After being jilted, the entire neighboring village was filled with deep regret.

Chapter 495 Confiscating the house
Cen Li roared in a deep voice, "Enough! What's the point of saying all this now? Let's go! Let's get out of here first."

Since it's a raid, everything in the Cen family mansion is no longer their concern. There are soldiers guarding the outside, and they won't be allowed to take away a single item from the Cen family mansion.

"Leave? We've lost everything. How are we supposed to survive if we leave here?" Cen Li's wife, Luo, secretly wiped away her tears, her eyes filled with despair.

Cen Li was furious. "The Cen residence has already been ransacked. Do you want to be arrested and locked up if you don't leave?"

Helpless, everyone could only leave the Cen residence with Cen Li, weeping and wailing.

The soldiers outside were somewhat humane; they only removed the jewelry and purses from the women, but did not strip them of their clothes.

As the Cen family walked down the street, facing the pointing and whispering of passersby, Old Madam Cen was so desperate that she considered hanging herself.

Led by Cen Li, the group arrived at a villa in the west of the city.

Luo asked suspiciously, "What's the deal with this house? How come I didn't know there was such a place in the mansion?"

Cen Li glared at Luo Shi warningly, then helped the old lady inside. "Mother, this courtyard is where my eldest brother receives guests. It's not under the name of our Cen family, so we're not afraid of being kicked out. Everything we need is here. Please stay here for now, and I'll go find out what happened."

The emperor's act of confiscating property during the Lunar New Year clearly indicates his extreme anger; he was determined to prevent the holiday from being celebrated.

Madam Cen nodded repeatedly, wiping away tears. "Your elder brother led troops into battle and defended the territory of Langya Kingdom. Even if he didn't achieve great merit, he certainly deserves credit for his hard work! The Emperor already demoted him for the Mingzhu incident. Wasn't that enough? Why is his family being raided now? This is clearly a betrayal of a loyal minister!"

Cen Li was startled and quickly covered the mouth of Old Madam Cen. "Mother, you can't say such things! Thunder and rain are all imperial favors. If the emperor wants a subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die! Besides, the emperor is not a foolish ruler. I suspect that the emperor has found out about some things that my elder brother did."

Madam Cen was displeased and scolded him with a stern face: "Your elder brother is innocent and has done nothing wrong. It's one thing for others to misunderstand him, but how can you, his own brother, act like an outsider?"

Unable to reason with Old Madam Cen, Cen Li quickly gave Luo a meaningful look.

The Luo sisters-in-law stepped forward and said some nice things, which finally diverted Old Madam Cen's attention.

Cen Li wiped his forehead and walked out, feeling exhausted.

Seeing that her sister-in-law had not yet recovered, Luo had no choice but to take the maid and servants to check the other courtyard first.

This villa wasn't particularly large or small, with three courtyards, but it was still smaller than the Cen family mansion. However, for them now, this villa was already excellent, and they could squeeze in and barely have enough room.

After consulting with Madam Cen and arranging everyone's accommodations, Madam Luo hurriedly returned. As soon as she entered the courtyard, she quickly bolted the gate, ordered the servants to keep watch, and then rushed to the main courtyard.

Luo was flustered by his series of actions. "Have you found out any information?"

Cen Li's throat bobbed, and he staggered down, leaning on the chair for support, trembling slightly from the cold and fear.

"Mingzhu. Mingzhu's affair has been exposed! The Emperor knows that Murong Ru is not Mingxue's child. Not only has the eldest brother been arrested, but the second prince has also been imprisoned by the Emperor."

Madam Cen and the others felt as if the sky had fallen, and they were at a loss.

Luo covered her mouth, feeling a chill run through her body. "Husband, what do we do? Even if Mingzhu's affair is exposed, Ru'er is indeed the Second Prince's daughter. Why did the Emperor expose her? Besides, even if the Emperor did expose her, Mingzhu is already dead. There's no way to verify the truth. Why confiscate our property?" "What do you know!" Cen Li frowned, his face full of worry. "The Emperor's focus isn't on Mingzhu and the child, but on the fact that emperors are most wary of their ministers forming factions and keeping secrets. My elder brother chose to sacrifice his own daughter to protect the Second Prince. In the Emperor's eyes, that means my elder brother is already in cahoots with the Second Prince. What emperor can tolerate that?"
"Mingzhu and the child are just a pretext to punish my elder brother and our Cen family! If my elder brother had revealed the truth in the main hall, or confessed to the Emperor privately afterward, saying that he had to do it to maintain the royal family's reputation, the Emperor wouldn't have treated our Cen family this way!"

Luo slumped down, muttering absentmindedly, "But if we do that, the Cen family will be on the opposite side of the Second Prince. My elder brother has already chosen the Second Prince, so how could he possibly do that?"

Therefore, the fate of everyone in the Cen family who is where they are today is predetermined!

Cen Li slammed his fist on the table in regret. "If only we had followed the example of the Marquis of Yong'an. Even if it was easy to offend people, at least we could have remained wealthy and powerful while the Emperor was on the throne! Now everything is over! There is no way to change my elder brother's situation. The Cen family can no longer stay in the capital. Mother, sister-in-law, I want to take everyone away tomorrow."

"Go? Go where?" Old Madam Cen's voice trembled as she spoke.

She's practically half-buried, and she's never thought of leaving the capital since she came here. Letting her go now would be worse than letting her die in this house.

Cen Li advised, "Go to the border! There are still properties that my elder brother has acquired there. To avoid suspicion, those properties were not registered under my elder brother's name, but under the name of his mistress. Those properties are enough for our Cen family to live a peaceful life."

"If we stay in the capital, and the Emperor's anger hasn't subsided, and he remembers us, wouldn't we be finished?"

All the women burst into tears.

In contrast to the downfall of the Cen family, other official families in the capital remained peaceful.

As evening fell, the palace banquet began.

When Murong Chen and his brothers entered the main hall, they found that no one from the Second Prince's residence had come. They immediately huddled together and inquired about each other's whereabouts.

"Third brother, what did the second prince do? How did he anger Father so much? He even confiscated the Cen family's property!" The fourth prince couldn't hide his excitement, but he still had to force himself to appear concerned about the second prince.

The Third Prince shook his head in frustration, "You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?"

The two brothers both turned their gazes toward the sixth prince, who was standing aside.

"Sixth brother! My dear brother, do you know about the second brother's situation?"

Murong Chen put down his chopsticks, looked up, and innocently stared at the two of them with his clear, somewhat naive eyes. "What do you mean by 'Third Imperial Brother' and 'Fourth Imperial Brother'?"

"There are only a few of us brothers here, and you're still pretending to be stupid! We're asking you, Second Brother, what happened? Why was the Cen family raided?" The Fourth Prince was getting impatient.

Murong Chen laughed and said, "Fourth brother, Father didn't say anything, how would I know? Maybe second brother is with Father and Mother? Let's see later! As for the Cen family, to be honest, I don't know much about them. I'll ask Father for you later."

Fourth Prince: "."

"Forget it! We're talking past each other. You should just keep eating!" The Third Prince was a little tired.

Since Murong Chen always acted this way in front of them, the two didn't say anything and continued to huddle together and whisper.

The Fourth Prince's wife asked, "Sixth Brother, where are Consort Shen and the child? Why aren't they here?"