Chapter 193: with translation of chapter title

"Your Majesty!"

【1】 "Your Majesty!"

... etc.

Thus each line starts with 【N】 space then translation.

Proceed.

A palace servant came in to report: "Your Majesty, Xiao Yichen requests an audience."

Thus: 【2】 A palace servant came in to report: "Your Majesty, Xiao Yichen requests an audience."

Is Xiao Yichen here to plead for his sister or for Pei Yunxi? Either way, Mu Yuanzhi doesn't want to see him.

We need to keep pronouns: Mu Yuanzhi is female (she). So: "Is Xiao Yichen here to plead for his sister or for Pei Yunxi? Either way, Mu Yuanzhi doesn't want to see him."

But the Emperor will certainly see him.

"Summon him."

"Yes!"

Soon, Xiao Yichen strode in: "Your servant Xiao Yichen pays his respects, Your Majesty!"

"My lord, why have you come to plead?" The Emperor didn't beat around the bush with Xiao Yichen, asking point-blank.

We need to keep quotes: The Emperor's question: "My lord, why have you come to plead?" Then narration.

Thus: 【8】 "My lord, why have you come to plead?" The Emperor didn't beat around the bush with Xiao Yichen, asking point-blank.

Xiao Yichen glanced at Pei Yunxi, who just happened to look up at him; their eyes met, Xiao Yichen quickly looked away, while Pei Yunxi stubbornly kept staring at him.

She is his wife! A wife taken in proper ceremony!

After so many days apart, doesn't he miss her?!

Why is his gaze still so heartless?

Pei Yunxi felt her heart ache.

Xiao Yichen's gaze quickly turned to Mu Yuanzhi, his eyes softening and lingering.

Long time no see, he missed her dearly.

Every moment he worried about her, afraid she was faring poorly outside and might meet with mishap.

Upon hearing the news of her safe return to the capital, his heart finally eased.

Mu Yuanzhi was annoyed by Xiao Yichen's gaze on her, it made her whole body uncomfortable; she wished she could gouge out his dog eyes.

What's there to look at?!

Sensing Mu Yuanzhi's impatience, Xiao Yichen felt a pang of disappointment; he reluctantly withdrew his gaze and, clasping his hands before the Emperor, said: "Your Majesty, I am not here to plead for anyone; I merely learned that Princess Mu Yuanzhi has returned to the capital, and that Your Majesty is about to begin judging this matter, so I came."

We need to keep quotes around his speech.

Not pleading for anyone? That was unexpected to everyone.

Mu Yuanzhi glanced at Xiao Yichen, wondering what game he was playing.

The Emperor raised his brows: "Your sister has been locked up in the Imperial Court of Justice for days, yet you haven't gone to see her; this time you're not coming to plead for her, are you?"

"My sister's crimes are for Your Majesty to decide," Xiao Yichen said, his expression unchanged.

Mu Yuanzhi knew Xiao Chuchu had been imprisoned in the Imperial Court of Justice, showing that the Emperor would not go easy on her.

Now Xiao Yichen's behavior—how is it not a case of advancing by retreating?

The Emperor's expression visibly improved a bit.

"You're remarkably impartial," the Emperor said in an ambiguous tone, "neither pleading for your sister nor for your wife?"

He then threw out another sharp question.

Pei Yunxi is the Emperor's daughter; given that relation, no matter how Xiao Yichen answers, it won't be a good answer.

To plead is to show favoritism; not to plead is to be ungrateful.

This is righteousness that destroys kin—destroying the Emperor's own kin!

Upon hearing this, Pei Yunxi felt hope rekindle, gazing at Xiao Yichen with a look full of aggression.

As long as he is willing to say a word for her, even if it's not a plea, she will be happy.

As long as he still holds a tiny place for her in his heart!

Xiao Yichen: "Pei Yunxi's crimes are too heinous to be recorded on bamboo slips; I will not plead for her."

What a crime too heinous to be recorded on bamboo slips!

Pei Yunxi instantly felt as if she had been cast into the eighteenth layer of hell, cold and painful.

He is her husband!

Not pleading for her would be bad enough, but he actually said her crimes are too heinous to be recorded on bamboo slips!

Xiao Yichen, you have such a ruthless heart!

"Chen-ge..." Pei Yunxi whispered softly, her lips and voice trembling, looking utterly pitiful.

