Reborn to be without his father but with his son, the prince shouted, "I'm not dead!"

Chapter 159 Poisoned by the Emperor

The imperial concubine felt sorry for her son being humiliated in public by the emperor, and she couldn't bear to turn her head away from her son.

Shen Weixiao looked at his son's face that looked similar to his, and his tone softened a little, "Second brother, since you know you are wrong, do you know how to deal with Ji Yunchu?"

"I will take her as my concubine."

"Ok?"

In just one short word, Shen Yijun actually heard a bit of threat. He immediately broke out in a sweat and said quickly, "My son will marry her as a concubine."

Shen Weixiao's gloomy expression eased a lot, and his eyes were full of remembrance when he looked at Cao Lingru.

"Xiu Xu and I have been brothers for many years. Now that he is gone, I did not treat his widow well. I feel sorry for him, second brother! I want you to marry Ji Yunchu in a grand ceremony as your principal wife."

Chen Yijun was surprised that the emperor missed the Duke so much, and secretly regretted touching Ji Yunchu.

The imperial concubine was also surprised that the emperor still valued the Duke's Mansion. It seemed that she could not openly mess with Ji Yunchu in the future.

Seeing that the farce was over, Ji Anyu waited for the emperor and empress to leave, then she pulled Shen Jing and walked in front of Ji Yunchu.

"Miss Ji, congratulations, you have finally gotten what you wanted. I will definitely come to your house to drink at your wedding on your wedding day."

Ji Yunchu turned her head to look at the pair of eyes that seemed to see through her, and her heart trembled slightly, but she was in a good mood today and ignored the intuition that was a little abnormal.

Taking into account that someone was watching her, Ji Yunchu nodded and smiled, "Thank you." Then, enduring the pain in her back, she turned around and helped Cao Lingru out of the palace.

Cao Lingru didn't dare touch the wound on Ji Yunchu's back, her heart ached like a knife, "It's all my fault, I'm sorry for you. If I had known you would encounter such a thing, I should have asked someone to protect you. I didn't expect the Second Prince to ignore the Duke's Mansion and bully you."

"Mom, it's all over. I can say it was a blessing in disguise." Ji Yunchu's eyes were full of smiles, and she didn't feel like she had lost face.

Cao Lingru was shocked. She saw that Ji Yunchu did not look like being forced by the Second Prince. Suddenly, she felt that the smile on Ji Yunchu's face was dazzling. She suppressed her discomfort and held Ji Yunchu's hand.

"Yunchu, this has been seen by many people, and I can't ask the Second Prince to marry you as his principal wife. We can only compromise and let you be his concubine."

If the Duke were still alive, her daughter would definitely not be a concubine, but would be the principal wife.

Ji Yunchu subconsciously pulled her hand away. "The Emperor has made the decision for my daughter. The Second Prince has agreed to marry my daughter as a concubine. My daughter is already satisfied and does not feel wronged."

Cao Lingru lowered her eyes and looked at her hands in a daze. She felt an indescribable blockage and panic in her heart. Her daughter seemed different from before.

When Ji Yunchu saw this, her heart skipped a beat and she quickly held Cao Lingru's hand. She was still counting on Cao Lingru to give her a dowry.

"Mother, don't think too much. Given my embarrassing status now, it is a great blessing for me to marry into the royal family. If the emperor hadn't arrived in time, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to leave the palace and might even die under the stick."

Cao Lingru was frightened again, "Don't mention death, it's not good, cough cough cough..." Cao Lingru vomited blood again, and his vision gradually blurred.

"Madam!" Yuan Niang quickly hugged Cao Lingru tightly, "Miss, let's go back to the Duke's Mansion as soon as possible."

Ji Yunchu looked down at the still warm blood on the ground. Her plan had worked. Cao Lingru would not live to see tomorrow. The dowry...

The next second, Ji Yunchu immediately asked someone to carry Cao Lingru back to the Duke's Mansion and asked the doctor to wake Cao Lingru up. "Mother, mother...you still have to watch me get married. For me, you must persevere." Ji Yunchu cried and asked someone to call the elders to come to the Duke's Mansion.

