Snow quickly piled up on the stone steps like a thick white blanket. The north wind howled, rolling up one piece of snow after another before letting it fall again, scattering so densely that one couldn’t open their eyes.

Song Chuyi followed Old Madam Song and Grand Madam out of the palace and waited at West Flower Gate. They soon spotted their family carriage.

After being escorted onto the carriage, Grand Madam lowered the curtain and sighed deeply. “From what Consort Song implied, the Empress was originally going to grant an audience, but now with this situation…”

The news Zhuying brought back said that something seemed to have happened in the Eastern Palace, and the Empress was so busy her feet didn’t touch the ground.

This sudden news inevitably made everyone’s hearts heavy with anxiety. Old Madam Song let out an “ai” and sighed with her head lowered. “It must be that His Highness has fallen ill again. Never mind—this isn’t something we should be inquiring about. Keep quiet about it.”

Grand Madam quickly agreed and served Old Madam Song hot tea, then personally covered her with a blanket.

Song Chuyi’s heart, however, harbored some vague worry. If her memory wasn’t mistaken, this time it truly wasn’t the Crown Prince who had fallen ill, but rather Zhou Weiqi—born to Crown Prince Consort Fan—who had broken his leg in a fall.

Over these many years, due to the Crown Prince’s health condition, the Eastern Palace had never been blessed with abundant heirs. Apart from the Crown Prince’s eldest grandson Zhou Weizhao born to the Crown Princess, and Zhou Weiqi born to Crown Prince Consort Fan, there were only sporadically one or two county princesses. There were no other male heirs.

In her previous life, after the Crown Prince was assassinated and the eldest grandson died on his way to the funeral, Emperor Jianzhang had intended to establish the Crown Prince’s secondary son Zhou Weiqi as Crown Imperial Grandson. However, later Prince Duan proved more skillful in his maneuvering.

Back then, when Zhou Weizhao was sent to Longhu Mountain, it was said that the Crown Princess had tearfully pleaded before the Emperor and Empress. Who knew whether there was something fishy in all that?

When they returned to the manor, it happened to be mealtime. Old Madam Song simply kept Grand Madam and Song Chuyi to dine together at Ningde Court. She also instructed Grand Madam to have the midwife on standby at all times these days. “Don’t let anything go wrong, or how will we face Brother Jue when he returns?”

Grand Madam naturally had no objections. At the mention of her son, she couldn’t help but smile broadly. “When he returns, he’ll already be a father. Who knows how happy he’ll be!”

As if specifically to contradict their words, Yulan entered from outside with a bitter expression. Too distressed to even brush off the ice and snow covering her body, she cleared her throat with some difficulty. “Old Madam, Grand Madam, we just received news—there hasn’t been any word from the eldest young master for over half a month now. The Old Master is currently dispatching people to search for him.”

Grand Madam’s bowl clattered as she set it down on the table. She stood up somewhat at a loss, her heart panicking not knowing what to do, her mind filled with nothing but bad premonitions—Song Jue had always been extremely measured in his actions. No matter what, he would never fail to send a letter every half month, if only to prevent the family from worrying. But now the letters had stopped. Could something have happened?

Old Madam Song was also shocked. She put down her chopsticks and glanced at Grand Madam. Having no mind to rebuke her loss of composure, she immediately asked, “Does the Old Master know? What did he say?”

“The Old Master has already gone to write to the Deyang county magistrate asking them to help search for him.” Yulan replied in a low voice. “We don’t know if there will be any news.”

The last time Song Jue wrote home, he had indeed said he was nearly at Deyang, but half a month had passed since then. He might not still be in Deyang anymore.

Seeing Grand Madam in such a state of panic, Old Madam Song sighed and told her to go back and rest first. “Don’t think so much. With so many people in the family, can we really not find Brother Jue? Perhaps the letter was dropped or lost along the way. Brother Jue might already be on his way back to the capital right now. Moreover, both the Old Master and your husband are thinking of solutions. Worry less. If you yourself are in such a panic, what if you frighten your daughter-in-law? What then?”

Grand Madam responded absentmindedly. Only when she heard mention of Li Qingzi did she somewhat return to her senses. This was Brother Jue’s first child—nothing could go wrong no matter what. She forcefully suppressed her inner anxiety and agreed, then turned to leave. As soon as she was out the door, she immediately instructed Jin Ling, “Go see where the Master is and quickly ask him to come see me.”

Old Madam Song turned to ask Song Chuyi, “Little Yi, what do you think?”

“Elder Brother has always been methodical in his actions. There’s no reason his letters would stop midway.” Song Chuyi laid out her thoughts one by one. “However, Grandmother and Grandfather need not worry excessively. Perhaps the letter will arrive in a few days.”

Old Madam Song detected the implication in Song Chuyi’s words. After a pause, watching as people carried out all the food and dishes, she nodded. “Why does it seem like you anticipated this all along?”

“It’s not that I anticipated it…” Song Chuyi looked honestly at Old Madam Song and shook her head. “It’s just that your granddaughter has never felt at ease. In my dream, all of our family’s calamities began with Elder Brother’s death. And outside there’s Eighth Sister who also knows the future. I’m not worried about Elder Brother himself—I’m worried someone will deliberately harm him. This person may not be Prince Duan, but it might not be impossible for it to be someone else.”

Old Madam Song nodded heavily. Yes, Song Chuyi had said that all the family’s disasters began with Song Jue’s death, and Song Chuning knew this as well. Would she, who harbored bone-deep hatred for the Song family, make a move against Song Jue? That was truly hard to say.

With Song Chuning’s capabilities, inciting the Li family or even bribing mountain bandits and robbers were both possible.

Once again she felt this was truly a terrifying venomous snake. Her resolve to use Consort Song’s hand to bring her back strengthened even further.

“So you made preparations long ago?” Old Madam Song was still somewhat uneasy. “But how can such a thing be guarded against?”

Song Chuyi smiled and shook her head. “It’s not necessarily impossible to guard against. No matter how capable they are, they’re still thousands of miles away. When Elder Brother set out from Shu, when he arrived at various places—they can only rely on estimation and inquiries. But what if the information they inquire about is wrong? The world is so vast—where would they go to intercept and harm him?”

No wonder when Song Jue was selecting people before departure, he had chosen again and again, finally picking Qin Chuan and a group of trustworthy confidants. It turned out to be precisely to prevent information from leaking.

Song Chuyi’s reasoning was sound. As long as Song Jue didn’t follow conventional routes—for instance, traveling at night and resting during the day, or departing several days earlier than scheduled—in this vast heaven and earth, probably only immortals would know where he had gotten to. Even if someone wanted to make a move against him, how could it be that simple?

“You really are…” Old Madam Song sighed with admiration. “A little sprite!”

Song Chuyi smiled with a hint of small pride. “In my dream I was terrified by Eighth Sister, so now I keep several watchful eyes on everything, precisely to prevent trouble before it starts…”