She remarried a cold-faced, powerful man, and the scumbag regretted it and cried his heart out.

Emperor Hui, panting, pointed at Wen Huaiqing and said sternly, "I'm telling you today! Wen Yin is absolutely not to be a concubine in your Prince Jing's residence! Do you understand what I'm saying?!"

Kneeling at the lower end, Wen Huaiqing lowered his eyes and stared at the half-crushed crimson agate in the gap between the gold bricks. His voice was squeezed out from between his teeth, still gentle: "Your subject understands."

"Li Delu, draft the decree!" Emperor Hui's anger subsided slightly, but the lingering pain remained like a persistent carbuncle.

He picked up his imperial brush and wrote heavily on the bright yellow silk, "Young Master Gu, you are young and deeply devoted to love. I bestow upon you one hundred taels of gold and three boxes of swallow's nest to appease your heart—" After saying that, he sneered, "I want to see how many such infatuated people the Duke of Dingguo's mansion can still hold?"

Li Delu bowed and agreed, but a chill ran down his spine. This wasn't appeasement; it was clearly a case of flattery to kill!

Gu Changyi's absurd actions of storming the Prince Jing's mansion and causing trouble at the temple for Wen Yin are still on the Censorate's desk. This is clearly intended to make the entire capital laugh at the Prince Jing's mansion.

He peeked out and saw that Prince Jing was still kneeling on the ground, his expression unreadable.

The bronze crane incense burner at the corner of the palace emitted wisps of blue smoke, blending Wen Huaiqing's cold laughter into the ambergris fragrance.

How could he not understand the meaning behind this reward?

There is no greater reward than this that strikes at the heart.

This not only extinguished his hopes of marrying Wenyin, but also turned the memorials impeaching him from the Censorate into kerosene, intending to burn through the century-old lintel of the Duke of Dingguo's mansion.

Pretty.

The hall fell silent for a moment. Emperor Hui leaned back on the dragon throne with his eyes closed, with only his heavy breathing and the rising smoke of ambergris filling the air.

After a long while, Emperor Hui opened his eyes again, his voice extremely tired, "All of you may leave, I am exhausted."

Wen Huaizhang and Wen Huaiqing rose, bowed, and took their leave.

Jiang Jin'an also stood up, gave a somewhat awkward bow, and turned to walk out of the hall.

The three of them left the Hall of Mental Cultivation one after the other. Wen Huaizhang suddenly spoke up: "Fourth brother is truly blessed with good fortune."

Wen Huaiqing remained expressionless: "Thanks to my imperial brother's great fortune."

Wen Huaizhang stopped, turned to the side, and smiled gently at Wen Huaiqing, who was walking at the back. "A few days ago, my fourth brother's concubine, Liu, was visiting her family when she collided with the carriage of my Imperial Household Department." He casually stroked the jade dragon pendant with his fingertips and said, "That Liu seems to be the half-sister of Zhao Yan's aunt?"

Wen Huaiqing's smile faded slightly, but his face still maintained a warm and gentle smile. He cupped his hands to the Crown Prince, "Your Majesty worries about the Ministry of Revenue's deficit every day, yet you still care so much about my private affairs. This makes me feel uneasy." His gaze swept over the jade dragon pendant, "I have also heard that the Crown Princess recently added another three thousand taels to the Daxiangguo Temple for lamp oil?"

“Indeed, after all, the position of crown prince,” Wen Huaiqing said with an unchanged smile, “is most worrisome because there is no successor.”

The words were loaded with barbs, directly implying that the crown prince had no sons.

Suddenly, the head of the Eastern Palace came out from around the corner, bowed, and reported: "Your Highness, the Crown Princess has prepared a new Snow Top Jade Green Tea, using the Wuyi Rock Tea that the Commandant sent earlier."

Wen Huaizhang ignored him and turned to Jiang Jin'an, inviting him gently, "Jin'an, would you like to come to the East Palace for a visit? Try the Crown Princess's cooking."

Jiang Jin'an nodded slightly, which was taken as agreement.

The two walked side by side toward the East Palace, leaving Wen Huaiqing alone in the same spot.

