The hall was silent for a long time. Outside, heavy snow fell and the cold was oppressive, yet inside the hall it was as warm as spring. The green plants and narcissus placed in the corner of the wall were full of vitality. The elder Madam Fan imperceptibly felt much less pressure, but still knelt on the ground with clenched fists, extremely tense.

After a long while, the Crown Prince finally sighed and nodded at her gently: “Get up. Although ground cover has been laid here, your health has always been weak. How can you endure this?”

The elder Madam Fan couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. She hurriedly grasped the hand the Crown Prince extended and stood up, smiling with curved eyes and brows. She knew the Crown Prince had always liked women’s gentle and gracious manner. That sharp and cutting meanness she showed before others—she didn’t dare reveal even a bit of it. She concealed it tightly, not even a shadow visible.

That fool, the younger Madam Fan, actually thought the Crown Prince would care about matters like who played the zither back then or about Han Zhengqing. She didn’t know all of this had long been within the Crown Prince’s grasp.

What she worried about and feared was nothing more than that she had indeed gone too far, forcing the younger Madam Fan to make such a big commotion that it made things difficult for the Crown Prince to handle, causing him to blame her in anger.

The Crown Prince glanced at her, then released her hand. The elder Madam Fan hurriedly personally took the kettle from the charcoal stove and personally added hot water for the Crown Prince.

“Qi’er must have been badly frightened, hasn’t he?” The Crown Prince glanced at her. His question seemed casual: “He doesn’t know the inside story. He’s probably been scared witless by his aunt’s death.”

The elder Madam Fan’s hand movements paused. The tourmaline bracelet on her wrist emitted a faint glow. She carefully looked at the Crown Prince once, then forced out a smile: “He truly believed his aunt’s words, thinking that the Marquis of Jinxiang and I have some…” She hesitated before daring to continue: “Thinking that the Marquis of Jinxiang and I have some unclear and ambiguous relationship. I’ve already covered it up.”

This originally wasn’t something the Crown Prince should worry about. If the elder Madam Fan couldn’t even control her own son, he couldn’t possibly have relied on her so heavily for all this time.

Outside came San Bao’s extremely respectful voice: “Your Highness, the Crown Princess requests an audience.”

The elder Madam Fan’s heart jumped. She actually wasn’t afraid of this Crown Princess. Crown Princess Lu was certainly good—she was the Empress’s own niece, was learned and sensible, intelligent and capable. But all these countless good qualities couldn’t overcome one flaw—she had been childhood sweethearts with Prince Gong since childhood, truly in the genuine sense of childhood sweethearts. Only because she was the legitimate eldest daughter of the Lu clan was she given to the Crown Prince by the Empress.

The Crown Prince had always been extremely sensitive about this point.

The Crown Prince’s gaze was profound. After a long while, he finally spoke: “Tell the Crown Princess to go back. I have Liangdi attending to me here. She must be tired from caring for me these past days. Tell her to go back and rest.”

San Bao’s heart found the thoughts of these people in high positions increasingly inscrutable. He didn’t understand how the Crown Prince, who the moment before had flown into a rage because he had presumptuously announced Fan Liangdi’s message, could have changed his mind in such a short time. But he firmly hid the doubts in his heart, acknowledged with a “yes,” and turned to relay the Crown Prince’s words to the Crown Princess.

Pei Yin’s expression became somewhat unsightly. Supporting the Crown Princess as they walked halfway, she finally couldn’t hold back: “Your Highness… Liangdi’s family has committed such grave errors, yet His Highness still protects her like this!”

Truly a complete and utter vixen. After all these years, who knew what bewitching potion she had fed the Crown Prince to bewitch him so thoroughly that even the proper Crown Princess had been pushed to the back.

The Crown Princess’s pale fingers grasped the oiled paper umbrella Xiangzhi was holding beside her. She slowly broke into a smile. Standing in the frozen world of ice and snow, she looked at the red plum blossoms for a while, then shook her head extremely lightly: “Forget it.”

Her son was right. Fan Liangdi couldn’t fall in the short term. Things had to be done step by step.

At this moment, Master Yuanhui was also restraining the vexation in his heart and telling Prince Dongping: “Your Highness need not worry. No matter what, Your Highness is one of the Crown Prince’s only two sons. The Crown Prince personally raised and educated you by his side since childhood. The affection is extraordinary. Since Liangdi already has a good plan, she surely won’t be unable to recover.”

Perhaps because a monk’s words always carried a certain sense of predestination, Prince Dongping truly felt much more at ease listening. He slowly exhaled: “I hope so. But I’m always somewhat worried. My mother’s reach extends too far, and moreover she fundamentally cannot control her own emotions. If this continues, sooner or later things will go wrong.”

Master Yuanhui also felt that women always easily did things according to their own emotions—they were truly unreliable things. Just like Song Chuyi, who because of that assassination attempt had set her sights on him and immediately followed through with action.

He looked at Prince Dongping, his brow moved as he asked him: “How does Your Highness view the Cui family and the Song family?”

Previously, Prince Dongping and the elder Madam Fan had always made winning over the Song family and Cui family their main objective. Now he didn’t know what their thinking was.

Prince Dongping looked at Master Yuanhui somewhat strangely and stated his intention without thinking: “Naturally, if they can be won over, then win them over. The Cui clan is a prestigious family with a heritage of hundreds of years unbroken. The Song family currently holds real power. If these people could be used by me, wouldn’t I have wings added to my tiger?”

“But the fear is that their hearts are not set on Your Highness.” Master Yuanhui guided him methodically: “Look at how Princess Duanhui walks closely with the Song family and also walks closely with the Prince of Zhennan’s household. She even wants to facilitate a marriage between Second Young Master Ye of the Prince of Zhennan’s household and Sixth Young Lady Song. This way, the Song family, Cui family, and Prince of Zhennan’s household would be bound together.”

And the Prince of Zhennan’s household and Princess Rongcheng had always been more intimate with Zhou Weizhao.

Prince Dongping thought of this point, and his expression became somewhat unsightly again.

Master Yuanhui observed his expression and spoke again at the opportune moment: “Sixth Young Lady Song’s fate is uncertain. This truly is not an auspicious sign of fortune and blessings. She may very possibly bring calamity. Rather than Your Highness pursuing the Song family who are slippery and fundamentally cannot be grasped, it would be better to solidly hold the Chen family in your hands first.”

Zhou Weiqi truly wasn’t afraid of any calamities or fates. If Song Chuyi could truly bring him the benefits he expected and pull the forces of the Song family and Cui family to his side, even if she truly were a baleful lone star, he would be willing to worship her—what was there to fear about a terrifying fate? The masters of Imperial Enlightenment Temple, those old immortals of the Daoist school, and the Imperial Observatory—what were they all there for? They all ate from the same bowl. He would always have ways to suppress Song Chuyi, this baleful lone star.

But what Master Yuanhui said in his latter sentence truly made some sense. The Song family was really too slippery. Rather than dividing so much attention to win over the Song family who might not be obtained, it would be better to first thoroughly and completely tighten his grip on the Chen family already in his hands. This would prevent picking up sesame seeds while losing watermelons—even letting the cooked duck that was the Chen family fly away. That would truly be a loss outweighing any gain.