Inside the Crown Prince's palace.

"His Majesty has arrived."

As soon as Emperor Yong'an entered the room, the Empress and others immediately bowed.

"Father, I'm in too much pain to get up and pay my respects," Gu Lingyun said, feigning that he was in unbearable pain.

The Empress spoke as soon as Emperor Yong'an sat down.

"Your Majesty, it must be Consort Hui and her son who are plotting against us. Look how badly Yun'er is injured, but the Second Prince is perfectly fine. It's all Gu Lingchen's fault."

Emperor Yong'an looked at the Empress without saying a word, his disappointment evident in his eyes.

When Gu Lingyun was the only candidate for succession, she was still "virtuous and dignified".

In just over a year, as Gu Lingchen fully recovered, she could no longer pretend to be virtuous, and even became quite foolish.

He knew some of the methods she used against Consort Hui and her son, but Consort Hui had never complained to him about them.

He would even speak up for the Empress in front of him.

"Please forgive Her Majesty, Your Majesty, for the Empress simply hadn't thought things through for a moment."

This time it was even worse; they actually hired an assassin to kill Gu Lingchen. If Gu Lingchen hadn't been quite capable and skilled in martial arts, they might have succeeded.

"What a blatant attempt to shift the blame! As the head of the harem, what have you done?"

"You raised your son to be like this, yet you still dare to hire assassins to kill the prince? Are you planning to kill me one day and put your son on the throne if you're ever unhappy with me?"

After saying this, Emperor Yong'an was so angry that he picked up a cup from the table and smashed it at the Empress's feet.

In an instant, a large number of people knelt down. Gu Lingyun stopped pretending and immediately got up and knelt on the ground without daring to utter a sound.

The empress was so frightened that she took several steps back.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty dares not."

"Is there anything you wouldn't dare to do? I think you're incredibly bold."

Emperor Yong'an angrily issued an edict confining the Empress and the eldest prince to their quarters for three years, and also said that the eldest prince was not allowed to see the Empress again during those three years.

He will arrange for the tutor to properly teach the eldest prince's studies and forbid the empress from interfering again.

Out of respect for Prime Minister Wu, Emperor Yong'an gave the Empress one last chance, merely confining her and her son to their quarters without imposing further punishment.

Emperor Yong'an turned around and went to Consort Hui's palace.

"Weiwei, you have been wronged today. I have confined the Empress to the palace for three years to reflect on her mistakes. From now on, the power of the harem will be in your hands. I hope you will help me manage the harem well."

Emperor Yong'an grasped Consort Hui's hand and said.

"Your Majesty, I will certainly live up to your expectations," Consort Hui chatted with Emperor Yong'an for a while longer, making him smile broadly.

Liu Sisi had been in Snow Mountain City for several days and was now walking in a place called Shuijia Village.

It was noticeably colder here than in the other cities she had visited before.

Luckily, she brought a thick cotton coat, otherwise she might have been a bit cold while riding a horse.

Just then, an older woman saw Liu Sisi, a little girl, leading her horse over by herself and went up to ask her what was wrong.

"Little girl, where did you come from? Did you get lost from your parents? Why are you leading the horse by yourself? It's dangerous."

"Forehead."

Seeing the worried look on the aunt's face, Liu Sisi didn't know how to answer.

Although her body is only 9 years old, her soul is already over 20. Except in front of her parents and brother, she always treats herself as an adult.

"Don't worry, little girl, I'm not a bad person. Where are your parents? I'll take you to find them."

The older woman continued when she saw that Liu Sisi didn't speak.

"No, I just went to..." Liu Sisi was only halfway through her sentence when the older woman went to call for help.

“Everyone in the village came to help; this little girl got separated from her parents.”

As soon as the aunt shouted, a lot of people came out of the village and surrounded Liu Sisi.

"Oh my, what a beautiful girl! Who was so careless as to lose her? Are you hungry? Come to my house, I have some cornbread. Come in and have a couple."

"I have porridge at home."

"I have pancakes at home."

The villagers were all talking at once, wanting Liu Sisi to come to their homes for dinner.

Liu Sisi was a little unaccustomed to it, "Why are they being so enthusiastic? Are they trying to kidnap me?"

The older woman seemed to have figured out what Liu Sisi was thinking.

"Don't be afraid, girl. If you don't want to go inside, we can go back and get it for you to eat."

As soon as they finished speaking, everyone went home to get food for Liu Sisi, and soon her hands were full of food.

"Eat it! Don't be afraid, child, it's not poisonous. You'll see."

An elderly woman with gray hair even took a piece of cornbread and took a bite herself.

Liu Sisi didn't sense a trace of malice from these people.

"Thank you so much, aunties and grandmas." Liu Sisi didn't eat the food they offered because she wasn't hungry; she had just cooked noodles in her space.

However, she was indeed a little cold.

"Could I borrow one of your houses to warm up?" Although it wasn't cold inside the space, she couldn't go in now.

"Yes, yes, you can come to my house! My kang (heated brick bed) is very warm," the aunt said.

"Thank you," Liu Sisi said as she followed the woman back to her house and tied the horse to the gate of her yard.

It was indeed much warmer once you entered the house. There was a long kang (a heated brick bed) inside, and a girl about the same age as Liu Sisi was sitting on it.

He was fiddling with something in his hands.

"Sweetie, come here, this should be called your little sister, right?" The girl looked a bit taller than Liu Sisi.

“I’m nine years old,” Liu Sisi replied.

"Oh, Sweetie is twelve years old," that's how you address your younger sister.

Sweetie, come here quickly, stop fiddling around and say hello to your little sister.

"Hey, you're here!" Sweetie clapped her hands and came over to greet Liu Sisi.

Liu Sisi noticed that the village was full of women; she didn't see any men.

"Auntie, are there no men in this village?" Liu Sisi asked.

"The men have all gone to the south, or some have gone to other countries to work for others and earn money."

“They’ll come back once a year for the New Year, give us the money, and then they’ll leave again after the New Year,” the auntie replied.

"Oh, is this how all of Snow Mountain City is?"

Liu Sisi understood. It was obvious that they couldn't find money locally, so they all went to the south, much like people going out to work in modern times.

"No, that's not true. Some people in the county and town can still make a living locally, it's just that life is harder for us in this remote mountain village," the aunt replied.

"I see you have quite a lot of land, can't you grow your own food?"

Liu Sisi noticed that many plots of land here were empty.

"We've tried growing them, but neither brown rice nor japonica rice will grow. We don't know why," the aunt said with some helplessness.

Perhaps it's because the weather is too cold, ordinary seeds definitely won't grow, but she can try taking out the kind from her space. What if those large rice seeds from her space can be grown here?

Liu Sisi pondered how she could help these warm and lovely villagers.