"Don't panic. Whatever happened, take your time and tell me."
Zou Yong nodded, then recounted everything that had happened that day from beginning to end.
After hearing him out, the Empress Dowager's face frosted over. "You invited East Qing too?"
Zou Yong poured out his grievances. "Your Majesty, it was Xue Lingjun who invited East Qing. I never took the initiative to invite either of them. Xue Lingjun said she wanted to go sightseeing and asked me to guide them. If I'd known this would happen today, I would never have agreed to meet them."
The Empress Dowager snapped, "You clearly saw how seductive and alluring Xue Lingjun was and lusted after her. Otherwise, why would you have anything to do with her?"
Zou Yong groaned inwardly. The Empress Dowager was clearly jealous. But he had only approached Xue Lingjun because Yan Dongqing had suggested it. Ultimately, it had all been to help Li Chenzhou sweep away his obstacles and pin charges on Xue Lingjun. Looking back now, however, he seemed to have spun a cocoon only to imprison himself within it. The Empress Dowager knew nothing of the plot, yet he could not tell her the truth. Even with his front teeth knocked out, he had to swallow them into his belly. Zou Yong sighed. "Your Majesty, if I harbor the slightest improper desire for Xue Lingjun, may ten thousand arrows pierce my heart and may I die a wretched death."
"Enough," the Empress Dowager said coldly. "I have no desire to hear your dreadful oaths."
Zou Yong said, "Your Majesty, someone has been deliberately spreading rumors in Sea-Viewing City these past few days, all of them harmful to you and me..."
The Empress Dowager glared at Zou Yong, forcing him to swallow the rest of his words.
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