Deep in the night, Shoukang Palace remained brightly lit. When Yan Tuan entered Shoukang Palace, he saw the Empress Dowager’s grave and aged face.

After paying his respects, Yan Tuan’s expression remained gentle. “Has Mother Empress been feeling unwell these past few days?”

The Empress Dowager stared at Yan Tuan for a moment, then suddenly sighed. “Tuan’er, Mother won’t speak of other matters. Mother only asks you one thing – do you plan to depose Che’er?”

If Yan Tuan had no such intention, he would have laughed and denied it upon hearing the Empress Dowager’s words. But at this moment, Yan Tuan’s gentle expression briefly turned grave. In that instant, the Empress Dowager knew he had truly harbored such thoughts.

The restraint on the Empress Dowager’s face instantly vanished. She slammed the table, her tone turning cold and harsh. “Why? Why would you have such thoughts? What has Che’er done wrong? What does Zhang Kaide’s matter have to do with him? Hmm?”

The Empress Dowager’s breathing became rapid. Matron Chen, standing guard at the door, heard but dared not enter to comfort her.

Yan Tuan shifted his gaze away from the Empress Dowager. “Mother Empress, your health is poor. It’s best not to worry about this matter.”

Hearing this, the Empress Dowager’s anger surged even higher. “Tuan’er! Mother only wants an explanation. If you can convince Mother, Mother won’t stop you. In all your years of ruling, when has Mother ever interfered? Last year when you made Che’er Crown Prince, it showed you approved of him. Yet now, after just one year, you want to depose him. Tuan’er, this isn’t your style. What’s wrong? Or has Che’er done something else I don’t know about?”

Yan Tuan’s back stiffened slightly, his lips pressed tightly together, but he remained silent.

The more he refused to speak, the deeper the Empress Dowager’s anger grew. She narrowed her eyes and stared at Yan Tuan for a moment, her eyes full of confusion and doubt. The current Yan Tuan was too unlike himself. From childhood, Yan Tuan had been steady and scholarly, never acting without absolute certainty, and once he made a decision, he always had his reasons. The Empress Dowager didn’t want to fundamentally question Yan Tuan’s decision from the start. Though she supported legitimacy and cherished Yan Che, if Yan Tuan gave her a reason today, she would have no objections. But the current Yan Tuan was stubborn and cold, like a piece of hard iron, completely unwilling to reveal any reason to her. How was this still Yan Tuan?!

The former Yan Tuan would never show her such a side. He would calmly explain to her, would honestly persuade her, would prioritize the bigger picture, and would appropriately consider everyone’s feelings. But the current Yan Tuan had no intention of doing so.

The Empress Dowager’s expression rapidly turned ugly. “Tuan’er! If you don’t explain, Mother won’t let you depose Che’er just like this!”

Yan Tuan narrowed his eyes, still not looking at the Empress Dowager. “Mother Empress, I have my plans.”

The Empress Dowager suddenly slammed the armrest. “What plans?! Have you reached the point where you won’t even explain the reasons to Mother?! Tuan’er, Che’er is your legitimate son, your only son with the Empress. I’ve watched him grow up all these years – there’s nothing wrong with him. He’s exactly like you were as a child. Why have you suddenly changed your mind? What are you wary of? Even if the Empress is too controlling of Che’er, he has never thought of overstepping his authority. What more could you be dissatisfied with?”

The Empress Dowager’s tone grew increasingly low, nearly becoming pleading, but Yan Tuan’s brow remained stern.

He suddenly stood up. “It’s late. Mother Empress should rest early.”

After saying this, Yan Tuan strode away. The Empress Dowager sat up straight. “Tuan’er! What do you mean by this!”

The Empress Dowager’s sharp cry didn’t stop Yan Tuan, who continued walking away without looking back. Matron Chen kept her head down, feeling only a cold wind brush past her. When she looked up again, Yan Tuan had already gone far. She heard a crash from the inner chamber and hurried in with a changed expression. Upon entering, Matron Chen saw the Empress Dowager sitting rigidly, her hand trembling on the table, with only the tea saucer remaining – the cup had fallen and shattered on the floor.

Matron Chen’s expression changed. “Your Imperial Highness—”

Matron Chen rushed forward, but just as she reached the Empress Dowager, the latter fell straight backward.

