Night had fallen deep.

The heavy snow had long since stopped, and the night sky was clear with starlight flickering.

Moonlight spilled over the palace walls, making the vast palace appear even more cold and quiet.

Just as the palace gates were about to be locked, Chu Yi came galloping on horseback. Ignoring the obstruction of the Yulin Guards, he forced his way into the palace, heading straight for the Emperor’s sleeping quarters.

“Your Highness, His Majesty has already retired for the night. Even if the sky were falling, it would have to wait until tomorrow…”

Eunuch Gao blocked the entrance to the sleeping quarters, earnestly trying to persuade him.

Chu Yi called out loudly: “Father Emperor, your son agreed to marry the Princess as his princess consort for the sake of the friendship between the Great Jin and Hongnan Kingdom. Why does Father Emperor still move against your son’s beloved! She is merely a weak woman who understands nothing. I beg Father Emperor to release her!”

His voice carried into the hall. The Emperor, who had been in high spirits, felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him.

Consort Zhou was quite angry. Among the three thousand beauties in the harem, it was finally her turn to attend the Emperor for the night, and just as things were beginning, it was ruined by the voice outside.

But the person outside was Prince Pingxi, an imperial prince whom His Majesty valued extremely highly. Even though she harbored resentment, she dared not say anything.

The Emperor sat up from the bed and shouted angrily: “What’s all this commotion in the middle of the night?”

“Whatever Father Emperor asks your son to do, your son will do it!” Chu Yi’s voice carried urgency and sorrow. “Your son has already failed her in this life and absolutely cannot let her lose her life because of this…”

The Emperor’s head ached.

He couldn’t understand at all what that boy outside was saying.

But he could tell that the boy was very anxious, as if something catastrophic had happened.

The Emperor had no choice but to put on his dragon robe and say coldly: “Come in and speak.”

Eunuch Gao stepped forward and pushed open the door to the sleeping quarters.

Chu Yi strode in, smelled the ambergris incense, and from the corner of his eye saw Consort Zhou standing to the side attending. He deeply felt the anger emanating from the beauty.

“What matter has caused you to disregard propriety and barge into my sleeping hall in the middle of the night?” The Emperor’s voice was cold and heavy. “If you can’t give a proper explanation, don’t blame me for rewarding you with another twenty lashes.”

Chu Yi fell to his knees with a thud: “Please, Father Emperor, release her!”

“Release whom?” The Emperor pressed his temples. “You explain yourself clearly to me!”

Chu Yi raised his head: “Your son’s beloved lives in the former Prince Pingxi’s residence. Who else besides Father Emperor could have taken her away from Prince Pingxi’s residence without anyone noticing?”

“Outrageous!” The Emperor shouted angrily. “In your heart, is your father the kind of person who says one thing to your face and does another behind your back, who acts without reason? If I wanted to move against your beloved, would I need to wait until today? Men are lustful, and everyone appreciates beauty. I have already discussed with your mother consort to let your beloved enter the household as a secondary consort. You truly waste my painstaking efforts on your behalf!”

Chu Yi’s face showed perfectly calibrated confusion: “If it wasn’t Father Emperor, then who else could it be?”

The Emperor said coldly: “Eunuch Gao, immediately arrange for the Yulin Guards to investigate!”

Eunuch Gao received the command and turned to instruct people to handle the matter.

This commotion even alarmed the Empress, who came to the sleeping quarters late at night with her attendants.

Seeing Consort Zhou standing there, the Empress said lightly: “His Majesty probably no longer has that inclination. Consort Zhou, you may return to rest.”

Consort Zhou: “…”

Although she had come to attend the Emperor for the night, and although she was somewhat annoyed that it had been interrupted, right now she only wanted to watch the excitement unfold.

She wanted to know exactly who had abducted Prince Pingxi’s beloved, and even more, she wanted to know just how devastatingly beautiful that woman was to make Prince Pingxi so infatuated…

But she dared not defy the Empress’s words and could only leave with three backward glances.

