The emperor's punishment of the Li family seemingly ended with Li Jian's burial. But Qi Rong knew that this was just the first step in the rift between the emperor and the Li family, and even the empress dowager.
Just as he had expected, after the event, the emperor not only immediately released Yun Sheng and Yun Ni, executed all the Jinyiwei on the list who had been bribed by the Li family, but also found a random charge to stab to death the eunuch Qin beside him.
Because of the death of Qiu Daoji, the emperor had originally asked Eunuch Qin to keep it a secret. The latter had verbally agreed but then told the empress dowager.
The emperor even suspected that the empress dowager had planted informants in the Fengtian Hall. Otherwise, the empress dowager couldn't have known the information and made a timely judgment, leaving him caught off guard!
It didn't stop there.
Since the crown prince had been persecuted by the Li family twice, the Lin family, on the empress's side, had changed from being just opposed to the Li family to hating them to the core.
At this time, the emperor deliberately supported the Lin family and allowed them to openly and secretly seize the Li family's power. His intention was very obvious.
Riding on this wave, the Lin family didn't disappoint the emperor. With great momentum, within a year, they made the Li family stumble several times.
After this act of "loyally protecting the lord" and "punishing the evil", Qi Rong became a favorite in front of the emperor and was eagerly flattered by the officials.
The emperor kept Qi Rong in the capital and assigned the nearly completed task of building dams and bridges to other officials. He entrusted Qi Rong with the task of rectifying the court's Jinyiwei and gave him more power.
With the emperor's favor, Qi Rong had more power over life and death. He could even swagger through the capital, and no one would dare to say a single word.
Except for Prime Minister Yun Sheng.
In order to get the whereabouts of the military talisman, the emperor ordered people to torture Yun Sheng. Although he personally went to the imperial prison to pick him up later, Yun Sheng had been tortured so much that he was emaciated and barely hanging on.
To show his apology, the emperor retained Yun Sheng's position as prime minister and rewarded him with a lot of gold, silver, and precious ginseng.
To allow Yun Sheng to recuperate in peace, the prime minister's mansion deliberately concealed the news that Yun Xi had become Qi Rong's concubine until Yun Ni accidentally let it slip one day.
"Absurd! This is outrageous! I'll go to the Prince Xian's Mansion right now and bring Yun Xi back!"
Yun Sheng propped up his weak body and sat up, his expression furious.
Seeing her father's tottering body and still pale face, Yun Ni knew she had made a mistake. She grabbed Yun Sheng's arm tightly with both hands.
"Dad, your body hasn't recovered yet. The imperial doctor told you to stay in bed and rest. You can't go out!"
Saying this, Yun Ni anxiously gave Yun Qi a look and urged:
"Brother Qi, come quickly and help me persuade father!"
Facing Yun Ni's earnest plea, the young boy had a gloomy face. He got up, walked in front of his father, and supported his arm.
"Father, I'll go with you."
He had long wanted to get his elder sister back from the Prince Xian's Mansion. But several times when he went there, he never saw her and was even stopped outside by the guards.
"Brother Qi, why are you also causing trouble with father?"
Seeing that her younger brother not only didn't help persuade their father but even added fuel to the fire, Yun Ni felt extremely frustrated. While blaming her younger brother, she even wanted to slap herself.
"Yun Xi is already a member of the Prince Xian's Mansion now. Do you think that Prince Xian will let her go?"
The scene of Qi Rong piercing Jiang Qing's throat fiercely was still a nightmare in Yun Ni's heart.
So usually when she saw Qi Rong, she would definitely avoid him and never dare to provoke such a fearsome god!
"But elder sister was clearly coerced by the Prince Xian. She had no choice but to become his concubine in order to save father and second sister! Are we, as elder sister's relatives, going to just watch her being bullied by Qi Rong?"
Yun Qi was unwilling. Thinking of Yun Xi's sacrifice for the family, his eyes turned slightly red.
His elder sister was the legitimate eldest daughter of the prime minister's mansion and the respected Princess Yongning by the common people, but she had to become a concubine for the Prince Xian.
What was this if not bullying?
Now that his father was back, their prime minister's mansion could choose another way to make a deal with the Prince Xian, but they must never sacrifice elder sister's happiness!
Since Yun Xi went to the prison to visit Yun Ni last time, Yun Ni had changed her opinion of Yun Xi, but she still didn't want to call her elder sister.
Thinking of Yun Xi's current situation, Yun Ni felt very uncomfortable.
"I heard that in order to save father this time, the Prince Xian even beheaded the national teacher Qiu Daoji and brought his head to the Fengtian Hall."
"Such a person, how could he easily let Yun Xi go? Our prime minister's mansion, even with father, is no match for him!"
So it wasn't that she didn't want Yun Xi to return to the prime minister's mansion, but just thinking of Qi Rong made her feel scared.
She was afraid that with the Prince Xian's means, if they angered him, he might even raze their entire prime minister's mansion to the ground!
"Stop talking. No matter what, I'm going to get Yun Xi back today!"
A man who could outwit the emperor and all the court officials, how could he not know the other's formidable means?
He just didn't prepare well in advance and was thus calculated by him.
If it hadn't involved his daughter, it would have been okay. But Qi Rong had taken advantage of his time in prison to coerce Yun Xi into a deal and even made her his concubine?
As a father, how could he bear it?
He even suspected from the beginning that Qi Rong's purpose of approaching Yun Xi was to take revenge on him.
Because Qi Rong knew what he cared about most in his heart, so he desperately stabbed at his weakness!
How could such a person really like his daughter?
How could he shoulder the responsibility of a husband and give his daughter happiness?
Perhaps before, Yun Sheng still had some doubts about Qi Rong's feelings for his daughter. But after Qi Rong took Yun Xi as his concubine, Yun Sheng was completely disappointed in Qi Rong!
But more than that, he was filled with anger!
Seeing that her persuasion was ineffective, Yun Ni watched as her father, supported by her younger brother and the young servant Anzi, walked out of the courtyard gate.
Anxious, Yun Ni turned around and went to the old lady's courtyard, originally intending to ask her grandmother to persuade their father.
Because the old lady always considered the overall situation of the family. All people and things that threatened the reputation and safety of the prime minister's mansion would be unhesitatingly discarded by her. She was calm to the point of cruelty!
However, when Yun Ni found the old lady, the latter suddenly fell silent. Under Yun Ni's urging, she sighed helplessly.
"Let them go. We can't stop them."
Moreover, Yun Xi was her granddaughter. Since the prime minister's mansion encountered this disaster, she had seen many things clearly in a short time. After truly realizing her mistakes, she found that she had owed Yun Xi too much.
She had treated Yun Xi so harshly in the past, but she had repaid her with kindness, running around for the prime minister's mansion and even sacrificing herself...
If her son could really bring Yun Xi back, she must make up for her previous mistakes in the future and no longer care about other people's gossips.
She would do what a real grandmother should do!
"What's wrong with all of you?"
The prime minister's mansion had just emerged from trouble. Didn't they fear falling into crisis again?
Yun Ni slumped into the chair helplessly, smiling bitterly, as if she was the only one who was afraid of death.
Forget it. If they were going to die, they would die together. It would be meaningless for her to live alone anyway!