I slaughtered my way through the border at the start, I am the Great Ming's Night Raider!

Chen Yuan made a quick decision: "Get on the roof."

The two climbed onto the roof and lay down behind the ridge.

More and more bandits appeared below, and the torches illuminated the alleyway.

"Have they found us?" Chen Jin asked in a low voice.

"Not necessarily," Chen Yuan observed. "It could be a routine search. But if this continues, they'll be discovered sooner or later."

Just then, a long howl suddenly came from afar.

The clear, resonant whistling sound pierced the night sky.

Immediately afterwards, more than a dozen dark figures surged in from all directions and engaged in a fierce battle with the Eastern Depot agents.

"They're from the Azure Dragon Society!" Chen Jin recognized several of the figures.

Wei Qinglong kept his word and stepped in at the crucial moment.

The alleyway was filled with the deafening sounds of battle!

The members of the Green Dragon Society were highly skilled in martial arts, and although the Eastern Depot agents outnumbered them, they couldn't defeat them in a short time.

"Let's go now!"

Chen Yuan pulled Chen Jin down from the other side of the roof and into another alley.

The two ran quickly through the night.

Behind them, the sounds of fighting grew fainter and fainter.

Finally, we arrived at the side gate of Yongshou Palace.

Chen Yuan knocked three times, then knocked twice. The door opened, and Qin Xiang's anxious face appeared behind it.

"Come in quickly!"

The two slipped inside.

The door was immediately closed and bolted shut.

In the inner palace, the Grand Princess was still awake.

Seeing the two return, she visibly relaxed: "Did you get the things?"

"Got it."

Chen Yuan took out the imperial edict, the secret letter, and the jade pendant.

The Grand Princess read the imperial edict first, her face growing increasingly grim: "It really is a forged edict... Cao Jixiang, how dare you!"

Upon reading the secret letter, he was even more enraged: "Yang Rong, Yang Pu... even they accepted money from Cao Jixiang! So this is the Ming Dynasty's cabinet!"

When she finally saw the jade pendant, she froze: "This...this is..."

"It was found in Cao Jixiang's secret compartment," Chen Yuan said. "It's exactly the same as the one His Highness gave me."

The Grand Princess held the jade pendant, her hand trembling: "This jade pendant... I had two carved back then. One was given to your father, and the other... to Eunuch Qin, to pass on to you. The one Cao Jixiang has..."

She suddenly understood: "That's it... Eunuch Qin died suddenly, and the jade pendant disappeared... It turns out Cao Jixiang took it. And Eunuch Qin's death..."

"It's very likely that it also belongs to Cao Jixiangqian," Chen Yuan said.

The hall was deathly silent.

After a long silence, the Grand Princess slowly said, "At tomorrow's court assembly, I will settle things with Cao Jixiang."

"What does Your Highness intend to do?" Qin Xiang asked.

"I must attend court." A resolute glint flashed in the Grand Princess's eyes. "In front of all the civil and military officials, I will expose Cao Jixiang's crimes of forging imperial edicts, corruption, and plotting against loyal officials. With this imperial edict and secret letter as evidence, let's see how he tries to deny it."

"But what about the Emperor..." Chen Jin said worriedly.

"I have my own way of dealing with His Majesty."

The Grand Princess looked down at him with disdain. "Cao Jixiang can control the Qianqing Palace, but he can't control the entire palace. I've been operating in the palace for many years, and I'm not without my own plans."

She looked at Chen Yuan: "Mingyuan, you will come with me to the court assembly tomorrow."

Chen Yuan was taken aback. "I am a commoner, I cannot attend court..."

"From now on, you are no longer."

The Grand Princess took out a roll of bright yellow silk from her bosom. "This is the imperial edict that I, in my capacity as regent, appoint you as a commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. With this title, you will be able to attend court."

Chen Yuan received the imperial edict, which felt heavy in his hand.

The commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, a fifth-rank official, is already a mid-level military officer.

The Grand Princess is about to officially bring him to the forefront.

"Thank you, Your Highness." He bowed.

"No need to thank me." The Grand Princess looked at him with a complicated expression. "This is what you deserve. If your father were alive, you would have been the heir apparent, a prince..."

She didn't finish speaking, waving her hand: "Go and rest. There's still a tough battle to fight tomorrow."

