The entire city’s common people lined the streets in celebration.

After they heard that Yun Silin had returned to the capital, they waited at the palace gates.

When Yun Silin emerged from the palace, those common people rushed forward to give Yun Silin all sorts of things—green branches difficult to find in winter, blooming plum blossoms, hardy autumn chrysanthemums, or perhaps a bag of grain, a basket of eggs, a bundle of vegetables… These were all the common people’s most beautiful blessings.

“I knew the Pillar General wouldn’t die!”

“The General faked his death to infiltrate Feng Pin’s circle and behead Feng Pin, then used Feng Pin’s name to send troops to attack Southern Yue. The Southern Yue King never dreamed his head would fall just like that!”

“The General only brought three hundred personal troops and destroyed Southern Yue—truly divine military tactics, absolutely amazing!”

“I heard when the General first entered the palace, the Empress Dowager was forcing the Yun family’s eldest daughter to take her own life. If the General hadn’t returned alive, the Yun family’s eldest daughter would have died.”

“Really? Why would the Empress Dowager do such a thing?”

“I heard she was forcing the Yun family daughter to marry that sickly Prince Zhuang. Oh, he’s long since not any kind of prince—anyway, just a useless person, yet presuming to marry a Yun family daughter.”

“Hey, don’t say that. He’s also a pitiful person, completely the Empress Dowager’s puppet.”

“Indeed pitiful. Without the Empress Dowager, he’ll probably die soon too.”

“…”

Amid the discussions, Yun Silin returned to the Yun family estate.

Meanwhile, Chu Yi had just returned from outside the city. He had expended great effort to finally capture the flower-picking bandit alive. It wasn’t that the flower-picking bandit’s kung fu was superior, but rather that this person was extremely skilled at disguise, transformation, and hiding, which wasted a lot of time.

He truly hadn’t expected that in the few days he was away from the capital, so many things had happened.

If General Yun hadn’t been able to return to the capital in time, what would have happened—he simply didn’t dare imagine.

The Imperial Astrologer said his and Yun Chu’s eight characters were incompatible. Was this something the Empress Dowager fabricated to force the marriage, or was it truly so?

Chu Yi rode rapidly, arriving at Yun Chu’s residence.

Yun Chu had just returned from the palace and had just finished bathing and was drying her hair, preparing to tidy up and return to the Yun family estate, when she saw Chu Yi coming from the gateway entrance, walking to the warm pavilion’s doorway.

“Chu Yi, you’ve returned. Were you injured?”

She took a quick step forward, grasped the man’s arm, and pulled him into the warm pavilion.

Chu Yi’s entire body carried cold air. After entering the warm pavilion, it slowly melted away, and the severity on his face gradually became gentle.

He reached out and rubbed the woman’s somewhat damp long hair: “Chu’er, I’m sorry. I failed to protect you.”

Seeing he wasn’t injured, Yun Chu breathed a sigh of relief: “Neither of us could have predicted such a thing would happen. There’s no need to apologize.”

She smiled and continued: “My father has returned. The Yun family estate is quite lively—do you want to go take a look?”

“There’s no rush to pay respects to General Yun.” A trace of cold intent surfaced in Chu Yi’s eyes. “The Imperial Astrologer spoke irresponsibly, his virtue doesn’t match his position. Let me first deal with that fellow.”

Yun Chu’s eyes shifted.

She had just been thinking about how to get Ding Yiyuan into position.

And here, the opportunity had come.

She spoke: “Listen to what I have to say first…”

Although inside and outside this residence were all her own people, involving matters of this nature, Yun Chu’s voice still lowered considerably.

Chu Yi slightly bowed his head, only inches away from the woman before him.

She had just emerged from the bathing tub, and the fresh fragrance on her body faintly emanated, causing Chu Yi to become slightly distracted.

But when he heard the words Yun Chu spoke, he couldn’t attend to this subtle fragrance and said incredulously: “Is this truly so?”

Yun Chu nodded: “Trust me.”

Chu Yi trusted her unconditionally.

He bent down and kissed her forehead, then turned to leave.

He first sent the flower-picking bandit to the Court of Judicial Review, then entered the palace to report to the Emperor.

