"Your Ladyship, the rumors outside are getting out of hand. Don't we need to do something?"
"No need. His Majesty is already swamped with affairs. We mustn't bother him with such trifles. They're just rumors. There's no need to take them to heart."
Hearing the voices inside, Di Yunjian, who was standing outside, felt his heart melting.
He stepped inside. "I already know about it."
Hearing the voice, Yan Qingshu inside the hall quickly turned around. Seeing him standing at the door, she fluttered towards him like a butterfly.
"Liu Lang!"
Di Yunjian reached out and hugged her. "I've heard about the palace rumors. That's why I'm taking you out of the palace tonight."
Hearing this, Yan Qingshu nodded.
She had already started to think. Judging from His Majesty's words, if her guess was right, they were probably going to the prison in the capital tonight to finally settle things between her mother, herself, and the Marquis of Zhenyuan.
"Liu Lang, you're already so busy. You don't need to worry about my affairs."
"Your affairs could never be a bother." Di Yunjian gently brushed the hair from her temple.
"Why did you go to the Cold Palace today?"
Yan Qingshu's heart skipped a beat. She felt a twinge of panic. She had been careless. This time, when she went to the Cold Palace to see Yan Lanxin off, she feared her image in His Majesty's eyes would change.
"I just..." She was at a loss as to how to explain.
"No need to explain. I granted her the privilege of suicide so that you could go to the Cold Palace to avenge yourself.
"You've suffered so much in the past. I feel heartache for you. So, no matter how much I wanted to end her, I left the chance to you. You'll feel better if you avenge yourself."
Yan Qingshu was stunned. Looking up at him, she saw him pick up a handkerchief and wipe her fingers one by one.
"I don't want your hands to get dirty, but this revenge is best taken by yourself."
"Liu Lang... Don't you think I'm..."
Di Yunjian shook his head. "You kill, and I provide the knife. Aren't we a perfect match?"
"You touched that woman. Wipe your fingers properly."
Yan Qingshu nodded gently. It was hard not to be shocked.
She had never expected that the emperor, the most powerful man in the world, would say such things.
"Liu Lang..." Yan Qingshu opened her arms and hugged him.
Tears slowly slipped down her face and soaked into his robe.
"Alright, don't cry. I'll take you out of the palace." Di Yunjian wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes and told Zhu Yao and Shihua to change her clothes.
He took Yan Qingshu out of the palace secretly and headed straight for the capital's Ministry of Justice prison.
The prison was lit by countless torches. Red-hot branding irons were on the charcoal fire, and the screams of the prisoners echoed through the air.
Afraid that she would be scared, Di Yunjian tightened his grip on her hand and walked in.
"Greetings to Your Majesty and Your Ladyship."
The Minister of the Ministry of Justice had been waiting for a long time.
"How much have they confessed?" Di Yunjian asked indifferently, casually picking up the booklet from the minister's hand and flipping through it.
"Your Majesty, some of these officials have confessed, but some are still stubbornly keeping their mouths shut." The minister said with a frown.
Seeing that the evidence on the booklet hadn't been signed, Di Yunjian sneered. "They've got tough mouths."
"Where is the criminal Yan Jinhua?" Di Yunjian asked.
The minister led them to the cell where Yan Jinhua was held.
Di Yunjian stood a few steps away from the cell and didn't show himself in front of Yan Jinhua.
The prison was gloomy and cold in winter. The cold wind howled outside, and the sparks in the charcoal basin burst from time to time, adding to the eerie atmosphere.
Yan Qingshu took a few steps forward and looked at Yan Jinhua and Chen Yunying in the cell. The servants of the Marquis of Zhenyuan's Mansion had been sold off and their properties confiscated. The other relatives of the large mansion were locked up in other cells.
Especially her nominal grandparents, who had been arrested and brought back from far away in Suzhou to be punished.
"Father, Mother." She said slowly.
The two people in the prison were in a sorry state, their hair in disarray. Hearing someone, they quickly looked up.
They were hoping to see Yan Lanxin, all decked out in jewels, who could save them. But it wasn't her.
It was the illegitimate daughter they had abused for years.
"Why is it you?" Yan Jinhua had aged a lot overnight. He coughed heavily a few times, as if he was going to cough up his lungs.
"Are you very disappointed to see me, Father?"
"Where's Lanxin!" Chen Yunying on the side suddenly grabbed the wooden door, her heart pounding.
"Her...," Yan Qingshu mused, putting her finger on her chin. "Why don't you guess?"
"What happened to Lanxin! What happened to her!" Chen Yunying roared, her eyes bloodshot as if she wanted to tear her apart.
Looking at Chen Yunying's collapsed state, Yan Qingshu couldn't help but recall the night before she entered the palace. Her mother had also hugged her and cried hysterically.
At that time, both she and her mother knew that entering the palace was like jumping from the fire pit of the marquis's mansion into the abyss of the imperial palace.
They were just waiting for death.
"She's dead." Yan Qingshu said coldly.
Chen Yunying was instantly stunned. Her eyes were full of hatred as she stared at her. "It's you! You killed my daughter! It's you!"
But Yan Jinhua on the side didn't seem sad. His eyes rolled, and he put on a sad face.
"Shu'er... Father is sorry for you. Father is so sorry!"
Saying that, he reached out to grab her sleeve.
Yan Qingshu dodged coldly and brushed the sleeve he had just touched.
"Sorry for me? Tell me, where are you sorry for me?" She asked curiously. Although she was smiling, there was no warmth in her eyes. Instead, there was more mockery and coldness.
"Father has ignored you all these years and made you suffer. Father is really sorry!" Yan Jinhua wiped his tears as if it was a big deal. His turbid eyes were red.
"So Father knows that I've been suffering all these years. Then why didn't you save me and Mother?"
"Sometimes I really wonder if I'm really your child, Father."
Yan Qingshu stared at him intently. Seeing a flash of guilt on his face after she finished speaking, she sneered inwardly.
Sure enough, he was just a disgusting bug!
Yan Jinhua stopped wiping his tears and cried again. "Of course you're my child... Now Father and your mother are in prison. Did you ask His Majesty to come and save us?"
"Is His Majesty here?"
He looked at the outside of the cell warily. Di Yunjian had already stood aside in a place where they couldn't see.
"His Majesty didn't come. I came to see you this time with His Majesty's permission." Yan Qingshu lowered her eyes and said.
"Child, Father ignored you before, but it won't happen again. You're in the emperor's good graces now. You're Father's own daughter. Please beg His Majesty to spare my life. Even if I become a commoner, it's fine."
Yan Jinhua was greedy for life and afraid of death. He was also extremely fond of money and often took risks for it.
Looking at his desperate attempt to survive, Yan Qingshu only felt it was ridiculous.
Before her death, Yan Lanxin had been constantly thinking about saving her parents. After hearing the news of her death, Chen Yunying was full of hatred.
But this so-called father in front of her didn't even mention his dead daughter.
Even when trying to save his own life, he never thought about his wife.
How heartless and cold could one be?
Yan Qingshu shook her head, feeling her heart turn cold.
In the past, she had envied Yan Lanxin for having her father's love. But she never thought that this love was only because Yan Lanxin could enter the palace in the future and help him in his official career.
As for herself, she was just the result of her father forcing her mother into the mansion and then sending her mother to the bed of the Prince of Anding for his own benefit.
How could he ever love her? He probably wanted to kill her as soon as he saw her.