there's no way for her to continue being the empress dowager from now on. Keeping her is really just holding a hot potato. In my opinion, we should silently get rid of her.”

The Liu clan’s three brothers had all been beheaded, and their trusted aides and descendants were all either killed or captured. Only a few had successfully escaped, so there was almost no chance for them to cause much trouble. Even if the empress dowager recovered to her strongest, she was already powerless to change things. If they still continued to shelter her, that would only carry tremendous risk.

Sang Qien immediately refused. “No way! Let alone the fact that the Liu clan was innocent to begin with this time, purely based on her relationship with... with big brother Zu, we can't just watch without doing anything.”

Even though she'd already had a night to think about things, when she thought about how big brother Zu and the empress dowager had a thing, she still felt that it was explosive news.

When he saw how firmly his daughter insisted on defending the empress dowager for the sake of her lover, Sang Hong felt a huge headache. After thinking to himself for a bit, he couldn't help but say, “There’s something that I feel would be best if I informed the two of you about...”

Then, he told them about how in the morning court session, the emperor had accused Zu An of bullying the empress.

After hearing about all that, Sang Qien and Zheng Dan were full of questions, leaving them completely petrified.

Only after quite some time did Sang Qien snap out of her daze, asking, “Could it be that someone is trying to start a scandal? That they’re just trying to slander big brother Zu?”

She had met the empress before in the past. When she was still just the crown princess, she had already been the idol of countless young ladies. Not only was she a cultivation genius, every movement she made exuded the bearing of a distinguished and virtuous lady. Almost all of the clans had used her as a role model to educate their own daughters. It really was difficult to imagine that a woman so perfect would do something so disgraceful.

Wait, but if it was big brother Zu though...

Sang Hong gave his daughter a sympathetic look. His daughter had always been intelligent, but why did she always seem to have nothing but emotions in her head whenever it came to Zu An? After some hesitation, he decided to still explain in a more tactful manner, “That is indeed a possibility. Although, based on what we know now... The empress is still young and Ah Zu is both handsome and outstanding. Forget about that stupid emperor, even compared to the geniuses among her peers... Sigh, no, no one can compare to him.

“It would be one thing if Ah Zu just had high cultivation and was handsome, but more importantly, he knows how to please women...” Sang Hong couldn't help but give Sang Qien and Zheng Dan a look as he spoke. Both of their faces turned red.

Sigh, there are living examples right in front of me...

He then continued, “And that’s why it isn’t completely unexpected that the empress might have had a relationship with him.”

Sang Qien opened her mouth and was about to defend her lover, but she didn’t know what to say.

Zheng Dan harrumphed and said, “There’s no need to guess anymore. The two of them definitely have something.”

Sang Qien asked curiously, “How are you so sure?”

“I understand him too well.” Zheng Dan didn’t sound too happy. “That guy is a walking stud. As long as he sees someone who's pretty, there’s no woman he won’t dare to touch.” Back then, the same thing had happened to her, after all...

Sang Qien said with a deep sigh, “You’re right. Big brother Zu is good in every other way, but he's just a bit too fickle.”

“Is it really just a bit?” Zheng Dan’s voice raised an octave. “He even dared to touch the empress dowager, and now the empress...”

Suddenly, she was a bit stunned.

Something doesn't seem to be right here.

Sang Qien also realized something and asked with a strange expression, “Do you think the empress and the empress dowager know about Zu An’s relationship with the other side?”

Sang Hong was also stunned. He had actually forgotten to consider that!

Zheng Dan’s eyes immediately widened and shone brightly as she exclaimed, “They might! After all, the empress and the empress dowager have fought so much over so many things and are on the verge of strangling each other. Maybe it was all over jealousy for Ah Zu!”

Sang Qien shook her head and said, “No, before big brother Zu entered the capital, one was still the crown princess while the other was still the empress, and they already didn’t get along. It doesn’t have anything to do with big brother Zu.”

“Why?” Zheng Dan asked.

“It really is hard for me to imagine that a perfect woman like the empress would act with such viciousness against the empress if she knew about this level of relationship,” Sang Qien said while thinking to herself. “And I also trust big brother Zu’s judgment. He probably wouldn’t look for women who are too malicious.”

“Have you completely lost your head over love? How can you use something like that as a reason?” Zheng Dan replied, dumbfounded. Still, even though that was what she said, she still acknowledged Sang Qien's analysis. Actually, to a certain degree, she also had a strange sense of trust toward Zu An.

“The various signs from the court seem to show that neither side knew about this level of relationship,” Sang Hong said, having thought through the things that happened and reached a conclusion. “The main issue now is... Should we tell the empress dowager about this?”

The two women's expressions immediately changed drastically when they heard the question.