Seeing Bai Qingyan holding her teacup lost in thought, responding only absentmindedly, Chun Tao urged her again in a low voice: “There are less than two hours left before morning court. Miss, you should rest a bit to have energy for tomorrow.”

Bai Qingyan nodded, took a sip of tea, and asked Wei Zhong: “Are there any memorials sent back by Shen Tianzhi?”

“Your Majesty, you’ve forgotten… You entrusted the gambling nation’s affairs to Prince Zhenguo and Prince Huguo. Later, the memorials that Lord Shen sent back were delivered directly to Prince Zhenguo’s mansion.” Wei Zhong smiled as he spoke. “Last time, Prince Zhenguo told Your Majesty that with Your Majesty having countless state affairs to handle, since the gambling nation’s matters were entrusted to Prince Zhenguo and Prince Huguo, let Your Majesty control the overall situation while not troubling yourself with small matters.”

Only then did Bai Qingyan remember that A’Yu had indeed mentioned this to her before.

A smile appeared on her face. Her younger brothers had returned… she was no longer supporting everything alone. With her brothers sharing the burden with her, Bai Qingyan still felt somewhat unaccustomed to this sudden change.

“Mm, let’s sleep…” Bai Qingyan smiled as she combed through her long hair with her five fingers, rising and walking toward the bed.

Behind the hanging brocade bed curtains were two children sleeping soundly. Bai Qingyan gently touched the little faces of both children, tucked in their blanket corners, and lay down on the outer side of the two children.

With her brothers and sisters helping, Bai Qingyan simply let go and delegated affairs to her younger siblings. However, considering that Bai Jinxiu and Qin Lang, along with Wang Ge’er, had been separated as a family of three for too long, she didn’t assign any tasks to Bai Jinxiu, only letting Bai Jinxiu manage the School Affairs Office.

During this period, Bai Qingyan had enjoyed several rare days of leisure.

Seeing that the fifteenth day of the eighth month was approaching, and except for Jintong, who hadn’t returned, the Bai family now rarely had so many people all in the capital city, they should have a proper gathering. So Bai Qingyan brought Dong Shi back to the palace from Prince Zhenguo’s mansion, having Dong Shi take charge of preparing the eighth month, the fifteenth family banquet.

Although there would be no state banquet on the fifteenth of the eighth month, only a family banquet, the Bai clan still needed to be invited.

Speaking of the Bai clan, Bai Qingyan remembered that Bai Qingping had been ill for two days and hadn’t come to court, so she said to Wei Zhong: “Go personally, take some tonics, and go see how Bai Qingping is doing. Also… bring an imperial physician!”

Bai Qingyan still knew something of Bai Qingping’s character – he would never easily request leave, so he must be seriously ill…

“Your Majesty, rest assured, this old servant will handle it immediately!” Wei Zhong replied.

An hour later, when Wei Zhong returned to report, Bai Jinxiu delivered to Bai Qingyan’s desk the list of people behind the officials who had been making things difficult for Shen Tianzhi, discovered by the School Affairs Office.

“Even the Assistant Minister of Personnel is involved. This Shen Tianzhi… his rapid promotion seems to have offended quite a few people.” Bai Qingyan’s expression was grim.

The Great Zhou was not like the former Jin Dynasty, where one still had to advance according to seniority. Having the ability to fill a position was the standard. Ever since Bai Qingyan had posted Dong Tingzhen’s examination paper, the Personnel Ministry officials should have understood Bai Qingyan’s intentions. As the Assistant Minister of Personnel… if it wasn’t narrow-mindedness, then it was deliberately opposing her as emperor.

“Find a pretext to replace this Assistant Minister of Personnel.” Bai Qingyan tapped the name list.

“Elder sister, rest assured. As long as this Assistant Minister of Personnel isn’t truly without any flaws, Jinxiu can find a pretext within three days.” Bai Jinxiu said.

Bai Qingyan nodded: “Thank you for your hard work. Well… I won’t keep you detained in the palace any longer. Go back and keep Wang Ge’er company!”

