The Eldest Daughter Returns: Imperial Uncle, I'm Pregnant!

The next day at court, Gu Ziming was nearly buried alive by a pile of memorials from the emperor. The emperor berated Gu Ziming in front of all the officials, showing him no respect whatsoever.

"Gu Ziming, look at the things you've done! As the Prime Minister of the court, look at the mess you've made lately! One thing after another, none of them are things a Prime Minister should do!"

"Your Majesty, please forgive me." Gu Ziming prostrated himself on the ground, begging for forgiveness. At this moment, he could not say anything; only in this way could he save himself.

"Please calm your anger, Your Majesty," the officials below said.

The emperor circled the throne again and again before calming his anger.

"Prefect of the Capital, tell me, what exactly happened in this case of the corpse hidden in the Prime Minister's residence?"

"Your Majesty, I have already written the memorial." After handing the memorial over, Zhao Youliang saw the Emperor reviewing it and continued.

"I have compiled the witness testimonies and physical evidence from the scene. Combined with our recent investigation, there is no doubt that the murderer is Gu Changfeng. Moreover, Gu Changfeng's servants and attendants in the courtyard have all confessed that it was indeed him who committed the crime."

After reading it, the Emperor threw the memorial at Gu Ziming's head.

"Eight lives! Eight lives! There weren't even eight lives under your nose! Gu Ziming, you can't escape blame!"

"Your Majesty is wise and has a clear understanding of the matter. I am guilty, but I truly know nothing about it. Moreover, Gu Changfeng is no longer my biological son, so I have no way of knowing what he did."

"Not your biological child?"

"Your Majesty, yesterday in front of Prince Chu and the Third Prince, I expelled Gu Changfeng from the Gu family, so he has nothing to do with me anymore."

"Heh heh, we disagree!"

"You, Censorate, have something to say."

“Your Majesty, after the incident yesterday, Lord Gu hastily expelled his eldest son from the family. This is unkind. Even though Gu Changfeng is no longer a member of the Gu family, he was raised by the Gu family. It is said that Lord Gu personally taught Gu Changfeng, but he has been raised to be a gambler and womanizer. This shows that Lord Gu’s upbringing of his children is nothing special.”

"Yes, Your Majesty, we are all worried. Lord Gu still has many students outside, and next year is the year of the imperial examination. Not long ago, Gu Changfeng even bought and leaked the exam questions. For the sake of the country, Your Majesty, we beg Lord Gu to recuse himself from the imperial examination next year."

Gu Ziming knelt there, not daring to raise his head. At this moment, he had no choice but to accept all the impeachments.

“Your words make sense, my dear minister. How can the Prime Minister be a role model for the students of the world when he is in this state! From now on, Gu Ziming is not allowed to interfere in the imperial examinations!”

Someone else stepped forward and said, "His Majesty probably only knows one side of the story. The main reason why Lord Gu divorced his wife and abandoned his children is because something happened at the soup kitchen."

Gu Ziming froze. Just what he feared had come to pass. No one else knew about this, so how did it get exposed in the imperial court?

"Soup sheds? What's wrong with soup sheds? The soup distribution has already ended, and the disaster victims have been returning to their hometowns one after another, haven't they?"

"Your Majesty, that is indeed the situation. However, according to my understanding, there is moldy old rice in the granary. On the day the porridge was distributed, some people fainted and foamed at the mouth. The people at the porridge stall said it was because of heatstroke, but I do not know that heatstroke can cause foaming at the mouth?"

"Although Lord Gu is the prime minister, he has failed in his duties, and His Majesty should punish him accordingly!"

"I second the proposal."

"Your Majesty, it is all my fault. I devoted all my energy to the people and the country, and failed to properly discipline my children, which led to this disaster."

Look how shameless Gu Ziming is in trying to exonerate himself.

"Your Majesty, I am not a heartless person who would abandon his wife and children; there was simply a reason for what happened."

"Oh? Tell me, what exactly is the reason behind your actions?" the Emperor asked with great interest.

