The Second Prince looked coldly at Grand Tutor Chen, who had even forgotten how to cry: “You are worse than a beast!”
Emperor Shangde also grabbed the memorial from his desk and hurled it fiercely at Grand Tutor Chen’s head.
The force was so great that a bloody hole was gashed into the Grand Tutor’s forehead, which was already wrinkled like a chrysanthemum, and blood began to stream down his face.
“Worse than a beast!”
“Guards, seal off the Grand Tutor’s Residence immediately!”
“Grand Tutor Chen has committed such heinous acts; his crimes are unforgivable.”
“Grand Tutor Chen and Lady Ruan are to be executed by vehicle-splitting (dismemberment) immediately!”
“The males of the Chen household are to be sent to the frontier as soldiers, and the women are to be exiled for eight hundred miles!”
Grand Tutor Chen snapped out of his shock and shrieked hysterically: “Your Majesty, this old subject is wronged! Your Majesty, this old subject is innocent…”
Emperor Shangde snorted coldly: “Shut your mouth! Guards, drag this wretched old man away.”
The imperial guards stepped forward and dragged the wailing Grand Tutor Chen away.
The Imperial Study fell into silence once again.
Ye Chuchu: [Wow, I really didn’t expect the Second Prince to be this capable. In the mere day he had left, he actually uncovered the truth about this matter.]
[So impressive!]
[I was originally thinking of giving him a hint through my father and older brother after I went back.]
Zhazha: [This goes to show that the Second Prince has a truly sharp mind; he is very clever.]
[Little Chuchu, do you want to win him over?]
Ye Chuchu: [Yes, yes, yes!]
Ye Changlin wished he could bury his head in the ground.
Ye Jinmo turned his face away: My little sister is really too immodest!
Emperor Shangde: This little girl is quite interesting.
The Second Prince: Has he been targeted by a wolf in sheep’s clothing?
Eunuch Lin: To have such an extraordinary young lady in the Ye residence, they must have accumulated virtue from their ancestors!
Ye Chuchu: [Zhazha, didn’t you say just now that there was a big piece of gossip?]
Zhazha: [That’s right, that’s right.]
Everyone present pricked up their ears.
Ye Chuchu: [Huh? Why is it suddenly so quiet?]
[The beast-like Grand Tutor Chen has already been dealt with; shouldn’t the Emperor be letting us go back?]
[Why is no one talking?]
Emperor Shangde coughed lightly: “Minister Ye, what did you eat tonight?”
Ye Changlin: “Ah? Reporting to Your Majesty, this old subject ate greens and tofu tonight…”
Ye Chuchu: [Oh my, my father is held in high regard by the Emperor; even when the Emperor is this furious, he still cares about what my father eats.]
Zhazha: [That’s right, that’s right. A diligent and compassionate emperor!]
Ye Chuchu: [Hurry up and tell your big piece of gossip.]
Zhazha: [Alrighty, alrighty. Little Chuchu, Consort Liu is currently giving birth.]
Emperor Shangde: Consort Liu?
Which Consort Liu? Why doesn’t he have any memory of her?
With such a huge event as childbirth, why hasn’t anyone come to notify him?
Ye Chuchu: [Consort Liu is giving birth, why is the Emperor still sitting here?]
Zhazha: [Because Imperial Concubine Xian won’t let him.]
[Imperial Concubine Xian has been in the palace for over a dozen years without laying an egg, and seeing the other consorts becoming pregnant one after another, she is consumed with jealousy.]
[So, nine months ago, Imperial Concubine Xian brought a distant cousin of hers into the palace.]
[That night, the Emperor was in her palace, and she fed him a lot of wine. The next morning, when the Emperor woke up, he discovered he had slept with a palace maid from Imperial Concubine Xian’s quarters.]
[The Emperor couldn’t remember a single thing about what happened while he was drunk, but he has so many women in his inner palace that he just casually conferred the title of ‘Consort’ upon this maid.]
