Having made his decision, Emperor Jingming, in his foul mood, no longer wanted his sons to remain in his sight. He dismissed them with a stern face: “You may all withdraw. In the future, whoever causes trouble will not be let off lightly!”

“Yes, Father,” the princes responded respectfully, regardless of their inner thoughts.

As Emperor Jingming watched Yu Jin leave, he called out after a moment’s thought: “Seventh Prince—”

Yu Jin stopped and bowed, asking, “Does Father have any instructions?”

“Erniu has made great contributions in solving Mingyue’s disappearance case. You may bring him to the palace more often in the future,” Emperor Jingming said, thinking of Jixiang’s earlier friendliness and feeling that Erniu could be extremely useful.

Yu Jin’s lips curved slightly upward as he responded, “Yes, Father.”

Prince Qi observed coldly from the side, his mood growing heavier.

Seventh Brother’s luck was simply incredible. Even raising a dog could help him gain favor.

Earlier, while watching the cat and dog fight, he had thought Father would surely reprimand Erniu severely once he found out. But instead—

The more Prince Qi thought about it, the more helpless he felt.

Was the Emperor’s heart truly so difficult to fathom? Despite his years of patience, not only had he failed to gain Father’s attention, but he now ranked below even Seventh Brother, who had been sent out of the palace at a young age.

If the Emperor’s heart was so unpredictable, then he must ascend to that position himself. Only then could he control his fate, rather than treading on thin ice trying to guess at the Emperor’s thoughts.

Soon, the Imperial Study was empty, with even Pan Hai having left to deliver the edict. Only Xiao Le remained, not daring to breathe loudly as he carefully picked up the fallen memorials.

Emperor Jingming sat motionless for a long time, pressing his fingertips against his eyelids in deep thought: In the past, his eyelids would at least twitch when something was about to go wrong, but recently there had been no reaction at all. Could it be that even his eyelids had given up?

With this thought, Emperor Jingming felt a deep nostalgia for his former eyelids.

Comparatively, being forewarned was still much better than being caught off guard.

As spring deepened, the willows outside the palace walls began to show hints of green. However, Prince Xiang, waiting outside, had no heart to appreciate the scenery. He paced back and forth restlessly.

Before long, Pan Hai appeared before Prince Xiang to convey Emperor Jingming’s edict.

Prince Xiang was thunderstruck, unable to react for a good while.

Pan Hai sighed and said, “You’d best take care of yourself.”

Seeing Pan Hai turn to leave, Prince Xiang snapped out of his daze and rushed forward: “Lord Pan, could there be some mistake?”

Pan Hai stopped and looked at Prince Xiang.

Unable to accept the news, Prince Xiang clutched at Pan Hai’s sleeve and asked urgently, “Is this truly Father’s will?”

“This servant would not dare to falsely transmit an imperial edict.”

“Impossible, absolutely impossible. Even if I harmed Cui Mingyue, there were reasons for it. How could Father strip me of my title just for this?”

The saying that “a prince who breaks the law is punished like a commoner” was merely to appease the public. How many nobles had been punished for taking lives? Most punishments were for more complex reasons.

Cui Mingyue had brought him such humiliation and had caused Zhu Ziyu’s death on his wedding night. What was wrong with such a viper dying by his hands?

He could accept punishment, but he never imagined losing his title.

He hadn’t committed treason, so why should he suffer such a fate?

Discontent, anger, confusion… a mix of emotions swirled in Prince Xiang’s eyes, making him appear somewhat deranged.

Pan Hai pulled his sleeve from Prince Xiang’s grasp and, after a moment’s thought, quietly reminded him, “Think about the Empress Dowager.”

Prince Xiang was stunned for a moment before sudden realization dawned on him.

Cui Mingyue’s death might not matter to anyone, but her mother was Princess Rongyang, the Empress Dowager’s adopted daughter.

If Princess Rongyang were still alive, it might have been different. But she was dead, and he had killed Cui Mingyue. If Father’s punishment were too light, he wouldn’t be able to answer to the Empress Dowager…

By the time Prince Xiang came to this realization, Pan Hai had already disappeared.

