Madam Du opened her mouth, not daring to play coy with the Empress any longer. Forcibly suppressing the grief and bitterness in her heart, she lowered her head and said to Empress Lu: “Your Majesty, my family’s granddaughter has fallen gravely ill and appears to be beyond medicine’s help. I wish to borrow Attendant Hu to take a look…”

Empress Lu was somewhat surprised. Du Fangxi was truly an excellent child. Her appearance was naturally first-rate, needless to say, but what was rare was that she had patience and wasn’t talkative. When summoned, she would only quietly copy sutras nearby, not saying a single unnecessary word. Having experienced someone as formidable and capable as Song Chuyi, Empress Lu felt that having such a gentle and proper girl accompanying Zhou Weizhao would truly be a good thing. Although Princess Rongcheng had just advised her to abandon this notion, she ultimately hadn’t completely given up hope. Until this moment, hearing Madam Du say this, she couldn’t help but ask: “Wasn’t she fine just a few days ago? How did she suddenly become so seriously ill…” She remembered her own worries, and a flash of inspiration struck her mind as she glanced back at Princess Rongcheng—could it really be Zhou Weizhao’s doing again?

Madam Du spoke vaguely, also asking Empress Lu’s forgiveness that Du Fangxi would be unable to attend the next day’s Mid-Autumn Festival banquet.

Since she was already so critically ill, naturally she couldn’t attend. And a girl in such poor health, no matter how good, couldn’t be placed by Zhou Weizhao’s side. Empress Lu felt extremely heavy-hearted, with added deep worry, but still nodded and instructed Xie Siyi to go to the Eastern Palace and inform Attendant Hu, having Attendant Hu leave the palace to visit the Du residence.

But in her heart, she knew her daughter was absolutely right. Future matters should be discussed in the future—for now, she could no longer entertain such plans.

Madam Du’s legs were still weak even after returning home. She leaned on the soft couch for a long time without recovering her senses. Second Madam and Third Madam were both busy attending to her, but First Madam was nowhere to be seen.

After recovering for a while and coming to her senses, Madam Du looked around without seeing them and asked: “Where are your eldest sister-in-law and niece?”

Second Madam helped her mother-in-law remove her forehead band while bringing hot water for her to sip, saying: “The child is unwell. Elder sister-in-law and Fangxi are both keeping her company. Second Master and Third Brother have already gone out to find Elder Brother.”

Madam Du’s expression was gloomy. Originally things had been progressing extremely smoothly—the woman in Willow Leaf Alley had been immediately sold off by the second son, and the child had been brought back. She had thought they’d gained a grandson and rid themselves of that hot potato on Prince Gong’s side. Who knew things would suddenly reverse course and the sky would fall?

That woman who had been sold actually dared to go to Shuntian Prefecture to file a complaint, claiming she was originally the niece of Yangzhou Weaving Commissioner Zhang Yuan, had been sent to the Imperial Music Bureau and registered there. Who knew First Master Du had taken a fancy to her, pulled strings to extract her alone, imprisoned her somewhere, even made her bear him a son, and now First Master Du wanted to silence her permanently.

When the Prefect of Shuntian initially received this complaint, he nearly died of shock—matters involving an Elder’s household, how could they be easily handled? But he wasn’t stupid either. An Imperial Music Bureau registered prostitute was like duckweed—if they truly wanted to kill her, it would be as easy as crushing an ant. How could she possibly escape? How could she even write out a complaint? There must be someone backing her from behind. He thought it over and over, not knowing who would be so bold as to oppose Elder Du. After hesitating for several days, he went to find his cousin, Left Censor-in-Chief Tao Dinghu, wanting to seek his advice.

Tao Dinghu wasn’t afraid of trouble. People at the Censorate weren’t afraid of trouble—besides, so what if he was an Elder? He had brought one down before. After hearing his cousin’s words and pondering for a long time, he slapped his thigh: “Alright then, proceed accordingly. At most it’s just annoying the Du family a bit.”

Prefect Tao rambled on scratching his head and pestering his cousin for a long while, finally putting his heart back in his stomach and accepting the complaint.

The next day, First Master Du was impeached by a censor from the Censorate, saying his family discipline was lax, his personal conduct improper, and he indulged his son’s violent behavior.

Since becoming an Elder, Elder Du had been scolded countless times daily and had long developed iron bones and bronze sinews. Ordinarily, he would just laugh it off. But now was different. With Prince Gong fallen, he was like rootless duckweed. He wanted to rely on Emperor Jianzhang, but Emperor Jianzhang offered no ladder. After much thought, he had decided to work through the deeply favored Crown Grandson, relying on currying favor with the Crown Grandson to make up for past mistakes. But the matter still had no sign of progress, so how had his eldest son’s affair been exposed?

Emperor Jianzhang rarely slapped the memorial onto his desk, lightly raised his eyebrows with an understated expression, and ordered the Ministry of Justice to conduct interrogations.

Suddenly handing the case to the Ministry of Justice, Elder Du broke out in cold sweat. He submitted a memorial of apology, requested leave, and holed up at home refusing all visitors.

Thinking of this, Madam Du became somewhat irritated and tossed aside the hot towel Second Madam had just handed her, going to the front to find Elder Du. Elder Du’s expression didn’t look as poor as hers. Seeing her, he even asked: “You’re back?”

Madam Du sat beside him, feeling her mind buzzing chaotically. After looking at him for a long while, she finally moved her lips: “Elder, have we reached…”

A smile actually appeared on Elder Du’s face. Knowing his wife’s meaning, he raised his hand to interrupt her words and breathed a great sigh of relief: “No, this is a good thing.”

Since Prince Gong’s downfall, he had been thinking about how to position himself. Originally when Emperor Jianzhang didn’t dismiss him, he thought Emperor Jianzhang intended to protect Prince Gong, so he enthusiastically strategized for Prince Gong on how to extricate himself—people in the fief were too far to help immediately and couldn’t be relied upon, so he could only work from close at hand. That’s why he thought of Crown Princess Consort Lu. But unexpectedly, after this matter came out, Emperor Jianzhang was thunderously furious and even dragged Prince Gong directly into the mud. He then knew Emperor Jianzhang didn’t favor Prince Gong either, and keeping him around was even less about helping Prince Gong escape.

Empress Lu had privately indicated to Madam Du her desire for Du Fangxi to become a secondary consort to the Crown Grandson. He had thought Emperor Jianzhang was wholeheartedly trusting the Crown Grandson, wanting to select the Crown Grandson’s future inner circle and cultivate his forces, so he had tested the waters again.

Who knew that immediately afterward came the affair of First Master Du and the serious illness of Lady Yang, who had instigated Empress Lu to select secondary consorts for the Crown Grandson. He then understood the origin of these matters.

Having served under Prince Gong for so many years wasn’t for nothing. Emperor Jianzhang’s understated tone upon hearing of his family’s troubles, and those words he’d once said about lax family management and discord in the inner quarters—all made him shudder.

Recently, Madam Du had been taking Du Fangxi in and out of Qingning Hall more frequently, and Emperor Jianzhang’s attitude had become so cold—what this indicated was already self-evident. Not to mention the Eastern Palace Crown Grandson’s side had also made moves to expose his eldest son’s scandal, desperately trying to distance themselves completely—this clearly also showed fear of being implicated.

“Don’t worry.” Elder Du waved his hand. Having thought it through and consulted with his advisors, he felt increasingly clear-headed and refreshed: “This incident happening is actually a good thing.”