But because Yin Jiuniang was unhappy, he forced His Majesty to draft an agreement, keeping His Majesty busy until late at night.

A dignified king, for the sake of a woman, treats matters of state so lightly. He is not behaving like a king at all; he is clearly a foolish ruler.

Who knew that Yin Jiuniang would be unhappy again that day? Would Huo Zhan turn against His Majesty...?

The emperor was not only busy until late at night, but he also got up to attend court after sleeping for less than an hour.

He was exhausted, but the Empress's buzzing in his ear made him lose his usual patience.

"Didn't I seize this throne for you back then? Do you perhaps think I'm also a tyrant?"

The empress's words came to an abrupt end.

No one knew better than her that the emperor had never wanted to seize the throne when he was young, and that it was because of her that the emperor committed the crime of murdering his brother to seize the throne.

When she cursed Huo Zhan, wasn't she also cursing the emperor?

The fact that the emperor referred to himself as "朕" (zhen, meaning "I" or "the Emperor") in front of her indicated his displeasure.

The Empress hurriedly tried to explain, "That's not what I meant. How can Huo Zhan compare to Your Majesty..."

"Alright."

The emperor pressed his temples. "I know, because Huo Zhan stood up for Ye Zhen, you've become angry with Huo Zhan as well."

But you must remember, Ye Zhen is the woman your son admires, and she will be your daughter-in-law in the future, not your enemy.

Your Majesty, calm down and think about it. Do you really have such a deep grudge against Ye Zhen?

Second brother, you really deserve to cause trouble for Ye Zhen so much that he won't return to Dayuan, and for the Crown Prince to lose his fiancée?

The Crown Prince is my son, and he is just as sentimental as I am. If Ye Zhen really doesn't return to Dayuan one day, the Crown Prince will very likely follow her there.

Back then, he could go years without returning to Beijing. If he's heartbroken again this time, he might not come back at all. By then, it will be too late for you to regret it.

“Ye Zhen is Princess Zhaoning of Dayuan. She has so many businesses in Dayuan, including the Charity Hall. She won’t refuse to return.”

The empress instinctively retorted, but sensing the emperor's displeasure, she softened her voice.

"I said those words on impulse that day; I didn't really want them to separate."

But he didn't agree with the emperor's words.

After decades of being each other's bedmate, how could the emperor not see through her thoughts? He was too tired to do anything but say, "Da Yuan is no match for Da Wei. Even if Dong Wu gets the help of Da Wei, destroying Da Yuan will be a piece of cake."

After scaring him, he closed his eyes to rest, too lazy to persuade him any further.

Thinking that Ye Zhen was going to Great Wei anyway, he knew that the Empress would have enough time to calm down, and he could persuade her again then, and the quarrel between the two would eventually be resolved.

He sighed inwardly again, ultimately unable to bring himself to speak harshly to the Empress.

Previously, Kang Le cultivated an image of prioritizing love above all else, but in reality, he was the one who truly prioritized love above all else.

He cherished the Empress dearly for decades, and he tolerated her for just as long; this habit was ingrained in his very being.

For a moment, he really couldn't bring himself to be ruthless towards the Empress.

It will be fine once the Crown Prince returns. My son is intelligent; he will surely find a way.

The empress was indeed frightened.

If the Great Wei and the Eastern Wu join forces to attack the Great Yuan, can she still hold onto her position as Empress?

Therefore, the marriage between the Crown Prince and Ye Zhen really cannot be changed. Ye Zhen must return to Dayuan, but she must also respect her mother-in-law.

As long as Ye Zhen remains Da Yuan's daughter-in-law, Da Wei will not be able to take action against Da Yuan.

After the emperor fell asleep, she quietly left the palace.

Xie Tingzhou was unaware that the emperor had added another burden to his shoulders. He secretly met with Marquis Zhongyong, and the two devised a plan to cooperate openly and covertly.

Marquis Zhongyong nodded, "This time, we'll make sure Xiyue can't recover for years."

He received news from the capital that Li Heng was actually a former official of the Western Yue Dynasty, and he had been hiding it very well.

The fact that the chieftain of Muya was killed by Ye Yunheng at Li Heng's behest, in order to provoke a war between the two countries of Xiyue and Dayuan, has also spread to the border city and even to Xiyue outside the border city.

Li Heng is from Xiyue, so this matter is an internal conflict within Xiyue.

However, the Western Moon Kingdom pretended not to know and used this as an excuse to continue attacking the Great Abyss, which shows that it had long harbored ambitions of invasion. If they were not defeated this time, the Western Moon Kingdom would surely cause trouble again.

Tse Ting-chou nodded, "Then let's take action tomorrow."

He also wanted to resolve the troubles in Xiyue as soon as possible and return to the capital to marry Ye Zhen.

Just as he was about to say something more, Yu Nie said, "Master, two letters have arrived from the capital."

One letter was sent by a palace informant, and the other by Chen Banjun; both were about the Empress's actions against Ye Zhen.

After reading it, Xie Tingzhou's eyes suddenly turned cold.

Marquis Zhongyong hurriedly asked, "What happened?"

Xie Tingzhou handed him the letter, and the Marquis of Zhongyong's expression was also not good.

Meanwhile, in the capital, Ye Zhen and the others also looked extremely grim.

After the wedding banquet, Ye Zhen and the others had just returned to the Marquis's residence when the Empress's men arrived, to deliver an imperial edict from the Empress.

The Empress arranged a marriage between Yinyue and Wanxing.

The female official said, "What Your Highness means is that since the princess has gone to the Great Wei, it is not appropriate for Su Mama to manage all the affairs of the Charity Hall alone, as that would be taking too much advantage of the princess."

So the Empress allowed the two young ladies, Yinyue and Wanxing, to stay in the capital to get married and help manage the charity hall. Both ladies were from the Princess's household, and this was the first time Her Majesty had arranged marriages for servants; this showed how much she valued the Princess.