He Chuan quietly watched them mock each other and had no intention of interfering.

As expected, this group of King’s Family children was all scheming people.

Cai Lian held the beef tenderloin and watched with great interest. This was more interesting than watching the opera.

She recalled He Chuan’s previous teaching, “The human heart is the most difficult to fathom. Don’t be fooled by others’ appearance, so put away your unnecessary kindness.”

The scene in front of her now was precisely what that sentence meant.

If Lia had not taken the initiative to reveal her ambition, she would not have realized that the lovely Grassland Princess who surrounded her and called her “Sister Lian’er” all day was actually so shrewd.

“Young Master He Chuan, you still need to think about it. A half-step saint cultivator is not invincible.” The Eldest Princess ignored Lia and continued her great cause of poaching.

He Chuan didn’t say anything and continued to drink.

Back then, even Zhou Shimin was unable to persuade him, much less a Princess from a small tribe.

He wouldn’t be here to watch them fight for power if it weren’t for the traces of the gods and devils.

Seeing that he didn’t respond, the Eldest Princess didn’t continue to dawdle and turned back to her seat.

…

The Great Zhou Dynasty.

His Majesty the Emperor began to select concubines from all over the country.

All 16 to 18-year-old beauties were required to attend.

Some families did not want their daughters to suffer in the palace and wanted to hide their daughters.

However, the government had ordered that anyone who dared to hide a young girl of the right age would be arrested for hiding.

This caused many people to cry out in grief.

No matter if you have an engagement or not, no matter if you have power or not, you must participate in the consort selection.

The scale and intensity of the attack were unprecedented.

In the face of this situation, there was no need for Grand Tutor Liu’s denunciation to spread. The officials spontaneously began to condemn him in speech and writing.

They attacked the Emperor in writing and poetry.

For this reason, the ministers sent memorials to the palace.

Unfortunately, they didn’t know that the trusted Empress, Lana, had intercepted the memorials.

“Your Majesty, this group of scholars is idle and bored all day. They write boring articles to attack you every day. Shouldn’t we give them a taste of our power?” Lana massaged Cheng’an’s temples as she spoke in a soothing voice.

Most of the articles aimed at Lana, and they cursed her in various ways.

Moreover, they disapproved of this new Empress in their hearts, and some even wanted Fang Liuqing to restore her position.

Lana was extremely furious. Fang Liuqing had always existed as a threat. However, with Princess Changning protecting her, it wasn’t easy for her to make a move.

She begged Cheng’an to send Fang Liuqing out of the palace but was refused.

After all, she was once the Empress of the Great Zhou Dynasty and the Emperor’s woman.

What if they put a green hat¹ on Cheng’an after she left the palace? The Eldest Princess would disagree.

Even if they were always in the palace, Cheng’an wouldn’t let Fang Liuqing go.

Lana was afraid she’d evoke his disgust, so she didn’t dwell on this matter. Instead, she was thinking about how to kill Fang Liuqing secretly.

“I can’t hear the scolding of the literati. They are just moaning in pain. When my Emperor Father was still in power, he would laugh at such poems and articles. There were so many scholars in the world that he couldn’t manage all of them.”

Moreover, this group of scholars had stinky and hard bones and couldn’t be killed. In general, it was very troublesome.

So he didn’t want to care about this kind of annoying matter.

However, Lana didn’t want to let this go. She didn’t just want to be the Empress. She wanted more power.

“Your Majesty, you’re so diligent and love the people. You’ve given so much to the people, but they all misunderstood you in the end. Why don’t you arrest them first and imprison them to reflect on themselves for a while?” Lana came up with a brilliant plan.

“That’s not good!” Cheng’an still didn’t want to make a move on the civil officials. After all, they relied on writing to make a living and couldn’t rebel.

Recently, Princess Changning had been bugging him. She didn’t mention anything about Lana becoming the Empress. Instead, she began to supervise the court.

Hence, Lana didn’t have the chance to share pillow talk with him.

However, she did not want to see Cheng’an manage the government. Cheng’an, who had no heart for the government and was engrossed in beauty, was the situation she wanted to see.

“If your Majesty doesn’t want to care about it, why don’t you leave it to me? I also want to help Your Majesty by setting up a supervisory organization. Not only can I monitor all the officials, but I can also help Your Majesty find beautiful women.” Lana voiced her thoughts.

As long as she could get the power of marriage, she would be able to get rid of those who opposed her and slowly take control of Cheng’an.

“The harem is not allowed to meddle in politics.” Cheng’an frowned. It was a good idea to set up a supervisory organization.

However, if he gave Lana authority, wouldn’t his position as the Emperor be a decoration?

Therefore, he definitely could not.

He wasn’t stupid enough to give power to others.

Even if Princess Changning came, it would not do, because the Emperor’s rights protection was essential.

“I also want to share your Majesty’s burden. The owner of this monitoring agency must be Your Majesty. You’re also the one who gave the orders. However, I helped to set it up so as not to delay your happiness. You should know that the consort selection is almost concluded.” Lana was sprawled on Cheng’an’s body, and her jade-like hand slid across his chest.

Once again, she brought up the matter of the consort selection. She wanted Cheng’an to sink into the sea of beauty completely.

The supervisory organization had to be established no matter what, even if she could not fully control the power in the early stage.

When Cheng’an heard that the consort selection was about to be done, his face immediately showed joy.

Recently, he had been looking at the beauties of the Western regions and was a little tired of them. It was not bad to change his taste occasionally.

“Alright, I’ll leave this matter to my Beloved Consort, but I need to look through the list.” Cheng’an finally agreed.

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty. I’ll send it to you as soon as possible.” Lana’s face lit up as she lowered her head and began to serve Cheng’an with all her heart.

The name list!

As long as the beauties she trained could keep the Emperor busy, he would not remember the name list.

…

“Little Sister Qing’er’s guess is right. It is indeed related to the Xiongnu Tribe. It is a pity that the woman hid a strong poisonous mouth.” Princess Changning held the letter in her hand, her tone full of pity.

She listened to Fang Liuqing’s suggestion and paid close attention to the movements around the palace walls.

As expected, she caught a woman dressed as a palace maid last night and tried to climb over the wall.

After capturing her easily, he found the letters between Lana and the Xiongnu. However, due to her slight negligence, the woman committed suicide.

If she hadn’t caught her red-handed, the addicted Cheng’an probably wouldn’t have believed her. Lana would’ve even made a false countercharge against him.

“Sister Changning has already done a good job. We can leave this letter for now. When we have enough evidence, let’s see how this wicked woman can deny it!” Fang Liuqing held the letter in her hands, feeling that this operation was extremely successful.

At the very least, they had figured out the other party’s background.

As long as he exposed her at the right time, Lana would have nowhere to hide, and Cheng’an would be able to realize the situation.

“Hmph! That demoness is really detestable. It’s fine that she bewitched His Majesty, but now she’s even holding a national consort selection. All young girls of suitable age must participate. What’s the difference between this and forcefully snatching women?” Noble Consort Qin pouted her cherry lips and said with extreme dissatisfaction.

The impact of this incident was indeed not small. The image of the wise Emperor Cheng’an had plummeted among the people.