After completing his report, the Emperor spoke casually: “The Imperial Astrologer has matched your and Lady Yun’s eight characters—they’re not very suitable. Your marriage matter should be temporarily shelved for now.”

Compared to being brought to death by misfortune, never taking a wife didn’t seem like much.

Chu Yi cupped his hands: “Yes, Father Emperor.”

Emerging from the Imperial Study, he went directly to Kunning Palace.

This was the Empress Dowager’s residence. It had now been sealed off, with many Imperial Guards inside searching for things.

He walked to a side hall off to the side and saw Chu Rui standing in the courtyard.

“I knew you would come.”

Chu Rui raised his head to look at Chu Yi, his voice carrying hoarseness and revealing weakness.

Chu Yi slowly approached, leisurely saying: “Oh?”

“Your and Miss Yun’s marriage was almost settled, yet was shelved because of the Imperial Astrologer’s single statement about incompatible eight characters. The Imperial Astrologer’s words were indeed related to the Empress Dowager.” Chu Rui spoke slowly. “And why the Empress Dowager did this was because I told the old lady that I wanted to marry Yun Chu as my legitimate wife.”

Chu Yi’s eyes instantly became cold and icy.

He was somewhat surprised that Chu Rui would directly admit his feelings toward Yun Chu.

This saved the trouble of forcing a confession.

“But I’m different from you. You have feelings for Yun Chu, but I don’t.” Chu Rui coughed a few times and continued speaking. “Not long ago, the Imperial Astrologer said that those from military families have killed countless people, their blood carries malevolent energy, and females belong to yin, with even stronger malevolent energy in their blood that can neutralize poisonous energy. Yun Chu is the legitimate daughter of a military family. In the Empress Dowager’s eyes, Yun Chu was the best antidote to resolve my fetal poison. The Empress Dowager kept watching Yun Chu. I proposed marrying her to protect her, not hoping another person in this world would die because of me.”

Hearing these words, Chu Yi laughed: “So you think you could protect her better than I could?”

Chu Rui pressed his lips tightly together. Only after a long while did he say: “If this matter succeeded, you would definitely use any means necessary to deal with the Empress Dowager. If the Empress Dowager died, then Yun Chu would live. If this matter failed, it would mean the Empress Dowager was no match for you, and I would then believe you could protect Yun Chu well.”

Chu Yi fell silent.

Silent at the other party’s frankness.

Also silent at Chu Rui’s calculations regarding the Empress Dowager.

It was just that General Yun happened to return to the capital, bringing Chu Yi’s scheme to an early end.

“I have no romantic feelings toward Yun Chu.” Chu Rui revealed a weak smile. “I hope I haven’t offended you.”

Chu Yi spoke lightly: “With the Empress Dowager deceased, you probably can’t remain in this imperial palace. I will find you a residence in the capital to properly recuperate.”

Chu Rui lowered his eyes.

It seemed Chu Yi still didn’t entirely believe his words. This was to control his whereabouts to prevent him from creating other incidents.

With this hollowed-out sick body of his, what else could he do?

He smiled bitterly: “Just find a small farmhouse in the suburbs of the capital where there are mountains and water. Could you also trouble yourself to prepare some flower seeds for me? I want to plant many, many flowers and die in spring when the flowers bloom most brilliantly.”

Chu Yi nodded in agreement.

After the Empress Dowager’s death, the Feng family was liquidated, and those who had associated too closely with them were all investigated one by one. For a time, hearts throughout the court and countryside were in turmoil.

The next day at court, matters regarding the Feng family were discussed for a long time, from early morning until nearly noon.

When the Feng family matter was nearing conclusion, Chu Yi stepped out from the crowd: “Reporting to Father Emperor, when this son was pursuing the flower-picking bandit, I discovered a large stone with carved characters in a mountain forest. Please Father Emperor examine it!”

Two guards at the entrance pushed a cart carrying a stone taller than a person inside.

On the front of the stone were carved several characters: The Great Jin will perish, none other than the Qi clan. The Qi clan’s words bring endless calamity.

The entire court was shocked.

Qi was the Imperial Astrologer’s surname. The meaning of these words was that the Great Jin was about to fall as a nation, all because the Qi clan spoke falsely, leading to endless calamity.