In the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the emperor sat high above.

On the surface, he stood ramrod straight, a smile playing on his lips, exuding the air of an emperor; in reality—

Listening to his ministers spouting the same old tunes, the emperor wished he could order their mouths sewn shut.

They chirp and chatter, even sparrows can't sing as loudly as them!

He shouldn't have come to court. He would have been better off staying by Chen'er's side and watching him sleep than listening to these ministers talking nonsense.

Originally, this court assembly would have been the same as every previous one, with the ministers praising the emperor and then dispersing after a while. However, one stubborn censor did not follow the usual path. For some reason, he was out of his mind or simply had a death wish and dared to remonstrate with the emperor.

He impeached the emperor for favoring the crown prince, which led to the prince becoming ignorant and troublesome, making him unfit to be the heir apparent of Dae-yeon.

He further argued that although the Crown Prince was the Emperor's son, their relationship was first and foremost that of ruler and subject, and only then that of father and son. As the supremely noble Emperor, he should only be concerned with the people's livelihood and the affairs of the state. How could he not get proper rest in the middle of the night to take care of the Crown Prince who only had a fever? If the Emperor's health were to be harmed as a result, the Crown Prince would be guilty beyond redemption!

The Imperial Censor delivered his remonstrance with great passion and eloquence, but the ministers who listened to it were terrified and dared not even breathe. The ministers standing around the Imperial Censor subconsciously moved away from him, so as not to get their blood splattered on them when the emperor ordered his head to be chopped off on the spot.

Their emperor is no benevolent ruler. The censor's words are piercing to the heart, and the ancestral law of "not killing officials who speak out" may not be taken seriously by the current emperor.

On his high throne, the emperor's face was ashen, and the veins on his forehead throbbed.

He really wanted to order the Imperial Censor to be beheaded on the spot, but he also knew that if he did so, more Imperial Censors would jump out and not only accuse him of being incompetent and tyrannical, but would also intensify their impeachment of the Crown Prince, saying that he was unworthy of his position.

That's how the officials who speak out are—like rocks in a latrine, smelly and hard, they like to disgust themselves and others even more!

But even if the emperor couldn't behead the other person on the spot, he had plenty of ways to deal with him.

He remembered that the official was physically weak and had taken several concubines. After decades of trying, he finally had a son in his old age. He cherished his son dearly, treating him like a precious gem.

This old scoundrel knows he cherishes his own son, but he can't stand him favoring the crown prince. Since that's the case, then let's take a swipe at the old scoundrel's heart and liver. That will surely make him suffer ten or a hundred times more than killing the old scoundrel!

Emperors, used to doing whatever they want, are all petty and vindictive.

The emperor had a plan in mind. He could already imagine the old scoundrel weeping and regretting his actions one day, and he couldn't help but feel great, laughing heartily.

As the saying goes, "When the emperor smiles, life and death are unpredictable."

“What you say is very true, but I see that your face is flushed, which may be a sign of excessive liver fire. You are my trusted minister, and you are getting on in years. You must take good care of your health. Since you are not feeling well, you should stay at home and rest. You don’t need to come to the morning court anymore.”

A seemingly caring remark was tantamount to dismissing the person from their official post.

Just as the Imperial Censor was about to say that he was in good health and did not need to rest, the Emperor spoke up before him, saying with a smile, "My dear minister, do not refuse, lest you implicate me and give me a bad reputation for not caring about an old minister."

Upon hearing this, the Imperial Censor was rendered speechless, unable to express his grievances.

The most important thing for censors is their reputation. If the emperor uses their reputation to shut them up, they have no choice but to kowtow three times and kowtow nine times, shouting "Long live the emperor!" and thanking him for his great favor.

But the emperor's revenge against him had only just begun.

As the sun rises, a new day is just beginning.

During the long night, everyone in the Eastern Palace except Ye Jingchen was unable to sleep, while the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion outside the palace was also in complete chaos, with horses and people stumbling and falling.

Xie Chang'an, the eldest grandson of the Duke of Zhenguo, who is only six years old, developed a high fever in the middle of the night.

Xie Chang'an had been frail and sickly since childhood, and it was not uncommon for him to suddenly develop a fever in the middle of the night. So, although the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion was panicked, it was not chaotic.

Because Xie Chang'an was in poor health, the household hired a physician. This doctor was so skilled in traditional Chinese medicine that he was no less than the imperial physicians in the palace.

After the doctor examined the patient, he found that it was just a common case of cold wind entering the body. The maids worked together skillfully, some applying wet towels, some feeding the patient water, and others preparing medicine to dispel the cold.

The matriarch of the household was quite old, so no one was disturbed. The other women stayed in the outer room, filled with worry.

The Xie family has been reduced to a mere dwindling number of descendants, with Xie Chang'an being the only remaining member. To make matters worse, Xie Chang'an is in poor health and is always ill, causing the women in the family great concern.

Inside, Xie Chang'an, who had been diagnosed by the doctor as simply suffering from a pathogenic wind, had a long nightmare.

This dream began when he was six years old. His grandfather, father, and uncles died in battle one after another that year. The emperor was sympathetic to the Xie family on the surface, but in reality he was wary of them and would not even spare him, the orphan.

Having lost the protection of his family and with the Xie family army taken over by the Emperor, the Imperial City was like a giant beast that would devour him, its gaping maw ready to swallow him whole.

He faced an accident every three days and an assassination attempt every five days, struggling to survive between life and death every day.

He lived like this for ten years. When he was sixteen, he finally found out the truth about his family's deaths on the battlefield and began his path of revenge.

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