Chu Shaoling looked at the letter in his hand and smiled coldly instead of getting angry, "It's a wonder he remembers it so clearly."

In the warm chamber, there were only Chu Shaoling, Wei Ji, and Wang Muhan. Wang Muhan was still worried that Chu Shaoling would blame him for handing the letter to Wei Ji, so he bowed and said, "It's all this servant's fault, this..."

"It has nothing to do with you," Chu Shaoling smiled faintly, "If he wanted Wei Ji to know, he would find a way. If not by sending a letter, next time he might come to provoke in person. I still know his temperament."

Chu Shaoling never regretted his actions, but now he couldn't help but doubt himself. Was he blind before? He actually protected that thing in every way and spoiled him to the sky. It was really a loss to have no other biological siblings. With only one younger brother left after Empress Ling passed away, there were all kinds of wrongs. Thinking of Empress Ling's last words and that this was his only blood relative, he had to forgive him.

But now Chu Shaoling had other hopes. Looking at Wei Ji, Chu Shaoling's heart was filled with anger. If Chu Shaoyang provoked him, it would be fine, but repeatedly using Wei Ji to provoke him, Chu Shaoling could not tolerate him this time no matter what.

Chu Shaoling held the letter in his hand and raised his eyebrows to carefully observe Wei Ji's expression. On the surface, Wei Ji didn't seem sad, but this foolish thing had always been tolerant. Chu Shaoling couldn't be sure if Wei Ji was truly not upset or just pretending not to mind for his sake.

After thinking for a while, he said, "Eunuch Wang, go to Ci'an Palace and tell the Empress Dowager that I'm not feeling well today, and ask for some pills for the heart. If the Empress Dowager asks you, just say you don't know anything. Go."

Wang Muhan didn't understand his intention, but still bowed and left.

The most urgent thing now was to comfort Wei Ji properly.

Chu Shaoling put the letter aside, got up and pulled Wei Ji to sit on the couch together, and said in a low voice, "I won't hide this matter from you today. What's written in this letter is all true. Yesterday in Ci'an Palace, I did say that."

Wei Ji looked at Chu Shaoling and nodded, waiting to hear what Chu Shaoling would say next.

Chu Shaoling pursed his thin lips and continued, "I never intended to make it clear to the Empress Dowager. There's no need. The Empress Dowager is old, and there are many things I don't need to argue with her about at her age. Even if I lay out our matter now, it will only make the Empress Dowager target you and serve no other purpose. So this is wronging you. I shouldn't have said those words that hurt your heart. Consider it my apology to you. Don't take it to heart."

Chu Shaoling held Wei Ji's hand and spoke sincerely. Wei Ji felt a little embarrassed. It wasn't a big deal, so why was His Highness being so serious and saying such sweet words? It made people feel awkward.

Wei Ji said in a low voice, "This subordinate understands. Your Highness is afraid of causing trouble for this subordinate and is considerate of this subordinate. This subordinate understands."

"Yes, I don't care about anything else now, I'm just afraid of bringing fire onto you." Chu Shaoling felt relieved in his heart. Wei Ji indeed understood his intentions. "You see the Empress Dowager chanting scriptures and worshipping Buddha in Ci'an Palace every day, but in fact, the Empress Dowager's behind-the-scenes forces are not small. Not to mention the Empress Dowager's deployment of people in various parts of the palace over the years, just the family of Jing'guo Duke Manor, the Empress Dowager's maiden family, is enough for the Empress Dowager to do anything with ease. The Empress Dowager is my biological grandmother, but there are some things that must be guarded against. As long as you understand my painstaking efforts, it's fine."

Wei Ji nodded, feeling a little shy, "Your Highness is doing all this for this subordinate. This subordinate understands. If it weren't for Your Highness' careful consideration for this subordinate's well-being, this subordinate would not have been able to spend such a pleasant year by Your Highness' side. Your Highness previously instructed this subordinate not to overstep Elder Brother in anything. After thinking about it later, this subordinate understood. Your Highness was afraid that this subordinate would stand at the forefront of the storm. Your Highness just wants this subordinate to enjoy glory and splendor. This subordinate feels both ashamed and grateful in his heart. This subordinate is not good with words and doesn't know how to express it, but understands."

