The crowd suddenly fell silent, their gazes fixed in unison on the procession not far away, seemingly wanting to know how the Grand Imperial Grandson would respond, wanting to know whether the Grand Imperial Grandson truly indulged the Grand Imperial Grandson’s Consort this way, regardless of whether she was right or wrong.

Not long after, the Deputy Commander of the Five Commanderies’ Military Inspectorate cursed even more fiercely, raising his voice to order: “Goddammit, are you all deaf?! His Highness and Her Highness have ordered that anyone who collides with the Grand Imperial Grandson’s procession shall all be prosecuted!”

The common people were stunned. After a moment of silence, overwhelming curses rose up, continuing one after another without cease.

“I truly never imagined that His Highness would be this kind of person!” A common woman couldn’t hide the disappointment in her heart and spat on the ground: “To think I even cursed Prince Gong back then for having the ambitions of a wolf!”

At the mention of Prince Gong, someone immediately chimed in: “That’s right, that’s right! From the looks of it now, those rumors might not necessarily be false. Alas, they do say there’s no smoke without fire… The Grand Imperial Grandson’s Consort… the Grand Imperial Grandson’s Consort is still too formidable…”

Anyone with eyes could see that the people from the Five Commanderies’ Military Inspectorate now had attitudes as fierce as wolves and tigers, clearly acting under the Grand Imperial Grandson’s Consort’s orders. Yet the Grand Imperial Grandson made not a single sound, just numbly watching the Grand Imperial Grandson’s Consort direct people to deal with them, these common folk. They increasingly felt that Prince Gong’s proclamation wasn’t groundless… Though the Grand Imperial Grandson had previously been gentle, benevolent, and approachable, perhaps that was just an appearance? Now seeing His Majesty fall ill, he was revealing such an unbridled true face. No, perhaps even His Majesty’s illness…

Thinking of this, the common people grew even more restless. Those with fiercer temperaments had already begun cursing the heavens, and the monks all began chanting in unison.

Perhaps the sound of sutra chanting was too loud, or perhaps these monks’ bald heads were becoming impossible to ignore under such a sun. The citizens, who had previously limited themselves to verbal abuse, finally could no longer restrain themselves. From somewhere flew a shoe that smacked heavily against the face of a constable holding a cudgel to block the road. Immediately following was a second, then a third. In the end, rows of constables were forced to retreat like a tide. The common people crossed over the monks sitting on the ground and surged like a tide toward the procession of the Grand Imperial Grandson and Grand Imperial Grandson’s Consort, who were preparing to take a detour.

Master Chang stood on the street-facing terrace watching for a long while, nodding thoughtfully.

The head steward was frightened pale, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead: “This Grand Imperial Grandson’s Consort has gone too far… Why must she insist on opposing the common people? This way, isn’t she deliberately making things difficult for them? There was already popular resentment boiling over, and with her making such a scene, the Grand Imperial Grandson’s reputation will only become more notorious.”

The goal was precisely for it to become more notorious. Master Chang’s gaze was fixed intently on the carriage pulled by four horses in which the Grand Imperial Grandson sat, surrounded by constables, Golden Martial Guards, and Feathered Forest Guards. His eyes flickered but he didn’t speak.

This Grand Imperial Grandson’s Consort, just as his father had said, possessed an unmatched ability to fathom people’s hearts, and an unmatched ability to exploit people’s hearts to achieve her goals by finding every opportunity…

She was merely a young girl who had only just come of age. This ability… was simply not something an ordinary person could possess. No matter what he arranged, hearing the earth-shaking shouts of “disaster star” from below, he suddenly shuddered.

“Truly a disaster star…” Xu Da, with a somewhat amused expression, also stood on a flying bridge extending from a teahouse not far away, gazing from afar at Vermillion Bird Street in chaos and the Golden Martial Guards and Feathered Forest Guards exhausted from running about: “This Sixth Miss Song lives up to her reputation—her temper is certainly not ordinary.”

“If her temper were mild, would Lady Fan and the Heir Apparent have ended up as they did?” Someone scoffed and walked out from the room to stand beside him, following his gaze toward that carriage: “It’s fortunate she has such a temper.” As he spoke, seeing Xu Da smile even more happily, he smiled too: “Just as our Marquis said, when a person’s temper reaches a certain point, when there’s no longer any need to restrain it, they’ll only become increasingly unbridled, not more restrained. Right now they think the situation favors them, so naturally they can’t see the popular resentment boiling below, nor do they find the censors’ anger very frightening. After all, they’re young…”

Young, self-righteous, thinking themselves irreplaceable—what a joke.

The smile in Xu Da’s eyes remained unchanged as he turned to look at that person: “Is everything arranged? Is that old fellow Censor Shi still amenable to direction?”

“What direction?” That person laughed: “Please don’t speak of this upright and impartial Censor that way. Actually, we don’t really need to instigate him at all. Censor Shi is inherently an upright and incorruptible person. When he heard those rumors, he couldn’t sit still on his own. What’s more, today’s matter…” He pointed at Vermillion Bird Street, which was becoming even more tumultuous: “As long as today’s events spread, even if you tied up Censor Shi, he wouldn’t let this rest.”

As he spoke, he scoffed and continued: “It’s just that, what about Academician Chen and Minister Zheng? Will they be able to hold out in prison…”

Xu Da didn’t take it seriously: “What of it? They’ll certainly hold out. It’s the mole who won’t be able to hold out—that’s the truth.”

He had already fled at the first sign of trouble before the Imperial Guard raided the residences. However, he still left an insider at Academician Chen’s residence as insurance. After all, Academician Chen had made such a fuss that it would be difficult not to arouse suspicion. Since that was the case, if they wanted to find a mole, he would grant their wish. Once they found the mole, naturally they wouldn’t easily think so much about other matters.

“But it doesn’t really matter.” Xu Da stopped watching: “In any case, it’s only these few days left.” As he spoke, his expression turned serious: “It’s just… why has there been no movement from inside the palace all this time?”

Now that Emperor Jianzhang had fallen ill, and Empress Lu in the palace was also sickly, it was the perfect opportunity to bring out Prince Dongping. But for some reason, though the insider in the palace had received the message seven or eight days ago, there had been no movement at all. Could there be some problem again?

It was just unfortunate that with the Crown Princess now managing the inner palace, they couldn’t easily cause a disturbance. Otherwise they should send another message inside. Nothing else mattered—only Prince Dongping’s safety was most critical. If anything happened to Prince Dongping, even if they turned the capital upside down, they would still be dismembered by Han Zhengqing when they returned.

“Prince Dongping probably can’t easily trust anyone.” That person was somewhat indifferent. What he cared about was something else: “Won’t it arouse suspicion? His Majesty’s illness… actually should have resulted in sudden death, so why has it become unconsciousness instead?”

The poison they administered should have caused Emperor Jianzhang to die on the spot.