Chapter 32: Resolving Old Ten's Slacking Off and Blame-Shifting...

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the side hall door open, and the Eighth Prince led Consort Tong in hurriedly. Yin'e was startled, knowing that things had gotten out of hand and he might be in trouble.

The Sixth Prince knew that he and the Fourth Prince were brothers born of the same mother, but the Fourth Prince, raised by Consort Tong, was completely unaware of this. This was precisely the reason why the Sixth Prince harbored prejudice and resentment towards the Fourth Prince.

If the matter of the fight between the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince were to be arbitrated and resolved by Consort Tong, no matter how she handled it or whose side she ultimately took, it would only increase the Sixth Prince's dissatisfaction with the Fourth Prince and deepen the conflict between the two.

We must find a way to resolve this dilemma!

In a flash, Yin'e quickly made a decision. He grabbed Yin Tang's left hand with his right hand and pinched it hard, while twisting his left hand on his own leg. In the midst of the chaos, as Consort Tong stepped into the side hall, he and Yin Tang burst into loud wailing.

"Waaaaah..."

This time, Yin'e's crying wasn't fake; he cried sincerely and sobbed uncontrollably. Large, glistening tears rolled down from his round, bright almond-shaped eyes, tracing down his soft, chubby face and soaking it.

"It hurts so much..." Yin'e sobbed, tears welling in his eyes, thinking with deep regret: Next time, I should just pretend to cry, even if it doesn't look real. I really don't want to pinch myself anymore; my skin is so delicate, it really hurts! QAQ

When Yin'e pinched himself, he didn't hold back at all, and he did the same when he pinched Yin'tang. Yin'e had too little time to react, and he really didn't have time to control his strength. In order to make him and Yin'tang cry out in time, he had no choice but to use a lot of force.

The tender yet sharp cries of a young child drowned out the commotion caused by the struggling Sixth Prince, suppressing all the chaos in the hall and drawing everyone's attention to him.

Consort Tong strode into the hall, her beautiful eyebrows slightly furrowed, her exquisite face filled with heartache and worry: "What's wrong? Why are Xiao Jiu and Xiao Shi crying?"

When the Eighth Prince went to the main hall to fetch reinforcements, he did not directly state that the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince were the ones who had clashed. He did not mention the fight at all, nor did he specify who it was. He only said that the brothers had a minor disagreement and hoped that Consort Tong could mediate.

She walked quickly toward Yin'e and Yin'tang, who were standing by the large round table, wailing. On the way, Consort Tong glanced at the Third Prince, whose face was pale and whose expression was ugly. Seeing that his hand was pointing at Yin'e and Yin'tang, she couldn't help but guess that the Third Prince had a conflict with the Ninth and Tenth Princes.

Kneeling down in front of Yin'e and Yin'tang, Consort Tong took out a handkerchief to wipe away the tears of the two little ones who were crying like little kittens. She asked in a soft voice and gentle tone, "What's wrong? Why are you crying like this, Little Ninth and Little Tenth? Have you suffered some grievance?"

As the pain subsided, Yin'e was no longer in as much pain as before. In addition, since he had only started crying loudly to muddy the waters, he readily stopped wailing and began to sob quietly after being gently comforted by Consort Tong.

But Yinzhen was not so easily appeased. He was genuinely crying from pain. Yin'e had suddenly pinched him, and Yinzhen, completely unprepared, immediately burst into tears in response to the pain.

His cries were sharp and piercing, continuous and unending, and even when Consort Tong patiently and gently coaxed him, he showed no sign of stopping—Yin Tang was not familiar with Consort Tong, and once he started crying, he did not accept her comfort at all.

A thin layer of sweat beaded on her forehead. Looking at the Ninth Prince, who was crying uncontrollably and completely uncommunicative, Consort Tong was filled with helplessness. She really had no way to deal with the Ninth Prince at this age.

Consort Tong had raised children. She had raised the Fourth Prince, but he was upright and never cried, so he never caused her any trouble. She also gave birth to a daughter, but her daughter died before she was a month old.

Consort Tong had no idea how difficult it was for children to be stubborn, nor had she ever encountered a little devil like Yinzhen who would cry endlessly once he started.

Having been a night-crying child since childhood, Yinzhen had an extensive experience in crying. His crying was not only loud and piercing, but also had an extremely long duration, capable of making people's scalps tingle, their eardrums explode, and causing them to kneel down and beg him to stop crying.

“Ninth Brother…” The Fifth Prince turned around and looked at Yinzhen, who was wailing loudly, at a loss and with an anxious expression. “Ninth Brother, don’t cry. Are you feeling unwell? Why don’t we go back to Grandmother and ask her to get us some beef jerky?”

The Fifth Prince wanted to comfort Yinzhen, but under the Empress Dowager's protection, the Fifth Prince, who had never suffered any grievances, had no idea how to coax people.

He racked his brains for a long time, and the only thing he could think of was that eating could improve one's mood, so he wanted to take Yinzhen back to eat beef jerky.

Unfortunately, the Fifth Prince's words had no effect—he spoke in Mongolian, which Yinzhen couldn't understand at all...

Yinzhen cried loudly, and under his influence, the Fifth Prince gradually became teary-eyed, almost crying himself. The Fifth Prince was just a child, and easily influenced by crying.

Yin'e knew he couldn't continue the stalemate. He raised his head and secretly glanced at the Third Prince, who had already lowered his hand. He sobbed softly, his voice trailing off, "Third Brother... Third Brother, he..."

Sniffling, Yin'e lowered his head and began to sob softly, stopping halfway through his sentence.

