If the emperor hadn't learned to hide his thoughts from childhood, hearing all this would probably have enraged him enough to flip the table on the spot!
He'd thought he was repaying a debt of gratitude, but he'd actually been plunging a knife into his benefactor's heart!
If it had been him-
If someone he'd once helped, after gaining power, had come running to support his enemies in the name of repaying his kindness-
He would probably have wanted to twist that idiot's head off and see what on earth was inside!
The emperor closed his eyes, struggling to settle his emotions.
The three children in the study were all among those he cared about most. He couldn't lose his temper and frighten them!
After forcing down his fury, the emperor spoke calmly, his voice as gentle as ever.
"Luoshui, Qing Luo, Xiao Qi, go home for now. I have important matters to attend to."
The emperor had barely finished speaking when the chief eunuch hurried to interject.
"Your Majesty, the grand secretaries are already waiting in the council chamber."
Seeing that the emperor really did have business to attend to, they obediently bowed and took their leave.
The three of them left the imperial study together. After crying for so long, the Seventh Princess's eyes were swollen beyond recognition.
"This is a skincare product I just got. Take it and use it, Seventh Sister."
Having just feasted on two juicy scandals, she had earned quite a few points from the system. While browsing the points shop just now, she'd spotted a skincare product that could quickly reduce swelling and spent her points on a bottle.
Only after repeated assurances from the system did Wenren Luoshui bring it out for the Seventh Princess.
Utterly wilted, the Seventh Princess listlessly accepted the ointment from Wenren Luoshui. Then, like a wandering ghost, she tottered toward her own palace with her personal maid supporting her.
Wenren Luoshui shook her head, feeling deep sympathy for what awaited the Seventh Princess.
If she secretly exposed all the Guangping Marquis Estate's dirty secrets, she wondered whether they would reach Uncle Emperor's ears.
Then he could step in and deal with the Guangping Marquis Estate.
"Ah! Sister, why didn't you remind me!"
The moment they sat down in the carriage, the little bean clenched his right fist and smacked it hard into his left palm.
He looked as though he'd just remembered something momentous.
"Did you lose your money?"
Wenren Luoshui picked up a thumb-sized pastry and popped the whole thing into her mouth.
"Sis, why didn't you remind me that I came to ask Uncle Emperor for that little jade horse?"
"Relax. When has Uncle Emperor ever forgotten something he promised you? Even if he does forget, he'll make it up to you a few days later."
The little bean decided she had a point and immediately turned back into a happy puppy, scrambling over to fight his own sister for food.
The carriage swayed along and soon arrived outside the Prince of Beiping's Residence. The siblings had just climbed out.
They saw two stern-faced matrons waiting at the entrance. At the sight of them, the matrons spoke haughtily, without the slightest courtesy.
"Commandery Princess, Heir, the old princess consort has sent us to summon you."
"Oh. Not going!"
Taking the little bean by the hand, she skirted around the two matrons who looked down their noses at everyone and tried to slip away.
That old princess consort was no good person, and the older she grew, the more blatant her favoritism became.
When she'd been younger, she'd at least kept up appearances. Now she didn't even bother pretending.
Every time Wenren Luoshui clashed with Wenren Shuang, she was invariably the one the old princess consort summoned for a scolding.
The woman wasn't even her real grandmother. Why should she indulge her?
"Please do not make things difficult for us, Commandery Princess!"
The two matrons blocked the siblings' path again. Wenren Luoshui wasted no courtesy on them and rewarded each with a kick.
"Everyone, come and look! To let her own son inherit the estate, the old princess consort of the Prince of Beiping's Residence actually put drugs in the food of the son born to the previous wife!"
"Boo-hoo-hoo! My poor father! My poor mother! My poor little brother!"
The little sprout was quick on the uptake. Seeing his sister suddenly burst into wails, he immediately joined in.
"Boo-hoo-hoo! Grandmother's bad! Boo-hoo-hoo!"
