Sky Curtain: The opening scene explains the four major cases of the Ming Dynasty plus the early Ming

Kunning Palace.

Unlike the brightly lit Qianqing Palace, or the bloody despair of the imperial prison, this place is filled with a deathly silence and suffocating panic.

Even the most exquisite incense could not mask the faint, lingering sense of dread in the air.

Zhu Qiyu's three concubines, Lady Hang, Lady Wang, and Lady Tang, sat upright, even their breathing was extremely soft.

The capital has been in turmoil these past few days, with killings and power shifts happening so fast it's dizzying. They are at the eye of the storm, yet like three rootless duckweed leaves, they can do nothing but fear.

Especially Hang Shi, her beautiful face still wet with tears, her eyes vacant.

Her son, Zhu Jianji, died.

The child on whom she placed all her hopes vanished silently in this cruel game of power.

Although her husband had avenged their son and reduced the culprit to ashes, her Jianji could never return.

"His Majesty has arrived!"

The eunuch's high-pitched announcement outside the door pierced the deathly silence inside the hall like a needle.

The three women trembled, instinctively stood up, and stood with their heads bowed.

Judy Jun, dressed in a black casual suit, walked in from outside. He lacked the majesty of a dragon robe, but carried an even heavier sense of oppression than when he wore it—the aura of a victor who had just emerged from a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

His gaze swept across the three women's faces, taking in their varied expressions.

"Please sit down."

His voice was calm, revealing no emotion.

"I have some things on my mind to say to you."

He waved to the palace maids and eunuchs behind him.

"You may leave."

"Yes."

The palace servants, as if granted a pardon, bowed and withdrew, gently closing the heavy palace doors behind them.

The vast Kunning Palace was now empty except for Zhu Dijun and his three wives.

The atmosphere grew increasingly oppressive.

Zhu Dijun's gaze first fell on the most sorrowful woman, Hang.

He walked up to her, looked at her pale and haggard face, and his voice was unusually gentle.

"Consort Hang, please stop crying."

"If you continue like this, even if Jianji were alive in heaven, he would not rest in peace."

Hang's body trembled slightly, and tears welled up uncontrollably once again.

"He...doesn't want his mother to spend her days in tears either." Judy Jun's voice softened further. "I hope you can pull yourself together."

He paused for a moment, then offered her a way to vent her grief.

"Let's make some new clothes for Jianji by hand, so that he can walk with dignity wearing clothes made by his mother."

"I will put all these clothes in his coffin, to accompany him forever."

These words were like a warm current, flowing into Hang's cold heart.

She looked up abruptly at the man before her, the "tyrant" who had just ruthlessly cleansed the entire capital, and a hint of gratitude and dependence appeared in her eyes.

She choked back tears and nodded heavily.

"Your Majesty, I... obey your command."

After calming Hang down, Judy-Jun turned around and looked at Wang.

That trace of warmth vanished without a trace in an instant, replaced by an unfathomable coldness.

Wang's heart clenched suddenly, and an ominous premonition gripped her.

"The Wang family."

Zhu Dijun even omitted the title "beloved concubine," and simply sighed softly.

"Our union was a calculated scheme from the very beginning. That vixen Sun Ruowei will stop at nothing to control me."

His words were like a knife, directly slicing through the false marital bond between the two.

"I am giving you a choice today."

He took out a document that he had prepared beforehand from his sleeve and placed it on the table.

"This is a divorce agreement. Once you sign it, we will have nothing to do with each other anymore."

"I will take back the titles and positions your father and brothers received because of you. But the mansions and lands outside the palace, as well as this chest of gold and silver, are my compensation to you, enough for you and your family to live a life of wealth."

As he spoke, a young eunuch came in from outside the hall carrying a heavy wooden box. He opened it, and inside were neatly stacked gold ingots, which gleamed dazzlingly in the candlelight.

Wang's face drained of all color in an instant.

Divorce?

How could she possibly accept that!

Once divorced, she would no longer be the emperor's woman, and the Wang family would instantly fall from grace. The wealth and luxury she had grown accustomed to would vanish in an instant.

"No!"

Wang fell to her knees with a thud, crawled a few steps, grabbed Zhu Dijun's clothes, and cried with tears streaming down her face.

"Your Majesty! I refuse! What have I done wrong that Your Majesty treats me like this? In my heart, there is only Your Majesty!"

"You don't want to?"

Judy looked down at her, her eyes filled with no pity, only a hint of mockery.

"Mr. Wang, how long are you going to keep this up?"

His voice suddenly turned cold, like a Siberian cold front, freezing Wang Shi's whole body stiff.

"Before she died, that wicked woman surnamed Sun said that there were still her people by my side."

"After much deliberation, I've decided that you are the one who best fits the criteria."

"Do you think I didn't know about all those little tricks you've been up to? Do you think I couldn't find out how many messages you'd sent to that vixen under the guise of paying your respects?"

Judy Jun leaned down, brought her close to her ear, and said in a chilling voice that only the two of them could hear:

"My sister-in-law, Empress Qian, how did she go blind?"

"My elder brother, Zhu Qizhen, how many things were tampered with in his food when he was in the Southern Palace?"

"And then there's Jian Shen; that child almost died because of Sun's wicked scheme!"

"You dare say you knew nothing about all of this? You dare say you weren't involved, acting as that witch's eyes and ears?!"

Wang was struck dumb, collapsing to the ground, her eyes filled with endless fear.

She knew it was all over.

He knows everything!

"Your Majesty... have mercy... I... I was forced!" she begged incoherently.

"Force you?" Judy Jun sneered, straightening up. "Now, I'll force you this once too."

"Divorce is your and your family's only chance to survive. This is the last bit of dignity I'm giving you."

His voice became incredibly cruel as he spoke, each word distinct and deliberate:

"If you don't want to, that's fine too."

"That vixen must be very lonely on her way to the underworld. I don't mind sending your whole family to continue serving her."

"Wang, don't force me!"

Choose.

Hell and the human world are separated by a single thought of hers.

Looking at the divorce agreement and then at Zhu Dijun's emotionless eyes, Wang finally understood that she had no room for negotiation.

She reached out, trembling, and picked up the pen.

Every stroke seemed to have taken all her strength.

As her name was called, she seemed to lose all her energy and collapsed to the ground.

Zhu Dijun didn't even glance at her, turning his gaze to Tang Shi, who had been too frightened to move from beginning to end.

"Tang Shi".

His tone returned to calm.

"What's your choice?"

"As you've seen, it's very dangerous to be by my side. You could face utter destruction at any moment."

"If you wish to leave, I will also give you a letter of divorce, with compensation no less than hers."

"If you do not wish to leave, then stay. I will treat you with sincerity."

He offered a real choice.

Tang was so frightened that her face turned pale, but when she looked at the man in front of her, this king who, though cold-blooded, laid everything out in the open, felt a strange courage well up in her heart.

She took a deep breath, rose from her seat, and bowed gracefully to Judy Jun.

Her voice wasn't loud, but it was unusually firm.

"Your Majesty, I... am willing to stay by Your Majesty's side with Sister Hang."

"No matter what."

Judy looked at her, a hint of approval flashing in her eyes.

He nodded.

"it is good."

One word is a promise.

This concludes the house-cleaning process.

He turned around and strode out of Kunning Palace. The deep night could no longer obscure his path.

With the backyard settled, there are no more worries about the road ahead.

Jiangnan, I have arrived.