“Someone come! Quickly summon the Imperial Physician! Quickly summon the Imperial Physician—”

At this loud cry, Shoukang Palace immediately fell into chaos in the dead of night. The Empress Dowager was covered in sweat, her face deathly pale, her lips moving but unable to speak. Matron Chen was extremely worried and instinctively said, “Your Highness, I’ll send someone to invite the Princess into the palace…”

Previously when the Empress Dowager had been critically ill, it was Qin Wan who had saved her. This time, with the Empress Dowager seriously ill again, Matron Chen naturally thought first of inviting Qin Wan to the palace. However, as soon as she spoke, the Empress Dowager grabbed her. She used all her strength, turning blue-white. Matron Chen’s eyes reddened. “All right, all right, I understand. I won’t invite the Princess.”

The Empress Dowager had been unwell these days, and occasionally requesting an Imperial Physician wasn’t unusual. But if they summoned Qin Wan to the palace in the middle of the night, one could imagine what kind of rumors would spread outside. Only after hearing this did the Empress Dowager slowly close her eyes. She presumably didn’t want to collapse like this, so she began leaning against Matron Chen to regulate her breathing.

After a while, the Empress Dowager recovered her strength. Soon the Imperial Physician arrived, naturally conducting an examination. After diagnosis, he determined the Empress Dowager had suffered an attack of wind illness and, fearing complications, wanted to perform acupuncture. Usually, Qin Wan handled the Empress Dowager’s medical care. Matron Chen thought about waiting until tomorrow for Qin Wan to enter the palace and perform the acupuncture but feared the Empress Dowager might not make it through the night. She had no choice but to let the Imperial Physician give the Empress Dowager a couple of needles. After all this chaos, it was already past midnight when the Empress Dowager finally rested.

Though exhausted and unwell, the Empress Dowager didn’t feel sleepy at all.

Yan Tuan’s attitude had been far too strange. She was now both angry and heartbroken, but mostly bewildered. Yan Tuan wouldn’t act this way without reason, even to the point of falling out with her. The last time Yan Tuan had been like this was during the period just after his injury had initially healed, but that was because she wanted to establish a memorial grave for Yan Han. That matter had passed so many years ago – what was causing Yan Tuan to act this way now?

As Empress Dowager had aged, she increasingly cherished her relationships with the younger generation, not knowing how many days she had left to live. She found it difficult to accept Yan Tuan’s change.

After tossing and turning all night, she finally fell into a light sleep in the early hours.

Matron Chen was extremely worried. When dawn came, she didn’t dare delay and sent someone out of the palace to find Qin Wan.

The palace servant arrived very early, reaching the Marquis Manor just as Qin Wan was getting up. Unable to even eat breakfast, she hurriedly changed clothes and left Songfeng Court. Arriving at the main courtyard, she saw it was a managing matron from Shoukang Palace. Upon seeing this person, Qin Wan knew something was wrong.

The matron spoke anxiously, “Princess, please come with this servant to the palace quickly. The Empress Dowager is unwell.”

Madam Hu and Qin Shu had both been alarmed and were now in the main courtyard. Seeing the situation, they naturally had questions, but the matron seemed caught between speaking and silence. “This servant doesn’t know the internal details…”

Madam Hu and Qin Shu exchanged glances, both naturally having their speculations. Qin Wan dared not delay and immediately went to the palace with the matron.

After they left, Qin Shu said, “At this critical moment, the Empress Dowager has fallen ill as well. Is this… is this because of the Crown Prince?”

Qin Shu’s expression changed slightly, his palms sweating uncontrollably.

Madam Hu said with a bitter expression, “This… we’ll probably have to wait until Wan’er returns to know… ah…”

Qin Shu frowned deeply, and after a long while shook his head. “Yan’er was right. We can’t pin all our hopes on the Crown Prince anymore.”

Madam Hu’s expression changed drastically, her body swaying involuntarily. If they couldn’t put all their hopes on the Crown Prince, did that mean they would have to abandon their own Yu’er as well? Madam Hu felt her heart being wrenchingly painful…

When Qin Wan arrived at Shoukang Palace, she immediately sensed something was wrong. The entire Shoukang Palace seemed unusually quiet. Even the palace maids outside were all keeping their eyes down, not daring to make a sound. Qin Wan instinctively felt something was amiss but couldn’t pinpoint what. She could only go see the Empress Dowager first.

