In this moment, Xu Qi'an couldn't hide his astonished and surprised expression.

The result detected by divination made him instantly alert, with various thoughts colliding and sparks flying.

He quickly thought of two possibilities: first, Ling'er actually doesn't like to eat green bean cake, but pretends to like it to please Chen Guifei.

Second, she is lying, and the divination couldn't detect it, which means she has a tool to shield divination.

The first possibility cannot be determined for now.

The second possibility is what makes Xu Qi'an's scalp numb and adrenaline surge.

How could a palace maid from Jingxiu Palace have a tool to shield divination?

Why would she wear a tool to shield divination?

Unless she needs to deceive others these days. Unless she knows she will be questioned soon.

What has she done these days?

She went to the Imperial Pharmacy!

As for whether she has been replaced by someone else, Xu Qi'an thinks it's unlikely. A human skin mask cannot deceive his observation.

If it's the "transformation" technique of a high-level expert, it's even more impossible. High-level experts cannot sneak into the palace at all.

"Lord Xu?"

Ling'er frowned and squinted, examining Xu Qi'an who had lost control of his expression.

"I can't easily come to a conclusion. Maybe she just doesn't like to eat green bean cake and accidentally spoke her mind."

Thinking this, Xu Qi'an didn't panic to stabilize his emotions, but kept a "bad" expression on his face, staring at Ling'er and said with a slightly resentful tone:

"Miss Ling'er, although you are by Chen Guifei's side, your attitude is a bit too disrespectful. I have shed blood and made great contributions for the court. Is your disrespectful attitude towards me intentional?"

Ling'er glanced at him and said lightly, "Lord Xu, you're overthinking. I am not being disrespectful and I have no complaints against you."

Pausing for a moment, she bowed and said, "I still need to go back to serve Guifei Niangniang."

After speaking, she stepped out of the threshold and left.

Watching the maid's departing figure, Xu Qi'an's heart sank to the bottom.

In the feedback from divination just now, Ling'er didn't lie.

The last question was both Xu Qi'an disguising his own loss of control and a trap for Ling'er to fall into.

First of all, Ling'er is very impatient with this questioning and has a negative impression of him. Xu Qi'an can confirm this.

When a normal person faces a question like "Do you dislike me?", out of politeness, they would subconsciously be perfunctory and not admit it, thus constituting a lie.

But in the feedback from divination, Ling'er's emotions were unusually stable, and no lie was detected.

From this, it can be almost confirmed that this palace maid has a tool to shield divination, which indirectly verifies her guilt and deliberate use of such means to avoid interrogation.

At this point, a terrifying truth is revealed.

She is the mastermind!

Chen Guifei?!

At this moment, countless details and clues emerged in Xu Qi'an's mind, and the information surged like boiling lake water.

I really didn't expect this... I need to leave here quickly and report my findings to Duke Wei and Huai Qing... Xu Qi'an didn't want to stay in Jingxiu Palace for another moment.

This feeling is like entering a haunted house in the pitch-black night, where the receptionist is a ghost with eyeballs hanging from its face, rotting flesh all over, and maggots crawling.

The dishes on the table are maggots, feces, rotten flesh, and human heads...

Xu Qi'an is the living person who accidentally discovered the secret of the haunted house, his scalp tingling, and he just wants to pretend that he knows nothing and leave before the ghost reacts.

"I'm done asking. Xiaogonggong, let's go back."

Xu Qi'an took a deep breath and calmly suggested leaving.

"Yes!"

The little eunuch didn't suspect anything and agreed quite easily, following Xu Qi'an out of the side hall.

Wait!

Xu Qi'an's steps suddenly froze. If Chen Guifei is the mastermind, then everything the Empress has experienced is the price Chen Guifei is about to pay: being stripped of her position and sent to the cold palace.

Will the Crown Prince be deposed? It's hard to say... Xu Qi'an doesn't care about the Crown Prince's fate, what he cares about is: what will happen to Lin'an?