The siblings weren't exactly quiet. Besides, from ancient times to the present, feasting on gossip had been a habit carved into their countrymen's very bones.
Even if the neighboring homes were also occupied by royalty and nobles who couldn't come out to watch the spectacle themselves, they could send their servants to look on and report back.
The old princess consort had strictly educated her own son-Wenren Luoshui's second uncle-from childhood. She'd devoted far more care to him than to the eldest son, who wasn't hers by birth.
He was now a third-rank official at court.
The nearby onlookers were drawn over by their cries. Wenren Luoshui and the little sprout both had remarkably penetrating voices.
The two stern-faced matrons had to endure the siblings' sonic assault while also weathering the surrounding crowd's accusations.
They had served the old princess consort since childhood and were accustomed to throwing their weight around. When had so many people ever criticized them?
Their faces alternated between green and white. Their minds abruptly seized up, and they shouted at the siblings as though scolding servant girls under their authority who'd made a mistake.
"Shut up!"
"Boo-hoo-hoo! I don't want to live anymore! My father is the Prince of Beiping! I'm a commandery princess personally invested by His Majesty, and my brother is an heir personally invested by His Majesty! My father is also His Majesty's brother in all but blood-they grew up together from the days they wore split-crotch pants! Yet even an elderly matron from our residence can yell at me in the street!"
"Boo-hoo-hoo!"
"Oh, my own dear grandmother!"
"Open your eyes up in heaven and look!"
"Look at how your concubine-born younger sister treats your own son and grandchildren!"
"Your younger sister sent her own son to the finest school, Xiduo Academy, from childhood. She checked his schoolwork every day and wouldn't let him take a concubine or a wife before his proper marriage. But she never disciplined your own son, the eldest son of the household! Whenever he got into trouble outside, she played the victim and said she didn't dare rein him in!"
"What person who genuinely wants the best for a child leaves him to fend for himself?"
"My poor father! Not only did his own aunt ruin him with her upbringing, she even put drugs in his food!"
"Since Second Uncle's family can't tolerate us, we might as well die right now."
"The sooner we die, the sooner we can go down and reunite with our real grandmother."
The surrounding onlookers suddenly realized that it really was true.
Everyone in the capital knew about the two sons of the Prince of Beiping's Residence. The eldest was a notorious good-for-nothing who did nothing all day but eat, drink, and amuse himself.
The second son, however, had excelled in both character and learning since childhood, a dragon among men. At fifteen, he'd placed third in the imperial examinations. He also kept himself unsullied; before his marriage, he hadn't even had a bedchamber maid.
Compared like that, the second son seemed particularly outstanding.
But if both children had been raised by the same mother, how could their achievements differ so greatly?
Unless someone had deliberately left him to run wild, who would willingly become an Adou who could never be propped up?
Wenren Luoshui suddenly rushed forward, seized the two matrons, and dragged them toward the stone lion at the entrance.
As she ran, she shouted.
"Dying alone would make the road to the Yellow Springs too lonely. I might as well bring two people along to keep this commandery princess company!"
"Everyone, remember this: the person who drove this commandery princess to her death in the street today was the old princess consort of the Prince of Beiping's Residence!"
Seeing that she meant it, many of the more timid onlookers instinctively covered their eyes, afraid of witnessing blood splatter everywhere.
The two matrons wished they could tear their arms off on the spot. The commandery princess had gone mad and didn't want to live, but they hadn't lived enough yet!
Just as Wenren Luoshui was about to crash into the stone lion, two covert guards dashed out and caught her. The two matrons, however, weren't so lucky.
Their heads struck the stone lion. Even if they didn't die, they would suffer severe concussions.
These two covert guards had been sent by the emperor to protect his dear brother, the Prince of Beiping.
It was precisely because she knew they were there that she'd charged toward the stone lion without hesitation.
Once she'd been caught, Wenren Luoshui closed her eyes and promptly fainted. Whatever rumors people outside might spread-
That was their business. After all, the mouths were theirs.