As the twilight deepened, the moon grew dim and the stars vanished. Vice Minister Ye returned from the government offices, thoroughly exhausted.

Having consumed nothing but a few sips of cold tea since the previous night, Vice Minister Ye was keeping himself going purely on sheer willpower. Fortunately, Madam Ye had long since ordered the kitchen to prepare steamed dishes, which had been kept warm over a low heat in the pots. The moment Vice Minister Ye entered the manor, the kitchen staff hurriedly brought the dinner out.

Vice Minister Ye simply had the meal laid out in the study and called Ye Mian over to speak with him.

Ye Mian helped ladle a bowl of soup for his father and asked anxiously, “Why hasn’t my eldest brother returned yet?”

Vice Minister Ye let out a long sigh. “With the Crown Prince perishing in such a manner, how could those at the Court of Judicial Review possibly catch a break? Every single person who was by the heir apparent’s side that day has been thrown into the great prison, and the palace maidens and eunuchs of the Eastern Palace have all been locked away. Just moments ago, they began arresting people outside the palace as well. As the Chief of the Court of Judicial Review, your brother will likely have to lodge at his bureau for the next half a month.”

Distressed for his eldest son, Vice Minister Ye had no appetite to even pick up his chopsticks, despite his stomach grumbling just a moment ago.

“Father, what exactly happened?” Ye Mian inquired cautiously.

Vice Minister Ye had called him over specifically to discuss this matter, and the servants had already been dismissed to keep watch outside the courtyard. Therefore, the father and son did not mince words.

“They say he was riding horses at the palace stables when the horse became startled for some unknown reason, throwing the Crown Prince off. Its hooves trampled his chest, and he perished on the spot. When the imperial physicians arrived to take a look, they merely knelt and kowtowed, not daring to utter a single word.”

Ye Mian blanked for a moment. “Riding horses? How could anyone actually ride a horse at full speed in the palace stables?”

It wasn’t as if Ye Mian had never been inside the palace. That open space might be called a stable, but it was actually just a small training ground where an adult horse could hardly build up any speed. Whenever the princes wanted to race horses, they would always head out of the palace to the imperial suburbs. Why on earth would the Crown Prince suddenly decide to ride a horse there?

Vice Minister Ye shook his head. It was only the second day; as for the inner details, only the Court of Judicial Review and the Ministry of Justice had a clearer picture.

Ye Mian knitted his brows. “Zhuang Xu has also been confined within the palace. He sent word out tonight specifically forbidding me from prying into this matter.”

“The Prince of Rongnan has always been astute. He chooses not to speak in detail with you right now for his own good reasons. The palace is in utter disarray; Her Majesty the Empress Dowager and His Imperial Majesty have both fallen ill from the shock, and he must busily attend to their sickness.”

Vice Minister Ye sighed. It was said that when His Imperial Majesty received the calamitous news, he instantly lost his footing, terrifying the imperial bodyguards and attendants out of their wits. The Chief of the Imperial Medical Bureau had a blade pressed against his neck by the Commander of the Imperial Guards while administering acupuncture for over half an hour before His Imperial Majesty finally opened his eyes.

Upon waking, the imperial wrath erupted like a tempest. It wasn’t just the Eastern Palace that suffered; anyone with even the slightest connection to yesterday’s events found their quarters locked down.

Currently, within those palace walls, the halls and pavilions were deathly silent and profoundly terrifying. Everyone was living in a state of constant insecurity, where even the sound of a dropped needle could startle them into a cold sweat. Officials of their rank had knelt in the Jiazheng Hall until the latter half of the night yesterday; they hadn’t felt any physical exhaustion, only a numbing sensation crawling up their scalps.

Vice Minister Ye let out another long sigh. Being a father himself, he could fully comprehend the Emperor’s thunderous fury and the agony of a heart consumed by fire.

To have a white-haired elder send off a black-haired youth was the ultimate agony in the world, let alone when it was the primary heir born of the Empress.