When Matron Chen saw Qin Wan, she felt as if she’d seen a lifesaving straw and pulled Qin Wan toward the inner chamber. “Princess has finally arrived. The Empress Dowager fell ill last night, but it was too late to invite you. Later we called the Imperial Physician, who said the Empress Dowager had another attack of wind illness. He gave her acupuncture then, and the Empress Dowager improved somewhat, but this servant will only be at ease with you examining her. The Empress Dowager is still lying down.”

Qin Wan instinctively asked, “What caused the Empress Dowager’s illness? Wasn’t she fine before?”

Matron Chen also seemed caught between speaking and silence for a moment, but given her close relationship with Qin Wan, she finally said quietly, “His Majesty came last night, regarding the Crown Prince’s matter.”

At these words, Qin Wan’s heart immediately sank. However, being clever, she knew not to ask more and only inquired about the medicine the Imperial Physician had prescribed last night.

As they spoke, Qin Wan entered the inner chamber. Hearing movement, the Empress Dowager turned around. Seeing Qin Wan, her expression changed slightly. Qin Wan saw a trace of desolation in her eyes. Seeing the Empress Dowager’s expression, Qin Wan could imagine how unpleasant the previous night had been and hurried forward to pay her respects.

The Empress Dowager spoke a few words to Qin Wan in a hoarse voice, and Qin Wan quickly checked her pulse.

After checking, Qin Wan sighed and said, “Now that the weather is getting colder, and the Empress Dowager’s health was already poor. Now with anger attacking the heart, it naturally brought out the suppressed wind of evil. The Empress Dowager absolutely must not get angry these next few days. The prescription from the Imperial Physician last night can be used; I’ll just add two more ingredients. Today we won’t do acupuncture for the Empress Dowager – I’ll do it tomorrow. Today, just take your medicine well and rest your spirit.”

Hearing Qin Wan’s instructions made Matron Chen feel relieved. She quickly arranged for the medicine to be prepared according to the new prescription. Seeing Qin Wan’s gentle and detailed manner made the Empress Dowager feel even more sorrowful. Yan Tuan used to be like this too – how had he changed so suddenly?

“Wan’er, tell me… ah…”

The Empress Dowager wanted someone to confide in, but Qin Wan was too young, so she couldn’t bring herself to speak.

Qin Wan sat beside the Empress Dowager, holding her hand and massaging the acupoints on her wrist while saying, “Whatever the reason, your health is most important. If this continues, I won’t dare give you acupuncture anymore. This past year, I’ve put in tremendous effort caring for you – you can’t disregard your health like this.”

The Empress Dowager couldn’t help but smile bitterly at Qin Wan’s plaintive tone. She heaved a long sigh and said, “I don’t want to get angry either, but… ah…”

Qin Wan couldn’t help saying, “Don’t be angry with His Majesty.”

The Empress Dowager was startled, then realized Matron Chen must have let something slip. She smiled bitterly and decided to speak freely. “It’s not that I’m angry with him. He’s being too unreasonable. He…”

Since Yan Che had married Qin Chaoyu, the Empress Dowager was somewhat hesitant with Qin Wan, but Qin Wan was clever. “Is His Majesty dissatisfied with the Crown Prince?”

Now that the topic was broached, the Empress Dowager couldn’t hold back. “Don’t tell your uncle and the others about this. His Majesty seems to have gone mad, he’s seriously considering it. Though he didn’t say it, I know him – he… If the Crown Prince had done something wrong, that would be one thing, but the Crown Prince hasn’t done anything wrong, yet he…”

As soon as the Empress Dowager started speaking, she began getting angry again, her breathing becoming uneven. Qin Wan quickly helped the Empress Dowager regulate her breathing. “Alright, alright, don’t think about it anymore. His Majesty might have some difficulty he can’t speak of. Don’t think about it – you can try trusting His Majesty first…”

The Empress Dowager wasn’t convinced but didn’t dare be careless, so she quickly stopped talking.

While Qin Wan spoke these words, in her heart she was thinking: that all the mistakes the Crown Prince could have made had been dug up by Prince Cheng, and even those could only be counted as oversight and poor choice of personnel. Yet His Majesty still wanted to depose the Crown Prince. Not only that, but he had quarreled with the Empress Dowager over deposing the Crown Prince, angering her to the point of illness. Why was His Majesty so insistent on this?

While Qin Wan’s face revealed nothing, the unease in her heart grew increasingly strong.