Yu Sangning was too choked up to continue.

“You’re lying, you’re slandering me!” Fifth Miss Yu’s face contorted as she lunged at Yu Sangning, but was quickly intercepted by the guards.

Yu Sangning turned away with apparent reluctance and kowtowed to the Emperor: “Every word I spoke is true. I beg Your Majesty to investigate clearly. Under coercion and consideration for sisterly bonds, I committed a grave error. I am willing to accept punishment.”

Kneeling beside Yu Sangning, having moved to protect her when Fifth Miss Yu tried to lunge at her, Xiao Changmin couldn’t help but mentally praise her. He genuinely admired her now – they had escaped this disaster.

As long as the aphrodisiac incense wasn’t from him, it couldn’t be linked to treasonous intentions. With Bu Shulin unharmed, at most, they would face a rebuke from His Majesty.

Yu Sangning’s resolution of this crisis left Xiao Changmin in awe.

From deliberately spreading the word that they had parted on bad terms and she had angrily fled to her maiden home, it was all calculated. She knew Cui Jinbai and others were watching their every move, and that anything they did would be self-incriminating, so she let her self-incrimination be successfully exposed by Cui Jinbai.

She did visit her uncle and aunt and did indeed ask them to sacrifice Fifth Miss Yu. Under her promised benefits, they couldn’t resist. They would then go to the prison to persuade Fifth Miss Yu, and Yu Sangning had anticipated how Cui Jinbai would frighten her cousin into telling the truth because she knew her cousin was unreliable and would reveal everything at the slightest scare.

The real plan began when Cui Jinbai thought he had obtained Fifth Miss Yu’s confession.

At this point, Cui Jinbai would immediately report to His Majesty. Involving a Prince, the Crown Prince of Shunan, and the Princess Imperial’s household, His Majesty would certainly investigate personally. At this time, the Court of Judicial Review and Imperial Clan Court, thinking they had solved the case, would completely let down their guard.

During the time she was brought to the palace, her uncle and aunt had already arranged everything in her cousin’s room – evidence of her cousin’s infatuation with Bu Shulin.

Both testimonial and physical evidence would be clean and decisive.

After Yu Sangning and Fifth Miss Yu’s confrontation, this evidence would be perfectly arranged, just waiting for His Majesty to send someone to retrieve it.

The evidence was simple, but achieving perfection still required Xiao Changmin’s connections.

Xiao Changmin owned a pleasure house with an artist – not someone fabricated, but a long-term employee whose identity could withstand scrutiny.

When Xiao Changmin first told her his suspicions about Bu Shulin being female, Yu Sangning had guessed the pleasure house was his. Last night she had secretly sent someone to find this artist, who painted several portraits of Bu Shulin overnight, some artificially aged, and delivered them to her uncle and aunt. Once she was brought to the palace, they placed them in her cousin’s room.

Her cousin’s maid wouldn’t withstand questioning, so they arranged for her to commit suicide out of guilt, leaving a written confession of her mistress’s deeds. Though seemingly crude and questionable, there would be no one to contradict a dead maid’s handwritten testimony.

The final piece was the servant who purchased the perfume ingredients from the prince’s household. Naturally, this was on Yu Sangning’s orders – she had long been betrothed to Xiao Changmin, so it wasn’t unreasonable for the household servants to take some orders from her.

As for why Yu Sangning had thought to command the prince’s servants rather than her people, she had an explanation ready for Cui Jinbai’s questioning: “Though I’m not clever, I could guess these perfumes were unusual from Fifth Sister’s obsession with Prince Bu. Otherwise, why wouldn’t she seek them herself instead of coercing me?”

Soon, the people sent by the Court of Judicial Review and Imperial Clan Court found the evidence Yu Sangning had arranged in Fifth Miss Yu’s chambers.

Besides the portraits of Bu Shulin in various poses, there was also a formula for the aphrodisiac incense and some ingredients.

At this point, Fifth Miss Yu’s spirit seemed completely drained. She finally understood her parents had completely abandoned her.

For her brother’s future, she had become a pawn.

Everything was attributed to her improper thoughts, becoming obsessed with Prince Bu, and committing wrongs out of frustrated love.

Why was no one at the prince’s mansion that day? Because Princess Xiao, under her coercion, had sent everyone away. It was all her doing alone.

And they… the real masterminds, all became victims of coercion. Her closest relatives were merely guilty of poor parenting. They were all innocent. How wonderful!

Sacrificing her alone to save everyone.

“Fifth Miss Yu, do you have anything to say?” the Youning Emperor asked.

The Emperor had his judgment of the situation – not that he wanted to shield anyone, but evidence spoke for itself.

His second son and daughter-in-law had arranged everything so perfectly – how could he accuse them of harming others without proof? If he expressed even a hint of disbelief in the current situation, the couple would likely threaten suicide to prove their innocence, making him appear to be an emperor father who couldn’t tolerate them.

“Anything to say…” Fifth Miss Yu repeated numbly several times, then suddenly burst into hysterical laughter. “Hahahahaha…”

She laughed with tears streaming down her face, laughing like a madwoman.

She didn’t know where she found the strength, or perhaps the guards holding her were distracted by her sudden mad laughter, but she broke free and pulled the golden hairpin from her hair, lunging at Yu Sangning.

Yu Sangning had Xiao Changmin beside her, and being trained in martial arts, he quickly pulled Yu Sangning away. However, everyone thought Fifth Miss Yu was trying to kill Yu Sangning – but that wasn’t it. Before Yu Sangning, she plunged the hairpin into her neck.

This scene shocked everyone. Fifth Miss Yu stabbed herself and then violently pulled the hairpin out, blood spraying forth, splattering Yu Sangning’s face.

Fifth Miss Yu stared at her intently, still staring as she collapsed, blood flowing like a river, yet she smiled with terrifying malice: “Those who do evil… shall not… meet… a good end!”

No one had expected Fifth Miss Yu to choose such a drastic method of suicide.

Yu Sangning closed her eyes, the flowing blood’s sticky sensation more pronounced as it slid down her face. The blood’s warmth seemed to burn her skin, its stench assaulting her nostrils, making her tremble uncontrollably.

She wasn’t a good person, and this wasn’t her first death on her hands, but she had never felt such fear as today. Her whole body shook uncontrollably.

Those present looked at Yu Sangning with complex expressions, her ruthlessness deeply impressed upon their hearts.

Whether truly frightened or sensing these looks, Yu Sangning fainted.

Finally, the Youning Emperor ordered the Court of Judicial Review to send Fifth Miss Yu’s body back to her family, telling her parents how she had “committed suicide out of guilt!”

Although Yu Sangning had been coerced, she was still an accomplice. Fortunately, Prince Bu was unharmed. The Emperor, citing moral unfitness, forbade her from paying respects at the ancestral temple.

Xiao Changmin emerged completely clean – they couldn’t even charge him with failing to properly govern his wife, as the incident occurred right after their marriage.

Perhaps angered by Fifth Miss Yu’s bloody death in Qinzheng Hall, the Youning Emperor stripped Yu Xiang of his position as Grand General.