Vice Minister Ye himself had only two legitimate sons. Needless to say, there was his eldest son, whom he had poured his heart and soul into cultivating from a young age. Then there was this youngest legitimate son… Vice Minister Ye cast a sidelong glance at Ye Mian. Though the boy displeased him in many ways, if he were to suddenly perish like that, Vice Minister Ye wouldn’t want to live either. Rather than enduring the piercing agony of losing a child, he would rather find a rope to hang himself and follow him into the afterlife for a clean end.

Ye Mian complied obediently, “I won’t go prying. The Hanlin Academy deals with pure and noble tasks; Yunsheng and I will just stay out of sight and focus on drafting texts in peace. We won’t easily get tangled up in those disputes.”

Vice Minister Ye nodded in satisfaction. While Mian ger could be reckless, Ruan Yunsheng was an exceptionally grounded child. Having the two of them together put his mind at ease.

Seeing that his father wasn’t eating well, Ye Mian placed a few choice morsels into Vice Minister Ye’s bowl with his chopsticks and asked in a lowered voice, “Father, no matter how massive this storm becomes, there will come a day when it is settled. Who do you think will claim the position of heir apparent afterward…?”

With the Crown Prince gone, the only remaining legitimate son of the late Empress was the Third Prince, but that Third Prince had a rather notorious reputation… On the other hand, Noble Consort Jia’s lineage possessed numerous descendants, with the Fifth and Seventh Princes enjoying the height of imperial favor. Furthermore, the Second Prince, who had been enfeoffed as Prince of Rong, was gentle, cultured, and refined; aside from not receiving the education reserved for an heir apparent, his character was practically a carbon copy of the late Crown Prince…

Now that this incident had occurred, everyone harbored silent doubts. Though Noble Consort Jia’s lineage appeared to have remained inactive all these years, they might well have laid out a brilliant stratagem long ago.

Vice Minister Ye’s face remained entirely expressionless. “Do not speak absurdities! Since ancient times, the selection of an heir establishes the legitimate line and the eldest, not the virtuous!”

Ye Mian curled his lip and muttered under his breath, “But if the Third Prince ascends the throne, wouldn’t my eldest brother be…”

“Silence!” Vice Minister Ye barked, his face flushed with fury.

Ye Mian jolted and obediently shut his mouth.

Vice Minister Ye silently drank a bowl of clear broth. As his countenance settled into a calm composure, he spoke slowly, “If that day truly comes, I will have your eldest brother remove his official cap and resign from office, and I will retire along with him. When the time comes, we will take your mother and your nephew to the south to purchase fields and property, living out our days as rural elders!”

Ye Mian bolted upright, asking urgently, “What about me? What about me?! Are you all abandoning me?!”

The corner of Vice Minister Ye’s mouth twitched slightly as he said wistfully, “You, naturally, will have to remain in the capital. The mantle of our Ye family name will likely depend entirely on your branch to sustain it in the future.”

Ye Mian was left staring in utterly dumbfounded astonishment, his brain completely short-circuiting.

This is far more terrifying than the death of ten crown princes!

Nothing had even happened in the palace yet, so why was their family facing a separation of flesh and blood first?!

Stuttering and entirely incoherent, Ye Mian stammered, “No… No way! You can’t leave! I… I can’t…”

Taking a few deep breaths, Ye Mian finally grasped at a reason. “The Third Prince is such an overbearing and arrogant man; even if my brother flees to the ends of the earth, he will hunt him down and drag him back!”

Vice Minister Ye’s countenance turned profoundly solemn. He lifted his head, locking his gaze onto Ye Mian with deep significance. “Mian’er, let me ask you: if he truly leaves no room for recourse and drives us to utter destruction, what would you do?”

Ye Mian saw his father staring fixedly at him without blinking, his eyes filled with encouragement, hope, and an indescribable, profound meaning—as if he were about to pass something monumental into his hands.