She was very happy today because the case is about to be solved, and the Crown Prince's release is only a matter of time.

But next, I might personally push her mother into an abyss.

After she knows about this, she will probably hate me.

Compared to Huai Qing, a girl like Lin'an has a lower tolerance for psychological pressure. It's even possible for her mother to be sent to the cold palace or even given a white silk and poisoned wine.

Leaving aside the Emperor's favor, just from the position alone, the Noble Consort is far inferior to the Empress.The empress is the emperor's legal wife. Perhaps killing a concubine won't result in death, but what about a noble concubine? Will she be treated the same way?

"Master Xu, Master Xu?"

A young eunuch couldn't help but call out to Xu Qi'an, who was lost in thought.

Xu Qi'an snapped back to reality but still couldn't come up with a perfect solution. At the same time, he felt puzzled. Even after finding out that the mastermind was Noble Concubine Chen, he still couldn't unravel all the mysteries.

"Let's go back first... I won't tell Wei Yuan about this for now. For the sake of Lin'an, I need to think it through..."

At the entrance of the courtyard, the eunuch guarding the gate looked at Xu Qi'an with resentment. But as Xu Qi'an approached, he immediately suppressed his emotions and respectfully greeted him.

"By the way, you took my money and went inside. Did you help me deliver the message?" Xu Qi'an stopped in front of the gatekeeper eunuch.

"Of course!"

The gatekeeper eunuch helplessly replied, "I delivered the message, but Sister Lang said she doesn't want to see you. I was greedy and didn't want to return the silver ticket, so I couldn't explain it to you..."

So she was prepared... Xu Qi'an nodded and was about to leave when he suddenly heard Lang'er calling out from behind.

"Master Xu, please wait!"

"Miss Lang'er."

Xu Qi'an's back muscles tensed, but he turned around casually, pretending nothing was wrong. "What's the matter?"

The beautiful palace maid, Lang'er, stopped and smiled faintly. "The empress wants to thank Master Xu for solving the case of Concubine Fu and clearing the Crown Prince's name. She invites you to have a conversation and express her gratitude in person."

... Xu Qi'an's relaxed muscles tensed up again. Perhaps it was because of guilt, but he felt a tingling sensation on his scalp.

"I still have important matters to attend to and can't stay. Investigating the case of Concubine Fu was my duty. The empress doesn't need to thank me." He didn't want to see Noble Concubine Chen now.

"Master Xu is too polite."

Lang'er covered her mouth and chuckled lightly, seemingly joking. "The empress said that if you don't come to see her, she won't let you take a single step out of Jingxiu Palace."

... Damn it!

Xu Qi'an's heart sank suddenly. He quietly spread out his spiritual sense, sensing his surroundings and confirming that there was no feedback indicating danger. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

I didn't tell anyone about my discovery just now, including Lang'er. Noble Concubine Chen couldn't possibly know that I've seen through her scheme. She probably just wants to thank me and put on a show... Besides, this is the imperial palace. There are guards outside and Lin'an inside, not to mention the spy sent by Emperor Yuan Jing to monitor me. Noble Concubine Chen can't and wouldn't do anything to me here...

Besides, I didn't become a formidable cultivator for nothing.

"Alright, please lead the way, Miss Lang'er."

Xu Qi'an turned his head and said to the young eunuch, "You come too."

The two followed Lang'er, who was dressed in lotus-colored palace attire, through the corridors of the front courtyard and into the back courtyard.

The main building of Jingxiu Palace was a delicately constructed two-story pavilion with layers of black tiles, flying eaves, and twelve roof ridge beasts crouching on the corners.

The second floor had an observatory suitable for drinking and enjoying the scenery in the warm spring or cool autumn seasons.

Upon entering the inner courtyard, the young eunuch coughed forcefully as a reminder.

Xu Qi'an understood and stopped in the courtyard.

Lang'er continued walking and entered the inner room alone. Then, Xu Qi'an caught her faint voice, "The empress wants to have a private conversation with Master Xu. Everyone else, please leave and go to the outer courtyard."

