Soon after, news arrived that His Majesty had been assassinated. This was followed by a major purge in the palace. The Crown Prince ordered a thorough investigation into the assassin, resulting in many deaths and arrests. Panic gripped the palace, and many people harbored resentment towards the Crown Prince behind his back.

At this time, the court was divided into two factions. One faction supported the Second Prince as emperor, led by General Li Rong. Their reasoning was simple: His Majesty had said at a palace banquet before his death that he would depose the Crown Prince and establish a new one. The other faction, mainly composed of survivors of the former prime minister's faction, offered a strong rebuttal: the late emperor had not explicitly stated that he would establish the Second Prince as crown prince, and the edict to depose the Crown Prince had not been issued. Moreover, His Highness the Crown Prince's leg had recovered, so it was only natural that the Crown Prince should ascend the throne.

The court was in constant turmoil, but it did not affect the emperor's prestige until news suddenly broke that the crown prince had killed the late emperor.

The person who leaked the information was Yifu; he betrayed Zhou Xing.

The wind was cold that night.

Zhou Xing did not return to the Eastern Palace.

Feng Guang stood at the gate of the East Palace for a long time before a eunuch brought news that the Second Prince had personally led troops to kill the traitor Zhou Xing, who was trying to escape, at the Meridian Gate.

Of course she didn't believe it. How could someone as intelligent as Zhou Xing die so easily? Until Yang Jie arrived, with a carriage behind him, Feng Guang didn't ask what was inside the carriage. She didn't even want to look at it. She turned around and stepped into the palace gate, but was stopped by a palace maid.

"Miss Xia." Yang Jie still liked to call her that. Perhaps he should also call her sister-in-law, but he had never called Zhou Xing brother. After thinking it over, calling her "Miss Xia" was the most appropriate.

Feng Guang looked up at him, but coldly called out, "Your Highness, Second Prince."

Yang Jie paused for a moment and said, "I came today to bring him back."

"What? Even His Highness the Second Prince has become a gofer?" She didn't ask who this "he" was, and even wanted to ignore the word "he".

Yang Jie said, "Miss Xia, why deceive yourself?"

The scenery remained silent.

He suddenly sighed, as if Yang Jie, who had seen countless deaths, had never sighed before. After a moment, he said, "Don't hate me. He didn't die by my hand."

"Zhou Xing can't possibly be dead..."

"Miss Xia, I know you don't like me, but today, I want you to hear what I have to say."

She remained silent.

“Zhou Xing… I am very grateful to him and admire him very much. He is someone I can never catch up with.” The rest of the story was slowly told by Yang Jie.

A month ago, an uninvited guest suddenly arrived at the Second Prince's palace.

"Second brother, I have something to discuss with you."

At this point, the two were fiercely vying for the throne. Chen Hongdou stood in front of Yang Jie, looking wary, seemingly forgetting that she was pregnant.

Yang Jie looked at the man in white in front of him and finally said to Chen Hongdou, "You can go out now."

Chen Hongdou was worried, but seeing Yang Jie's expression, she still went out with the palace maids and eunuchs.

Zhou Xing sat down casually, poured himself a cup of tea, picked it up to smell the aroma, found it unpalatable, put it down, and said nonchalantly, "I think you should know that I was responsible for our father's death."