GNU last sponsored chapter by Emma at ko-fi.  Sorry it took so long and thank you for your support!

The death of an empress dowager was not a trivial matter. Cheng Yujin quickly changed into mourning clothes and departed to the Cining Palace.

The palace was already full of cries when Cheng Yujin came. Seeing her arrival, the maids and eunuchs panicked and knelt in greetings, “Greetings to the Crown Princess.”

“What did you say?” Cheng Yujin glared. “Which part of Mingqian is fat? They are just growing up.”

“I was wrong.” Li Chengjing put the two ‘growing’ children on the couch and let them play alone. When he turned around, he saw the item Cheng Yujin had just retrieved from a box and asked, “What is that?”

Empress Zhong’s case had yet to enter trial, but during the investigation period, Empress Yang was confined in her palace, and the old cronies and disciples of Yang Fucheng were getting demoted one after another. It was clear to all that the possibility of Yang Fucheng’s return to power was getting further and further away.

Madam Yang, who not long ago was the wife of the Senior Grand Secretary honored by all, had fallen so far in an instant and was now the prime suspect of poisoning the former empress.

The smile faded from Cheng Yujin’s face. Her eyes became icy, turning her appearance into that of cold beauty. “Your Majesty always like that, relying on your seniority as a grandmother to arbitrarily judge the fates of others. When His Highness was born, you said he was ominous. Before my children were born, you also claimed them ominous. The way I see it, the ominous one should be you, Empress Dowager Yang. You have done too many evil deeds in your life and now brought the consequences upon yourself. Now, the Yang family’s bloodline has been cut off, and so has yours.”

“All of you, step back.” Empress Dowager Yang said gloomily, “This Dowager has something to say to Crown Princess.”

The palace maids looked at Cheng Yujin, as if asking her permission. Only after she waved her hand did they dare to leave the room.

The Yang family’s reputation quickly deteriorated in just a few days. Now, even the pedestrian on the street dared to spit on the Yang Manor’s gate and cursed the family loudly. Ten days later, the Judicial Court finally announced the result of the investigation. Yang Xiaoyu, the grandson of Grand Senior Secretary Yang, kidnapped a civilian girl, beat her brother to death in the street, and sullied the girl afterward. Seeking revenge, the girl bid her time and finally strangled Yang Xiaoyu to death with her belt while he was sleeping.

In the Ciqing Palace, Du Ruo stood nervously next to Cheng Yujin’s seat. Seeing they were currently alone at the moment, she finally couldn’t hold back, “Your Highness, did that former palace maid… tell the truth?”

The Yang family was currently in the middle of a vortex. The murder case of Yang Fucheng’s only grandson and the scandal it caused had yet been concluded, and now his wife was also dragged into the mud. Murdering an empress, if true, was a crime totally on a different level from the blatant killing of a civilian.

The tragedy of the Shao family quickly reached the imperial court. The bloodletter a life for a life’ that Shao Zi wrote before taking her own life left a deep, heavy impression on the whole incident. The capital was where the emperor resided, and it had never seen such an atrocious incident before. Some old-fashioned officials almost went mad with rage. One of such old veterans took off his official robe and went to the morning court the next day dressed in civilian clothes. Upon seeing the emperor, he bowed his head and knelt down, “A life for a life is natural justice. This subject is willing to give up my old life to beg Your Majesty today. Please punish Senior Grand Secretary Yang and remove the harm from the common people!”

Yang Xiaoyu seemed to be exhausted. He closed his eyes and said sleepily, “Being my woman, you will benefit endlessly. As long as you serve me well, I can ignore the trouble you caused me until now. Don’t worry about my mother and grandmother — they won’t do anything to you with me here. Look, isn’t this Young Master treating you extremely well? Learn to please me, and good days will come to you. You should give birth to a child for this Young Master; a boy would be the best. Maybe you can become the mother-in-law of an imperial princess in the future. My cousin sister is already Shou Wangfei, and she is the future empress. As long as I make the request, she will surely wed a princess to my son.”

Yang Xiaoyu came out of the study with a gloomy look. He originally wanted to go out to see some friends and have fun over alcohol and women, but was stopped halfway by the family’s servants informing him that the Old Master had strictly ordered the Young Master to stay inside the house.

Yang Xiaoyu was even grumpier as a result. Since he couldn’t go out to find women, his only alternative was to choose one among the group at home. Yang Xiaoyu’s mind began to scroll through the list of his numerous concubines — he had too many women and had even forgotten the faces of quite a number of them.