Whenever she recalled that there were so many male consorts in the inner palace, her scalp would tingle. In reality, Mu Nichang counted as a woman with a rather strong sex drive.

  As an emperor, there was no way she’d keep so many exceptional men around without touching them.

  Not long after the phoenix empress Liu Changqing brought that soup over, the crown prince Mu Xue had people bring things to the palace.

  Ning Shu looked at the things that the crown prince had sent. The box contained immortality pills that looked like balls of mud, completely unappetizing. Moreover, things like immortality pills were just a combination of cinnabar, sulfur, and refined metal mixed together. Ones that were a little more outrageous simply added some young girl’s period blood to the mix before tossing them in the furnace.

  Something like this could cure all illnesses and bring immortality?

  The original host often took these pills because it’d increased her pleasure on the bed. Over time, she became addicted.

  “Your Majesty, the crown prince said that the effects of this batch are even better and even gentler, so they’d be able to nourish the body even more,” said the court lady as she offered the box to Ning Shu.

  Ning Shu glanced at this court lady. It felt like this court lady really talked a lot. She seems to have served Mu Nichang ever since she had been a child and was quite loyal.

  “Court Lady Qiu, in the future, don’t talk so much. Our head hurts,” said Ning Shu mildly.

  Court Lady Qiu’s eyes widened and she dropped to a kneel fearfully. “Your Majesty, please forgive this servant. This servant won’t dare to be so talkative anymore.”


  “Rise,” said Ning Shu lightly. She reached out and took a pill to sniff it. There was the scent of rosin and sulfur. This pine rosin fragrance overpowered the smell of the other things in this pill.

  When it occurred to her that this might contain period blood, she shuddered in disgust.

  “Place the pills in our bedroom.”


  Ning Shu picked up the cinnabar brush to continue looking at the memorials. She kind of understood things now. Mu Nichang probably hadn’t gotten rid of the crown prince just because she loved Mu Nichang, it was probably because the current crown prince was a little impatient to ascend to the throne.

  What daughter would send her own mother immortality pills? Anyone with the slightest bit of knowledge knew that this wasn’t an immortality pill but a fatal poison. It sapped a person’s energy and wrecked the body. The five minerals powder contained inside was the ancient era version of drugs.

  It was simply a slow-acting poison.

  Ning Shu frowned. Her original plan had been to hand the throne over to the legitimate heir, but from the look of things now, it seemed that the original host hadn’t wanted to hand the nation over to Mu Xue. If that wasn’t the case, Mu Nichang wouldn’t have taken so many risks in order to dispose of the heir apparent.

  So this meant that she still had to follow the original storyline and get rid of Mu Xue to establish a different heir?

  In any case, the fourth prince had no chance of being the heir apparent, otherwise the Yuan family would end up with another chance to take over the court.

  Aside from these two adult princes, there were still two more princes, but they didn’t really have much of a presence.

  Ning Shu felt a severe headache. She thought that this task would be simple, but from the looks of things now, it wasn’t simple at all.

  She closed the memorial, then said to Court Lady Qiu, “Call the fourth prince into the palace. We want to talk to her.”


  “Understood.” Court Lady Qiu immediately went to do this.

  Soon, Mu Yao rushed over hurriedly. She lifted her skirt to step over the doorstep and walk into the palace. Her forehead was covered with sweat. It was clear that she had run over as soon as her carriage had stopped at the palace gates.

  Mu Yao gasped for breath slightly as she saluted Ning Shu, then she asked, “Imperial Mother, were you looking for this subject daughter for something?”


  “It’s nothing much. We just wanted you to have dinner with us,” said Ning Shu with a smile.

  Mu Yao exhaled in relief. “Imperial Mother, you had summoned this subject daughter so suddenly, so this subject daughter had thought that it was some huge matter.”


  “You were worring too much,” said Ning Shu with a smile. It was no wonder why Mu Nichang loved Mu Yao so much. Mu Yao had a dumb air around her, but was always very earnest about everything. Everyone liked it when people cared about them.

  Mu Yao’s actions just now showed that she cared about Mu Nichang since she had run over as soon as she was called.

  Ning Shu had a pretty good impression of Mu Yao and the original host also hoped that Mu Yao would be able to be happy, so she would also do all she could to protect Mu Yao.

  She couldn’t help but wonder if the original host had noticed that this Mu Yao was no longer her daughter. Mu Yao had changed so greatly, so the original host probably had noticed. The original Mu Yao was very irascible and ruthless as well as very licentious, which was completely different from how the current Mu Yao was.