The next day, afternoon.

The bright sunshine of early winter shines in the courtyard. On the stone table under the big tree, there are two small pots of sour beef rice noodles, in the middle, a plate of tempting tiger skin chicken feet, a plate of halved beans, and two cups of warm bubble milk tea.

Tao Ti and Zhang sat opposite each other. The cat Yuanbao lazily nestled at Tao Ti's feet, squinting his eyes in the sun.

The two chatted about business matters. Zhang tasted the salty and mellow dried tofu and praised it calmly, "This dried tofu is good. It has a moderate salty flavor. The more you chew it, the more delicious it is. It is perfect for drinking."

"If mother wants to drink, I just brewed several large jars of wine some time ago. You can take some back to drink later." Tao Ti said as she nibbled on a fragrant tiger skin chicken claw. The skin of the chicken claw was crispy yet elastic, while the inside was stewed until it was soft and tender. It seemed to melt in one sip. After biting one, she wanted to eat a second one and couldn't stop at all.

"Okay, the wine you brew must be good." Zhang responded with a smile, picked up the chopsticks and started eating the sour soup beef rice noodles.

Eating this kind of soup is the best way to warm your body in winter. The soup is sour and refreshing, and the slices of marbling beef satisfy the pleasure of eating meat. The rice noodles are soft and elastic. You can eat a bite of beef, a bite of rice noodles, and then sip the fragrant sour soup. It is sour, sweet and slightly spicy. Only those who eat it will know the full and warm sense of happiness.

Seeing that Zhang couldn't stop eating, Tao Ti secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She specially made this sour soup beef rice noodle.

After all, we have some heavy things to discuss later, and drinking this sour and warm soup will make me feel better.

Soon, all the food on the table was eaten up.

Tao Ti held Yuanbao and went back to the inner room with Zhang.

Linglong served two cups of Lushan Yunwu tea and then quietly left.

Tao Ti gently stroked Yuan Bao's soft fur, thought for a while, looked up and said to Zhang, "Mother, I asked you to come to the palace today, in addition to discussing the opening of the store, there is actually one more thing..."

Zhang held the teacup in one hand and opened the lid with the other. The moist fragrance of tea lingered around her nose. Her eyes were calm as she waited for Tao Ti to continue.

Tao Ti said, "Mother, you must have heard about the fact that the left prime minister was suspected of rebellion, right?"

Zhang hummed.

Tao Ti was silent for a moment, took a deep breath and said, "I heard that the mansion is very close to the Zhou family..."

Having said that, Zhang also understood.

She raised her eyes and looked at Tao Ti, with a smile on her face, "Ah Ti, there's no need to beat around the bush. I know what you want to say."

Tao Ti was stunned.

Zhang took a sip of tea, put down the teacup, and sighed, "I have advised your father before, but he was bewildered and refused to listen. Since he is so ruthless and ungrateful to us, why should we still care about him? Although he is your father, such a father... it's better not to have him. Anyway, I have divorced him. If the Marquis's Mansion really collapses, you can come to my house if you want to go back to your mother's home in the future. As long as I am still alive, you have your mother's home!"

Seeing that she was so open-minded, Tao Ti felt relieved. She was worried that Zhang would miss their old relationship.

After all, Zhang was an ancient native woman who had lived with Marquis Yongwei for nearly twenty years.

Tao Ti was pleased with this reaction, but she didn't show it on her face. She just said softly, "His Highness said that he would spare Yong Weihou's life for my sake."

Zhang put down her teacup and sneered, "He is such a vanity man. I took away his wealth and left him with nothing but his life. This is more unbearable for him than just killing him directly."

She narrowed her eyes, and the smile on her lips became more mocking. "He chose this path himself. Whatever happened to him afterwards was his own fault. It has nothing to do with me. But you, A'ti, please don't quarrel with His Highness over this matter and hurt the relationship between you two."

Taoti nodded and chuckled at her, "Yeah, I know."

The two of them sat and chatted over a cup of tea. When the sunlight faded, Zhang stood up and left.

Tao Ti personally escorted her to the palace gate.

After watching Zhang get on the carriage, Tao Ti was about to turn around and go back when she heard a voice suddenly calling from behind, "A Ti."

Tao Ti paused and turned around slowly.

In the carriage, Zhang half-opened the curtain, revealing a graceful and dignified face.

Tao Ti was puzzled, "Is mother okay?"

Zhang didn't say anything, but just stared at the petite and beautiful girl at the door, her eyes moving slightly.

The face is exactly the same, but in less than a year, the confident and generous demeanor is no longer the same as before she got married.

After a long while, Zhang forced a smile and said, "It's okay, it's okay. I'm old and my memory is not good. I wanted to remind you just now, but now I forgot."

She waved at Tao Ti and said, "Okay, go inside quickly. I'm leaving too."

