“Your Highness, why would Prince Xin do such a thing?” Biyu couldn’t help but ask.

As one of Shen Xihe’s people, she naturally sided with her. She found it unusual that Xiao Changqing would frame his birth mother for Shen Xihe’s sake, worried this might be a trap he was secretly laying for Shen Xihe.

Although Xiao Changqing and Shen Xihe were currently cooperating, when royal family members ally, one must remain cautious when the supreme throne is at stake.

Shen Xihe smiled at Biyu: “Prince Xin’s actions aren’t because of me.”

She and Xiao Changqing shared no deep bond – they were merely temporary allies due to their current lack of conflicts and shared enemies.

He did this because he was tired of His Majesty using his birth mother to control him. Previously, he had managed to demote Noble Consort Rong with Shen Xihe’s help, but later His Majesty elevated Noble Consort Rong again under the pretext of rewarding his achievements, using this to warn him.

With His Majesty’s power waning at this crucial time, he didn’t want his mother holding him back.

Using the incense ink incident, he let His Majesty discover that the ink had entered the palace during Noble Consort Rong’s tenure as palace overseer. Although Noble Consort Rong was unaware, she couldn’t escape the crime of negligence in her duties. His Majesty suffered greatly because of this and had no strength to reverse the situation in his remaining time. With such bitterness in his heart, he likely didn’t want to see Noble Consort Rong again.

The execution was impossible – Shen Xihe was with child, and Noble Consort Rong had two sons and a daughter. Moreover, negligence didn’t warrant death.

However, Shen Xihe hadn’t expected that a few days later, Emperor Youning would issue an edict ordering Xiao Changqing to take Noble Consort Rong out of the palace and provide for her at Prince Xin’s residence.

The dynasty had regulations: when an emperor passed away, his consorts with sons would be cared for at their sons’ residences. Those without sons would be sent to temples to practice Buddhism. But there had never been a precedent of an emperor sending his consort to his son’s residence while still alive.

This was a tremendous humiliation for Noble Consort Rong.

“Your Majesty, does this mean he’s not planning to pass the throne to Prince Xin?” Zhenzhu’s first reaction was this.

After all, only princes and kings looked after dowager consorts – how could there be logic in an emperor and birth mother living separately?

“I suspect you’re not the only one thinking this,” Shen Xihe said while working on needlework – making small clothes for the child.

“Is that not the case?” Zhenzhu asked.

Shen Xihe’s hands paused as she thought carefully, but she didn’t give a definite answer: “I too am unsure of His Majesty’s intentions. Whether he means to confuse everyone before ultimately passing the throne to Prince Xin, or if he’s using this to test me and Prince Yan, to see if we make a move.”

His Majesty hadn’t named an heir and wouldn’t name one. Whether he would pass the throne to Xiao Changqing, Xiao Changying, Xiao Changgeng, or even Xiao Changhong, Shen Xihe couldn’t guess. What was certain was that it wouldn’t be the child in her womb.

In this game of chess, she held the advantage. She wasn’t in a hurry, didn’t care who His Majesty would pass the throne to, and wasn’t concerned whether Xiao Changqing and Xiao Changgeng would ultimately waver. For now, she remained in seclusion, focusing on her pregnancy.

In Hanchang Hall, upon receiving the news, Noble Consort Rong seemed to lose her soul. She swept everything off her dressing table with her sleeve, but still not satisfied, she smashed whatever she saw.

“Such a good son, truly my son indeed!”

His Majesty’s handling of Noble Consort Rong was naturally clear and deliberate. She didn’t believe it was her oversight, didn’t believe that strange incense ink had entered the palace during her oversight. Although she hadn’t personally handled everything, she had trusted the female officials by her side back then.

However, these female officials had all been cleared out when she lost to Shen Xihe last time.

Though she had lost her confidants, after years of managing palace affairs, she still had some hidden influence. While Xiao Changqing had acted discreetly and His Majesty hadn’t discovered anything, she had found some vague traces. It seemed Xiao Changqing was covering for her, but it felt more like he was eager to condemn her!

What about silencing people for her, destroying evidence for her?

She was innocent, but Xiao Changqing’s actions only made it seem like he had a guilty conscience!

“He hates me, I shouldn’t have raised him back then!” Noble Consort Rong’s eyes blazed with fury.

“Noble Consort, mind your words!” her cautious confidante’s expression changed as she quietly warned.

“What is there to fear? I’m already a criminal being expelled from the palace, to be cared for by my son, what else should I fear!” Noble Consort Rong didn’t lower her voice but instead raised it in anger. “If I had known I would have Ninth Prince, why would I have adopted him?

Tell me, has he discovered something? Has he learned that I’m not his birth mother?

That I killed his birth mother?

That I took him in just to shield Ninth Prince?

That I…”

Xiao Changqing stood in a corner outside the room, frozen in place as he listened to Noble Consort Rong’s panicked and somewhat deranged words.

Her fragmented speech allowed him to piece together his origins.

He wasn’t Noble Consort Rong’s biological son. Since childhood, she had been harsh with him while favoring Xiao Changying and Changling. She always told him that as the eldest, amidst the palace’s deadly struggles, he needed to be clever and steady to protect her and his siblings – this was his responsibility as the eldest brother.

It turned out he was just a child Noble Consort Rong had schemed to obtain when she failed to conceive after marrying His Majesty. His birth mother had even been killed by Noble Consort Rong!

She raised him only as a shield for Xiao Changying.

All these years, all the plots and schemes against Hanchang Hall had targeted him first.

Because he and Xiao Changying were supposedly born of the same mother because he posed a greater threat than Xiao Changying.

Everyone believed that to deal with Noble Consort Rong, they had to bring him down first.

He had never complained about this, he had even been grateful as the eldest son to be able to protect his brother and sister.

“Mother—” Princess Pingling anxiously called out as she rushed through the moon gate, not noticing Xiao Changqing in the shadows.

Entering Noble Consort Rong’s chambers, she saw the chaos everywhere and her mother in a state like a mad woman.

“Pingling, Pingling, he knows everything, he knows everything, he’s taking revenge on me, I can’t go to Prince Xin’s residence, I can’t go to Prince Xin’s residence.” Noble Consort Rong, overwrought with emotion, embraced Princess Pingling as soon as she saw her.

“Mother, don’t overthink things.” Princess Pingling consoled her gently. “Fifth Brother wouldn’t know, if he knew, His Majesty wouldn’t send Mother to Fifth Brother’s residence.”

“No, His Majesty is doing this deliberately, he’s angry at me, angry that I failed in my duties, angry that I harmed him…” Noble Consort Rong spoke incoherently. “He must know, he knows I killed his birth mother, he’s even more resentful that I gave Madam Gu the medicine back then! It must be so, he hates me, if I go to his residence, I’ll surely be tortured to death, Pingling!”

“Mother, please calm down, listen to me…”

Xiao Changqing’s mind went blank. He didn’t know how to move his feet as he silently left.

So not only did Noble Consort Rong know everything, but even the sister he had always protected knew the truth. He alone had been a complete fool.

“Elder Brother!” Xiao Changying, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, met the soul-stricken Xiao Changqing at the main entrance of Hanchang Hall.