Zhou Rui also shouted and threw the female corpse on the ground.

The princess's expression turned cold: "Consort Rong, is this the An Yi you spoke of?"

Consort Rong hurriedly scrambled to her feet and knelt down: "Your Majesty, Empress Dowager, I just saw it with my own eyes, it really is An Yi."

The Empress Dowager closed her eyes and chanted scriptures, ignoring her.

"It really is the princess! Everyone around me saw her!" Consort Rong suddenly raised her head. "The princess must still be in the water! Quick, save her!"

The palace maids and nannies who had jumped into the water all came up: "Your Majesty and Empress Dowager, we have searched the bottom of the lake and found no princess."

The Empress suddenly said, "Consort Rong has such good eyesight. In the dark, you spotted An Yi from afar."

Everyone present was shrewd, and their eyes immediately turned to Zhou Rui.

Zhou Rui was startled and stepped forward to kneel down next to Consort Rong: "Father, Empress Dowager, Mother was just flustered and made a mistake."

"Hmph, Consort Rong is getting old and misjudged, but are these palace maids and you also misjudging them?" the Empress asked.

Zhou Rui broke out in a cold sweat: "Mother, I was looking elsewhere at the time. When I heard you exclaim in alarm, I was only thinking about saving people and didn't look closely."

The Empress Dowager's prayer beads spun faster and faster. Finally, Emperor Zhou spoke: "Alright, today is the Empress Dowager's birthday. Quickly deal with these things and send someone to bring An Yi over."

"The Emperor's Uncle!"

A woman rushed to Emperor Zhou's feet, crying, "Uncle Emperor, you must do me justice! Waaah..."

Everyone looked and saw that it was An Yi.

Princess Pingyang finally breathed a sigh of relief, then scolded, "An Yi, where have you been? You're so disrespectful all the time, you didn't even know you were being plotted against."

An Yi threw herself into the princess's arms again: "Mother, I was tricked!"

The Imperial Guard leader brought forward, dragging two ashen-faced eunuchs: "Your Majesty, during my patrol, I discovered these two eunuchs acting suspiciously. After following them, I found that they had knocked the princess unconscious and intended to throw her into the pool!"

"Who ordered you to do this?" The princess's anger flared up.

"It is Consort Rong."

The matter was clarified in less than half an incense stick's time.

Consort Rong was dissatisfied with the marriage arranged for the eldest prince by Emperor Zhou and the Empress, so she devised this scheme to make the eldest prince and An Yi have physical intimacy in front of everyone.

Miss Zhang, who was engaged to the First Prince, immediately stepped out from the crowd and declared that she would never presume to marry into the First Prince's family.

Consort Rong then took all the blame upon herself, claiming that Zhou Rui knew nothing about the matter.

But Miss Zhang wasn't stupid; a mother's heart is connected to her son's, how could the eldest prince not know?

In the end, the Empress Dowager stopped watching the fireworks and went straight back to her Buddhist hall to chant sutras.

Consort Rong was imprisoned in the Cold Palace, Zhou Rui lost his marriage, and was completely despised by Emperor Zhou.

Not long after, he was granted the title of a prince and betrothed to the daughter of the Grand Master of the Imperial Academy, Cao, and sent to Beichuan.

Another scandal occurred on the Empress Dowager's birthday.

The Third Prince, drunk, went to the women's rest area and sexually assaulted Chu Yun, the second young lady of the Chu family, who was lying there feeling dizzy.

However, everyone was drawn to the lakeside of the Imperial Garden at the time, and this scandal was covered up.

Emperor Zhou felt that he was having a bad year.

Just after the Zhang family was appeased, Chu Xuan arrived.

"Your Majesty, I have been loyal to you for many years. I have worked hard even if I have not made any great contributions. I am willing to resign from my official post, and I only ask that Your Majesty spare my daughter's life."

Chu Yun has already lost her virginity, and she is a member of the Third Prince's... imperial family. If she doesn't marry him, Chu Yun's fate will be death.

A life of quiet contemplation and Buddhist practice? The Empress Dowager would be the first to forbid it.

How can a woman who has lost her virginity serve the Buddha?

Emperor Zhou was caught in a dilemma: one was the Chancellor of Chu, and the other was the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi.

