It was said that Bai Bulun, the envoy from the border area owned the height of seven feet with dashing eyebrows and sharp eyes, which made him one of the most handsome men. Besides, he had been learning the culture of the Central Plains and had made intensive research on the etiquette of the Central Plains.

When people saw him for real, they found that his height was truly seven feet, but his appearance was somewhat rough, which could not be regarded as handsome in the country. But everyone was as mute as a fish in consideration of regional disparity.

Bai Bulun spoke standard Chinese and bowed to Chu Tiankuo reverently with a quite sincere attitude.

“I am the envoy Bai Bulun. I pay my respects to you, Your Majesty. I am here today to sue for peace with lavish gifts offered by the Great Khan who regards this negotiation of peace as important.”

As Bai Bulun finished his sentence, he let someone bring a cage. Then he disclosed the cloth curtain covering the cage, a crow was heard—it was a fledgling goshawk with a white head and a brown tail.

“This is the most aggressive fledgling goshawk in my country. It is capable of hunting and investigation, which made it a good helper of the garrison.”

Then Bai Bulun bowed to Chu Tiankuo again and said,

“It is the fledgling of the king of the eagle. We present it to you for showing our sincerity, Your Majesty.”

Chu Tiankuo rose up from his seat and took the cage on his own. Then the fledgling goshawk flipped its wings a few times, which frightened the eunuchs and maids standing aside.

At the sight of this, Bai Bulun reminded Chu Tiankuo immediately, “Be careful, Your Majesty. As the fledgling has not been tamed, it is very aggressive now!”

Chu Tiankuo replied but did not put the cage down. As the fledgling caught the edge of the cage with its chest heaving, it looked around with its bright and piercing eyes and looked at Chu Tiankuo’s hand curiously.

As Chu Tiankuo looked at its eyes which looked around, he laughed, “It is a good goshawk, thanks for your gift. I’ll take it!”

As Chu Tiankuo finished his sentence, a soldier came and took the cage away. Chu Tiankuo did not beat around the bush and got straight to the point with Bai Bulun.

“I can tell that you are quite sincere, I’ll think it over. Someone, take him to the seat!”

The envoy generally represented the face of a country, now that they had shown enough sincerity, Chu Tiankuo would not embarrass Bai Bulun. Besides, Chu Tiankuo had always looked forward to this negotiation.

The border area was a country formed by fighters on horseback where people were brave and battlewise. But the weather there was too bad for crops to survive.

As what was needed most for fighting a battle was army provisions, it would be hard to exert the real strength of the army without enough army provisions. Judging from a single fighting capacity, that of country Chu would be much weaker.

And this negotiation owned two purposes: one was to cease the war, the other was to promote the business between the border area and country Chu.

There was fertile soil and good weather for crops these years in country Chu so that the plants had reached the saturated point. When people were living a peaceful life, soldiers and war-horses would be insufficient. Once a war happened near country Chu, it would be trampled upon at will, let alone fought against the border area.

Because of the geographical location, the relationship between Chu and the border was particularly close. Although small wars had constantly happened over the years, their roots had not been damaged. The majority of the border area lived on preying as they were human beings who had to eat to live.

Now that they had shown their attitude, it would be inappropriate for Chu Tiankuo to beat around the bush. After Bai Bulun was seated, the two of them started to negotiate on specific matters.

When Chu Tiankuo was negotiating business with Bai Bulun, Tang Xia did not have her hands free after she woke up.

Lengmei asked her together with all the imperial concubines to admire the beauty of flowers in the Royal Garden.

Tang Xia suspected that Lengmei would play tricks but could not figure out her exact plan. So she accepted Lengmei’s invitation to see what game Lengmei was playing.

However, Lengmei did nothing after an hour. No matter what other imperial concubines said, she just puckered her face in a smile, which was quite different from her normal behaviors.

Tang Xia who thought that things were not pure kept an eye on Lengmei. So she did not touch any tea or cake served by Lengmei’s maids for fear that some ‘seasoning’ was added in them.

As Lengmei noticed that Tang Xia was alerted, she picked up a cake and wore a smile, “What? Are you afraid that I will poison you in public, Your Grace?”

“One should never intend to harm others, also should always guard against the harm others might do to him. After all, I’m the Empress, who knows whether someone has added some ‘seasoning’ in the tea or cake or not?” Tang Xia smiled and looked at her putting on a show. She was not afraid.

“Only His Majesty can stand your eloquence.” Lengmei wore a smile and went on enjoying the cake.

“Of course he does. I would have been banished to the cold palace because of my bad temper without his favor. But I am not as free as you who can run about even if you are pregnant because I’m favored.”

As Tang Xia satirized Lengmei, Lengmei wore a poker face and just snorted, “Humph.”

“Watch your tongue, Your Grace. Sister, people may regard you lose the demeanor as you are so eloquent and sarcastic.”

“Don’t you worry about it, my status as the empress is secure now. No one dares to censure me for the moment.” Tang Xia changed the topic of conversation.

Tang Xia fixed her eyes on Lengmei and wore a faint smile, “As for you, you entertain all the imperial concubines in Royal Garden even if you are pregnant. Why don’t you have a rest in your palace? How can I not think much about it?”

