AUBTN -Chapter 281 What a Deep Father-Daughter Bond

But right now, she could only deal with Zhou Ruoyun first!

“Zhou Ruoyun!” The Empress Dowager slammed the letter directly onto her face.

“You wretched woman! The imperial family has treated you well, and yet you dare commit such shameless, filthy acts!”

Zhou Ruoyun picked up the letter from the ground. After reading its contents clearly, she only clutched it to her chest while tears streamed down her face.

It was private correspondence between her and Yang Ze—she never expected her father to have already obtained it!

In that instant, her panic faded away.

Now she understood. Her father had ultimately chosen to preserve the Zhou family by sacrificing her alone!

“Father! How could you…!”

“Shut up!” Zhou Wenhai abruptly cut her off, his eyes filled with a chilling warning and ruthless determination.

Zhou Ruoyun let out a miserable, broken laugh as tears fell in large drops onto her clothes.

At that moment, Xia Dong cried heartbrokenly while holding her.

Thinking of Yang Ze outside the palace—the man who had always looked at her with unwavering affection.

That man, now used by her father to threaten her—she could only swallow all her grievances and the truth back down into her stomach.

Lu Yan watched this farce of father and daughter tearing each other apart with cold eyes, his jawline tensing sharply.

“Lord Zhou’s act of righteous destruction of kin is truly performed beautifully,” Lu Yan said mercilessly, his tone dripping with mockery.

“Just one question—are these letters something you prepared long ago… or a spur-of-the-moment fabrication?”

Zhou Wenhai stiffened slightly, but still refused to relent.

“Lord Lu, choose your words carefully! If this old minister had known of this earlier, I would have personally strangled this unfilial daughter. Why would I wait until today!”

Su Hewan watched everything quietly.

【Trying to abandon the cart to save the horse? Not so easy.】

She stepped forward again and knelt.

“Your Majesty, since the Empress was driven by love…”

“Then how do you explain the Nine-Leaf Blood Lotus that was to be delivered into the palace last night?”

Su Hewan’s voice was not loud, but every word struck like a blade.

“That is a rare medicine that can alter one’s pulse condition.”

“If it were only for elopement, wouldn’t it be easier to fake an illness? Why go through so much trouble to create a false pregnancy pulse?”

“Unless…”

She deliberately drew out the last word, leaving suspense hanging in the air.

Shen Jue smoothly picked up her words, his soft, sinister voice like a venomous snake hissing.

“Unless there truly was supposed to be a child in that womb, and only a legitimate excuse was missing.”

“Or perhaps… the child belongs to someone else! And at ten months, they would switch them, swapping identities and confusing the imperial bloodline!”

At those words, the Empress Dowager immediately fixed her gaze on Zhou Wenhai.

Zhou Wenhai’s eyes darkened!

He slammed his head repeatedly against the ground.

“Unjust accusation! Please, Your Majesty, see clearly!”

“Even if this minister had ten thousand lives, I would never dare harbor such treasonous thoughts!”

“It is all this unfilial daughter, blinded by lust, seduced and confused by some wild man. It has nothing to do with me, nothing to do with the Zhou family!”

His portrayal of a terrified yet loyal minister was flawless.

But Su Hewan’s gaze had already fallen on Zhou Ruoyun.

More precisely, on the person standing behind her.

Just as she mentioned the possibility that the child belonged to someone else, panic flashed in Zhou Ruoyun’s eyes.

Immediately after, she subtly pulled the personal maid Xia Dong behind her.

Su Hewan looked at Zhou Wenhai’s performance and felt a headache coming on.

So she simply laid it bare.

“If Lord Zhou insists that the Empress only intended to elope…”

“Then I, Su Hewan, boldly request that the imperial physician also take Miss Xia Dong’s pulse!”

At those words, all color drained from Xia Dong’s face in an instant—paler than blank paper!

She collapsed directly at Zhou Ruoyun’s feet, looking at her desperately for help.

