The Crown Prince wept until his heart broke.

His mother empress had died.

His unborn child had also died.

He wished he could drag out the person behind this and cut them into a thousand pieces.

Officials in the hall had also lost wives and children, and they wept along with him.

“Empress Her Majesty was supremely benevolent and could never do such a thing…” an official spoke. “This subject discovered that Prince Pingxi seems to have prepared in advance…”

Chu Yi stepped forward and spoke coldly: “On the eve of the birthday banquet, your son detected movements and therefore made deployments. Your son never imagined that Mother Empress would arrange assassination and a palace coup. Though Mother Empress is dead, the evidence is complete!”

“No! Impossible! My mother empress would never do such a thing!” the Crown Prince roared, his voice breaking. “I am the Crown Prince, personally established by Father Emperor. Why would my mother empress fight for something that already belongs to me! This is slander! Someone is deliberately framing her! If it’s not you, Chu Yi, then it’s Chu Mo! Only you two have the ability to do such things!”

The Crown Prince’s voice echoed through the great hall. He had clearly completely broken down.

The Emperor spoke slowly: “It wasn’t the Empress. It couldn’t have been the Empress.”

Chu Yi’s brows and eyes were somber.

The Empress had schemed the assassination. When she realized she had lost, at that critical moment she used her own life to exchange for the Crown Prince’s innocence.

The Crown Prince had been protected too well. Even at this point, he still knew nothing.

And because of this, he wouldn’t be suspected by Father Emperor.

“It wasn’t Yi’er either.”

The Emperor slowly uttered these words.

If not for Yi’er’s early deployment, everything would have spiraled out of control.

Then it could only be…

“Chu Mo!” The Emperor’s fingers clenched tight, his knuckles cold and pale. “It must be him!”

Chu Yi remained silent.

Because Father Emperor clearly harbored guilt toward the Empress. If he said too much, it would instead arouse Father Emperor’s suspicion.

Since Father Emperor had determined it was Chu Mo, then let it be Chu Mo.

“The Empress died protecting Us. She is posthumously honored as Empress Xiaoyi Duanren.” The Emperor spoke each word deliberately. “Announce to the Imperial Ancestral Temple and perform the posthumous title ceremony…”

All according to the highest imperial funeral rites requirements.

The Crown Prince wept bitterly.

After the atmosphere of grief passed, a high official spoke slowly: “The orphan of the former Crown Prince, Prince Chu Rui, protected Your Majesty—his life or death unknown…”

The Emperor spoke: “Chu Rui has merit in protecting Us. Restore his title as Prince Zhuang of the First Rank. If he survives, grant him a prince’s manor and fief, bestow upon him a third-rank position in the Ministry of Works. So decreed!”

Those who protected the sovereign must be generously rewarded. Only then would people risk their lives to protect the sovereign at critical moments.

The Court of Judicial Review investigated through the night. Ultimately, they pinned the case on Prince Gongxi, Chu Mo.

This treasonous assassination incident resulted in countless deaths of palace maids and eunuchs, nineteen officials dead, over thirty injured, thirty-six female family members dead, over eighty injured… In the days that followed, funerals were held throughout the capital. Spirit money filled the skies. Funeral processions constantly filled the streets. Weeping sounds spread everywhere.

The greatest matter in the palace was the Empress’s funeral arrangements.

The Emperor wanted to handle it according to the highest ritual standards. Thus, from imperial nobles at the top to seventh-rank minor officials at the bottom throughout the court, all officials’ female family members carrying their children had to come daily to the palace to cry in mourning and chant sutras for the Empress…

Because Jue’er was truly still too young, Chu Yi requested a special favor to exempt Jue’er from crying in mourning. But Yue’er and Changsheng couldn’t escape. Every day they followed their parents into the palace, kneeling on the marble floor of the great hall to cry in mourning for the Empress.

When the Grand Empress Dowager had died, the Emperor hadn’t been so invested—everything had been merely going through the motions.