Tao Ti didn't think much about it, nodded at her, and turned back.

Zhang lowered the car curtain, the smile on her face faded a little, the curve of her mouth and the light in her eyes sank together.

After a moment's silence, she lowered her head, covered her face with her hands, and sobbed.

…

Seven days later, the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court jointly wrote to the emperor, accusing the Left Prime Minister Zhou Pinglin of hiding weapons and armor, forming a clique for personal gain, and having the intention of rebellion. Afterwards, the various historians of the Imperial Archives also jointly impeached the Zhou family for 16 serious crimes including disrespect and treason, and demanded that Emperor Zhaokang deal with the Zhou family and their clique impartially.

Pei Changzhou also tried to plead for the Zhou family in the court, but Emperor Zhaokang was furious and scolded him harshly, not giving him any face at all.

Pei Changzhou's face turned red and white as he was scolded. He drooped his head and retreated unwillingly with a breath of anger.

When Yu Shi impeached the Yongwei Marquis' Mansion, Pei Changzhou suddenly felt gloating and secretly looked at Pei Yan at the top, thinking: Don't you have a deep relationship with that bastard Tao Ti? Now that your father-in-law is in trouble, let's see what you will do.

Many people in the hall held the same idea as Pei Changzhou, and all cast their eyes towards the prince.

However, the Crown Prince stood up calmly, his face calm and composed, and he bowed to Emperor Zhaokang and said, "Father, although the Yongwei Marquis's Mansion is my son's in-laws' family, the Marquis did such a treasonous and foolish thing. Both the son and the Crown Princess are very disappointed. The Crown Princess is sensible and knows the general situation. I hope that Father can handle it impartially and not lose fairness because of the relationship between us."

This act of sacrificing one's own brother for the sake of justice made not only the ministers in the court, but even Emperor Zhaokang on the dragon throne frowned.

Emperor Zhaokang stroked the exquisitely carved armrest, his dark eyes narrowed. He could not believe that this Tao was such a cruel person.

But it’s better this way. If she is too weak, how can she manage the affairs of the harem and rule the country in the future?

As long as Tao is loyal to the prince, he can't care about anything else, nor does he want to care.

"Since the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess have said so, I will not show favoritism or leniency to the crimes committed by the Yongwei Marquis' Mansion."

Next, Emperor Zhaokang announced in a cold voice that all male members of the Zhou family would be executed, and the female members of the family would be confiscated and sent to various places along with the servants of the prime minister's mansion. The Ministry of Revenue would be responsible for confiscating all the property of the Zhou mansion. As for other officials who had connections with the Zhou family, those who were demoted were demoted, and those who were beheaded were beheaded.

Emperor Zhaokang took the Crown Princess's reputation into consideration and did not sentence the entire Yongwei Marquis's family to be executed. Instead, he stripped him of his title of marquis, confiscated his property, and sent all the people in the Yongwei Marquis's family to be slaves in the cold land of Northern Yan, and they were not allowed to enter Chang'an for three generations.

Imperial edicts were issued one after another, and the atmosphere in the court became extremely depressing.

Looking at Pei Changzhou's pale face, the court officials had a common thought in their minds: the Third Prince's situation is over.

Those court officials who originally wanted to fabricate stories about the Crown Princess being "heartless, unfilial and unfraternal" all shut their mouths out of courtesy. The East Palace was enjoying its heyday at that time, and they didn't dare to make irresponsible remarks and seek their own death.

——

Empress Zhou was once again turned away by Emperor Zhaokang.

Li Gui, the former chief steward of the imperial court, smiled apologetically and said, "Your Majesty, His Majesty is very busy with government affairs and really has no time to see you."

Queen Zhou pursed her red lips. She had always known that Emperor Zhaokang was cruel. She was afraid that even if she stood there until her death today, he would not even come out to take a look.

But when she thought of the Zhou family's fate, she felt her blood freeze. She really had no choice.

Li Gui continued, "Your Majesty asked me to tell you that the Second Princess is not in a good mental state. Your Majesty, instead of pleading for the traitor, you should spend more time with the Second Princess..."

Pei Lingbi was a royal daughter after all, and such a thing happened on her wedding day. It was said that she was a little crazy. Emperor Zhaokang ordered people to bring Pei Lingbi back to the palace, lock her up in her former palace, and order people to take good care of her.

When she just returned to the palace, Queen Zhou went to see her once, but was frightened by her daughter's comatose state. She hugged her unconscious daughter and cried for a while, and then she never went to see her again.

After all, her daughter was useless, so she should focus on saving the Zhou family and seize any opportunity she could.

Seeing that Queen Zhou looked dazed, Li Gui reminded her again, "Your Majesty, it's cold outside. You should go back first."

The chief palace maid also supported Queen Zhou and gently advised, "Your Majesty, let's go."

