When Xie Zhifei walked out of the courtyard, he discovered it had started drizzling.

Pei Xiao came up to meet him. “All arranged?”

Xie Zhifei: “All arranged.”

Pei Xiao: “She agreed?”

Xie Zhifei: “Patted her chest and agreed!”

Pei Xiao nodded. “Then let’s go!”

The two walked out of the Cai residence and directly boarded a carriage waiting at the gate.

Shen Chong was already waiting inside.

The carriage raced along the empty stone road. Shen Chong quickly said in a low voice: “Both gentlemen, His Highness has been summoned into the palace, and Cai Si was summoned along with him.”

Xie Zhifei: “What about Ji Lingchuan?”

Shen Chong: “He’s still in prison.”

Xie Zhifei: “Did you find out what Qin Qi asked Ji Lingchuan?”

Shen Chong shook his head.

Xie Zhifei frowned. “Then what did Qin Qi come to the Northern Bureau in the middle of the night for?”

“It’s not that we couldn’t find out—it’s that Ji Lingchuan acts completely dazed, with vacant eyes. No matter what you ask, he simply can’t hear. Even pinching him, he doesn’t cry out in pain.”

Shen Chong looked worried. “Third Master, what did Miss Yan do to him?”

Xie Zhifei: “Nothing to him, just resolved the old lady’s heart demon.”

Shen Chong: “What exactly is the other half of Old Lady Ji’s heart demon?”

How could we let you know that!

Xie Zhifei’s gaze lightly swept toward Pei Xiao.

Pei Xiao immediately snorted coldly: “Rather than wondering about that, you’d better worry about whether this trip is a blessing or disaster for your master!”

“Has the Crown Prince…”

Xie Zhifei smoothly changed the subject. “Been alerted?”

Shen Chong said hastily: “We didn’t dare notify him, but by daybreak it definitely can’t be hidden.”

The carriage was stuffy. Xie Zhifei nodded slightly and loosened the fastening at his neck. “Who knows what His Majesty is thinking? The imperial heart is difficult to fathom!”

Pei Xiao: “By rights, since the old lady’s heart demon has been resolved, the Ji family should be vindicated.”

Hearing him say this, Shen Chong quickly added: “Oh right, Master Pei, Ji Twelve has come back to life.”

Pei Xiao’s voice trembled. “Really?”

Shen Chong: “I heard it scared Xu Lai quite badly—he thought it was a corpse reviving!”

Pei Xiao’s brow twitched, and his gaze turned somewhat panicked toward Xie Zhifei.

Xie Zhifei knew what he was panicking about. “My old lady at home was the same way—once the incense finished burning, she was up and lively.”

Is it really that miraculous?

Pei Xiao felt his scalp tingle and leaned closer toward Xie Zhifei.

Xie Zhifei said very steadily: “Shen Chong, right now it’s better to make no move than to act.”

“What does Third Master mean by that?”

“The old lady’s heart demon has been resolved, but the Ji family matter isn’t concluded yet. Why don’t we just watch and see whether some things are effective or not?”

Before Shen Chong could respond, Pei Xiao spoke first: “You still don’t believe in Yan Sanhe even now?”

“It’s not that I don’t believe.”

Xie Zhifei’s profound eyes darkened. “It’s that we currently have absolutely no way to gather more information, so we can only place our hopes in her.”

His Majesty’s purpose in dispatching Qin Qi to see Ji Lingchuan in the middle of the night?

Don’t know!

How will His Majesty deal with Zhao Huairen?

Don’t know!

Will His Majesty send people to investigate this matter thoroughly?

Don’t know!

“All we can do now is drive the carriage to the palace gates and wait for Huairen to come out before making plans.”

Xie Zhifei’s gaze swept across Shen Chong twice. “Your master being able to leave silently with Qin Qi—I’m guessing he has a strategy in mind.”

…

Zhao Yishi entered through the eastern gate of the Forbidden City and walked north for a quarter-hour before a eunuch came up to meet him.

“Your Highness, His Majesty is at Yan’an Palace.”

Yan’an Palace was the Emperor’s sleeping quarters.