At the mention of Wang Ge’er, the smile in Bai Jinxiu’s eyes deepened: “Alright, elder sister shouldn’t overwork yourself either!”

“Chun Tao… bring the things over!” Bai Qingyan smiled as she turned to Chun Tao.

Chun Tao responded and quickly brought over a small bamboo basket filled with little trinkets that children would enjoy.

“These are all things that children in Yan country like to play with!” Bai Qingyan said quietly to Bai Jinxiu. “They’re all… sent back by people sent by Shen Tianzhi!”

These little trinkets were all sent by people dispatched by Xiao Rongyan, saying they were for the children to play with. Nanny Tong had selected some that the little prince and little princess couldn’t play with yet, and distributed them to Little Eight Bai Wanqing and little Wang Ge’er.

Xiao Rongyan, not being beside Bai Qingyan and the children now, felt deeply indebted in his heart. Whenever he saw anything interesting, he wanted to send it to Bai Qingyan and the two children.

“Second Miss, there’s also a recipe for osmanthus cake that the little young master likes in here. This old servant heard from Nanny Luo, who came to the palace yesterday to deliver soup to the eldest miss, that the little young master has been craving this since returning home. Since the little young master is no longer in the palace, when this old servant makes it and has someone deliver it, it gets cold and doesn’t taste good. Better to write down the recipe so Second Miss can have the mansion’s kitchen maids make it for the little young master!” Nanny Tong said with a smile.

The little young master that Nanny Tong mentioned was precisely Wang Ge’er.

“Thank you for Nanny’s thoughtfulness!” Bai Jinxiu expressed her gratitude.

After seeing off Bai Jinxiu, Wei Zhong stepped forward and said quietly to Bai Qingyan: “Your Majesty, Bai Qingping’s leave at home… is not because he himself is ill, but because… he’s attending to the clan leader’s illness.”

“What happened to the clan leader?” Bai Qingyan picked up the hot tea beside her, finding it strange since Bai Qihe’s health had always been good.

“He was… poisoned.” Wei Zhong said in a low voice.

Bai Qingyan looked up at Wei Zhong: “Poisoned? What was the cause? Has it been investigated clearly?”

“The poison was administered by the clan leader’s daughter, but… it seems she wasn’t aware it was poison, thinking it was only medicine to prevent a man from having any more children in his lifetime.” Wei Zhong’s voice was extremely low.

Bai Qingyan’s expression was one of shock.

“This matter was handled by Bai Qingping, who kept it tightly covered. All the servants in the Bai mansion who knew about this have been beaten to death. These past two days, Bai Qingping stayed at the Bai mansion to handle this matter. However, they claimed externally that he was ill. It was only because this old servant went personally, and he was unwilling to deceive the sovereign, that he told this old servant about the situation. After all, it’s a family disgrace, and Bai Qingping said… he didn’t want to make it public.”

Wei Zhong stood respectfully beside Bai Qingyan, his voice steady: “The cause seems to be that the clan leader intended to seek a new wife with good family conduct. Since… the clan leader is the clan leader of the Bai clan, many families wanted to marry their daughters to the clan leader. The clan leader’s daughter was worried that after a new mistress entered the household and became pregnant, it would threaten her position as the legitimate daughter. So she wanted to administer medicine to make the clan leader lose his fertility before the new mistress was decided and married in. Who would have known… that this sterilization medicine was chronic poison.”

“Was the medicine obtained from her mother, Fang Shi?” Bai Qingyan asked.

Wei Zhong nodded: “Just as Your Majesty surmised…”

“How is the clan leader now?” Bai Qingyan asked.

“Fortunately, it was discovered in time, but after this ordeal… the clan leader’s health probably won’t be as good as before!” Wei Zhong relayed the imperial physician’s words truthfully to Bai Qingyan.

This Fang Shi was truly obsessed. She used deception to make her own daughter poison Bai Qihe!

Even if she resented Bai Qihe for divorcing her, she shouldn’t have made her daughter poison her father.