Shen Ju was called to the backyard to be questioned by Wei Changying. When he heard Wei Changying asking about Jiang Zheng's injury, he hurriedly said, "Young madam just said that Guard Jiang is a steady person which made him unlikely to offend the Crown Prince. Although I am not familiar with Guard Jiang, young madam's words naturally will not be wrong. Thus, I went to ask the person who sent Guard Jiang here. Indeed, just as young madam said, it was not Guard Jiang who actively collided with the Crown Prince!"

Wei Changying frowned and was careless to praise his meticulous work. Instead, she thought, “It was indeed the Crown Prince who stirred the trouble?”

Thus, when she spoke, she expressed her seriousness, "Tell me the details!"

"Yes." Shen Ju answered and said, "Just before noon, Guard Jiang routinely went out Anshun Inn and went to buy Hu cake at a Hu cake shop near the inn. I heard that Guard Jiang and that Hu cake shop's keeper had known each other for a long time, so he often went there to take care of the shop's business. He would go and buy the Hu cake himself, instead of asking others to buy it for him. The shop was very close to the inn, which could be seen by standing at the inn's gate. Before, Guard Jiang had never encountered anything when he bought Hu cake there. Therefore, the waiter of the inn did not pay much attention when he saw Guard Jiang went out."

Anshun Inn was one of the industries in the dowry of Wei Changying, and it was a highly ranked inn in the capital. Thus, Wei Changying arranged her trainer, Jiang Zheng, to live there to show her courtesy.

"And then?"

"Then, Guard Jiang did not return in a long period of time so that one of the waiters of the inn felt that it was weird. Therefore, he went out to take a look. However, he didn't see anyone at that Hu cake shop, and he thought that it might be the case that Guard Jiang went into the shop to talk with the shopkeeper inside. Such a thing had also happened before, so the waiter did not pay much attention." Shen Ju said, "Later, it was Guard Jiang's disciple, Zhu Lei who had finished practicing martial arts and went out from Guard Jiang's living courtyard to find the whereabouts of his master. The waiter casually told him that Guard Jiang might be talking with the shopkeeper of the Hu cake shop, so Zhu Lei went to the Hu cake shop to ask."

"Thus, he knew that Guard Jiang had already bought the Hu cake and left. And Guard Jiang had told the shopkeeper that his disciple was practicing martial arts in the courtyard so that he wanted to go back to instruct him."

"Knowing that Guard Jiang was not in the Hu cake shop, Zhu Lei was naturally anxious, and he looked around nearby... yet he did not find Guard Jiang. He hurriedly returned to the inn and told the people in the inn. The innkeeper closed the inn and asked everybody to go out to search for Guard Jiang. When they arrived at a place that was two blocks from the inn, they found Guard Jiang on the side of the road. They asked people around and knew that the match of the Crown Prince had passed by, and Guard Jiang could not avoid them in time so that he was beaten by the attendants of the Crown Prince."

Wei Changying was stunned, and Shen Ju hurriedly said, "I just went to ask everyone. One person, the waiter of the Anshun Inn who had looked out and found Guard Jiang was not at the Hu cake shop before, also felt that Guard Jiang couldn’t be the person who would actively collide with the Crown Prince. So when others did not pay attention, he pulled two onlookers to the corner, stuffed them with some pieces of silver, and asked out the truth. Originally, Guard Jiang wanted to go across the street and stopped his steps when he saw the match of the Crown Prince. Yet, the Crown Prince suddenly stopped when he rode to the front of Guard Jiang, and he scolded Guard Jiang for blocking his way. Although Guard Jiang had knelt immediately to confess, the Crown Prince still told his attendants to "punish him a bit". Guard Jiang might be in fear of making troubles, so he endured it. Who would think that those people would beat him so badly?”

"Bang!" Wei Changying smashed the tea bowl on the desk next to her and her facial expression was livid!

How would she not know about her own trainer? If Jiang Zheng resisted, with his skilled martial arts and more than ten years of Jianghu experience, those attendants of the Crown Prince, regardless of the fact whether or not they could beat Jiang Zheng into this status, it would be a problem for them to catch him today!

If Jiang Zheng was a weak scholar and didn’t have the strength to catch a chicken, it would be reasonable for him to be beaten by someone else to this status. However, he was proficient in martial art yet could not show his skills because of his identity! How humiliating was this? How indignant? Wei Changying couldn't imagine the mood of her instructor at that moment!

