Princess, she is the one who facilitated the extradition.

The crowd knelt down to receive the imperial decree.

Li Deshun hurried forward, checked the Crown Prince's breath, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Thankfully, I was just dizzy.

He immediately told Yilong Wei, "Your Highness has been unwell these past two days, and it seems to be heatstroke. He needs to be sent back to the palace for treatment as soon as possible."

The young master is skilled in medicine, but he doesn't intend to ask the young master for help.

The Empress will definitely hold a grudge against the young master because of Master Zhang's matter. If the young master takes action to treat him, the Empress might find a pretext to cause trouble for him.

But he also had to keep the crown prince's secret, so he could only say that the crown prince was already ill and had fainted from the heat.

Upon hearing this, the Imperial Guards immediately took the Crown Prince away.

Li Deshun's gaze swept over the crowd, finally landing on Marquis Cheng'an. "Marquis Cheng'an, receive the imperial decree!"

Marquis Cheng'an felt uneasy; it was probably not a good thing that His Majesty had given him an imperial edict at this time.

"By the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Marquis Tong Zhang of Cheng'an has previously embezzled public funds to lend money at exorbitant interest rates, and later sold his wife for personal gain, formed cliques and engaged in corrupt practices, thus disrupting the order of the court."

He was deemed incompetent in educating his children and managing his household, and was ungrateful and cruel, oppressing the daughter of his benefactor. Therefore, his title is hereby stripped, both of his sons are dismissed from their official posts, and the entire family is exiled to the border to serve in the military. This is the imperial decree. We express our gratitude.

Marquis Cheng'an's face was ashen.

He had thought it might be bad, but he hadn't expected it to be this bad.

It's all over.

Yet he still had to express his gratitude, saying, "Long live the Emperor!"

Lady Hou's face was also ashen, and Tong Er collapsed to the ground.

In just half a day, he went from the human world to heaven, and then fell from heaven back into hell.

When he first learned that he was a descendant of Master Zhang, he was actually happy. Even if Master Zhang lost his official position, the Duke of Zhenguo would not abandon him, after all, he had the blood of the Zhang family flowing in his veins.

But the imperial edict clearly stated that the two sons of the Tong family were him and his elder brother. With the emperor's words, why would the Duke of Zhenguo still acknowledge him?

He could only ever be a member of the Tong family, and for the rest of his life he could only be a military household, doing hard labor such as farming, building fortifications, and transporting grain. If there was a war, he might not even have the rest of his life left.

"How could this happen?"

He murmured to himself, "Just two days ago I was so promising, thinking about how I could take revenge on the Prince of Shu and seize Zhao Mingyue's money after I rose to power. How did it all turn out like this?"

No one dared to reply to him, because Li Deshun produced a second imperial edict.

It's for Master Zhang.

In the imperial edict, the emperor angrily criticized Zhang Erye for unjustly receiving the court's salary, knowingly breaking the law, and condoning Bai Shi's theft of other people's lives, which was egregious and had no bottom line.

Since he wanted to elope with the criminal woman, he was not entitled to any preferential treatment. He and Bai were each given fifty strokes of the cane. After the caning, they were put in shackles and immediately set off, escorted by the Yilong Guard.

After the imperial edict was read, two Imperial Guards immediately stepped forward with sticks.

This time, it was the Duke of Zhenguo's turn to turn pale.

The reason the Imperial Guards escorted him was to prevent him from bribing officials along the way. And after fifty strokes of the cane, even if his son survived to reach his place of exile, he would probably lose most of his life.

But what happened next made him cough up blood.

Bai was struck more than a dozen times before collapsing and becoming unable to walk.

Li Deshun said coldly, "Someone, fetch water and splash it on him to wake him up."

Gui Yao rang the bell on her ankle, and Mao Dan, who was standing on the tree, immediately made a lewd sound in response.

"Although this woman is vicious, she has a pretty face and figure. Hehe, I wonder if she'll look like an ordinary woman when her clothes are wet. I'm in for a treat today."

With so many onlookers, including local thugs and lazybones, no one doubted that these words came from the mouth of a bird.

Master Zhang was successfully provoked.

He supported his bloodied and mangled buttocks and limped over to Bai Shi. "I'll carry her."

Summer clothes are thin, and Weiwei was wearing white today. When she was splashed with water, her figure was completely exposed.

How could he allow his woman to be seen by others?

Li Deshun knew that Gui Yao was eager for Master Zhang to suffer more, so he naturally didn't object. He feigned concern and asked, "Master Zhang, are you alright?"

My own butt is all bruised and battered.

Could Master Zhang say no?

But after being tortured, he couldn't bend over and could only kneel on one knee to hug the person.

