The Empress sat alone in the highest seat, drinking a cup of fruit wine.

Her gaze held some profound meaning.

“Your Majesty.” An old matron walked behind her and said in a low voice, “Secondary Consort Fang was admiring flowers in the back courtyard earlier and slipped. She’s bleeding from her lower body.”

The Empress suddenly frowned. “She just fell?”

She was a woman of the inner palace and knew well how much scheming and deception existed there. Which woman of the inner palace didn’t have blood on her hands, especially of unborn children? Throughout the entire palace, countless had died.

Her first reaction was that Secondary Consort Fang had been schemed against.

“Secondary Consort Fang herself said she just accidentally slipped.” The old matron said softly. “This old servant has already taken the liberty of requesting the best imperial physician to come without alarming others.”

The Empress was about to speak.

Looking up, she saw that the Emperor had returned. Five or six steps behind the Emperor was the Duke’s wife, with Eunuch Gao standing between them.

The Emperor sat directly beside the Empress.

The Duke’s wife also returned to her own seat.

The Empress stood up. “Your Majesty, this consort suddenly has a headache. I’ll return to Kunning Palace first.”

The Emperor turned his head, concern in his gaze. “Is it serious?”

“I probably caught a chill during the night.” The Empress curtseyed. “This consort will take her leave first.”

After the Empress left, the Emperor sat for about a quarter hour before also standing and leaving.

The flower-viewing banquet had reached its end. At this time, someone suddenly said, “Secondary Consort Fang seems to have fallen. I wonder how she is. Why don’t we go see?”

A group of noble ladies stood up. The Crown Princess led the way, walking toward the back of the Eastern Palace.

Yun Chu also stood up. She had been thinking of finding an opportunity to go to the back courtyard to meet Xie Ping, and now the opportunity had come.

The Eastern Palace’s secondary consorts lived in side halls. The minor consorts’ quarters were further back, residing with the serving concubines in a somewhat smaller hall.

As everyone went in to visit Secondary Consort Fang, Yun Chu turned her steps, circled around the palace wall, and went to the back.

The palace buildings in the back were slightly smaller in scale, but still distinguished between main and side halls. Xie Ping lived in a side hall. She was now called Wu Linglong, and everyone called her Minor Consort Wu.

Her arm had been torn by the tiger, a large chunk of flesh bitten down to the bone. Although she received the best medical treatment, this arm was still half-crippled—she couldn’t even lift a cup of tea.

But she didn’t feel this was anything, because for just one arm, she had exchanged her status to become the Crown Prince’s minor consort. There was nothing to regret.

When the Crown Prince ascended the throne and became Emperor, as the Crown Prince’s savior, at the very least she could be ranked among the four consorts…

Xie Ping was just about to turn and go inside.

Suddenly, from the corner of her eye, she saw someone standing outside the side hall.

Her pupils contracted sharply, and she instinctively wanted to cover her face.

But it was still a step too late. She saw the shock on Yun Chu’s face. “Ping’er?”

“Mother—Princess Consort of Pingxi!” Xie Ping knew that hiding had lost all meaning. She could only walk over, her voice trembling slightly. “I… I’m no longer Xie Ping…”

Yun Chu’s eyes were full of shock. “That day after returning to the capital from the imperial mausoleum, I specifically arranged for people to go to the mausoleum to bring you some things, but they said you had disappeared. A few days later, news came back that you had died… Ping’er, what exactly happened? How can you be in the Eastern Palace? What occurred?”

“I… I…”

Xie Ping couldn’t say a single word.

In the past, she had used every means to become Prince An’jing’s primary consort.

Now, she had once again used methods to become the Crown Prince’s minor consort.

Originally, she hadn’t felt there was anything wrong with this.

But as soon as she saw her mother, she felt like an evildoer who had committed countless wrongdoings.

Xie Ping grabbed Yun Chu’s hand and pleaded. “Mother, this is the last time I’ll call you mother. Please, I beg you not to tell anyone about this. Otherwise, I’ll die. I really will die…”

Yun Chu asked slowly, “The person who died in your place—who was she?”

