Chen You and the monk arrived at the Empress dowager's reception hall and bowed in greeting. Then Chen You smiled and said, "Your majesty, this is Monk Du, the famous monk from the Taohua mountain temple. It took a while, but I used every means possible to find him and immediately brought him here"

Chen You "modestly" finished with a smile, with the Empress dowager behind her, she was sure to easily crush Lei Xing soon. There are some things even the most "lovestruck" of men would not be able to overlook.

Lei Xing had been increasingly irritating her for a long while now. Even if she told herself that the Emperor's current obsession with Lei Xing was temporary and will soon fade, it still irritated her immensely. Lei Xing had been manipulating the Emperor so much recently, he spent most of his time either in Court or in her palace, and she even selfishly refused to allow him to see anyone claiming she was too ill to receive visitors.

Even when she managed to get him in the royal study, he always refused to see her. Eunuch Li even told her to stop bringing tonics over as the Emperor is as healthy as can be with a stupid smile as if she needed a reminder of what they were doing. The most infuriating thing was that stupid charade the Emperor pulled a few weeks ago. She had hoped to get good results from that endeavor but it did nothing but serve as a stepping stone to catapult Lei Xing's reputation and relationship with the Emperor.

Although she did not particularly like Chun Hua, the girl truly had her ways and was quite useful. She was the one who told her about the flowers that caused Lei Xing's illness after she had seen it in the Imperial pharmacy while the doctors were working. Apparently, it was a small flower that only grew on the ground, amongst weeds. Chun Hua also found out from a guard about Lei Xing and Prince Yi's fall. After hearing that, Chen You got a bright idea and?decided to enlighten the curious crowd of the origin of this illness, a social favor.

Of course, she added her own embellishments to the story to make it more interesting. But either way, Lei Xing should not have been falling into another man's arms in the first place. She even made sure to inform the Empress dowager of this embarrassment to her son's face. But she greatly underestimated the hold Lei Xing had on the Emperor, his reaction was not what she was hoping for at all. Not only did he not kick her out, or even punish her, he protected her.

This monk today was also Chun Hua's work. She managed to find out the monk was staying in Moshen temple outside the city for a respite. Chen You swiftly jumped on the opportunity to firmly place herself on the Empress dowager's good side and so here she was with him in tow.

Monk Du looked at the Empress dowager and raised an eyebrow, "The palace truly is a place with many wonders...I never believed in that saying before until today."

The Empress dowager narrowed her eyes at him, she had come across nothing but foolish idiots posing as enlightened men. The world really held too many foolish people, yet she still wanted answers and had no choice but to indulge all this stupidity. They were the only option she could think of. She turned to Chen You, "You can leave."

Chen You knit her brows in dissatisfaction, but then quietly bowed and made her way out. She did not like being cast aside, but she had to be patient. It will work as long this monk did not say anything foolish again. She frowned remembering the nonsense he said and turned to Chun Hua when she got outside, "Are you sure about him?"

Chun Hua smiled and assured, "A hundred percent, he was a close associate of my father before, which is why he even agreed to do us this favor. It is normally very hard to get a meeting with him, even if you climbed the mountain, it would still depend on his mood. So count this occasion as lucky."

{...In other words, I should kiss your feet? Hmph!...}

Chen You looked away, unamused and started walking off. This was why she did not like this Chun Hua, despite how she tried to hide it, she had an irritating high handed attitude that made it seem like everyone else was beneath her. It annoyed Chen You, but she was useful so she kept her.

***

"A knowledgeable voice entity?... Quite peculiar, but there are many strange things in the universe, and that is definitely not the strangest of them" Monk Du said.

"So can you help me connect with it?" The Empress dowager asked, a bit excited. This was the first person that did not look at her like she was crazy when she mentioned this and so she a little bit excited.

Monk Du knit his brows in thought, he looked at the Empress dowager and then sighed, "I can't help you..."

The Empress dowager immediately frowned and was about to kick him out, but then he said, "But my master could."

The Empress dowager then ordered, "Have brought him brought here."

Monk Du slightly bowed his head, "I'm sorry but that is impossible..."

The Empress dowager narrowed her eyes, "Impossible?"

"Well...My master is very old, it is said that he is as old as the mountain itself. He has never left the mountain...No, he cannot leave the mountain, but I can take you to him."

"So you expect me to go climb a mountain?" The Empress dowager asked, irritated.

"I'm afraid it is the only way..." Monk Du responded.

The Empress dowager looked him over as she contemplated. She had heard long before that this mountain temple was an old temple with roots dating back to thousands of years, with very few disciples. They rarely get involved with people from the outside world which was probably how they managed to survive so long. This Monk Du was the only one who seemed to roam around and had made a reputation for himself, even meeting him was a rare occurrence. If anyone knew it would be them.

{...But how dare they expect me to climb a mountain? Who does he think he is?...}

The Empress dowager frowned then said through gritted teeth, "Get out."

Monk Du sighed and then got up and turned to leave, hesitated and turned back to her, "I will say this, there is a darkness lingering in the air here...Something beyond me but my master has thousands of years' worth of knowledge. There are no coincidences in the world, everything happens for a reason, with a cause and effect...I will be leaving Moshen temple in a week. I suggest you rethink it before then. Without a guide, it will be impossible to find the Taohua temple...A bit of advice, control your emotions, your anger will only make it worse."

The Empress dowager froze and blinked, and watched as Monk Du walked out.

{...Control your emotions? Anger? It always said that...}