Chu Yi entered the palace to announce the good news.

The Emperor personally gave the child a name—Chu Hongjue, with the pet name Jue’er.

It was the height of summer, and Jue’er lay on the bed wearing only a bellyband, his exposed arms as fair and tender as lotus root segments.

Whenever Chu Hongyu and Chu Changsheng finished their lessons, they would burrow into Yun Chu’s room. The two children propped their chins on their hands, staring intently at Jue’er.

When Jue’er moved his little arms even slightly, the older brother and sister would immediately say excitedly: “Wow, our Jue’er is amazing!”

“Jue’er has such strong arms, so impressive!”

“Mother, the diaper is wet.”

The wet nurse immediately stepped forward and carried the child aside to change his diaper.

“Jue’er is going to nurse. The Young Lord and County Princess should also eat.” Nanny Zheng led the two young masters to the flower hall.

Yun Chu was still in her confinement month, so she ate in the bedroom. A small table was set up by the bed, and Chu Yi accompanied her for the meal.

“Chu Mo has joined forces with the Censorate to impeach the Crown Prince’s conduct, accusing the Crown Prince of being unworthy of the position of heir apparent.” After eating his fill, Chu Yi spoke up. “The Eastern Palace is retreating step by step. The Empress made a foolish move, and the Emperor seized the phoenix seal from her. Now Consort Hui and Consort Yun are jointly managing the inner palace.”

Yun Chu set down her chopsticks.

From her pregnancy until now during her confinement, Chu Yi rarely mentioned court affairs in front of her.

She asked: “Is it beginning?”

Chu Yi nodded: “The court will be unsettled for some time. I’ll be coming home less often. I’m sorry to trouble you.”

“How is that troubling me?”

Yun Chu smiled gently.

For the previous half year, their family had traveled outside the capital.

After returning to the capital, in the past half year or more, he had only spent half a day at the Court of Judicial Review handling official business each day, spending all his remaining time with her and the children.

They should have pulled the Second Prince, Prince Gongxi Chu Mo, down from that position long ago, but to prevent any accidents and allow the child to be born safely, they had deliberately delayed until now.

She would soon be out of confinement and should gradually start getting busy herself.

“Given your position, some things are necessary.” She took a sip of chicken soup and said, “Don’t worry about me. I need to do something, otherwise I’ll get too fat and truly won’t be presentable.”

“You’re not fat at all. This is just right.” Lin Shi walked in from outside.

Lin Shi now came to the Prince’s estate every few days and moved about freely inside and out. Seeing Chu Yi sitting beside the small table for the meal—the table was very low, so he could only sit on an even lower stool with his two long legs awkwardly cramped underneath.

Lin Shi had grown accustomed to such scenes.

After all, previously there had even been a narrow bed set up in the room where Chu Yi had slept for over half a year.

“Mother has come.” Chu Yi stood up. “I’ll go check on the two children.”

When he left, he took the small table out with him.

Lin Shi sat down by the bed and said in a low voice: “I must say, Chu Yi is much better than Xie Jingyu…”

Years ago when Chu’er had her premature birth and her body was depleted, Xie Jingyu had basically never appeared during her confinement.

But Chu Yi had been by Chu’er’s side constantly from her pregnancy until now.

When other men’s wives were pregnant, they would generally take concubines, but the Prince Pingxi’s inner courtyard was completely clean.

This was enough to prove this man could be trusted for life.

“Why bring up that person?” Yun Chu said. “I heard from Chu Yi that Elder Brother has been promoted.”

Lin Shi’s face showed a smile: “In March, your elder brother personally went to handle the matter of farmland taxes, and along the way solved the problem of displaced people that had long existed in that region. He achieved great merit. The Emperor wasn’t stingy either and promoted your brother from the seventh rank to the fifth rank—two ranks at once.”

Yun Chu knew that over this past year, Elder Brother had stopped concealing his abilities and instead shone brilliantly, achieving merit multiple times, which was why he could be promoted so rapidly.

