"Your Majesty," Concubine Rou hurriedly got up and rushed to Li Ming, reaching out to hold Li Ming's hand, "I was wrong, Sanlang, I was thinking wrongly, I was also thinking about Cheng'er and was afraid of offending too many people, I was set up by Li Rong, I..."

"How dare you say that!" Li Ming pushed her aside and sat up. "If you weren't greedy, how could Rong'er set a trap for you?! You are short-sighted, a lowly servant. If you had a bit of Shangguan Yue's composure, the crown prince position would have been Cheng'er's long ago! I've kept you in the harem for so long, and supported you for so long. Is there anything wrong with you catching Shangguan Yue?"

Li Ming got angrier and angrier as he thought about it. He propped himself up and threw something at Cheng Er, saying, "I handed the Inspection Office over to you. I have put in so much effort for you and Cheng Er. You idiot, you have done such a disservice!"

The memorials and cups were thrown at Concubine Rou one after another. Concubine Rou knelt on the ground and kowtowed desperately. When Li Ming finished throwing, Li Ming staggered back a step. Fulai hurriedly supported him. Li Ming panted softly and looked at Concubine Rou kneeling on the ground in a mess. Li Ming finally stopped. Fulai supported him and said softly: "Your Majesty, the dragon body is in danger."

Li Ming didn't have the energy to speak anymore. He calmed down a little after he had vented his anger. Concubine Rou lay on the ground sobbing softly. Li Ming looked at her quietly for a long time. He waved his hand and said, "Stop it. Go down."

"Your Majesty," Concubine Rou looked up in surprise when she heard this. Li Ming stood in front of her, looking at her quietly. There was sadness, disappointment, and some unspeakable pain and sorrow in his eyes. Concubine Rou suddenly realized something. She hurriedly knelt forward and reached out to pull Li Ming's clothes. "Your Majesty, I was wrong. I will listen to you in the future. I will change. Please save me. I am still useful," Concubine Rou said, tears falling quickly, "Your Majesty, I am Cheng'er's mother..."

"Pull it down!"

Li Ming shouted loudly, and the servants beside him rushed over to pull Concubine Rou. Concubine Rou held him tightly, and the servants pulled her out forcefully. She struggled hard and got back halfway.

She used up all her strength. Her clothes were torn to pieces and her hairpin fell to the ground. Her makeup was ruined and her face was covered with tears. She looked like a fox terrier pinned to the ground with a knife and fork, struggling hard for a glimmer of life.

Li Ming quietly looked at the woman who desperately threw herself at him, watched her grab his clothes tightly, and then was dragged out by someone. She cried out in grief, her fingers hooked on the upper of his shoes with gold silk embroidered dragon pattern, her nails that were usually dyed red were broken, and she cried out in pain: "Your Highness..."

This distant address made Li Ming feel dazed for a moment, as if he had returned to the time many years ago when he was still an ignored prince in the cold palace.

He couldn't help but say: "Stop."

After hearing this order, everyone stopped what they were doing. Concubine Rou looked up excitedly as if she had been pardoned: "Your Majesty, I know you will not ignore me. Your Majesty..."

Li Ming didn't say anything. He half squatted down and looked quietly at the woman in front of him.

Actually, she is old.

She was no longer young, her beauty had long lost its vitality, her eyes were filled with desire, and she was as ugly as the entire palace.

But such ugliness and disfigurement only made him feel pity.

As pitiful as he is.

He stared at Concubine Rou quietly, then slowly raised his hand and placed it on her face.

"Sanlang," Concubine Rou quickly raised her hand and held Li Ming's hand. Tears streamed down her face, full of hope. "You are all I have left. You are all I have left."

"But I have nothing but myself," Li Ming said softly.

"Arou," Li Ming said in a hoarse voice, "I can't control you, don't worry," Li Ming's eyes were full of tenderness, "Cheng'er will be fine, you can go."

Concubine Rou looked at Li Ming blankly: "Can't you control me?"

Concubine Rou murmured, and Li Ming looked bitter: "So many people have joined forces to kill you, and you have so many handles. You have no foundation in the court, the noble families don't care about you, and the poor families don't protect you. If what happened today gets out, the whole world will definitely condemn you. I can't protect you."

