Pei Ji gazed at them darkly until a burst of footsteps interrupted him.
“Your Highness, the black-clothed man woke up and immediately killed himself.”
“Didn’t I tell you to dislocate their jaws to prevent them from committing suicide?”
“We did, but they had poison hidden under their nails.”
The captured black-clothed men clearly had their jaws dislocated and their weapons searched, yet they had deadly poison concealed under their nails. They killed themselves the moment they realized they were caught.
“Check the others thoroughly. No more suicides.”
However, the black-clothed men who did not commit suicide offered no clues upon waking. They… had no tongues. They could not speak, nor could they read or write.
After obtaining Chu Yunge’s permission, Pei Ji went to interrogate them personally, but before he could ask a few questions, the last surviving black-clothed man died at dawn.
He died from poison again, but this time, it was because he had taken the poison early and missed the antidote at the scheduled time.
“Truly vicious.”
No clues were obtained, but Pei Ji was no fool. He could tell these men were not from Zhao State.
“Your Highness, we must investigate these people thoroughly.”
Pei Ji flew into a rage, but Chu Yunge showed no surprise. Dead soldiers, after all—the dead soldiers raised by the Chu Emperor would not be simple.
Chu Yunge nodded. “You investigate.”
The Chu Emperor had been too brazen. It was just right to let Pei Ji investigate, to strike at one to warn another and caution the Chu Emperor against acting recklessly.
With Pei Ji taking action, the Chu Emperor was caught off guard. Afterward, he went to great lengths to cover it up.
Not only did he lose manpower, he even had to push a trusted subordinate to take the blame and be dealt with.
That was not all. With Pei Ji watching closely afterward, the Chu Emperor could no longer act as freely as before. He did not dare make any rash moves.
Pei Ji’s performance made Chu Yunge see him in a new light. It also served as a harsh lesson for the Chu Emperor.
But that was a later story, and this minor lesson did not hurt the Chu Emperor at all.
A whip has to land on one’s own body before one knows the pain.
She could not wait or endure any longer. She wanted the Chu Emperor to feel pain right now!
She had already taught Empress Dowager Zheng a lesson. How could she spare the Chu Emperor?
Chu Yunge looked at the rising sun and revealed a strange smile. At this hour, the Chu Emperor should have received her return gift.
Pei Ji watched Chu Yunge’s smile and felt she seemed to know something.
“Your Highness, why are you smiling?”
“This Princess is happy. With so many moles dealt with, the Princess Mansion can enjoy some peace for a while.”
Chi Baobao and Chi Haohao had already returned. They had completed their task.
All the guards and hidden guards, due to Empress Dowager Zheng’s insistence, could not return. A few who tried to return to the mansion were stopped by their respective commanders.
In the end, Chi Baobao scattered some medicine into the wind at a windy spot.
When the rising sun shone brightly, they suddenly felt their eyes burning hot and their faces unbearably itchy. Soon, their eyes ached so badly they could not open them, and they clawed at their faces, leaving bloody scratches all over.
Chi Baobao said their eyesight could recover after a month, and the itch on their faces would fade, but the scars would remain.
That was the lesson for betraying the Princess.
They could never return to the Princess Mansion in this lifetime.
They would spend the rest of their lives in regret, regretting not returning to protect the Princess and hating Empress Dowager Zheng for her ruthlessness.
They all thought they had seen Empress Dowager Zheng lose control and soil herself, and that she was punishing them.
The moles left in the Princess Mansion were also uprooted by Chu Yunge overnight.
The servants in the Princess Mansion were instantly reduced to a quarter.
But it was enough.
It was better than being filled with the Chu Emperor’s and the Empress Dowager’s people.
Everyone had received their lesson. Only the Chu Emperor was left.
At the same moment.
The Chu Emperor was attending court. He was a diligent emperor who never missed major or minor court sessions.
Although the men he sent out last night had gone without return and caused a major blunder, the Chu Emperor steadied himself. The ministers noticed nothing.
Today was a minor court session. The Chu Emperor presided in the Proclamation Brightness Hall.
He was focused on state affairs when the bamboo curtain hanging properly outside the hall suddenly broke.