Unfortunately, Xiao Yichen will no longer be deceived by such pretense.

Now seeing her like this only makes him feel disgusted!

This woman is just like that, using all kinds of tricks to confuse him, blinding his eyes, causing him to mistake Zhi again and again, driving them further apart.

Thus: "Chen-ge..." Pei Yunxi whispered softly, her lips and voice trembling, looking utterly pitiful.

Xiao Yichen glanced coldly at Pei Yunxi, his hatred undisguised.

Pei Yunxi's heart instantly felt as if it had fallen into an ice cellar.

There's no going back; she and he truly cannot return...

Pei Yunxi sniffed, tears threatening to fall; she always did this, using a pitiful look to evoke sympathy—her only trump card, whether it works or not.

The Emperor's attitude was not softened by Pei Yunxi's delicate helplessness; he pointed at her and shouted loudly: "Even your prince consort says this—see how heinous your crime is!"

"Your subject truly knows her fault, I beg Father Emperor to mete out punishment!" Pei Yunxi said, beginning to kowtow.

The kowtows were unusually loud, resounding with heavy thuds—knock, knock, knock—throughout the vast hall.

Pei Yunxi kowtowed with great force; at this moment she didn't care if she would bleed or be disfigured—saving her life was paramount.

Mu Yuanzhi still thought Pei Yunxi wasn't kowtowing enough, wanting more—she loved to watch!

If it were before, not to mention Pei Yunxi knocking her head until it resounded—even if she merely made a token gesture, the Emperor would have felt heartbroken; but now she has knocked her head until it bled, and the Emperor only furrowed his brow slightly.

But Pei Yunxi was already dizzy from kowtowing; she had no choice but to stop and show the Emperor her wound.

The Emperor gazed at the blood on Pei Yunxi's forehead, suddenly recalling not long ago the gruesome wound on Mu Yuanzhi's forehead, inflicted when the Noble Consort De dragged her and smashed her into a coffin.

Shocking to behold, utterly horrifying.

He turned his gaze to Mu Yuanzhi's forehead; that once deep, terrifying wound now leaves no scar visible.

He turned his gaze to Mu Yuanzhi's forehead; that once deep, terrifying wound now leaves no scar visible.

He turned his gaze to Mu Yuanzhi's forehead; that once deep, terrifying wound now leaves no scar visible.

He turned his gaze to Mu Yuanzhi's forehead; that once deep, terrifying wound now leaves no scar visible.

He turned his gaze to Mu Yuanzhi's forehead; that once deep, terrifying wound now leaves no scar visible.

He turned his gaze to Mu Yuanzhi's forehead; that once deep, terrifying wound now leaves no scar visible.

The emperor let out a sigh of relief for no reason; if a scar remained, it would be disfiguring.

Then he looked at Pei Yunxi again, and no longer thought her injury was that serious.

Even Zhi'er's wound, so deep it healed without a scar—what's this bit of blood?

I don't know when it started, but the balance in his heart has shifted, favoring Mu Yuanzhi.

Not seeing any concern in the Son of Heaven's gaze, Pei Yunxi felt both wronged and insecure.

She had banged herself until she bled, yet the Father Emperor felt nothing.

Could it be that she really can't escape this calamity?

But she is still his biological daughter! How could a biological daughter not be more important than an adopted daughter?!

"Your Majesty!" another palace servant came in: "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince, the Second Prince, the Fourth Prince, and Consort De have come to request an audience."

"How lively." the Son of Heaven remarked sarcastically, "Except for Consort De, let everyone else come in."

"Here."

Perhaps the Son of Heaven just recalled Mu Yuanzhi's forehead wound, and now he doesn't want to see Consort De.

Consort De waiting outside the hall, hearing that only she couldn't enter, she instantly panicked: "Your Majesty, why won't you see me?!"

"Consort De, I don't know either," the palace servant said, lowering his head in embarrassment.

"Go in and report again! Just say I have urgent business!" Consort De, seeing that the three princes could enter while she could not, was desperate to death.

"Consort De, please don't make things difficult for me; the Son of Heaven is in a bad mood, and I really don't dare to invite bad luck." The palace servant refused to agree no matter what.

Consort De then grabbed Pei Shangling, who was about to enter, and said, "Ling'er, you must plead for your younger sister! She is your mother's biological daughter! A child born after ten months of pregnancy!"

"Mother Consort, but your precious one wants to kill my precious one."