Chapter 512: Qi Qingyao’s Sudden Realization
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The little empress suddenly instructed Little Lizi who was standing at the side.
“Call for the State Preceptor and the Head Grand Secretariat to enter.”
“As you wish, Your Majesty.”
Little Lizi lowered his head and walked out with small steps.
Not long after, Jiang Yeqian and Li Ruoxuan walked in one by one.
The little empress narrowed her eyes. Glancing at the two of them calmly, she said, “What do you two think about Lady Qi?”
Qi Qingyao, “…” What was the point of having these two evaluate her?
Li Ruoxuan did not know why the empress was asking this. He pondered for a bit before saying carefully, “She is intelligent and resourceful, calm and indifferent.”
Li Ruoxuan’s evaluation was unbiased.
The little empress’ expression was, however, very cold.
After Jiang Yeqian noticed this, he felt that something was off. It seemed that what happened with him and Li Ruoxuan at the Nanfeng Pavilion the night before had been secretly reported to the little empress.
Even including the relevant information from Qingzhou City.
The little empress could not possibly be suspecting that…
Thinking of this, Jiang Yeqian said with a calm expression, “She should have been killed immediately, but that didn’t work.”
He was being plenty tactful.
However, the little empress’s expression immediately relaxed somewhat.
She added, “Your evaluations are all not wrong.”
Jiang Yeqian, “…”
Sure enough, the little empress had been testing him.
Testing if he liked Qi Qingyao.
The next question was to gauge his att.i.tude; if he had answered like Li Ruoxuan, then the little empress would rather wrongly kill ten thousand people than let this one go. Qi Qingyao would definitely meet a dead end.
The way he answered just now indirectly implied that he wanted to kill Qi Qingyao but could not because of Si Jin!
Only then did the empress’s doubts start to wane…
Jiang Yeqian was beginning to feel less worried.
Qi Qingyao lowered her gaze, not looking directly at the empress’s face, but she was secretly feeling helpless. It seemed that she had saved a true ingrate back then! She was nothing more than a tool, a springboard to get closer to Si Jin. The man’s heart was so unpredictable!
The little empress asked again measuredly, “So, why were you at Nanfeng Pavilion yesterday night, and why did you kill someone?”
Qi Qingyao, “…” The empress really had many informers!
Hold on, there was something off.
Why ask Li Ruoxuan about the killing incident at Nanfeng Pavilion when it was clearly a small matter?
Could it be…
The little emperor was actually monitoring… She secretly glanced at Jiang Yeqian from the corner of her eyes.
If the little empress fancied Jiang Yeqian, it was only normal for her to monitor him.
Jiang Yeqian, “…”
He had specially arranged for the Zhaixing Administration to secretly send some information to the little empress so that she would think that he was “strategizing” and that “everything was under control”. Now, the little empress had inexplicably fallen in love with him which led to her suspicions reaching their peak…
Li Ruoxuan looked down. He caught Jiang Yeqian’s eye with the corners of his gaze and smiled somewhat strangely. His tone was calm as he said,
“This servant brought Lady Qi back, she wanted to go to the Nanfeng Pavilion in the capital, so this servant brought her there. Alas, she was hara.s.sed. Since she was summoned by the empress, I took action to deal with them. This servant didn’t kill anyone, but because Boss Feng forced me, I had no choice but to kill the man directly.”
The little empress did not care for Li Ruoxuan’s explanation. After she heard what he said, her line of sight landed on Jiang Yeqian’s face. She stared at him, unblinking as if she could not allow any of the minute details of Jiang Yeqian’s expression to escape. She asked, “What about you? Why were you at Nanfeng Pavilion?”
Jiang Yeqian, “…” This was a tough question to answer.
The little empress asked heavily when Jiang Yeqian did not answer, “Head Grand Secretariat, why aren’t you saying anything?”
Eyes half-closed, Jiang Yeqian answered with a tone where joy or anger was indistinguishable, “There is nothing for me to say.”
The little empress said, “We do not understand.”
Jiang Yeqian raised his head; his brows were sunken and his expression was cold. However, his voice carried a touch of playfulness, “This servant does not know what kind of answer the empress wishes to hear either.”
The little empress said, “The truth would suffice.”
Qi Qingyao, “…” Wow!
What was going on now?
Was this an on-the-spot interrogation between a boyfriend and a girlfriend?
Could the little empress possibly suspect that Jiang Yeqian liked her, which was why he chased her all the way to Nanfeng Pavilion?
That would explain why the little empress was questioning them so thoroughly now.
Qi Qingyao suddenly realized why the little empress was so biased against her and why she hated her so much.
Was Jiang Yeqian’s movements in Qingzhou City not under the little empress’s orders after all?
The little empress thought that Jiang Yeqian had kept visiting the Qi Residence because he liked her. Hence, she was summoned here by the empress not because of Si Jin, but because she wanted to take a look at her “love rival”?
Qi Qingyao gulped.
She had been mysteriously involved in a situation where a man had a good time displeasing his wife but now had to go through great pains trying to coax her.