At the end of the first month, the Empress was laid to rest.

Civil and military officials escorted the coffin to the Imperial Mausoleum for burial.

During this period, eating vegetarian food every day, Yun Chu herself had lost a great deal of weight. The two children fared better because Yun Chu secretly fed them meat.

As she boarded the carriage, she saw Princess Consort Gongxi with her two children in the crowd.

Now that Prince Gongxi had been stripped of his title and thrown into the dungeon, his wife and children hadn’t been implicated yet, but their lives weren’t easy either. They didn’t even have a carriage and followed the funeral procession on foot to the Imperial Mausoleum. The youngest child wasn’t even a year old yet.

Yun Chu shook her head.

This was how it was for imperial family members—born into glory and wealth, but one misstep and they’d plummet from the clouds into hell.

Everyone said children were innocent, but for children born into the imperial family, there was no such thing as innocence. When it was time to enjoy blessings, they enjoyed them; when it was time to suffer calamity, they suffered it.

In her previous life, when Chu Yi was framed and imprisoned, Yu’er and Changsheng probably experienced the same fate…

Fortunately, everything from her previous life wouldn’t repeat itself.

Yun Chu and the two children got into the carriage, which followed the funeral procession toward the Imperial Mausoleum.

The vast majority of people from the Imperial City had left.

Chu Rui, who had just been enfeoffed as a prince, stood on the city wall supported by palace attendants, watching the procession slowly fade into the distance.

After he had saved the Emperor at the birthday banquet, he had once again become Prince Zhuang. Because his injuries were too severe, even after recuperating for forty-nine days he still hadn’t recovered, so he remained in the palace, in Kangning Palace, the Empress Dowager’s former bedchamber.

He spoke slowly: “I’m leaving the palace for a bit. No need to follow.”

He draped on thick clothing and, bringing only his sole confidant, rode in a sedan chair out of the palace, then went to the dungeon.

He was now not only Prince Zhuang but also a third-rank Minister of Works with real power. Giving some silver to enter the dungeon wasn’t much of a problem.

Prince Gongxi, Chu Mo, was imprisoned in the dungeon.

He no longer had any trace of his former princely splendor. His hair was filthy and disheveled, his face covered in grime, his clothes tattered and torn. Only those eyes still had spirit, with hatred filling their depths.

At the door of his cell stood a black-clad assassin, head bowed, saying: “Your Highness, rest assured. Now that the Imperial City is empty, your subordinates have made ample preparations and will surely rescue Your Highness…”

Prince Gongxi said in a deep voice: “Since Father Emperor is heartless, don’t blame me for being unfilial.”

For his grand ambitions, he had planned for many years. Beneath his prince’s manor, there were weapons and provisions everywhere.

Since Father Emperor had charged him with treason, then he might as well make the crime real. Even if he died, at least he wouldn’t die so pathetically.

As the two were secretly plotting, the dungeon door suddenly opened. A beam of strong light shone in. Before the assassin could hide, his throat was pierced by a sharp weapon, and he fell dead.

“Already imprisoned in chains, yet still plotting so much.” The newcomer’s voice was weak as he slowly approached. “One act of rebellion, and over a thousand die. The cost is too great. It should stop.”

“Chu Rui?!” Chu Mo’s eyes widened. “You, you you…”

This person who had been gravely ill since birth should have died long ago—why had he lived until now?

Moreover, he had actually entered the dungeon and killed his most trusted subordinate!

“You were never sick at all!” Chu Mo said word by word. “You used illness to deceive the Empress Dowager, to deceive His Majesty. What exactly are you trying to do!”

Chu Rui smiled faintly: “I simply don’t want living beings to suffer.”

As he spoke, he took a small black pill from his sleeve and held it out. “Eat it.”

Chu Mo immediately retreated.

However, he was a step too late.

The servant standing behind Chu Rui reached out and grabbed Chu Mo’s hair, pressing his head against the cell bars.