Seeing how difficult his situation was, the Duke of Zhenguo felt heartbroken and looked at his eldest grandson, Zhang Ji, with a gloomy gaze.

Zhang Ji was immersed in guilt towards his parents and anxiety about the future. He only realized what was happening when he noticed Zhang Ji's gaze and hurriedly stepped forward to help.

With his son's help, Zhang Erye finally managed to hold Bai Shi in his arms. However, he himself was already wearing heavy shackles and chains, and dragging his injured body, he walked with great difficulty.

Aye and her son were overjoyed, but the Duke of Zhenguo's hands were so tightly clenched that his knuckles turned white.

But he was, after all, a seasoned veteran of the officialdom. He concealed the sinister glint in his eyes, relaxed his tense expression, and approached A-Ye with a touch of kindness.

"Child, now that your mother is gone and your father is not in the capital, you will live with your grandfather from now on. Your grandfather will make it up to you."

He reached out his hand, wanting to shake Ah Ye's.

A-Ye avoided it.

"I am thirty years old this year. When I needed family, only my mother was there. Now I don't need her anymore."

If Master Zhang abandoned me, it means we have no father-son bond.

If you truly care about me, you shouldn't force me to acknowledge my enemy as my father, and you shouldn't allow me to sever ties with the Zhang family.

"How can this be?"

The Duke of Zhenguo's eyes held a hint of anger. "My grandfather didn't know you existed before, and now that he does, he still lets you wander outside. How can he live with himself like this?"

Bai Yunshu plotted to exile her son, so he manipulated her son to make her taste the bitterness of heartbreak.

The spirit realized that the Duke of Zhenguo did not truly want to acknowledge his grandson, and instructed Aye, "The one from the Tong family is also of Zhang family blood. If you want to acknowledge him, you should acknowledge both of them."

Aye then told the Duke of Zhenguo this.

He added, "My mother is kind and grateful to Zhang Ji for saving my uncle."

But Zhang Ji is also the son of my enemy. His parents were exiled because of my complaint, so we are destined not to be brothers. The Zhang family can't have him, it can't have me.

Since the Duke of Zhenguo became the Emperor's father-in-law, everyone wanted to curry favor with him, but he didn't expect Aye to refuse.

He didn't recognize the Tong family member who had been sentenced to death by the Emperor, nor could he possibly drive away Zhang Ji for the sake of A Ye, who had no feelings or value towards the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.

"Your grandfather understands that you hate your father."

The Duke of Zhenguo sighed, "If you can't accept it right away and refuse to go home, your grandfather won't force you."

His eyes were full of affection. "But the Zhang family will always be your home. You can come back anytime."

Aye turned to the Minister of Justice and said, "Sir, I have never been listed in the Zhang family genealogy. Could you please submit a petition to the Ministry of Justice for record-keeping?"

I am willing to relinquish all inheritance from the Zhang family and never return to the clan. The Zhang family must not use blood ties to coerce me.

Before he came, Prince Jin taught him a lot of things.

Filial piety is paramount and also the greatest force in manipulating people. He had never eaten a single grain of rice from the Zhang family, and he was unwilling to be controlled by them for the rest of his life. He had to sever all ties with the Zhang family.

The Minister of Justice nodded thoughtfully.

According to the law, although A-Ye's blood ties cannot be severed, it can indeed be registered with the government. Therefore, the Zhang family cannot use filial piety to pressure him.

Ah Ye asked happily, "Mother, what is Grandmother's surname?"

My maternal grandfather was a scoundrel; he didn't want the surname Bai.

The spirit understood her son's meaning: "Your maternal grandmother's surname is Yun, and from now on, your mother will also be renamed Yun Shu. Remember to carve a new memorial tablet for your mother."

Thinking of that nameless memorial tablet, A-Ye's eyes reddened again, and he became even more determined never to forgive the Zhang family.

"Okay, from now on we'll take our maternal grandmother's surname, Yun."

The Duke of Zhenguo's expression froze for a moment, and a crack appeared in the kindness on his face.

But he quickly regained his kind expression, "Aye, those without a sect face immense difficulties..."

"It won't be any harder than before."

A-Ye interrupted him, "At least I have a name now, I'm no longer an unregistered person."

That's really ironic. Ah Ye didn't even have a household registration before, so where did he get his clan? Didn't he still survive thanks to his mentally challenged mother?

The Duke of Zhenguo knew that the Zhang family was in the wrong, and that saying more would only invite criticism from the world.

But Zhang Ji wanted to gain favor with his grandfather. He said to A Ye, "But you have already taken all of your father's property, which your mother donated to the imperial court. What are you going to say?"