Shocking! The actress was dragged to the regent's bedchamber every night.

Su Wuli didn't raise her head, a strange sense of unease rising in her heart.

All that could be heard was Yu Chen's soft sigh.

He raised his large hand and placed it on the back of her head, saying in a deep voice, "You have to go."

Upon hearing this, Su Wuli lifted her head from his chest.

Meeting his helpless eyes, her lips trembled slightly, she said, "You knew perfectly well that coming back would... You said before that you would change everything, that you would make Xiao Junyi, the male lead, lose all meaning, so why are you doing this now—"

"I will not actually go to the battlefield. The commander-in-chief will deploy troops without charging," Yu Chen interrupted her.

"That won't work either." Her voice was urgent. "If you come back... those people won't let you go..."

She couldn't continue.

Yu Chen reached out and gently rubbed the corner of her reddened eye, her eyelashes trembling slightly under his fingertips.

The warmth of her palm touched the side of her face. Su Wuli thought for a moment and then suddenly said, "Let Xiao Junyi go."

Her eyes lit up as if she had found hope. "He is a general, and he is currently imprisoned in his mansion, unlike in the original story where he was not in the capital. You should send him there."

Yu Chen's gaze lingered on her face for a moment.

He moved his hand away from the corner of her eye and let it hang at his side.

Su Wuli slowly loosened her grip on his belt and let her fingers fall to rest on the back of his hand.

She looked down at their hands, which were touching.

He took her hand and rubbed his thumb against the back of her hand.

Su Wuli pulled her hand away from his. "You promised, you said you would change."

Yu Chen's eyes darkened slightly as he looked at Su Wuli's stubborn yet fearful expression.

a few days ago.

Yu Chen came out of the palace; the sky was overcast.

The stone lions outside the palace gate were covered with a layer of dust from the wind.

The Shadow Falcon followed behind.

As he descended the steps and was about to board the carriage, he unexpectedly caught a glimpse of several figures out of the corner of his eye.

The group of people stood under the eaves on the side of the palace gate, holding ceremonial tablets and talking in hushed tones.

One of them turned his head and met Yu Chen's gaze, then quickly put on a smile and bowed.

Gu Mingyuan.

Gu Mingyuan, the one he personally wrote into the list, publicly read out the charges, and had people dragged out of the main hall and thrown into prison to await execution.

The other person stood under the eaves, dressed in neat court attire.

His face wore a perfectly appropriate respectful smile.

The ones next to them are the same.

These were all ministers who had been imprisoned in the main hall last time.

Now they stand under the eaves outside the palace gate, waiting as usual to enter the palace for a meeting.

Yu Chen's gaze swept across Gu Mingyuan's face, past that smiling face, and landed on the screen wall behind him.

The blue bricks and gray tiles were just as they had been every time he stepped out of the palace gates.

Yu Chen's face remained expressionless, and no one could discern the turmoil raging within him.

The wave surged up from his chest and crashed into his throat, but he swallowed it.

No one dared to play tricks under his nose, much less openly release people like this.

And he had a completely nonchalant expression on his face.

Yu Chen nodded slightly in response to Gu Mingyuan's greeting, then turned and got into the carriage.

The curtains were drawn, and the carriage became dark.

He leaned against the side of the carriage, listening to the sound of the wheels rolling over the stone slabs.

"Gu Mingyuan," Yu Chen spoke, his voice flat, "You saw him?"

The shadow falcon outside didn't answer immediately, seemingly lost in thought.

"Your Highness is referring to Lord Gu? I just saw him; he seemed to be waiting for his turn to enter the palace."

Yu Chen didn't ask any more questions.

He turned his head to look at the light filtering through the gaps in the curtains.

He recalled that day in the main hall, the names being read out one by one, like nails driven into a wooden board that could not be pulled out.

However, now that the nails have been removed, there isn't even a hole in the wooden board.

The carriage turned a corner, and his body swayed as he was pulled out of those memories.

He lifted the curtain and looked out at the street scene flashing by.

People walked by carrying loads on their shoulders, children chased after kites, and vendors selling candied hawthorns called out at the alley entrance.

Everything is normal.

He leaned against the car wall and closed his eyes.

The carriage turned into the mansion gate and stopped.

Yu Chen lifted the curtain and stepped down onto the footboard.

He walked through the corridor faster than usual, and Shadow Falcon followed closely behind.

"Xiao Junyi." Yu Chen didn't turn around. "Where is he now?"

Shadow Falcon paused for a moment, then quickly caught up.

"Xiao Junyi is not in the capital." He paused. "My subordinates have sent people to inquire, and news should come back in a few days."

Yu Chen did not stop walking.

Xiao Junyi is not in Beijing.

Yu Chen slowed his pace. He had ordered himself to be locked in the room next to the woodshed in the backyard of the Prince's mansion.

After returning from the hot spring resort, Kagefalcon reported that his injuries had healed.

He was there then, but he's not here now.

There was nothing unusual about Shadow Falcon's words just now.

Yu Chen stopped. "When did this happen?"

Yingjun thought for a moment, "Xiao Junyi has been away from the capital for several days. He said it was a decree personally issued by the Emperor, ordering him to set off immediately without delay."

Yu Chen turned around and looked at Ying Falcon.

Shadow Falcon lowered his eyes, his face expressionless.

Yu Chen turned around and continued walking forward without asking any more questions.

Guan Xiaojunyi's place is in the backyard, in the room next to the woodshed.

Yu Chen pushed open the door.

There were no medicine bowls in the room, no smell of medicine in the air, and no human presence.

It's a house that no one lives in.

There was a thin layer of dust on the windowsill.

Yu Chen rubbed his fingertip, leaving a faint grayish-white residue.

No one has ever lived here.

Yu Chen turned around and looked towards the door.

Shadow Falcon stood there, his eyes showing neither doubt nor curiosity, simply waiting for him to leave.

Yu Chen's eyes darkened slightly as he walked past him and exited through the door.

Yu Chen's pace slowed down more and more.

Only he remembers.

Whether it was cleaning the main hall or Xiao Junyi being imprisoned in the Prince's Mansion.

He was the only one who remembered.

He even doubted that he had remembered it wrong, or that these things had never happened at all.

He had a moment of doubt, but he also knew clearly that...

It's impossible that it never existed.

Yu Chen stopped at the door of the study and paused for a moment before pushing it open.

Shadow Falcon stood behind him without saying a word.

He pushed open the door and sat down behind the desk, looking up at the Shadow Falcon standing in front of him.

He placed his fingers on the edge of the table and tapped it lightly.

She spoke softly, "Has the matter in the north been investigated?"

Shadow Falcon lowered his eyes and nodded.

"Urgent report has arrived from the north: enemy troops have amassed at the border, and the border commander has sent three urgent requests for reinforcements, saying that he cannot hold out for more than a month."

Yu Chen's fingers stopped on the edge of the table.

There was no mention of rumors, internal strife in the royal court, or the division of forces between the left and right generals.

The scheme he set up.

They sent people to infiltrate the royal court, bribe the attendants, spread rumors, and sow discord between the king and his ministers.

Shadow Falcon didn't mention a word about those things.