In Zhao Yishi’s twenty-some years of life, he had never been as furious as he was now. His face slowly flushed red starting from his neck until all the color gathered in one point in his eyes.

His internal organs inexplicably began to ache—that kind of pain was like broken bones, like having tendons stripped and skin flayed.

At this moment, he suddenly felt something flow from his mouth. He reached up to wipe it—it was blood.

He looked at that spot of dark red in panic, then couldn’t hold back any longer. His mouth opened and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Shen Chong was scared half to death.

“Your Highness, I’ll immediately go summon the Imperial Phy—”

Zhao Yishi lifted his leg and kicked Shen Chong in the waist.

The rage and pain seemed to suddenly have an outlet. Zhao Yishi turned and seized the horse whip from a guard’s hand, bringing it down on Shen Chong indiscriminately.

Shen Chong didn’t dare move a muscle, letting him strike.

One lash hit his face, immediately splitting the skin and drawing blood.

The guards watched with pounding hearts.

His Highness usually doted on Shen Chong the most. Forget hitting him—he rarely even spoke a harsh word to him.

No one dared to intervene. Even Shen Chong himself didn’t dare make a sound.

Zhao Yishi beat until he was tired, then stopped, panting roughly as he asked: “Do you know where you went wrong?”

Shen Chong prostrated himself on the ground, choking out: “This lowly one spoke too much.”

“Wrong!”

Zhao Yishi looked down at him from his height, laughing coldly again and again.

“Words like ‘may we never meet again’ aren’t for the likes of you to say. This entire realm belongs to me. Where can they hide? Even if they can hide for a time, they can’t hide forever.”

Shen Chong raised his head in disbelief.

He saw the Crown Prince’s lips curved in a sinister smile, his lips twisted by his teeth. Where was the refined jade-like elegance, the peerless gentleman?

Shen Chong lowered his head, pleading in a low voice: “Your Highness, speak cautiously!”

As the words fell, a guard rushed into the courtyard, stopping at the study door to report inside: “Your Highness, word has come from the palace. His Majesty summons Your Highness into the palace.”

Shen Chong’s soul fled in terror.

Entering the capital without summons was equivalent to treason.

With his face covered in blood, he immediately shouted: “Someone come! Quickly get His Highness a change of clothes.”

“No need.”

Zhao Yishi threw down the whip, pulled out a handkerchief from his breast, and slowly, finger by finger, wiped his hands.

“Do you know what to do next?”

“Your Highness rest assured. This lowly one will secretly assign people to guard all checkpoints and ferry crossings. We will definitely find them.”

Zhao Yishi’s pair of phoenix eyes looked out the window indifferently, his voice becoming unusually gentle.

“Shen Chong, no one in this realm can wrong me.”

Only I can wrong all under heaven!

After wiping his last finger, he lightly tossed the handkerchief and strode into the night.

…

The vermillion palace gates opened with a creak.

A young eunuch waited inside with a lantern. Seeing the Crown Prince enter, he hurried forward with a flattering smile. “Your Highness, this lowly one will light your way.”

Is it needed?

He had walked this path in and out countless times.

When he was young with small steps, it took two thousand six hundred and thirty-one steps.

After turning thirteen, each time took two thousand and fifty steps.

When leaving the palace, it only took two thousand steps. Those fifty fewer steps were because he didn’t need to calculate every step—his heart was lighter, so his stride was also longer.

“Thank you, young sir.”

“Your Highness is too kind.”

The young eunuch glanced around, then said in a low voice: “When His Majesty learned Your Highness returned to the capital, he knocked over his tea cup. Your Highness should be careful in your responses later.”

Zhao Yishi nodded slightly, but in his heart he laughed coldly without end.

An emperor’s rage couldn’t be dodged with the word “careful.”

The warm pavilion of the East Hall was brilliantly lit.

When Zhao Yishi entered, he discovered the Empress was also there. His eyes couldn’t help but narrow.

