“The Emperor is your uncle…” Shao Wanru said.

It was quite surprising that he intended to pass down the throne to his nephew rather than his son.

“The Emperor took over the throne from his elder brother! Of course, I can take over it from my uncle!” Chu Liuchen said. He held Shao Wanru’s hand and touched it gently, but his eyes were cold and unfathomable. He seemed to be thinking of something dark in his heart.

Shao Wanru’s heartbeat was calm. She listened to him quietly. It was not surprising for her that Chu Liuchen said such bold and defiant words.

He was like this in her previous life.

She didn’t know why he was so cruel and looked so in despair in her previous life, but she felt distressed about that.

“He lived a very hard life in his previous life, didn’t he?”

Even though he had finally reached a higher status, he was not happy!

“Do you like it, Your Highness?” Shao Wanru suppressed the bitterness in her heart and asked softly.

“If I don’t take this step, I will end up in hell. But with Zhuozhuo’s company, I like it very much!” Chu Liuchen said with a smile, “At least I won’t be lonely! I am very happy to have your company, Zhuozhuo!”

His voice was so gentle, quiet and steady that it made people calm and peaceful. It sounded like nothing could stop him.

Her restless heart somehow calmed down a little. For a moment, some memories hit her heart and she felt sour and astringent. “How did Chu Liuchen live his last life, in which bloody corpses of women were everywhere in the Palace… and his desperate and languished eyes…”

“I will be there for you!” Shao Wanru said in a low voice with slightly wet eyes.

It sounded like both a soliloquy to and a promise to Chu Liuchen. It was just a light sentence that disappeared in an instant, but it left an eternal mark in Chu Liuchen’s heart.

Chu Liuchen looked at the beautiful girl in front of him and smiled with his gentle eyes full of happiness.

With her, he would not be lonely anymore. With her, it was more obligatory for him to stand higher. If he couldn’t protect her, what does it matter if he was good to her?

“I should have had everything! No one can take it away from me! No one is allowed to covet my treasure!”

It was quiet at night in Prince Chen’s Mansion. A beautiful couple lying side by side could be seen through the window, covered by gentle warm light. A layer of faint yellow halo dyed their delicate and beautiful eyebrows and eyes, making them extremely pretty!

Here was Chu Liuyue’s study in Prince Yue’s Mansion.

“Explain!” Chu Liuyue stared at the middle-aged man in front of him with a livid face. Di Rufeng, Duke Yong, was sweating profusely and dared not raise his head.

“Your Highness, it is an incident!” Di Rufeng stammered.

He was often a sedate middle-aged man, but his face turned pale when he was scolded at this time.

He was just a duke of the declined kind. He was mediocre, and his son was even less promising. Almost no one thought highly of Duke Yong’s Mansion or took him seriously, but he had depended on Prince Yue early.

More precisely, Prince Yue’s mother Consort of Virtue was the master Duke Yong depended on for a long time. He secretly worked for Consort of Virtue and helped Prince Yue cultivate beautiful women rather than create a great career.

His job was to make those women look more like obedient girls from humble families instead of charming and coquettish beauties from a brothel. The goal was that even when they worked as servants girls in others’ mansions, people must regard them as girls from ordinary families who met difficulties in their lives.

After all, compared with prostitutes, such girls would be embraced by Madams, some of who would even help them make up and dress up so that they could be given to those Madams’ husbands. They thought that it was easier to manipulate obedient girls. As long as they controlled the girls’ parents, they could order the girls to do anything.

It was easier for a man to feel tender and protective toward a delicate and beautiful woman who had to be forced into a dilemma. Although she was not as dignified and decent as the madams of noble families, she was elegant like a young lady from a humble family. Like a dewdrop in the morning, she tempted men, especially the officials who had been in the officialdom for a long time.

Sometimes, they hoped to have a pure and good woman with them. They hoped she was just an innocent girl who would bring no intrigue or other conflict of interest. She would stay with them wholeheartedly in need of their love.

Therefore, obedient girls of ordinary families were sometimes even more charming and attractive than those from the brothel!

Duke Yong’s Mansion had arranged several villas in the far suburbs, where they helped Prince Yue’s Mansion raise such women. In case other people found out its connection with Prince Yue’s Mansion from the financing, Duke Yong’s Mansion handled everything by themselves and took all the responsibilities.

For others, Duke Yong’s Mansion was still a declining family which was not valued.

Duke Yong himself did not have much money to support the secret deal, neither did his falling mansion. Therefore, he set his eyes on Madam Di’s dowry shops.

When Madam Di left, Countess Yong was in charge of those shops. So the latter began to make use of the former’s shops to make a profit for her family.

