His legs, originally heading toward Fan Liangdi’s quarters, took a turn and redirected him to Mingcui Palace where the Crown Princess resided. Mingcui Palace was concealed among layers of flowering trees. Under such bright moonlight, when the wind blew, petals scattered everywhere in fluttering cascades. The glazed tiles on the rooftop also gleamed under the moonlight’s backdrop, making this palace appear like a crystal palace. In fact, this resplendently magnificent Crown Princess’s main hall was indeed as desolate as a crystal palace. The Crown Prince could no longer remember just how long it had been since he last set foot in this palace. As he passed by the two rosewood fully-carved pagoda palace lanterns placed under the corridor, he stirred up a breeze, causing the small bells adorning the pagoda palace lanterns to chime one after another.

Nanny Chen and Xiang Ling came out to greet him, their faces unable to conceal their shock—the Crown Prince, who usually only entered the Crown Princess’s bedchamber once after being whipped by the Empress, had unexpectedly arrived without warning or announcement. They couldn’t help but worry about the earlier incident when the Crown Princess had bound people and sent them to the Crown Prince for disposal, fearing this was his way of settling scores after the autumn harvest.

The Crown Princess appeared much more composed. She lowered her eyelids and sat in the seat below the Crown Prince’s, naturally ordering someone to brew tea, then sat there like a clay bodhisattva statue, neither speaking nor moving again.

She remembered that she hadn’t been this cold and indifferent before. In her youth, her heart had always been soft with a burning warmth inside. Even when forced to marry someone she didn’t love, she had never thought of abandoning herself to despair. She had thought that after marrying the Crown Prince, she would certainly fulfill her duties, certainly be a good wife, certainly walk the remaining path together with the Crown Prince.

She had been full of longing and trepidation for the future, but in a blink of an eye, it was crushed to ashes by the Crown Prince’s coldness—a person’s heart isn’t made of iron. She had thought that if she tried harder, and harder still, she could eventually fill the chasm in the Crown Prince’s heart, but in the end, she had been too naive. She was forced to retreat again and again, until there was no path left to retreat.

Her aunt was her aunt, but was also the Crown Prince’s mother. When she spoke too much and displeased her son, she gradually stopped speaking. She gradually came to see the situation clearly, to see the faint flickers of disgust and detachment in the Crown Prince’s eyes, and finally began to learn how to give up hope.

In the past, she had been indignant too, like ordinary women who, unable to hold their husband’s heart, blamed the vixens and blamed those women for having bewitching seductive methods. But later, after experiencing more events and thinking more thoughts, she realized how innocent women throughout the world were. It was merely men who were fickle. If he had shown her even a little respect, even without loving her, just respecting her, she wouldn’t have been forced into that situation, and her son wouldn’t have been compelled to stay at Longhu Mountain for seven or eight years.

Fan’s arrogance wasn’t Fan’s capability—it was entirely the result of his indulgence behind the scenes.

Thinking of this, she raised her eyes to glance at the Crown Prince with his pale complexion and dark circles under his eyes, a trace of cold laughter rising in her heart. This person before her loved no one except himself.

The Crown Prince waited for quite a while but didn’t hear the Crown Princess say a single word, so he had no choice but to speak first: “Whoever you want to punish, just punish them. Why bind them and send them to me?”

Having spoken first, he felt he had lost the initiative, showing weakness before this childhood companion and little sister. He suddenly coughed several times, his pale bloodless face taking on a slight blush.

He didn’t like the Lu clan. He had never liked them since childhood. The only reason he absolutely had to have the Lu clan was because Prince Gong absolutely had to have the Lu clan. In youth, one was always so willful—the flower in someone else’s hand was always the most beautiful one. But once obtained, after tending it for a few days, he grew tired of it again. He didn’t even want to look at it anymore, casually tossing it to the ground to trample at will.

“Does Your Highness not know the reason?” The Crown Princess’s face was as white and tender as jade in the lamplight, her usually calm and placid eyes flickering with anger and contempt. “Your Highness didn’t fail to send people to follow to Yangquan. What exactly happened at Yangquan—does Your Highness not know?”

Once the fig leaf was torn away, once the usually splendid robe was lifted, the inside had long since rotted beyond recognition.

When the Imperial Grand Grandson went to Yangquan to quell the rebellion, as his father, the Crown Prince naturally had to send people to assist both publicly and privately. Several officials and advisors from the Chamberlain’s Office had been dispatched, and these people regularly sent back reports.

The Crown Prince had already learned, one step ahead of the urgent report, about Zhou Weizhao being ambushed and injured, and also knew that there was a traitor among the people sent from the Chamberlain’s Office. He simply hadn’t investigated.

The Crown Prince raised his eyes to look at her. She wasn’t much different from many years ago—time hadn’t left many traces on her face. His heart felt vaguely indignant again—her body was so healthy. These people had been born with the healthy bodies he dreamed of having. Yet he, though below only one person and above ten thousand others, lived in constant fear and trepidation.

His thoughts drifted far along this thread. It was quite a while before he came back to his senses. Meeting the Crown Princess’s gaze, he smiled slightly: “Father Emperor and Mother Empress are both very worried about Weizhao’s health. They’ve already dispatched the best retainers and imperial physicians to rush there. If you have any items or people you want to send over, take advantage of this time to prepare them and dispatch someone first thing tomorrow morning.”

Nanny Chen and Xiang Ling beside them listened with absolute trepidation. When these two people talked together, if it wasn’t swords drawn and bows bent, it was cold mockery and hot sarcasm. Many times they had worried that the Crown Prince would jump up in rage and strangle the Crown Princess to death.

But this time, they couldn’t manage to quarrel after all. The Crown Princess’s heart was already dead as ashes. She half-lowered her eyelids and responded in a low voice with an affirmative—as for how to deal with that batch of people, what explanation there was from the west side, she knew these were no longer matters she could inquire about.

Until the Crown Prince left, he didn’t touch the tea on the table even once. The Crown Princess herself didn’t glance in that direction either, softly instructing Nanny Chen: “Remove the tea and change all the cushions too.”

Nanny Chen felt somewhat distressed in her heart. She sighed and told someone to clean up, grasping the Crown Princess’s hand and sighing deeply: “Please be more broad-minded. This is also, this is also something that can’t be helped. Now let’s not seek anything else, as long as the Imperial Grand Grandson is well, in the future you will have also endured until you emerge.”

Yes, encountering such a cold-hearted and cold-blooded husband was indeed something that couldn’t be helped. The Crown Princess half-closed her eyes and patted Nanny Chen lightly: “Don’t worry, Nanny. I’m no longer sad.”

All these years, if her heart hadn’t been broad-minded, she couldn’t have survived until now. To say there was no resentment in her heart would be a lie. Not liking her, yet insisting on plucking her from the branch and throwing her underfoot—the Crown Prince was disgusted by her, and she was equally disgusted by him.

Nanny Chen didn’t dare advise further. Her heart was blocked by a breath of air that wouldn’t rise or fall. A perfectly good marriage—the Crown Prince insisted on turning a perfect match into a resentful couple. This gloomy mindset of his, who knew where exactly he had learned it from.