Wei Ji rarely leaned closer and took the initiative to hold one of Chu Shaoling's hands, saying in a low voice, "Does the person who sent the letter take this subordinate for a fool? Not believing in Your Highness but believing in him instead, this subordinate is not crazy. This subordinate may not be as intelligent as Your Highness, but reading military strategies every day also allows one to understand some principles. In the past, there was the martial god Xiang Yu. If he had not been deceived by Liu Bang's scheme to make him mistrust Fan Zeng and think he was communicating with the enemy, he would not have ended up committing suicide at the bottom of the Wu River. Many monarchs and ministers originally supported each other for many years, but failed due to insufficient trust in each other. Past events serve as teachers for future events. This subordinate will not follow the old path of these people."

"Your Highness is a good person to this subordinate. This subordinate only believes in Your Highness. This subordinate cannot compare to figures like Your Highness and Elder Brother. This subordinate's mind is slow, and there are some things that cannot be understood immediately. But from now on, this subordinate will also tell Your Highness all the divisive words like today. Your Highness will surely understand with a glance and explain it to this subordinate. Then this subordinate will also understand."

It must be said that although Wei Ji was not very intelligent, he had the alertness of a small animal when it came to Chu Shaoling's matters. He could feel that Chu Shaoling was eager to explain to him, fearing that he would misunderstand his intentions. Wei Ji revealed his loyalty before Chu Shaoling could explain, to put Chu Shaoling's mind at ease, "As for all such unpleasant words, if this subordinate understands them, he will know that they are deliberately trying to sow discord. If this subordinate doesn't understand, he will wait for Your Highness to explain. In any case, this subordinate will not believe them. This subordinate is Your Highness' guard, and only believes in and listens to Your Highness."

When Wei Ji was with Chu Shaoling, he usually listened to Chu Shaoling and rarely spoke so much at once. Chu Shaoling was stunned for a moment, feeling extremely comforted in his heart. Heaven had mercy and still sent such a treasure to his side.

Wei Ji himself spoke for half a day and seeing Chu Shaoling not saying a word, he was also stunned. He tentatively asked, "Did this subordinate say something wrong in his rambling?"

"No." Chu Shaoling held Wei Ji in his arms and sighed softly, "It's just that I was shocked by you once again. With your words today, it has relieved me of many worries."

Wei Ji felt a little shy. Chu Shaoling was praising him, right?

"Your Highness," Wang Muhan softly reported from outside, "This servant has brought back the medicine."

Hearing this, Wei Ji wanted to get up, but Chu Shaoling held him and wouldn't let him move. He only said, "What did the Empress Dowager say?"

Chu Shaoling didn't let him enter the inner chamber, so naturally Wang Muhan didn't dare to enter without permission. He answered from outside, "When the Empress Dowager heard that Your Highness wanted to take this medicine, she became extremely anxious and kept asking this servant what happened. This servant said he didn't know. At first, the Empress Dowager didn't believe it and questioned this servant repeatedly about what exactly happened. This servant kept saying he didn't know, and only then did she let this servant return. She urged Your Highness that anger greatly harms the body, and if there is any grievance, to tell the Empress Dowager, and the Empress Dowager will surely support Your Highness."

Chu Shaoling chuckled and dismissed Wang Muhan.

Wei Ji was stunned for a moment and said in a small voice, "Is Your Highness pretending to be sick?"

Chu Shaoling nodded and chuckled lightly, "Yes, come let me kiss you properly first." Chu Shaoling embraced Wei Ji and flipped him over, pressing him down on the couch.

Wei Ji urgently whispered, "Your Highness, it's broad daylight..."

Chu Shaoling quickly removed Wei Ji's outer robe in a few motions, chuckling, "I'm going to pretend to be sick, so naturally I need to lie in bed. Be good and keep me company."

Unable to resist, Wei Ji had no choice but to let Chu Shaoling grope and bully him.

It was as if Chu Shaoling had forgotten about the letter. He only pretended to be sick for a day before never mentioning it again. The next day, he went to court as usual, discussed politics as usual, and paid his respects as usual. No matter how the Empress Dowager asked, Chu Shaoling just kept his mouth shut, not saying a word about what he wanted the pills for, only saying it was nothing.