Then came Lin'an's voice, sounding coquettish, "Ah? Is Lin'an leaving too? I don't want to go, I don't want to go."

"Lin'an, be obedient."

"... Hmph."

... What does Noble Concubine Chen mean by this? Why does she want to dismiss everyone else? Is there something that can't be said in the sunlight? Xu Qi'an furrowed his brows.

Then, Lin'an and the two palace maids in the room crossed paths with Xu Qi'an as they walked out. Lin'an stuck out her tongue playfully and whispered:

"Remember to report to me later."

The young eunuch was at a loss, not knowing where to go. Then, Lang'er said, "The empress said for everyone else to leave. Don't you have ears?"

"Ah." The young eunuch nodded and followed her.

"Wait," Xu Qi'an called out to him and reprimanded, "The emperor sent you to supervise me. You should act like a 'special envoy' and stand tall."

Then, he said loudly, "I am an outsider after all and it's inappropriate for me to have a private meeting with Noble Concubine. This little eunuch is responsible for supervising me, following the emperor's orders."

He said this to Lang'er, but it was actually directed at Noble Concubine Chen inside.

After a few seconds of silence, Noble Concubine Chen's voice came from inside the room, "Then wait outside."

"Stand back..." Xu Qi'an waved his hand.

The little eunuch obediently stepped back.

Standing in the courtyard, Xu Qi'an pretended to tidy up his appearance, but in reality, he weighed the pros and cons and speculated on what would happen next during this brief moment.

"If it's just to thank me, there's no need to dismiss everyone. In other words, what Consort Chen said to me should not be heard by others.

"I asked the little eunuch to stand further away as a compromise to Consort Chen. The advantage of standing far away is that they can neither hear our conversation nor clearly see our every move inside the room.

"This eliminates Consort Chen's scheme of pretending to be an eagle preying on a chick while falsely accusing me of bullying the concubines... Although this plan is a bit crude, I cannot let my guard down."

After finishing his thoughts, he entered the room and saw Consort Chen sitting on a soft couch, dressed in luxurious palace attire.

This was the second time Xu Qi'an had seen Consort Chen. The last time was at the ancestral ceremony at the end of last year, where he shouted and collapsed the Eternal Town Temple, pretending to be loyal, and had a close encounter with the emperor's women.

Consort Chen had the same facial shape as Lin'an, a standard oval face, with beautiful eyebrows, eyes, lips, and nose.

In terms of looks alone, Consort Chen was slightly inferior to the empress, but her temperament was dignified and gentle, with a stronger affinity than the empress.

However, the embroidered and luxurious dresses and the intricate and expensive jewelry on her head ruined her affinity.

Among the women Xu Qi'an had seen, only Lin'an could handle luxurious jewelry and clothes. The more extravagant they were, the more charming she became.

It was like many girls who were beautiful when they didn't dress up, but once they put on heavy makeup, they looked tacky. Lin'an was the kind of woman who looked better the more glamorous she dressed.

This was not the case for the mother and daughter.

"This morning, His Majesty proposed to depose the empress. Mr. Xu must have heard about it," Consort Chen's voice lacked the crispness of a young girl and had more of the warmth of a mature woman, making people feel like basking in the spring breeze.

"I am aware," Xu Qi'an nodded succinctly.

"Then, Mr. Xu came to my Jingxiu Palace for what reason?"

"There are still some doubts in this case."

Consort Chen let out an "oh," smiling ambiguously. "What doubts?"

"Well... I am ignorant and have no clue at the moment."

The room fell briefly silent, and Consort Chen stared at Xu Qi'an for a long time. The smile on her face gradually faded, and in no time, it was as if a frost had enveloped her, as she said word by word:

"You're lying!"

These three words hit Xu Qi'an's heart like a heavy hammer and exploded in his ears like thunder.

How did she know I was lying... A fierce light shot out of his eyes uncontrollably, his breathing became rapid, but in the next moment, he suppressed all his emotions and said blankly:

"What does Your Majesty mean by this?"