Chu Rui’s pale fingers reached through the bars, pinched Chu Mo’s jaw, and stuffed the pill in, then closed Chu Mo’s mouth. In an instant, the pill dissolved, flowing down with saliva into his throat and into his abdomen.

Coming out of the dungeon, Chu Rui washed his hands with ice-cold water.

He coughed, appearing extremely weak.

Coughing, dragging his weak body, he walked step by step back to the imperial palace.

By now, the Empress’s coffin had reached the Imperial Mausoleum. Everyone had no moment’s rest, following to the mausoleum entrance, constantly kneeling and kowtowing…

When all the busyness ended, it was already nighttime.

Yun Chu led the children to rest. Yu’er and Changsheng were already exhausted and fell asleep as soon as they touched the bed.

She didn’t bother the two children with washing up either. She removed their shoes and outer garments, covered them with blankets, and went to sleep together.

The Imperial Mausoleum gradually quieted down, but there were still people crying.

The one crying most brokenhearted was naturally the Crown Prince who had lost his mother.

Over this past month, the Crown Prince had rapidly lost weight. His cheekbones protruded, yet his eyes were swollen from crying, making even his facial features look somewhat changed.

“Your Highness, please accept this loss…” Xie Ping gently advised. “If Your Highness ruins his own body like this, Her Majesty won’t rest peacefully even in the afterlife…”

As a concubine of lower rank, by rights she shouldn’t have the qualification to come to the Imperial Mausoleum, but the Crown Prince worried that leaving her alone in the Eastern Palace would put her at risk of harm, so he brought her along.

The Crown Prince murmured: “What should I do? How should I manage? Without Mother Empress, who will give me counsel and strategies…”

Xie Ping didn’t understand these matters either.

She gently comforted him for a long while, finally getting the Crown Prince to agree to eat something.

She said with great joy: “Your Highness, please wait. This consort will go prepare it herself.”

The Crown Prince was very fond of the vegetarian noodle soup she cooked, with one poached egg. The Crown Prince could drink all the broth.

Now that the Empress was dead and the Crown Princess was too intimidated by her threats to act, she finally no longer feared for her life.

The Crown Prince had promised that once the child in her belly was born, he would elevate her from concubine to secondary consort.

As long as she bore a son, when the Crown Prince ascended the throne in the future, perhaps she could compete for the position of Empress…

Of course, thinking about these things was still premature.

Xie Ping brought a palace maid to the kitchen. Just as she was about to go, she saw an old man pushing a cart of fresh vegetables.

In the first month, even for imperial family members, it wasn’t easy to eat a mouthful of fresh green leafy vegetables. Xie Ping stopped walking and said to the palace maid behind her: “You go start the fire first. I’ll select some vegetables.”

The maid hurried into the kitchen.

The old man spoke with a smile: “If the noble lady wants fresh vegetables, why not follow this humble one over here? Just picked from the field—they’re so fresh and tender.”

Xie Ping didn’t think much of it and followed him to the back of the kitchen.

She didn’t wonder why there would be an old man pushing vegetables in the middle of the night, nor did she wonder why the old man kept walking farther and farther away…

She somewhat didn’t want to keep walking.

She didn’t necessarily need the freshest vegetables anyway—the Crown Prince couldn’t taste the difference.

She stopped walking: “Never mind, I don’t want them.”

She turned to leave when suddenly, from the wall, she saw the old man close behind her, holding something and lunging at her.

She had just begun to scream when her neck was strangled by a thin rope. The cry for help was choked back in her throat, and the suffocating sensation overwhelmed her.

She caught the scent of death.

But she didn’t want to die.

She had just become pregnant.

She had gained the Crown Prince’s favor.

She was about to establish herself in the Eastern Palace.

She might become Empress.

She could clear the He family’s name…

She couldn’t just die like this…

But the old man didn’t loosen his grip at all, continually tightening his hold…