"Your Majesty, you must seek justice for my son," Sun You knelt on the ground, his face streaked with tears.
Emperor Yuanyou glanced at the lump of a person behind Sun You.
"Is that Sun Hu?"
"F-father... it's me..." Sun Hu mumbled, his words slurred and barely intelligible as several of his teeth had been knocked out.
Emperor Yuanyou couldn't help but wince in sympathy—just looking at him was painful.
His gaze shifted, landing on the granddaughter he had longed to see. Her face bore such a striking resemblance to Fen'er, just as Mei Zhilin had said—even more so than that good-for-nothing.
At this moment, Song Shihuan's delicate face was cold, her fists clenched tightly, the backs of her hands covered in bloodstains.
The emperor's heart ached.
"Ahuan, are your hands injured?"
Instantly, the expressions of those present turned colorful—especially Sun You's.
His son was the one who had been beaten, yet the emperor was worried about whether Princess Fu'an had hurt her hands?
Song Shihuan lowered her head to look. "Imperial Grandfather, this is Sun Hu's blood."
Oh, as long as it wasn't Ahuan's.
"Then you're not hurt anywhere else?" Emperor Yuanyou pressed, his eyes never leaving her.
"Your granddaughter is unharmed. But I dare to ask Imperial Grandfather to summon Physician Mei Zhilin to examine Father."
Without hesitation, the emperor agreed. "Wu Qi, fetch Mei Zhilin."
Song Shihuan, her face tense, walked over to Song Yu.
The moment their eyes met, tears streamed down her cheeks. She reached out as if to touch his face but hesitated, afraid of aggravating his wounds.
"Father, does it hurt?"
"Not at all," Song Yu forced a smile.
Song Shihuan wiped her tears with her sleeve. "Liar."
Heaven knew how terrified she had been when Liuxi rushed to the mansion and told her what had happened. To strike one's own kin in public—even in common households, such an act would be condemned as unfilial and unbrotherly, let alone in the imperial family.
......
"Shihuan, why did you attack someone without reason?" The Crown Prince's voice rang out, thick with reproach. "Do not bring your vulgar habits from outside the palace into these halls."
Song Shihuan straightened her posture. "Your Highness, even a county magistrate investigates evidence before passing judgment. Why do you accuse me of attacking without cause?"
"I did strike him, but not without reason."
With that, she strode past Sun You and stopped before Sun Hu.
Sun Hu trembled. "Y-you... stay away!"
"Your Majesty, the princess's actions are utterly outrageous," Sun You interjected again. "First, she barged into my residence with her men, then she beat Sun Hu senseless, leaving him in this state..."
As if deaf to Sun You's words, Song Shihuan swiftly shoved a pill into Sun Hu's mouth.
"W-what did you make me eat?!" Sun Hu panicked.
"Poison."
Song Shihuan's red lips parted slightly.
Even Wu Qi couldn't help but shrink back—daring to administer poison right before Emperor Yuanyou? The princess's audacity was staggering.
Song Yu's mind raced, scrambling for a way to cover for her.
"Sun Hu, if you confess the truth to His Majesty within the time it takes for one incense stick to burn, I'll give you the antidote. Otherwise, even if I have to dash myself against the pillars of this hall today, I'll drag you down with me."
The air in the chamber froze.
Emperor Yuanyou studied the petite figure before him, then glanced at Song Yu's dazed expression, and understood.
He sighed inwardly.
Very well. He would indulge them this once.
"Outrageous!" The Crown Prince pointed at Song Shihuan. "Such insolence! You belong in the Imperial Ancestral Temple to repent! Hand over the antidote at once!"
"From the moment I stormed into the Sun Residence, I had no intention of leaving unscathed."
Song Shihuan radiated menace as she stared down Sun Hu. "Can you feel it now? The pain spreading through your body—especially your stomach, as if your organs are twisting inside you."
Sun Hu's face contorted. It hurt—it hurt unbearably.
"Half the time remains."
To Sun Hu, Song Shihuan might as well have been the King of Hell himself. He collapsed to the floor.
"It... it was the two princes who said... said the princess was learning the qin from Shen Qingping, and that one day... she'd surely play music worthy of... Miss Mei'er's dancing."
At these words, Sun You's face paled—he hadn't known this was the reason behind the conflict.
Emperor Yuanyou chuckled, but Princes Chu and Qi trembled even harder.
Even the Crown Prince dared not utter another word.
"Imperial Grandfather, my third and fourth uncles mocked me, saying I was only fit to play for a courtesan. My father endured it for a long time before he could take no more." Song Shihuan's palms were slick with sweat. "I struck Sun Hu because he was the one who instigated this. Fourth Uncle, am I wrong?"
"Y-yes, yes!" Prince Qi, sensing the tide turning against him, hastily agreed. "It was Sun Hu who claimed to have seen Shen Qingping carrying a qin to the Qin Prince's Mansion, so we assumed Shihuan was learning from him."
Prince Chu, whose wife was from the Sun family, stubbornly remained silent.
"What an impressive Sun family. What an impressive Sun Hu." Emperor Yuanyou's laughter was laced with fury. "Guards! Throw Sun Hu into the imperial prison. Sun You, unless you wish for me to purge your entire clan, get out of my sight."
Sun You scrambled away without delay.
In the hall, Princes Chu and Qi dared not make a sound, and the Crown Prince's expression was grim.
"Ahuan, didn't you forget to give Sun Hu the antidote?"
"It was just a sugar pill. I punched his stomach several times—of course it hurts." Song Shihuan's voice trembled slightly. She had staked everything on this desperate gamble, forcing Sun Hu to reveal the truth.
Had Sun Hu chosen death over confession, the charge of forcibly invading an official's residence would have been grave indeed.
But without this, the label of "unfilial and unbrotherly" would have doomed her father and the Qin Prince's Mansion forever.
Her lips quivered, and she could no longer hold back—throwing herself into Song Yu's arms, her voice thick with grievance:
"Third Uncle and Fourth Uncle only insulted me with words. Father, you didn’t have to hit them for my sake."
"Anyone who belittles my daughter—no matter who they are—I’ll drag them to the grave with me." Mirroring Song Shihuan's ferocity, Song Yu locked eyes with Emperor Yuanyou.
His gaze burned with defiance, as if silently declaring that he had done no wrong.
Emperor Yuanyou seemed to age several years in that instant, his energy draining away. He turned to Princes Chu and Qi.
"You two. Anything else to say?"
