However, she didn’t want to answer, and she held no hostility toward her either. Her voice was soft and gentle, remarkably like the modern Qin Niao’s: “Can I not answer that question?”

“Fine.” Hua Chun conceded, standing up and taking a deep breath. “I want to go out and calm down.”

“Mm.” Qing Niao nodded, placing a hand on her own belly, quietly watching her go.

Hua Chun walked calmly out of the main courtyard. The household servants she passed all watched her curiously, then sighed in admiration among themselves: “The Prime Minister’s temper is really something. Just now Madam looked so anxious, the two of them must have had a falling out, yet he’s still so composed.”

“Indeed, truly worthy of being a Prime Minister with the whole realm in his heart. He handles the affairs of the whole world so well—what’s a small matter within our household compared to that?”

Pin Tan followed behind Hua Chun, listening to everyone’s praise, smiling and nodding along.

Then, circling around to the back courtyard, she saw her own master sprinting toward a tree and slamming into the trunk with all her strength—so forcefully it seemed to shake the earth, knocking the leaves down like rain.

Pin Tan was stunned: “Master?”

Hua Chun’s face was a knot of conflict, her forehead red from the impact, as she gazed up at the sky. “Pin Tan, life is truly full of surprises!”

Pin Tan was bewildered. What was so surprising about it? Walking along just fine and then suddenly running to slam into a tree—now that was surprising!

Still, seeing her master’s collapsed expression, she asked carefully: “Did something happen to Madam?”

“Nothing happened.” After calming herself against the tree trunk for a moment, Hua Chun said, “Go and hire a midwife to live in the household, to look after Madam specifically.”

“Oh, all right.” Pin Tan nodded, bowed, and turned to go make arrangements.

But after only a couple of steps, she turned back, staring wide-eyed. “What did you just say? A midwife?”

Hua Chun nodded. “Madam is pregnant. The household should start preparing early, so we’re not caught scrambling if something comes up.”

Pin Tan: “……”

She finally understood why her master’s expression had been like that. But… Madam had always stayed in the household, with practically no contact with anyone else—how could she be pregnant?

Had it happened while she wasn’t in the household? But Madam was so gentle and virtuous, how could she have done such a thing?

She pondered for a long while and still found it hard to believe, but since her master had already given the order, she stiffly bowed and went to make arrangements.

Xuanzheng Hall.

The Emperor had just finished cultivating his image as a monarch “disabled in body but unbroken in will,” and was about to return to Zichen Hall, when someone came halfway with news: “Your Majesty, something seems off at Youyang Palace.”

“Speak.”

“A palace attendant saw an unidentified person leaving Youyang Palace.”

The Emperor paused. “Unidentified person?”

“Yes, apparently wearing a cloak. They should be near the palace gate by now—should this subject go stop them?”

“Stop them!” Yuwen Jie halted his steps, turning toward Youyang Palace. “Is Consort Hua still in the palace?”

“This subject does not know.”

A faint sense of foreboding rising in his heart, Yuwen Jie’s expression darkened as he had them rush there in the imperial carriage.

Youyang Palace was far from the main palace—it would take three sticks of incense’s worth of time just to get there. By the time the Emperor arrived, the place was already dead silent.

“Your Majesty.” Eunuch Qin had searched the entire palace hall, inside and out, and in the end found only a few trembling young maids, whom he dragged out to kneel in front.

“Consort Hua is not here.”

The atmosphere in the room was heavy. The Emperor stared silently at the kneeling maids without a word.

The maid in front could no longer bear the pressure and burst into tears, kowtowing as she spoke: “Your Majesty, spare us, spare us! Her Ladyship wanted to leave on her own—we couldn’t stop her!”

Wanted to leave? Yuwen Jie let out a cold laugh. “Who gave her the nerve?”

The young maids shook their heads. “We’re all lowly maids who do the rough work—we don’t know anything. We only know that Consort Hua left Youyang Palace directly, wrapped in a cloak with her personal maid in tow. We don’t know anything else.”

The Emperor looked up, turning to Huo Zichong. “Where’s the guard captain of Youyang Palace?”

Huo Zichong cupped his hands. “This subject checked at the gate just now—it seems it’s not his shift right now, so he’s not there.”

For a consort to flee the palace privately was a crime that implicated nine generations of family! Hua Liuying was truly selfish to the extreme, to do such a thing.

The Emperor’s anger flared slightly. He looked toward the door and asked, “Was she stopped at the gate?”

Eunuch Qin hurriedly sent someone to inquire. The one who returned reported, trembling: “No one was stopped at the palace gate. We don’t know whether Consort Hua has left the palace or not.”

“Heh!” Now Yuwen Jie was truly furious. “In this magnificent imperial palace, a woman can come and go as she pleases?”

A chill ran down Huo Zichong’s back. He said quietly, “Your Majesty, when Prime Minister Hua replaced the palace guards before, quite a few people got in by exploiting loopholes, riding on the Hua family’s connections.”

Hua Liuying was also of the Hua family—if someone was secretly helping her, leaving the cold palace and slipping out of the palace entirely wouldn’t be difficult, and it couldn’t really be blamed on the gate guards.

Pausing slightly, Yuwen Jie fell silent.

A silent heaviness pressed down on everyone present. Even Eunuch Qin was trembling faintly, already anticipating that a massacre was unavoidable. A consort eloping was simply a slap in the Emperor’s face—and not just any slap, but one that left a humiliating mark. Let alone an emperor, even an ordinary man couldn’t tolerate such a thing.

