Rebirth As a Fatuous and Self-indulgent Ruler

Translator: Storm in a Teacup

After Zhang Yuan went out, Long waved to Shi.

Shi still looked a little cold, but he went to Long and then sat on the edge of the bed.

He was very close to Long so that Long could reach him easily.

Seeing that Shi was so considerate, Long was very happy.

Moreover, Long also knew that his empress was only worried about him.

“Qingzhou.” Long took Shi’s hand and held it in his palm.

Shi puckered his lips. “What do you want to say? Let her go and find more clues?”

Long said softly, “Qingzhou, I just want to say that I’m not risking my own life. Anyway, if that woman has really done something, it’s too late for us to do anything now. It won’t be of any use even if we take her back. Besides, I don’t think that woman has the guts to do anything on her own.”

Hearing Long’s words, Shi pressed his lips together tightly.

Looking at Shi’s reaction, Long couldn’t help but speak more gently.

“Qingzhou, I know you worry about me, but the imperial doctors are also here, aren’t they? If there were any serious problems, they wouldn’t be unaware of them at all. Isn’t that right?”

“No”. Shi pursed his lips tightly. “There are thousands of toxins in the world. How can the imperial doctors know and detoxify all of them? If you have been poisoned, we should lose no time and get you treated right now. Things might change if we wait any longer. I know arresting that woman may alert others, but didn’t you also say that there would always be a way out? We don’t need to know what their conspiracy is. Now that we’ve found someone suspicious, we just need to arrest her and kill her.”

After a moment’s silence, Long couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

Long thought that he could convince Shi, but in the end, he was the one that had been convinced.

So, Long said with a wry smile, “Alright, Qingzhou, you win.”

Shi’s eyes brightened slightly and he lowered his head. “I’ll give the orders.”

The conversation between the two of them just happened in several minutes. So, in Zhang Yuan’s eyes, Shi came out of the room very soon and then the Shadow Guardians went to chase Lady Rou’s sedan chair quickly under Shi’s order…

About an hour later, Lady Rou was brought back.

Along with her was the maid who served her earlier in the sedan chair.

Originally, the maid could have left safely, but when Lady Rou saw the Shadow Guardians intercept her sedan chair at the place just a few miles away from her home, she glanced at the maid instinctively.

That glance was detected by the Shadow Guardians, so that maid was brought back together.

So, that maid hated Lady Rou’s guts.

However, she didn’t dare to run. What she could do at the moment was to deceive the emperor and the empress.

The maid hadn’t expected that the emperor would find them out so quickly and decide to take them back immediately. If they could return to Shen mansion…

Lady Rou and the maid were taken to Qiankun Palace, but Long wasn’t there.

It was Shi who was waiting for them there.

Shi could even make the people from the suicide squad confess. The guard from the Tianyin post had been put in prison. After Shi interrogated him, that man had confessed to everything, hadn’t he?

“Your Grace, may I ask why you called me back in such a hurry?” Lady Rou pretended to be confused and tried to make her voice sound calm.

However, Shi didn’t want to talk nonsense to her at all, so he said directly, “Hand in the handkerchief you used in the morning.”

Lady Rou’s face turned a little pale. Then, she smiled. “Your Grace, what did you say? You want the handkerchief I used in the morning? I changed another one when I went back. That one…”

“Search her,” Shi directly commanded.

Lady Rou panicked. “Your Grace! What crime did I commit? Ah…”

Lady Rou couldn’t speak anymore and gave a scream, because a eunuch and a maid had already controlled her and began to search her body.

The maid beside Lady Rou also panicked, because she knew there was something special hidden in Lady Rou’s clothes.

That thing was meant to be used after they arrived at Shen mansion, but…

Lady Rou struggled and cried out, but her cry was of no use at all.

Soon, the pack of powder that she hid in her pocket was found.

The little eunuch of Qiankun Palace immediately presented the powder to Shi. Then, Shi said lightly, “Doctor Zhang.”

Zhang Yuan went forward at once. “Your Grace.”

“Go and see what it is,” Shi said coldly.

“Yes!” Zhang left with the powder.

That maid’s expression changed a little. Then, she burst into violence and planned to slap Zhang in the face.

Zhang only felt that there was wind blowing in his ear… Then, he heard a groan.

The maid who planned to attack him flew backwards. A Shadow Guardian in black stood not far away from her. The next moment, the maid was caught by the Shadow Guardian.

When Lady Rou saw that maid had been defeated, she exclaimed again.

Looking at the maid who failed in the attack coldly, Shi said calmly, “Take her away and interrogate her. If she refuses to confess, then grant her wish, but don’t let her die too easily.”

