The Queen Mother seemed to have anticipated the Emperor Jingming's doubts and smiled faintly: "The person who just came back happened to see the Prince of Xiang at the palace gate and told me about it."

Emperor Jingming suddenly realized.

People in Cining Palace would occasionally go out of the palace to donate incense money to the royal temples on behalf of the Empress Dowager, and today we happened to see it.

The Queen Mother advised earnestly: "Young people are bound to make mistakes, especially when they are drunk. Your Majesty should not hold it against the Prince of Xiang."

Emperor Jingming stared at the wrinkles at the corners of the empress dowager's eyes and opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

The death of Rongyang has been kept a secret from the Queen Mother until now. If the fact that the Eighth Brother murdered Cui Mingyue were to be revealed, Rongyang’s death would probably no longer be kept secret.

Emperor Jingming was thinking this when he heard the Queen Mother sigh and say, "Thinking about the child of Prince Xiang, I think of Mingyue. If Mingyue had kept to her duty, she would have become my grandson's wife. Now she even has a great-grandson..."

"Yes——" Emperor Jingming laughed dryly, his heart pounding with fear.

The Queen Mother stopped turning her rosary beads and looked a little sad: "I don't know how Rongyang is doing now. She has become a commoner and her daughter is missing. I'm afraid she is not doing well."

Emperor Jingming became even more nervous and dared not say a word.

Seeing that Emperor Jingming was silent, the Queen Mother laughed to herself and said, "I shouldn't have made things difficult for the Emperor. A prince who breaks the law is guilty of the same crime as a commoner. Rongyang made a mistake and deserves to be punished. But she was brought up by me after all. I haven't seen her for a long time and I miss her a little bit..."

Emperor Jingming's palms began to sweat.

He was truly filial to the Queen Mother, and he couldn't imagine whether the Queen Mother would be shocked when she heard the news of Rongyang's death. For someone of the Queen Mother's age, she would probably fall seriously ill if she was shocked.

The more Emperor Jingming thought about it, the more determined he became to continue hiding the truth from the Empress Dowager.

"That's enough. I'm old now, so I'll just nag you a little. Your Majesty, please get busy."

Emperor Jingming stood up almost impatiently: "Then I will leave first and come back to see you, mother."

The empress dowager nodded slowly, and after Emperor Jingming left, she reached out to pick up the teacup on the small table, opened the lid, and slowly blew on the tea leaves floating on the water.

Before Qingming Festival, Cining Temple had already replaced the tea.

Mingqian tea is as precious as gold, so anything that enters Cining Palace is naturally the best.

The Queen Mother looked expressionlessly at the tea buds and leaves clearly standing upright in the cup, and squeezed the cup slightly.

Emperor Jingming walked back from Cining Palace with great speed, as if a tiger was chasing him. When he was about to reach Yu's study, he heard dogs barking and cats meowing, followed by the unique sharp cries of eunuchs.

Emperor Jingming paused and frowned.

I was already in a bad mood and he was only away for a short while, so what?

When Pan Hai saw that Emperor Jingming looked unhappy, he rushed to Yu's study and cursed, "Little Lezi, are you courting death?"

When he rushed to the door of Yu's study and saw the scene inside clearly, the eunuch's arrogance suddenly stopped and he was left in astonishment.

Emperor Jingming pushed Pan Hai away and finally saw the scene inside the room clearly: he saw a fat cat struggling in the pile of memorials on the dragon table, occasionally dropping a memorial to the ground. At this time, Xiao Lezi would scream and try to rescue the fallen memorial, while a big dog not far away was stroking its tail impatiently, looking like it was staying out of the matter.

Emperor Jingming was so angry that he fell backwards and asked angrily, "What is this for?"

Xiao Lezi was dumbfounded, and hurriedly kowtowed to Emperor Jingming while holding the memorial.

Pan Hai kicked Xiao Lezi and said angrily, "The Emperor is asking you!"

Xiao Lezi said with a pale face: "Not long after the emperor left, Jixiang and Xiaotian's army started fighting, and I couldn't stop them--"

"Waste!" The good-tempered Emperor Jingming shouted angrily. He looked at the white cat and then at the big dog, unsure which one to criticize first.

Jixiang rushed over before Emperor Jingming could speak, raised his head and meowed at his master.

Emperor Jingming smiled stiffly, and his anger towards his fat cat immediately disappeared.

Jixiang, who never paid any attention to him, actually called out to him!

After the excitement, Emperor Jingming no longer had the heart to argue with Erniu. He rubbed his eyebrows and said, "Take Erniu and Jixiang out first."

The cat and the dog were asked to leave, and the messy study room finally returned to peace.

Emperor Jingming looked at Zhen Shicheng.

Zhen Shicheng was an old man who took good care of his beard. He hated cats and dogs fighting each other. Seeing that the emperor had finally returned, he hurriedly bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the case of Miss Cui's disappearance has been closed. If you have no other instructions, I will take my leave now."

Emperor Jingming ignored Zhen Shicheng's words and asked in a deep voice, "My dear Zhen, how do you think the King of Xiang should be convicted?"

Zhen Shicheng: “…” He was only interested in solving cases, and didn’t want to get involved in the fights among the princes.

The jade pendant found in the well that confirmed the identity of the corpse actually aroused his suspicion.

Only the undergarments were left on the corpse; all other clothes and ornaments had been removed. It was possible that he had forgotten to take off the earrings, but it was somewhat unreasonable that he had forgotten to take away the jade pendant.

Zhen Shicheng speculated that the jade pendant was most likely thrown into the well secretly by someone who witnessed the scene, in order to reveal the truth of the case one day.

If we think about Erniu, the hero who discovered the corpse today, it is not difficult to guess who that person is.

Of course, these are just guesses, and since they are helpful in solving the case, Zhen Shicheng will not continue to investigate further.

"I dare not comment. The Prince of Xiang is a prince. If he makes a mistake, the emperor and the clan affairs office will decide the punishment." Zhen Shicheng calmly kicked the ball back.

He still wanted to sit in the position of Shuntian prefect and judge cases for a long time, so he would not say anything that he shouldn't say.

Emperor Jingming looked at Yu Jin and the others again. All those caught in his sight lowered their eyes and tried to reduce their presence as much as possible.

Emperor Jingming stood beside Ling Luan's dragon table and fell into deep thought.

When Rongyang's plot to murder the mother of the seventh brother's wife was exposed, he demoted Rongyang to a commoner on the grounds that a prince's crime was the same as that of a commoner. Now the eighth brother has made the same mistake and harmed Rongyang's daughter. If he lets it go today, what if the empress dowager finds out one day? How will he have the face to see her?

Emperor Jingming thought of this, his eyes were cold, and he said in a hoarse voice: "Pan Hai——"

Pan Hai's heart sank, and he hurriedly said, "The servant is here."

"Pass on my decree. The Prince of Xiang was first immoral after drinking at the Queen Mother's birthday banquet, and then was found to have murdered his aunt's cousin. He is immoral and guilty. The evidence is conclusive. From today on, you will be stripped of your title of Prince and moved to Guiyuan..."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's faces changed immediately, and King Lu even gasped and covered his mouth.

Did he hear it wrong? Old Eight is not even a prince anymore?

This, this is an absolutely unexpected surprise!

When Emperor Jingming heard the noise, he cast a cold gaze on Prince Lu's face: "Why, do you have any opinion?"

Prince Lu lowered his head and said, "Father, please forgive me. I was shocked when I heard about the punishment of my eighth brother. In the future, we will definitely take it as a warning and not make you angry!"

Other princes: “…” The fifth prince really performed exceptionally well today.