The Crown Princess's mind went blank for a moment.

After realizing what she had just said, she looked at the old woman in horror: "What did you just say?"

The old woman said with tears in her eyes, "His Highness has passed away. News just came from Hezhou that when His Highness was inspecting the dike, the dike suddenly collapsed and His Highness was buried inside. He was not dug out until an hour later, but he was already dead."

The Crown Princess felt dizzy and collapsed to the ground.

Xiao Qingyin reacted quickly and caught her.

The nanny stepped forward and, together with Xiao Qingyin, helped the Crown Princess to the bed.

Xiao Qingyin took out silver needles and applied them. After a while, the Crown Princess slowly woke up.

She glanced at Xiao Qingyin and said absentmindedly, "I think I just had a nightmare. Someone told me about Your Highness..."

Xiao Qingyin sighed.

"It wasn't a nightmare."

As soon as she finished speaking, a large tear slid down the corner of the Crown Princess's eye.

"Why did this happen?" she murmured to herself. "I finally got pregnant, but His Highness is gone. Is God trying to kill us?"

Xiao Qingyin did not speak.

She knew that at this moment, any words would be superfluous.

After shedding tears for a while, the Crown Princess asked the nanny to bring over the thank-you gift and hand it to Xiao Qingyin.

"This is a small token of my appreciation; please accept it."

Xiao Qingyin took it.

"thank you."

"You are welcome."

Xiao Qingyin stood up.

"Your Majesty, I must take my leave now."

"Alright. Granny, please see Qingyin off."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Before leaving the bedchamber, Xiao Qingyin reminded her, "Your Majesty, you are not alone now."

The Crown Princess nodded: "I know, I will take good care of myself and the child."

Xiao Qingyin left with the old woman.

After leaving the palace, she sought out Yi Shuihan to learn the details of the Crown Prince's incident.

"Based on the information we have so far, this was an accident."

Yi Shuihan replied.

"That section of landslide was more than 50 meters long, more than ten meters deep, and seven or eight meters wide. It collapsed suddenly, and there were no abnormalities beforehand."

Xiao Qingyin replied, "Although the collapse was an accident, the death of the Crown Prince may not have been an accident."

The cold of the Yi River remains unresolved.

"You suspect someone delayed the rescue? That's impossible. Those who were with the Crown Prince at the time were all his confidants."

Xiao Qingyin shook her head: "I don't suspect that. I suspect that someone knew in advance that a large-scale collapse of the river embankment would occur, which is why the Crown Prince was transferred to supervise the repair of the river embankment."

Yi Shuihan was stunned.

How could anyone possibly be able to predict the future?

But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he remembered a fat figure.

"You mean the abbot of Lingyun Temple?"

“It’s not him,” Xiao Qingyin said with a smile. “It’s Xiao Qingrong, my half-sister.”

Yi Shuihan frowned: "Can she predict the future?"

"She may have been reborn."

Xiao Qingyin told him her speculation.

Yi Shuihan looked grave after hearing this.

"If she really lived her whole life and knew everything about the natural and man-made disasters that would happen in the future, and used the information she had to harm others, the harm would be too great."

Xiao Qingyin nodded: "Mm."

With such a powerful cheat ability after being reborn, Xiao Qingrong could have used it for many things, but she only wanted to use it to harm people, which was not only a waste of its potential but also extremely destructive.

Yi Shuihan immediately made a decision: "We must get rid of her."

Xiao Qingyin raised an eyebrow.

"You only want to get rid of her? Haven't you thought about keeping her alive, interrogating her to extract more information, and turning it into your own?"

Yi Shuihan chuckled: "Before eliminating her, we'll definitely have to interrogate her, but she probably didn't live long in her previous life either."

Xiao Qingyin was a little surprised: "Why do you think that?"

"The Third Prince is ambitious but incompetent, lacking the mindset and ability to be an emperor. Even if he were to ascend the throne by chance, he would not be able to hold onto it and would be replaced sooner or later. Xiao Qingrong's choice to follow him shows that she will at most live until the Third Prince is at the height of his power."

If Xiao Qingrong knew that the Third Prince wouldn't have the last laugh, she would definitely have chosen someone else.

“That’s not necessarily true,” Xiao Qingyin laughed. “The one sitting on the throne now isn’t exactly a man of great character or ability, yet he’s been emperor for so many years.”

“He’s different.”

Yi Shuihan shook his head.

"He does have some ability to judge people, and he is much more ruthless than the Third Prince."

Xiao Qingyin agreed with this statement.

The two discussed how to deal with Xiao Qingrong and drafted a plan, but it would probably be some time before the plan was implemented.

They need to wait for the right opportunity.

After the Crown Prince's funeral, Emperor Chengtai issued an edict posthumously granting the Crown Prince the title of Prince Ping and the Crown Princess the title of Princess Ping.

The third prince was appointed as the new crown prince.

After Princess Ping moved out of the East Palace and into the Prince Ping's residence, Xiao Qingyin visited her several times.

The first few times, she was in a bad state and could hardly muster the energy to chat with Xiao Qingyin.

Seeing her growing increasingly haggard, Xiao Qingyin had to remind her, "If you continue like this, you may lose the baby."

Princess Ping seemed to awaken from a dream.

"Thank you for reminding me."

She smiled wryly.

“I almost went crazy. You’re right, I should have given birth to the child and raised it.”

From that day on, she gradually regained her energy and began to enjoy appreciating flowers and drinking tea.

Xiao Qingyin secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Before long, the opportunity that she and Yi Shuihan had been waiting for arrived.

At the end of March, the Empress Dowager held a birthday banquet.

Because it was his 60th birthday, the banquet was held in a particularly grand manner.

Princes, ministers, and their families all attended.

Xiao Qingyin, along with Han Shi, Yun Shu, Yun Zhao, Yun Wanyin, Fu Weiyun, and others, entered the palace.

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