This understanding made him realize there was no turning back. He walked away as if his soul had left his body, not even noticing when one of his shoes fell off.

Prince Shu passed by Prince Xiang, Prince Lu passed by Prince Xiang, Prince Qi passed by Prince Xiang… It was Yu Jin who stopped beside him, picking up the fallen shoe and offering it to him.

Prince Xiang stared blankly at the shoe for a moment, then looked directly at Yu Jin.

Yu Jin placed the shoe in Prince Xiang’s hand and said meaningfully, “Eighth Brother, you see, now you’re truly barefoot.”

Taking advantage of Prince Xiang’s daze, Yu Jin patted his shoulder as if to comfort him, then strode away.

The shoe fell to the ground, hitting Prince Xiang’s foot. Only then did he react, his eyes reddening as he chased after Yu Jin: “Seventh Brother, you bastard, you’re the one who ruined me… You deliberately brought Erniu there!”

Those who heard this shook their heads.

Everyone now knew that it was Fifth Brother who had brought Erniu. Eighth Brother’s insistence on blaming Seventh Brother would not affect Yu Jin and only make him look foolish.

As for whether Seventh Brother had played dirty, well, that went without saying!

Seeing that he couldn’t catch up to Yu Jin, Prince Xiang grabbed Prince Qi’s wrist as if clutching at a lifeline, crying, “Fourth Brother, you can’t abandon me—”

A flash of disgust crossed Prince Qi’s eyes, but he dared not verbally provoke Prince Xiang. He could only offer words of comfort: “Eighth Brother, don’t make a scene. Although you’ve lost your title, as long as the mountain is green, there’s no fear of running out of firewood. If you continue to cause trouble and thoroughly disgust Father, that would be disastrous.”

Prince Xiang fell silent, dazed and confused. Prince Qi, feigning sympathy, quickly extricated himself.

Yu Jin returned to his princely residence and recounted the entire incident in detail to Jiang Si.

Jiang Si looked regretful: “What a pity, I should have gone with you.”

Yu Jin felt his wife’s hobby wasn’t quite right. He coughed lightly and said, “What’s so interesting about a pile of bones? You don’t know how Fifth Brother reacted after falling into the well. I bet he won’t be able to gnaw on meat bones anymore.”

Jiang Si was silent for a moment before correcting him: “Fifth Brother isn’t Erniu. Perhaps he never liked gnawing on meat bones to begin with.”

“In any case, there was nothing worth seeing.”

“I didn’t expect Lord Zhen to be there as well,” Jiang Si still felt it was a pity to have stayed in the residence.

Yu Jin’s expression cooled: “An old man is even less worth seeing.”

Jiang Si gave him a look: “From what you’ve told me, Lord Zhen let you off the hook. Yet here you are, speaking ill of him behind his back.”

“Letting me off is nothing special. I helped him solve the case, after all,” Yu Jin thought of Zhen Shicheng and couldn’t help but smile. “You don’t know, Si’er, when old Zhen has an unsolved case on his hands, he gets so annoyed he starts pulling at his beard. Think how much trouble I’ve saved him from.”

Jiang Si suddenly felt guilty.

The case of her burning the flower boat years ago was also a mystery. Who knows how many beard hairs Lord Zhen had pulled out over that?

“Jin’er, after this incident, Prince Qi and the others will likely be on guard against you.”

Yu Jin smiled nonchalantly: “Let them be on guard. It’s not as if it will do them any good.”

Jiang Si rubbed her forehead.

It was rare to see someone as confident as Jin’er, but watching him so full of self-assurance was truly delightful.

The mistress, in a good mood, immediately instructed the kitchen to give Erniu an extra meal.

Yu Jin: “…”

News of Prince Xiang’s transgression spread quickly.

When Old Master Jiang heard about it, he hurriedly counted on his fingers: Prince Qi, Prince Lu, Prince Shu, Prince Yan… He drew in a sharp breath. If Prince Yan put in a bit more effort, could his elder brother possibly become the Emperor’s father-in-law?