"Her Ladyship hand-sewed many things for His Highness back then..."

Yu Yi couldn’t hold it in any longer. She couldn’t bear to see the well-behaved, sensible Little Prince, whom she had watched grow up, look so disappointed and sad. Nor could she allow others to erase everything her lady had once done.

"While Her Ladyship was pregnant with you, Your Highness, she spent almost all her time making clothes for you. There were handkerchiefs, and even those folk-style tiger-head shoes, and all sorts of little hats," Yu Yi said.

Li Yan’s eyes slowly widened. Just listening to Aunt Yu Yi’s words, he could feel that he, too, had once been loved.

"But I have never seen any of them," Li Yan said.

He didn’t doubt that Aunt Yu Yi would lie to him, but in his entire life, he had truly never seen a single thing his mother-empress had hand-sewn for him.

"...Her Ladyship’s things are all in Kunning Palace," Yu Yi said tactfully.

Back when Emperor Jing’an found the Kunshan Cold Jade, he gathered all of her lady’s belongings in the palace and moved them to Kunning Palace. Of course, that included the little trinkets her lady had prepared for the Crown Prince.

Forget the Crown Prince; even she and Yanxia hadn’t seen a single thing related to their lady appear in the palace in the past five years.

When Li Yan heard this, a flash of anger crossed his chubby face.

Even though it was his father, the Emperor whom he both respected and feared, he couldn’t hide his indignation.

"But those are clearly mine!" Li Yan couldn’t help but grit his teeth. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

’I’m going to explode!’

In the academy, everyone around him had things their own mothers had made by hand. It might be a book bag, a new set of clothes, or even just a handkerchief. But he, and only he, had nothing.

Before, Li Yan could comfort himself with the thought that because his mother-empress had passed away shortly after his birth, he didn’t have the things others did. But now, after hearing what Aunt Yu Yi said, Li Yan was so angry he could cry.

’He should have had those things, too, but Father tyrannically seized them!’

’I’m so, so angry!’

’Isn’t this just robbery!?’

After sending Li Yan off, Ming Lingyi didn’t see the Little Crown Prince again for the next few days. She did, however, receive a letter sent from the palace.

It turned out that every year at this time, Li Yun would make the people in the palace "observe a punishment." No one was allowed to leave the palace without permission.

Li Yan was quite familiar with the person being punished, so he didn’t hold back in his letter.

When Ming Lingyi received the letter, she couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in surprise.

"Xiao Chun," Ming Lingyi called out to Xiao Chun, who was still pasting good-fortune papers, "do you know of the Jiannan Jiedu Envoy, Xue Zhigang?"

Several of the Dayan Dynasty’s Jiedu Envoys were household names among the common people.

Especially the few generals who had been major figures in the previous dynasty; in the eyes of the common folk, they were larger-than-life.

’In the time since I arrived, I’ve been so preoccupied with making a living. How could I have had the time or energy to think about anything else?’

When Xiao Chun heard this, she suddenly scurried back from the window, almost reaching out to cover Ming Lingyi’s mouth.

"Hush! Miss! Have you forgotten?"

Ming Lingyi frowned. "What did I forget?" As she spoke, she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "After that last fever, I seem to have forgotten a lot of things."

Xiao Chun recalled how her lady hadn’t even known what day it was, as if the aftereffects of the fever hadn’t completely worn off. ’But that’s okay,’ she thought. ’As long as my lady hasn’t forgotten me, it’s fine!’

Xiao Chun sat down and shivered, as if she had thought of something terrifying. "That great rebel is no Jiannan Jiedu Envoy anymore. Five years ago, the Emperor personally led the Black Armor Guards, beheaded the rebel, and hung his head on the gate tower of Shangjing City. Tsk tsk, it was so scary!"

Xiao Chun still remembered that the winter that year was also very cold. The name of that former Jiedu Envoy had been legendary. It was said that when the previous Emperor rose to power, the Xue Family Army in Jiannan Road also rose in rebellion. If the previous Emperor hadn’t ultimately tamed that fierce beast, who knew how much longer the fires of war would have burned across the land.

But the good times didn’t last. She later heard that the Jiannan Jiedu Envoy, Xue Zhigang, had embezzled military funds and harbored wolf-like ambitions, and was personally besieged and suppressed by the current Emperor shortly after he ascended the throne.

That head was hung up for the entire first month of the lunar year!

Back then, probably very few people in Shangjing City slept well during that month!

After all, a single glance at the large head hanging on the city wall was enough to give anyone nightmares.

"...Later, I heard that the head of that... that rebel Xue... was weathered by the wind until only the skull was left. Maybe people who commit such terrible crimes just deserve to die. The Emperor even ordered his bones to be crushed and his ashes scattered! A lot of people went to watch the spectacle at the moat outside the city that day!" Xiao Chun said.

Ming Lingyi: "..."

’The winter five years ago was precisely when I was terminally ill and on the verge of death.’

Ming Lingyi furrowed her brows. ’I have no memory at all of Li Yun personally leading the Black Armor Guards to Shu Road.’

’But I quickly pushed the question to the back of my mind. I cared a great deal about Li Yun and the Xue family back then, but now, I no longer do.’

In Little Huachao’s letter, it said that Xue Yi was being punished, and that every year at this time, the people in the palace would go to "observe the punishment."

Apparently, this was also Emperor Jing’an’s command.

"So that’s how it is..." Ming Lingyi rubbed her head. For a moment, she wasn’t sure how long after she "left" this had all happened.

’I remember that five years ago, the people of Jiannan Road knew only of the Xue family’s prestige, not of the Emperor’s authority.’

’The Xue family’s power in Jiannan Road was deeply rooted; after all, they were generals from the previous dynasty who had been stationed there.’

’Later, when an age of turmoil arrived, the Xue family protected the people of Jiannan Road through their own strength.’

’The Xue Family Army was highly respected in the region.’

’I also remember that Li Yun once wanted to replace the person in charge of Jiannan Road. But Xue Zhigang got wind of it and directly presented a "Petition of Ten Thousand People" to the court, filled with signatures from locals who voluntarily supported the Xue Family Army and hoped to let Xue Zhigang stay in Jiannan Road.’

’The will of the people could not be defied.’

’The same was true even for an Emperor who stood above millions.’

’Li Yun had no choice but to back down.’

’And it was because of this that Chen Fei, Xue Yi, was able to run so rampant and unchecked in the inner palace.’

’The power dynamics of the inner palace were a microcosm of the politics of the court.’

’With Li Yun unable to touch the Jiannan Jiedu Envoy, Xue Yi only grew more audacious.’

’I just never expected that after my death, it seems Xue Yi didn’t get to reign supreme. Things didn’t turn out so great for her either.’

’In fact, is she even worse off than I was?’

’A public punishment... Although I don’t know the details, the fact that Li Yun ordered all the eunuchs and palace maids within the palace walls to watch must mean that for Xue Yi, this is a fate worse than death.’

’For a noble lady from a proud and prestigious family to be forced to display her disgrace before a crowd she considered mere servants... it was an execution of the soul.’

Ming Lingyi couldn’t help but sigh with mixed emotions.

Outside Kunning Palace, in a scene Ming Lingyi could not witness, Xue Yi knelt before the palace gates in a prisoner’s garb, her hair disheveled. She repeatedly kowtowed in the direction of Kunning Palace, confessing her sins.