It was early in the morning after that Ming Feiyong’s army departed the capital. By the time Ning Xueyan woke up, Ao Chenyi was no longer beside her and even the bed next to her felt cold to the touch. She didn’t know what time he had left.

All was calm in the capital over the next few days. However, there was a rumor that the Emperor had passed away. This rumor was, of course, circulating only among the ordinary folks. The Emperor was still in a coma but he was undoubtedly alive. The Empress had been serving him the entire time, and several imperial consorts were guarding the door as well. Even though they couldn’t meet the Emperor, they could see the imperial physicians going in to help change his medicine.

It was tense inside the palace.

The Emperor had many children, but few managed to reach adulthood. Most of his imperial consorts were without children. If something were to happen to him, they would be done for. Therefore, they refused to leave. They wanted to meet him and keep an eye on the situation, but the Empress rejected them at the door.

Honored Consort Ya was imprisoned at the Ministry of Justice for her involvement in the murder conspiracy against the Emperor. That left the Empress and Honored Consort Shu as the only mistresses in the palace. Thus, the imperial consorts banded around Honored Consort Shu.

With a calm face, Honored Consort Shu ordered one of the palace maids, “Go and ask the Empress if we can see His Majesty.”

The imperial consorts stared at the maid expectantly, but the latter soon returned to report, “Your Highness, the Empress said that His Majesty is unwell and cannot be disturbed. She asks that you return to your palace and that it’s enough that she stays here to watch His Majesty. The other consorts can also return and leave the task to her.”

While the Empress’ reply might sound pleasant, it was still a rejection! Honored Consort Shu stared at the tightly-shut doors in anger, cursing up a storm at the Empress in her head. She was in a more precarious situation than the other consorts. She had been the happiest when Honored Consort Ya got into trouble, but shock and fury followed when she learned that Ao Chenyi was appointed as the Crown Prince.

The sudden change in the palace had caught her off guard. She had only ever recognized Honored Consort Ya as her opponent. Rather than Ao Chenyi, Ao Mingyu was the person who gave her the most pressure because of how much the Emperor valued him. His Wan’er was great, but Ao Mingyu was still a little better.

Moreover, the support that Grand Tutor Ya’s Manor could provide wasn’t something that her family could compete with.

Her family’s strength was lacking compared to Honored Consort Ya’s family, and her rank in the palace was also lower than the latter’s. Ao Mingyu had a very good reputation outside. To the Emperor, it seemed that Ao Mingyu was superior to her son. This made her feel quite disheartened.

There wasn’t anything she could do about it. All she could do was warn Ao Mingwan to be increasingly careful about everything and not just do things as per his liking.

That was why she was so furious when Ao Mingwan said that he liked Lord Protector’s Manor’s third daughter. She even went as far as to mock Ning Qingshan in public. In her opinion, it was a stupid idea to compete with Ao Mingyu over a woman. Everyone knew that the woman belonged to Ao Mingyu, even the Emperor. Ao Mingwan’s interest would undoubtedly incur the Emperor’s wrath, so she might as well dispel his idea early.

Fortunately, he never brought that woman up again. He was quite busy during the consort drafting, perhaps out of interest in a certain lady. She didn’t pay much attention because he could like any woman as long as it wasn’t Ning Qingshan, and she wanted to find her son a wife anyway. She had only firmly rejected Ning Qingshan to prevent a direct conflict between him and Ao Mingyu.

However, it took just a few days for him to lose interest for some reason and he stopped caring about the consort drafting. She thought that he was being a child, gaining and losing interest with a turn of his mind. When the Emperor expressed his interest to bestow an engagement on him, he said that he didn’t care when she asked him about it in private.

Of course, she was satisfied with his obedience. He didn’t say anything either when she asked him to seek Ya Moqin’s hand in marriage. Since Ao Mingyu didn’t want Ya Moqin, she would get his son to marry her. Once the couple had children, she would like to see how Grand Tutor Ya would handle the matter. It was true that Ao Mingyu carried Grand Tutor Ya’s blood, but so would Ya Moqin’s children.

She wasn’t expecting Grand Tutor Ya to support Ao Mingwan. It was enough that a part of the people in Grand Tutor Ya’s Manor favored him. That way, her enemy would have less support while she would gain more help. That was the effect that she wanted. She was pleased that the effect was slowly manifesting. She wasn’t in a rush because the Emperor appeared to be in decent health.

Later, Ao Mingyu was badly injured and Ya Moqin sneaked into Prince Xiang’s Manor. The two of them were found inside a room all by themselves with their clothes in disarray. Honored Consort Shu was so mad that she almost coughed up blood and all she could do was scold Grand Tutor Ya for not educating his children. Which noble lady would do such a shameless thing? Ya Moqin had cuckolded her son! For this, she had run into the Emperor’s study and kicked up a fuss.

Grand Tutor Ya was reprimanded for the incident. Honored Consort Ya knelt outside the imperial study as an apology and ended up fainting. Following these events, Honored Consort Shu felt that Ao Mingwan had increasingly good chances at obtaining the throne.