"Go back and wait until the right time," Li Ming put his forehead against Concubine Rou's, "leave a confession letter, saying that the prince framed you, and you die to prove your innocence. If you die, the case will stop, and Cheng'er's reputation will not be damaged."

"His Majesty?"

Concubine Rou looked at Li Ming in disbelief, her voice trembling.

Li Ming looked sad: "Don't blame me, I can't help it."

"What can't be done?"

Concubine Rou seemed to have finally lost her patience and shouted, "You are so weak and incompetent that you can't even protect a woman!"

"Xiao Rou!"

Li Ming lowered his voice, with a hint of warning.

When Fu Lai saw the two people arguing, he quickly asked everyone to follow him out, leaving only Concubine Rou and Li Ming in the hall.

Concubine Rou laughed out loud: "Isn't it? You are the emperor, you want to protect me, how can you not protect me? In the final analysis, it is just that you are afraid of those people! You know that the empress dowager is from the Shangguan family, you know that your wife is from the Shangguan family, and you know that everyone in the palace is their people. If they want to depose you, they will depose you, and if they want to make you crawl, you can't stand..."

With a slap, Concubine Rou was knocked to the ground before she could finish her words.

Li Ming pointed at her, his eyes bloodshot: "I'm going to let you go for Cheng'er's sake, so stop talking nonsense."

"I'm talking nonsense?" Concubine Rou laughed while sitting on the ground. "Am I wrong? I just touched your sore spot."

Concubine Rou covered her face and turned to look at him, her eyes full of sarcasm: "You spared me, what can you do to me? I will die in the end. Since you can't protect me, I'm not even alive. Why should I be afraid of you?"

"Believe it or not, I will destroy your son!"

"Then you're dead!" Concubine Rou suddenly raised her voice, "Do you think I'm a fool?! Did you really make Cheng'er the crown prince because you love him? You just want to use him to control the crown prince. Once you remove Shangguan and there is another prince in the harem, will Cheng'er still have a place to stand?!"

"Do you think I don't know that you've been visiting women in the palace and that you've even found a recipe for having sons so that you can have more sons? Do you think I don't know that you've always felt that I'm of humble origin and that Cheng'er is not up to the task? Do you think I don't know that I'm nothing in your heart and that I'm just an excuse for you to suppress the aristocratic families? Whether it's Shangguan Yue or your mother, everyone in the court thinks that you've lost your mind because you love me, but did you really love me?"

Before Li Ming could speak, Concubine Rou smiled and said, "You didn't."

"In your heart, I and Cheng'er are just a means of getting me killed today. Do you think I will still be afraid of you?"

"Cheng'er is your only choice," Concubine Rou smiled with a bit of madness, "If you want the Li family to get rid of the oppression of the Shangguan family, Li Ming, Cheng'er is your only choice."

"What do you mean?"

Li Ming's face turned cold instantly, while Concubine Rou smiled gently: "Your Majesty, you will not have another son."

Hearing this, Li Ming's eyes widened. Concubine Rou approached him and said softly, "For so many years, since Cheng'er, you have never had a child again." Concubine Rou's eyes were gentle, "Have you ever thought about why?"

"Xiao Rou," Li Ming couldn't believe it, "what did you do?"

Xiao Rou didn't say anything. The smile in her eyes carried a kind of long-planned madness. This silence confirmed Li Ming's guess. He was furious. He stood up suddenly and grabbed Xiao Rou's neck. He pressed Xiao Rou to the ground. He pinched her neck tightly and shouted: "I will kill you! I will kill you, you bitch!"

Xiao Rou was being strangled by Li Ming, but she laughed out loud, and her laughter echoed in the room. It was obviously she who was dying and the weak one, but Li Ming had an illusion that their positions were reversed.

She lied to him, she hated him, she used him, all these years.

Li Ming watched the laughter of the woman in front of him turn into a difficult cry for help, watched her face turn red, watched her reach out to grab him, and watched her lose her life little by little under his hands.

He didn't know why, but at that moment, he suddenly remembered the first time he met Xiao Rou when he was young and in the cold palace.

She knelt on the ground, raised her head timidly, and called him softly, "Your Highness."

He suddenly lost his strength.