As a pregnant woman in the imperial palace, it was quite important to maintain her health. However, it seemed that Lengmei was afraid that she did not have enough to worry about, how could she invite so many people?

In Tang Xia’s opinion according to her knowledge of the routine of imperial-harem competing plays, Lengmei should own a diabolical conspiracy. As the old saying went, “The wind sweeping through the tower heralds a rising storm in the mountains.” That people were having a wonderful time was the calm before the storm!

Since Lengmei got back from outside the imperial palace, she had restrained herself, which differed greatly from her previous behavior. As Tang Xia could not figure out what game Lengmei was playing, she would take things as they were and take measures according to the actual situation if Lengmei played tricks.

But to Tang Xia’s surprise, Lengmei pointed to Lyuyou this time.

As Lyuyou was asked to help other maids, she wetted Lengmei’s sleeves accidentally when she served the tea.

“How dare you! Are you trying to kill me?” As Lengmei’s facial expression changed immediately, she said in a quite domineering manner, “Don’t you know that I’m pregnant? How dare you spill water on me!”

Lyuyou was so frightened that she knelt on the ground immediately, “I did not do it on purpose. It was that old maid who trampled on my dress, so…”

But Lengmei did not give Lyuyou the chance to defend herself and shouted, “Someone! Drag Lyuyou out and sentence her to death with a rod!”

“Wait!” Tang Xia stopped Lengmei immediately and stepped forward so that she could stand in front of Lyuyou. As she looked at Lengmei’s wet hemline of her dress, Tang Xia said slowly, “You don’t need to make a fuss, it is the hemline of your dress that gets wet.”

“You are wrong, Your Grace.” Lengmei wore a smile, “You just told me that one should not forget to guard against possible harm done by others. I just want to stop problems before they start; after all, I’m pregnant with His Majesty’s child.”

And Lengmei stressed, “As my child is the descendant of the royal. I’m afraid someone will do something bad to him.”

Lengmei’s words pointed to Tang Xia covertly, everyone in the Royal Garden remained silent as no one dared to irritate Lengmei, nor did they dare to censure the Empress.

Lengmei acted quite aggressive while Lyuyou gave a sign to Tang Xia that she did not do it. And Tang Xia saw it clearly that the old maid standing aside stepped on Lyuyou stealthily so that Lyuyou tumbled and spilled the tea.

It was known to all that Lyuyou was her maid, so people would think of Tang Xia immediately if something bad happened. Tang Xia sneered in her mind, “It seems that Lengmei points to her anyway. As Lengmei dares not to confront her directly, she picked Lyuyou as the target.”

As Tang Xia thought so, she would not keep out of the affair. “You have worried too much, younger sister. It was just a cup of tea; your child is not that weak.”

“I’m not sure about it. Who knows what kind of tea it was. It would be too late if it was a cup of poisonous tea.”

As Tang Xia noticed that Lengmei did not change her attitude, Tang Xia was so angry that she wanted to rebuke her. However, there were too many people here, it would be quite difficult for her to protect Lyuyou and was candid about the matter.

But Tang Xia would never give up easily. Besides, she had her own way to deal with such a hypocritical woman!

“The tea is prepared by yourself. Lyuyou just served the tea for you. If the tea was poisonous, whom you should suspect is you.”

As Tang Xia’s words had a point, the imperial concubines in the Royal Garden regarded it right. Lengmei held the banquet in the Royal Garden and the Empress was invited here. Besides, Tang Xia just sat there saying nothing and did not touch the cake, let alone the cake. The only one who should be suspected was Lengmei.

“Humph, so you are suspecting me, Your Grace? How about we tell this matter to His Majesty? We will see whom he will favor!”

“His Majesty is discussing official business in the lobby. It will be inappropriate to go there now.”

Lengmei wore a defiant smile, “What? Are you afraid, Your Grace?”

As Tang Xia did not respond, Lengmei snorted and went to the lobby with her old maid before Tang Xia could stop her. Lyuyou kowtowed on the ground, “I’m sorry, Your Grace. It is all my fault.”

Tang Xia sighed and helped Lyuyou up, “I don’t blame you. Lengmei points to me.” As she finished her sentence, she led all the imperial concubines to the lobby.

As Lengmei arrived at the door of the lobby, she waited for Tang Xia to walk over to her and wore a confident smile. Then she took Tang Xia’s hands and ran into the hall, crying.

“Help me, Your Majesty! The Empress wants to kill my baby!”

Tang Xia was dragged into the hall by Lengmei before she could escape. As she managed to get rid of Lengmei, Lengmei fell to the ground like a kite without the direction of a string. Then the blood could be seen clearly under her dress and Lengmei appeared quite weak.

And Chu Tiankuo stood up, seeing that Lengmei was quite anguished with a pale face. Then he shouted immediately, “Summon the imperial physician!”

Tang Xia did not expect that Lengmei would do such a thing so that she froze immediately. And Bai Bulun stood up angrily.

“I, on behalf of my country, come here for negotiation with great sincerity. How could you treat me like this! The Empress made the imperial concubine lose her child on this day. Are you embarrassing me?”

As their negotiation was coming to an end, no one expected that such an accident would happen. An imperial physician ran into the hall before Chu Tiankuo could explain. Then the imperial physician took Lengmei’s pulse and shook his head.

“I’m afraid that she lost…the baby.”