An emperor’s glance could make subjects tremble with fear, let alone staring at Zhu Yuanmo for a long time.

Cold sweat poured down Zhu Yuanmo’s entire body. His inner garments were quickly soaked through.

Just as he felt he couldn’t endure any longer, the person in the high position finally spoke.

“I hear your mother didn’t die of illness?”

Zhu Yuanmo quickly raised his head to answer.

“This subject’s mother by rights should have lived longer. Unfortunately, she and my father loved each other all their lives. When the white-headed mandarin duck loses its mate, who will mend clothes by lamplight again? My mother, she…”

Tears fell. “After not eating or drinking for several days, she followed him.”

The emperor glanced at the eunuch.

The eunuch quickly said: “Your Majesty, there’s a folk saying that when a loving couple loses one, the other will inevitably pass within three years.”

The emperor smiled. “Rare, truly rare!”

Zhu Yuanmo held a chest full of bitterness he couldn’t express. Fearing he’d reveal a flaw, he simply prostrated himself on the ground and said sorrowfully, “This subject requests Your Majesty grant permission for observing mourning.”

The emperor didn’t respond, but instead asked: “I hear your father’s coffin has been placed in a temple?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Zhu Yuanmo: “My father leaked too many heavenly secrets in this lifetime. The coffin needs to be placed in a Buddhist temple, listening to Buddhist chants for seven months before it can be buried. Otherwise there will be household unrest and descendants’ unease.”

The emperor snorted. “He observed celestial phenomena and divined fortune and misfortune for me. What heavenly secrets did he leak?”

Zhu Yuanmo felt his heart pounding like drums. He took a deep breath and responded with utmost care.

“Your Majesty, celestial phenomena are heavenly secrets, fortune and misfortune are also heavenly secrets. The Zhu family has practiced this trade generation after generation. By my father’s generation, it had reached its peak. The saying goes that extreme prosperity must decline. Before dying, my father divined a hexagram for the Zhu family…”

He raised his tear-stained face. “The Zhu family will likely decline hereafter.”

“Oh?”

“Your Majesty may not know.”

Zhu Yuanmo crawled forward a few steps. “When my father was placed in his coffin, the coffin shattered three times. This was heaven’s warning. My father had anticipated this during his lifetime, which is why he instructed this subject to place the coffin in a temple.”

Upon hearing about the coffin shattering, the emperor’s expression gradually darkened.

“What else did your father instruct before dying?”

“Father told me to serve well. Your Majesty is heaven’s chosen son, a renowned ruler of a generation. That the Zhu family can serve Your Majesty is the accumulated merit of the Zhu family through generations. We must give thanks to heaven’s grace and the sovereign’s grace.”

Zhu Yuanmo choked up. “He also told this subject to treat my wife well, to treat my brothers and sisters well. He said when the wife is virtuous the husband has few troubles, when the family is harmonious all affairs prosper.”

The emperor said nothing more.

An emperor’s silence was even more terrifying than anger. Zhu Yuanmo felt his heart was nearly jumping out of his throat.

For today’s imperial audience, every sentence—how to say it, what tone to use, whether there were any flaws, whether it would arouse suspicion…

Last night he and Third Brother had discussed it countless times.

If even this couldn’t pass the test, then he could only say: Heaven wills it so.

“Since your father said this, you as a son should listen to his words.”

Finally, the emperor spoke, and his tone was quite unpleasant. “This memorial, I’ll pretend I never saw it. Withdraw.”

Zhu Yuanmo had no idea how he withdrew, nor how he walked out of the palace step by step.

He only knew that when the carriage curtain fell, tears could no longer be held back and came gushing out.

Wave after wave of lingering fear!

Zhu Yuanhao, who’d been waiting in the carriage, saw his elder brother’s tears and asked with trembling lips, “Brother, how did it go?”

Zhu Yuanmo wiped his tears with his sleeve and said quietly, “Go personally to Third Master and tell him this hurdle was narrowly passed.”

“Aiyou!”

