Only then did she realize that Qin Qing had actually put the Yurui flower in her hair. In the Daqi Dynasty, it was a common custom for women to wear flowers in their hair, especially during the summer when hundreds of flowers were in bloom. Both men and women liked to wear flowers in their hair. But Qiu Shuzhi felt a bit unaccustomed to it. Apart from wearing an apricot blossom once at the Qionglin Banquet, she had never touched it in private.

She wanted to take it off, but Qin Qing stopped her by holding her hand, “This is a reward from Us. You are not allowed to take it off. Do you wish to disobey Us?”

His tone was playful, but there was not a hint of displeasure in his words. Instead, it was like a playful banter between lovers.

“This subordinate wouldn’t dare.” Qiu Shuzhi sighed silently. She indeed didn’t dare to disobey the Empress Dowager, especially in this situation.

Qin Qing said with a light laugh, “Get up.”

Qiu Shuzhi silently picked up the scattered memorials on the ground. By the time she sat on the stone bench, Qin Qing had already personally poured her a cup of clear tea. The ice-patterned white porcelain was cool to the touch, dispelling the heat from her body.

This was probably the first time Qin Qing had poured tea for someone else after becoming the Empress Dowager. With his noble status, he didn’t need to do it himself, she thought.

“Before, you would never enter the palace to see me unless I summoned you. Today, you are so attentive. You must have gotten into trouble outside, right?” He handed her a memorial that hadn’t been annotated in red. It was the memorial from Li Shen, the Vice Minister of War.

Qiu Shuzhi opened the memorial and saw that, as she expected, it described in great detail her evil deeds of forcibly occupying the military tally.

She admitted to these evil deeds, but the rest about her oppressing women and dominating men, even openly consorting with male prostitutes in the army, were all nonsense. These were clearly things they did themselves.

Qin Qing tapped his fan, his long brows slightly raised, “Oppressing women and dominating men, consorting with male prostitutes in the army. Lady Qiu seems to have had a much more comfortable time in the army than in the Hanlin Academy.”

“Utter nonsense! This subordinate has never done these things. This subordinate is not even married yet, yet they dare to slander my reputation like this.” Qiu Shuzhi put down the memorial.

She knew that Li Mian’s backer was the Vice Minister of War and also knew that he would complain to the Empress Dowager. This was all within her expectations. But she didn’t expect the memorial to be embellished like this.

She was a bit worried. Yue Guanyi had eyes and ears everywhere, and all the memorials from the court officials would pass his eyes. They had just expressed their feelings for each other, and now an official was reporting that she openly consorted with male prostitutes. She didn’t dare to imagine Yue Guanyi’s reaction at this moment.

“Alright, Us knows best what kind of person Lady Qiu is. Besides, those male courtesans in the army are fat and old. Us believes Lady Qiu would not be interested in those old men.” Qin Qing couldn’t help but laugh and tugged on her sleeve, “But did you really seize the military tally from Li Mian?”

“Yes.” Qiu Shuzhi took out the Yulin Army tally she had been keeping and placed it in front of Qin Qing, her attitude sincere, “This subordinate awaits the Empress Dowager’s punishment.”

“You—” Qin Qing’s voice sank for a moment, then he smiled with gratification, “Us thought Lady Qiu was truly unconcerned with worldly affairs. It turns out everything before was just lying low. With one move, you seized the authority of the twenty-thousand-strong Yulin Army.”

“This subordinate just felt that with the Yulin Army in Li Mian’s hands, military discipline was lax and they couldn’t shoulder the heavy responsibility of protecting the imperial city. It’s fine if there’s no war, but once there’s an enemy situation, the Yulin Army should be the most elite troops protecting the Empress Dowager and His Majesty.”

“You did the right thing.” Qin Qing sighed softly.

“The Empress Dowager is not blaming me?” She pretended to be pleasantly surprised.

Qin Qing smiled and gently played with her hanging long hair, “How could Us blame you? Us even has to reward you.”

Under the control of the Qin clan, the court was becoming more and more corrupt, and there was not a single official who was not greedy.

With Qin Shu’s death, Qin Zheng insisted on killing Jiang Si despite his objection, completely making an enemy of the Prince of Dian. He was an old man and would soon be buried. But when that time came, Qin Zheng would still be young. If the Prince of Dian invaded with a great army, the court would truly have no one to use.

Qiu Shuzhi’s action could be said to have relieved a worry from his heart. He quietly looked at Qiu Shuzhi, who was lowering her eyes gracefully. She could be patient and grasp the right timing. She was indeed someone he valued.

Qiu Shuzhi lowered her head, a faint smile passing the corner of her mouth. She knew the Empress Dowager would definitely help her.

Li Mian’s backer was Li Shen, the Vice Minister of War, and Li Shen was a trusted confidant promoted by Gu Zheng, the Governor of Shuntian Prefecture.

Although Gu Zheng was the daughter-in-law of the Qin family, her power was growing. And the Qin family was in a mess because of Qin Shu’s death. With the death of the main daughter, those from collateral branches or born from concubines started to become active.

Some collateral branches began to gather all forces in order to succeed as the head of the Qin family. The biggest one was Gu Zheng. She had been a married-in daughter-in-law of the Qin family, enduring for many years. Finally, she waited for this moment and began to take advantage of the chaos to gradually erode the power of the Qin clan. Qin Zheng was weak and wanted to stop her but was powerless. This burden fell on Qin Qing’s shoulders.

The forces in the court were originally balancing each other. If Qin Qing wanted to restrain Gu Zheng’s development, he had to have a chess piece. And at this moment, she was the chess piece that had actively delivered herself to his door. Silently seizing the Yulin Army’s military tally, a twenty-thousand-strong army, and the heavy responsibility of guarding the imperial power were indeed no small blow to Gu Zheng.

She was now a chess piece in Qin Qing’s hands to restrain Gu Zheng, and Qin Qing had also become a part of her plan.

Having gotten what she wanted, Qiu Shuzhi left Qingning Palace and led the Yulin Army to patrol the rear palace.

Without the arrogant and domineering Rong Fei making trouble, it was said that the rear palace had become much more peaceful. Especially the Empress Qin Zhengya, with her biggest rival gone and her natal family having a strong backer, none of the concubines in the rear palace dared to contend with him. Every morning and evening, they paid respects to him, finally showing the stance of the master of the six palaces.

As she passed through the Imperial Garden, it was just when the sunset was like fire, illuminating the scene of hundreds of flowers in full bloom. The scarlet clouds in the sky were like burning brocade, almost igniting the earthly flowers.

Amidst the myriad of flowers, almost all the concubines of the rear palace had gathered. Dressed in splendid clothes, the concubines wore pearl and jade hairpins, gold and precious stone ornaments. Their fragrant powdered cloud-like hair was even more delicate than the various charming flowers.

“What are they doing?” Qiu Shuzhi asked in a low voice.

Ji Mei said, “He just returned to the palace today…”

Qin Zhengya was sitting in the small pavilion in the garden, his light white clothes adorned with green and vigorous bamboo. He held a branch of pearl plum blossoms to his nose, gently sniffing the small and compact flower petals like pearls piled on snow.