Director Ding, standing nearby, acted with swift and sharp eyes, catching hold of the Emperor, calling out urgently, “Someone, quickly summon Imperial Physician Wei into the hall.”

Before the words had finished leaving his mouth, Wei Yan came hurrying in.

In a moment such as this, there was no room for formalities. Wei Yan pressed firmly on the Emperor’s philtrum with one hand while giving a calm and firm instruction to Tian Dong behind him, “Take the golden needles from my medicine case.”

Tian Dong quickly acknowledged this and opened the medicine case, extracted the needle bundle, unwrapped it, and handed it to Wei Yan’s side.

Wei Yan swept his gaze across them, swiftly selected one long and slender golden needle, and began acupuncture treatment on the Emperor.

The horse groom and guards kneeling on the floor had long since been frightened out of their wits, and lay slumped on the ground too terrified to stir.

Duke Xu and Princess Changping both knelt on the floor, glaring at each other with fury.

Duke Xu’s fury was shot through with a reckless and absolute resolve. Princess Changping’s fury held within it a deep remorse and self-reproach, and a trace of regret that could not be spoken of to anyone.

If she had known it would come to this, she never should have entertained such thoughts in the first place.

Imperial Father had been made so ill by this. Once he recovered his senses, he would certainly punish her harshly. Her Empress Mother was still confined to her palace in illness and could not come to plead on her behalf. How today’s affair would end, she still could not see…

Of course, within Princess Changping’s heart, there was still no such thing as true fear.

From childhood to now, Imperial Father had always been the one who loved her most. Except for the matter of her marriage, where she had suffered the injustice of being wed to Xu Jian, not once in all these years had she ever tasted defeat or suffering. In her view, Xu Jian was dead. As long as she bowed her head and admitted her fault and begged Imperial Father’s forgiveness, he would certainly not truly blame her.

An attendant rushed in, intending to report something. Seeing that the Emperor had already been angered into unconsciousness, he could only turn to Director Ding and say, “Director Ding, Prince Yan’s Highness requests an audience outside the hall.”

Even with the boldest heart, Director Ding could not presume to bar Prince Yan from entering.

What was more, the two figures currently kneeling inside the hall were each more troublesome than the last, and the Emperor had been made so ill by this. With Prince Yan present, perhaps he might at least restrain Princess Changping from saying anything further to make tempers flare.

“Please ask His Highness Prince Yan to come in at once!”

Prince Yan entered the hall with quick steps.

He had only just received the news and had rushed over in urgency. Along the way, fury had filled him from head to toe.

This Changping! She was completely witless. At a time like this, she still dared to stir up this kind of disaster.

The moment he stepped through the hall doors, Princess Changping looked up with an expression of anxious delight, as if she were a drowning person clutching at a lifeline. “Sixth Brother, you have come at the perfect moment. The Duke was deceived by a villain and insists on accusing me of secretly ordering someone to kill the Prince Consort. He even brought it before Imperial Father. You must quickly tell Imperial Father that I would never do such a thing…”

Duke Xu was furious beyond the extreme, and his heart had gone completely cold.

Princess Changping was the eldest daughter of the Empress and the Emperor, Xu Jian’s own wife, and his niece by blood. He had endured all her arrogance and overbearing behavior day after day. But after murdering her own husband, she showed not a shred of remorse, and was still attempting to twist the truth and throw the filth onto him.

This kind of conduct was something no person with any sense of pride could tolerate.

Princess Changping was still rambling on without pause.

Prince Yan looked at Duke Xu’s ashen face, and felt both furious and deeply troubled. Furious at Princess Changping for still being unable to read the situation even now. Troubled because he and Princess Changping were blood siblings — her disgrace was one he could not separate himself from either.

“Silence!” Prince Yan shot a fierce glare at Princess Changping. “You know best in your own heart what you have done. Imperial Father was made ill like this by you, and you still will not repent.”

