No one could predict what Han Zhengqing might do. Such a person remaining at large was truly too terrifying. Previously, they couldn’t move against him because they were concerned about the Crown Prince’s matter being exposed and lacked evidence. But now—

Even without evidence, they had to fabricate some evidence to brand him as Prince Gong’s faction. Moreover, if their guess wasn’t wrong, he originally was Prince Gong’s faction anyway.

What Old Madam Song worried about was also this problem. “Xiao Yi, if Lord Lai interrogates the Heir of Marquis Guangping as you said, but among the people the Heir of Marquis Guangping exposes, not a single one can be connected to Marquis Jinxiang?”

Then how could they pin this blame on Prince Gong to bear?

Old Madam Song’s concerns were quickly dispelled. Four days after Song Chuyi’s return home visit, Chen Ping, who was supervising the case of Prince Gong’s disappearance and abduction, submitted a memorial painfully detailing his incompetence in handling matters, which had allowed Prince Gong to be harmed by traitors.

Emperor Jianzhang was furious in court.

Chen Ping then made amends for his errors through new achievements, stating clearly that he had already investigated and discovered that the Heir of Marquis Guangping had actually given information to Ma Yuantong’s remnant party and had abused his authority for personal gain, greatly facilitating Ma Yuantong’s remnant party, which led to their successful abduction of Prince Gong.

Prince Gong was dead. Although people throughout the realm had long felt that being abducted by bandits for so long without any news meant he was likely dead, speculation and reality were different. He was truly and genuinely dead. Emperor Jianzhang ordered the Ministry of Rites to bury Prince Gong’s cap and gown according to princely rank—they could only make a cenotaph. It was said that not even Prince Gong’s remains were found. How pitiful.

No wonder His Majesty flew into a thunderous rage. No wonder that very day he ordered the Imperial Guard to rush straight to the imperial mausoleum and arrest the Heir of Marquis Guangping.

The ancestors of Marquis Guangping were founding ministers who had expanded territories alongside the founding emperor. By now, the family had continued for seven generations and had always held the important responsibility of guarding the imperial mausoleum. Over all these years, there had never been any mistakes.

Once a mistake occurred, it was immediately a catastrophic disaster.

The day the Heir of Marquis Guangping was imprisoned, Marquis Guangping hurriedly entered the palace. In the Supreme Hall, he kowtowed one after another, extremely terrified. “Fei Zhan has been as close as brothers with the Prince since childhood. How could he collude with outsiders to harm the Prince?” His hands braced on the ground trembled violently. He struggled to control his shaking voice to speak the words completely. “This must be—this must be some kind of misunderstanding.”

Emperor Jianzhang looked down from his lofty position on the throne, watching the Marquis of Guangping below with his head bowed extremely low. Suddenly he lowered his head and laughed once. “Do you truly understand your son?”

Marquis Guangping froze in place, bewildered and at a loss.

His son had never needed anyone to worry about him from childhood. As a child, he had shown exceptional obedience and understanding, never causing trouble like other dandy young masters. He did everything very well. Such a tedious duty as guarding the imperial mausoleum—he had been doing it for so many years and had never made a mistake. He had originally thought his son could continue living so peacefully and steadily for life. He never imagined that just when he was about to gloriously retire and submit the memorial for his heir to inherit the title, suddenly everything changed.

Emperor Jianzhang’s face bore a thin smile. Through this obviously confused fool who didn’t understand his son very well, a cold laugh emerged—as if seeing himself from several months ago, still trying to find excuses and escape routes for his son.

“Zhen will let you see whether he’s wronged or not.” With a wave of his large hand, two Imperial Guard officials who had been waiting before the hall quickly entered and led him straight out of the imperial city to the Imperial Guard prison.

The fearsome reputation of the Imperial Guard—as a son of nobility, he had always heard much about it. Many of those who had accompanied the late emperor in conquering the realm had died at the hands of the Imperial Guard. But previously, it had only been frightening to hear about. Now he was truly and genuinely seeing it.

He looked at the dark dungeon that needed oil lamps to illuminate it, feeling only bone-chilling cold. But these actually weren’t the most unbearable. The most unbearable was hearing his son’s servant hanging in shackles inside, tortured beyond human form, say the words “I confess.”

As for the Heir of Marquis Guangping, Fei Zhan—when Marquis Guangping saw him, he had already become a corpse.

“His bones were quite hard.” Chen Ping looked at him expressionlessly, his smile not quite a smile. “And his movements were quite fast. Before anyone could interrogate him, he used a blade he’d hidden on his person to slit his throat.”

Marquis Guangping was drenched in cold sweat. The pain of losing his son—he couldn’t feel it at all right now. He finally understood why Emperor Jianzhang wanted to see him, why Emperor Jianzhang made him come see his son.

He swallowed and struggled to squeeze out a trace of a smile. “He—his death is not worth regretting.”

The Iron-Faced King of Hell, Chen Ping, was as always cold as ice and expressionless. He glanced at him and didn’t beat around the bush. “We asked His Majesty to summon you here. Your son’s bones were very hard, but your household servant’s bones weren’t as hard as his. He confessed. But what he knows isn’t much. He said your wife knows. Since your son is dead, the one who knows is your wife. Go ask her. I hear her bones are also quite hard. If we take action, I fear she won’t speak.”

The latter words—he actually didn’t understand them very well. His mind was completely chaotic. Whatever he heard seemed unclear. He stumbled back to the Supreme Hall. Only when his legs trembled from kneeling did he react. His upper and lower teeth knocked together, chattering uncontrollably.

Although their family had risen through military merit, after so many generations, the family had long since produced no military talent. He himself had no great ambitions. But he never expected his son would have such great ambition.

Emperor Jianzhang held a brush in one hand, bent over writing something. After quite a while, he finally said without turning his head, “He doesn’t resemble you—he more resembles that mother of his surnamed Yang.”

Marquis Guangping’s legs shook even more violently. Finally prostrating himself on the ground, unable to rise, he couldn’t even speak a complete sentence.

“Zhen gives you one day.” Emperor Jianzhang finally deigned to lift his head and glance at him. “Make your wife speak the truth. Zhen will say it again—Zhen only wants the truth.”

Marquis Guangping felt he was now like a fish on a chopping block with someone gripping his throat, waiting to be slaughtered. Even breathing was extremely difficult. Trembling with fear, he answered yes and first returned to the marquis’s residence.

He wasn’t a fool. He was just different from Shen Xiaohai, who could never see his own position clearly. He only wanted to preserve this glory and live his life. How could his son do those things merely for Lady Yang’s cousin who was barely related to them?

He thought of his wife, who always loved to prattle on about how her niece was this way or that. He thought of the eldest daughter-in-law his wife had recently been selecting for their grandson. Vaguely, wasn’t her surname Wang?

Surnamed Wang. He pondered this in his heart for a long time before arriving at his wife’s room.

Lady Yang followed closely behind, her face pale and bloodless, no different from a dead person—her son had been imprisoned, and in the imperial prison where people were killed like hemp and almost no one could emerge whole! Just thinking about it made her feel her heart was being cut by knives, living in constant fear and anxiety.