The rising sun’s rays shone in through the window lattice, landing directly on the Chu Emperor’s body and face.
An indescribable burning sting assaulted him instantly. The Chu Emperor’s expression changed slightly mid-sentence. He immediately shut his mouth, but a hint of abnormality still leaked out.
The Chu Emperor reacted quickly. He clenched his fists tightly, held back the urge to stand and avoid the sun for fear the ministers would notice, pretended to have a throat discomfort and coughed, then gestured for the officials below to continue.
Li Chengzhe’s face changed drastically. His first reaction was to step forward and block the sunlight, but he stopped after one step.
Normally, it would be fine, but not now, not in front of the entire court of civil and military officials.
He bent at the waist and unobtrusively withdrew, then hurried outside and pulled the bamboo curtain back up as fast as possible.
After Li Chengzhe left, the Chu Emperor picked up a folder to block his face, but his neck and hands remained exposed.
In that short time, his fingers had already blistered and bled. The scorching pain assaulted him, as if hot oil had been poured on him—unbearable agony.
Even more terrifying was the torment in his heart.
If he lost composure in front of the ministers, standing to dodge, or if a mutation occurred before them, then all the painful concealment of the past dozen years would be for naught.
In just a few breaths, it felt endlessly long to the Chu Emperor. His eyes uncontrollably filled with bloodshot veins in an instant.
Before a greater change could occur—before blood blisters and bloody tears appeared—the sunlight was finally blocked.
The Chu Emperor breathed a sigh of relief, but the stinging pain from the burned skin did not lessen. Instead, it grew more intense.
The Chu Emperor endured stubbornly, covered in cold sweat. He quickened the pace and finally held out until court was dismissed.
Li Chengzhe supported the Chu Emperor and had him carried back to the Emperor’s Convenience Hall in a sedan chair.
Back in the safe Emperor’s Convenience Hall, the Chu Emperor could no longer hold back and let out a miserable scream.
“Ah!”
The palace servants withdrawing upon hearing the scream changed expressions, but their fates were already sealed. In the next instant, they were dealt with directly.
“The imperial physician has already been summoned, Your Majesty. Please endure. The ones who needed handling have been handled.”
Li Chengzhe held down the Chu Emperor’s hand. “Your Majesty, please endure. Don’t scratch. We’ll apply medicine right away.”
The Chu Emperor’s eyes were bloodshot, his hand and neck covered in red marks. A closer look revealed densely packed tiny blisters.
The Chu Emperor bit down hard on the pillow. Li Chengzhe hurriedly applied medicine to him.
After the medicine was applied, a cooling sensation came, and the Chu Emperor sighed in relief.
But the coolness lasted only a moment before a new round of scorching torment began.
“Ah!”
Seeing the Chu Emperor’s face twisted in agony, veins bulging on his forehead, and the exposed blood vessels turning black, beads of sweat poured down Li Chengzhe’s face.
How many years had it been since such an episode? Why today, all of a sudden…
“Investigate! This Emperor commands you to get to the bottom of this. Whoever is responsible shall be torn limb from limb!”
The Chu Emperor spoke with a sinister expression, followed by a pained roar.
“Yes.” Li Chengzhe naturally had to investigate. He knew the Chu Emperor’s condition was special and that he was always very careful, confirming it daily.
Yet after checking once, nothing abnormal was found—no signs of tampering. It seemed purely accidental.
But how could it be an accident?
“This Emperor does not believe in any accident. How could it be so coincidental? Keep investigating!”
The Chu Emperor did not believe a word of it, especially after receiving news that Zhao Zeng had fished in troubled waters last night, nearly causing a disaster.
Not to mention, Empress Dowager Zheng, who had cooperated with him, had also met with an accident.
The hand he had used to strike Chu Yunge was pierced by an arrow, she suffered abdominal pain, and an unusual incident occurred. Then the guards and hidden guards who were deliberately reassigned had problems too…
Everyone involved in his plan, without exception, suffered more miserably than the last. How could it all be coincidence?
This could only be Chu Yunge’s deliberate retaliation.
But how did Chu Yunge have such power, ability, and methods?