Song Xibai was unaware of the Crown Prince's scheme.

She lived a fulfilling life, spending most of her time in the small study with the cat, researching prescriptions. When she had free time, she would prepare three meals for the prince and give him acupuncture twice a day, morning and evening, according to a set schedule.

Perhaps Song Xibai's intimidation had worked. Regarding the matter of male dignity, the Crown Prince was very cooperative. He did whatever Song Xibai told him to do without saying a word.

Song Xibai was very pleased with patients who followed medical advice in this way.

The original plan was to cure it in half a month, but it only took ten days.

On the tenth day, the prince had fully recovered. His complexion was rosy, his breathing was steady, and he was hopping around without any problems.

After Song Xibai finished taking his pulse, she immediately sent him away.

"There are no aftereffects, and all other symptoms have disappeared, so Your Highness can rest assured. However, you still need to take your medicine every day to treat your previous illness."

Seeing Song Xibai release his hand and the soft touch on his wrist disappear, the Crown Prince suddenly felt a little reluctant.

"Thinking about it, the three-month deadline is almost here."

He muttered to himself.

Song Xibai nodded in agreement: "Yes! Your Highness has been doing well lately. From today onwards, you no longer need to receive acupuncture every day. Acupuncture every other day will suffice. Your Highness can relax now."

The crown prince felt that he was not relaxed at all.

Instead, I felt a bit annoyed.

He lowered his head and remained silent, but Song Xibai still had many things to do! So, she simply pushed him out the door.

"See you tomorrow, no, the day after tomorrow, Your Highness!"

The crown prince hesitated at the door for a moment, said nothing, and then turned and left with his eunuchs.

He had been recuperating for the past ten days, and a lot of things had accumulated that were waiting for him to deal with.

Upon arriving at the Wenhua Hall, the Crown Prince's confidants breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that he was safe and sound.

"Your Highness has suffered."

The Grand Chamberlain of the Eastern Palace came from the Zhou family, which was the maternal family of the Crown Prince. According to seniority, the Crown Prince had to call him uncle. Therefore, compared with other officials, the Grand Chamberlain of the Eastern Palace was closer to the Crown Prince and had fewer taboos in his speech.

"Uncle, you are too kind. I am fine now."

The Crown Prince took good care of the Zhou family. In addition to Zhou Zhanshi, the Crown Prince's two maternal uncles were also officials in the court. One was the Vice Minister of Rites, and the other was serving in a local post. The Crown Prince's maternal grandfather was the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, who was in charge of the Censorate and was a high-ranking official of the second rank.

The Crown Prince's strongest supporters were his maternal grandfather's Zhou family and the Crown Princess's Zhao family.

The crown prince took the seat of honor and bowed to the crowd.

"You have all worked hard these past few days. Without your help, I fear I would not have been able to hold on until today."

"Your Highness is too kind. This is my duty."

All the officials answered in unison.

Then, the Crown Prince asked everyone to take their seats.

After everyone was seated, Guo Liangyuan's father, Guo Shaozhanshi, spoke first.

"How does Your Highness intend to deal with the Zhu family?"

Zhu Qianqian and Guo Yijia entered the Eastern Palace at almost the same time. The Crown Prince originally treated them equally, but Zhu Liangyuan, relying on the Empress Dowager's support, always tried to suppress Guo Liangyuan, and the Guo family had long been dissatisfied with her.

Therefore, the first thing Guo Shaozhan asked was about his most pressing concern.

The crown prince frowned, but did not answer immediately.

Seeing this, Zhou Zhanshi took the initiative to speak, saying, "A mere member of the Zhu family, who has neither borne any children nor observed mourning for the Empress, is a person of no merit. No matter how she is dealt with, it is not excessive."

The Crown Prince hummed in agreement before speaking: "The most important thing now is the attitude of the Empress Dowager and the Zhu family."

At this moment, Zhongshe seized the opportunity to speak.

"Your Highness, the Zhu family came to see me the day the incident happened, bringing many gifts and asking me to put in a good word for them."

After saying that, he took out a gift list from his sleeve and handed it to the Crown Prince.

The crown prince waved his hand: "Here, take it."

Zhongshe was the only one from a humble background among the Crown Prince's confidants, and his poverty was common knowledge throughout the court. Since the Zhu family dared not win over the Zhou and Guo families, they could only start with him.

"After I return, I will send a message to the Zhu family, telling them that I want them to stop interfering in the salt tax affairs of Jiangnan."

The Crown Prince said in a deep voice.

The Zhu family has been causing trouble for a long time, relying on the Empress Dowager to create chaos everywhere, and the Crown Prince has long been disgusted with them.

Zhong She bowed and agreed, secretly plotting how to give him a warning or coercion.

After discussing matters with his officials for most of the day and finalizing the recent issues, the crown prince looked up and suddenly felt a rumbling stomach.

He's been recuperating at Song Xibai's place lately, eating three meals a day at regular times. It's long past dinner time now, and his stomach is acting up.

The Crown Prince rubbed his temples, dismissed the crowd, got up and left the Wenhua Hall, leading a group of eunuchs, and hurriedly returned to the East Palace.

It gets dark early, so Eunuch Feng ordered people to bring lanterns to light the way ahead.

The Crown Prince returned to the East Palace through the frost. As he walked into the central courtyard, he suddenly heard laughter and commotion coming from the east side hall.

Since the arrival of the female doctor named Dingxiang, Song Xibai has been noticeably happier.

The east side hall became even more lively.

The prince's steps turned uncontrollably to the east, and before he could react, he was already standing outside the palace gate.

Although somewhat surprised, Eunuch Feng still called out in time.

"His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived!"

Inside the room, Song Xibai and Dingxiang were gossiping about palace matters when they suddenly heard this shout, which startled them both.

Ding Xiang jumped up and stood next to Wei Hong, lowering her head and trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible.

Just as Song Xibai stood up, she saw the Crown Prince walk in.

"Why is Your Highness here again?"

Song Xibai was quite surprised.

I clearly said yesterday that I don't need any more injections for the next couple of days!

The crown prince pursed his lips.

"I'm hungry."

Song Xibai blinked, not quite understanding.

"The Crown Princess should be preparing dinner for Your Highness! If Your Highness is hungry, please go there quickly!"

The crown prince was so angry he collapsed.

Is he genuinely not understanding or just pretending?

This woman is definitely doing it on purpose!

The crown prince's face darkened.

Dingxiang, who was standing nearby, was completely stunned by her best friend's conversation.

Couldn't Xixi understand such an obvious thing?

Was it intentional? She did it on purpose, didn't she?

Dingxiang decided that, as Song Xibai's best friend, she would take on the task of helping her out!

So she coughed lightly and tugged at Wei Hong's sleeve.

"Wei Hong, the meal that His Majesty specially ordered the kitchen to prepare for His Highness should be almost ready by now, right?"

Wei Hong looked completely bewildered.

When did our master give such an order?

Could it be that you instructed someone else to do it while you were away?

She didn't respond, and Dingxiang didn't seem to mind, continuing to speak to herself.

"I'll go with you to get the meal. We can't let His Highness go hungry, don't you think, Master?"

As she spoke, Dingxiang pulled Wei Hong along and ran out.

Soon only Song Xibai and the Crown Prince remained in the room.

Song Xibai couldn't understand Dingxiang's thoughts, so he shrugged and ignored her.