Xia Houlie looked at her confident look, flashed his stern eyes, and sneered, "What are your conditions?"

"It's very simple." She stared at the burning palace candle on the copper bottle not far away, and said calmly, "When you eradicate the Yun family and secure the throne, please give me a piece of imperial edict to abolish the queen.

Let me leave the palace."

"You!" Xia Houlie's expression changed, he slapped the table hard, stood up and stared at Mu Qingwan in front of him.

She turned her head to meet his gaze without fear, and said leisurely:

"Between Jiangshan and Qingwan, which one is more important, the emperor must have made a judgment in his mind."

Xia Houlie felt so oppressed and uncomfortable that his chest felt tight, as if he had been hit hard by a heavy hammer. After a long while, he said weakly:

"Am I so intolerable to you?"

Mu Qingwan also stood up, reached out and slowly put the untouched meals on the table back into the food box one by one, and said lightly:

"It's not that it's unbearable, it's that we are not suitable at all. What I want in my heart, the emperor cannot give me."

"What do you want?"

"I want to have the same person, and we will stay together forever. What I want is monogamy, equality between men and women. If a husband has me as his wife, he cannot marry anyone else. The emperor is the king of a country. This is what you can never give me.

.”

She closed the lid of the food box, and the sound of "knock--" was particularly loud in the quiet hall, but it seemed like a huge weight fell on Xia Houlie's heart, "To be honest, I have been in the royal family since I was a child.

, I am used to seeing those intrigues and fights, life and death. I think I am not suitable for this kind of life. Qingwan’s biggest wish in this life is to travel around the world, go boating in rivers and lakes, and live a life of freedom." She looked at him and said word by word: "And

None of this has anything to do with this palace."

He put his hands on the desk to barely calm down his turbulent emotions. Listening to her calm voice, he felt so powerless for the first time.

"If I don't agree, will you not continue to treat the imperial grandmother?"

Mu Qingwan was startled when she heard this, and a flash of disbelief flashed in her eyes. She had never thought about this at all. She didn't expect that her sincerity towards the old lady would be so misunderstood by him. She was so upset that she couldn't bear it. She originally wanted to refute

The words were swallowed immediately.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly sneered, with a hint of desolation in his laughter, "Mu Qingwan, I really didn't expect you to be such a scheming woman. You tried so hard to win over the emperor's grandmother, and then took advantage of her illness.

Blackmail, come and negotiate terms with me. I have to say that you are really smart and ruthless. It is in vain that the Queen Mother values ​​you so much and specifically asked me to treat you well and not to get angry with you because of something like Prime Minister Mo.

, and you are actually just using her."

Mu Qingwan felt astringent in her heart and opened her mouth to explain, but in the end she was speechless. He already hated her, so how could he believe her? The explanation was nothing but self-humiliation.

When she didn't speak, it was an acquiescence. His heart felt like it was being torn apart by a hand, and he was so suffocated that he clenched his fingers unconsciously. He was afraid that he would strangle her to death if he lost control.

"Then will the Emperor agree or not? The Empress Dowager's illness can no longer be delayed."

Since he has already determined in his heart that she is a woman with a snake-like heart, he is afraid that no matter how kind she behaves, he will label her as hypocritical and simply let him misunderstand her.

Xia Houlie smiled sarcastically, his cold eyes piercing her body like needles. He stretched out his hand to pinch her chin and looked deeply into her eyes, "In the eyes of the queen, the imperial grandmother may be just a worthless person."

She has no negotiation tool, but in my heart, she is my dearest person in the world. Since the queen has already predicted that I will agree, why bother asking more questions in a pretentious manner?"

Mu Qingwan clenched her fingers tightly, and her fingertips pricked the tender palm, but she could not feel any pain at all, "In that case, well, what you say is unfounded, I will bring the agreement tomorrow..."

"Get out! Get out of here right away!"

He interrupted her sharply and waved his hand. She was caught off guard and fell forward on the jade steps. Her legs hit the cold and hard white marble floor hard, breaking her skin and making her feel hot and uncomfortable.

Her knees hurt so much that it took her a long time to wake up from the dizziness. Then she held herself up and climbed up. She staggered a bit. She bit her lip to steady herself. Her lip was bitten and her mouth was filled with the taste of blood.

It made her wake up a lot, and she staggered toward the entrance of the palace despite the pain that was piercing her bones.

It wasn't until the staggering figure disappeared into the night that Xia Houlie let out a low roar and swept away all the mountains of memorials on the case to the ground.

"Boom -", a crisp sound sounded. He lowered his eyes and saw that it was the white jade porcelain bottle that Mu Qingwan had left just now. After he swung it down, it rolled around on the ground a few times, and then rolled again.

Come back and fall at his feet, shining with full brilliance in the candlelight.

He stared at it steadily for a while, then bent down to pick it up. He thought of Mu Qingwan's cold and decisive look just now. His eyes turned cold and he waved his hand to throw the porcelain bottle away, but it stopped suddenly in mid-air.

After a long time, I finally gave up.

*

Mu Qingwan didn't know how she walked back to Changxin Palace. She thought a lot along the way. She thought she would be very happy. After all, she could finally realize her wish and escape from this gorgeous prison far away without having to use it.

She was worried that he would use her father and mother to blackmail her later, but she found that she was not happy at all.

Thinking of being misunderstood by Xia Houlie just now, she became angry. Did this damn man think he knew her well?

She only helped the old lady to treat her illness because she liked her. It had nothing to do with whether she was the Queen Mother or not. Why did he say that to her and misunderstand her so much?!

Damn stinky man! Arrogant! Big tyrant!