This way, the Yun family’s momentum surged again.

But so what?

This life was already completely different from the previous one.

When the baby turned one month old, Yun Chu and Chu Yi unanimously decided not to hold a banquet. The current court atmosphere was treacherous, and they wouldn’t give anyone an opportunity to exploit.

On the third day after Yun Chu finished her confinement, Chu Yi kissed her forehead before going to court.

The morning court session followed the usual routine—various ministers took turns memorializing about matters concerning the people’s livelihood. After that, people from the Censorate stepped forward to impeach various parties, mainly impeaching the Crown Prince for being unworthy of his position, impeaching Prince Pingxi for neglecting his duties, impeaching the Emperor for damaging the dignity of the nation’s mother… In short, it was symbolic impeachment.

Finally, Eunuch Gao would ask if anyone else had matters to report. If not, that day’s court session would end.

“If there are matters to report, speak! If not, court is dismissed!”

Someone from the Gongsun family stepped forward.

The Emperor’s expression darkened.

Over the past half year, the Eastern Palace and the Second Prince’s sides had been going back and forth, always making a fuss over trivial matters. If it wasn’t some Gongsun family male harassing women, it was Gui family servants oppressing common people. He was sick of hearing about such broken affairs.

“Reporting to Your Majesty, this humble subject has a matter to memorialize!”

The person from the Gongsun family lifted his official robe and knelt directly on the ground.

Chu Yi’s eyes flickered.

Last night, he had arranged for someone to deliver an anonymous letter to the Gongsun family. In the letter was physical evidence of Chu Mo’s involvement in examination fraud over the years.

The Empress was now in a weak position and naturally wouldn’t miss this opportunity to bring down Chu Mo.

The person from the Gongsun family said loudly: “The imperial examinations are the Great Jin Dynasty’s primary method for selecting talent. However, someone has exploited the examinations for personal gain and planted numerous loyalists in the court!”

The Emperor’s expression immediately changed: “Speak quickly!”

The person from the Gongsun family immediately presented the evidence: “According to this humble subject’s private investigation, among the successful examination candidates over the years, at least ten people met with Prince Gongxi before the examinations. This alone doesn’t prove anything, but this subject also discovered that all these people deposited silver in banks for Prince Gongxi. Those who deposited the highest amounts have had smooth sailing in their official careers. The most successful one has now entered the Inner Cabinet, with a rank only below the Grand Secretaries…”

Chu Mo’s head was buzzing.

Over half a year ago, Xie Shi’an had come to tell him that Chu Yi was investigating the examination matter.

That very day, he had arranged for assassins to kill those several officials who knew about it. As for the evidence… he had wiped that clean long ago.

Over the past half year, Chu Yi had made no moves, so he thought this matter had been perfectly covered up and had relaxed his vigilance.

He never expected that on this ordinary morning, someone from the Gongsun family would expose it.

This meant the Empress and the Third Prince had joined forces!

“Your Majesty, the imperial examinations are the foundation of the nation. If fraud exists, who knows how many true pillars of the state have been buried over these years!”

“The matter of tampering with the imperial examinations affects the very foundation of the nation. This matter cannot be overlooked. We implore Your Majesty to thoroughly investigate Prince Gongxi and the Gui family!”

“Prince Gongxi’s involvement in the examinations and planting his own people in the court clearly shows he covets the Crown Prince’s position and wants to replace him!”

“…”

Chu Mo fell to his knees with a thud.

Every prince had such ambitions, but everyone kept them hidden in the shadows. If exposed and brought into the open, it became a grave crime!

“This son is wronged!” Chu Mo prostrated himself on the ground. “Since the founding of our Great Jin Dynasty, countless pillars of the state have been selected through the imperial examinations. How would this son dare tamper with them! I beg Father Emperor to thoroughly investigate this matter and restore this son’s innocence!”

He didn’t know how the Gongsun family had found physical evidence.

But without witness testimony, it was all for nothing.

Father Emperor would never convict his excellent biological son based on such ambiguous evidence.