Qin Qingyao was so confused after hearing this that she reached out and patted the little maid's shoulder, "Thank you for your hard work!"

Working in the palace, in addition to remembering so many palaces, you also have to remember the faces of countless concubines, aunts, maids, and eunuchs. If you are not careful, you will offend people. It is so hard!

This seemingly festive family dinner tonight is actually a Shura field for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Concubine Yao in the palace just gave birth to a son a few days ago, and the boy is not even a month old yet. The emperor must be extremely heartbroken to have a son in his old age.

As a result, tonight, Concubine Yao actually had a secret meeting with the Crown Prince in her own residence. The two of them snuggled together with the little one in their arms, showing the full happiness of a family of three. They were caught red-handed by Concubine Yun.

Then there were rumors that the child of Concubine Yao was not the emperor's son in his old age, but his grandson, born to the prince and Concubine Yao!

He made mistakes when offering sacrifices to heaven, showing disrespect to gods and Buddhas; he made mistakes when offering sacrifices to ancestors, showing disrespect to ancestors; all civil and military officials were present at the palace banquet, and he caused chaos in the harem. If he is not deposed, it will be truly unforgivable!

But now, after being disturbed by Qin Qingyao, he claimed that the content of the sacrifice to heaven was correct in general, but he was wrong in some minor aspects. When he was offering sacrifices to his ancestors, he was not late, had diarrhea, or farted, but suddenly had stomach cramps.

As long as the emperor turns a blind eye, these two things can be turned into small things and nothing at all.

How to punish him? In the end, the incident with Concubine Yao played a decisive role!

Because this determines whether the emperor will see the first two things as good or bad!

On the bright side, the first thing might be that the prince was framed, and at most it would serve as a warning to him to be more careful in the future.

The second thing may be that he was so busy with official duties that he had no time to take care of himself, so he was overworked. Maybe he could be rewarded for his diligence and love for the people.

To think of the worst, the first thing is that he is eager to ascend the throne and his ambition is expanding. The second thing is, as the rumors say, the ancestors are not satisfied with this prince and don't want to see him!

According to the original plot, Concubine Yao's child was indeed the prince's, so everyone was very happy when the truth was finally revealed.

But the original novel is from Lin Xiafeng’s perspective, right?

That only means that Lin Xiafeng firmly believes in the affair between Concubine Yao and the prince, but it cannot be said that the prince is really stupid enough to sleep with his father's woman instead of sleeping with all the women in the world!

There must be a hole as big as the Tarim Basin in his brain to do something so self-destructive!

In the original novel, the prince resisted and made excuses in the end, saying that he was framed, but no one believed him.

The emperor only deposed him because of his mistake in offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors, and did not mention Concubine Yao at all.

After all, family disgrace should not be made public, and the old emperor would never admit that his son became his grandson, so Concubine Yao was still Concubine Yao, and the little prince was still the little prince, with no reward or punishment.

In the end, the deposed crown prince made a comeback and never mentioned Concubine Yao and the little prince again. This was an important reason why Qin Qingyao somewhat believed in the crown prince's innocence.

Just think about it, if he really loved Concubine Yao and her child, so much so that he was willing to risk his position as crown prince, and squeeze out time to see the child at such a busy and chaotic time.

Then why didn't he come back to look for them later? Why did he ignore them? Does this make sense?

Moreover, in the original book, as soon as Concubine Yun discovered that the prince was holding a child in Concubine Yao's palace, a group of people came over to watch the show. It was just the same as the adultery scene in all TV dramas, attracting everyone's attention.

Qin Qingyao really didn't believe that the group of people were not lured here on purpose!

However, she couldn't and didn't want to interfere in the old emperor's family affairs. It didn't matter who Concubine Yao gave birth to her son with, as they all had the surname Ling. She just hoped that the prince would not be blocked by Concubine Yun at Concubine Yao's place today!

"Who did the little maid just mention living in the west?"

Qin Qingyao threw away the ice lump in her hand in frustration. She met a young eunuch and asked again, "Which palace do Concubine Qin Shu and Concubine Zhong live in?"

This time she finally remembered that Concubine Qin was in the east and Concubine Zhong was in the west. If she wanted to go to Yongfu Palace in the west, she had to make an excuse to visit Concubine Zhong.

I found a young eunuch to lead the way, explained my intentions to him, and left the young eunuch confused. Concubine Qin is your aunt, and Concubine Zhong is your cousin.

Regardless of status or distance, one should go to pay a visit to Concubine Qin Shu first. Why does the princess want to go to find Concubine Zhong?

However, as a small eunuch, he did not dare to question the princess's order, so he obediently led his men to Yongyang Palace.

Before reaching Yongyang Palace, Qin Qingyao saw Yongfu Palace first.

"Little eunuch, this palace looks so beautiful. Who lives here?"

The young eunuch bowed and said respectfully, "This is Concubine Yun's place. Concubine Yao and Concubine Du live in the north and south halls."

"Oh, I heard that Lady Yao gave birth to a son not long ago. Her place should be very lively now, right?"

The eunuch said, "Yes, the little prince was born on the first day of the Lunar New Year. It's a good day."

"Can someone else look after the child?"

