Although Consort Xi was not a monster, she was far from foolish.
Or rather, if she had been foolish, she could not have built the Royalist Faction in just a few short years. Nor could Kou Xuan have regarded her as a minor rival.
So, despite it being nothing more than a simple authorization, she immediately sensed that something was wrong.
Qiu Tu did not know who Su Wanqing was, but Consort Xi knew all too well.
In this generation of the Kou Family, they were known as a family with twin stars. Kou Xuan in civil affairs, Kou Yu in martial matters.
But few knew that beyond those two, several members of the Kou Family's collateral branches were equally outstanding.
As a millennia-old family, the Kou Family had long possessed a complete talent cultivation system. Selecting suitable talents from collateral branches and placing them in various departments to strengthen the family's influence and foundation was one of their most common methods.
Among them, Su Wanqing was one of the ten most outstanding members of the Kou Family's collateral branches. They were known as the Ten Elites.
It was precisely these twelve people who allowed the Kou Family to firmly hold power over the Sixth Shelter.
And among them, Su Wanqing was particularly renowned for her gentle, elegant appearance, superb negotiation skills, and diplomatic methods.
For a woman like that to come to the Eighth Shelter, to East Industry State—anyone with half a brain could guess what the Kou Family was plotting.
With that thought, Consort Xi furrowed her brows, pressed her lips tightly together, and unconsciously clenched the intelligence report in her hand.
Fortunately, the past period had tempered her state of mind. So she did not explode. Instead, she silently pondered with a deep gaze.
The clues were