Chapter 177 Shameless

Upon hearing this, even Su Peisheng, who was standing to the side, was taken aback. The blunt and reckless tone was one aspect, but more importantly, the fact that this second young lady of the Zhen family now looked up and, in terms of appearance alone, resembled the previous Consort Zhen even more.

Even Su Peisheng felt this way, let alone Yinzhen, who was directly confronted with the shock. This shock was different from the simple visual shock he felt when he first saw Zhen Huan. At the first meeting, there was only surprise and the joy of regaining what was lost. Now, Zhen Yurao, with a face that was even more similar to Chun Yuan, was saying things that made Yinzhen breathless, leaving him unable to breathe properly. His already livid face tightened even more.

"Your Majesty! Please calm your anger!"

Zhen Huan was helped in from outside by two elderly nannies. Her face was pale and haggard. As soon as she got close, she heard her younger sister's voice. Before she could even feel the longing, she was shocked when she understood the meaning behind the words. Ignoring her increasingly heavy body, she pushed aside the two nannies and staggered to the ground.

"Your Majesty, my younger sister is very young and grew up in such a harsh place, so she has not received much education. She did not mean to offend Your Majesty. Please calm down!"

Zhen Huan's urgent tone immediately drew everyone's attention to her. Zhen Yuandao first looked at his carefully raised eldest daughter with a look of pity, but when his gaze fell on her already protruding belly, he clenched his fist and turned his head away, refusing to look at her again.

"Eldest sister..." Yu Rao saw her all-powerful elder sister pleading so pitifully in front of the Emperor. She subconsciously wanted to stand up and go to her elder sister's side, but she was pulled hard by her mother in front of her as soon as she moved.

Seeing her daughter so disheveled and pleading on the ground, Zhen's mother couldn't help but feel sorry for her. But what was more important right now was how to calm the Emperor down.

"Your Majesty, my daughter misspoke and did not mean to offend you. Please forgive her!"

Yinzhen squinted at the similar faces below. Half of his mind wasn't on their pleas. These three faces, lined up before him, made his eyes blur; each one resembled Chun Yuan more than the last. If it were just one face, he might feel a surge of joy and soften his heart, but three in a row only evoked horror.

"Not intentional?" Yinzhen's eyes were devoid of warmth, and his tone was calm and even tinged with sarcasm—"She dared to be so presumptuous in front of me even unintentionally, so what if she did intend to?"

Thinking that Hongzhao was still by his side, Yinzhen swallowed the even more unpleasant words in his mouth, suppressed his anger, and turned to Hongzhao gently, saying, "Go to Yongshou Palace to see your Empress Mother. Take Amur and that boy from the Lüjia family with you. Come back after dinner."

Hongzhao obediently stood up. He naturally knew how much face his father cared about. The fact that he had managed to stay silent until now was already a testament to his father's anger. Without saying a word, he turned to the side and bowed. As he bowed, he glanced at Su Peisheng with a hidden look in his eyes. Su Peisheng received the Crown Prince's gaze and his heart stirred. He understood and bowed slightly to him.

After Hongzhao's figure disappeared from the room, Yinzhen stretched out his hand and pointed directly at Zhen Huan—"Look at your good daughter. I didn't set foot in Ganlu Temple once in two years. Now she's heavily pregnant and standing right in front of you, and she still talks to me about character? You all know what kind of character she really is."

"Or is it..." Yinzhen spoke a little hastily, and couldn't help but cough twice again - "or is it that this is how your family teaches its daughters? If that's the case, then I won't be wronging you."

Su Peisheng quickly handed over the tea to help the Emperor calm down—"Your Majesty, please take good care of your health. Don't get angry with this second young lady. Perhaps she is still as carefree as before."

"In the past?" Yinzhen asked, tilting his head as he took the teacup.

“Yes.” Su Peisheng nodded matter-of-factly. “Your Majesty, have you forgotten that when Madam Zhen brought the Second Miss to the palace, she bumped the Crown Prince’s head and injured it. It was bandaged for quite a few days, and Your Majesty was heartbroken for a long time.”