"You can use divination to see others, and others can also use divination to see you."

Consort Chen picked up her teacup and drank calmly, sighing, "I invited you here just to test you, but your lie just now made it impossible for me to hold any hope. Mr. Xu, you are perceptive, and any case, no matter how intricate, is just a trick to you."

Consort Chen is a diviner?! This can't be true.

Why is she confessing to me? Isn't she afraid that I will tell Emperor Yuan Jing?

What is her purpose in inviting me here?

Various thoughts flashed through his mind, turning into a sigh. "Why bother, Your Majesty? I can pretend not to know."

And then turn around and deal with you with Duke Wei and Huai Qing... Xu Qi'an added in his heart.

At this point, the two of them were being completely open and honest.

Consort Chen's calmness surprised Xu Qi'an. He knew this was definitely not a good thing.

"When did you find out, just now?" Consort Chen took another sip of tea, speaking casually as if chatting.

"Yes, I saw through Lang'er's disguise."

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"But you had suspicions before, right? Tell me about it," Consort Chen smiled.

Xu Qi'an pondered and said, "Looking back at the process of the Empress Fu's case, there were indeed many doubts. Why would Your Majesty randomly place the queen's gift of Hundred Days of Spring on the table? After all, this is the harem. By using a tonic wine to make the crown prince slightly intoxicated, aren't you afraid he will make mistakes? This doesn't fit your cautious style."

When Huai Qing told him about the empress being sent to the Cold Palace and mentioned Consort Chen's emphasis on the position of the crown prince, as well as her narrow-mindedness and cautious style, Xu Qi'an had this doubt.

He continued, "Although the empress can bribe Huang Xiao Rou to set up a trap for the crown prince, how can she guarantee that the crown prince will definitely go to the Qingfeng Hall? And you are the birth mother of the crown prince. A mother knows her child best and knows that he still has feelings for Empress Fu. So halfway through, you sent Huang Xiao Rou to wait for a chance... When I think about it, it becomes more reasonable and logical.

"After that, from the discovery of Huang Xiao Rou's body to me finding clues pointing to the empress, the traces of manipulation were too obvious. But if Huang Xiao Rou had disappeared at that point, you wouldn't have achieved your goal of framing the empress.""Of course, at that time I hadn't realized it yet, and still thought that the Empress was the most suspicious. What I couldn't understand was why you sent someone to tear up the financial records of the Imperial Pharmacy. That should have been the most advantageous evidence against the Empress. Not only was it unnecessary, but it also exposed yourself."

Consort Chen shook her head. "It wasn't unnecessary. Those records were intentionally left behind by me. If it wasn't you who was in charge of the investigation, they would have been one of the most useful pieces of evidence against the Empress."

"But your resurrection completely caught me off guard. If Huang Xiaorou's body and the records from the Imperial Pharmacy were discovered at the same time, it would have been too obvious. I was afraid that you would figure something out, so I directly reported it to the Emperor and sent someone to destroy the records."

"So you were puzzled at the time, but you didn't firmly accuse the Empress. Hmph, if the Emperor had known all this in advance, my tearful plea yesterday would have had much less effect."

"And then, I learned about the progress of the case from Lin'an. I pressured the Emperor while sending someone to assassinate you. As long as you died and the Empress confessed, everything would be seamless."

Xu Qi'an nodded slowly. This morning, he still believed that the Empress was the prime suspect in his assassination and was determined to divorce Huai Qing. It was only after Wei Yuan told him about the Empress's confession that he realized there was more to the case.

So it was Consort Chen who wanted to put me in a desperate situation. Well, there's nothing more to say. I want to divorce Lin'an.

"I still have two questions, I wonder if Your Majesty can answer them?"

"Go ahead." Consort Chen said calmly.

"Why does the Crown Prince still need you when he is already the Crown Prince?"

Consort Chen smiled, a complex smile that seemed to mock Xu Qi'an and also self-mockery.