Ye Mian stood there frozen, his breathing turning rapid at some unknown point. It felt as though he had been thrust into a desperate, perilous strait, his spine suddenly bearing the weight and responsibility of the entire Ye clan. Before him lay a bottomless abyss, and a bleak, solitary sense of duty surged within him, so heavy it caused a dull ache…

Though his eyes were hollow and dazed, Ye Mian involuntarily straightened his spine. His lips parted slightly as he muttered in a tentative, probing whisper, “I… plot a rebellion???”

The moment the words left Ye Mian’s mouth, Vice Minister Ye erupted into a earth-shattering fit of violent coughing, immediately followed by a thunderous roar that shook the room.

“GET OUT!!! YOU ABSOLUTE BRAT!!!!!!!”

The bleak and desolate background music playing inside Ye Mian’s head ground to a screeching halt.

“Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough—”

Vice Minister Ye underwent another round of chest-rending coughing, looking as though he were about to hack up his very lungs.

Wheezing like an ox, he pointed at him and roared curses, “You wretched creature!!! Spouting such treasonous absurdities! You rebellious son!!! I… cough, cough, cough, cough… cough…”

Vice Minister Ye turned around and snatched the feather duster resting inside a floor vase, filled with an intense, vengeful rage. “I’ll beat you to death today, you little bane of my existence! I’ll purge this household on behalf of the Ye family!”

Naturally, Ye Mian refused to stand still and take a beating. He ran in circles around the table, protesting frantically in his distress, “What are you doing? What are you doing?! I am a newly minted Shujishi of this triennial exam, after all! Even if I’m not yet a commissioned official of the court, you can’t just beat me at whim!”

Brandishing the feather duster, Vice Minister Ye pursued him to deliver a thrashing. “A commissioned official of the court! If you ask me, you’re a menace to the court! I shall rid the people of this pest today!”

Ye Mian talked back, “You were the one who asked me! If you weren’t satisfied with my answer, you could have just guided me with a few pointers. Why resort to violence? Why do you always resort to violence?! How come I never see you beat my brother? You biased old man!”

The moment Ye Mian brought up the matter of favoritism, he grew incredibly animated, feeling immensely wronged. “I merely lost my mind for a brief instant just now, but wasn’t that because I was worried about you, Mother, and my brother? You pressed me to answer ‘what would you do’—that person is going to be the Emperor in the future, so if I don’t drag him off his horse, what else could I possibly think to do?”

Vice Minister Ye felt his vision swimming with darkness from sheer fury, roaring out, “Are the imperial censors of the court all dead? Could you not go find them?! If the pastries don’t taste good, do you smash up the kitchen?! If someone offends you, do you slaughter them all?! You still dare to talk back! See if I don’t beat you to death!”

Feeling a bit guilty, Ye Mian put on a brave front and blustered, “I admit the method I thought of was a bit crude… But didn’t I say so? I just lost my mind for an instant… Ouch! That hurts like hell!”

Having received a thorough thrashing, Ye Mian walked out of the study with tears streaming down his face.

In the past, he would have stood in the courtyard to shout back a few harsher retorts before making his escape, but today he didn’t quite dare. Firstly, he knew he was in the wrong; secondly, his father had been genuinely infuriated this time, his breathing turning entirely ragged. If Ye Mian talked back any further, he feared he might actually cause his father to pass out from rage.

Limping slightly, Ye Mian departed from the courtyard.

Inside the study, Vice Minister Ye paced back and forth with a livid expression, the feather duster still gripped tightly in his hand. He had been thoroughly enraged by that wretched creature tonight, wishing nothing more than to chase him down to his courtyard and strike him a few more times to vent his fury.

“That absolute brat! And to think I was counting on you to uphold the mantle of the Ye family name! If that day truly comes, I’ll tie you to my belt first! Leaving you behind to let a monkey rule as king? In your dreams!!!”