After a moment of daze, Xiao Rou suddenly pushed him away, then fell to the ground and started coughing violently.

After waiting for a long time, Xiao Rou supported herself and stood up with a smile.

She covered her neck and said with a smile: "Why, you can't do it, or you can't kill me, right?"

"Li Ming, do you know why you are so useless in your life?"

"If you say you are cruel, you are not cruel enough." Xiao Rou's voice was hoarse, "If you say you are kind, you are not kind enough. As a monarch you are not kind, as a son you are not filial, as a father you are ruthless, as a husband you are not loyal."

"You are obviously extremely selfish, yet you still have some conscience. Your heart is high as the sky, but your life is thin as paper. If you just stay a useless person, Shangguan can guarantee that you will have no worries for the rest of your life. But you just don't want to give up. You have been struggling for half your life, and what have you achieved?"

"Your life is ridiculous and pathetic. You've been through a lot, deserted by your friends and family, and gained nothing, Li Ming," Xiao Rou smiled and turned around, full of sarcasm, "You'll be alone and lonely for the rest of your life."

Having said that, Xiao Rou walked out of the hall.

Li Ming sat quietly on the high seat. After a long time, he slowly raised his head and looked at the Beiyan Tower in the distance.

The wind chimes of the Beiyan Tower tinkled in the wind. He looked at them for a long time before finally coming to his senses. Fulai walked in cautiously and saw the mess on the floor. He bent down to pick up the memorial on the floor, came to Li Ming, and whispered, "Your Majesty, Concubine Rou has been escorted to the Ministry of Justice. Are you okay?"

Li Ming said nothing, he lowered his head, and Fu Lai couldn't help but call out again: "Your Majesty?"

"Call Xiao Wen in," Li Ming raised his head and said tiredly, "I have something to say to him."

Xiao Wen is Concubine Rou's nephew. Fu Lai paused and said respectfully, "Yes."

After Fu Lai responded, he couldn't help but look at Li Ming a few more times: "Your Majesty, are you... feeling unwell? Do you want to summon the imperial physician?"

Li Ming heard his words and looked up at him. Fu Lai's palms were sweating as he was looked at by Li Ming. Li Ming looked at him for a long time and suddenly said, "When I first saw you, were you eleven years old?"

Fulai secretly breathed a sigh of relief and replied respectfully, "I am ten years old."

"You're old." Li Ming laughed, and Fu Lai laughed too. "After all, it's been almost forty years."

"Fulai," Li Ming turned his head and looked at the Beiyan Tower in the distance, "It would be nice if people didn't grow up."

Fulai said nothing. Li Ming said slowly, "I was very happy when I built the Beiyan Tower."

At that time, he had just married Shangguan Yue, and he didn't know what it meant to be constrained by aristocratic families, what it meant to balance the court, and what it meant to be an emperor's mind.

But forty years is too long.

Long enough for a delicate girl to become an insatiable concubine, a beautiful lady to become a cold and conservative empress, and a gentle prince to become a weak and pathetic emperor.

He felt that time was like a knife, and when he turned around, he couldn't recognize who was who.

Xiao Rou could no longer hold on when she walked out of the hall.

Her legs suddenly went limp, and the maid beside her held her up, saying anxiously, "Madam."

The guard stepped forward and said respectfully, "Empress Rou, please."

Xiao Rou struggled to support herself, nodded, and let the maid help her into the carriage.

After all, she is still the mother of Prince Su and Hua Le. Even though she is in trouble now, her influence is still there, and the guards dare not make things too difficult for her.

When she arrived at the Ministry of Justice, not long after, she heard hurried footsteps coming from outside.

Xiao Rou raised her head and saw Hua Le and the Xiao family members walking towards her.

"Mother." Hua Le's eyes immediately turned red when she saw Xiao Rou. Xiao Rou calmed down and became calm. She glanced at the people who came and saw Cui Yulang was also there. She paused for a moment and then said calmly, "Everyone go down. I want to talk to Hua Le."

Cui Yulang bowed respectfully, and Xiao Rou quickly reached out and took Hua Le's hand, and asked anxiously: "Are you okay? Does this matter involve you?"

Hua Le shook her head with red eyes: "Not yet, but today when I was in the court, I heard that you were in trouble, so I immediately went to find my third uncle and looked for him everywhere, and only now came to see you."

