The commotion at Fan Liangdi’s residence reached Lu, the Crown Princess at Mingcui Palace, that very night. She furrowed her brow with some bewilderment—last time she had hinted indirectly that the Empress should eliminate Fan Liangdi, but her aunt had ultimately been reluctant to act out of consideration for her mother-son relationship with the Crown Prince. How much time had passed since then? Why had she suddenly made up her mind?

Nanny Liang bent down and asked her, “Should we go inquire? That side must be in complete chaos right now.”

Heavy rain was already pouring outside. Amidst flashing lightning and rolling thunder, rainwater mixed with the earthy smell of mud rushed toward them. Fan Liangdi watched as Xiangzhi closed the window, then slowly shook her head. “She’s already dead—what’s there to ask about? No need to inquire.”

If she were to ask, it would be tomorrow when she openly questioned the Empress about why she did it. Why go sneaking around for information? If that suspicious, sensitive, and overthinking Crown Prince found out, it would cause another round of trouble.

Nanny Liang sighed in acknowledgment. Seeing that it was getting late, she urged the Crown Princess to wash up and rest. In any case, matters on that side had never concerned them here—just pretend not to know and let it be.

But just as Lu, the Crown Princess, stood up, the palace door was hastily knocked upon. Xiangzhi went out to check, then returned with a somewhat alarmed expression, reporting that His Highness the Crown Prince had arrived. The Crown Prince was truly a rare visitor to their Mingcui Palace, and at this very moment, Fan Liangdi had just died—

The Crown Princess was completely unaffected, however. She stood up meeting the Crown Prince’s gaze, her expression not particularly cold but truly showing no sympathy whatsoever. She slightly raised her chin toward Nanny Liang and the others serving in the hall, and they sensibly withdrew.

The Crown Prince, like an injured beast, walked forward several steps and looked down at the Crown Princess from his height, his voice emanating a chilling air. “Mother Empress suddenly made a move against her—you knew about this, didn’t you?”

The Crown Princess looked at him coldly, her heart filled with unbearable disgust. She casually sat down and sipped her tea, tilted her head to listen to the wind and rain outside for a moment, then looked back at the Crown Prince with eyes devoid of any light. “Whether I did or not, the dead cannot return to life, Your Highness. If you’ve come to denounce me, you’ve found the wrong person. How capable are you? How capable was she? All these years I haven’t touched a single hair on her head—now, would I suddenly be able to?”

The Crown Prince, like a child stuck in a dead end, stubbornly shouted at her, “That was before! Now you know she moved against your son—how could you continue tolerating her?!”

Lu, the Crown Princess, sincerely found the Crown Prince’s words laughable, and she indeed laughed, her voice carrying profound mockery. “So Your Highness also knows she wanted to kill my son. If my son hadn’t been fortunate, he would already be gone from this world. Never mind that I didn’t do anything to her—even if I really had killed her, what could Your Highness blame me for?”

The Crown Prince was forced back a step by her question. Lu, the Crown Princess, ignored his face, pale and bloodless, her tone so calm it was almost inhuman. “If my son had died, does Your Highness think the matter could have ended just like that? The mask Your Highness wears before His Majesty was torn off by me long ago. If Your Highness is so fond of Fan Liangdi, you can very well go before His Majesty now and accuse my aunt. Tell His Majesty everything clearly—perhaps His Majesty will give Fan Liangdi justice. What do you say?”

She was too lazy to continue dealing with the Crown Prince. Even saying one pleasant word to him felt wasteful. Such a pitiful, pathetic, confused fool wasn’t worth others conceding to him again and again.

“Your Highness, let me advise you—don’t make yourself uncomfortable here. All these years, though we haven’t been like a married couple, we’ve still managed to get by peacefully and steadily.” Lu, the Crown Princess, gave him a weary glance. “I do it for my son, you do it for your position. We each step back, keep to our own lanes—isn’t that good?”

The Crown Prince was left speechless by the Crown Princess’s words. He had always detested this cousin from the Lu family precisely because she was truly detestable—she seemed to see through everything. From the first day she married him, the light in her eyes had dimmed bit by bit—

He waved his sleeve and turned around, his face iron-blue as he rushed into the curtain of rain.

The Crown Princess didn’t even glance outside. This Crown Prince was like an immature child who fancied himself wise—his thoughts naive and childish, his character both insecure and selfish. The bit of enthusiasm and expectation for a new life she once had were long ago ground away by all his prickly edges.

—

Mingcui Palace remained as quiet as ever, but Fan Liangdi’s bedchamber was in complete turmoil. No matter what, Prince Dongping’s birth mother had suddenly died without any warning—it was enough to make him collapse.

He sat before his mother’s bed, his entire being severely dazed, hands holding his head, feeling it might explode at any moment.

He had fallen ill—and how could he not? His mother had survived such a major incident without trouble, then suddenly died for no reason. He wasn’t a fool—he knew there was a reason.

But he never dreamed this reason came from his own Imperial Grandmother. It was after Mother went to see the Imperial Grandmother that she cried once, and after that crying session, she retrieved those things for him and entrusted him with her final words.

Zhou Weiqi’s hand clenched into a fist and pounded violently on the nearby kang table. The expensive glass screen tumbled down from above and shattered into pieces.

He somewhat guessed why his Imperial Grandmother wanted his mother dead, yet found it incomprehensible—he too was the Imperial Grandmother’s grandson, he too was Father’s son. Even for his sake, why did she have to force his mother to death?

How serious could the matter be that Mother couldn’t be allowed to change?

He couldn’t understand it, but he knew his Imperial Grandmother’s surname was Lu—she was not only Zhou Weizhao’s grandmother but also Zhou Weizhao’s great-aunt. The grief, indignation, resentment, and self-pity in his heart all surged up at once, nearly crushing him entirely. Only after a long while did he have the energy to summon Nanny Fang to speak.

After all, Fan Liangdi was merely a secondary consort. Though recorded in the imperial genealogy, she was still a secondary consort. The Astronomical Bureau selected an auspicious day and arranged the funeral according to the specifications for a Crown Prince’s secondary consort—all rather silent and unnoticed.

Nanny Fang had been busy this whole time. Seeing that her Prince had finally recovered his senses, she wiped her tears and answered all the Prince’s questions one by one. Finally, she wept, “Earlier everything was fine. It was only after coming out from Qingning Hall that Her Ladyship seemed off. She shut herself in her bedchamber for quite a while, then had me deliver a letter to Nanny Qi, telling her to properly send the letter out. By the time I returned, Your Highness had already arrived, and Her Ladyship… she didn’t even have a breath left.”