How could the Empress Dowager be easily fooled? Usually if Chu Shaoling had the slightest headache or fever, the Empress Dowager would summon the imperial physicians to personally attend to him. After being asked a few times by the Empress Dowager, Chu Shaoling had no choice but to answer, "Your grandson was angered by Yang'er. Forget it, forget it, it's not something that can be said to make Imperial Grandmother angry."

Once this was mentioned, the Empress Dowager wanted to get to the bottom of it. Left with no choice, Chu Shaoling handed over the letter from Chu Shaoyang to the Empress Dowager, sighing softly, "This was given to Wei Ji by someone close to Yang'er. Fortunately, I intercepted it. Wei Ji never saw it."

Chu Shaoling did not want the Empress Dowager to think that Wei Ji was attracting trouble, so he first removed Wei Ji from the picture. He lamented, "Yang'er has truly broken my heart. It's one thing for him to be like this to me, I'm blocking his path, I understand. But for him to actually plant someone by Imperial Grandmother's side, he has really let down Imperial Grandmother's love for him over the years."

Chu Shaoling spoke with sorrow, but the Empress Dowager was so angry she almost fainted. She raged, "I was truly blind and wasted my love on this wretched creature! Let me summon him here and throw this letter in his face and ask him! Someone come!"

"Imperial Grandmother mustn't!" Chu Shaoling quickly stopped her and knelt down to earnestly advise, "Any anger Imperial Grandmother has, just take it out on your grandson. If this matter blows up and Imperial Father finds out, will Yang'er still have his life?!"

The Empress Dowager was greatly distressed and couldn't help but cry. She helped Chu Shaoling up, sobbing, "You child, you're just too sensible. You made yourself sick over this matter. If I hadn't forced you, you still wouldn't have told me. You're digging at my heart, oh my precious..."

The Empress Dowager felt even more that Chu Shaoling was sensible and understood the big picture. She held Chu Shaoling and cried for a while before saying, "Could it be that this matter will just be dropped?"

Chu Shaoling sighed, "Your grandson will find an opportunity to give him a talking-to. If he learns his lesson and reforms from now on, then forget it. Imperial Grandmother is right, brothers born of the same mother, what can't be discussed openly? I'm the older brother, so naturally I need to be more tolerant."

The Empress Dowager felt even more distressed and held Chu Shaoling, nagging for half a day.

All was calm at Bitao Palace. Chu Shaoyang was also puzzled. How did that single letter of his sink without a trace? Did the people in Bitao Palace not see it? Or did Chu Shaoling intercept the letter?

Chu Shaoyang didn't know, but it just so happened that from that day onward, Chu Shaoling kept Wei Ji confined in his own palace and wouldn't let him out. Even when Chu Shaoyang wanted to provoke him face-to-face, he couldn't find the opportunity.

When the eunuch serving by the Emperor's side summoned Chu Shaoyang for an audience, Chu Shaoyang was still anxiously scratching his heart over Wei Ji's matter. He didn't notice the gloomy expression on the summoning eunuch's face, nor did he know that in Chengqian Palace, the Emperor was so angry he could eat Chu Shaoyang's heart.

In a side hall of Chengqian Palace, only the Emperor was present. After Chu Shaoyang was brought in, even the eunuch serving by the Emperor's side withdrew. Chu Shaoyang felt something was off. He knelt down to pay his respects, but for a long time didn't hear the Emperor tell him to rise.

The Emperor quietly looked at Chu Shaoyang kneeling before him. After a while, he said, "I truly didn't know that your abilities have become so great now."

Chu Shaoyang was stunned, not knowing how to respond. What did the Emperor mean by this?

Chu Shaoyang hesitated for a moment before carefully answering, "This son does not understand Imperial Father's meaning. Where does this son have any great abilities?"

"No great abilities?" The Emperor laughed coldly and threw a few letters on the desk towards Chu Shaoyang. He raged, "Look for yourself, what is this?! The matter of distributing grain at the end of this year was just discussed in court yesterday and has not yet been formally deliberated. How did you know about it? And how did you even send it out?!"

Chu Shaoyang picked up the letters on the ground, his heart immediately clenching. The stationery and handwriting were no different from what he had sent to Bitao Palace!