As Emperor Yonghe aged, his romantic interests had faded considerably. Half of each month he rested here, and only when the mood struck would he visit the various consorts in the rear palace.

Zhao Yishi followed the young eunuch to the entrance of Yan’an Palace, straightened his appearance, then nodded to the eunuch on duty inside the hall.

The eunuch hurried to announce him and shortly came back out hastily.

“Your Highness, His Majesty asks you to enter.”

Zhao Yishi took a deep breath and stepped into the hall.

It was already late at night. Most of the candles in the outer hall had been extinguished, with only a few still lit in the inner hall.

Zhao Yishi glanced around quickly and discovered no one on the dragon bed. His heart lurched, and he hastily looked around before finding the person by the window.

He hurried forward and knelt, lifting his robes.

“Grandson pays respects to Imperial Grandfather.”

“The Crown Prince’s Grandson has such audacity!”

The voice was heavy and stern. Zhao Yishi’s initially upright posture bent down lower. “Grandson deserves death. I beg Imperial Grandfather to punish me.”

The Emperor stood with his hands clasped behind his back, saying not a word.

The hall suddenly fell into silence. Apart from the breathing of grandfather and grandson, there was not a single other sound.

After a long while, the Emperor slowly turned around. With a flick of his sleeve, without even glancing at Zhao Yishi, he walked to the dragon bed of his own accord.

His personal attendant, Yan Ruxian, came forward to assist with changing clothes.

As he lowered the curtains, he glanced at Zhao Yishi and said softly: “Your Majesty, the Crown Prince’s Grandson…”

“Let him kneel.”

“Yes!”

Yan Ruxian dared not say more. He quickly withdrew from the inner hall and waved to the young eunuchs on duty, indicating they should move farther away.

Though it was the fifth month with summer heat gradually intensifying, the gold bricks beneath his knees remained cold as bone.

Zhao Yishi straightened his body and sat back, crossing his legs.

The Emperor wouldn’t wake from this sleep for two or three double-hours—this was the best method for slacking off. He could even catch a nap.

But today the Emperor didn’t want to let his grandson slack off.

“Kneel closer.”

Zhao Yishi quickly got up and knelt before the dragon couch. After pondering for quite a while in his heart, he finally spoke.

“Today is the first anniversary of Old Lady Ji’s death. Mingting asked me for help. Remembering his filial devotion, I secretly assisted him.”

“Assisted him right into prison?”

“It was grandson who lost sense of proportion.”

Zhao Yishi lowered his head, yet seemed somewhat unconvinced.

“Imperial Grandfather has taught grandson since childhood that for a person, filial piety comes first. Those who are unfilial will be despised by Heaven and abandoned by the gods.

His surname is Pei, not Ji. He rushed back thousands of miles from Nanning because he didn’t want his maternal grandmother to think all the Ji family descendants had forgotten her. This filial heart can be witnessed by Heaven and Earth. That’s why grandson took the risk to act for him.”

“He acted out of filial piety, so I need not punish him.”

A heavy voice came through the bed curtains. “But you—I must punish. Not only punish, but punish severely. Do you know why?”

Zhao Yishi’s heart trembled in shock.

“You are the sovereign, he is the subject. For a sovereign to risk danger for a subject—this is the first crime. Disregarding national law and regulations—this is the second crime. And this third crime…”

The curtain was abruptly pulled back, revealing the Emperor’s pair of cold, dark eyes. “Do you know what it is?”

Zhao Yishi bit his teeth and shook his head.

“Foolish filial piety.”

These three words shocked Zhao Yishi into breaking out in a cold sweat on his back. He hastily defended himself: “Imperial Grandfather, grandson…”

“You should learn from your father. With the Ministry of Revenue in such a state, he can still turn a deaf ear and remain composed.”

The Emperor snorted coldly. “The Eastern Palace Crown Prince’s reputation for worthiness—truly everyone praises it!”

A cold current shot up from his feet.

All of Zhao Yishi’s limbs froze into ice. For a moment he couldn’t believe his own ears—that he would hear such words.