Do you know: I should be fat and you should be thin!

The Prince of Yan paced back and forth in the Funing Palace, pondering how to resolve the issue of Zhou Ning's return.

Soon, Sheng Hong and nearly thirty other officials were brought into the palace. There were originally more, but some were too stubborn and refused to come, and they were killed!

The highest-ranking official among them was Lord Bao, a scholar of the Longtu Pavilion (a third-rank official)!

Seeing Sheng Hong hiding in the crowd with his head down, not daring to look up at all, Sheng Changbai sighed inwardly.

"Listen to my command! Take officials of the rank of scarlet robe and above to the entrance and have them sit in two rows. Send a small team, one person at a time, to watch them. Hold your knives to their necks! If that brat dares to force his way in, kill them on the spot!" the Prince of Yan ordered.

He decided that no matter how powerful Zhou Ning was, since he had chosen the imperial examination path and liked being an official, he would gamble that Zhou Ning wouldn't dare to kill two high-ranking officials in purple robes and more than a dozen in scarlet robes at once!

All the high-ranking officials, including Sheng Hong, were taken away, leaving only a dozen or so minor officials in green robes.

"You! You! They are all scholar-officials!" The old emperor was furious.

"You still have time to care about their lives? Have you thought it through? Will you write the edict or not? Do you believe I'll kill you?" the Prince of Yan asked.

The old emperor pushed aside Sheng Changbai and the empress who were blocking his way, walked towards him, and said, "It is easy for me to die, but without this edict of investiture, your rule is illegitimate! The descendants of the Zhao family can all overthrow you. Let's see how long your empire can last!" As he spoke, he suddenly slapped the Prince of Yan hard across the face!

The Prince of Yan was knocked off balance and flew into a rage, drawing his sword.

His guards quickly stopped him and urged him to calm down, explaining that they didn't have many men and had only gained the upper hand; they still needed an imperial edict!

The opportunity to serve the emperor was within their grasp, and they were even more anxious than the Prince of Yan. However, they needed a legitimate reason for their actions, otherwise they would truly be considered rebels!

Empress Cao and Sheng Changbai also rushed forward to protect the old emperor as he retreated!

The Prince of Yan has gone mad!

At this moment, Consort Rong arrived with twenty-six military officers' families. When they saw that the people outside the door were all officials of the fifth rank or above, with knives at their necks, even the Duchess of Yingguo was frightened by this display.

"What's wrong? Why are you in such a hurry to have me bring them here?" Consort Rong asked as she entered the palace.

"You vile women! You're all in cahoots!" The old emperor picked up a writing brush and threw it at Consort Rong!

Consort Rong neither dodged nor avoided the blow, her writing brush falling askew as she said, "I had no choice. Who told you to want to install Prince Yong as heir? He's long been an enemy of the Rong family. He's not even the crown prince yet, and he dares to have my sister's innocence ruined. If he really ascends the throne, will he still respect me? Will the Rong family even have a chance to survive?"

The Prince of Yan said, "To make a long story short, something unexpected happened. A man and a woman escaped, taking the Blood Edict and Military Seal with them! The man was the top scholar in the civil service examination in the fifth year of the Jiayou era. I don't know where he got his extraordinary abilities, but he walked on the eight-zhang city wall as if it were flat ground, killing more than a hundred of us and injuring more than two hundred! These people must be taken hostages; we cannot be merciful!"

Consort Rong found it strange. Today, she had killed the entire Yong Prince's clan, but she hadn't seen the expert who had defiled her sister appear. Yet here, a top scholar with superb martial arts skills had suddenly appeared.

"You lowly officials in green robes, whoever knows about the top scholar in the fifth year of the Jiayou era will live! If you don't know, then there's no point in living! Including you!" Prince Yan said, finally glancing at Sheng Changbai beside the old emperor.

It turns out that he kept these minor officials around because they were of low rank and might have been Jinshi graduates in the same year as Zhou Ning, so he wanted to gather information from them!

Fu Chunxu said, "I! I know! He's only sixteen, his name is Zhou Ning, and he was with me at noon today."

Sheng Changbai was furious. "This spineless coward!"

"Very good! You're alive! What else do you know?" the Prince of Yan pressed.

Fu Chunxu pointed at Sheng Changbai and said, "He abandoned us at noon, taking Lord Sheng's son and daughter with him. Lord Sheng is outside! His son is him!"

