When Song Yaozhu woke up the next day, she had a splitting headache.

Thinking about what happened last night, she kicked the blanket to the floor and yelled, "Liar!!!"

Caijin and Caiyin rushed into the house, "What's wrong, Your Highness!"

Feeling nauseous from a hangover, Song Yaozhu let out a shout before deflated, feeling a wave of acid reflux in her stomach. She waved her hand, and Caijin brought over toiletries, then brought a bowl of sour soup.

"His Highness said you drank too much last night, so he asked me to prepare a bowl of sour soup for you to soothe your taste buds."

Song Yaozhu took the bowl and sniffed it. It was hawthorn and apple soup, and it tasted sweet and sour.

In the past, when Xie Liwei drank with her, he would feel unwell the next day, and she would have someone cook this appetizing sour soup for him. She never expected that Xie Liwei would still remember it.

She used to be able to drink a thousand cups without getting drunk, but now she's suffering from a hangover. She patted her aching head and downed the sour soup in one gulp.

After finishing the sour soup, she asked, "Where is the prince?"

Caijin and Caiyin shook their heads, and the three of them looked at Granny Qin. Granny Qin fidgeted with her fingers, licked her lips, and said, "The Prince went to the palace gate to apologize early this morning."

Song Yaozhu was taken aback, realizing that he had deliberately gotten her drunk last night to trip her up.

Without hesitation, Song Yaozhu got up, tidied herself up, and quietly left the house.

At this time, there were few pedestrians outside the palace gates, and the officials who were going to court had all gone inside. Only Xie Liwei was kneeling in front of the palace gates, which made people wonder what this carefree prince had done to be kneeling here for so long.

When Li Mang told his master Li Wei about this, Li Wei rolled his eyes and looked at the person sitting on the dragon throne. He knew that this was not a good time to talk about this, but he couldn't let Xie Liwei kneel at the palace gate like that!

"Go quickly! Go and personally bring the Prince into the palace!" This might not seem like a big deal to the officials, but if the common people saw it, there would be a lot of trouble!

Li Mang jogged out, but when he reached the palace gate, he couldn't persuade them no matter what he tried, so he turned back.

Seeing how unreliable he was in handling things, Li Wei was so angry that he wanted to kick him.

"Why don't you just use force!"

Li Mang said helplessly, "There's a group of people watching the show there, and my son doesn't dare to use force!"

Those people were all hired by Song Yaozhu on short notice. She was afraid that Yuwen Wuji would do something underhanded to Xie Liwei, so she found a few dozen people to go to the palace gate to eat melon seeds and chat.

Unexpectedly, this tactic worked quite well. It wasn't until after the court session that Li Wei, seeing that Yuwen Wuji was in a good mood, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the Prince of Xiaoyao is outside requesting an audience."

Thinking of the Xie family members in prison, Yuwen Wuji felt quite pleased, with a sense of relief that a major threat was about to be eliminated.

"Don't see him, let him go back!"

Hmph, now you know how powerful he is as emperor!

Li Wei said tremblingly, "But... the Prince of Xiaoyao is kneeling at the palace gate! So many people are coming and going..."

Yuwen Wuji's face immediately darkened. "Are all the Imperial Guards incompetent?! Are they just going to make him kneel at the palace gate like this?"

Li Wei thought to himself, "Even if he's a prince, the Imperial Guards can't do anything to him. If an ordinary citizen wanted to sleep at the palace gate, they could only chase him away, not use force!"

"It seems His Highness has something important to discuss with me..."

However, he was wrong this time. Xie Liwei didn't have anything important to say to Yuwen Wuji. He was just staging a self-inflicted injury to lull Yuwen Wuji into a false sense of security and to trip him up.

Just as Yuwen Wuji was about to get angry, a palace servant came to report: "Your Majesty, several Grand Secretaries request an audience."

Yuwen Wuji waved his hand, "Let them in."

The five Grand Secretaries immediately knelt upon entering and said, "Your Majesty, we do not know what crime the Xie family has committed, and why the Xie family members are being arrested!"

"Your Majesty, the Xie family represents the scholars of the land. If we do not give the students a reason, I fear it will cause unrest and discontent!"

"Your Majesty, please reconsider!"

Yuwen Wuji's head was throbbing from the noise. Just as he was about to say something, Li Mang rushed in and said in a panic, "Your Majesty, many students have arrived at the palace gate and have all knelt down with the Prince!"

Yuwen Wuji slammed his fist on the table in anger, “Insolence! Are they trying to coerce me?!”

He originally planned to secretly arrest the Xie family, conduct a secret trial, and hastily conclude the case to get rid of this thorn in his side as soon as possible. But he didn't expect that when the Imperial Guards were arresting people, they missed Xie Liwei.

Yesterday, they searched the city but couldn't find him, so today they're resorting to this threat!

"Issue my imperial decree: order the Imperial Guards to expel those people!"

"Your Majesty, those are all scholars! How can we just expel them like that! The results will be posted soon, and there might even be some of this year's successful candidates among them!"

"Then we'll disqualify them from this exam under the pretext of 'inciting a public disturbance'!" Yuwen Wuji said angrily.

"Your Majesty, this will only discourage the people!"

Yuwen Wuji was filled with resentment. When they climbed up the city wall to take a look, thousands of students had already gathered downstairs. The crowd was dense, with Xie Liwei at the head and spreading outwards.

They also kindly made way for the officials to pass through, so as not to block the palace gates.

In the teahouse closest to the capital, Song Yaozhu drank several cups of tea. Several of the Prince's advisors had already relayed Xie Liwei's arrangements. They intended to use the case of cheating in the imperial examinations to draw the attention of the court, and then thoroughly investigate all the officials involved.

Unexpectedly, several days passed, and Yuwen Wuji only secretly ordered the arrest of the Xie family members, doing nothing else. Xie Liwei guessed that he wanted to pin the blame on the Xie family, have them die unjustly in prison, and then announce it to the world.

Yuwen Wuji is dreaming!

That's why he knelt at the palace gate today, so that everyone could see him!

Song Yaozhu understood Yuwen Wuji better than he did, so she quickly gathered some commoners to watch the palace gates to prevent the Imperial Guards from using any underhanded tactics. She also sent someone to find Cao Zhi and tell him about the matter.

Upon hearing that the Xie family had been unjustly imprisoned, the students, needless to say, all came over to express their support.

Wasn't Yuwen Wuji afraid of the Xie family's standing among scholars and intellectuals, which was why he wanted to get rid of them? Then she would show him what the will of the people was!

"Have the teahouse staff prepare tea and snacks. If there aren't enough cushions, make some overnight. Don't let those students go hungry."

Song Yaozhu thought that she should appear at the appropriate time to show her thoughtfulness and consideration as a princess.

"He wants to suppress Peng Si's matter, but I won't let him have his way!" With Bai Xiucai gone, there's no one to help her contact the storytellers in the capital; she has no one to rely on!

At this moment, Ji Ming presented a storybook, saying, "Your Highness, rest assured, His Highness has already instructed his subordinates to make preparations!"

In the battle for public opinion, these writers will never lose!

Last night, Mr. Peach Blossom, a renowned writer of boudoir literature, whose works are famous throughout the capital and even the entire Da Chen region, had his new book published!

And it sold out overnight, leaving those who couldn't buy it secretly gritting their teeth!

That's Mr. Peach Blossom's book!

At the same time, looking at Song Yaozhu's sample in front of him, his eyelids twitched, and his intuition told him that it was best not to open it.