"Where's Cheng'er?" Xiao Rou asked immediately, and Hua Le became less reliable, "My brother is fine, he's at home now. Mother, what should we do now?"

"Listen to me," Xiao Rou took out a token from her sleeve and handed it to Hua Le, "We have been tricked this time. Now you can't trust anyone except the people in our Xiao family. Cui Yulang is no longer useful, and Su Rongqing shouldn't believe him. I'm afraid I can't protect you, so I'll give you this token."

Xiao Rou handed the token to Hua Le and said, "I'll leave Cheng'er to you now."

"Mother!" Hua Le grabbed Xiao Rou's hand, "What should I do? Tell me, how can I save you?"

Hua Le started to cry as she spoke: "Can I get married? I'll marry a powerful man, and I..."

"Hua Le!"

Xiao Rou said in a low voice. She held Hua Le's hand and took a deep breath: "Remember, don't rely on anyone at this time. His Majesty is already dying. He can't hold on for much longer. You only need to do one thing now."

"You say."

Hua Le spoke hastily, and Xiao Rou raised her hand to tuck Hua Le's hair behind her ears: "Kill Li Chuan."

Hua Le's eyes were glaring. Xiao Rou's eyes were cold. "It would be best if you kill Li Rong as well. Once Li Chuan dies, Cheng'er will be the only prince left. Then you can put all the responsibility on me. You will still be a princess. Your father will protect you. After Cheng'er ascends the throne, you will be the eldest princess."

Hua Le's hand holding the token trembled slightly. Xiao Rou raised her hand and held her hand, saying calmly: "Don't be afraid, Hua Le, you are my daughter, you can't lose to Shangguan Yue's daughter. She can plot against us, so you have to plot against her."

"Mother..."

"Only in this way," Xiao Rou whispered, "will you and I have a chance to survive. As long as we survive, we will win. Then, you can trample Li Chuan and Li Rong under your feet and tear them into pieces."

"There's nothing to be afraid of." Xiao Rou stared at Hua Le, "We are all worthless, what are you afraid of?"

Hua Le listened to Xiao Rou's words and slowly calmed down.

She looked up at Xiao Rou, searching for the faith and strength to support herself in her calm eyes.

Her mother came from a poor family. She might be stupid and greedy, but she had been growing recklessly in this palace like a weed.

Hua Le took a deep breath, nodded, and tried to calm himself down: "I understand."

Xiao Rou stared at Hua Le quietly. After a long time, she held Hua Le's hand and said, "Go ahead. Mom will wait for you."

Hua Le's tears fell on Xiao Rou's hands. She stood up staggeringly, tried to calm herself down, and walked out.

It was a bit cold that night. Li Rong put on some clothes and stayed in the princess's mansion, re-reading the recent information from the Inspection Department.

Shangguan Ya stood aside and explained to Li Rong briefly: "The officials in the Shangguan family who had problems before have already been dealt with. This time, Concubine Rou couldn't find any handle. The evidence was almost all fake, and the confession was forced out."

"Are you so brave?"

Li Rong flipped through the pages of written confessions, and Shangguan Ya chuckled, "Empress Rou doesn't have much experience in the court. The harem is a place where you eat according to the emperor's mood, but the court is not. She thought the Inspection Office was the same as when she was in charge of the harem. These confessions are flawed. You can overturn the verdict anytime you want, but what do you think, Your Highness?"

"Let's delay it for now," Li Rong said calmly. "It's too easy to kill Concubine Rou. People like Wang Houmin will inevitably feel that their price is too high. People like Wang Houwen also deserve to die. Let's keep them in jail for now, and then release them after they are half dead."

As the two were talking, they heard footsteps outside. Li Rong and Shangguan Ya looked up and saw Pei Wenxuan walking in. He glanced at Li Rong, walked forward, lowered his head and whispered in Li Rong's ear, "Your Majesty summoned Concubine Rou's nephew Xiao Wen to the palace. After Xiao Wen left, someone left Huajing."

Li Rong's eyes turned cold and she looked up at Pei Wenxuan.

Pei Wenxuan understood what Li Rong meant and nodded.

"Your Majesty may not be able to bear it any longer."