"What's so difficult about that?" the Empress suggested. "Your Majesty, go and ask the master at Lingshan Temple to cast a divination... wouldn't that solve the problem?"

Emperor Zhou's eyes lit up: "How could I not have thought of that!"

Soon after, Lingshan Temple issued a decree stating that the Third Prince and Miss Li were not a good match due to their strong destinies, but that the Third Prince and Miss Chu were a perfect match.

The marriage between the Third Prince and Miss Li was called off. As compensation, Emperor Zhou bestowed upon Miss Li the title of Lady of the Township.

Before Chu Yun married the Third Prince, everyone would bow to her whenever they met.

[I'm dying of laughter, Liu Shi and Chu Yun got a real dressing down from Chu Xuan, I'm sharing it with you.]

A live screen projection appeared in front of Chu Xinxin's eyes.

Liu resented Chu Xuan for using her Huainan Prince's Mansion to rise to power, yet failing to save her brother at a crucial moment; the relationship between the two was no longer what it once was.

In addition, in order to show that he was an upright official and did not take sides with any prince, Chu Xuan specially sent a message to the emperor when the Zhou emperor and empress were selecting wives for the princes, stating that the Chu family daughters would not participate in the selection, thus cutting off Chu Yun's path to becoming a prince's wife... or even the future empress, which would have been the pinnacle of her career.

"If that vixen Chu Xinxin can become the Princess Consort of An, why should my son have to be subordinate to someone else!"

Liu kept a cold face, feeling that she had not done anything wrong.

Chu Xuan's expression darkened further: "Are you willing to let her become the Princess Consort of An? If you are, I might as well shamelessly beg the Emperor again!"

Liu was speechless.

"You must be crazy to try and curry favor with the Third Prince!"

Chu Xuan was also furious: "His Majesty is in the prime of his life, and there are plenty of princes under the age of sixteen. Right now, it seems that the second and third princes are at the height of their power, but even if you become the crown prince, you may not be able to ascend the throne in the end!"

Madam Liu: "You can wait for those princes to rise up, but Yun'er can't. I've raised her with great care for many years, not so that she could marry a mere Minister of the Court of Judicial Review!"

The eldest son of Zhu, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, was the husband that Chu Xuan chose for Chu Yun.

The eldest son of the Zhu family is exceptionally talented in literature; he will surely pass the imperial examination next spring.

Chu Xuan was indifferent to his other daughters, but he showed a loving father's heart to Chu Yun.

Unable to reason with Liu, Chu Xuan started cursing Chu Yun again.

The die was cast, and Liu simply pulled Chu Yun, who was kneeling on the ground, back to her room.

Chu Xuan smashed two sets of teacups, then left the mansion and disappeared without a trace.

Chu Xuan went to Yongfu Lane.

The system retracted the projector and reported its work to Chu Xinxin.

"He's taken the bait?" Chu Xinxin laughed. "Then Min'er and Hui'er should serve him well."

Min'er and Hui'er were the women that Chu Xinxin bought from Luo Laosan in Yongfu Lane.

They had a lot of mud on their faces that day, and after washing it off, they discovered that they were actually twins.

Chu Xinxin felt that the characters "Min" and "Hui" didn't seem like names that someone like Luo Laosan would choose. Upon further inquiry, she discovered that their mother was one of Qi Xiao's dowry maids.

Before Qi Xiao died in childbirth, Liu found a pretext to sell her off.

After changing hands several times, it finally ended up in Luo Laosan's hands.

Luo Laosan was a gambler and alcoholic. When he got drunk, he would go on a rampage, and once he accidentally killed her.

When Chu Xinxin wanted to find someone to sow discord between Chu Xuan and Liu Shi, so that Liu Shi would also experience the pain of being betrayed by her husband, Min'er and Hui'er stepped forward.

“Miss, you don’t need to look for anyone else. My sister and I are willing to share your burdens.” Min’er kowtowed several times to Chu Xinxin.

Chu Xinxin initially disagreed.

Hui'er then said, "Miss, if the two of us sisters can have a son or daughter, the Prime Minister's Mansion will always be your support."

The system nodded in agreement: [Tsk, no wonder they're called Min'er and Hui'er, their intelligence truly lives up to those names...]