"Oh?" The Prince of Yan was overjoyed!

Sheng Changbai roared, "You! I'll kill you!" He lunged forward, but was quickly subdued by the Prince of Yan's men.

"You have guts! Don't even think about committing suicide, or I'll castrate your father, then tie your corpse naked with a living military officer's family member, and hang it on the Xihua Gate as a public spectacle, calling them adulterers! Do you have a wife and children? If you die, I'll trick your wife into entering the palace, where a thousand men will ride her!" the Prince of Yan threatened.

The military officer's family members were terrified and kept retreating. How could this be any of their business?

Although Sheng Changbai is quite handsome, how can this be acceptable?

Sheng Changbai was prepared to bite his tongue and commit suicide at any time. Upon hearing this threat, he lost all his strength and collapsed to the ground.

He was not afraid of death, but he was afraid of damaging his reputation after death, and also afraid of bringing trouble to his wife and children!

As for the truth, can the dead explain it?

It's not like what the living say is what it is!

"Someone, bring that Mr. Sheng here!" said the Prince of Yan.

Sheng Hong was quickly brought in, and only then did he see his son collapsed on the ground. He cried out anxiously, "Bai'er! What happened to you...?"

"Snapped!"

The Prince of Yan slapped him across the face and roared, "Did I let you in to acknowledge your family? Speak! What's your relationship with the boy who ran away with your daughter?"

He realized his son was a tough nut to crack, so instead of forcing him, he decided to start by dealing with his father!

"He...he has nothing to do with me!" Sheng Hong said, covering his face in grievance.

"Snapped!"

Another slap!

"You won't admit it, huh? Men! Go and find a few people who are blocking the way to Xihua Gate!" the Prince of Yan ordered.

Several rebel soldiers quickly entered, and the Prince of Yan asked, "Tell me, what is the relationship between the man and woman who escaped?"

"They must be a couple. Your Highness, with his abilities, if he wanted to escape, he would have done so long ago. Oh, and he even kissed that woman right in front of us!" one of the rebel soldiers said.

"Are you blind? It was only once? Didn't you see it on the city wall? They were already hugging and gnawing on it!" one of the rebels retorted.

"Yes, yes! They were on the city wall. The woman kissed the man first, then the man touched the woman, then the woman pushed the man away, and finally they flew away together. Do you have anything to add?" another rebel said.

The others shook their heads, saying that was pretty much it!

Sheng Hong and Sheng Changbai were stunned. Was this really Minglan?

How could a girl do such a thing?

And Pengqi too, it's utterly ridiculous!

"Did you hear that clearly? He really has nothing to do with your daughter? He only took your son and daughter with him. It seems you're not as useful as your son! I'll spare your life for now! Guards, castrate him!" The Prince of Yan looked at Sheng Hong again and said.

Two rebel soldiers stepped forward and tried to drag Sheng Hong away!

"Ah? No! It's...related! My daughter...is his concubine!" Sheng Hong was so scared he almost wet himself, and he said through gritted teeth.

If he had been killed directly, he might have remained somewhat defiant, but castrating him caused his mental defenses to crumble rapidly!

How could the head of the Sheng family be a eunuch?

Wouldn't that make us a laughingstock?

Besides, Minglan has already been portrayed in such a negative light; what reputation does she have left?

"Just a concubine? I don't believe it! Beat her! Beat her to death!" The Prince of Yan was very dissatisfied.

Bang bang bang!

The rebels punched and kicked Sheng Hong, quickly leaving him dazed but not mentally injured, only physically hurt but not emotionally!

They were careful not to kill her. Although the woman's daughter was just that man's concubine, he clearly valued her highly, so they couldn't really kill her. Anyone who had fought with him knew how terrifying that man was!

"Ouch! Even if you beat me to death, his legal wife is still the eldest daughter of the Yu family, not my daughter! Ah! Ah!" Sheng Hong screamed incessantly, clutching his head.

"Stop! The eldest daughter of the Yu family?" the Prince of Yan asked.

Sheng Hong nodded, rubbing his shoulders and thighs incessantly, "Ouch, that hurts!"

Sheng Changbai was on the verge of tears, wondering what had become of the integrity of a scholar.

The Prince of Yan looked at Consort Rong, and then at the families of the military officers.

Consort Rong was also clever; she immediately understood and turned to leave!

"I'll go myself! Let's see if we can lure the women of the Sheng and Yu families into the palace!"

......