"This, this, this servant doesn't know either." Su Peisheng felt as if someone was pricking his back with needles, so he could only say this.

"Heh, you are the Emperor's chief eunuch and his personal eunuch. How could you not know where the Emperor went? Didn't you go with him?" The Empress's anger flared up instantly.

"His Majesty forbade me to go with him, and he didn't tell me where he went. Please punish me, Your Majesty!" Su Peisheng knelt down with a thud. If the Empress were to punish him now, and the Emperor wasn't there, he really wouldn't be able to avoid it.

"Alas, I mustn't suffer any physical pain; I absolutely cannot reveal that the Emperor went to Consort Xi's place!" Su Peisheng thought to himself.

"Get out of the way! I need to go in and see if the Emperor is here!" The Empress kicked him angrily. She had a legitimate reason to see the Emperor today. This damned servant was blocking her way. This servant had caused her trouble many times before, so the Empress's kick was quite forceful.

Su Peisheng felt a sharp pain in his lower abdomen, and then he saw the Empress leading her entourage into the hall.

"Go ahead and go see, the Emperor isn't here anyway!" Su Peisheng thought bitterly, lying on the ground, pressing his hand against the spot where the Empress had kicked him.

The Empress led her entourage around the Hall of Mental Cultivation, but as expected, the Fourth Prince was nowhere to be seen.

The Empress came out again with her entourage, and saw Su Peisheng still lying there. She said, "Did I kick you and hurt you?"

"This servant is perfectly fine. Your Majesty was right to kick him. It was because this servant was not by His Majesty's side that I did not follow him." Su Peisheng hurriedly prostrated himself on the ground and said.

"Very well, tell me where the Emperor went, and I will not punish you," the Empress said.

"Your Majesty, this servant truly has no idea where His Majesty has gone," Su Peisheng said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, the Emperor has always trusted you. So if you don't follow the Emperor, who are the people who follow him?" the Empress persisted.

"Your Majesty, this servant is unaware!" Su Peisheng replied.

The Empress felt her dignity had been greatly disrespected, and her hatred for the eunuch before her intensified. At that moment, all the hatred she had harbored for Su Peisheng and Lanqin seemed to erupt.

"Guards, slap him! You, the Emperor's personal eunuch, actually claim you don't know where the Emperor is!" the Empress roared in fury.

Su Peisheng trembled. He was now the emperor's chief eunuch. If he were to be slapped by the empress today, he would suffer a great loss of face. Moreover, having served the emperor for so many years, Su Peisheng had never been slapped before.

Two nannies who were standing next to the Empress stepped forward and prepared to pull Su Peisheng's arm.

"Eunuch Su, if you just tell me honestly where the Emperor went, I will spare you today," the Empress threatened as a final step.

"This servant truly does not know," Su Peisheng said through gritted teeth.

At that moment, the Fourth Prince, who was with Lanqin in the Yuanmingyuan, had no idea that his most trusted eunuch was being slapped by the Empress. The Empress ordered Su Peisheng to be slapped thirty times before she stopped and left.

Su Peisheng had one of his teeth knocked out, and his apprentices frantically tried to stop the bleeding. Fortunately, a physician from the Imperial Hospital learned of the incident and secretly came to stop the bleeding.