She embezzled money from the shops and invest it into the girl cultivation.

To ensure that the girls were cultivated perfectly, they would naturally spend a lot of money. Although Chu Liuyue would sometimes send some money to them in secret, he didn’t dare to do so too many times. He was afraid to be exposed by others. So Duke Yong handled it by himself most of the time.

Chu Liuyue had always praised Duke Yong in secret. But the deal was dug out by Qin Yuru. How could Chu Liuyue not be angry?

“Your Highness, we have to suppress it first!” Mr. Liu, the advisor of Chu Liuyue, said with frowned eyebrows.

“What should we do now? My father will get the news.” Chu Liuyue was so angry that he walked around the study many times. Recently, everything seemed to go against him. Now bad thing even happened to Duke Yong’s Mansion. “Your daughter-in-law doesn’t know about our secret business at all! Just kill her as soon as possible. Why did you let her make such trouble?”

“Your Highness, she is anyhow my mother’s granddaughter…” Di Rufeng said with a wry smile. He also regretted it now. If he had known things would turn on like this, he would not have been soft-hearted. He should kill her directly at that time.

“As your daughter-in-law, she has never been a decent woman. No wonder your son doesn’t want to go home. What a squandering behavior to take such a daughter-in-law!” Chu Liuyue said coldly and then sat down in the chair behind the desk with a gloomy face. Ignoring Di Rufeng, he turned to Mr. Liu.

“What do you think we should do now, Mr. Liu? If my father investigates it carefully, he will target me!”

Although Prince Yue’s Mansion had no connection with Duke Yong’s Mansion on the surface, and Duke Yong’s Mansion almost ran the business alone, some key clues were likely to be got if the Emperor wanted the truth. Chu Liuyue could not assure himself that his father would never find out his secret.

“Your Highness, we should prepare for the worst…” Mr. Liu frowned and said slowly. “It is indeed difficult to deal with the matter at the moment.”

“What’s the plan?”

“If those women are found, Duke Yong will insist that it is he who trained them to serve you in Prince Yue’s Mansion. Duke Yong’s Mansion does that because they want to curry favor with you, Your Highness!” Mr. Liu said.

“How, how could you…” Di Rufeng was stunned and said in a hurry.

Chu Liuyue waved his hand with discontent and said, “Shut up and listen to Mr. Liu!”

Mr. Liu looked at Di Rufeng, who was so anxious that his eyes were about to pop out, and then said slowly, “Your Highness, if His Majesty knows that you raise these girls and plan to send them to various mansions to collect information for you, he will not spare you. His Majesty is in the prime of his life. If you let him know your secret plan, you will bring disaster to yourself. What’s more, the Empress and Prince Zhou have been waiting for the chance to defeat you!”

Chu Liuyue fell silent. He knew that Mr. Liu was reminding him. If his father knew his secret actions of plotting against his ministers, he wouldn’t be able to defend himself in front of his father. In addition, if the Empress added fuel to the fire behind the scenes, he would be done.

Since the situation was so urgent, he had no choice but to deal with it at once.

“Okay, we’ll do as you say, Mr. Liu!” Chu Liuyue nodded vigorously. For him, it was like cutting his flesh to carry out such a plan. He felt very distressed, but he had no other choices now. If he couldn’t bear it, he would mess up the big plan.

“Your Highness… but, Your Highness, it is my painstaking efforts for so many years, and some of the women have been sent out…” Di Rufeng said with cold sweats all over. He was unable to take all the responsibilities alone.

At the very beginning, Duke Yong decided to handle everything by himself to show his loyalty to Prince Yue. Now he regretted it. He shouldn’t have taken the responsibilities for the sake of taking credits for Prince Yue in the future. When they ran into difficulties now, Prince Yue was reluctant to share the responsibilities.

“We should cut off the connection with the people who have been sent out. They will be girls from ordinary families and have nothing to do with you!” Mr. Liu suggested.

Chu Liuyue nodded repeatedly to agree on the suggestion. At this time, he must hide his relationship with them and warn them to stop collecting information.

In fact, some women had already infiltrated the ministers’ mansions and become their concubines.

“But, Your Highness, if His Majesty figures out that it has something to do with my mansion, he won’t spare me!” Di Rufeng pleaded.

Duke Yong’s Mansion was just a mansion on the wane, and it could not bear the anger of the Emperor.

“However, there are other possible methods. If Duke Yong can make do as I say, you may be able to get away from it!” Mr. Liu stood aside and said slowly.

His words made Di Rufeng widen his eyes. In a hopeless dilemma, he took it as his last hope…