About half an hour later, the commander of the Yulin Guards came to report: “Reporting to Your Majesty, this humble subject led men to search and investigate near Prince Pingxi’s residence and discovered traces of the Gongsun family.”

“What?” The Empress stood up in shock. “It must just be a coincidence.”

She desperately wanted Chu Yi to marry the farm girl. How could she possibly move against that farm girl?

Chu Yi’s brows flickered.

It seemed that his second brother indeed possessed the scheming and methods of a scholar. If nothing was discovered, then he would harbor hatred toward the Emperor.

If the matter was exposed, then it would be pinned on the Eastern Palace.

Either way, second brother wouldn’t lose out.

But second brother had forgotten one saying: the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

At this moment, Chengxu hurriedly entered from outside: “Common folk saw that an hour ago, a carriage rushed out of the capital. That carriage should be carrying Miss Liu!”

Chu Yi rose from the ground, turned and rushed out. Chengxu hurriedly followed closely.

The Emperor said with a heavy face: “Take one hundred Yulin Guards and follow them!”

The Empress spoke: “It’s possible that the farm girl, knowing that Yi’er is about to marry the Princess and realizing she has no hope, directed and acted out this drama herself.”

“If that’s truly the case, this woman cannot be kept.” The Emperor’s expression was very unpleasant. Such a scheming woman was too troublesome. Before even officially becoming his third son’s woman, she dared to cause such a huge commotion. If she entered the household in the future, who knew what other trouble she would stir up.

With all this commotion, midnight had already passed.

The Emperor retired wearily but couldn’t sleep. After an unknown period of time, he had just dozed off for a bit.

When he heard a disturbance outside.

He thought it was time to get up for the morning court session.

Instead, Chu Yi had gone and returned.

This time, the Emperor clearly heard that his son’s voice was filled entirely with grief.

He pressed his temples, sat up, and walked outside the hall.

The Yulin Guards commander stepped forward and reported in a low voice: “By the time Your Highness arrived, that Miss Liu had already stopped breathing…”

The Emperor was startled.

The Empress had said the woman was directing and acting herself, and he had also thought the same.

How could she be dead?

Could it really have been someone else’s doing?

“Father Emperor…” Chu Yi prostrated himself on the ground, his back trembling, as if suppressing his weeping. His voice was also as if it had been cut by a knife. “Please, Father Emperor, seek justice for your son!”

The Emperor himself was a passionate man, but he couldn’t understand how his son could become so despondent over a woman.

Fortunately, this woman was dead. Otherwise, Chu Yi would surely do even more absurd things for this woman.

He stepped forward and helped Chu Yi up: “Rest assured, I will have people thoroughly investigate this matter!”

Chu Yi raised his head. The Emperor clearly saw that his son, who had always been cold and self-possessed, now had eyes full of red bloodshot veins,青色 stubble around his lips, and looked utterly haggard and sorrowful.

“She was taken to an abandoned estate in the outskirts of the capital…” Chu Yi spoke in a hoarse voice. “Your son just arranged for people to investigate. That estate belongs to ancestral land of the Gui family.”

The Emperor’s expression changed.

The Gui family was Consort Hui’s maternal family. Minister Gui was the second prince’s maternal uncle.

The Gui family had a hand in this matter?

But the Yulin Guards said that last night people from the Gongsun family also appeared near Prince Pingxi’s residence. So was this matter the Empress’s doing, or Consort Hui’s doing?

Or had the two joined forces?

Why move against a farm girl?

What was the purpose?

“Father Emperor, if this matter was done by Second Brother, then it’s an attempt to provoke conflict between your son and Crown Prince Brother.” Chu Yi spoke word by word. “If this matter was done by the Empress, similarly, it’s meant to make your son and Second Brother irreconcilable… Your son has never thought about sitting in Father Emperor’s position, yet the Empress and Second Brother regard your son as a chess piece and even caused the death of an innocent life. Father Emperor, your son doesn’t want anything else, only to seek justice for my beloved!”