Yet after half a stick of incense’s time, the Emperor had actually calmed down considerably. He stood and said, “Drag them out and punish them by palace law. Seal this news. Huo Zichong, secretly send people to find her and bring her back—she dies in the palace if she must die at all!”

His heart clenching, Huo Zichong quickly cupped his hands. “This subject obeys!”

Swiftly leaving Youyang Palace, Yuwen Jie was as furious as a raging lion, wanting Hua Liuying to pay dearly for her actions—yet this would implicate Hua Jinghua.

If this matter became known, the Hua family would certainly be implicated and charged. He couldn’t understand why Hua Liuying would be so foolish, thinking that as long as she herself escaped, it wouldn’t matter what happened to the Hua family.

Naive!

“Is the Prime Minister’s mother currently away from the capital?” the Emperor asked.

Someone beside him respectfully answered, “Yes.”

“Good. Then place the Hua family under house confinement.”

“As you command.”

The sun, which had briefly peeked out, quickly hid behind the clouds again. Hua Chun was in the Prime Minister’s residence accompanying Qing Niao, feeling inexplicably uneasy for some reason.

“Pin Tan,” she asked. “Is there any news from the palace right now?”

Pin Tan looked at her with a difficult expression. “Master, we can no longer get any news from the palace.”

“Why?” Hua Chun was surprised. At first she’d asked casually, thinking Pin Tan always knew everything.

“Have you forgotten?” Pin Tan said, her expression complicated. “Last time when the palace guards were replaced, you ruthlessly cleared out your own people along with everyone else.”

Hua Chun: “……”

Had that really happened? Why didn’t she remember at all!

Patting her forehead, Hua Chun laughed dryly. “You mean, last time when I replaced the palace guards, I cut off my own network of contacts along with everyone else’s?”

Pin Tan nodded gravely. At the time, everyone had thought the Prime Minister was going all-in, willing to sacrifice his own network just to force Prince Xi to hand over all his guards.

Taking a deep breath, Hua Chun only now realized what Prince Xi’s words back then had meant. Damn it, she’d never considered her own information channels at all—she’d only been thinking about getting rid of Prince Xi’s guards to ensure the Emperor’s safety.

Looking back now, she really had been quite the visionary. If Hua Jinghua were still around and saw the network he’d worked so hard to build being destroyed by her, he’d probably want to strangle her.

Covering her face, Hua Chun said, “Forget it, if we don’t know, we don’t know. If something big happens, the Emperor will send someone to inform us. For now let’s just take good care of Madam and settle her emotions—a pregnant woman shouldn’t be too stressed or upset.”

“Mm.” Pin Tan nodded.

Deep in the night, the Hua residence was surrounded layer upon layer—those inside couldn’t get out, and those outside couldn’t get in.

Hua Chun accompanied Qing Niao as she slept peacefully, completely unaware of what was happening.

At dawn, the first thing Qing Niao said upon opening her eyes was: “Could my lord promise me something?”

“What is it?” Hua Chun looked at her.

“Today, no matter what happens, please don’t leave the Prime Minister’s residence—all right?” Her eyes slightly red, Qing Niao looked at her very earnestly as she said this.

Not leave the residence? Hua Chun felt a bit torn, but thinking of how she’d already wronged Qing Niao so much, she nodded anyway. The Emperor’s injuries hadn’t fully healed yet, so he still wasn’t holding court recently—worst case, she’d just take a leave of absence today and handle those matters tomorrow.

The people in the Hua residence were in an uproar, and the atmosphere in the palace was also inexplicably tense. The Emperor was summoned by the Empress Dowager to Huiming Hall.

“Has something happened?” the Empress Dowager asked with concern. “I’ve heard that my son had the Hua residence placed under confinement?”

This was news he’d ordered kept secret—how had it reached the Empress Dowager’s ears so quickly? Yuwen Jie looked up, glanced at Yuwen Xi beside him, and said flatly, “It’s not confinement. There have simply been many thieves in Yanjing recently, so to put Consort Shu at ease, I sent people to help guard the Hua residence’s grounds, that’s all.”

“Is that so?” The Empress Dowager remained half-convinced.

Prince Xi seemed to suddenly understand. “So that’s what Imperial Brother meant. I thought…”

Yuwen Jie said flatly, “Why must my brother always fear the realm isn’t chaotic enough?”

“Ah, now that’s Imperial Brother wronging me.” Prince Xi said, looking utterly innocent. “It’s not this humble brother who fears the realm isn’t chaotic enough—if anyone should fear that, it’s the Prime Minister Hua whom Imperial Brother has always valued so highly.”

Slightly startled, the Emperor frowned. “What does my brother mean by that?”

“May I ask Imperial Brother,” Yuwen Xi said with a smile, “if someone infiltrated the court under a false identity, serving as an official for years while deceiving superiors and subordinates alike—what crime would that be?”

His heart gave a thud, but the Emperor’s expression remained calm as he said, “That would naturally be the crime of deceiving the sovereign.”

“And if it were someone of high rank and great power who committed this offense, would they be punished too?”

“When the Son of Heaven breaks the law, he shares the same guilt as commoners—how much more so a court official.”

Prince Xi nodded. “Then this humble brother can rest easy.”

With that, he knelt down directly, looking at the Emperor. “This humble brother wishes to accuse the current Prime Minister Hua—of disguising herself as a man, interfering in court affairs, deceiving the sovereign, and plotting rebellion!”