Xie Ping bit her lip and said nothing.

Yun Chu continued asking. “Did she die accidentally, or did she die by your hand?”

“She… she had contracted a terrible disease…” Xie Ping lowered her head. “She was already dead. I just made use of her corpse… Mother, I truly had no way out. I had no choice but to choose this path. Please give me a way to live!”

“Fine. I won’t tell anyone.” Yun Chu stared at her. “But I’m not the only one who has seen you. Be careful.”

After speaking, she patted Xie Ping’s shoulder and turned to leave.

Xie Ping leaned against the palace wall as if completely drained.

She had been Princess Consort An’jing, and indeed many people had seen her, but they had only seen her once or twice.

Back then, whenever she met with imperial family members, she was dressed magnificently with a full head of vermillion hairpins. At that time, she still had a young girl’s charm, and her face still had flesh.

But now she wore plain clothes, her cheeks sunken and gaunt. The graceful bearing of youth was long gone. Only those who had lived with her for a long time could possibly recognize her.

But she and the Xie Family members would never meet again in this lifetime.

As long as Mother didn’t speak of it, no one would ever know that the Crown Prince’s Minor Consort Wu had once been Princess Consort An’jing.

Time flew by to June. After the full-month celebration for Yun Zhi, the eldest legitimate daughter of the next generation of the Yun Family, Yun Silin would leave the capital for the Western Border.

At the same time, the Eighth Prince, Prince Yi, would also be escorted by Yun Silin to his fief for enfeoffment.

Yun Chu and Chu Yi brought their two children to see them off.

The Eighth Prince was only nine years old this year, a bit shorter than Yun Chu. Although he had already been enfeoffed as a prince, he had none of the imposing presence a prince should have.

Lin Shi worriedly stroked the Eighth Prince’s hair. “The sky is high and the road is far, mountains and waters stretch endlessly. Alas… Xiaochang is such a poor place. If you lack anything or need anything, write back to the capital. Don’t let yourself suffer.”

The Eighth Prince cupped his hands. “Thank you, Aunt.”

Yun Chu spoke up. “I can often enter the palace to keep Aunt company and relieve her boredom. Don’t worry too much about your imperial mother.”

The Eighth Prince looked toward the direction of the imperial palace and silently sighed.

Originally, Father Emperor had allowed Mother Consort to leave the palace to see him off, but Mother Consort had refused. He knew that Mother Consort didn’t like such scenes.

How he wished he were a girl—then he could stay with Mother Consort forever.

But he was a prince, a prince qualified to inherit the throne. Only by leaving could his mother avoid being caught in the whirlpool of succession struggles.

This was the best path their mother and son could take.

“Yun Ze, there’s no need to remain dormant anymore.” Yun Silin looked at his eldest son. “I’ve left a thousand elite soldiers and secret guards in the capital. If needed, they’re available at any time.”

Yun Ze understood the underlying meaning of these words and nodded solemnly. “Father, I’ve remembered everything.”

Yun Silin’s gaze fell on Chu Yi. “Our Yun Family handed Chu’er over to you completely intact. No matter what happens, I hope you can protect Chu’er well. As for Brother Yu and Changsheng, they are your bloodline. I believe I don’t need to say more—you know what to do.”

“Father-in-law, rest assured. I understand everything.” Chu Yi said, “In this position, I clearly know what I’ll face. Passive counterattacks will only put me in a passive position. I won’t let such a situation occur.”

From the moment he conceived such thoughts, he had already made complete preparations.

He absolutely would not let Yun Chu, the two children, and the Yun Family fall into a passive position of being beaten.

After everyone spoke for a while, they bid farewell.

Yun Chu was about to board the carriage when suddenly Chu Yi’s expression darkened. “Someone’s hiding nearby!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Qiutong realized there truly was someone hiding behind a tree beside the official road.

She flew over on tiptoe and dragged someone out from behind the tree.

Yun Chu’s eyes narrowed.

It was Xie Shi’an!