The old man used all the strength in his body until Xie Ping stopped struggling, only then did he release his grip.

He bent down to check Xie Ping’s nostrils for breath. Finding none, he finally let out a heavy sigh of relief.

But he didn’t stop. He immediately placed the corpse into the vegetable basket, piled Chinese cabbages on top, and pushed the cart away, leaving the same way he had come.

The old man’s figure in the night didn’t attract anyone’s attention. He walked to the护陵河 by the back mountain. He removed the cabbages, gave a hard push, and the body rolled down, tumbling into the river water. It was quickly swept away, disappearing from sight.

“Linglong!”

The old man covered his face and wept bitterly.

“Grandfather has finally avenged you, my Linglong…”

He cried and sobbed, his pain reaching its extreme.

He had his only son at age forty. His wife died just after their son was born. He raised his son through hardship and struggle, arranged his son’s marriage, but just after the wedding, his son rolled down a mountain and fell to his death. Fortunately, he had left seed in his daughter-in-law’s belly. He knelt outside his daughter-in-law’s door for three days before she agreed to give birth to the child. After giving birth, his daughter-in-law remarried.

Just as he had raised his son, through hardship and struggle, he raised his only granddaughter.

His granddaughter was very capable. She found a good position at the Imperial Mausoleum with a monthly salary of eight hundred coins. She even helped him get work delivering vegetables to the Imperial Mausoleum. Their grandfather-granddaughter life gradually improved.

His only worry was that his granddaughter cared for tigers at the Imperial Mausoleum, fearing the tigers might lose control and devour his granddaughter.

He never imagined his granddaughter would be murdered by someone.

He still remembered that day when he came to the Imperial Mausoleum looking for Linglong. A palace maid familiar with Linglong told him that Linglong had been taken back to the capital by the Crown Prince to enjoy good fortune.

Linglong had always been a sensible child. If she had truly gone to the capital, she would certainly have sent someone to notify him.

He had a bad premonition in his heart. He made a special trip to the capital, sought connections everywhere, and had someone deliver a message to Concubine Wu in the Eastern Palace, but there was never any reply.

Disappointed, he returned to the Imperial Mausoleum to ask that palace maid about the situation again, when he saw a corpse being fished out of the moat.

The corpse was already unrecognizable, but he still identified the shoes on the body—those were the thousand-layer soles he had personally sewn for his granddaughter…

His Linglong had been murdered by a villain!

“Linglong, Grandfather can finally come to see you…”

After crying bitterly, the old man took out those thousand-layer-soled shoes from the vegetable basket, hugged them to his chest, and leaped down from the riverbank.

With a splash, all traces disappeared into the night’s river water.

The night grew deeper and deeper.

The Crown Prince was still immersed in his own grief.

Until a palace maid came running urgently: “Your Highness Crown Prince, something terrible has happened! Concubine Wu has disappeared!”

The Crown Prince wiped away his tears and stood up: “What do you mean disappeared?”

The palace maid replied trembling with fear: “Concubine Wu told this servant to start the fire while she went to select fresh vegetables for Your Highness, but once she left, she never returned… This servant has already arranged for people to search, but they’ve searched the entire Imperial Mausoleum without finding anyone.”

“Search! Keep searching!”

The Crown Prince roared, his voice completely ruined.

But after searching for several days, they still couldn’t find her. She had simply vanished.

Just as before, she had suddenly appeared by his side, and now she had suddenly disappeared again, taking with her the child in her belly…

In such a short time, he had lost so much.

Mother Empress was gone.

Secondary Consort Fang and the child were gone.

Linglong and the child were also gone…

What did he have left?

After the Empress’s burial, the capital returned to tranquility.

Jue’er was now half a year old, could crawl a little, and would giggle with laughter at the slightest teasing. He was the joy of the household.

Changsheng officially began attending the Imperial Academy, with Miss Qiu, the second legitimate daughter of the Minister of War, as her study companion.

Female students only attended half days—mornings at the Imperial Academy, and afternoons at home learning painting. Xie Xian would come to study alongside her.

Yu’er became increasingly diligent. Following Meng Shen, he studied hard every day and frequently received praise from Teacher Wang at the Imperial Academy.

Yun Chu heard that Prince Gongxi, Chu Mo, who had been imprisoned in the dungeon, had somehow gone mad during the Empress’s burial period. He raved incoherently in the dungeon all day.

Chu Yi suspected Chu Mo was feigning madness and specifically requested several imperial physicians to examine him. The result proved that Chu Mo had truly gone mad.

Judging by the degree of madness, he seemed even more insane than that mad aunt.

“Could someone as calculating and scheming as Chu Mo have been so stimulated that he went mad on his own?” Yun Chu looked at the man beside her. “Who could have done this?”

Chu Yi said slowly: “I’ve investigated. Chu Rui visited the dungeon.”

“Chu Rui?”

Yun Chu was surprised.

That sickly prince who had once sustained his life with a woman’s heart blood and whose health had deteriorated further after saving the Emperor had actually gone to the dungeon.

Chu Mo’s madness was Chu Rui’s doing?

What was his purpose?

“Does he want to restore the former Crown Prince’s empire?”

Yun Chu asked tentatively.

Chu Yi shook his head: “It’s unclear for now. I’ve had people watching him all along, and there are no abnormalities in any aspect.”

As the husband and wife were discussing this, Chief Steward Cheng entered with his head bowed to report: “Your Highness, Your Highness Consort, an invitation has been delivered from Prince Zhuang’s residence.”

Chu Yi took the invitation.

Yun Chu glanced at it.

Chu Rui was getting married, taking as his bride the legitimate daughter of the Su family from Anding.

If she remembered correctly, the Su family from Anding should be the maternal family of the current Emperor’s biological mother.

The Su family lived far from the capital. The family made their fortune in business. Although they worked hard to provide education for their children, over all these years, only one person had passed the provincial examination—not even qualified to attend court.

Although the Emperor wished to promote them, the Su family was truly too disappointing and simply couldn’t be elevated.

If Chu Rui wanted to compete for the throne, he should marry a woman from a noble family, not the daughter of a merchant household.

“Father Emperor arranged this marriage for him as surveillance.” Chu Yi said in a mild tone. “He saved Father Emperor, and Father Emperor gave him rewards, but has never truly trusted him. From now on, his pillow companion will be Father Emperor’s best informant.”

Yun Chu nodded.

After Prince Gongxi’s downfall, Xie Shi’an had disappeared for a period of time.

She had arranged for people to investigate and discovered that Xie Shi’an had secretly returned to his old home in Jizhou alone.

The Xie family clan members in Jizhou had long ago swallowed up all the farmland and estates that Xie Jingyu had acquired. After Xie Shi’an returned, he somehow managed to make those clan members obediently return all the farmland and estates.

She had used Xie Shi’an’s hand to eliminate Prince Gongxi.

Some of Prince Gongxi’s followers still remained. Xie Shi’an probably wouldn’t dare return to the capital again.

But she didn’t believe that someone like Xie Shi’an would be content to remain in a village in Jizhou.

Just as she was thinking this, a servant came in to report: “Your Highness Consort, Yuan Shi requests an audience.”

Yun Chu took a sip of tea: “Bring her in.”

Yuan Shi had never actively done anything evil, but many of the Xie family’s affairs, incident after incident, had occurred right under Yuan Shi’s nose. The things Yuan Shi didn’t know about were one matter, but even when she was aware, she turned a blind eye.

Yuan Shi was now bearing all the sins of the Xie family, which were also the bitter fruits she herself had sown.