Princess Changping had not expected this kind of reaction from Prince Yan. “You…”

“What — you? You have done this thoroughly unconscionable thing and you still dare to make excuses?” Prince Yan said darkly, his voice sharp with anger. “Are you not going to go quickly and apologize and beg Uncle’s forgiveness?”

Before Princess Changping could react, Prince Yan dropped to his knees in front of Duke Xu with a thud. Tears welled up and spilled from his eyes instantly, and he took hold of Duke Xu’s hand, saying in a choked voice, “Uncle, my elder sister was foolish for a moment and did a wrong thing that brought harm to the Prince Consort and harm to the Xu family. I beg Uncle to spare her this once, for the sake of my own face and my mother’s.”

Prince Yan’s tears flowed freely, and every word was laden with what appeared to be genuine remorse.

By contrast, Princess Changping, kneeling beside Prince Yan, wore an expression of utter bewilderment and disbelief — as though the one who had been “foolish and done wrong,” in Prince Yan’s words, were someone else entirely.

The hand Duke Xu was gripping so tightly trembled.

Yes — without the Empress and Prince Yan, the Xu family would never have had the standing they held today.

Now, the Empress’s situation in the palace was unknown. As her elder brother, what he should have done was swallow all his grievances and not drag his younger sister and his nephew into trouble at a time like this.

And yet… the one who had died was his son.

His son who had walked out the door that very morning full of life and spirit, carried back hours later without a breath left in him, already a cold and lifeless body.

Was he simply to let his son die for nothing?

Duke Xu clenched his teeth and pulled his hand back firmly. “The one who did wrong is the Princess. It has nothing to do with His Highness Prince Yan. If His Highness insists on kneeling before this old subject, it will only shorten this old subject’s remaining years. If His Highness truly will not rise, then this old subject has no face left to go out into the world. I would sooner dash my head against the wall and die here.”

Prince Yan: “…”

Duke Xu’s words made it plain — he was not going to let this go.

Prince Yan still refused to give up. He continued to beseech and plead bitterly while casting meaningful glances at Princess Changping.

Would she not hurry forward and kowtow in apology? Did she really want to drive everything to destruction?

In the span of these brief moments, the impact on Princess Changping was truly considerable. What had gotten into Prince Yan? He was actually kneeling before Duke Xu and begging for forgiveness? They were a princess and an imperial prince — did they truly need to lower themselves like this and beg someone?

The more Princess Changping thought on it, the more indignant she felt. She gripped Prince Yan’s sleeve tightly and said with bitter resentment, “Sixth Brother, that old scoundrel has lost his mind. He is dead set on causing trouble with me until the end. The more you show weakness, the more spirited he becomes. Pay him no attention. When Imperial Father wakes up, he will certainly make the right judgment.”

Prince Yan’s face had gone completely dark.

One need not fear a formidable opponent. It is a witless ally who truly spells ruin.

He was here straining every effort to get her out of this, yet she kept dragging him back at every turn.

If they were not blood siblings from the same mother, he would not have given this fool another thought as she rushed headlong toward her own destruction.

“Changping!” The Emperor had just regained his senses, and the very first words he heard upon waking were precisely this speech from Princess Changping. The blood surged in his heart all over again, and he said through gritted teeth, “Come before Us.”

Princess Changping thought the Emperor was about to stand up for her. Her eyes lit up. She rose at once and walked to the Emperor’s side, bending her head toward him with an expression of eager solicitude. “Imperial Father, what did you wish to say to me?”

She already resembled Empress Xu greatly. From the angle where the Emperor sat looking up at her, the likeness was even more striking — nearly eight parts identical.

Thinking of the Empress’s faithless conduct, and then looking upon Princess Changping’s unrepentant display before him, the blood surged in the Emperor’s heart, his fury swelling and bursting. He gathered all the strength in his body and with a sudden movement, thrust out his hand.

A sharp crack rang out, and on Princess Changping’s left cheek, five finger marks rose to the surface.