Just when the truth seemed within reach, they found themselves in another desperate situation. Yun Si felt utterly listless and couldn’t muster any energy.
In the past, if Yun Si showed the slightest sign of trouble, her mother would come to check on her. But this time, even her mother was temporarily unable to attend to her, as she was preoccupied with worries about her father’s affairs—
During the morning court session, Prime Minister Yun had been driven out of the main hall by the Emperor!
The reason was the Emperor’s selection of consorts.
The Emperor, once again acting on some inexplicable whim, had previously issued an edict requiring girls between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, with heights between four feet seven inches and four feet nine inches, skin as white as snow, and a small red mole on their waist.
Although the ministers considered it absurd, they ultimately yielded and carried out the Emperor’s decree as ordered.
Unexpectedly, after some time, the Emperor issued another edict!
All those who met these requirements—not only unmarried young maidens but also young women who were already married—must respond to the summons!
This caused an uproar in the court.
As the head of the ministers, Prime Minister Yun had no choice but to step forward and speak: “Your Majesty, this must not be done! You cannot forcibly seize another man’s wife!”
And with that, Prime Minister Yun was driven out of the main hall by the Emperor.
When Madam Zheng heard this news, her legs went weak. If not for the maids supporting her, she would have collapsed to the ground.
“How… how could you be so bold?”
“Have you forgotten how the white jade tiles of Weiyang Palace were all stained red with blood…” Madam Zheng’s voice trembled. She was terrified, for the Emperor truly dared to kill in the court.
Prime Minister Yun shook his head: “The Emperor will not kill me. He still needs someone to handle government affairs for him.”
The Emperor was a tyrant, but not a fool. On the contrary, he was extremely intelligent, even a natural-born ruler who knew how to control others to achieve his goals.
If he were killed and someone else were appointed as prime minister, it would cause considerable trouble.
“The Emperor fears trouble above all else,” Prime Minister Yun said.
Madam Zheng remained worried: “But what if… Why has His Majesty been acting so abnormally this time? Can the root cause be found?”
“Only by finding the root cause can we prescribe the right remedy!”
Prime Minister Yun shook his head with a bitter smile: “No one knows the reason.”
With both her father and mother temporarily unable to focus on Yun Si, she quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Recently, she had been hoping that her parents wouldn’t pay too much attention to her, otherwise, it would be difficult to hide her secret.
However, with her parents busy, the responsibility of looking after her younger brother, Yun Zhang, fell on Yun Si’s shoulders.
Yun Zhang was eight years old this year. His daily needs and trivial matters were handled by his governess and maids, so Yun Si didn’t need to worry about those. But the governess and maids couldn’t control Yun Zhang. At eight years old, he was at the peak of his mischievousness. With their parents preoccupied, only Yun Si’s words could make Yun Zhang listen.
“I heard from the tutor that you quarreled with Yun Cheng again in the family school?” Yun Si asked her brother.
Upon hearing Yun Si’s words, Yun Zhang’s eyes widened: “Quarreled? Is he even worthy of quarreling with me? I was the one scolding him—he didn’t dare talk back!”
Yun Si felt a headache coming on: “That’s even worse… In the eyes of others, this makes you disrespectful to your elder brother and lawless, while Yun Cheng appears as a kind-hearted brother who cares for his younger sibling.”
Hearing his sister’s words, Yun Zhang immediately stiffened his neck like a little fighting rooster: “Elder brother? What kind of elder brother is he to me?”
“I have no elder brother—I only have you, my sister!”
Yun Si sighed. She was fifteen years old this year, and Yun Zhang was eight. Their mother had only the two of them as her biological children.
She and Yun Zhang were eight years apart. In the eight years before Yun Zhang’s birth, her mother had not conceived again, and the Chancellor’s Mansion had remained without a son. Two concubines were brought into the household to bear children and continue the family line.
After Concubine Qiao entered the mansion, she gave birth to a son and a daughter.
The illegitimate son, Yun Cheng, was thirteen years old this year.
The illegitimate daughter, Yun Ying, was eleven years old this year.
Legitimate and illegitimate children were naturally opposed, and the situation in the Chancellor’s Mansion was even more unusual. Before Yun Zhang was born, everyone believed that Madam Zheng could no longer bear children, and even her mother thought so herself.
In other words, until Yun Cheng turned five, he had been Prime Minister Yun’s only son.
Throughout the Chancellor’s Mansion, he was treated differently.
Concubine Qiao had given birth to the mansion’s only son, and her ambitions grew larger and larger. She became restless and began putting on airs everywhere.
During those years, her mother was truly struggling to cope. Yun Si was old enough to remember, and she recalled how her mother was caught in a dilemma.
She had to restrain Concubine Qiao, ensuring she did not challenge the dignity and status of the mistress of the Chancellor’s Mansion, yet she did not want to harm her relationship with Yun Cheng, as he was the mansion’s only son. When her parents grew old and Yun Si married, she would still need this younger brother for support.
Yun Si had lost count of how many times she had seen her mother secretly weeping.
It was only after her younger brother Yun Zhang was born that her mother could finally take firm action to restore order in the mansion, ensuring a clear distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children and maintaining proper hierarchy.
But how could Concubine Qiao, Yun Cheng, and Yun Ying accept this?
Especially Yun Cheng, who had been the “only son of the Chancellor’s Mansion” for five years, only to suddenly become the “illegitimate son of the Chancellor’s Mansion,” forced to defer to Yun Zhang, the legitimate son, in every way!
Naturally, Yun Cheng harbored resentment.
Yun Zhang, for his part, despised this illegitimate older brother to the extreme.
Yun Si quickly got to the bottom of the conflict in the family school. It started when Yun Cheng, putting on the airs of an elder brother, scolded Yun Zhang for not studying diligently and failing to complete the assignments given by the teacher.
Yun Zhang was immediately furious! What right did Yun Cheng have to scold him like an elder brother? Moreover, what Yun Cheng said was completely wrong—he had studied diligently and completed the teacher’s assignments seriously!
Yun Zhang angrily argued with Yun Cheng, pointing out every instance of his nonsense.
Yun Zhang proudly lifted his head in front of Yun Si: “He was left speechless by what I said!”
Yun Si sighed and reached out to pat her foolish younger brother’s head: “Little fool, you fell into his trap. Yun Cheng did it on purpose.”
Yun Zhang looked confused: “Huh?”
Yun Si: “You think everything Yun Cheng scolded you for was wrong, right?”
Yun Zhang nodded: “Yes.”
Yun Si: “You think Yun Cheng isn’t a good older brother and has no right to scold you, right?”
Yun Zhang nodded vigorously: “Yes!”
Yun Si: “But others don’t know that.”
“Let me ask you, did anyone else hear what Yun Cheng said when he scolded you?”
Yun Zhang thought for a moment and shook his head.
“Exactly, others have no idea that what Yun Cheng said was wrong, nor do they know how he treats you in the mansion. All they know is that Yun Cheng is your illegitimate older brother.”
“You scolded Yun Cheng, and he didn’t fight back. In the eyes of others, it will only seem like you disrespect your elder brother and are bullying Yun Cheng.”