Hearing her words, Lord Ye then realized that it was his spies who had made mistakes. For a moment, he felt remorseful, but it was too late now.
He gritted his teeth. "Even if I miscalculated today, 'to the victor belong the spoils, and the loser must yield'. I admit defeat. All my preparations over the years have gone down the drain."
With Lord Ye's admission of defeat, the morale of his rebels was low. Soon, all of them were captured.
When the young emperor returned to the imperial study and saw the people kneeling below with excited faces, he walked down and helped them up one by one.
"I'm really grateful that you uncles came in time today. If it weren't for you, I'm afraid my mother and I wouldn't be standing here safely in front of you now."
Shi Li smiled and said, "It's our duty. Your Majesty is the sovereign, and of course we should protect your safety. I just wonder what Your Majesty plans to do with the Ye family members next?"
Hearing him bring up this topic, since the young emperor now trusted them whole - heartedly, he didn't intend to hide anything.
"The Ye family is so audacious that they could do such a thing. Even if we don't execute the entire family, Lord Ye can't be allowed to live. All the male members of the family will be beheaded, and the female relatives will be exiled to the border to serve in the military brothels."
Hearing this, Shi Muwǎn couldn't help but feel sad. Among those women, there must be some innocent ones, but they couldn't show mercy.
After today, Shi Muwǎn had already seen through people's hearts. The Ye family had led so many people in a rebellion. They had to give an explanation to the common people and a warning to the whole world.
Let them know that the royal family was not so useless and would not just keep tolerating.
After all the previous commotion, she rubbed her forehead, looking a bit exhausted.
"You can make the decision. I'm a bit tired and will go back first. Brothers, you can stay in the palace for dinner later."
Shi An felt sorry for his little sister when he saw her like this.
"No need. You should have a good rest. We'll get together when we're free next time."
Since he said so, it was also for his own sake. Shi Muwǎn responded and then left.
The men in the imperial study continued to discuss the next arrangements.
Back in the palace, the young girl dismissed everyone except Xiao Xiao and Fan Zhen.
The two of them looked extremely guilty. They both thought it was their mistake that allowed the Ye family members to take advantage of the situation and made their mistress suffer so much.
Seeing that they kept kneeling on the ground and refused to get up, the young girl was helpless.
"What should I do with you two? Besides, this incident can't be entirely blamed on you. If the Ye family wanted to find an opportunity, they would surely find one sooner or later."
Fan Zhen said painfully, "If I could have accompanied the Empress Dowager more instead of going for a little reward that day, the Empress Dowager wouldn't have suffered so much."
"And this servant. This servant shouldn't have gone out with the minister that day. Empress Dowager, please beat this servant. Even if you beat this servant to death, this servant won't say a word."
The young girl was calm about their behavior. She got up and said softly, "I've just managed to get through all the previous troubles and want to rest. If you two keep dwelling on the past, don't follow me anymore in the future."
Unexpectedly, she would say such serious words. The two of them looked at each other and knew that she didn't want them to blame themselves too much.
Finally, after several persuasions from her, the two of them swore, "From now on, if anything happens to the Empress Dowager, we'll be struck by lightning and die a horrible death."
Letting them do as they wished, the young girl waited until they finished and then said, "Now that you've said what you wanted to say, please leave quickly. I want to rest."
"Yes."
The curtain fell, the light gauze fluttered, and a few fallen leaves flew down on the windowsill, making the young girl lost in thought.
The scene of Lord Ye trying to kill her kept lingering in her mind.
From previous experiences to now, everyone wanted that high position. She still couldn't understand what was so attractive about it.
In the dead of night, she had seen the young emperor with prematurely white hair. In the early morning, she had also seen Ji Heng with a gloomy face cleaning up the mess left by the corrupt officials.
In fact, the greater one's ability, the greater the responsibility one should shoulder. These people only wanted the high position but never thought about how much they would have to pay for it.
She sighed slightly and closed her eyes to take a nap.
Just as she closed her eyes, voices came from outside.
"Auntie, please let us see the Empress Dowager. We really have something very important to tell her."
"Presumptuous! The Empress Dowager is already asleep. If there's anything, come back tomorrow. No matter how important it is, you can't disturb the Empress Dowager's rest."
Hearing this, the person seemed a bit anxious.
"Auntie, I'm begging you."
The young girl slowly opened her eyes. Just as Xiao Xiao was about to stop him, she called out, "Let him in."
She remembered that the voice seemed to be that of Xiao Fuzi, the little eunuch beside Fu Lu.
Since this little eunuch had been sent here, there might be something important.
As it turned out, her guess was right.
As soon as Xiao Fuzi came in, he knelt on the ground.
"Empress Dowager, please go to the prison quickly. Lord Ye has committed suicide by taking poison."
Hearing this, the young girl immediately got up. By the time Xiao Fuzi looked up, she was already gone. As expected, he received a few cold looks.
Feeling the murderous looks from Xiao Xiao and Fan Zhen, he shrank his neck and quickly followed Shi Muwǎn.
When Shi Muwǎn led a group of people to the prison, they only saw the imperial doctor shaking his head.
"Even if Hua Tuo were alive, it would be useless. Empress Dowager, this person can only be thrown into the mass grave."
The young girl narrowed her eyes slightly. What a day it had been.
"Could it be a fake - death drug? I've heard that there are plenty of such drugs in the folk."
"No. I've been practicing medicine for many years. If it were really a fake - death drug, he would have woken up after so much acupuncture."
Since the imperial doctor was so certain, she waved her hand, and the irrelevant people left.
The young girl walked in, tried several times to check his breath and pulse, but finally found nothing.
Seeing her unconcerned appearance, Xiao Xiao beside her got anxious.
"Empress Dowager, it's so dirty. Don't touch him. The imperial doctor must be right."
"Alas, then chop him up and feed him to the dogs."
It was the first time her mistress had said such a thing. Fan Zhen was almost shocked out of his wits. Was this really the kind - hearted Empress Dowager? Had Lord Ye secretly replaced her when he kidnapped her?
Shi Muwǎn could tell what he was thinking and said, "He once put a knife to my neck. Do you think I should still keep his body intact?"
She took a long breath. Since she was already here, she decided to visit someone.