Originally Old Madam Song wanted Jiang Zheng to follow Wei Changying to the capital by all means, because he would be useful to Wei Changying. Besides, Shen Cangfeng whom Wei Changying married with had a bright future. Because of the so-called “wife would prosper with her husband”, Jiang Zheng would also have a bright future if he followed Wei Changying. Certainly, Jiang Zheng was getting old, so he was willing to be a half-servant in the Wei Family to live out his life in retirement. He had no further ideas on his own career, but Zhu Lei, whom he attached great importance to as his own child, was still young.

So Jiang Zheng came to the capital with Wei Changying, not only because of Old Madam Song's means but also because he wanted to arrange Zhu Lei a bright future. Yet unexpectedly, only after a few months since two of them had arrived in the capital, Jiang Zheng suffered such a catastrophe!

Wei Changying has always considered Jiang Zheng as her teacher. She heard that Jiang Zheng wanted to avoid trouble. Although Shen Ju said this implicitly, how could Wei Changying not understand his meaning? Jiang Zheng had no wife or son, and his only disciple was also at a prime age. If he had not been afraid to encumber Wei Changying, he could have simply taken his disciple and run away. This world was big, especially the Great Vi was now not peaceful, and there were bandits rampant everywhere. Not to say about the Crown Prince, even if His Majesty ordered to arrest him nationally, they would not be caught easily!

An instructor, who considered so much for her, yet was encumbered by her into such status! Wei Changying felt great anger in her heart. She has already been bored with Empress Gu and the Crown Prince because of Song Zaishui's experience. Later, Song Zaishui successfully disengaged with the Crown Prince with the expense of her appearance, and she was now living relaxingly. Wei Changying's dislike towards them just had faded a bit, but now Jiang Zheng was almost beat to death by the Crown Prince. If it had not been for Duanmu Xinmiao who happened to come over to visit her, Jiang Zheng might have already died!

If there wasn't still some sane in her mind, Wei Changying would rush into the Eastern Palace immediately, drag out the abusive and dissolute Crown Prince, and whip him to death to ease her hatred!

It was just that she was not the only one who was so angry because of this...

In Weiyang Palace, Changle Hall, Empress Gu was so angry that she broke her favorite bucket-color painted gold bowl which was from the previous dynasty. She scolded the Crown Prince, Shen Xun, "You said that you beat up the servant, who accompanied Wei Changying here for her marriage, to vent out your anger?"

Shen Xun inherited Empress Gu’s appearance. Although because of the long indulgence of life, his face expressing weakness was blue and pale, while other normal people were at their prime age, he still looked handsome.

Yet he leaned against his soft couch on his right, letting two of his entourages kneel beside his couch to rub his shoulder and legs. He was still so dissolute in front of his biological mother, especially when his mother was the Empress. Shen Xun's attitude was not dignified enough, he seemed not to see Empress Gu's anger and talked carelessly, "Yes, I have a new concubine who said to know Shen Cangfeng's wife's property and that there is someone valued by her living in there. Didn't mother tell me not to provoke big things? So I thought that I would not smash the Anshun Inn, and I only led out one person from the inn and beat him up so that I could vent out my anger!"

Empress Gu was so angry, "You did this only to vent out your anger?" Empress Gu, the motherly model of the nation, nearly burst into tears at the moment, "How many times have I told you to endure silently? You now must endure. Why do you fail to live up to my expectations? Tell me about this!"

"Shen Cangfeng and his wife had injured the appearance of more than ten lotus female of mine, and I only beat one servant to death to vent out my anger. Isn't this enduring enough?" Shen Xun showed unpleasant facial expressions when he heard this and said faintly, "Besides, that servant didn't die at that time. It's just he should be died later due to his injury."

The Empress really started to cry, and she said choking, "You think you only killed one servant to vent out your anger, will the Shen Family and the Wei Family think in this way as well? Have you ever thought about it?"

Shen Xun frowned, "Mother, you are always so afraid of the six gentlefolk in the country! Although Mother you only came from the aristocratic family, now you are the head of the six palaces and the motherly model of the nation! Won’t the women from the six gentlefolk still have to greet you carefully? Mother, you have lived in this palace for a long time, why do you still think of yourself as the daughter of Mrs. Gu from Hongzhou who is inferior in front of the gentlefolk?"

His word almost made Empress Gu fainted because of anger!