Now that the Empress had passed, the Emperor came personally every day. With the Emperor present, everyone dared not be careless and wept until their hearts broke.

In the crowd, Li Jingshu knelt at the front, her face full of hatred.

The person His Majesty cared about most was clearly her, yet after the Empress blocked that blade for His Majesty, everything changed.

Since the Empress died, His Majesty had never looked at her directly again.

Her relationship with His Majesty had been exposed publicly. She had already lost her reputation. She absolutely had to obtain a title.

Originally, she had thought as long as she could enter the harem, that would be enough.

But now, the Empress was dead and the empress position was vacant. This was clearly her opportunity.

She must scheme well. She must sit in that position…

The Crown Prince knelt dully at the very front. The Crown Princess was beside him, her face sorrowful as she burned spirit money.

She was very clear that the Crown Prince could sit securely in the Eastern Palace because of the Empress’s schemes. Now that the Empress was dead and the Gongsun family was leaderless, the Eastern Palace was probably also…

As if thinking of something, her hand burning spirit money suddenly paused.

The Empress had instructed her to deal with Concubine Wu.

When the Empress was still alive, this matter wasn’t urgent.

But now the Empress was dead. If someone made an issue of Concubine Wu, she and the Crown Prince simply couldn’t think of a countermeasure.

“His Highness hasn’t eaten in days. This consort will prepare some food.”

Without caring whether the Crown Prince was willing or not, the Crown Princess rose, lowered her head, and withdrew from the mourning hall.

She went directly to the main hall of the Eastern Palace. Since Concubine Wu became pregnant, she had been living in the main hall and wouldn’t leave, arrogant in her favor, carried away with pride.

The Crown Princess had long wanted to deal with her.

“Greetings to the Crown Princess.” Xie Ping rose to bow. “If not for this concubine carrying a pregnancy and being of low status, I would also want to fulfill one last filial duty for Empress Her Majesty.”

“Someone come!” the Crown Princess said coldly. “Strangle her!”

She didn’t want to waste words.

Two nannies quickly entered and pressed down on Xie Ping’s shoulders.

The Crown Princess thought Xie Ping would cry and beg for mercy. Who knew she would see Xie Ping’s lips bearing a sinister smile: “If this concubine dies, Princess Lan will have no salvation.”

“What did you say?” The Crown Princess’s brows and eyes were severe. “What did you do to Lan’er?!”

Xie Ping smiled: “Back then, Empress Her Majesty gave this concubine a packet of poison to feed to Prince Gongxi. After Prince Gongxi ate that medicine, he killed Beauty Zhou.”

The Crown Princess was stunned.

Beauty Zhou had indeed been killed, but the Empress had investigated and found it was a palace maid who harbored resentment. It was actually Prince Gongxi?

What kind of medicine was so terrifying?

“Princess Lan saw the medicine in this concubine’s hands and was somewhat curious, so this concubine let her taste some.” Xie Ping’s lips curved with an even wider smile. “Princess Lan is greedy and ate quite a few things at this concubine’s place. If the Crown Princess kills this concubine, you’ll never know these secrets.”

“Slut! Poisonous woman! To actually harm a child!”

The Crown Princess delivered several slaps to Xie Ping’s face.

A voice sounded behind her: “What are you doing!”

The Crown Prince rushed in, pushed the Crown Princess aside with one motion, and protected Xie Ping behind him: “Linglong is carrying my child in her belly. If you dare lay a hand on Linglong, I’ll strip you of your Crown Princess position!”

The Crown Princess felt a sweetness in her throat and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

She had no time to argue about this now. She needed to quickly find an imperial physician to examine Lan’er…

The Eastern Palace matters—no one knew.

Outside the great hall, sorrow hung thick. Weeping sounds were endless.

Fortunately, they took turns crying in mourning. Yun Chu and the children went once every other day, kneeling for one day each time.

The lying-in-state lasted a total of seven times seven—forty-nine days. The two children’s seventh birthdays were missed, New Year’s Eve was also missed. They continued kneeling until the end of the first month of the following year before it finally concluded.