In late autumn, the withered yellow leaves that had long been swaying precariously on the trees, changing from green to yellow, from vibrant with life to decayed and withered, fell like rain, dancing and fluttering through the sky. They quickly piled into a thick layer on the ground.

The desolate scene inevitably made people feel the harsh cold of severe winter prematurely. First Madam wrapped her cloak tighter around herself. When she turned past the garden and stopped for a while at Song Chuyi’s Guanju Courtyard, she finally felt somewhat warmer. A rare smile from these past days appeared on her face: “She’s already been sent away. I hope she herself… will conduct herself properly.”

Originally, Old Master Song’s intention had been to eliminate future troubles permanently. With Song Chumi’s example before him, he had become much more wary of Song Chuning, this time bomb that could explode at any moment. He had even written to Changsha with stern demands that Song Yi send Song Chuning back to the capital.

But later Old Madam Song said that since Chen Jinxin was also going to stay outside for a long period, they might as well send Song Chumi to keep her company—if they were afraid she would leak something, they just needed to have people guard her strictly. Plus, after this incident, all the servants around Song Chumi had been completely replaced inside and out, so she couldn’t stir up any more trouble.

This matter was ultimately handled by First Madam. Having just reported the news at Ningde Courtyard, she now sat in Song Chuyi’s room, alternating between alarm and joy: “Thank heaven for its protection. Your eldest sister… I hope this time she can smoothly give birth to a little prince. Then I won’t have to worry anymore.”

However, the timing of the pregnancy wasn’t very good. It happened to coincide with Princess Shijia’s incident, and there were also some unfavorable rumors in the palace, making Consort Song quite uneasy.

Counting the days, it had already been more than half a month since they left the palace. By rights, Princess Shijia’s matter should soon have a resolution. Song Chuyi was also somewhat distracted. First Madam called her several times before she reacted. Seeing the expression on First Madam’s face, she smiled: “First Aunt doesn’t need to worry. After so many years, the palace finally has joyous news again. His Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress must both be happy. Eldest Sister is blessed—she will certainly safely give birth to a little prince.”

First Madam wisely stopped asking further. Both times entering the palace, it had been Old Madam Song who went. She couldn’t determine whether something had actually happened in the palace, so she could only come to Song Chuyi’s place to probe a bit.

She was only probing just to the point of propriety. After Princess Shijia’s incident, she had keenly perceived that matters were not simple. She dared not be suspicious anymore, fearing she might do something wrong again. In any case, her daughter-in-law was about to give birth, and her daughter was also pregnant again. This could be called double happiness arriving at the door. She only hoped they would both safely give birth to sons. As for the rest, she dared not ask for more.

She sat for a while. Just as Nanny Jin came in to say that Third Madam’s carriage had already entered through the hanging flower gate, she hastily rose—there would probably be quite a commotion over at Yun Shi’s place. She needed to go placate her in advance, lest the household be thrown into chaos again.

Song Chuyi had just seen off First Madam when she saw Yulan leading a young maid approaching. Upon seeing her, the maid breathed a sigh of relief and said: “Old Madam is looking for you. The Princess Consort of Zhennan has arrived.”

At such a time of extreme nervousness, why would the Princess Consort of Zhennan come in person? Song Chuyi put on another cloak over her outer garment, instructed Luyi to receive Song Yan later, then took Ziyun and Qing Tao to Ningde Courtyard.

Old Madam Song was saying something to the Princess Consort of Zhennan. Upon seeing Song Chuyi, she hastily called to her: “Quickly pay respects to the Princess Consort.”

The Princess Consort of Zhennan was already smiling as she pulled her over: “What respects or no respects? We’re all family. If we keep bowing back and forth like this, there’ll be no end to it.”

Song Chuyi could only accordingly sit in the seat to the Princess Consort of Zhennan’s lower right, pursing her lips to reveal two small dimples.

The Princess Consort of Zhennan smiled as she turned back to speak with Old Madam Song: “Originally I shouldn’t have rushed over to visit, but my girl fell ill after returning home. We summoned an imperial physician but she didn’t improve. Later someone familiar said this was probably a case of soul loss. I remembered that your household has a nanny who knows how to calm frights and call back souls, so I came specially to borrow her services.”

“This isn’t any major matter. You could have just sent someone to notify us. There was no need to personally make this trip.” Old Madam Song smiled while turning to instruct Yushu: “Go to First Madam’s place and tell her to have Nanny Qiu accompany the Princess Consort.”

After the pleasantries, the Princess Consort of Zhennan let out a long sigh full of worried thoughts: “Originally I thought the same, but now…” She glanced at Song Chuyi again before continuing: “The Imperial Guard is turning the city upside down everywhere. I was also afraid that sending only a servant might invite misunderstanding. I’d rather make the trip personally.”

She had come to exchange information. Old Madam Song’s expression remained unchanged as she instructed Yulan to take the young maids to make some specialty pastries and send them up. Only after seeing the people leave did she also sigh: “I heard they’ve already visited several households? I was also scared out of my wits by the palace incident. These days I’ve been restraining the household servants, not letting them go out freely, just fearing they might somehow get implicated…”

The Princess Consort of Zhennan nodded with a grave expression: “I heard that among those suspicious people searched out at Princess Shijia’s residence, there was actually a concubine-born grandson from Elder Zhang’s household… And coincidentally, this young master from the Zhang family only returned from Shu half a year ago.”

Director Sun and Director Chen, after examining historical records and medical texts, determined that this poison was a rare toxin from Shu.

The young eunuch in the Eastern Palace had also confessed under severe torture that on that day, for convenience and because he had received rewards from Princess Shijia, he had not first used a silver needle to test the Grand Prince’s food for poison.

With all this human and material evidence, plus both the Crown Prince and Grand Prince having been poisoned, His Majesty was extremely enraged. Princess Shijia could now be said to have been pushed to desperate straits.

Mentioning this point, Song Chuyi couldn’t help but feel somewhat alarmed for Zhou Weizhao—he had actually been able to calculate His Majesty’s psychology so accurately. They say the dragon’s heart is unfathomable, but Zhou Weizhao was like a tapeworm in Emperor Jianzhang’s belly, calculating his every reaction… This was truly somewhat terrifying.

That she herself could accurately predict every move of Empress Dowager Rongxian’s chess pieces was because of the painstaking understanding accumulated from her previous life plus this life, combined with careful planning at every step. But Zhou Weizhao—why did he possess such ability? Could it really be because of extraordinary natural talent?

“All these years, His Majesty has always treated the Empress Dowager with the utmost respect and filial piety according to propriety. He has also shown great favor and trust toward Princess Shijia.” Old Madam Song lowered her head, her tone heavy: “Yet they have always been brooding over events from years ago, harboring resentment toward His Majesty, even refusing to spare the Crown Prince and Grand Prince… This is too much.”

Even if the Empress Dowager made a fuss about this matter, claiming she and Princess Shijia were wrongly accused, with both human witnesses and physical evidence complete, no one in the world would believe her.

How the Emperor and Empress had treated her all these years—everyone had seen it. The Empress Dowager had already lost the people’s hearts. In her hands, she no longer had any bargaining chips.