“Yes!” The Shadow Guardian took the maid away immediately.

The maid’s pupils shrank greatly. She wanted to say something, but her jaw had been broken.

Lady Rou became powerless and fell to the ground just like a puppet…

At this moment, Shi turned his eyes to Lady Rou in a casual manner. It seemed that he didn’t care too much about her.

“Alright, it’s your turn to make the choice. You can tell us what you know now, or confess after being tortured, or be killed directly.”

Shi said that indifferently, just like when he told the Shadow Guardians to deal with that maid. It seemed that he was really making Lady Rou choose what she wanted and he didn’t care about her choice at all.

Lady Rou was not a courageous hero. As her body was shaking with fear, she cried out, “I’ll confess. I’ll confess to everything…”

Long was waiting quietly in the bedroom. He didn’t go to see how Shi was dealing with Lady Rou outside.

He only knew that his empress, his dear Qingzhou, would surely give him a satisfactory answer.

Sure enough. About an hour later, Shi came back.

Long stood up from the edge of the bed.

“It’s done?” Long went to Shi.

Shi walked quickly to Long. “Are you alright?”

Knowing what Shi meant, Long shook his head with a smile. “It’s okay. Don’t worry. I’m not so fragile.”

Shi pursed his lips, just watching Long silently.

Long sighed. He touched Shi’s hand and then held Shi’s wrist. “I’m fine.”

Shi said softly, “I got something from Shen Rou.”

“Hmm? Then tell me,” Long said at once.

Lady Rou was so scared that she told Shi everything she knew.

In fact, she already had a lover before she entered the palace, but that man didn’t have a good family background, so her parents didn’t allow her to marry that man. This story was quite a cliché.

What was interesting was that after she was sent to the palace and got the emperor’s favor, she found a way and let that man enter the palace, too. Moreover, that man just worked in her palace as a guard.

Although guards couldn’t appear in the harem at ordinary times, there were also guards on duty there.

In addition, because of the former emperor’s love and trust, Lady Rou and Lady Shan almost shared the power of controlling the harem.

Therefore, Lady Rou could date that man privately every two or three days.

Such a situation lasted for a long time.

However, since Long suddenly did not favor her later, her position in the harem was threatened. And just then, someone knew about her relationship with that guard.

That man threatened her through a maid, but Lady Rou did not know who that man actually was. She only vaguely knew that that was a quite powerful person.

The maid who had died used to serve Lady Rou. That night, some people went to threaten her again and asked her to do something. They talked in the room, but unexpectedly, it was known by her maid.

Lady Rou believed in her maid, but those people didn’t!

They ignored Lady Rou’s request and killed the maid directly. Lady Rou was really scared by them since then. Moreover, those people were afraid that Lady Rou was not loyal enough, so they also arrested her lover.

From then on, Lady Rou could only listen to them and do what they asked.

However, those people didn’t really ask Lady Rou to do anything, until recently…

This time, those people went to her again and gave her a silk handkerchief. They asked her to take it out in front of Long.

Besides, the illness of Lady Rou’s mother was also one of those people’s plots. It seemed that those people wanted to do something in her home, but she had no idea what they would do.

Those people asked her to do three things.

Firstly, Lady Rou must shake the silk handkerchief in front of Long and make sure that Long could smell the fragrance.

Secondly, Lady Rou must contact a person who was her distant cousin after returning to the mansion.

As for why she should contact her cousin, Lady Rou didn’t know. That maid said she would not tell her until they arrived.

Thirdly, Lady Rou must go to a temple after contacting her cousin. As for what to do in the temple, Lady Rou didn’t not know that, either.

The pack of powder was given by that maid, who told her that as long as she put the powder into the tea for her cousin, her mother would be saved.

Lady Rou was not close to that cousin of hers. After all, that was just one of her distant relatives. She didn’t know what the powder was, but even if it was extremely poisonous, she would like to trade her cousin’s life for her mother’s. Moreover, her lover was still under their control!

Anyway, she had no other choice at all, didn’t she?

That maid could also put the power in the tea by herself, right?

That was all that Lady Rou knew. As for who was the mastermind behind all of this… she knew nothing about it. Since that person knew her secrets, she had to obey!

Long raised his eyebrows after hearing Shi’s words.

“So… actually… I’ve always been cuckolded?” Although that person wasn’t him but the former emperor, they shared the same body, right? Long felt that… it was so disgusting!

He had always been cuckolded? Hearing that, Shi was stunned. Then, he felt a little helpless.

“Well, that’s right to some degree.”

Long curled his lips. “Look… I’m so stupid, aren’t I?”

Shi didn’t know what to say.

Long heaved a long sigh…