I became the tyrant's only belief.

Chapter 481 Prince Cheng Enters the Capital
The Empress Dowager's lips curled downwards, and before she could speak, Consort Xie suddenly pointed at Chu Liuzheng and said, "The outsider is naturally her. Cousin, you've been bewitched by her; you don't know how vicious she is, she..."

"Shut up!" Xiao Jingfan gripped Chu Liuzheng's hand tightly, staring at her coldly. "If you utter another word, I will cut out your tongue."

Xie Jieyu was startled. The disgust in the emperor's eyes made her feel as if she were in a freezing cold. She opened her mouth but dared not utter a word.

She didn't want to lose her tongue.

"My son," the Empress Dowager called out with a stern face and displeasure.

"If Your Majesty has nothing else to say, please return to the palace. I will go to Wanshou Palace with Lady Chu to pay my respects another day." Xiao Jingfan did not give the Empress Dowager a chance to continue speaking and ordered, "Zhou Yuande, escort Your Majesty back to the palace."

"Yes, sir." Zhou Yuande accepted the order and bowed to invite the Empress Dowager out.

"My son, do not forget that if it weren't for the Xie family, who would be sitting on the throne now?" The Empress Dowager said this, then turned and left with a sullen face.

"Aunt." Xie Jieyu lifted her skirt and chased after her, but was stopped at the door.

Xiao Jingfan said coldly, "Consort Xie, serving in the palace, should have been mindful of her conduct and instructed her servants. However, she neglected her duties, allowing her servants to behave in an unruly manner, thus disgracing the palace rules. Therefore, she is stripped of her title of Consort, demoted to the rank of Concubine, and moved to Lanju Pavilion to reflect on her mistakes in seclusion."

Consort Xie... no, Consort Xie was taken away.

Xiao Anzi stepped forward and asked, "Your Majesty, what should be done with Liuli?"

Xiao Jingfan looked at Chu Liuzheng, "How do you intend to deal with this?"

The culprit escaped, leaving behind an accomplice; what a point.

She is indeed unharmed now, but that doesn't mean Xie Jieyu didn't want to kill her. If it weren't for that kick from the bodyguard, she would have lost her life to Xiao Xuanzi.

"You may decide." Chu Liuzheng curtsied. "I'll return to the Hall of Mental Cultivation now. Please have your own dinner."

Before the emperor could speak, she turned and left, her pale yellow skirt sliding across the threshold, leaving a damp stain.

Chenxing and Siyue hurriedly followed.

The emperor, who tried to curry favor but was instead met with a cold shoulder: "..."

Xiao Anzi silently held his breath, calling out in his heart: Master, please come back soon, His Majesty is so scary right now!
*
From that day on, there were suddenly many voices in the court impeaching the emperor for favoring only one person, with officials from the Xie faction being the most active in submitting memorials.

Xiao Jingfan ignored them all, but when he got really annoyed, he issued an edict to demote a few of the most vocal ones, and the court became much quieter for a while.

As the first snowflake fell, the carriage carrying Prince Cheng to the capital slowly entered the city.

Chu Liuzheng's breath turned into white mist as he walked on the frozen Moon Pool in ice boots, learning to skate with the help of Chen Xing and Si Yue.

"Slow down, slow down." Chu Liuzheng gripped their hands tightly, afraid that they would fall on their bottoms on the ice.

Seeing her tense and nervous, Chen Xing deliberately tried to distract her by saying, "Sister, have you ever heard that after His Highness Prince Cheng went mad, he called everyone 'beauty'?"

"I've heard about it," Chu Liuzheng said while controlling himself to slide forward. "Yesterday, the person that Eunuch Zhou went to pick up was called 'beauty' by Prince Cheng all the way. Eunuch Zhou's face turned green."

Chen Xing chuckled, "No wonder His Majesty refused to summon him and ordered him to be sent directly to the Imperial Hospital."

If Prince Cheng were to address the emperor as "beauty," the emperor would probably want to have him beheaded on the spot.