Everyone withdrew.

As I walked out of the rear hall, the sky was already beginning to lighten with the first light of dawn.

The long night is finally coming to an end.

But the new day will be more dangerous than the night before.

Chen Yuan stood under the corridor, watching the dawn gradually break in the east.

From the border to the capital, from a scout at night to a commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he traveled a long way.

But the real journey is only just beginning.

Tomorrow's court assembly will be his first public appearance in the imperial court.

It was also his head-on confrontation with Cao Jixiang.

The victor will be king, the loser will be villain; it all hinges on this one battle.

He clenched his fist.

"Come on, let the storm rage on!"

It was the 17th day of the twelfth lunar month, at the third quarter of the Yin hour.

Chen Yuan stood in front of the bronze mirror in the side hall of Yongshou Palace, looking at the unfamiliar version of himself reflected in the mirror.

Wearing a flying fish robe, an embroidered spring knife, a phoenix belt around the waist, and a black gauze hat.

The person in the mirror had a cold and stern face and sharp eyes. His official uniform as a commander of the Imperial Guard gleamed with a dark blue light under the candlelight.

The clothes fit him perfectly, as if they were tailor-made for him, but he always felt awkward in them—heavier than the tattered cotton armor worn by night watchmen, and more suffocating than the sandstorms at the border.

"Young master, it's time to set off," Eunuch Li called softly from outside the door.

Chen Yuan straightened his clothes one last time, then pushed open the door and went out.

Outside the door, the Grand Princess was already dressed in her court robes, her nine-embroidered, four-phoenix crown gleaming in the morning light. She looked at Chen Yuan, a complex expression flashing in her eyes.

"So alike, so very alike," she said softly. "Exactly like your father when he was young."

Chen Yuan remained silent.

His feelings for the father he had never met remained complex.

But today, he is going to take on this role and do something big.

"Is everything ready?" the Grand Princess asked.

"Ready." Chen Yuan took out the forged imperial edict and the stack of secret letters from his robes. "The evidence is all here."

"Alright." The Grand Princess took a deep breath. "Let's go. Today's court assembly will determine the fate of many."

The group left Yongshou Palace and headed towards Fengtian Gate.

Before dawn, only a few lanterns swayed in the cold wind along the palace road.

The snow crunched underfoot, the sound echoing through the empty palace walls, sounding especially lonely.

Halfway there, we encountered a group of people.

The lanterns were inscribed with the words "Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs," and Wang Zhen was leading the procession.

"Greetings, Your Highness." Wang Zhen bowed, but his eyes glanced at Chen Yuan. "And this is..."

"Chen Mingyuan, commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard," the Grand Princess said calmly. "He is newly promoted by me."

A shadow crossed Wang Zhen's eyes, but he quickly put on a smile: "So it's Commander Chen, my apologies for not recognizing you earlier. May I ask where Commander Chen previously served?"

"The border is guarded by night watchmen."

Chen Yuan stared at him, speaking each word clearly.

Wang Zhen's smile froze: "Night scout? That's a job with a nine-out-of-ten chance of death. It's truly... truly a stroke of luck that Commander Chen was able to come all the way from the border to the capital."

"It's truly a stroke of luck," Chen Yuan said. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have met someone like Wang Dangtou."

The two stared at each other, their gazes clashing in the air like swords clashing.

The Grand Princess interrupted this silent contest: "Where is Commander Wang going?"

"Your Highness, my godfather has sent me to fetch several officials," Wang Zhen said. "There will be quite a few people at today's court assembly."

There's a hidden meaning in his words.

The Grand Princess remained unfazed: "Then hurry up and go, don't delay."

The two groups passed each other.

After walking a distance, Qin Xiang whispered, "Wang Zhen went to recruit people. It seems Cao Jixiang is well-prepared today."

"A bunch of clowns are still clowns, no matter how many there are." The Grand Princess sneered. "Let's go."

Many officials had already gathered outside Fengtian Gate.

Civil officials were in the east, and military officials were in the west, arranged according to rank, and there was complete silence.

Upon seeing the arrival of the Grand Princess, everyone bowed in greeting, but their expressions varied—some showed awe, some worry, some schadenfreude, and some indifference.