Fan Liangdi saw off Prince Dongping—it was already getting late, yet the Crown Prince still showed no sign of movement, and no news had come from that side either. Perhaps this time Zhou Weizhao’s injuries truly were unexpectedly severe, which was why these two were still nowhere to be seen even this late.
As soon as Prince Dongping left, Nanny Fang was stopped in the corridor by the junior supervisor from the main hall. Xiao Huozhe seemed to have lingering fears and was quite frightened. He swallowed hard before telling Nanny Fang: “Nanny, something happened on our side. The Crown Princess, she bound up all the palace maids and eunuchs who had leaked information to you and sent them to His Highness the Crown Prince.”
Nanny Fang’s eyelids jumped violently, and she felt her vision darkening. After quite a while, she finally managed to stand steady. She collected herself and entered the hall to report to Fan Liangdi: “I heard she punished quite a large batch of people. Her eyes were red with anger. Right in front of Princess Rongcheng, she wouldn’t even listen to Princess Rongcheng’s advice and directly had people bound and sent to His Highness the Crown Prince.” Nanny Fang was both terrified and worried. In all these years, she had never seen that person from Mingcui Palace lose her temper so greatly. For so many years, that person over there had been far too quiet. Compared to the noise and liveliness on their Liangdi’s side, Mingcui Palace was so cold and silent that people forgot about its existence. Now that she had finally erupted, even Nanny Fang felt somewhat uncertain: “I heard the Crown Princess even directly told the Crown Prince to manage the west side properly. The west side refers to us, doesn’t it? Even a clay figure has days when it gets angry, this really is…”
Fan Liangdi wasn’t angry at all, nor did she show the slightest nervousness or panic. She smiled and tilted her head to look at Nanny Fang’s frightened and anxious appearance, her tone lazy and relaxed: “What’s there to be afraid of?”
The Crown Prince had always felt more disgust than affection toward that woman. He found it annoying even to glance at her. If the Crown Prince truly trusted her and trusted the Lu family, he wouldn’t secretly support her own family as the blade in his hand. All these years, Lu Shi had always understood this point very clearly and had done very well, avoiding him as much as possible and trying not to appear before the Crown Prince to vex him. But this time, she hadn’t held back.
A gleeful smile flickered in her eyes that had rolled twice. Zhou Weizhao’s condition must be truly quite bad, otherwise why would the Crown Princess, who usually was as silent as a dead person, suddenly have such a great temper for no reason? It wasn’t as if she didn’t know that the greater her temper, the more limited the Crown Prince’s patience with her became.
Nanny Fang couldn’t clearly say what exactly there was to fear, but she just felt the timing was somewhat special. She sighed and asked Fan Liangdi: “Then do you want to go see the Crown Prince?” To explain about sending people to inquire about news at the Crown Princess’s Mingcui Palace, lest the Crown Prince become suspicious.
Fan Liangdi waved her hand dismissively. What was there to explain? It wasn’t as if the Crown Prince didn’t know she had eyes and ears in Mingcui Palace. Both the Crown Prince and Crown Princess had suddenly been summoned into the palace—could she not be allowed to make inquiries?
Nanny Fang couldn’t continue advising. The Liangdi might be somewhat willful, but she had always been able to read the Crown Prince’s thoughts accurately. Otherwise, she couldn’t have remained so favored before the Crown Prince for so many years. Since she said there was nothing to fear, there must be nothing to fear.
However, although she didn’t need to specially seek an audience with the Crown Prince, she still needed to know how the Crown Prince was doing now. Since Nanny Qi hadn’t sent any news in, Fan Liangdi was still anxious to know exactly what Zhou Weizhao’s condition was. After thinking it over, she instructed Nanny Fang: “Nanny, go inquire whether His Highness the Crown Prince has returned yet.”
Nanny Fang went out for a while and quickly returned, her eyes containing irrepressible surprise as she told Fan Liangdi: “His Highness returned from the study, and after hearing about the Crown Princess binding people, he went to Mingcui Palace. After coming out, he has already returned to his bedchamber to rest.”
The Crown Prince’s health wasn’t good, and he especially couldn’t be willful in matters of feminine pleasures, so there weren’t many concubines in the Eastern Palace. The Crown Prince also cherished his life, so most of the time he remained alone.
The smile at the corners of Fan Liangdi’s mouth became even more lighthearted—although the Crown Prince had gone to the Crown Princess’s Mingcui Palace, as always, he hadn’t stayed the night, and hadn’t called anyone to serve him. After staying for a while, he came out. It could only have been to face the Crown Princess’s fury. He had never had much patience with the Crown Princess, and the Crown Princess had none with him either. When these two people came together, they could never speak properly.
Even if the Crown Prince had a little worry and guilt toward his son in his heart, when he saw the Crown Princess’s face, it all vanished into thin air. After all this time, why didn’t the Crown Princess understand this principle?
The Crown Prince indeed felt disgusted whenever he saw Lu Shi’s face. The delicate and refined little sister he had quite liked as a child, from the moment he learned she was Prince Gong’s sweetheart, inexplicably became detestable to look at. Perhaps it was displaced anger on his part, but he truly couldn’t make himself happy facing her.
San Bao silently followed behind him, the clothes on his back unknowingly soaked with sweat and sticking to his back. Even a sickly Crown Prince was still the Crown Prince—a single word could decide someone’s life or death. He had come out from Mingcui Palace with a gloomy face, which was truly terrifying.
The Crown Prince walked all the way into his bedchamber with a gloomy face, feeling somewhat fatigued as he leaned against the couch for a while before straightening up again.
At this time, the Eastern Palace couldn’t have any more incidents. He suppressed his inner disgust toward Lu Shi, closed his eyes, and called out to San Bao. San Bao quickly responded, lit calming incense for the Crown Prince, and stood respectfully to the side.
The Crown Prince had originally wanted to have San Bao send a message to the Chen family, but when the words reached his lips, he paused again—right now, rumors about Elder Chen accepting bribes were rampant. Every day, large groups of failed examination candidates gathered at the Chen residence’s gate to cause trouble. Now Elder Chen was already too busy dealing with his own problems. At this time, not only could they not help, they would likely add to the chaos.
Thinking of this, his mood became even more gloomy. What had originally been a sure thing had been ruined by the Chen family to this extent. Those censors at the Censorate had always been the type to create trouble even when there was none in order to make a name for themselves. Now that Elder Chen had made such a blunder, for the sake of those three words “die remonstrating,” they would probably bite off a layer of Elder Chen’s skin. Elder Chen was truly old. After managing the Censorate all these years, he surprisingly couldn’t even control the censors at the Censorate, and then the spring examinations produced such a huge mess.
He rubbed the space between his eyebrows, feeling his spirit couldn’t hold up much longer. After thinking for a long time, he finally instructed San Bao: “That batch of people the Crown Princess sent over this afternoon—send them all to the Bureau of Careful Punishment.”
It wasn’t that he was truly angry about these people sending information outside. He was afraid that if this continued and Father Emperor and Mother Empress heard about it, there would be another round of scolding. He was truly getting annoyed by all these matters.