After rebirth, the Queen of Madness has gone against the will of Heaven

Chapter 361 The Woman in the Secret Room

"Mother, you still remember?" Murong Shileng was obviously very surprised.

"Of course. How could I forget something like this? My dear, what's wrong with you today? Why are you interested in these old stories?"

The Queen Mother glanced at Murong Shiling suspiciously. Murong Shiling remained calm and said perfunctorily, "Nothing. I was admiring the flowers in the Imperial Garden today and saw the withered trees. I just felt a little emotional for a moment. Now that you've said that, I seem a little bored."

"It's not boring, but my dear, is there anything bothering you lately? Why don't you tell me about it? Even if I can't share your worries, it would be nice to be an audience."

"Thank you for your concern, mother. It's just that the events in the paddock a while ago gave me a headache."

The Queen Mother's eyes flickered, but she quickly regained her composure, a look of worry plastered across her face. "No progress yet? It's been so many days, and something like this has happened. It's really heartbreaking. Fortunately, the children are all fine. It's truly the Bodhisattva's blessing."

Murong Shiling looked at the Queen Mother and saw that she looked normal, without any abnormality at all. He couldn't help but feel a little puzzled. Could it be that the information given by the demon was wrong?

But the Anbu shouldn't be so careless in doing things, not to mention that the matter is of great importance, and the evil spirit wouldn't dare to act recklessly. However, after testing him just now, the Queen Mother clearly didn't seem fake. The Queen Mother did give him a small purse as a birthday gift when he was ten years old, and even the eunuchs and palace maids who had been taking care of him didn't know about this. He really couldn't believe that the person in front of him was not the Queen Mother.

Murong Shiling frowned at this thought. "When I came here just now, I saw that many of the winter plum trees in the Queen Mother's palace had been plucked. I remember that the Queen Mother didn't love winter plum trees the most. Why did she plant so many red maples instead?"

The Queen Mother smiled and said, "Your Highness, you may not know this, but this time when I left the palace, I saw a very beautiful scene: winter plum blossoms planted among red maples. In autumn, the maple leaves are like fire, and in winter, the plum blossoms are like snow. This contrast is truly beautiful. So I thought, if I could have such a scenery in the palace, it would be great."

"I see. I thought your Majesty had suddenly changed her preferences! By the way, Mother, the tea the Imperial Household Department sent this time is quite good. Paired with your favorite almond pastry, it's quite a delight!"

The Queen Mother gave Murong Shiling a strange look. "My son, what's wrong with you today? Are you feeling unwell? How could you even forget that I can't eat almond cakes? I get allergic reactions and have trouble breathing when I eat almond cakes. If Concubine Lian hadn't added crushed almonds to my cakes, I wouldn't have had a miscarriage. Fortunately, I had you later. Otherwise, I would have committed suicide long ago due to the loneliness in this deep palace."

As the Queen Mother spoke, she seemed to be thinking of the sad things that happened before and she actually shed tears. Murong Shiling, who was standing beside her, sighed inwardly. It seems that there should be nothing wrong with the Queen Mother. Does that mean that the information from the demon was wrong?

A cold light flashed in Murong Shiling's eyes, and a suspicion emerged in his mind. Could it be that there was a spy in the Anbu?

However, upon seeing the Queen Mother in tears, Murong Shiling quickly apologized, "Mother, I am so rude. I have brought up your sorrow."

The Queen Mother had already controlled her emotions and sighed, "It's all in the past now. If it weren't for what happened back then, we wouldn't have the mother-son relationship we have today. It's all fate!"

Murong Shileng said a few more words of comfort before bidding farewell to the Queen Mother. It seemed that he needed to have this matter investigated again.

After Murong Shiling left, Qingluan took a step forward and said, "Master..."

The empress dowager raised her hand slightly, signaling her not to speak for the time being. She stood up and walked towards the Buddhist hall. Qingluan followed closely behind her, not too far away.

After the two of them entered the Buddhist temple together, Qingluan closed the door tightly with a serious look on her face.

The Queen Mother's usual gentleness and kindness had changed. Her eyes were extremely sharp. After a long moment, she spoke in a serious tone, "The Emperor has begun to doubt!"

"It's my fault!" Qingluan knelt on one knee, very sincerely.

The Queen Mother raised her hand slightly, motioning her to stand up and speak. "This matter has nothing to do with you. It was our last operation that went awry. Besides, Murong Shiling's Anbu are not so easy to deal with."

"Fortunately, the master had made arrangements in advance, otherwise I would have fallen into Murong Shiling's trap."

The Queen Mother nodded, her face expressionless, "Qingluan, let's go and see that woman."

Qing Luan responded respectfully and walked to the Buddha statue enshrined in front of the temple. She moved the inconspicuous small Buddha statue in the innermost part slightly to the right. Under the long table where incense, candles and offerings were placed, a small door suddenly opened, which turned out to be a secret passage.

