Gu Yanyue said, "Do you want another chance? Yuwen Ran, let me tell you, if you want another chance, I'll leave the palace and find my master, so you can experience the pain of not having a wife when you return from court!"

Yu Wenran was shocked. He hadn't expected Gu Yanyue to threaten him with such words. His mind immediately began to work rapidly. No matter what, he had to coax Gu Yanyue into submission. He didn't want to let that happen again. He didn't want to have another close encounter with those bugs.

Seeing Yuwen Ran ignore her, Gu Yanyue knew he was trying to coax her. She pondered for a moment, then asked, "When are you going to deal with Prince Xiang? After all, it's been delayed for too long. If it ends after Liu Yanyan gives birth, I'm afraid you'll be cuckolded forever."

Seeing that Gu Yanyue was talking to him about serious matters and not forgetting to tease him about the "green hat" on his head, Yu Wenran immediately expressed his dissatisfaction with Gu Yanyue's words, "The one who has worshipped heaven and earth with me is my wife. My wife is lying next to me now, how come I am suddenly wearing a green hat on my head?"

Gu Yanyue also imitated Yuwen Ran's way of addressing herself to express her dissatisfaction with Yuwen Ran's ramblings: "Your wife doesn't want to talk to you anymore because of what you just did. If you're smart, tell her when you plan to deal with the King of Xiang. Then, she might show mercy and let you go."

"Isn't this simple?" Yu Wenran said with a smile, "Just wait for me to show mercy and let me go."

Gu Yanyue sat up from the bed, looked down at Yuwen Ran, and said with an expression of listening attentively, "Tell me your plan quickly and truthfully!"

Yuwen Ran played with Gu Yanyue's long hair and said nonchalantly, "In fact, if the news of Liu Yanyan's pregnancy is released later, it will actually help us. The Queen Mother and Liu Yanyan thought that with the fake dragon seed, they could make me stop suppressing the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion, which would greatly assist Prince Xiang in his attempt to seize the throne."

"But they're actually thinking the wrong way. If Liu Yanyan gave birth to a son, and the emperor already had a candidate for crown prince, and he was poisoned and didn't have many days to live, and he didn't even have a child, who do you think they would choose to sit on the throne?"

"Plus, a large portion of the private army established by the King of Xiang is already fence-sitters. If they can choose to be loyal to the King of Xiang, why can't they choose to be loyal to me? After all, I am a more competent emperor than the King of Xiang, right?"

Yu Wenran said so much, but still didn't get to the point that Gu Yanyue asked. Instead, he praised himself. However, this did lead Gu Yanyue away. Gu Yanyue looked at him and said, "It can't be just these few points, right?"

Yu Wenran raised an eyebrow: "What do you think?"

"You've already started preparing since you came back from Qianzhou. Especially this month, apart from a few days of sleeping in Fengqi Palace, you've been sleeping in the study, or maybe not sleeping at all. If Liu Yanyan's pregnancy hadn't alarmed you today, I'm afraid you would have continued sleeping in the study, right?"

Gu Yanyue said, "I think you've almost gathered enough evidence of Prince Xiang's rebellion. If Concubine Liu hadn't been pregnant, you would have continued to hide it from me, right? You just said so much, all of which revolved around how Liu Yanyan's pregnancy would benefit us. You didn't mention how you would deal with Prince Xiang's faction if Liu Yanyan wasn't pregnant. I'm afraid you haven't thought it through yet, have you?"

After Gu Yanyue finished speaking, she looked at Yuwen Ran with anticipation. The expression on her face seemed to say, "Tell me about it quickly." Yuwen Ran didn't know why Gu Yanyue was so concerned about Prince Xiang.

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Yuwen Ran raised his hand and scratched Gu Yanyue's nose, then said, "I've been searching for evidence of Prince Xiang's wielding an army for the past few months. Now that I've gathered enough, even if Liu Yanyan wasn't pregnant, it's time to reveal it. If it weren't for Liu Yanyan's pregnancy, the time might have been later. But now that we have it, we can put Prince Xiang's execution on the agenda."

"By then, no matter what excuses the Queen Mother might offer, it will be too late. After all, even if you can silence the court, you can't silence the people of the world. By then, the King of Xiang will truly be doomed."

"Things are much simpler now. Show me the evidence, or Prince Xiang will confess his guilt. Yuwen Chen has been arrogant all his life, and he's always been better than me in everything. He's just one step away from stepping on me and becoming emperor. He definitely won't confess and will definitely turn against me, which is a perfect opportunity to catch him in one fell swoop."

"Although the King of Xiang has secretly recruited many generals into his service, the court is not without other generals. I have also recruited those generals. Moreover, we not only have the military strength, but also Tuoba Chen, who is far away in the Western Regions, who is also a great help to us. Judging from the military strength, if the matter is exposed, the King of Xiang will have no chance of winning if he wants to confront us head-on."

Gu Yanyue listened to him and thought, "Yuwen Ran is worthy of being the emperor. Even though he had been controlled by the empress dowager and presented himself as obedient and submissive to the world, his ruthless nature remained. His methods of dealing with people were not subtle at all, but simple and brutal. If he hadn't taken action, it would have been fine. But once he did, he would have immediately wiped out Prince Xiang, the Marquis of Zhenbei, and the empress dowager. But this was also the most effective method."

"If Liu Yanyan and the Queen Mother had known that they would send us pillows, you would have been able to sleep a little longer this month, and wouldn't have to sleep in the Imperial Study all the time." Gu Yanyue said, "Or if we had taken action against Prince Xiang's faction earlier, there wouldn't be so much trouble now."

Yuwen Ran smiled and said, "How cautious was the King of Xiang before? Look at how many times he attacked us. He even got away with the conspiracy with Tuoba Chen. Now is the perfect time to deal with him. He still had a chance to exonerate himself for what he did before, but not now. After all, so much has happened. If we don't behead him, we'd be doing him an injustice for hurting you so many times. We can also wipe out the King of Xiang's faction once and for all. Why not?"

What Yuwen Ran said made sense. The King of Xiang was really too cautious before. By the time Yuwen Ran went to investigate, the evidence had almost been destroyed.