Gu Ziming struggled for a while, then buried his head on the ground and said, "Yesterday, something happened in my family. My wife, Wang, has been having an affair for twenty years. So Gu Changfeng is not of my Gu family bloodline, but of that thief's bloodline. I used to take good care of him and teach him carefully, but Gu Changfeng is stubborn and unrepentant. I have no way to help him."

After hearing this, everyone couldn't help but sigh inwardly. It turned out that the rumors circulating outside that Gu Ziming was a thousand-year-old green turtle were not entirely unfounded.

However, Gu Ziming was, after all, a man. The fact that he could admit in public that he had been cuckolded and had raised someone else's son for over twenty years was a desperate attempt to protect himself. Those present did not believe they had the capacity to self-destruct.

The emperor was taken aback when he heard this, and suddenly felt a little sorry for Gu Ziming.

"This……"

“Your Majesty, I am not lying. Prince Chu was also present at the time. If you do not believe me, you can summon Prince Chu and ask him.” Gu Ziming said, unable to hold back his tears.

"Sigh, every family has its own problems. I thought my harem was troublesome enough, but I didn't expect Lord Gu's inner quarters to be even more chaotic."

Zhao Youliang stepped forward and asked, "But Your Majesty, how should we handle the eight murders at the Prime Minister's residence? At the time, many people gathered in front of the Prime Minister's residence, and Wang Shi also committed suicide by crashing into the gate. Before she died, she said that this matter was related to Old Madam Gu."

"Your Majesty, this is my only mother. She took this measure because she loves her grandson too much. If Your Majesty is to punish me, please let me bear the blame alone." Gu Ziming took all the responsibility upon himself, which showed his filial piety.

After a moment's thought, the Emperor said, "It is only right that a life should be paid for a life, but Gu Changfeng is already dead, so we cannot make him pay with his life."

"I suggest that we drag Gu Changfeng's body to the execution ground and whip it to appease public anger!" Gu Ziming suddenly suggested.

This suggestion shocked everyone present. Wasn't this a bit too cruel? Even if it wasn't his biological son, he had raised him for twenty years. Even if it was just a cat or a dog, shouldn't he have developed feelings for him?

"Lord Gu, you have shown such righteousness by sacrificing your own family for your own safety. I admire you," Zhao Youliang said sarcastically.

“This humble subject is not acting to protect himself. This humble subject also admits his guilt, and his mother is not innocent either. Therefore, this humble subject requests a one-year reduction in salary, to take one hundred strokes of the law in place of his mother, and humbly begs Your Majesty to demote him to appease public anger!”

Gu Ziming, as expected of a veteran in officialdom, still knew how to seize opportunities for himself even at this point, turning the tables and taking the initiative. The Emperor narrowed his eyes and looked at this prime minister, who was second only to the emperor, with a meaningful gaze.

"My beloved ministers, what do you think of the Prime Minister's proposal?"

"This……"

Everyone chimed in with their opinions. Some said the punishment was too harsh, that a salary deduction would suffice, and that demotion was unnecessary, since Gu Ziming was also implicated and would surely die if he were subjected to another hundred strokes of the cane.

The Emperor saw that there were quite a few people in the court who were trying to exonerate Gu Ziming, and each of them was so eloquent that they could turn black into white. His face showed some cracks. He sighed in his heart, "Even a centipede with a hundred legs does not fall down when it dies." Just when he was about to let Gu Ziming off the hook, the Duke of Ningguo stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, I have this memorial."

"Duke of Ningguo? That's quite unusual. What does Duke Ningguo have to say? Tell us." The Emperor was pleased; this was clearly a case of "the road to success has taken a turn for the better."

Gu Ziming's heart skipped a beat. He was so close to getting away, so why did the Duke of Ningguo have to come out and interrupt? Was he trying to help him or ruin him?

Since Gu Qingwan went back with Madam Ning, he hadn't slept all night. Gu Qingwan already knew the cause of Ning Jingxian's death, and he was worried that she would tell everything to the Ning family, which would then retaliate against him fiercely.

