The prince echoed twice, holding the wax pill, and suddenly asked, "You anticipated this all along? And you even prepared this pill in advance?"

"How could I possibly know the future? This was done in the Eastern Palace, for..."

Song Xibai blurted it out, but realized halfway through and quickly shut her mouth.

The crown prince understood after a moment's thought, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned down.

Song Xibai felt inexplicably guilty, but then she thought: Why should I feel guilty? I haven't done anything to betray him. I just prepared a way out for myself a long time ago, but I haven't used it yet!

So she straightened her back and said, "Quickly send someone to Yongshou Palace to deliver this medicine!"

The prince carefully put the pill away, rubbed the back of his hand, and stared intently at Song Xibai: "Just this one, nothing else, right?"

"No, no, just this one. Do you think this is easy to make? It takes a lot of effort and uses a lot of expensive medicinal herbs."

Song Xibai gave him a push.

She wouldn't have been able to collect them all if she hadn't been in the Eastern Palace.

However, I asked Dingxiang to make two pills back then, and the other one was used for testing medicine, so it should have been used a long time ago.

The Crown Prince sighed inwardly, reached out and brushed a strand of hair behind Song Xibai's ear, pulling it back.

"Qingqing, please don't leave me, okay?"

His eyes were listless, and he murmured softly.

Song Xibai felt as if something had suddenly pierced her heart.

She reached out and covered his hand: "I won't."

As long as you don't do anything to betray me.

She said silently to herself.

Although she didn't say it aloud, the Crown Prince clearly understood her thoughts. He grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms.

"Once this important matter is over, I will welcome you into the palace with the honors due to an empress."

Song Xibai was startled.

"No! The Crown Princess is still here! Aren't you afraid of being scolded for doing this?"

It would have been better if he hadn't mentioned it, because the moment the Crown Princess was brought up, the Crown Prince's expression turned cold.

"If it weren't for the fact that she managed the Crown Prince's affairs all these years, the Zhao family and she should have been dealt with long ago."

Song Xibai was somewhat surprised. What was the Zhao family up to now?

After a moment's thought, she asked, "Are you angry about the Zhao family trying to take the child?"

The crown prince shook his head.

“During my absence, the Zhao family did a lot of things in secret. The scheme to snatch the child was only one of them. Some time ago, they secretly contacted Prince Qi, intending to betroth their eldest granddaughter to him as a concubine.”

Song Xibai exclaimed "Ah!" and then looked puzzled.

"They favor the Prince of Qi? But the Prince of Qi doesn't seem particularly special!"

Of the current princes, apart from the Prince of Qin, only the Prince of Wu is relatively outgoing. The other princes, the Prince of Qi, the Prince of Lu, and the sixth prince who has not yet been granted a title, rarely appear in public.

The King of Lu was also said to be "obsessed with calligraphy," but the King of Qi was hardly discussed.

"Even if they really believe Your Highness is gone, shouldn't they bet on the Eighth Prince instead?"

After all, it was obvious to anyone with eyes that the fake emperor favored the eighth prince.

"You think they don't want to?" The Crown Prince sneered. "The Zhao family is internally divided. Apart from the Crown Princess's branch, the other branches all have their own agendas. The branch that wanted to harm you was the Zhao family patriarch's branch."

The branch of the Crown Princess's family is the direct line, and they hold the highest official positions, but they are not the eldest branch.

The eldest branch of the Zhao family lived in their hometown and managed the entire clan.

"The eldest branch of the family contacted the Shu family to inquire about the position of the Eighth Prince's consort, but it didn't work out."

Song Xibai remained silent.

"What are they thinking? They've already produced one Crown Princess, and now they want another? No matter who the emperor is, that's impossible!"

The Shu family and the Crown Prince's faction have been enemies for so many years, how could they possibly agree to marry a girl from the Zhao family as the Eighth Prince's consort?

"So they came up with other ideas. They didn't dare to approach the Prince of Wu, because the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion was powerful, and the Princess of Wu already had a legitimate son. The Prince of Lu was backed by the Zhu family, whose daughters were involved in marriages throughout the court, so the Prince of Lu didn't need them at all. Therefore, only the Prince of Qi was left."

The Crown Prince explained to Song Xibai in detail.

Song Xibai raised an eyebrow: "Prince Qi is willing? Didn't he just get married? I even had Granny Fangqi send a gift over!"

The King of Qi lost his mother at a young age, and his maternal clan held a low status. The fake emperor also did not value the marriage, so the marriage was arranged in a very low-key manner.

Princess Qi is the granddaughter of the Minister of Revenue, but the Minister of Revenue is very old and has already submitted his resignation twice. However, because there is no suitable candidate to replace him, the emperor has retained him. The next time, he will truly retire and return to his hometown.

The emperor bestowed the title of Princess Consort of Qi upon the old minister's granddaughter as a means of winning him over.

There were many complicated matters in the court, and Song Xibai had only managed to sort them out after several months.

Song Xibai was full of gossip, but then she heard the Crown Prince say something that left her speechless.

"The King of Qi hesitated and went to consult the Queen Consort of Qi."

"Is he out of his mind?" Song Xibai asked instinctively, her eyes widening.

He actually asked his legal wife about something like this… They've only been married for less than two months, how could he have the nerve to do that? How disappointed must Princess Qi be?

"Doesn't the Prince Qi's residence have any officials or advisors? You can't ask the Princess Qi about something like this!"

Song Xibai had just said one sentence when he suddenly realized something was wrong.

"Wait! Could he be doing this on purpose?"

"Qingqing is too clever. He did it on purpose." The Crown Prince chuckled. "Firstly, he was testing Princess Qi, and secondly, he didn't want to offend the Zhao family, nor did he want to take on this hot potato."

"So, we're going to make Princess Qi take the blame?"

Song Xibai almost rolled her eyes.

"As expected, none of those who survived in the palace were simple; they were all incredibly cunning."

As soon as she finished muttering, she was met with opposition from the Crown Prince.

"Who said that? The second son is really stupid."

"puff!"

Song Xibai couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Others gave him a few words of encouragement, and he got the idea to compete for the position of crown prince without thinking about the consequences."

The crown prince couldn't help but shake his head and sigh whenever he thought of the King of Wu.

When he heard the news upon his return, he was furious and wished he could go over there and beat that idiot to death on the spot.

As a result, they were told the next moment that the Queen Consort of Wu's brother had beaten up the King of Wu, and he was still bedridden.

Although my anger has subsided, I'm still a little unhappy.

My silly younger brother got beaten up.

That's so useless.

The Crown Prince complained about this to Song Xibai, who laughed so hard she fell onto the bed.

"Thinking about it, Princess Wu's life must have been quite miserable."

Song Xibai suppressed a laugh and wiped the corner of her eye.

The Crown Prince rubbed his temples: "His family has many children. His eldest son was raised by the Princess Consort, so he is alright and well-behaved. It's a pity that he is several years older than our Zhao Yan, so he can't go to school with us."

Although his son was only three days old, the crown prince had already thought about his son's schooling in the future.

"What about the Prince of Qin's residence and the Prince of Lu?" Song Xibai asked, following his words.

"Although the King of Qin's eldest son is born out of wedlock, he seems to have a good temperament. It's just that we don't know how his studies are going. We'll observe him later. As for the King of Lu, the child is still young. The Queen of Lu dotes on him like he's her own eyeball, forbidding him from doing this or that. I'm afraid she'll raise a fragile child who can't be touched or broken at the slightest touch."