"The Crown Prince is still the Crown Prince after all. If he doesn't ascend the throne in one day, there is a possibility of a change in succession. The Empress has always been the Empress, and the Fourth Prince will always be the legitimate son. If I tell you that the Emperor originally favored the Fourth Prince, what would you say? If it weren't for the Emperor knowing that the Empress never loved him, the Fourth Prince would already be the Crown Prince."

Xu Qi'an keenly noticed that when Consort Chen said this, there was both satisfaction and resentment in her eyes.

"But even so, after so many years, the position of the Crown Prince has never changed. Isn't Your Majesty worrying too much?"

"You don't understand the affairs of the court."

Consort Chen sneered, "With Wei Yuan around, the Fourth Prince has a greater chance of winning than my son. Wei Yuan has always wanted to control the court, to sweep away the maladies. If he wants to fulfill his ambitions, he will definitely push the Fourth Prince to the throne."

"I, as a woman, can't compete with Wei Yuan. I can only exert pressure from the Empress. The Empress is the master of the harem, the mother of the world, the highest honor for a woman. I am also a woman, and I envy the Empress's position."

Xu Qi'an understood Wei Yuan's ambitions and knew that Consort Chen was telling the truth.

"One last question, who is the person behind you, Your Majesty?" Xu Qi'an asked.

Consort Chen was visibly taken aback. She remained silent for a long time before shaking her head and smiling bitterly. "I'm starting to appreciate you more, Xu Daren. It seems that Lin'an has accidentally stumbled upon a treasure."

"How can you be so sure that there is someone behind me, Your Majesty?"

Xu Qi'an lowered his gaze, looking at his feet, and pondered, "If Your Majesty had known about what Guo Jiu did, why did you endure it for so long and only take action now? If Your Majesty only recently learned about Guo Jiu and Huang Xiaorou, then who told you? It definitely wasn't Huang Xiaorou. She wouldn't suddenly change her mind and voluntarily reveal it after enduring it for so many years. There must be someone acting as a go-between."

"In addition, Your Majesty knew that I was lying. The divination technique of the Bureau of Heavenly Masters is not something an ordinary person can perform. Just now, I also guessed another possibility."

Xu Qi'an raised his head and stared at Consort Chen's beautiful face. "Your target is the Empress, and the person or force behind you is targeting Wei Gong."

Consort Chen's face lost its smile, and she squinted at Xu Qi'an for a long time before suddenly saying, "Xu Daren, what do you think of Lin'an?"

Very nice... Xu Qi'an's heart stirred, but he didn't answer.

"The Crown Prince told me that since she met you, Lin'an has been mentioning you the most when she comes to Jingxiu Palace."

Consort Chen coaxed him skillfully, "I have also experienced the age of a young girl. I heard that Xu Daren will soon be ennobled. Although it's not a high rank, it means that you have entered the ranks of the nobility."

"I can promise you that within three years, I will further elevate your title. By then, Lin'an will be married to you."

This was a blatant attempt to win him over, and it was also the reason why Consort Chen was being so open and honest with him.

Xu Qi'an hesitated.

Seizing the opportunity, Consort Chen continued, "Even if you know the secret, it's impossible for you to accuse me. Lang'er has been in poor health recently and suddenly fell ill. The imperial physician couldn't save her. What do you think of this outcome, Xu Daren?""How could the innocent and adorable Lin'an have a mother like you, trying to deceive me with grand promises..." Xu Qi'an pondered, "Three years is too long. Who knows if the noble concubine is just trying to trick me."

Chen Guifei frowned, "At the earliest, two years. The matter of bestowing a title is not a trivial one. You should understand this."

"That's not what I meant."

Xu Qi'an waved his hand, revealing a shy smile, "What I meant to say is, we're to be married for three years, but can we consummate the marriage first?"

..........

PS: Would you believe me if I said I took the college entrance exam?

Alright, don't say anything. I'll slap myself, *smack smack smack smack smack*.