Yet, at this critical time, the Emperor fell ill and the Empress refused to let her see him. Ao Chenyi was appointed as the Crown Prince out of the blue while her son was still the same idle Prince Fu. How could she let this be? Since the Empress wouldn’t let her meet the Emperor, she would wait outside his room until she could see him.

Therefore, she had been waiting outside the Emperor’s residence for many days, leaving only to sleep. The other consorts took note of her attitude and voluntarily stayed behind to wait with her. They waited quietly for any news at all to come out of the residence, good or bad…

Meanwhile, in Prince Xiang’s Manor, Ao Mingyu could already sit up on the bed but his complexion was still poor. Of course, anyone who was so badly injured, cuckolded, and inexplicably cuckolded another man, wouldn’t be in a good condition. Worst of all, Honored Consort Ya had also been imprisoned.

Most devastating of all was that the order had come from the Emperor. He couldn’t protest the order no matter how much he wanted to.

All that pent-up frustration caused a blister to form on his mouth. After a servant helped him lean against the bed frame, he looked coldly at Xia Yuhang. Like him, Xia Yuhang was no longer that gentleman from before. Xia Yuhang looked gloomy, and his usual composure had vanished.

He was also in a shameful situation. Like Hua Manor, Xia Manor had also become an enemy of the public and a target of criticism. He used to be a nobleman with great fame in the capital, but his reputation was now in tatters. Nearly everyone who saw him would mock him. Even ordinary people whom he used to look down on would talk about how he canceled his engagement, with every word dripping with sarcasm.

He was too ashamed to meet anyone! He felt as if everyone he met was laughing at him. Once upon a time, he was a famous gentleman known to be glorious and energetic, with a gentle and obedient lady beside him… This was all gone now. He was now a big joke in the capital.

Worse, he had lost Ao Mingyu’s favor because of what happened to Ning Qingshan. His future was almost ruined!

Little did he expect that Ao Mingyu would send someone to see him out of the blue. Ao Mingyu invited him back to Prince Xiang’s Manor and into his room. He thought that Ao Mingyu would never use him again because of Ning Qingshan. This was a pleasant surprise to him, so he would do his best to perform well.

Ao Mingyu was his last hope now!

“Your Highness, Prince Yi has all the political authority right now. You’re in a bad condition, and Prince Fu’s influence has always been weak. Prince Yi had likely consolidated all imperial power in his hands in the past few days,” Xia Yuhang said. He had thought it over on his way here. Like him, Ao Mingyu was also in a near-hopeless situation. That was why Ao Mingyu had invited him over.

Being in a similar situation, they were somewhat of “fellow sufferers” who could empathize with each other.

“My mother is still in prison, my father is in a coma. Are we going to watch him control the court like this?” Ao Mingyu said furiously. He recalled how he had been injured out of the blue. In the past few days, he pondered a lot and what came to mind most frequently was him dragging Ning Xueyan.

Shortly after that incident, he was stabbed outside the palace gates. The attack nearly claimed his life but fortunately, he had leaned sideways with all his strength. Otherwise, he would have been stabbed to death. When he regained consciousness, he learned that Ao Chenyi had also been stabbed and injured. He didn’t believe it. He felt that Ao Chenyi was involved in the assassination.

And the cause was likely Ning Xueyan.

This reason felt inexplicable even to him. He couldn’t tell that Ao Chenyi liked Ning Xueyan in the slightest. Even so, he landed on this conclusion after much thought. It didn’t make sense otherwise. After all, no one had ever managed to injure Ao Chenyi in all previous assassinations, and Ao Chenyi was said to be so badly injured that he was still in a coma.

He had sent many assassinations after Ao Chenyi, as did his father. Ao Mingwan might not have many subordinates but he wasn’t innocent either. So many assassins, one after another, tried to kill Ao Chenyi but no one had succeeded. None managed to hurt him despite the great opportunity at the palace banquet previously, so how could he be injured right after leaving the palace? And badly injured, at that.

No matter how bad Ao Chenyi’s injuries were, they couldn’t be worse than his. He was so close to never regaining unconsciousness, while Ao Chenyi had recovered enough to walk and run around. It was obvious that this was Ao Chenyi’s doing. Did Ao Chenyi attack him because he tried to pull Ning Xueyan’s hand in the palace?

The assassination was rumored to be the Emperor’s doing, but he didn’t believe it. He knew his father well. His father had nothing but high hopes for him and would never injure him alongside Ao Chenyi. He even lost his life, after all. He didn’t think it was Ao Mingwan either because Ao Mingwan didn’t have the power to assassinate him and Ao Chenyi at the same time.

And he was the least likely perpetrator of them all. With these factors in mind, Ao Chenyi stood out as the only person likely to do such a thing.

However, he didn’t have any proof. It was all his speculation and before he could share his speculation with the Emperor, a series of events happened. None of the events were happy events, and worst of all, his father eventually fell ill, his mother was imprisoned, and Ao Chenyi was made the Crown Prince.

It all happened too quickly, and he was still stuck in bed recovering from his injuries. He couldn’t even walk without help, much less do anything.

He couldn’t accept this, so he invited Xia Yuhang over…