The Queen Mother walked slowly into the door, and Qingluan followed closely behind. When both of them disappeared into the secret passage, the small door closed automatically. In the quiet Buddhist hall, only the incense and candles were flickering and burning. For a moment, there was an eerie silence.

The Queen Mother and Na Qingluan entered the secret passage together. There were small wall lamps hanging on the walls on both sides of the passage. At this moment, they were emitting a faint light that looked like ghost fire.

The secret passage was very deep. It was almost one or two meters long and went down along the narrow stairs before it became a flat tunnel. At the bottom of the tunnel, there were actually several secret rooms.

The Queen Mother and Qing Luan walked into one of the rooms, which contained only a simple bed, a table and a bench. A person was lying on the bed, with long hair a little messy and draped over her head, making it difficult to see her appearance. A long iron chain was buckled around her ankle, and the other end was nailed deep into the wall, obviously to prevent her from escaping. Although she was just lying there, she had a sense of dignity accumulated over the years.

Hearing the sound, the person on the bed sat up and turned her head towards the place where the Queen Mother and others came in. She actually had a face exactly like the Queen Mother.

After seeing the Queen Mother, the man's expression became excited, "Qin Wan, what do you want to do? Let me go!"

The Queen Mother, oh, should I call her the Fake Queen Mother Qin Wan, stepped forward and walked in front of the person, staring coldly into her eyes, "Sister, why are you so excited? After all, we sisters have served the late emperor in the palace for many years. Although we have always had some disagreements, our temperaments are very similar and we are the most compatible. If I have time today, I will come to see you and catch up with you."

"Qin Wan, you will suffer retribution for what you have done. If my son knew about this, he would never let you go!"

"Really? I'm really scared!" The fake Queen Mother sneered. "However, if retribution really existed in this world, I'm afraid you would be the first to go, right? I remember clearly how ruthless your methods were back then. To get rid of me, you slaughtered every servant in my palace. You even didn't spare Qingfeng, who had only been in the palace for three days. She was only thirteen, strictly speaking, still a child! Compared to you, what I'm doing now is nothing?"

Hearing the fake empress dowager mention Qingfeng's name, Qingluan felt a little sad. If she had not written back to say how good her life was in the palace, her father would not have sent her youngest sister to the palace as well, and later, she would not have died innocently in the intrigues in the palace.

"Qin Wan, the late emperor has been dead for a long time. Leng'er is in power now. Besides, the order back then was to kill them all, and I had no choice. However, I still kept your son alive in the end, didn't I?"

"So what if I stayed? You've kept my son and I from recognizing each other for so many years, and even forced the late emperor to change his will and give something that belonged to my son to Murong Shiling. All for your own glory and wealth, right? Actually, I don't blame you for any of this. Intrigue is natural in the palace, but you absolutely shouldn't have killed so many people for it! Over two hundred members of my Qin family were massacred overnight, and you dare say it had nothing to do with you?"

Faced with Qin Wan's accusations, the Queen Mother was speechless. It was indeed she who planned everything that happened back then, just because she didn't want to be abandoned like other concubines after the death of the previous emperor. She entered the palace at the age of eighteen and worked her way up to the position of Queen, enjoying wealth and power all her life. She didn't want to have a tragic ending.

Therefore, after she knew that she could no longer get pregnant, she adopted the eldest prince Murong Shiling, who had lost his mother at an early age, and taught him carefully, planning every step, hoping that he would ascend the throne one day, and she could sit back and relax as the empress dowager.

However, everything seemed to go too smoothly, so God sent Qin Wan to the late emperor. Although the late emperor did not favor Qin Wan very much and even allowed the empress dowager to kill Qin Wan, Qin Wan still left behind an offspring, the seventh prince Murong Yanhui!

What also concerned the empress dowager was that Murong Yanhui was born with intelligence, knowledge, strategy, and bearing that were all superior to Murong Shileng, and he was deeply loved by the late emperor. In comparison, the mild-mannered Murong Shileng was neglected. While secretly urging Murong Shileng, she also had people keep a close eye on Murong Yanhui and look for his mistakes.

But what disappointed the empress dowager was that although Murong Yanhui had a peculiar personality, he was very sensible in doing things. The spies she sent out didn't even catch any evidence at all. For this, the empress dowager was very angry.

Later, Murong Yanhui showed military talents that were inconsistent with his age. The emperor even sent him out to learn skills. Later, at a young age, he followed the previous emperor to fight and made military achievements. He was deeply loved by the emperor and the people.

The empress dowager became more and more panicked. At that time, the emperor was in poor health and was preparing to appoint a crown prince. Many people in the court favored Murong Yanhui. In addition, Qin Wan's family strongly supported Murong Yanhui at that time. Even the emperor began to waver and was ready to pass the throne to Murong Yanhui. The empress dowager was unwilling to see her years of hard work go to waste, so she made up her mind and hired a killer to massacre the entire Qin family. Later, Murong Yanhui learned about this and vowed to avenge the Qin family, but he was unable to find any evidence and the matter ended in nothing.