But from this morning until just now, the Ning family hadn't made any moves, which made Gu Ziming lower his guard. He assumed that Gu Qingwan didn't want to lose him as her father and must be keeping it a secret. Who knew...

"Your Majesty, I have a question. You just said that a life for a life, is this not an ironclad law?"

“Of course, murderers must pay with their lives,” Zhao Youliang replied.

"That makes things easier. I will accuse Lord Gu's mother of abusing and murdering her daughter-in-law, Ning Jingxian, resulting in the deaths of both mother and child!"

"Hmm!" In the imperial court, everyone was shocked by the Duke of Ning's act of filing a complaint with the emperor.

"Duke Ningguo! What are you saying! When did my mother kill Jingxian? I know you are saddened by the loss of your sister, but Jingxian was also my wife. I am more heartbroken than anyone else by her passing!"

Who knew that the Duke of Ningguo completely ignored Gu Ziming's emotional outburst.

“Your Majesty, yesterday my niece Gu Qingwan returned home. She witnessed and heard Wang Shi confess to how she conspired with Old Madam Gu to steal my sister’s dowry in the backyard of the Gu family, how she caused my sister’s pregnancy to become difficult during childbirth, how she switched the life-saving ginseng on the day of my sister’s delivery, causing my sister to be too weak to give birth and die from postpartum hemorrhage, and she also confessed that while my sister was alive, Old Madam Gu, under the guise of taking care of her daughter-in-law, abused her with silver needles.”

"Duke Ningguo! I respect you as Jingxian's elder brother, but don't make false accusations and go too far!"

"I'm going too far? Gu Ziming, do you have any conscience? Back then, you had nothing, and it was my sister who overcame all difficulties to marry you. You were the one who said in front of all the people in the capital that you would treat my sister well for the rest of your life. And what happened?"

Gu Ziming felt a little guilty, but he still straightened his back and said, "My feelings for Jingxian are as clear as day. I have done nothing to wrong her!"

"Hmph, what a 'heaven and earth bear witness' statement! But you didn't expect it, did you? Your mother was so brazen in abusing my sister that she didn't even try to hide it, doing it right in front of Qingwan. Unfortunately, Qingwan is a smart child, and she remembered everything. Even her accidental fall into the water was orchestrated by your second daughter and your good wife, Madam Wang. Otherwise, why would we be in such a hurry to take the child away!"

"Wow..." The ministers in the court may seem serious and rigid on the surface, but their gossip instincts are no less than those of the women. They never expected the inner quarters of the Prime Minister's residence to be so fascinating.

The Emperor looked at Gu Ziming with a gloomy face.

Gu Ziming was covered in sweat, his hands and feet were cold, and he had lost his composure. He said anxiously, "Your Majesty, please understand, I did not, and I knew nothing about it..."

"Hehe, I'm afraid the Prime Minister is going to use his busy schedule with the affairs of the court and the country as an excuse to neglect the management of the inner quarters? Fine, I didn't intend to do anything to you today. It's just that the Emperor and Lord Zhao said that murderers should pay with their lives. Wang is already dead, so there is still Old Madam Gu. As long as she is punished, my father and mother can rest easy, and my sister can also be at peace."

“That won’t do, that’s my mother…” Gu Ziming was in a dilemma at this moment.

"So what? Does Lord Gu intend to die in place of his mother?"

The Duke of Ningguo was a military general, but he was also very skilled with words. He knelt down with a thud and pleaded with the emperor.

"Your Majesty, Gu Ziming is utterly shameless!"

"Not only did he treat my sister that way, but he also ignored Qingwan completely. If it weren't for my father and mother, Qingwan would have gone to be with her mother long ago. She's already in such a state. Yesterday, my mother was worried and sent my wife to bring Qingwan home. But when my wife arrived, Gu Ziming actually forced that poor child to agree to let Wang's daughter, an accomplice, be registered under my sister's name, becoming not only the legitimate daughter but also a cousin of my Ningguo Duke's Mansion!"