Seeing this scene, Nan Hou Xiang’s heart dropped. He had the feeling that his mother had inexplicably courted her own demise with this action.

Madam Qu was stunned too. She didn’t expect that this servant would be so fast that she would take the cup and drink almost all of the content in one gulp. The content inside should be fine if it was taken little by little but all at once was courting death.

*cough* *cough*

The servant kept on coughing blood and then fell to the ground.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaa!”

It was chaos.

Nan Shu Cheng watched as Madam Qu tried to defend herself and claimed that she was innocent while Concubine Su was crying, saying that Madam Qu wanted to harm her and her baby. The other concubines said nothing and merely watched from the side.

Looking at his father’s expression, Nan Hou Xiang knew that his father had lost his patience towards his mother.

“I have been very patient with you.” Nan Shu Cheng looked Madam Qu coldly. The expression within his eyes seemed as if he was looking at his enemies rather than his own lover who shared the same bed as him.

“Starting from now, Concubine Mu and Concubine Yu will be the two in charge of the household. You should rest and don’t play any other tricks.”

“Shu Cheng!” Madam Qu couldn’t believe that he took her power in the household just like that.

“Yes, we’ll do our best.” Both Concubine Mu and Concubine Yu quickly bowed. They felt that this was an unexpected windfall and might come with some annoying consequences. How much they felt that it would have been better for them to not be the one pointed by Nan Shu Cheng.

“Let’s go.” Nan Shu Cheng took Concubine Su’s hand and walked away.

At this moment, Concubine Su suddenly turned and looked at Madam Qu. She revealed a mocking smile right towards Madam Qu before resuming her crying act as she walked away with Nan Shu Cheng.

“Father, this…” Nan Hou Xiang wanted to speak for his mother, but he saw Nan Shu Cheng looked at him with a cold gaze.

“You shouldn’t interfere in this matter, Hou Xiang.”

“…Yes, Father.”

Gritting his teeth, Nan Hou Xiang could only watch as his father walked away with Concubine Su. He felt that his mother was wronged, but how could he do anything? His father didn’t want to listen to him.

If he pressed any further, he knew that his position would have been replaced by that unborn child.

If the child that come out was a son…

Nan Hou Xiang’s eyes glinted with ruthlessness.

“This is quite unexpected.” Concubine Mu sighed as she thought about her responsibilities for the days to come. She passed a look at Madam Qu and recalled the time when Concubine Mei held the power for several days.

At that time, Madam Qu was already very angry and caused trouble after troubles.

‘Trouble?’

Since when she was afraid of trouble? Concubine Mu licked her lips. Since this meat had suddenly fell to her lap, she would make use of this time to take care of some annoying pests. At the same time, she had to find a way to toss this thing away from her when Madam Qu recovered.

Madam Qu was still kneeling on the ground, her eyes were red.

She thought that she would be able to stay beside Nan Shu Cheng happily after kicking Madam Nan away from this seat. But what she received was not like what she thought she would get.

He didn’t even want to look in her direction now.

After so many years, did he get bored of her?

Tears streamed out from the corner of Madam Qu’s eyes. She had sacrificed so much for him, but he still treated her like this. Why can’t he stay loyal to her and kept on giving his affection to her?

Seeing his mother, Nan Hou Xiang knew very well that his mother was no longer worth much in Nan Shu Cheng’s eyes. He had seen their interaction from time to time because his father visited his mother a lot.

However, the gaze on Nan Shu Cheng’s eyes changed.

‘Since when did it change?’

Even if Nan Shu Cheng was annoyed at Madam Qu in the past, he was still patient enough to listen to her demands. He would still be very patient and even coaxed her from time to time in order to let her be satisfied. Not only that, Nan Shu Cheng even asked for Old Master Nan to accept Madam Qu.

But for some reasons, that gaze filled with love and complete affection had disappeared from Nan Shu Cheng’s eyes when he looked at Madam Qu. He no longer regarded the woman that much.

Was it because of time?

Or….

Nan Hua?

Nan Hou Xiang clearly remembered that his mother’s temper had been very bad when Nan Hua first entered. Not only that, Nan Shu Cheng slightly differential treatment towards Nan Hua was not only once.

Even though it seemed that he hated her, there was some kind of uncomfortable feeling when Nan Hou Xiang saw Nan Shu Cheng treated Nan Hua differently.

‘What should I do now?’

…

Meanwhile, Nan Hua sipped the tea while listening to Xiao Yun recounted the events on the dinner not long ago. She had asked them to pay attention to the news, so Xiao Yun was on guard.

“Half two.” Nan Hua put down the cup. “The other half will come soon enough.”

Xiao Yun knew that merely taking Madam Qu’s power was not enough punishment for what Madam Qu had done in the past. Right now, it was merely the icing in the cake.

Nan Hua looked into the sky once more. “The moon is beautiful tonight. It’s the perfect day.”

Perfect day?

Xiao Yun blinked her eyes.

What she didn’t know was that there were actually many people who would die tonight because of Emperor Yang Zhou’s cleaning. Even when he was preparing for his marriage, he would never forget his duties.

Did those officials thought that he was easy to deal?