Chapter 60 has been hung up and put down.

"You only came to see the Fifth Prince?" Yinzhen leaned forward, looking at Su Peisheng with a questioning expression.

Su Peisheng nodded with a bad expression, "Yes, I only came to see the Fifth Prince and brought ginseng soup. The maid watched the Fifth Prince finish drinking it before leaving."

Yinzhen leaned back in his chair in silence, his eyes lowered and his lips pressed tightly together—"Go and bring Consort Qi here. I want to hear her story from her in person."

——

Hongjin lingered at the entrance of Changchun Palace, lost in thought about what Xiaodezi had told him yesterday—his younger brother had left him with a vague message, instructing him to take the nanny to find Consort Qi earlier today.

She didn't know exactly when it was earlier. So she arrived at the Changchun Palace early with two wet nurses.

Having lingered there for so long, unsure whether to go in now, I was just pondering this when I spotted Consort Qi in a bright green qipao in the distance. She was walking towards the palace with a blank expression and a stiff face, looking completely dazed as if she hadn't even noticed me.

Judging from that direction... it seems to have come from Jingren Palace. Hongjin frowned as he watched the master and servant walk into Changchun Palace. After thinking for a while, he followed them.

She walked slowly, and Changchun Palace was eerily quiet; she didn't see a single palace servant along the way.

The two nannies also sensed the unusual quietness of the place. They flanked Hongjin from the front and back, their expressions tense. As they walked to the entrance of the main hall, they saw the unusually ajar door. One of the sturdier nannies announced loudly, "Your Highness Consort Qi, the eldest princess has arrived."

After waiting for a long time, no one answered.

Just then, Su Peisheng arrived at Changchun Palace. He was about to greet Hong Jin with a smile when the head maid slowly raised her hand and gently pushed the half-closed door with a creak.

"Ah!" A short scream rang in his ears. He stared intently and saw a stool lying on the ground and a pair of lake-blue embroidered shoes with flowerpot soles, dangling in mid-air and still struggling.

"Ouch!"

Su Peisheng cried out and took a step back. After their initial shock, the two old women brought by Hong Jin rushed forward and dragged him down from the roof beam.

Su Peisheng snapped out of his daze and quickly covered Hong Jin's eyes. Hong Jin only felt that the surroundings were chaotic, with a group of people running back and forth, but he didn't know what was going on.

Fortunately, they discovered it in time; the person was taken down as soon as they were hung up, and their life was not in danger.

Yinzhen looked at Consort Qi kneeling before him, her appearance utterly disheveled, her hair disheveled, and the red and purple marks on her neck particularly eye-catching. She was trembling and clutching her chest.

She seemed terrified, her eyes darting aimlessly, looking left and right but refusing to look up at the Emperor.

Yinzhen's brows furrowed, his dark eyes fixed on her, filled with suspicion, impatience, and doubt.

"Do you know that a concubine committing suicide is a grave crime? How dare you?" Yinzhen's voice was cold and authoritative. Normally, Consort Qi would have been terrified, but today she seemed not to hear him at all, her eyes unfocused and staring blankly.

"You're not saying anything, so you're not even caring about the Third Prince?"

Upon hearing the name of the Third Prince, Consort Qi blinked, as if suddenly snapping back to reality. She gripped her clothes tightly and, after a moment of hesitation, stammered, "It has nothing to do with the Third Prince! It's...it's my own fault. I'm incompetent and unworthy to be the Third Prince's mother."

Although she finally spoke, she seemed to be caught in some kind of pre-set routine, and no matter what was asked, she would only say these two sentences: "Your Majesty, I confess my guilt, it has nothing to do with the Third Prince."

Consort Qi had been with Yinzhen for quite some time, and Yinzhen knew her very well. Perhaps she was a bit temperamental and foolish, but Yinzhen didn't quite believe that she would deliberately harm others without anyone instigating her; she didn't have that kind of brain.

"Did someone say something to you?" Yinzhen rubbed his fingers together, his gaze passing through her as he looked towards the Prince's quarters outside, his tone low.

Consort Qi paused, and immediately stopped muttering her confession.

Anyone could tell from her expression that there was something going on.

Lu Yingfeng, who had been standing by the side the whole time, couldn't help but speak up when she saw this—"Sister Qi Fei! I respect you as my sister and have never harmed you. Why did you lay a hand on my child!"

Her voice, hoarse from crying for so long, sounded even more poignant with each accusation. If Xuexin hadn't been there, pulling her back, she would have almost grabbed her collar and demanded, "Doesn't Hongshi ever suffer from illness or misfortune? As a mother, Consort Qi, are you truly so heartless! My Hongzhao is only four years old, why must he suffer like this!"

She cried so hard that even the Emperor couldn't help but frown with heartache. Looking at Consort Qi's increasingly flustered expression below him, he knew better than anyone else how to handle the emotions of the women in the harem.

Yinzhen spoke calmly, his voice less intense than Lü Yingfeng's, yet more resolute: "You are, after all, the birth mother of the eldest prince. I will not take your life, but I will strip you of your title, demote you to the rank of Noble Lady, and confine you to Changchun Palace for the rest of your life."

“However,” he changed his tone, “I want you to swear that if you concealed this matter and it was instigated by someone else, then Hongshi will suffer the same pain that Hongzhao is experiencing now.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Consort Qi suddenly looked up in astonishment. After a long while, she seemed to finally react, crawling forward a few steps on her knees and reaching out to help the Emperor's drooping boots.

Only then did tears begin to flow. She was no longer the inhuman being she had been before, her entire being radiating a death wish. Instead, she wailed inconsolably, "Your Majesty! This can't be! Hongshi has done nothing wrong, this can't be..."

Yinzhen coldly looked down at her—"Then what did my Hongzhao do wrong?"

Consort Qi covered her face, her trembling body finally letting out a sob. It was as if all the fear and pain that had been building up for so long burst forth at this moment—"How could I be so stupid? I've dragged Hongshi down with me. I was so foolish, so incredibly foolish..."

She murmured, "So foolish that I believed everything the Empress said..."

Yinzhen's narrow eyes widened suddenly, his tone uncertain—"You're saying the Empress instructed you?"

Yixiu, who rushed over after receiving the news, happened to hear this sentence as soon as she entered the door.