Li Lingren let out a bitter smile, his body swayed, and he was only able to stand with the help of the servant boy beside him.

Backyard.

The people sent by the Old Madam encountered Li Lingren midway, looking disheveled.

Li Lingren walked into the Old Madam’s courtyard under the worried eyes of everyone.

"Grandmother." After entering, Li Lingren greeted absent-mindedly, kneeling on the ground without getting up, he finished speaking for the Senior Lady: "Grandmother, I don’t know what else Mother has done, you and Father can investigate."

"This evil child!" The Old Madam was so furious that she almost fainted.

She took a while to calm down, looking at her numb grandson kneeling in front of her, tears began to flow.

She walked over, trembling, and embraced Li Lingren: "Good child, this is not your fault, listen to Grandmother, rest well and think carefully about what to do next. Don’t worry about your mother, she won’t have the ability to do anything again, nor can she affect you. What happened this time cannot be changed, but from now on, your mother will not drag you down."

"Good child, don’t worry, with Grandmother here, go have a good sleep. This is not the end, there are six years left, during which you can pursue what you want without the Duke’s Mansion’s constraints and pressure."

Li Lingren finally showed some reaction: "Grandmother, do I really have a chance to get back up?"

"You can, good child. You are you, your mother is your mother. What she does will no longer affect you. Do whatever you want; your life should be in your own hands, not manipulated by your mother."

"Grandmother, I want to go to the Chu family to apologize." Li Lingren said hoarsely.

He knew he was very timid; he couldn’t endure being disliked by Emperor Xuanming again and falling into disaster, and he had to go to the Chu family.

"Alright, you go." The Old Madam smiled with relief.

As soon as Li Lingren left, the Old Madam immediately ordered: "Go, replace everyone around the Senior Lady, interrogate them one by one, stop all her activities."

"Yes." The old nanny dared not delay, as it was a significant matter.

And the Old Madam had to quickly call the Prince of the State over as well.

Ye Muyu was in the backyard when she heard about Li Lingren’s visit to apologize, it was Chu Heng who greeted him, and Chu Heng returned shortly after.

She reached out to pour a glass of lemon water for Chu Heng, asking: "What did he say?"

"The child came to apologize." Chu Heng took the lemon water, drank a few sips, and sighed slightly: "Normally, the young misbehave and harm the elders, but at the Duke’s Mansion, it turns out the elders, in their arrogance, harm the young."

"Explain further." Ye Muyu noticed his hidden meanings, naturally curious.

Chu Heng didn’t purposely keep her in suspense, "What Lady Li did came to me right after I left the palace; I was initially waiting to see the Duke’s Mansion’s reaction before responding."

"From what you say, the Duke’s Mansion should consider themselves lucky that Li Lingren is a child with decent character, otherwise Lady Li would likely commit a second offense that offends the Emperor’s taboos." Ye Muyu felt that Lady Li was far from innocent, wanting to gain benefits by scheming against others means one must be prepared to be schemed against in turn.

"Indeed, so I have no intention to make things difficult for Li Lingren; he’s a pitiful person. If he can figure things out this time, he’s not without prospects in the future; if not, his life will be ruined." At heart, Chu Heng was not ruthless, he bore no ill will towards Lady Li, only reacted as necessary, but he felt some sympathy for Li Lingren.