The Grand Secretary has no heir? His concubine gives birth to triplets.

Several days later, at Qingyi Garden, dawn broke.

Xiao Qi knelt on one knee outside the study and reported in a low voice:

"Master, the Duke of Lu's mansion returned all the gifts brought by the Second Master of the Tan family yesterday."

"The old Duke himself declared that the Duke of Lu's family was of low social standing and could not possibly be worthy of the Tan family."

Pei Yan slowly fastened the jade belt on his official robe, a slight smirk playing on his lips: "That kid Sima Di does have some tricks up his sleeve."

Since Sima Di has made his decision on Xue Lingyi, he will definitely not allow the Duke of Lu's mansion to agree to the marriage alliance with the Tan family.

Pei Yan turned his head to look into the inner room.

The canopy bed curtains were only half-drawn, and Jiang Guo'er was still fast asleep.

She curled up on her side in the brocade quilt, one hand resting on the pillow, her black hair cascading over her shoulders.

Pei Yan went over and tucked the blanket around her.

Jiang Guo'er stirred in her sleep, and the back of her hand brushed against his wrist.

He muttered, "Come back soon..."

Pei Yan's heart softened, and he leaned down to kiss her eyes. "Okay."

Xiao Qi, standing outside the door, remained silent for a moment before continuing, "Master, there is one more thing. News has come from the palace that the Emperor... has awakened."

Pei Yan reached out again and touched the red mark left by the bedding on the corner of her lips.

"You woke up at just the right time." He straightened the hem of his official robes, regaining his dignified and aloof demeanor.

"Take those sorcerers you captured and come with me to the palace."

The air inside the Qianqing Palace was thick with the smell of medicine.

The emperor leaned against the pillow, his cheeks sunken and his lips pale.

In just a few days, he seemed to have aged ten years, and even raising his hand was difficult for him.

Xiao Yuzhen, dressed in simple and elegant casual clothes, sat by the couch.

Her eyes were red and she looked haggard. She personally scooped up a spoonful of medicine and brought it to the emperor's lips.

"Your Majesty, please drink another sip. The imperial physician said the medicine must not be cold."

The emperor held the medicine in his mouth, stared at her with his cloudy eyes for a moment, and felt a pang of emotion.

Consort Yu is a traitor, and the Empress Dowager only cares about the Tan family.

Xiao Yuzhen, on the other hand, has become much more considerate since leaving the Cold Palace. She heard that when he was unconscious, she kept chanting sutras and praying for him. After he woke up, she took care of him without taking off her clothes.

Thinking of this, the emperor turned around and grasped Xiao Yuzhen's hand.

Xiao Yuzhen was slightly taken aback, then lowered her head, looking flattered.

Suddenly, a message came from outside the hall.

"Grand Secretary Pei has arrived!"

Xiao Yuzhen turned around.

"Your humble servant pays his respects to Your Majesty and Your Majesty the Empress." Pei Yan strode in.

The emperor weakly raised his hand, "Minister Pei, you may dispense with the formalities..."

Xiao Yuzhen stood up and handed the medicine bowl to the palace maid next to her.

She swayed slightly, as if she was exhausted from staying up all night to care for the sick, and lost her footing, falling straight towards Pei Yan.

Pei Yan didn't even lift his eyelids, but with a light tap of his toes, he decisively took two large steps back.

With a loud "clang".

Xiao Yuzhen didn't fall into Pei Yan's arms; instead, she fell heavily onto the blue brick floor, her wrists bruised and red, and the hair ornament in her hair was knocked askew.

"Your Majesty!" The palace maid was terrified and turned pale. She quickly stepped forward to help her up.

Pei Yan frowned, looking down at the palace maid, and rebuked her sternly:

"How can you be such a servant? Her Majesty the Empress is of noble birth, and you just stood by and watched her fall. If she were to be injured, could you bear the responsibility?"

The palace maid's face turned pale, unable to express her bitterness. Just now, it was clearly the Empress who gave her a look that told her not to help.

But she dared not argue; she could only kneel down with a thud, tears streaming down her face, crying, "This servant deserves to die! This servant deserves to die!"

Xiao Yuzhen gritted her teeth and was helped up by a palace maid.

She secretly clenched her handkerchief, but forced a dignified smile onto her face.