“And what was that about ‘even if my brother flees to the ends of the earth, he will hunt him down and drag him back’…” Vice Minister Ye panted heavily in his anger. “Of course he would drag him back! Once you stir up a catastrophic disaster that gets nine generations of our clan executed, our entire family will be dragged right back!”

“Counting on you! I’d be better off counting on a monkey!”

Driven out of his wits by sheer rage, Vice Minister Ye muttered to himself inside the study, grumbling continuously for a long while.

Thus, both father and son spent the night sleeping with a heart full of resentment.

The following morning, before Ye Mian departed for the government offices, a head handmaiden wrapped a plain blue satin cloak over his shoulders.

“A fierce wind picked up outside during the third watch of the night, carrying sand that stings the face.”

The weather was neither hot nor cold, so Ye Mian was usually disinclined to wear such things. However, the moment he opened the doors, he sensed something amiss. The air was permeated with a thick, earthy scent. Although the sun had not yet risen, the clouds were turbid and the moon was dim; one could still discern the ash-gray gloom of the sky.

Upon arriving at the Hanlin Academy, he discovered that Ruan Yunsheng was likewise draped in a cloak. The two stood at the entrance of the Compilation and Examination Hall, shaking off the sand while spitting and sputtering it out of their mouths.

At this hour on any ordinary day, the sky would have already brightened. Today, however, it remained thoroughly dark and heavy—resembling neither the early morning nor the late evening, appearing exceptionally bizarre.

Ye Mian lifted his gaze to look into the distance. The palace eaves and corners, which usually shone brilliantly under the golden morning light, had now lost their luster, leaving behind only a blurred silhouette.

Ruan Yunsheng spat out another mouthful of sand and grumbled, “So the Crown Prince really perished, and the heavens are manifesting an anomaly? But could it please change to a different kind of anomaly? This is simply too filthy…”

Those old charlatans at the Imperial Astronomical Bureau are spouting nonsense again, Ye Mian snorted silently to himself. Even a thousand years in the future, the capital during spring will still experience sandstorms. What kind of immortal crown prince dying could cause an anomaly to manifest for this long?

The moment the sky darkened yesterday afternoon, the crowd at the Hanlin Academy had turned thoroughly superstitious, running over to the Imperial Astronomical Bureau to seek answers.

Old Hanlin Scholar Zhao Fangru stood on the opposite red corridor. He was no longer weeping now, gazing up at the sky with a thoroughly grave expression.

The clouds in the sky appeared as though smeared with thick mud, and the sun was nowhere to be found. Scholar Zhao faced toward the east, kowtowing with an expression of absolute piety.

Having finished shaking off the sand, Ye Mian and Ruan Yunsheng were just about to turn around and enter the room when Jin Minqing, the Academician Recipient of Edicts, entered the courtyard in a hurried stride while clutching a wooden box. Spotting the two standing beneath the corridor, he gestured toward them.

“You two, come over here.”

The two hurriedly approached, came to a halt, and saluted. “Master Jin.”

Academician Jin had no time to waste on pleasantries with them, instructing, “The [Imperial Decree of Recall] inside needs to be transcribed in triplicate. You two must copy it swiftly and present it to me for verification within half an hour. The eight-hundred-mile expedited courier horses are waiting outside to deliver the decree.”

The two dared not delay, swiftly carrying the box into the Compilation and Examination Hall.

Ruan Yunsheng deftly unfurled the cloud-and-dragon patterned paper prepared inside the box, then ground a well of thick ink upon the inkstone.

Ye Mian, on the other hand, unrolled the scroll of the imperial decree, his body freezing instantly.

Noticing his unusual reaction, Ruan Yunsheng also leaned his head closer to look at the imperial decree.

“Oh, it’s the Third Prince. It is indeed time for him to return…”

Ruan Yunsheng let out a cold laugh, lowering his voice to speak with Ye Mian, “That one is the true, genuine star of absolute chaos. A spectacular show is about to unfold within our capital very soon…”