The bamboo curtains in the side hall of the East Palace filtered out the summer heat, and the Crown Princess personally pushed over a Yue kiln secret-color porcelain cup.

Jiang Jin'an took the teacup and nodded slightly to the Crown Princess, "Thank you for speaking up for me at the wedding banquet that day, Your Highness."

The Crown Princess covered her mouth and chuckled, the tassels of the gold phoenix hairpin at her temple swaying gently: "It cannot compare to Madam Jiang's bearing in court."

She paused, then continued, "Speaking of which, the newly appointed head of the Performance Evaluation Department of the Cheng family was infuriated by the young master of the Xie family today, who insisted on replacing his waist badge with some gold-inlaid jade one."

Wen Huaizhang picked up the conversation, his tone tinged with interest, "Isn't that right? I heard that the Xie family's third branch sent twelve carts of grain to Youzhou last month. On the fifteenth, a torrential rain destroyed the official road, yet their caravan was still able to travel a hundred li a day."

The Crown Princess pushed a small celadon dish onto the table, the candied plums gleaming with an amber luster. "The Xie family really has a long reach."

The sound of the copper kettle dripping was particularly clear in the quiet side hall. The Crown Princess tactfully withdrew, and as she rose, her apricot-colored skirt brushed against the blue bricks, leaving a faint scent of tonka bean fragrance that vanished in an instant.

Wen Huaizhang looked at Jiang Jin'an and sighed softly: "Jin'an, as you can see, Father Emperor is becoming increasingly senile. Today's decree is to burn down the century-old foundation of the Duke of Dingguo's mansion to be buried with the Prince of Jing's mansion."

Jiang Jin'an gazed at the darkening light outside the bamboo curtain, his eyes unfathomable. "The memorial from the joint trial by the three judicial departments should have arrived at the Ministry of Justice by now."

Wen Huaizhang paused for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing: "The Commandery has now become the dog of the Ministry of Justice."

Jiang Jin'an poured the remaining tea from his teacup into the incense burner beside him, and a puff of white steam rose with a hiss. "It's getting late, I should go pick up my wife."

……

When Jiang Jin'an arrived at Shanyuan Temple at top speed, dusk was falling and the mountain breeze carried a chill.

Shen Jingshu remained kneeling on the bluestone slab in front of the meditation room, tightly clutching the broken silver hairpin and a piece of red rope in her hands.

"The imperial decree has been issued." He raised his hand to brush away the fallen flowers from her hair, and the gold-embroidered python-patterned cuff brushed against her slightly pale cheek. "The matter of Prince Jing taking a concubine is hereby cancelled."

Shen Jingshu suddenly grabbed the jade belt at his waist, "Then Sister Wenyin..."

Before she could finish speaking, a "snap" suddenly came from inside the meditation room—the crisp sound of a wooden fish being struck incorrectly.

Jiang Jin'an grasped her trembling wrist and pulled her into his arms. The sandalwood scent mixed with the ambergris on his clothes calmed her anxious mind slightly. "His Majesty bestows upon Gu Er one hundred taels of gold."

He looked down at the wide eyes of the person in his arms, "The Censorate should impeach the Duke of Dingguo for failing to properly educate his son tomorrow."

"Praise to death?" Shen Jingshu's fingertips dug into his arm, then she suddenly released her grip and took a half-step back. "Gu Changyi is still vomiting blood in the mansion, and they even..."

Are all the people in this palace black-hearted?

"Madam," Jiang Jin'an suddenly raised his voice, interrupting her, "His Majesty said that Gu Er is deeply affectionate and righteous—"

Shen Jingshu understood something, turned around, and kicked the door with astonishing force, making a loud "bang." "Sister, did you hear that? Gu Changyi's reputation will be ruined from now on. If you don't come out..."

"Madam, please be careful what you say." Jiang Jin'an suddenly covered her mouth. "The people from the Censorate are copying down the list of worshippers outside the mountain gate."

Shen Jingshu was about to ask another question when Jiang Jin'an grabbed her waist and lifted her onto the courtyard wall. She instinctively tightened her grip on his clothes.

In the crimson twilight, his deep, slightly amused voice rang in her ear: "Madam, did you see it? The peonies of the Duke of Dingguo's mansion truly bloom only when stained with blood."