“Princess Cheng came along. I saw her yesterday; she was as thin as a skeleton,” Siyue said. “His Majesty did see her.” [Of course he did. The tyrant's men couldn't find the blank imperial edict. Now that Prince Cheng is insane, Princess Cheng is the most likely person to know. Even if the tyrant is busy, he has to find time to see her.]

On another note, Princess Cheng was quite decisive. Knowing that Prince Cheng couldn't be cured and that the tyrant had sent troops to take over his fiefdom, she resolutely burned the blank imperial edict, as if it had never existed, extinguishing any hope for the future.

Although Prince Cheng has been secretly causing trouble, at least he hasn't brought it into the open. Now it depends on whether the tyrant still cares about blood ties; otherwise, the people of Prince Cheng's mansion will probably suffer the same fate as Prince Li's mansion.

Chu Liuzheng suddenly remembered that the forged imperial edict in Yin Lanci's hands had not been found either.

Logically, the imperial edict was most likely hidden on Thousand-Foot Cliff. Since Thousand-Foot Cliff was burned, the edict should have been completely destroyed, right? The tyrant even sent people to search for it in the ruins.

Just in case, Chu Liuzheng checked the system.

[The imperial edict, the imperial edict, the imperial edict... How amusing! The imperial edict is actually in Pingxuan's hands. Is that guy still alive?]

Chu Liuzheng was shocked. In his distraction, he forgot about the tension of falling and his footwork became surprisingly natural.

Chenxing and Siyue exchanged a glance, and slowly loosened their grip.

Chu Liuzheng was completely unaware, scrolling forward while flipping through the system.

[Well, I thought Pingxuan was a really good older brother. Turns out he took Pingyu away so Pingyu would take the damage for him. Now both brothers are low on health and are recuperating in Xixia.]

[The Flower Butterfly believed the imperial edict in Pingxuan's possession was genuine and wanted to obtain it from him, but due to Pingxuan's methods, she dared not act forcefully... Tsk tsk tsk, you Flower Butterfly, you really harbor evil intentions, ready to turn against the tyrant at any moment, huh?]

Fortunately, the tyrant has never trusted you easily; he's always been on guard!

Chu Liuzheng closed the system and pondered sending another letter to Jiang Yao.

With Yin Lanci dead, Ping Xuan is now just an ordinary person who knows how to raise Gu poison, maybe a little good-looking. Lord Jiang can deal with him easily. I can also ask about Feng Jing and Tang Ge'er's situation while I'm at it.

Having made up her mind, she tried to take off her skates, but when she turned her head, she found that the left side was empty, and when she turned her head again, the right side was empty.

Wait a minute! When did she start skating on her own?
"Ah!!" Chu Liuzheng, regaining his composure, lost his footing and lunged at the ice like a vicious dog scrambling for food.

Seeing this, Chenxing and Siyue, who were standing not far away, jumped up, one of them grabbing Chu Liuzheng's shoulder and lifting him to the ground.

Chu Liuzheng looked at his ice skates, still shaken.

[That was close! I almost landed face-first. If I'd fallen and gotten a bruised and battered face, how would I ever show my face in public?]

Siyue helped her sit down, took off her ice skates, and carefully examined her feet. She was relieved to find no bone injury.

"It's alright." Chu Liuzheng twisted his ankles and glanced at the ice not far away. "Let's stop here for today and come back tomorrow."

*
Back in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Chu Liuzheng, feeling chilled to the bone, drank a bowl of ginger soup. Once his fingers warmed up, he began writing a letter.

Chen Xing ground the ink beside her, and once she finished writing, she would send it out.

When Xiao Jingfan returned, Chu Liuzheng was wrapped in a cashmere blanket watching the palace servants make warm shoes. Seeing the emperor arrive, she waved for the palace servants to leave and instructed Siyue, "Bring His Majesty a cup of ginger tea."

Warming himself up by the brazier, Xiao Jingfan took a cup of ginger tea, drank half of it, and sat down on the couch. He then pulled the person wrapped in a blanket over him and asked, "Did you send a letter to Yuecheng?"

(End of this chapter)