Zhu Yu closed his eyes and clenched his sleeves tightly: "Is that so? Then may I ask, Your Highness, where has Feng Yan disrespected you? And why did he target the servants around you? Wasn't it Your Highness who forced Feng Yan first?"
Consort Duan looked at Zhu Yu with icy eyes: "Lu Xiaoyun, don't forget who you are! You used despicable and vile means to climb into my son's bed. Lu Xiaoyun, what are you? How dare you question me!"
"Ha!" Consort Duan sneered, saying each word clearly, "Don't even mention a lowly servant like you. So what if you, Lu Xiaoyun, are the eldest daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion? If I wanted to take your life today, it would only take a word!"
Zhu Yu was so angry that he could hardly breathe. Damn it, he was now in Lu Xiaoyun's body, and the "original owner" Lu Xiaoyun had a terrible record, so saving Feng Yan was too difficult.
They just hoped that Xi Yi could bring Lu Xiaoyun back as soon as possible.
Zhu Yu's blood rushed to his chest: "Feng Yan is a first-class bodyguard and commander of the secret guards by Prince An's side. He is a third-rank official. He saved the prince's life on the battlefield. A group of secret guards crawled the prince out of the mountains of corpses and seas of blood. They are the heroes of our Great Zhou and the saviors of Prince An."
Zhu Yu felt a chill run down his spine as he said this: "Your Highness, what a big mouth you have! You actually dare to execute him on trumped-up charges! Although Feng Yan is the commander of Prince An's secret guards, he has done so openly before the Emperor."
According to precedent in the Great Zhou Dynasty, princes and noble grandsons were allowed to keep secret guards, but the total number could not exceed three hundred, and the top few secret guards had to appear openly before the emperor.
After Zhu Yu died several times following his birth, Feng Yan, Wu Chuan, Xi Yi, and others, he established his own government five years ago and reported the three of them to the emperor.
As for who the secret guards he later trained were, there was no need for the emperor to know so clearly.
"Your Highness actually wants to execute Feng Yan just because he refused to reveal the Prince's whereabouts to you! Hmph, I've never heard of such a thing. A mere bodyguard who refuses to reveal his master's whereabouts without orders is committing a capital offense! Aren't you afraid of what the guards and bodyguards in the entire mansion will think of you? Aren't you afraid of how the Emperor and Empress Dowager will punish you!"
Zhu Yu calmed his churning breath: "Your Highness Consort Duan, the Emperor and the Empress Dowager sent you to Prince An's residence. The Emperor even issued an edict forbidding you from entering the palace without a summons. Don't you understand what's going on?!"
Consort Duan's face flushed red and then turned pale as Zhu Yu pressed her with questions. She was so angry that her hands were trembling, and an uncontrollable rage was burning and boiling in her blood.
Her fingers, adorned with sharp, pointed nails, pointed directly at Zhu Yu: "You, you, you, Lu Xiaoyun, how dare you speak to me like that! I didn't know why you saved Feng Yan before, but now I understand completely."
"What do you understand?" Zhu Yu suppressed his anger, yet this person was actually his birth mother.
Consort Duan stared intently at Zhu Yu with her clear, cold eyes: "You, a woman confined to the inner palace, risked your life to come to my Yunmei Garden despite being covered in injuries, and risked your own life to save Feng Yan. What else could it be but an affair between you and him!"
Upon hearing these words, Zhu Yu felt his mind buzzing and blood choking in his throat, almost spitting out. How could his mother utter such shameful words!
They actually slandered him, accusing him of having an affair with the Prince's secret guards!
Is it because he, the dignified Prince An, is incompetent? The commander of the secret guards he personally selected is so useless that he actually had an affair with his own princess?!
Or is Lu Xiaoyun blind?!
If he and Lu Xiaoyun hadn't switched bodies, Lu Xiaoyun might not have been able to handle hearing him say that!
A woman's reputation is of utmost importance, especially since she is the princess of the Prince An's mansion. With such a despicable crime pinned on her, how could she possibly have any chance of redemption?
Zhu Yu felt a chill run through his body. He had always thought that it was because of him that his father had grown to dislike his mother. For the past twenty years, he had felt guilty towards his mother.
But to my utter surprise, my mother's temperament was so unbearable.
Zhu Yu trembled uncontrollably, his phoenix eyes fixed on Consort Duan, unable to utter a single word.
Consort Duan trembled slightly under his gaze. She suppressed the inexplicable fear that kept rising in her heart and said sternly, "Guards! Lu Xiaoyun is insubordinate, incompetent, immoral, disrespectful of imperial authority, and unchaste. Drag her away and beat her until she dies!"
Li Feng's expression changed drastically. She stared at Consort Duan with her mouth agape, speechless for a moment, unsure how to defend her mistress.
Only two words kept swirling in my mind: adultery! Adultery!
The two eunuchs who were executing Feng Yan exchanged a glance, and neither of them moved. Anyone with eyes could see that the crime that Consort Duan was accused of was completely fabricated.
"What? You think I can't even command you? Are you all planning a rebellion? If you disobey my orders, you're not staying in the Prince An's residence. Each of you will receive twenty strokes of the cane. Today, I'll sell you out!"
Consort Duan slammed her hand heavily on the low table, causing the teacup on the table to shake a few times before crashing to the ground and shattering into pieces.
Even palace maids who were sold off still found suitors to become maids or servants. Some were so lucky that they even caught the eye of their masters and became their concubines.
But they were castrated eunuchs, who would dare to buy them?
Once they left the Prince An's residence, they faced certain death.
The two eunuchs felt a chill run down their spines and had no choice but to step forward and restrain Zhu Yu. The other two eunuchs had already swiftly brought out the torture bench.
Two more eunuchs came up, lifted Zhu Yu up, and pressed him onto the torture bench.
Zhu Yu was held down tightly, and only then did he catch his breath: "Consort Duan, you..."
"Smack!" A heavy blow struck Zhu Yu's back, choking him up and causing him to cough up blood instantly.
This was a real blow, delivered in front of Consort Duan, and given her earlier words of rebuke, the eunuchs dared not show any mercy.
Zhu Yu gasped in pain, exhaling a breath that nearly drained his lungs. He couldn't even take another breath, and a shiver ran through him, almost causing him to collapse.
He was born into an imperial family; when had he ever suffered such punishment?
The second blow came immediately, forcing Zhu Yu to scream in agony. It was an instinctive cry of pain, as if his internal organs had shifted in place in an instant.
Zhu Yu felt as if his entire body was being twisted and deformed by those two blows, and his lungs and nasal cavity were filled with a spicy smell.
Having lived for twenty-three years, Zhu Yu couldn't find a single word to describe the pain he was experiencing.
I have faced life and death several times on the battlefield, but I have never felt such pain as today, as if my entire soul is about to be ripped out of its sheath.
He bit his lip until it bled, and blood dripped down his chin onto the ground.
A burning sensation came from his wrist. Through the gauze bandaged by Lu Yuyan, Zhu Yu forced open his eyelids and saw only two scarlet words on the jade bracelet: "Near Death"!
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