Chu Shaoyang took a closer look at the contents of the letters and his heart turned cold. Since the Emperor recovered from his illness, he had never participated in court deliberations. Indeed, he did have channels to gather information, but he had never passed on these political matters!

Chu Shaoyang quickly tried to explain himself, "Imperial Father, this son does not recognize what this is. This stationery, I indeed have it, but this type of stationery is available in every palace and courtyard. It can't be determined to be this son's just based on that. Also this handwriting, Imperial Father knows this son's handwriting. This is definitely not this son's penmanship. This son truly does not know what this is!"

The Emperor said coldly, "You're quite good at shirking responsibility. But I didn't determine it was you based on this. This item was found being sent out from the rear palace on a carriage. As soon as it was discovered, I directly sent someone to investigate. The ink used to write this letter is the pine resin ink exclusively used by the princes. This matter must be related to you few. Usually, there are only a few people who accompany you to the Huixin Institute. I've already had all those people arrested and individually had them write to compare the handwriting."

Chu Shaoyang's heart turned cold. He was about to explain when the Emperor interrupted him harshly, "You hid it quite well! The eunuch who usually accompanies you to class turned out to be literate. This is his handwriting!"

Just now, the Emperor had taken the handwritten drafts of the princes' study companions and compared them one by one. None matched. It was Chu Shaoling's study companion who was loyal. He confessed on his own that a few of the young eunuchs by Chu Shaoling's side were also literate. The Emperor immediately had the princes' attendants each write a few characters, and sure enough, found the person who wrote this letter!

Chu Shaoyang was extremely terrified. This was indeed the handwriting of his eunuch An Xu. In order to conceal himself, he always had An Xu pen these things. It's just that others all thought An Xu was illiterate. Who would have thought the Emperor would uncover it? Chu Shaoyang now had no way to explain. These letters were truly not written by him!

"Imperial Father!" Chu Shaoyang tried to make himself a bit more clear-headed, trembling as he said, "This also can't be said to definitely be this son's doing. Even if this son had unending courage, he wouldn't dare transmit information to others. Besides, what benefit would this have for this son?! Who knows if someone else imitated An Xu's handwriting, and who knows if An Xu was bribed by someone?! This son is loyal to Imperial Father, how could he do this kind of thing?!"

The Emperor's expression softened a little. Chu Shaoyang continued anxiously, "Father Emperor also knows that there are many people in the palace who don't look favorably upon your son." Seeing the Emperor's expression, Chu Shaoyang trembled in his heart, and a thought flashed through his mind - when the Emperor first saw this letter, he must have first suspected Chu Shaoling!

That's right, Father Emperor has always been wary of Chu Shaoling. Chu Shaoyang tried hard to clear his thoughts and said in a trembling voice, "Your son is foolish and doesn't understand the ways of the world. I always offend people when I speak. Now I have even offended my elder brother. It's clear that your son doesn't know how to conduct himself. How many people in this palace want to harm your son? Who knows if someone else is playing a trick to drive a wedge between Father Emperor and me?!"

A thought flashed through the Emperor's mind. Before he could hesitate, he heard from outside that the Empress Dowager had arrived.

The Empress Dowager was originally talking with the concubines in Ci'an Palace when Chu Shaoling suddenly sent Wang Muhan over to tell her that Chu Shaoyang had somehow offended the Emperor, and the Emperor was furious and wanted to deal with Chu Shaoyang. The Empress Dowager was uneasy in her heart after all, so she came leaning on the old palace maids and saw this scene.

The Emperor suppressed his temper and paid his respects to the Empress Dowager, saying in a low voice, "Why did this end up disturbing Imperial Mother? It's all your son's fault."

The Empress Dowager sighed, "Emperor, Yang'er is still young after all. If you have something to say, talk to him properly."

The Emperor was still angry. He picked up a letter and handed it to the Empress Dowager, whispering angrily, "Imperial Mother, look, this is the handwriting of the eunuch beside him. Your son is investigating..."

"Yang'er!" The Empress Dowager had originally come to mediate, but when she saw the familiar letter paper and handwriting, anger rose from her heart. She couldn't care about anything else and lashed out, even bringing up the previous matter. She sternly questioned, "How can you still make these things?! I tolerated it last time, but you don't know to repent?!"

With one sentence from the Empress Dowager, Chu Shaoyang's two crimes were confirmed.