Before long, everyone in the Hou family knelt down in the front yard. Ye Cunjin, as the head of the family, knelt at the very front, while Ye Qingxue, as the person involved, knelt beside him.

However, Eunuch Huaifu's decree consisted of only one sentence: summon Ye Qingxue to the palace to meet the Emperor, and she must go now.

Everyone in the Hou family was stunned, not knowing what this meant. Ye Cunjin stood up and stuffed a gold ingot into Eunuch Huaifu's hand.

She inquired, "This small token is for your consideration, sir, to have some tea. Please accept it with a smile. By the way, may I ask what brings His Majesty to see my younger sister, Qingxue?"

Madam Min and the others craned their necks, eager to hear what was going on.

Eunuch Huaifu accepted the silver, but said, "His Majesty only ordered me to deliver an oral decree. He didn't say what it was about, and I dare not speculate. Please make some preparations, Miss Ye, and come with me to the palace to meet the Emperor."

Ye Qingxue was not surprised by the emperor's summons.

She did so many things that both Prince Yu and his wife, as well as Pan Yuanzhou, would mention her to the emperor.

Otherwise, Prince Yu and his wife would be unable to explain how Princess Rongqing was rescued. The Pan family father and son would also be unable to explain how they discovered Wei Jingtong's embezzlement and how they quickly located the hiding place of the stolen goods.

Therefore, it was only a matter of time before the emperor summoned her.

Ye Qingxue agreed: "Please wait a moment, sir. I will go change my clothes and then come with you to the palace."

Although she said she was changing clothes, Ye Qingxue simply changed into a clean set of clothes; the color didn't change much, still mainly ice blue.

Ye Qingxue didn't bring Dongbai with her when she entered the palace this time; she brought Xia Lü instead. Her courtyard still needs Dongbai and Qizai to guard it, otherwise Ye Cunjin and his men might storm into her courtyard as soon as she leaves.

With Dongbai and Qizai guarding the area, they couldn't get in.

The carriage was prepared by the Marquis's mansion, and it was lined with thick mattresses. As the eldest daughter of the Marquis's mansion, this was the first time in both her past and present lives that she had enjoyed such a luxurious carriage.

As expected, Ye Cunjin and Madam Min still had to save face in front of the Emperor's people.

Long after Ye Qingxue's carriage left with Eunuch Huaifu's entourage, the Ye family members still stood in the courtyard, as if they had suffered a heavy blow and were unable to recover.

After an unknown amount of time, Madam Min approached Ye Cunjin and said, "It must be that news of her secret rendezvous with the young master of the Pan family all night has reached the palace. The Emperor was furious and summoned her to the palace... I'm afraid the eldest young lady will be either dead or injured when she is sent back."

Madam Zhou gazed in the direction Ye Qingxue's carriage had left; the road had long been swallowed by darkness, and no trace of the convoy could be seen.

She murmured, "If you had listened to me earlier and confessed your guilt and called off the engagement, you wouldn't have to go to the palace to face the Emperor's wrath now. Do you think that once you're in the palace, you can still beat and scold us like you did in the Marquis's mansion?"

It was hard to tell whether his tone was more of a pity or an anger.

Madam Zhou continued to stare blankly, muttering to herself, "Now that you've been summoned to the palace to meet the Emperor, your chances of survival are slim, but you asked for this yourself, so you can't blame us."

Madam Min stood beside Ye Cunjin and whispered in his ear, "Jin'er, if the Emperor wants to kill Ye Qingxue, I'm afraid he won't easily forgive the Marquis of Zhongyong's family. After all, she has trampled on the royal family's reputation, and the Emperor will think that we have failed in our upbringing, which has led to this result."

"You must go to the palace immediately and request an audience with the Emperor. Once the Emperor summons you, you must kneel down as you enter, and then weep bitterly before the Emperor, showing that you did not know that Ye Qingxue was such an ill-mannered person."