"I really can't say for sure. The child has a special wet nurse to take care of him, and he doesn't have much time to spend with Lady Yao. Lady Yao is in confinement after childbirth, and she is very precious. It's not convenient for others to disturb her peace and quiet."

This was said in a tactful way, but Qin Qingyao, who had read many books on palace fighting, still understood it. It was not because it was inconvenient to disturb Concubine Yao's peace and quiet, but to avoid suspicion. The people in the harem would never go to Concubine Yao to see the children unless there was something important.

The emperor was so happy to have a son in his old age that the concubines in the other palaces were so jealous, especially those who had not given birth to children yet. They were probably so jealous that they made paper dolls with them.

So who dares to go see the children?

What if the child is in poor health and has a short life, or if someone is so cruel as to want to harm the child, and you happen to go there and get yourself into trouble, wouldn't that be terrible misfortune?

Look, even the ladies in the harem know to avoid suspicion, but this idiot prince took time out to go to Yongfu Palace before the dinner. What on earth is he doing?

"Princess? Princess?"

"Huh? What's going on?"

"This is Yongyang Palace. We have arrived. I have asked the eunuch at the door to go in and pass on the message. A reply should be forthcoming soon. The palace is bustling with activity today, so I cannot be away for too long. I beg Your Highness to forgive me."

"It's okay, it's okay. Go back. I'm sorry to have wasted your time."

Qin Qingyao casually took off a small pearl flower from her hair, and without caring whether it would ruin her hairstyle, she stuffed it into the young eunuch's palm, "Eunuch, take it, thank you!"

The young eunuch repeatedly declined, saying that he didn't dare to accept it. At this time, Concubine Zhong from Yongyang Palace had already come out to pick him up personally with a group of maids and other servants. The ceremony was a bit exaggerated.

"Is Yao'er here? Come on, let your aunt take a look. It's been years since I've seen you. You're so pretty!"

The nanny beside Concubine Zhong saw the pearl flower in Qin Qingyao's hand, took out two silver coins and gave them to the eunuch who was leading the way. The young eunuch took it and quickly said goodbye and left.

Concubine Zhong looked at Qin Qingyao helplessly, "You are really too generous, child. It is the eunuch's job to lead the way. Can he bear such a generous reward?"

Qin Qingyao smiled awkwardly. To be honest, she had no impression of this aunt. Today, she had to curry favor with her only for the sake of the Crown Prince and Concubine Yao.

So when she saw such an enthusiastic person, she became so nervous that she didn't know what to do.

"Hello, auntie."

"Okay, okay, come on in!"

This noble lady Zhong was completely different from Qin Qingyao's gentle mother. She was like a firecracker. As soon as she entered the gate of Yongyang Palace, she wanted to shout to the whole world that her eldest niece was the Princess Wuling and that she had come to see her.

Qin Qingyao was sweating profusely. No matter how she arranged it, she could not be the eldest niece. Not to mention the children of her other aunts and uncles, she also had two older sisters.

Before Qin Qingyao could even sit down, the owner of the main hall of Yongyang Palace came over: Concubine Xian Qi Luoyin, the eldest daughter of Qi Daxueshi.

According to her mother's family, Concubine Qi is a generation younger than Noble Lady Zhong. However, in the palace, Concubine Qi is of the second rank, while a mere noble lady is of the fifth rank. Noble Lady Zhong must feel uncomfortable because she is under Concubine Qi's nose all day long.

She is only one step away from being promoted to concubine and becoming the mistress of a palace. She won't have to live in a side hall and depend on others for food!

But that step is easier said than done.

Qin Qingyao watched the interactions between Concubine Xian and Noble Lady Zhong like a mascot. It is not easy to survive in the harem, and this is not just talk.

The virtuous concubine comes from a family of scholars and appears to have a gentle temperament, but that is really just an appearance.

While she was polite to Qin Qingyao, she did not lose her dignity in front of Concubine Zhong. When she thought that her second brother was harmed by the romantic affairs and was sent back home by the prince, Qin Qingyao felt guilty, fearing that Concubine Xian would remember this and settle the score with her.

After a short while, Concubine Xian and Noble Lady Zhong were already chatting with each other. It must be said that Noble Lady Zhong had a really loud voice. She kept saying "yo", "ah", "oh hehe", and laughing until Qin Qingyao felt dizzy.

After fighting with Concubine Xian for a while, she decided to quit and end the conversation with a fatal question.

She asked Qin Qingyao, "Princess Wuling, have you been to Concubine Qin Shu's place?"

Concubine Zhong's face suddenly turned dark. She felt that Concubine Xian just couldn't stand her being better than she was and couldn't stand Qin Qingyao giving her face. She reminded Qin Qingyao to go to Concubine Qin Shu as soon as possible!

Although Qin Qingyao's parents have a good relationship, Concubine Qin Shu and Concubine Zhong will not love each other in the palace just because of this in-law relationship.

Sometimes it is necessary to help and support each other, but you still have to live your own life.

Qin Qingyao finally found an opportunity to interrupt. She ignored Concubine Xian's question and said, "By the way, I just heard that Concubine Yao from the Yongfu Palace next door gave birth to a little prince."

Concubine Zhong thought Qin Qingyao was deliberately trying to change the subject to help her resolve the awkwardness, but she then said, "I haven't even seen what a newborn baby looks like. Auntie, Concubine Xian, why don't we go and see it together?"