As for what exactly happened to the Third Prince, let Consort Tong use her imagination. In any case, Yin'e is determined to shift the blame onto the Third Prince—no, he didn't shift the blame at all; the Third Prince was the very cause of today's conflict.

The Third Prince was the instigator. He deliberately stirred things up from the beginning. If he hadn't been so foul-mouthed and caused trouble, how could the Sixth Prince and the Fourth Prince have had this misunderstanding?

It's better to shift the blame onto the Third Prince and cover up the fight between the Fourth and Sixth Princes than for Consort Tong to interfere recklessly and cause further discord between them.

The Third Prince was surprised that Yin'e suddenly shifted the blame onto him. His handsome and refined face turned bright red, and in his panic and nervousness, he unconsciously stammered, "N-no, it wasn't me. It has nothing to do with me."

Yin'e raised his head and timidly glanced at the Third Prince. He looked aggrieved, his eyes were swollen from crying, his nose was red, and there were still tear stains on his fair face. He looked extremely pitiful.

Amidst the background noise of Yinzhen's loud sobs, Yin'e could be heard sobbing softly, saying intermittently, "Third Brother fell down, and Ninth Brother and I wanted to help him up. But we accidentally hurt him, and he glared at us... He was so fierce, waaaah..."

The eldest prince, with a blank expression, put down the sixth prince, who had finally calmed down.

He turned his head away, letting Yin'e ramble on without offering any explanation. The whole mess was started by the Third Prince; let him bear the consequences of his foul mouth.

As for the fight between the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince, let's keep it a secret between the brothers and not let it reach Consort Tong.

The Sixth Prince, who had been put down, and the Fourth Prince, who was standing to the side, exchanged a glance. They still felt a distance between them, but also a subtle sense of awkwardness.

At the same time, they had a strange feeling in their hearts, as if something was wrong, and they had a dreamlike sense of unreality: Weren't they the ones who were fighting just now? How come they are suddenly not involved anymore?

Consort Tong gave her personal maid a wink, signaling her to go outside the palace and fetch the Ninth Prince's wet nurse. She simply couldn't appease Yinzhen and decided to give up.

With her left arm around Yin'e's back, the Imperial Noble Consort Tong gently wiped away the tears on his face. Turning her head, she frowned slightly and asked the Third Prince, "Third Prince, is it as Xiao Shi said? Did you frighten them?"

The handsome Third Prince, his face flushed red, wanted to explain, but the words just wouldn't come out.

Yin'e was indeed talking nonsense, but what he said wasn't entirely false; he simply made a little artistic embellishment based on the facts.

The Third Prince did indeed fall, and he did glare at Yin'e and Yin'tang. The problem is that Yin'e caused his fall, and Yin'tang didn't intend to help him up; instead, he took the opportunity to kick him while he was down and pull his ear in retaliation.

But the Third Prince couldn't reveal the truth. Under normal circumstances, how could he be tripped up by Yin'e, who was so much younger than him? If he told the truth, he would have to explain how Yin'e did it, which would lead to the incident of the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince fighting.

If the investigation continues, Consort Tong will find out that he hinted at his background to the Fourth Prince and that he used the name of the Sixth Prince, Yinzhuo, to sow discord among the other princes.

If these two things were exposed, the Third Prince would definitely be implicated, and his fate would be far more serious than just being scolded. Rather than that, he might as well admit that he had frightened his younger brother to tears, thus minimizing the seriousness of today's incident and closing the case here.

After stammering for a while, unable to think of any better excuse, the Third Prince decided to give up. He lowered his head and honestly admitted his mistake: "It was my fault. My younger brothers are still young. I shouldn't have glared at them and scared them."

But the Third Prince did not just admit his mistake. He then went on to defend himself, trying to prove that his mistake was not that big: "I did not scold them or hit them. I just lost my temper for a moment."

These words, if spoken, would be considered as the Third Prince admitting that he was the one who frightened Yin'e and Yin'tang to tears.

The Eighth Prince tilted his head in confusion, his delicate and lovely face full of bewilderment.

When he left the side hall to find Consort Tong, the Third Prince had not yet been kicked in the ankle by Yin'e and fallen to the ground, and he was unaware of what happened afterward.

But when the Eighth Prince followed Consort Tong back to the side hall, he saw that the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince had stopped fighting, while Yin'e and Yin'tang were wailing.

Despite being filled with confusion and doubt, the Eighth Prince obediently kept his mouth shut and didn't say a word, as if his visit to Consort Tong had nothing to do with the fight between the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince.

When Yinzhen's wet nurse entered the hall and saw Yinzhen wailing, she wanted to cry along with him. She also wanted to tell Consort Tong that she couldn't coax this little tyrant Yinzhen at all.

He raised his hand to wipe away his tears, and Yin'e also felt that Yin'tang had been crying for too long. Moreover, he could tell that Yin'tang was no longer crying because of pain, but was simply wailing out of habit.

He took Yin Tang's left hand with his right hand and shook it. Yin E turned around and hugged the wailing Yin Tang: "Ninth Brother, don't cry."

Sniffling, Yinzhen pouted his little mouth in grievance, but obediently stopped wailing.

Looking up, Yinzhen saw the Third Prince's face flushed red and instinctively glared at him: "Third Brother, you're bad!"

This was entirely a personal grudge. Before Yinzhen and the Third Prince reconciled, Yinzhen's evaluation of the Third Prince was always like this.

But no matter what, Yinzhen's finishing blow was swift and ruthless, completely crushing the Third Prince.