[Because Consort Liu looked so ordinary, the Emperor never thought to visit her again after that one night and completely forgot her!]
[Not two months later, Consort Liu was diagnosed as pregnant.]
[Imperial Concubine Xian was overjoyed. She hid Consort Liu away and sent people to care for her meticulously every day.]
[Now Consort Liu has gone into labor.]
[The child can be born safely, but Imperial Concubine Xian will not allow Consort Liu to stay alive.]
[She has already arranged for a midwife; the moment Consort Liu gives birth, they will feed her saffron, causing her to hemorrhage to death.]
[When the time comes, Imperial Concubine Xian will hold the baby, shed a few tears before the Emperor, talk about how pitiful the child is, and the child can be raised under her own name.]
Ye Chuchu: [God, the inner palace is truly terrifying. It really is a graveyard for women!]
Zhazha: [Who can deny it?]
[That night when Imperial Concubine Xian got the Emperor drunk, the Emperor actually knew nothing. Consort Liu was just an innocent girl who didn’t understand the ways of the world, and Imperial Concubine Xian even arranged for a mammy to be by her side to guide her.]
[Imperial Concubine Xian herself sat behind the curtains, watching the scene inside.]
[Facing that ‘live spring palace painting,’ she gripped the armrest of her chair in a rage, breaking even her perfectly manicured nails.]
[If she hadn’t been unable to conceive herself, she wouldn’t have handed her man over to another woman, let alone have to arrange for someone to be there to provide instructions.]
Ye Chuchu: [Geez, the Emperor is so pitiful. It feels like he’s been played like a monkey.]
Zhazha: [Who can deny it?]
The hall was deathly silent.
At some point, the Emperor had fallen silent, his face dark.
The others all buried their heads very low.
Based on everything that had happened previously, Ye Chuchu’s inner thoughts were almost always accurate.
Zhazha: [Oh my, Little Chuchu, Consort Liu is about to give birth to the child.]
[The saffron has already been brought in.]
[How pitiful; such a delicate human life is about to be extinguished just like that.]
[And the child born will have to acknowledge the murderer as their mother.]
Ye Chuchu: [What do I do? How can I subtly tell the Emperor about this?]
Zhazha: [Little Chuchu, you’re a mute right now, you can’t talk!]
Ye Chuchu: [That’s true. Oh, I’m so anxious.]
Suddenly, Eunuch Lin, who was standing beside Emperor Shangde, “whooshed” as he knelt on the ground.
“Your Majesty, I heard that Consort Liu is in great abdominal pain; it is likely she is giving birth!”
Emperor Shangde “whooshed” as he stood up: “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go and take a look.”
Emperor Shangde swept out of the Imperial Study like a gust of wind, with Eunuch Lin striding closely behind him.
Watching Emperor Shangde’s retreating back, Ye Chuchu was completely bewildered.
[Zhazha, didn’t you say the Emperor didn’t know Consort Liu was giving birth?]
Zhazha: [That’s right, the information indicated exactly that.]
[How strange!]
Ye Chuchu: [Nothing strange about it. He is the Emperor; he holds the power of life and death. He should know in his heart which women he has favored, and perhaps he has been watching from the shadows.]
Zhazha: [Little Chuchu is right!]
Ye Chuchu: [I really want to follow the Emperor and take a look. Imperial Concubine Xian is definitely going to get what’s coming to her.]
Zhazha: [Little Chuchu, isn’t your second sister, Consort Shu?]
[You can go find your second sister and have her take you to watch the fun.]
Ye Chuchu slapped her own forehead: [Right!]
[Zhazha, you’re so smart!]
Ye Changlin and Ye Jinmo realized what was happening and immediately reached out to catch Ye Chuchu as she ran off.
But unfortunately, Ye Chuchu ran as fast as a rabbit.
The Second Prince kept standing in their way, and in a blink of an eye, Ye Chuchu had vanished from sight.
It’s over, this is the Imperial Palace, we’re in big trouble!