Consort Ning was genuinely pleased and asked the couple to stay with her a little longer so they could chat and have some tea.

Prince Xuan rarely saw his mother and didn't want to leave so soon. He looked around at his mother's dilapidated and shabby palace, and his heart gradually grew cold.

He said, "Mother, one day I will take you out of this palace!"

—To live the best life possible.

Consort Ning looked at him and just smiled.

...

After Yun Zhuo and Ye Qingxue entered the palace, they were the first to serve tea to the emperor.

Their order was: Emperor, Empress Dowager, and then Consort Xian, who now manages the harem.

But just as they finished serving tea to the emperor and were about to take their leave to go to the Empress Dowager's palace, Consort Xian entered, accompanied by her father, who was weeping uncontrollably.

Consort Xian immediately stopped them: "Prince Jing and Princess Jing cannot leave!"

Yun Zhuo and Ye Qingxue: "..."

"Your Majesty, you must do justice for me!" Consort Xian knelt down in front of the Emperor, and before she could even explain what had happened, she was already sobbing uncontrollably.

"My beloved consort, what has happened?" The emperor rose and personally helped the consort up. "What does this have to do with Prince Jing and his wife?"

Consort Xian wept uncontrollably and could not speak.

Cui Yan then said, “Your Majesty, last night when I was about to go to sleep, a group of people broke into the inner courtyard of the Cui residence, killed many servants in my son’s courtyard, and kidnapped my son!”

"Your Majesty, I quickly sent men to track him down, only to discover that my son had been abducted to Prince Jing's residence."

"It turns out that the Ninth Prince and Princess Jing had a falling out, and Prince Jing was so angry that he sent people to the Cui residence on the night of their wedding to kidnap my son, to take revenge on Consort Xian and the Ninth Prince, and to vent his anger for his princess!"

“Early in the morning, Your Highness and Consort Xian went to Prince Jing’s residence to demand the release of the person and seek justice from His Highness. However, His Highness had already entered the palace with his wife, and the wicked servants of Prince Jing’s residence beat Your Highness and Consort Xian out!”

"My poor son is suffering unspeakable mistreatment in the Prince Jing's residence! I beg Your Majesty to do me justice!"

The emperor's face immediately darkened. How could such a thing have happened?

He immediately roared, "Prince Jing, how could you do such a heinous thing on your wedding day with the Princess? Release the Cui family's son at once!"

Yun Zhuo and Ye Qingxue exchanged a glance. It turned out that the Cui family had sent someone to assassinate the young master last night in order to turn the tables on them.

To Cui Yan, the young master was his own son; to Consort Xian, the young master was her own younger brother.

But for the sake of imperial power and to rise to the top, they were willing to sacrifice the lives of their closest relatives.

Even the most venomous snake in the world is no more poisonous than this.

Seemingly worried that Yun Zhuo and Ye Qingxue would deny it, Cui Yan, whose eyes were red and swollen, immediately added: "Your Majesty, I have witnesses!"

Several servants from the Cui family's young master's courtyard were spared, and now they have all been brought to the palace.

Many of Cui Yan's colleagues also came with him.

This was Consort Xian's idea; she wanted to use the "deathbed remonstrances" of other officials to force the emperor to send Yun Zhuo to his death!

The servants were very nervous when they were brought to the palace, after all, they had just suffered a massacre before dawn, which was very terrible.

"Your Majesty, my young master has already gone to sleep, but suddenly people from the Prince Jing's residence rushed in, saying they wanted to kill a few people at the Cui residence to add some excitement to the Princess Jing's wedding night."

"They kidnapped the young master so they could torture him in front of Princess Jing."

"They also said that while the Ninth Prince is difficult to deal with in the palace, it would be easy for them to harm Consort Xian's family."

"The Consort Xian loves this younger brother the most, and they are looking forward to seeing how heartbroken she will be when she hears the news."

"After they've tortured the young master until he's neither human nor ghost, let's see if Consort Xian and the Ninth Prince still dare to bully Princess Jing!"

That's outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!

The other officials were already furious, and the way they looked at Yun Zhuo and Ye Qingxue was as if they wanted to tear them apart!

The Consort Xian said, "I beg Your Majesty to send someone to Prince Jing's residence right now to find my younger brother. Once my brother is found, it will prove that everything my father and I said was true!"

Before entering the palace, her spies in Prince Jing's residence had already sent her a message, informing her: "After Prince Jing captured the young master, he was busy with the wedding night and casually locked the young master up. I easily killed the young master."

Consort Xian secretly sent people to keep an eye on Prince Jing's residence, preventing them from secretly moving her brother's body, and then quickly entered the palace.

"My lord, something terrible has happened!" A voice came from outside the hall again. It was a servant from the Cui family. "Our men guarding outside the Prince Jing's residence have received news that the young master could not withstand His Highness Prince Jing's torment all night and has passed away!"

Cui Yan and Consort Xian were stunned for a moment, then burst into tears.

Consort Xian said, "Your Majesty, he is my only biological brother, and the only legitimate son of my parents. If Your Majesty does not severely punish Prince Jing, I will kill myself by throwing myself against Your Majesty's head!"

The life of the young master of the Cui family must be repaid with the life of Yun Zhuo.