They have been standing there for nearly two hours. The slaves are all frozen stiff, not to mention the Empress who is so precious.

Queen Zhou was silent for a long time, and looked at Li Gui indifferently, "Then please ask Eunuch Li to tell His Majesty that I will be leaving first."

Li Gui bent his waist even lower, "Yes, Madam, take care."

Queen Zhou's legs were numb, and she leaned most of her body on the chief palace maid as she struggled to get on to the sedan chair.

Before leaving, she looked back at the majestic and solemn Qinzheng Hall. She could even imagine Emperor Zhaokang sitting at the desk with an indifferent expression in that huge and quiet palace.

The most ruthless are the imperial families.

Back then, when Gu Qu's sword had pierced his chest, he had spared the entire Gu family. Now that the Zhou family's rebellion was full of doubts, he not only did not seek the truth, but instead massacred all the male members of the Zhou family and sent the women into slavery... This was biased to the extreme.

Queen Zhou tightened her fingers a little bit, and her carefully maintained long nails sank deeply into the flesh, and then broke off with a "snap".

She didn't feel any pain either.

…

As the end of the year was approaching, Emperor Zhaokang did not want to carry out a large-scale killing, so he set the date for the execution of all members of the Zhou family on the third day of the second lunar month of the following year.

"There are so many strange things about this rebellion. Father clearly knows that this is a frame-up, but he is on Pei Yan's side! On the side of the Eastern Palace! He knows that this is Pei Yan's trap, but he is willing to be fooled by Pei Yan! Pei Yan is his son, aren't Lingbi and I his children?"

Pei Changzhou was furious and terrified. After a moment of impotent rage, he looked at Queen Zhou helplessly, "Mother, is it true that my uncle cannot be saved?"

Queen Zhou sat there with a gloomy face, "I was wrong. I didn't expect that useless woman Gu Yuan would give birth to such a vicious and ruthless wolf cub. If I had known this, I should have..."

She closed her mouth, her beautiful eyes filled with hatred.

After a long pause, she said in a sarcastic and sharp voice, "Now Pei Yan is in good health, and the Gu family has regained its footing in Chang'an. Your father is helping the Eastern Palace to deal with our Zhou family. What else can we do? Wait for Pei Yan to take the throne and get rid of us one by one? Or should we beg for mercy from him now and fawn on him, maybe he will spare our lives?"

Pei Changzhou clenched his fists, his eyes reddened, "How can I possibly beg for mercy from him? He is nothing!"

He had endured for so many years and thought that the position of crown prince was in his hands. He never expected that the situation would be reversed in an instant.

How could he accept this?!

Queen Zhou stared at him dimly. "Who will be the crown prince is ultimately decided by your father. As for you and Pei Yan, who holds a higher position in his heart, I don't need to say more."

Pei Changzhou’s face turned pale, his body swayed twice, and he kept muttering “What should I do?”

Seeing Queen Zhou sitting expressionless, Pei Changzhou rushed forward, as if grasping the last straw, "Mother, you must think of a solution quickly. We cannot let Pei Yan become the crown prince. Absolutely not... He and that Tao Ti hate me. They will never let me off."

He said anxiously, "That's right! Since he can find an assassin, I can find one too. Let's kill him and put an end to it all."

Queen Zhou closed her eyes and said in a flat voice, "If you kill him, will your father make you the crown prince? Oh, your father will probably kill you with his own hands to comfort the spirit of his beloved son in heaven. As for the position of crown prince, he would rather choose the fourth or fifth child than you."

Pei Changzhou's eyes were red, and he said fiercely, "Then let's go all out and kill them too! I am the only son left by my father, so he has no choice but to make me the heir."

Queen Zhou slowly opened her eyes, with deep hatred and madness in them. She said sinisterly, "Since you plan to kill all the princes, why don't you just kill your father?"

These words stunned Pei Changzhou.

All along, he only wanted to deal with his brothers and never thought about killing the king or the father.

In his heart, his father was like a god, high above and inviolable, and he always treated him with awe.

Even though he always blamed his father for being partial, annoyed that he didn't value him enough, and hated that he treated Pei Yan so gently, deep down in his heart he still wanted to be close to his father and get a word of affirmation from his father one day.

But at this moment, his mother asked him to kill the king?

Pei Changzhou looked at Queen Zhou in astonishment, his voice trembling, "Mother, how could you have such an idea?"

"He forced me to do this!"

Queen Zhou's eyes flashed with a sinister look, and she gritted her teeth and said, "We have endured for so many years, and in the end, we were played around by them. Rather than grovelling under the hands of that little beast, I would rather burn my boats and fight to the death, even if it means death, I would never live in vain!"

Gu Yuan, I could let you die back then, and now I can also kill them both.

Just wait until I send the emperor and your son away so that you and your family can be reunited in the underworld.