"If what you're telling me is true, then what are you asking for?" Ye Yabing didn't believe that Ji Mingwei would help her without asking for anything in return.

Ji Mingwei sighed, "I'm getting older every day, but my marriage is still unsettled. I don't want ordinary families, and those from high-ranking families don't want me. As long as you, Second Miss, establish yourself in the Prince Ding's mansion, I would like to ask the Prince Ding to take me as a concubine, what do you say?"

At the time, Ye Yabing scoffed at her words, believing that Ji Mingwei was lying to her in order to secure the position of the Prince's concubine.

To her utter surprise, the message Ji Mingwei gave her that night would actually save her life.

Yun Chi's eyes were bloodshot, and he stared intently at Ye Yabing, as if trying to bore a hole through her.

"I don't believe you! I don't believe a single word you say! You lied to me just to survive!"

Yun Chi violently threw Ye Yabing to the ground, his whole body going berserk, and kicked Ye Yabing away.

Ye Yabing crashed into a nearby shelf, which then fell and hit her. She coughed up blood and couldn't get up for a long time.

But Yun Chi pressed on again: "If I am not the Queen Mother's child, why did she raise me with such care?"

“When I was a child, she began to plan for me to become the crown prince. Over the years, she has devoted herself to me with all her heart and soul. How could she not be my mother!”

Recalling the moments he had spent with Empress Shen over the years, Yun Chi found no flaws. He truly experienced a mother's love in full force from Empress Shen!

So Ye Yabing is lying to him, she must be lying to him!

"Furthermore, if my age and Mother's age didn't match, Father would have discovered it long ago! Your lies are full of holes!"

Yun Chi raised his foot, about to stomp on Ye Yabing's heart.

This means they're going to crush her to death without any mercy.

At the critical moment of life and death, Ye Yabing's potential erupted, and she struggled to get up and hug Yun Chi's feet.

Her face was covered in blood as she looked at Yun Chi: "Your Highness, have you thought this through? If you step on this, you'll be stepping into an abyss."

Yun Chi's foot could no longer step down.

Ye Yabing continued, "Why don't you go to the palace first and ask your mother? Ask her if you are a prince, if you are her son? Then it won't be too late to deal with me."

Blood dripped from her chin, and her eyes held a mocking glint.

Yun Chi hesitated again.

A thunderous roar echoed overhead, snapping him back to his senses. He kicked Ye Yabing away, and Ye Yabing coughed up another mouthful of blood.

"Chen Hui." Yun Chi called out, and his personal guard Chen Hui immediately came in from outside. He was not surprised to see the situation inside.

"Lock up the princess and forbid anyone from visiting her. Not a single word of what happened tonight is to be spread, or you will be killed without mercy."

Yun Chi said, "As for the princess's dowry personnel, make proper arrangements for them all."

Chen Hui replied "Yes," and went out to deal with Ye Yabing's dowry attendants before coming back in to take Ye Yabing away.

Inside the bridal chamber, candlelight flickered, illuminating the room's red hues and scattered bloodstains.

Outside the bridal chamber, lightning flashed and thunder roared incessantly, and a torrential downpour caused the tree branches to sway violently, as if they were about to be torn apart at any moment.

Yun Chi obtained the palace entry token—as the legitimate son of the Empress and the emperor's favored son, he possessed such a token.

Now, holding this token, Yun Chi felt a little more confident about his origins.

If he wasn't the emperor's or empress's child, why would such an act of favor—giving him a token to enter the palace—occur?

How come there wasn't a single word about it inside or outside the palace, yet Ye Yabing, a young lady confined to her chambers, found out?

At this moment, clutching the palace entry token, Yun Chi felt as if he had grasped his own destiny. "Chen Hui, prepare the carriage. I am going to the palace!"

After thinking for a moment, he added, "We must not disturb anyone. The Empress Dowager is afraid of storms. I am only going to visit her!"

Chen Hui should be the one.

The torrential rain crashed down, instantly submerging the stone steps and forming a turbulent torrent on the blue brick ground.

Yun Chi was cold and stiff all over. At this moment, he did not think of the "June flood" at all.

He just wanted to hurry up and find Empress Shen so that she could tell him herself—you are a prince of the Great Zhou Dynasty, you are the biological son of me and your father, and that woman like Ye Yabing who spouts nonsense can die, die.

"My mother will definitely tell me that, she definitely will! She can still recount the details of my birth! It's said that no mother can forget the details!"

Unexpectedly, Chen Hui soon returned and knelt before him, saying, "Your Highness, Lord Cui from the palace has arrived. Please bring the Princess Consort to the palace to meet the Emperor immediately!"

Yun Chi trembled, suddenly feeling a strong sense that his father knew the truth about his origins.

He thought of Ye Qingxue.

Today, Ye Qingxue would rather enter the palace and be violated than bow down to him. Does Ye Qingxue know something?

It was her doing that caused the Emperor to summon him and Ye Yabing to the palace on their wedding night.