"I am unharmed; this girl has nothing to do with me. Lord Pei must have come with important business."

Pei Yan didn't look at her. He took out several folding books from his sleeve and knelt in front of the dragon bed.

"Your Majesty, the floods in Jiangnan and the drought in Hedong have brought a mountain of memorials to the capital these past few days."

"Several areas require the court to allocate disaster relief funds; Your Majesty, please make your decision."

He dictated the main points of the memorial, which were simply about where the disaster occurred and where food and supplies were needed.

Upon hearing the first two sentences, the emperor's temples began to throb.

He had been awake for a while, but his body was weak and sore, and he had a splitting headache when he heard about these trivial matters involving money and food.

He waved his hand irritably, "These trivial matters can be decided by Prime Minister Pei himself. In my current state, I have no energy left to look at memorials."

"Is Your Majesty really not going to read it?" Pei Yan asked respectfully, holding the folding book.

"I won't watch!"

"Leave it to your discretion?" Pei Yan asked again.

"You are the Grand Secretary, why do you bother me with such a trivial matter? Granted, granted!" the emperor said impatiently.

Pei Yan suppressed his emotions and turned to look at the chief eunuch, Wang An.

"Eunuch Wang, since His Majesty has given his approval, please bring the imperial seal and stamp these documents. Sending them to the local areas as soon as possible will reduce the number of people who starve to death."

Wang An glanced at the emperor, and seeing the emperor nod, he quickly brought out the imperial seal and stamped it on each of the memorials Pei Yan had opened.

What the emperor didn't know was that among that stack of memorials was one submitted by the Six Ministries' Censors, impeaching the Crown Prince and requesting the removal of the Eastern Palace.

A bright red seal was stamped on it.

Pei Yan carefully put away the folded book and respectfully said, "Your Majesty, the disaster relief matter has been settled, but there is still one troublesome matter."

"I have already had the alchemists kept by the Crown Prince arrested, and they are waiting outside the palace."

The emperor's cloudy eyes darted around. "A sorcerer?"

"His Majesty's serious illness this time, the imperial physicians said, is largely related to those elixirs."

"What should we do with these people? Should we drag them straight to the execution ground and behead them, or bring them in for questioning first?"

The emperor's expression changed instantly.

He has been in a daze these past few days, and his dreams are filled with black water and dead people.

He is afraid of death.

What he feared even more was that before he had had enough of sitting on the dragon throne, he would be sent to the underworld by those around him.

He smirked and roared incoherently, "Bring these bastards in here!"

Several sorcerers were brought in by the guards and knelt on the ground, trembling like leaves.

These sorcerers had already been fed poison, and the antidote was in Pei Yan's hands.

If you don't follow his instructions, you will die from intestinal perforation.

The emperor pointed at them, panting with anger:

"Speak! Did the Crown Prince instruct you to tamper with those elixirs?"

"Is he...is he hoping I'll die soon so he can seize power and usurp the throne?!"

The sorcerers kowtowed repeatedly, weeping bitterly.

"Your Majesty, please understand! His Highness the Crown Prince complained that our alchemy was too slow and forced us to add potent and dangerous ingredients!"

"He said... if we can help His Majesty pass away quietly, he will appoint us as Imperial Advisors when he ascends the throne!"

The emperor was so angry that his eyes bulged out. He grabbed the medicine bowl from beside the bed and smashed it hard at the alchemist in front.

"You traitors, I will execute you! Execute you!"

The emperor's chest heaved violently as he roared, "Issue a decree! I want that beast dead!"

Upon seeing this, the sorcerers immediately kowtowed repeatedly.

"Your Majesty, spare my life! This humble subject knows how to concoct longevity elixirs! This humble subject is willing to atone for my sins by prolonging Your Majesty's life. I beg Your Majesty to spare my dog's life!"

The emperor paused.

The words "Longevity Pill" acted like a rope, forcefully restraining his murderous intent.

"A longevity elixir?" The emperor's lips trembled. "Drag them away and lock them in the imperial prison! If you can't refine the longevity elixir, I'll have you all skinned alive!"

Several sorcerers were dragged out.

The emperor looked at Pei Yan, his anger turning into a sinister rage.

"Minister Pei, draft an edict! Depose the Crown Prince!"

Pei Yan had already walked to the desk, spread out the yellow silk, and dipped his brush in ink.