“Miss…”

Zhou Ruoyun suddenly lifted her head to stare at Su Hewan, her eyes filled with shock and terror.

“You… you’re talking nonsense!”

Zhou Ruoyun let out a piercing scream as she stood firmly in front of Xia Dong.

“My maid is perfectly fine! Why are you calling for a pulse examination? Don’t push things too far!”

Her overly defensive reaction only made everything even clearer without needing further explanation.

Lu Yan’s gaze turned sharp. He didn’t even give Zhou Ruoyun a chance to resist.

With a slight gesture of his hand—

Two Jinyiwei officers immediately stepped forward and forcibly dragged Xia Dong out from behind Zhou Ruoyun.

“Let go of her! Let her go!”

“Miss, save me… Miss…” Xia Dong cried out in despair.

Zhou Ruoyun struggled desperately, but was tightly restrained by two rough palace matrons.

Xia Dong screamed in terror, frantically trying to cover her abdomen.

“Imperial physician, if you please.” Lu Yan swept a cold glance at Imperial Physician Li.

At this point, Imperial Physician Li was already like a startled bird—how could he dare to delay?

He scrambled forward, trembling as he placed his hand on Xia Dong’s wrist.

After a moment, his eyes widened further and further.

He withdrew his hand.

“T-This… Your Majesty the Empress Dowager…”

“This Xia Dong girl’s pulse is smooth and full like beads rolling on jade—i-it is a pregnancy pulse!”

“She has been pregnant for two months!”

Those words completely detonated the situation.

The Empress Dowager’s face instantly turned ashen, veins on her forehead throbbing violently.

She slammed the table hard.

Then laughed in extreme rage: “Not only are you faking pregnancy to compete for favor, you even dare to play such tricks right under my nose!”

“You’re actually trying to use the child of a lowly servant as the imperial bloodline of Great Wei!”

“Zhou Wenhai, what do you have to say now!”

The Empress Dowager seized the opportunity, intending to turn her fury on Zhou Wenhai.

But Zhou Wenhai’s lowered eyes were already racing with calculations.

Since it had already been exposed…

Then he could only deny everything.

He suddenly sprang up from the ground, turned around, and pointed at Xia Dong and Zhou Ruoyun, cursing loudly.

“You two shameless, death-seeking wretches!”

“This minister knows nothing! Empress Dowager, I truly had no idea!”

Tears streaming down his face, Zhou Wenhai fell to his knees again, looking grief-stricken.

“This Xia Dong must have been having an illicit affair and became pregnant out of wedlock!”

“This unfilial daughter, in order to protect her maid whom she grew up with, actually came up with such a mad and vicious scheme!”

“She pretended to be pregnant, planning to wait until the months were right and pass Xia Dong’s child off as the imperial heir!”

“Or even worse—she intended to use the excuse of a pilgrimage to the temple to run away together with that wench!”

“Your Majesty, please see clearly! All of this is the reckless scheme of master and servant. If I had even the slightest knowledge of it, may I be struck by lightning from heaven!”

Zhou Wenhai’s words were passionate and flawless.

He washed himself completely clean of this crime that could destroy nine generations.

And dumped it all onto his own daughter’s head.

Shen Jue watched coldly as Zhou Wenhai frantically shifted blame, a mocking smile curling on his lips.

Yu Qing was also so angry she nearly had a stroke.

“This level of shamelessness and maliciousness—what a waste he isn’t working at the Eastern Depot.”

Lu Yan, too, was clearly disgusted to the extreme.

And faced with her father’s blood-tinged accusations, Zhou Ruoyun suddenly fell silent.

She didn’t cry.

She didn’t make a scene.

She didn’t even try to defend herself.

Slowly, she lifted her head.

Her gaze landed on the man who had given her life—yet was now so eager to push her into hell.

Then, the corners of her mouth slowly curled upward into a smile more tragic than despair.

It was the complete despair of filial affection…

And the utter acceptance of her fate as nothing more than a discarded chess piece.

“What a deep father–daughter bond…”