Yinzhen might not remember anything else, but he could never forget hitting his own son on the head.

Yes...yes...it was her too. The first time she entered the palace, she bumped into the Crown Prince and injured him. The second time, she argued with him in the palace without understanding the situation. How could someone be so tactless and annoying from childhood to adulthood? Yinzhen thought to himself.

He was by nature a suspicious person, and since this matter was related to the Crown Prince, he couldn't help but overthink it. This family had first offended the Crown Prince, causing Hongzhao to be injured, and then they had colluded with a prince in an attempt to confuse the royal bloodline. Previously, when Zhen Huan was in the palace, she often talked about the Crown Prince and compared him to him. It was hard to guarantee that there were no other schemes involved.

Thinking of this, Yinzhen's eyes surged with thoughts. If that were really the case, then he couldn't let it go so easily.

He twirled the white jade thumb ring on his finger, raised an eyebrow and looked up at Zhen Huan's pleading gaze, the pitiful expression of Zhen's mother beside her, and Zhen Yu Rao's resentful appearance of kneeling on the ground without saying a word despite her dissatisfaction. He had already made up his mind.

"The sinner Zhen Huan, who had an affair with an outsider, was pregnant, disobeyed the rules of womanhood, caused chaos in the palace, and attempted to confuse the royal bloodline with the child in her womb. She is hereby given three feet of white silk and is not allowed to be buried in the imperial concubine mausoleum after her death. I never want to hear this name again." He looked down at Zhen Huan, whose body had gone limp.

She had known about this punishment for a long time. If she had been forced to hang herself with a white silk ribbon on Lingyun Peak that day, that would have been fine. What she feared most was what was happening now. For the past half month, the emperor had been suffering from a low-grade fever, and she had been living in fear and anxiety. The feeling of waiting for death was truly unbearable.

She stood frozen in place, having already said and argued her point that day. Now that Yunli had also entered the Imperial Clan Court and the Prince Guo's residence had been confiscated, anything she did would be in vain. She could only listen intently, trying to understand the extent to which her family had been implicated by her. This was also the reason the Emperor had kept her alive until now.

“Zhen Yuandao, you have failed in your duties as an official, have not properly educated your daughter, and have failed to be loyal to the emperor and love your country. This is a matter of great importance. How can you prove that you knew nothing about it and were not involved in anything? I gave you a chance when you injured the crown prince back then, and told you to properly restrain your family, but you have truly failed my trust.” Yinzhen waved his hand and said, “All adult male members of the Zhen family shall be beheaded, and those under the age of fourteen shall be exiled to the western frontier.”

At this point, Yinzhen looked up and saw Zhen Yuandao's already hunched shoulders slump even further upon hearing this. His aged face was covered in tears as he trembled and waited for the emperor to continue. Zhen's mother, disregarding etiquette, turned around and hugged her youngest daughter tightly, her own face streaked with tears as she bit her lip hard.

"Your Majesty...Your Majesty, please don't..." Zhen Huan's vision blurred, and she murmured incoherently, as if she had gone mad.

Yinzhen frowned – “All women of the Zhen family, regardless of age, shall be confiscated and made government slaves. They shall be placed together with the slaves released from Prince Guo’s mansion and await their allocation.”

He held the imperial brush and wrote as he spoke. When he reached this point, he paused slightly and then continued, “Zhen Yurao has been disrespectful before the Emperor and has spoken disrespectfully. She shall be punished with one hundred slaps to the face. Xia Xiazi shall administer the punishment.”

Su Peisheng blinked and quickly replied, "Yes, this servant will instruct Xiazi."

He understood the Emperor better than the Emperor imagined. A hundred slaps to the face—the punishment was both severe and lenient. If he himself had delivered those hundred slaps, perhaps only a few days of redness and swelling, and a few scrapes. But if Xia Zi were to administer the punishment, that kid was notoriously strong; then even this delicate face would be ruined.

The Emperor clearly doesn't want to see her with that face anymore.