Emperor Yongchang stood coldly, motionless.
The Crown Prince kept groping around until he felt something was wrong. He pulled off the blindfold in confusion—and was immediately met with Emperor Yongchang’s furious face.
In an instant, his soul nearly flew out of his body. His plump figure dropped to his knees with a loud bang—the ground nearby seemed to shake from the impact.
Eunuch Xia quickly turned his head away.
The others also didn’t dare to look.
After all, one was the emperor, and one was the crown prince.
It was perfectly reasonable for the emperor to scold the crown prince.
But later, when the crown prince recovered from this humiliation, he wouldn’t dare to take it out on the emperor—but he would certainly hold a grudge against the people who had seen him make a fool of himself. Better to stay far away.
The crown prince snapped back to his senses and crawled a few steps forward, kneeling at Emperor Yongchang’s feet, wailing loudly.
He cried and begged for forgiveness at the same time.
“Royal Father, it’s all my fault, your son will never dare to do it again!”
“I’ll send all these troublemakers away, I’ll send them all away!”
Emperor Yongchang’s feelings were momentarily complicated.
Before coming, he had truly believed that the crown prince might have had a hand in this whole affair.
But now, seeing the crown prince like this, honestly, all those suspicions disappeared like smoke.
It wasn’t that he was easy to convince—it was just that the crown prince had always been this way, ever since he was young.
If not for having a powerful maternal grandfather, how could someone like him be the crown prince?
Since childhood, he had failed at everything.
He was no good at studying.
He was no good at riding or hunting.
Whenever they went hunting together, he couldn’t even get on a horse.
It was the same every single year.
Other than beautiful women, he cared about nothing.
Emperor Yongchang bent down and patted the crown prince’s face. “Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. Do you know where the crown princess and the imperial grandson are?”
The crown prince widened his innocent-looking eyes. When he heard this, he nervously swallowed and began trembling uncontrollably. He quickly urged, “Go, go bring the crown princess here! Call the imperial grandson too!”
All of Emperor Yongchang’s remaining doubts disappeared.
The crown prince had always had a terrible relationship with the crown princess, Lady Lu. The two of them had basically fulfilled their duty by producing Xiao Yunting.
After that, neither of them ever cared about Xiao Yunting again.
If it hadn’t been for Empress Feng, who still cared about her grandson and had sent him away to Jurong, that child might not have survived under these two parents.
Emperor Yongchang’s gaze was complex. “Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, and you don’t even know where your own son is? Let me ask you then—do you know that Liu Wangfei has returned? Do you know that Duke Chu’s household has been brought down?”
The crown prince blinked his small, beady eyes, as if trying to remember who Liu Wangfei was.
After a long while, he scratched his head and anxiously said, “Royal Father, Liu Wangfei has been missing for so many years. My Royal mother is the rightful empress. You can’t depose my Royal mother!”
…
Emperor Yongchang completely lost interest in continuing the conversation.
This useless fool, who couldn’t be helped no matter how hard you tried, who had no relationship whatsoever with Xiao Yunting—could he really have manipulated such major events?
What a joke.
When he returned to Taiji Hall, Lai Chenglong was already waiting. Upon seeing Emperor Yongchang, he immediately knelt to greet him.
Emperor Yongchang casually waved his hand for him to rise and raised an eyebrow, asking, “The imperial grandson is at Baiyun Temple right now, correct?”
“Your Majesty, that is correct,” Lai Chenglong respectfully replied. “He is having dinner there with the Eldest Princess and her group, as well as the Old Marquis and Yongping marquis, and their young lady is also present.”
Emperor Yongchang let out a cold laugh. “Seems like everyone’s gathered.”
Lai Chenglong lowered his voice and said, “Your Majesty, this subject noticed that Yongping Marquis was quite frightened. He’s been wanting to leave the whole time, looking uneasy, repeatedly saying he was just following imperial orders and does not dare to claim credit.”
Emperor Yongchang understood immediately. He waved Lai Chenglong off, signaling him to leave.
Then he took a long, deep breath.
Noble Consort Xiao Liu had not slept all night.
The wound on her forehead was tightly wrapped with gauze, but even so, a faint trace of red blood still seeped through—it showed just how hard she had hit herself this time.
When she saw Princess Baorong being supported by palace maids, she looked as if she had finally seen her savior. She hurriedly rushed forward and grasped her daughter’s hand tightly. “Baorong! Tell me, what should we do now?”
Her voice was already laced with tears.
Whenever she thought about how miserably her father had died, and how her mother had been literally angered to death, the pain of her broken family cut through her like a knife.
Not to mention that her son’s leg was crippled.
She clung tightly to Princess Baorong. Her daughter was now her only hope.
Back when she had just entered the palace, she had not been so favored. It was only after giving birth to Baorong that her daughter brought her decades of unmatched imperial favor.
Princess Baorong gently squeezed her mother’s hand in return and let out a soft laugh, speaking with absolute certainty: “Don’t worry. As long as I’m here, you will always enjoy lasting wealth and honor.”
“But that’s not enough!” In the ornate, eight-horse-drawn carriage, Noble Consort Xiao Liu lowered her voice: “You must also avenge your maternal grandparents! Baorong, you must kill that little wretch Qi Yuan! She killed your uncle! Can’t you handle that little tramp?!”
Princess Baorong yawned expressionlessly, leaned elegantly against the embroidered pillow by the carriage wall, raised her eyebrows, and smiled. “Sure, Royal Mother. How about today? Isn’t today just perfect? Let’s send her down today to apologize to Grandfather and Grandmother in the afterlife, how about that?”
Good! Of course, that’s good!
Noble Consort Xiao Liu immediately brightened.
Emperor Yongchang’s mind was heavy with countless worries. After confirming that the Crown Prince was not involved, he didn’t even know who he should be angry at anymore.
Moreover, Liu Wangfei’s personality had always been stubborn and proud, never one to bend easily.
This time, he really didn’t know how to get her to bow her head and return.
And even if she did return, how should she be positioned?
Should he really make her the empress?
Then what would happen to Xiao Mo?
And the Feng family—though to be honest, he didn’t care much about the Fengs. He had always disliked them.
But he did care about Xiao Yunting.
This grandson truly pleased him.
While thinking this over, he had already arrived at the temple gates.
Liu Wangfei, the Eldest Princess, Princess Consort Lu, and their group were already waiting to greet him at the entrance.
Even Xiao Yunting was there.
When he saw Emperor Yongchang, Xiao Yunting happily came forward to salute him, cheerfully and naturally calling out, “Imperial Grandfather.”
At the sight of him, Emperor Yongchang’s face did ease a little, but he still pretended to be angry: “You’re never in the palace studying. Do you know how many times your teacher has come to complain to me? Truly outrageous!”
He was setting the stage to speak with Liu Wangfei.
Meanwhile, Princess Baorong had already locked eyes on her prey—the one standing far off beneath the plum tree: Qi Yuan.
The two met each other’s gaze and, without speaking, both smiled.
Today, one of them was destined to die here.
As for who it would be, that would depend on their own abilities.
The world always thinks that battlefields belong to men, filled with smoke and blood—but they don’t know that women’s wars are the ones that truly kill both the body and the heart.