The Empress's confidant Mrs. Yun hurriedly helped her keep her breath smooth and saw that the Empress was so angry because of the Crown Prince that she could not talk. Mrs. Yun had accompanied Empress Gu for many years, and she knew the best how hard it was for Empress Gu to arrange everything for her sons. Now seeing that the Crown Prince was acting so against the filial piety, besides helping Empress Gu to keep her breath smooth, she could not help but complain with tears, "How can you speak to the Empress like this? Empress wants Your Royal Highness to speak carefully, it is for the sake of Your Royal Highness! Your Royal Highness, do you know…"

She hadn't finished talking, and Shen Xun had already got up from the couch and kicked his concubine who was not able to remove her hand quickly enough. The concubine fell on the ground, and she was so scared that she shrank there like a quail for a while. Shen Xun looked around. Mrs. Yun was about to ask what he was doing, and she saw him grab a bottle near him and smash it towards the vermilion steps. He cursed, "B*tch! Must be all of you these people, who always scare my mother! Whatever things, you always ask me to endure and back off when facing the gentlefolk! I'm the Crown Prince! I'm not from a minor family or a common people's son, why do I need to fear the gentlefolk? Don't you see the Family Head of the gentlefolk in the country are always fearful and trembling in front of my Father? Six gentlefolk in the country, no matter how powerful they are, are only the servants of the royal family! You guys, do you want to teach me, the future Emperor of the country, to be a person who fears the gentlefolk as if a mouse fears a cat? It must be the gentlefolk, who use the money to buy off you, so that you intentionally scare my mother and me! A bunch of disloyal stuff! I should just drag you out all and beat you to death and see who dares again to whisper to ask mother and me to endure and back off in front of the servants of the royal family!"

Because of his licentious life, his arm strength was not enough. So the bottle only hit on the vermilion steps in front of Mrs. Yun. But seeing Shen Xun putting his hands on his hips and cursing with impatient face below the vermilion steps, Mrs. Yun gradually stopped touching the Empress's back. She looked at the future Emperor, whom she accompanied Empress Gu to raise up together, with tear-blurred eyes, and she felt that her heart became cold bit by bit.

After all, Empress Gu was still the biological mother of Shen Xun. Despite the fact that she was trembling and almost died because of the extreme anger due to her son, she still struggled to talk good for him. She first held Mrs. Yun's hand and said with a trembling voice, "Xun'er was deceived by others, please forgive him for the sake of me..." Although Mrs. Yun was only a maidservant, she had been the attendant of Empress Gu since she was a young girl. Thus, Empress Gu relied on her a lot. When the abolished Empress Mrs. Qian still lived in this Weiyang Palace, if it had not been for the royalty of Mrs. Yun, Empress Gu would have not been able to give birth to Shen Xun herself, let alone bring up Princess Qingxin later!

When Shen Xun was small, he also always chased Mrs. Yun and called her “granny”. Mrs. Yun always looked after the Crown Prince and Princess Qingxin as if she was looking after her own life. In order to follow Empress Gu, she never married... Such a loyal servant, she only spoke a fair word, and Shen Xun wanted to kill her without regard for their past relationship!

Who could not be cold-hearted when seeing this? Empress Gu herself also felt that her son was strange to her!

Mrs. Yun cried with big tears falling down from her eyes, held the Empress's hand, and said, "Your Imperial Highness, don’t worry. I know that His Royal Highness is only deceived by others."

Two of them were comforting each other, but Shen Xun didn't feel touched at all below the stairs, and he didn't feel he was wrong. Seeing the Empress Gu didn't reply to his suggestions to kill Mrs. Yun and others, he increasingly felt that his mother trusted the people around her more than him. He snorted, dumped his sleeve, and cursed, " "Mother，you think more of that Mrs. Yun than your own child. Then what else can I say? If the gentlefolk can do anything bad to me, Mother, you can just let them be. Why would you still care about my matters? All in all, I don't want to be bullied by the gentlefolk!"

After saying this, he didn't care how Empress Gu would feel when she heard this, and he left directly with his beautiful concubines!

Behind him, Empress Gu shook her body, and her eyes were straight. She murmured, "I… How could I have born such a foolish son?! Is this the karma that I have to pay back?"

Seeing that Empress Gu was so shocked that she spoke of things that should not be said, Mrs. Yun felt the coldness in her heart. She ignored her sadness, hurriedly covered Empress's mouth, and said in a low voice, "Your Imperial Highness, you are too sad. Let's have some rest in the bedroom and talk about this later!"

She held the Empress into the bed with strength. When she walked to the door, she slightly nodded towards the confidant of Empress Gu and looked at the palace people on the left and the right side. The confidant understood her meaning immediately...