After Zhou Jing'an finished speaking, he bent down to the emperor's side and began to carefully examine his hairline, sideburns, and jawline.

The more he looked, the more alarmed he became.

Even the most exquisite disguise would leave traces of fitting in these areas, but the emperor's face showed no trace of the mask's edge.

Undeterred, Zhou Jing'an switched to the other side, but naturally found nothing there either.

how so? !

Still unwilling to give up, he simply reached out and tugged at the emperor's face.

The moment he touched the emperor's skin, his heart sank to the bottom.

That was the real texture of flesh and skin, not a mask.

The emperor, feeling pain from the pulling, immediately distanced himself slightly and frowned, asking, "Brother, can you see the three red moles behind my ears?"

Zhou Jing'an smiled wryly and said, "I didn't find anything."

The emperor looked at him coldly: "It seems that my brother is still somewhat disappointed."

Zhou Jing'an immediately knelt down: "Your subject would never dare!"

"You dare not?" the emperor said coldly. "If you dared not, why would you have conspired with these treacherous officials to harm me?"

If these people hadn't been kneeling, they would have already collapsed to the ground by now.

"Your Majesty, we have been wronged!" the ministers cried out in unison.

Zhou Jing'an also looked terrified and said, "Your Majesty, you have misunderstood me. My loyalty to you is as clear as the sun and moon. You must not be deceived by treacherous villains!"

After he finished speaking, he began to kowtow to the emperor.

If he still doesn't realize that he's been tricked by the emperor by now, he'd be a fool.

But he still couldn't understand it. He had sent people to guard all the palace gates the night before, so even if the emperor had wings, he couldn't fly into the palace.

But the reality before him told him that the emperor had not only returned safely, but had even anticipated his attack and had outmaneuvered him!

Could it be that one of his own people betrayed him?

Seeing Zhou Jing'an kowtowing so vigorously, the ministers quickly followed suit and kowtowed as well.

At this moment, they were filled with regret. They should have known better than to go to the palace with the Second Prince. Otherwise, they could still be officials. Now that this has happened, they are afraid that they will lose their official hats.

As expected, the emperor showed no mercy to their pleas and kowtows. Instead, he issued an edict banishing all the officials present to a desolate and cold land thousands of miles away.

As for Zhou Jing'an, because he was a member of the imperial family, the emperor, out of consideration for his brotherhood, only punished him by deducting his salary for three years and postponed the date for him to be enfeoffed as a prince and return to his fiefdom.

This means that he will be kept under surveillance in the capital.

Zhou Jing'an gritted his teeth and kowtowed to express his gratitude.

As soon as Zhou Jing'an left, the emperor immediately sent someone to summon Jian Hong to the palace.

"General, leave the palace shortly, take a group of men, and quickly go to the Second Prince's residence to bring the Empress out. I fear that delay may lead to unforeseen circumstances."

If it weren't for his injured arm, he would have personally gone to pick up Jian Yang.

Jian Hong accepted the order and, leading the elite troops assigned to him by the emperor, rushed to the Second Prince's residence without stopping.

After a night of commotion, it was already past midnight when Zhou Jing'an returned home.

However, he showed no signs of fatigue and immediately ordered his men to summon the ones who had closed the city gates the previous night, questioning them about why they had let the emperor into the palace.

Everyone looked completely bewildered.

"Your Highness, we have been guarding the city gates without leaving for a moment. There is absolutely no way the Emperor could have entered. You didn't see a fake Emperor, did you?"

Zhou Jing'an said with a cold look in his eyes, "If he's really a fake emperor, then things will be much easier."

Through his personal verification, it can be confirmed that the person in the Imperial Study is indeed the Emperor himself, without any deception or deception, and is the real deal.

The guards at the city gate were even more puzzled: "That shouldn't be the case. I haven't dared to close my eyes since last night, keeping a close watch on everyone entering the palace, but I haven't seen the Emperor."

Seeing that everyone looked calm, Zhou Jing'an realized they weren't lying to him.

After a moment's thought, he asked, "Besides the emperor, have you allowed anyone else into the palace?"

One of the guards nodded in agreement: "At noon today, we saw General Zhenbei enter the palace with an old doctor, saying that he wanted to help the emperor recuperate. Apart from that, no one else entered the palace."

Zhou Jing'an's face immediately turned extremely ugly.

That wasn't some old doctor at all; it was clearly the emperor in disguise!

“Jian Hong!” Zhou Jing’an spat out the name through gritted teeth.

Despite all their careful planning, they overlooked the fact that the emperor would have outside support.

But even if we knew now, it wouldn't make any difference.

The emperor has returned to the palace safely, and Jian Hong is someone he can't afford to offend for the time being, so Zhou Jing'an can only swallow all his grievances.

However, it's impossible not to be angry.

He did not shake the emperor in the slightest, but tonight all the men he brought with him were killed.

How could he possibly swallow this insult!

Just then, a servant stepped forward and announced, "Your Highness, Mr. Wei has arrived."

"Please come in quickly."

A moment later, Wei Cong walked in.

He had already heard everything that had happened to Zhou Jing'an tonight. Although he was disappointed in him, he was, after all, just a strategist, and how could he openly criticize his master?

"Your Highness, the best course of action now is to exchange the Empress for your freedom. Once you return to your fiefdom, you will have much more room to maneuver."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jing'an shook his head and said, "I must keep the Empress in my possession; I cannot hand her over so easily."

Wei Cong nearly choked to death on a mouthful of blood.

He knew perfectly well that Zhou Jing'an's high-sounding words were nothing more than lust for the Empress's beauty.

But since he is the one she chose, she will follow him even if she has to kneel down.

"Your Highness," Wei Cong intended to persuade him again, "you must not keep the Empress by your side any longer. She is a sharp blade that the Emperor has planted next to you, and she could endanger your life at any time!"

Zhou Jing'an said unhappily, "Alright, Mr. Wei, go and rest. It's so late, and I'm tired too."

Wei Cong had no choice but to leave.

In truth, Wei Cong didn't really understand Zhou Jing'an. The reason he wanted to keep Jian Yang by his side, besides her looks, was more importantly because of her quick wit and exceptional skills in both medicine and poison.

Zhou Jing'an had always wanted to take her under his wing.

"Your Highness, it's time to rest," the servant boy said as he stepped forward.

Zhou Jing'an asked, "Let's go see the Empress first."

The servant dared not stop him and immediately ran to open the door.

Before Zhou Jing'an even reached the courtyard where Jian Yang lived, he heard the sound of clashing weapons in the distance, indicating that a fight had broken out inside the courtyard.

Just then, a guard from the prince's residence rushed out of the courtyard. Upon seeing Zhou Jing'an, he immediately ran forward and said, "Your Highness, I was just on my way to deliver a message to you when a group of men suddenly broke into the courtyard, trying to abduct the Empress!"

Zhou Jing'an clenched his fists tightly in anger.

Without a doubt, this group of people must have been sent by the emperor.

Fortunately, he had guessed that the emperor would return to take people, so he arranged for hundreds of people to ambush in various parts of the courtyard early in the morning, just waiting for the emperor's men to come and die.

"Pass down the order: whoever comes to kidnap the Empress tonight, no matter who they are, hack them to death!"