As soon as Cao Lingru opened her eyes, she saw the people surrounding the bed through the bed curtains. Suddenly she remembered something and her eyes turned cold.

"The Emperor has agreed that the Second Prince can marry Yunchu as a concubine and treat her as a principal wife. The Duke's Mansion must help Yunchu."

"Madam Guogong wants to hand over the Duke's Mansion to Ji Yunchu? But she is no longer a member of our Duke's Mansion, and her name has been crossed out from the family tree."

Cao Lingru glanced at Ji Yunchu who was silently wiping her tears with a handkerchief, and her attitude suddenly became tough.

"Find an excuse to add Yunchu's name to the family tree in five years. Yunchu will still be a member of the Duke's Mansion. If you insist on adding it now, Yunchu will have to observe mourning for three years. No one can predict what will happen in three years. If the Second Prince doesn't want to marry Yunchu by then, what will you do?"

The elder hesitated, "But the Duke's Mansion is originally the Prince's party. If Ji Yunchu marries the Second Prince, then won't our Duke's Mansion side with the Second Prince? Will the Prince have any grudges in his heart?"

Cao Lingru sighed helplessly, "Now that things have come to this, I will apologize to the Duke when I see him. Although the Crown Prince is the heir to the throne, who can predict what will happen in the future? The Second Prince's faction is becoming increasingly powerful, and I think you are aware of this."

The elders were speechless. What the Duke's wife said made sense. In the future, when the second prince ascended the throne and Ji Yunchu gave birth to another prince, the Duke's Mansion would have no worries about making a comeback.

Seeing that the elders' expressions had relaxed, Cao Lingru signaled Yuan Niang to take out the box containing the Duke's Mansion's property.

"Half of the Duke's Mansion's property will be given to Yunchu as a dowry, and the rest will be handled by the clan elders."

Seeing that the elders were still about to object, Cao Lingru said coldly, "The second prince that Yunchu is marrying is the son of the Imperial Concubine, and the Imperial Concubine's family is the Wei family. If you want to take Yunchu's dowry, you are insulting the Imperial Concubine and the second prince! Think about it for yourselves."

The elders of the clan did not dare to say anything, fearing that Cao Lingru wanted to add more dowry to Ji Yunchu, so they took half of the family property and left quickly.

Ji Yunchu smiled unconcealedly and raised her hand to touch the box she had been longing for. Inside were the deeds to the shop and the keys to the warehouse. It was a pity that she had not received the dowry from Ji Anyu before.

"Yunchu, these dowries are enough for you to live on. In the future, your mother cannot accompany you. You must be careful when dealing with the imperial concubine. If one day you are in trouble, you can ask the emperor for help. The emperor has been good friends with your father since childhood, and he will help you because of your father."

Cao Lingru took off the pendant hanging around her neck and said, "This is the most important thing your father has. Take it and ask the emperor for help."

Ji Yunchu took the pendant with a sneer in her eyes. What is the use of this thing?

The Duke was killed by the Emperor. If you take it to see the Emperor, it would be strange if he doesn't kill her.

Looking at the trust revealed on Cao Lingru's face when she talked about the emperor, Ji Yunchu recalled the love Cao Lingru had for her when she was young. To be honest, Cao Lingru was really good to her, but she could not afford to take the risk when it came to interests.

All of this was ultimately because of Ji Anyu. If Ji Anyu hadn't returned to the Duke's Mansion, she wouldn't have been so worried about gains and losses, afraid of losing everything, and she wouldn't have embarked on a path of no return and never been able to look back.

Ji Yunchu asked all the maids serving in the room to leave. She sat beside Cao Lingru, tucked the quilt for Cao Lingru, slowly opened her red lips, and lightly spoke out the truth that made her feel so painful that she wanted to die.

"Mother, since you love me, I will tell you how the Duke died. He didn't die of illness, but was poisoned by the Emperor."

Cao Lingru's pupils trembled violently, and she looked at Ji Yunchu in disbelief, who had a calm face in front of her.

(End of this chapter)