Qian Ying’s head felt ready to split. He rarely felt so helpless, but the development of events had completely exceeded his abilities and imagination. His face pale, he stared tightly at his own palm, slowly burying his face in it and rubbing hard several times. But this didn’t make him any more clearheaded. He rubbed his head, feeling utterly confused.

Huang Yiqing was the first to speak. He coughed to clear his throat, his voice still carrying traces of trembling: “This isn’t necessarily about that old ginseng root…”

Hearing these two words, the Prince of Dongping was like someone whose backside had been burned, hurriedly lifting his head to stare deeply at Huang Yiqing. Soon after, he squeezed out a single word from between his teeth: “No.” He said, already unable to help but laugh: “It must be that old ginseng root’s problem. Otherwise why would Father be poisoned for no reason? His meals have always had tasters try the dishes first. Only this ginseng root—being extremely precious and gifted by me—bypassed the taster and went straight into Father’s stomach.”

Qian Ying also exhaled, feeling as if his heart held an abnormally heavy stone that pressed down until he could barely breathe. He couldn’t help but continue the Prince of Dongping’s words: “His Highness the Crown Prince’s health is poor. He rarely goes out normally, but this time because of the Grand Prince’s wedding, he made a trip to the Ministry of Rites to discuss the wedding procession with the Minister of Rites. Precisely because of this, the Imperial Guard has now gone there to investigate. After all their inquiries, they’ll still end up investigating the Eastern Palace’s food.” He said, clearly having also concluded it was the old ginseng root that had problems: “And this ginseng root was personally presented by you…”

Qian Ying’s face turned pale. He couldn’t continue. Everything the Crown Prince had eaten today would be thoroughly investigated. The Eastern Palace’s cooks and even the tasters had all been arrested and sent to the imperial prison today. Very soon the Imperial Guard would discover that Zhou Weiqi had presented an old ginseng root. At that time… at that time, even with a hundred mouths, they couldn’t explain it clearly.

Huang Yiqing gave a solid shudder, extremely confused and somewhat resentful: “How could Marquis Jinxiang send up a problematic ginseng root?! What were his intentions?!”

Qian Ying and Zhou Weiqi exchanged glances, then both simultaneously looked away. They had been too careless. After Fan Liangdi had schemed against the children of Han Zhengqing’s western household, destroying their family, they had still gladly accepted the goodwill Han Zhengqing offered. They had truly been led by Fan Liangdi’s excessive confidence until their minds became muddled.

Zhou Weiqi’s hands gripped the bedpost tightly. After a long while, as if suddenly remembering something, he abruptly asked: “What about Zhou Weizhao?” In private, he always addressed Zhou Weizhao by name.

Qian Ying scrambled up from the floor and turned several circles on the spot—he knew something was bound to happen recently. He had sent people to follow Song Chuyi closely and knew Song Chuyi had left the city to accompany her adopted sister to a Taoist ritual outside the city. The Grand Prince valued this marriage so highly, valued Sixth Miss Song so much—he should have left the city together with her.

He got up, as if coming back to life, vigorously shaking his head to make himself more alert. Then he looked at Zhou Weiqi and asked with a heavy expression: “Your Highness, when you went to see His Highness the Crown Prince today, what did he say to you?!”

The Crown Prince had already revealed to Zhou Weiqi yesterday his intention for Sixth Miss Song to die. If the Crown Prince wanted Sixth Miss Song to meet misfortune, would the Grand Prince who accompanied her out of the city today also suffer disaster? Although this idea was truly somewhat incredible, for some reason, Qian Ying felt the Crown Prince was truly capable of doing such a thing. He stared at Zhou Weiqi, unable to help asking again: “He must have said something to you. Think carefully…”

Zhou Weiqi, stared at until his scalp tingled, covered his head with both hands and frantically recalled the Crown Prince’s words and actions this morning. After a long while, he suddenly slapped his palm: “That’s right! That’s right! Father said it, Father said it today. When Minister Zhen and Minister Fu came to discuss Prince Gong’s upcoming arrival in the capital, Father told me afterwards that Uncle Prince Gong was coming to the capital to seek death this time. He also said Imperial Grandmother would be thoroughly disappointed in him this time, and that the Song and Cui families wouldn’t spare him either. He said Uncle Prince Gong was finished this time…”

Huang Yiqing listened in confusion, completely ignorant of what the Crown Prince meant or why Qian Ying was asking this.

But Qian Ying thought of that notion that had frequently occupied his mind recently. He stared tightly at Zhou Weiqi and actually laughed aloud.

Huang Yiqing looked at Zhou Weiqi’s increasingly rigid expression and couldn’t help but slap Qian Ying, saying in a low voice: “Are you mad?!” At such a moment, he still had the mood to laugh! Had his brain gone bad?!

Qian Ying also knew when to stop. He looked at Zhou Weiqi and called out “Your Highness” in a low, forceful voice, calling the Prince of Dongping back to his senses, before saying: “If I’m not mistaken, His Highness the Crown Prince made a move against Sixth Miss Song today. He wanted to prevent Sixth Miss Song from returning.”

Zhou Weiqi had learned this before from the mouths of Zhen De and the Crown Prince. He waved his hand carelessly, already lacking patience: “My father all but told me this outright. He extremely dislikes Sixth Miss Song.”

But so what? Even if Sixth Miss Song died now, that couldn’t change the fact that his old ginseng root had poisoned the Crown Prince! Thinking of this, Zhou Weiqi felt even more vexed.

But Qian Ying shook his head: “No, it’s more than that. What His Highness had in mind should be more than just this simple. He wanted to kill Sixth Miss Song, but he didn’t want to let Prince Gong off easy. Didn’t we hear Minister Zhen mention before? His Highness the Crown Prince previously sent him to provoke Prince Gong, wanting Prince Gong to move against the Grand Prince…”

Associating this with the Crown Prince saying Prince Gong was finished and would also lose the Empress’s favor, Zhou Weiqi’s mind stirred. He looked at Qian Ying, no longer caring about much: “You’re saying Father wanted to kill Sixth Miss Song and then frame it on Uncle Prince Gong?!”

This must also be why the Crown Prince had first gone to great lengths to send Zhen De to provoke Prince Gong. But so what?

As if seeing through Zhou Weiqi’s thoughts, Qian Ying’s voice dropped even lower: “In this subject’s view, this is nine out of ten likely. But the Grand Prince also left the city, didn’t he? If the Grand Prince happened to disappear together with Sixth Miss Song…” He glanced at Zhou Weiqi’s suddenly brightening eyes, then lowered his head to continue: “Then couldn’t the reason for His Highness the Crown Prince’s incident also be pushed onto Prince Gong?”