Along the way, she kicked the gravel under her feet far away as if to vent her anger, while cursing bitterly.

"Ouch--" A cry of pain was heard not far away, and Mu Qingwan was shocked. Could it be that the kicked stone hit someone?

I'm really unlucky today!

Sighing, she limped forward quickly, only to see a young eunuch covering his face and looking around, as if looking for the culprit.

As soon as the little eunuch saw her, he immediately shouted in surprise: "The Queen."

Mu Qingwan took a closer look and saw that it was the alley responsible for cleaning the Changxin Palace, and she was holding a medicine basket in her hand.

"Xiaoluzi, why are you here so late?"

"Your Majesty, you are back. Today, Concubine Yun sent someone to Changxin Palace to invite Concubine to attend the crab and chrysanthemum banquet. Unexpectedly, Concubine Yun is not here. Sister Mo Ge and Sister Biying don't know where you are. Concubine Yun said that they are slaves.

, to actually neglect the master in this way, and to say that the empress disappeared in such a secret, is simply an insult to the royal family, and forced the two sisters to reveal the whereabouts of the empress. The two sisters refused to know, so she rewarded them with several big rewards and even

Locked up in the darkroom."

Xiaoluzi's eyes turned red as he spoke, and Mu Qingwan was horrified, "Is there such a thing?"

Suddenly I remembered the faint crying I heard in the cave this afternoon. No wonder it was so familiar. It was Mo Ge and Bi Ying who were being beaten by Concubine Yun.

"Then how are they doing now? Are they still being imprisoned by Concubine Yun?" Mu Qingwan asked as she hurriedly walked to Changxin Palace, not caring about the injury on her leg.

Seeing that she had difficulty walking, Xiaoluzi quickly helped her, "But don't worry, my dear, the emperor has released the two sisters and called the imperial doctor to treat their injuries." As he said this, he raised the medicine basket in his hand.

, "Well, I just went to the Tai Hospital to help them get medicine."

Mu Qingwan turned around in surprise, "Your Majesty?"

"Yes, the emperor said that he spent the whole day with the empress, and even scolded Concubine Yun."

Xiaoluzi was overjoyed that his master was valued by the emperor, "Concubine Yun Gui most likely couldn't bear it that the empress had snatched her position as queen, and now she is taking revenge for personal gain."

Mu Qingwan said quickly: "Shut up, can you talk nonsense like this outside? Be careful of trouble coming from your mouth."

Xiao Luzi quickly stopped talking, "Yes, this slave deserves to die!"

"From now on, you must be careful in your words and deeds in the palace. If something happens, even if I am the queen, I can't protect you."

Xiaoluzi nodded in agreement.

Back at Changxin Palace, Mo Ge and Bi Ying were lying on the bed and humming softly. Mu Qingwan walked over and took a look at their wounds, and couldn't help but gasp. This Concubine Yun was so cruel.

His skin and flesh were torn apart by such a heavy hand.

Biying started crying as soon as she saw her, "Empress..."

Mu Qingwan felt sad when she saw their appearance, "Good Biying, it's all me who has caused trouble for you."

After comforting them carefully, and checking the medicine prescribed by the hospital, and confirming that there was nothing wrong, Mu Qingwan told them to take good care of themselves, then stood up and left.

After taking care of the wound on her leg, she went to the study room, took out pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and began to think.

Although she was angry with Xia Houlie for misunderstanding her, she had reached an agreement with him after all. She could not break her promise if she promised to help him regain power. What's more, he also saved Mo Ge and Bi Ying. She should also know how to repay the kindness.

yes.

The space she is in now is an alien space that is different from the orthodox history of China. Ancient Chinese history was only inherited here until the end of the Western Han Dynasty. Later, it went through several dynasty changes over more than a thousand years before the current political situation was formed.

pattern.

The national systems implemented by the Western Chu, Northern Yan, Nanling, and Eastern Mo countries were all inherited from the Western Han Dynasty, and there were not many changes. If we look at orthodox history, this time should have already reached the Tang Dynasty.

Although she has traveled through time and has five thousand years of Chinese history and civilization in her head, as well as modern scientific and technological knowledge, she does not want to deliberately change anything. She only hopes that everything will follow the original development rules of this space, so

She has never shown any political strategy in front of her father, the emperor, and her mother. She has always been a carefree and carefree princess.

Now, in order to protect Xichu and for her own freedom, she had to use the knowledge of her previous life to help Xia Houlie gain power, so that he could let Xichu go as promised, let his father, the queen, and the queen go, and let himself go.

Her undergraduate degree was in law, and her graduate studies were mainly focused on the study of Chinese legal history. Therefore, she is familiar with the history of China's legal development and the administrative and judicial systems of past dynasties. A political system that is too advanced may not be as backward as this one.

Feudal society did not match it, so she could only choose the advanced system in feudal society.

According to the current national conditions of Beiyan, the three-province-six-ministry system and the imperial examination system of the Tang Dynasty are most suitable.

After clarifying her thoughts, she drew the power checks and balances structure of the three provinces and six ministries as well as the process of the imperial examination system from the Tongsheng Examination to the Palace Examination so that Xia Houlie could understand it at a glance. She also wrote down the agreement they reached today in sections.

, copied two copies, signed them myself, and prepared to give them to Xia Houlie to have them stamped tomorrow.

After taking care of these things, it was already midnight. She put away the drawings and agreements, yawned, and was about to fall asleep when Chu Yunxiu walked in.

Seeing her closing the door, Mu Qingwan looked like she had something to say, so she quickly put on the clothes she had taken off, walked to the table and sat down, "Aunt Chu, do you have anything else to do so late?"
To be continued...