He stepped forward and knelt to perform his respects.

Emperor Zhao Yanlu didn’t tell him to rise, but instead looked up at the Empress, saying with no small amount of sarcasm:

“The Empress rarely comes to my warm pavilion. What a coincidence today—your son has returned. Clearly you mother and son are of one heart!”

These words left Empress Zhang nowhere to hide her face. Forcing a smile, she said:

“Rarely coming doesn’t mean never coming. These past few days Your Majesty caught a cold. This consort was worried about Your Majesty’s dragon health and couldn’t sleep, which is why I came late at night to see.”

Zhao Yanlu didn’t expose her either. “Now you’ve seen. I’m still alive and well. Empress, you may withdraw.”

“This consort takes her leave.”

Empress Zhang looked deeply at the Crown Prince, then bowed and withdrew from the warm pavilion.

Only after the pavilion door closed did Zhao Yanlu glance sideways at the Crown Prince, asking coldly: “Isn’t the Crown Prince supposed to be guarding the Imperial Mausoleum?”

“In response to Your Majesty.”

Zhao Yishi straightened up. “This son received news that Xie Zhifei and Pei Xiao were leaving the capital. Thinking of past friendship, I acted impulsively and recklessly returned to the capital.”

“Oh?”

Zhao Yanlu: “Did you see them?”

Zhao Yishi: “I was still a step too late. They had already left.”

Zhao Yanlu: “How strange—I heard the Crown Prince entered the capital with murderous intent, not as if going to see people off, but rather as if going to kill people.”

Zhao Yishi: “This son was anxious beyond measure.”

Zhao Yanlu laughed coldly, his tone suddenly turning severe. “Does being anxious mean you can treat ancestral law and national statutes as mere wind in your ears?”

Hearing this, Zhao Yishi hurriedly prostrated himself trembling on the ground. “This son deserves death ten thousand times!”

Zhao Yanlu: “Entering the capital without summons—by law you should be executed!”

Zhao Yishi’s complexion turned deathly pale in an instant. After a long moment, he slowly said: “This son begs Imperial Father for mercy.”

“Mercy?”

Zhao Yanlu suddenly smiled. “When the Crown Prince privately sent troops to hunt down and kill that group of people, did you think of the word ‘mercy’?”

Zhao Yishi’s heart filled with terror. His temples throbbed incessantly.

After a long while, he straightened up, his lips slowly curving into a cold smile. “So it turns out this son’s every move has been under Your Majesty’s eyes.”

Zhao Yanlu thought of his pillow companion Empress Zhang and couldn’t help asking bitterly in return: “Aren’t my every move also under the eyes of you mother and son?”

“But Your Majesty!”

Zhao Yishi slowly raised his head. “Mother acts for your good. I act for your good, for the good of Hua nation’s realm and altars.”

Zhao Yanlu slammed his fist on the edge of the bed, roaring: “A ruler’s word is inviolable! Do you take my words as mere wind in your ears?”

“This son dares not.”

Zhao Yishi let out a deep breath. “This son is making up for the mistakes Your Majesty committed.”

“Smack—”

Zhao Yanlu’s face was as red as his palm. “Insolent!”

Half of Zhao Yishi’s face instantly swelled red, the five finger marks clear as day.

This wasn’t the first time Father had struck him. Ever since he turned thirteen, being beaten and punished had become routine.

He knew it was because of that matter.

Though Father was crippled in one leg, his mind had always been sharp—it was just that bloated body that concealed his cleverness.

The Late Emperor had entrusted him with full responsibility for the Zheng family case. He might not have been able to glimpse the entire truth, but he could at least discover some secrets.

He used the back of his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, laughing softly. “Why didn’t Father expose me back then?”

Zhao Yanlu hadn’t expected him to suddenly ask this. He froze in shock.

The contempt that Zhao Yishi had long hidden in his eyes finally showed itself.

“Was it the same fear of death as mine?”