Zhu Yuanhao covered his chest and let out a long sigh.

…

Was Third Master Xie at the Military Commandant’s Office?

He was!

He’d been cornered there by his own elder brother.

“Why aren’t you going home?”

“What have you been busy with these days?”

“Where’s Miss Yan? Why isn’t she at the separate residence?”

A string of questions left Xie Zhifei speechless. Thinking he couldn’t hide it anyway, he might as well confess.

“Yan Sanhe and Elder Brother Zhu entered the realm of yin. If this heart demon isn’t investigated further, both will die, and the Zhu family will all go to hell after death.”

“So.”

Xie Erli: “You’ve continued investigating?”

“Yes!”

Xie Zhifei lifted his robe and knelt down with difficulty, his dark eyes looking pitifully at his elder brother.

“Brother, it’s not that I don’t prioritize the Xie family or the bigger picture. It’s really that…”

There was no other choice!

Xie Zhifei met his elder brother’s gaze. “Brother, think of a way to expel me from the Xie residence. In the future, even if something happens, it won’t implicate the family.”

“Nonsense.”

Xie Erli glared, pointing at Xie Zhifei. “Say such words again and watch me beat you to death.”

Hearing this, Xie Zhifei was stunned. “Then Elder Brother means…”

“It’s death either way, so we might as well fight.”

Xie Erli: “Don’t return to the Xie residence these days. Just stay at the separate residence. I’ll handle things at home. You don’t need to manage anything or ask about anything.”

“Brother?” Xie Zhifei was so shocked he didn’t know east from west.

Xie Erli walked to Xie Zhifei and with both hands helped him up.

“Afei, help Miss Yan well. The Zhu family’s life and death, your sister-in-law’s life and death, depend on you all.”

Happiness came too fast and fierce. Xie Zhifei felt somewhat dazed.

Before he could speak, Xie Erli suddenly leaned his head over, his lips at his ear, saying quietly:

“The Hanlin Academy still has sealed records from when the Late Emperor dealt with the Late Crown Prince, as well as some officials’ impeachment memorials. I’ll find a way to take a look.”

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Xie Zhifei felt his heart palpitations were about to start again.

Secretly viewing the Late Emperor’s decrees—if discovered, that was also a capital offense!

His elder brother…

Wasn’t he the one most afraid of death?

…

Yongqing County.

Yuelai Inn.

Zhu Yuanzhao nearly fell off his horse.

After galloping for a full day and night, even his bones were cold. His entire person was numb, frozen.

A hand reached up to support him.

Zhu Yuanzhao looked up, and his eyes immediately widened. “Li…”

“Shh!”

Li Buyan said in a low voice: “Get a room yourself. Once you’re in the room, don’t come out again. Have the waiter bring food and drink to the room.”

Zhu Yuanzhao quickly nodded.

“Rest well tonight. Tomorrow at the hour of yin, take the official road and head for Shanguan County. When you reach the county town, find a small beggar to guide you. Remember, the place you’re going is called Wood Pear Mountain. We’ll meet by the river.”

Li Buyan: “If anyone asks what you’re going to Wood Pear Mountain for, just say you’ve come out of admiration.”

After speaking, she turned and walked into the inn.

Zhu Yuanzhao waited until she’d disappeared from sight, then quickly called out: “Waiter, open a superior room.”

The next day.

The hour of yin.

The sky was still dark when Zhu Yuanzhao set out.

Less than half a double-hour after he left, Yan Sanhe and her group also departed.

The three ran for another full day and night on the road, finally meeting up by the river just as the sun was about to set.

Abandoning the horses, they boarded a boat.

The boat crossed to the other side of the river. Yan Sanhe expertly took the ghost path, heading straight for the mountain peak.

Wood Pear Mountain in winter was covered in white snow, cold enough to make one shiver.

Reaching the mountain peak, Li Buyan knocked on the Tang residence’s main gate.

Seeing who had come, the old steward was so shocked his eyeballs nearly popped out. He shouted repeatedly:

“Master, Master, Miss Yan is here!”