"Tell the Emperor everything about how she was diagnosed as having a karmic conflict with her sisters when she was two years old, and how she was sent to a manor to be raised. We couldn't teach her even if we wanted to. In short, we want to pin all the blame on her and make sure our Marquis's mansion is not implicated."

"Good!" Ye Cunjin said, "I will ride into the palace right now and request an audience with the Emperor. We must not let Ye Qingxue ruin our Marquis's mansion, which we have built up over many years, all by herself!"

"Just follow behind Ye Qingxue and the others. After the Emperor summons Ye Qingxue, you can then request an audience with the Emperor! Let the Emperor vent his anger on Ye Qingxue first, then you will be safer when you meet with the Emperor."

"Alright!" Ye Cunjin agreed, and ordered his servants to prepare horses. He then took his servant and rushed to the palace overnight to request an audience with the emperor.

After he left, Madam Min breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing will happen; the Marquis's mansion will be fine.

The one who made the mistake was Ye Qingxue. What does it have to do with the Marquis's mansion? Her son will definitely be able to turn things around and prevent the Marquis's mansion from suffering.

All they need to do is stay at home and wait for Ye Qingxue to be carried back. At that time, Ye Qingxue will either be a corpse or severely injured. Then, all of Ye Qingxue's actions in the Marquis's mansion in the past two days will be investigated and punished.

Ye Qingxue is not going to survive.

However, it would take a long time before Ye Qingxue could be sent back. During this waiting period, Madam Min learned about the Wei family's situation first.

"Lord Pan led several thousand soldiers and surrounded the Wei family's house. There was crying and commotion inside, as if their property had been ransacked," the people below said.

Lady Min was shocked. Wei Jingtong was an honest official who had been trusted and relied upon by His Majesty for many years. Why would he be surrounded and his home ransacked by soldiers?

“Go and investigate the situation again. See why the soldiers have surrounded the Wei family. Don’t let it be that the Wei family has performed some great service, and the Emperor sent someone to reward them, making them so excited that they cried. You think they’ve had their property confiscated,” Madam Min said.

It's better to make her believe that Ye Qingxue can leave the palace unscathed than to make her believe that the Wei family committed a crime and had their property confiscated.

It must be said that the Marquis of Zhongyong saved Prince Ding's life and had made great military achievements during his lifetime. If Ye Qingxue were to bring up her father's merits, she might actually be spared the death penalty.

Judging from this, it's much more likely that she left the palace unharmed than that the Wei family's property was confiscated.

The servant quickly found out the news and returned, saying, "Second Madam, Minister of War Wei has been accused of embezzlement. He has embezzled 50 million taels of silver alone, not to mention the jewelry and jade. So the Emperor has ordered Minister Pan to lead the soldiers to confiscate the Wei family's property. Now everyone in the Wei family has been sent to prison!"

Madam Min, walking on flat ground, almost twisted her ankle. Wei Jingtong embezzled? Wei Jingtong, who was always known for his integrity, embezzled? He actually embezzled fifty million taels of silver alone?

Not only Madam Min, but everyone in the Marquis's mansion was shocked and horrified.

If even Wei Jingtong is corrupt, then who else in the court can be trusted?

Madam Min suddenly had a very bad premonition. She silently prayed that her son's entry into the palace would go smoothly and that nothing would go wrong.

Ye Cunjin could have caught up with Ye Qingxue's carriage on horseback, but he obeyed Madam Min's advice and deliberately slowed down to create distance between himself and Ye Qingxue's carriage. He planned to wait until Ye Qingxue had finished her audience with the emperor before requesting an audience himself.

Ye Qingxue's carriage had to stop at the palace gate.

She and Xia Lu followed Eunuch Huaifu through the search and entered the palace. The palace carriage was already prepared to pick up Ye Qingxue.

Just as Ye Qingxue was about to sit down, the voice of Prince Ding came from not far away: "Miss Ye, please wait."