Yi Hua sat in the carriage, staring at her hands, the image of the girl coughing up blood and dying flashing through her mind. She had just ruined the future of an innocent person with her own hands.

Yu Xue looked at Yi Hua with concern and handed her a cup of warm milk tea. Yi Hua took a sip and suppressed the nausea rising in her heart.

Even the little wolf noticed Yi Hua's unusual behavior. He pouted and said, "Mother, I've already eaten three bites of vegetables today. I want to eat meat."

Honghui quietly transferred the carrot from the little wolf's bowl to his own, and thoughtfully ladled him some fish ball soup: "Eat this, Mother is sleepy. How about we finish eating and go out to practice our horse stance for today?"

"Okay." Little Wolf had a great time fishing in the afternoon and was quite accepting of the extra training in the evening.

Liu Liu sensed her mother's absent-mindedness. She put down her chopsticks, stood up, and touched her forehead to Yi Hua's: "It's a little hot, Mother. You need to eat properly and then drink ginger soup. Be careful not to catch a cold."

Yi Hua felt very comforted: "Okay, Mother will listen to Liu Liu."

Yinzhen watched the whole thing without saying a word, but kept putting food on Yihua's plate whenever he had the chance.

The children knew their mother was unwell, so they all behaved themselves and didn't bother her.

After dinner was cleared away, Yinzhen smiled and said to Yihua, "I heard that the Princess Consort was quite impressive today."

Upon hearing this, Yi Hua's face turned pale, and she panicked: "Yinzhen, I killed someone, I killed someone today."

"Alright, alright." Yinzhen quickly pulled Yihua into his arms and gently patted her back. "The culprit who killed her was Consort Xinghui, it was Ulanara Mingxuan. You were just protecting the reputation of the eldest princess. You did nothing wrong."

"Mingxuan, that child, seemed so good in every way before, how could he be so foolish when it comes to women?" Yihua said with a look of disappointment.

“That woman was named Azhu. She was innocent and naive, and she had no idea what kind of vortex she had fallen into.” Yi Hua became more and more agitated as she spoke. “Not only her, but all the servants in the Ulanara mansion who saw her did not survive.”

"Tangtang, Yihua, everyone makes choices every day. You've already made the best choice, which makes you a qualified leader." Yinzhen gently rubbed Yihua's hand.

"As for Azhu, I'll have someone light an everlasting lamp for her, hoping she'll be reborn into a better family in her next life," Yinzhen suggested, proposing a measure to make Yihua feel better.

Yihua leaned against Yinzhen and slowly drifted off to sleep.

In the middle of the night, Yinzhen woke up with a start. He felt that the person next to him was very hot. He reached out and touched her forehead, and the temperature was alarmingly high.

"Someone, summon the imperial physician. Su Peisheng, go and fetch the imperial physician. Yuxue, first wipe her down to lower her fever." At Yinzhen's command, the main courtyard sprang into action.

Yi Hua felt as if she had returned to this afternoon. The woman's corpse was so close to her. In her previous life, she was an ordinary college student living in a peaceful era. This was the first time she had seen such a bloody scene after transmigrating. Shocked by the snow and strong wind, she fell into a nightmare and developed a high fever.

The imperial physicians and doctors from the prefecture arrived quickly and prescribed the right medicine, but the problem was that they couldn't get the medicine down their throats.

Seeing Yi Hua's face flushed red like an apple, Yin Zhen frowned deeply. He picked up the bowl of medicine, took a mouthful, and fed it to her mouth-to-mouth. Although most of it spilled, Yi Hua still drank some.

"Please have the imperial physician prepare some pills." Yinzhen felt that the little bit of soup she drank was completely ineffective.

"Yes." The imperial physician had come in a hurry and hadn't brought any medicine, but there was still some left over for treating colds.

Every so often, Yu Xue and Yu Ling would wipe Yi Hua's body to cool her down. This continued until dawn. With the addition of the pills, Yi Hua's breathing gradually became stable, and Yin Zhen breathed a sigh of relief.

Su Peisheng came over carrying a food box: "Master, it's almost time for court. Would you like to change your clothes?"

"I won't change. You stay here. The Princess must not be delayed if anything happens." Yinzhen ate two flatbreads with the mutton soup, drank a big gulp of water, stared at Yihua for a long time, and then turned and left.

When Honghui came to pay his respects as usual, he discovered that Yihua was so ill. He immediately stopped and said, "Father, your son will stay with Mother today."

"Alright, take good care of your mother."

*****

When Xinghui learned what his wife had done, he was so angry that he immediately wanted to write a letter of divorce, but was persuaded to stop by his wife, Ulanara.

"Little sister must be heartbroken this time." Xinghui hung her head, looking somewhat dejected.

Fei Yanggu looked up and smacked him on the head: "A troubled household is a death sentence. Keep a close eye on your wife from now on, and make sure Mingxuan comes to practice martial arts with me every day."

"This kid's asking for it, he deserves a beating."

Xinghui wholeheartedly agreed.

The next morning at court, Xinghui felt that Prince Yong's gaze was unusually cold. He shrank back and thought to himself.

The prince is so fond of his daughter; could my little sister have been blamed for this? It's all that spendthrift woman's fault.

Having barely made it to the end of the court session, Xinghui was so flustered that she didn't even hear what the Emperor was saying. She cautiously approached Yinzhen and said, "Your Highness, my family has suffered a misfortune. I will certainly handle my family affairs properly. My sister knew nothing about this matter."

You absolutely mustn't let things fall apart between you and your little sister, Xinghui wanted to say.

Yinzhen didn't even glance at him: "What does your family matter have to do with me?"

“Yes, yes, yes,” Xinghui echoed.

"The Princess Consort was overwhelmed with shock and anger, and caught a chill. She had a fever all night and we don't know if she's awake yet. She's worried about her mother. If the old lady of the manor has time, she should go to the Prince's manor to see her." Yinzhen still remembered hearing Yihua calling for her mother in her delirium, and knew how important his mother was at this time.

"Is your little sister sick?" Xinghui asked even more anxiously.

"It's because the Princess Consort is ill." Yinzhen finally deigned to look at him. "I trust Lord Feiyanggu, and I also believe in Xiaolang's safety in the Ulanara family."

Xinghui was taken aback for a moment. He understood and quickly said, "Your Highness, rest assured, I guarantee that that stupid woman won't be able to touch the Fourth Prince with a single finger."

******

Kangxi naturally noticed Yinzhen's unusual behavior. After all, a workaholic suddenly became silent. He took a sip of tea and said, "Liang Jiugong, is Prince Yong outside? Let him in."

It was common for older princes to wait for summons at the entrance of the Hall of Mental Cultivation every day, even though Emperor Kangxi might not necessarily see them.

Liang Jiugong went out to take a look and came back to report: "Your Majesty, Prince Yong has left the palace, and Prince Honghui has asked for leave from Minister Fang today. I inquired and found out that the Princess Consort had a high fever that wouldn't go down in the middle of the night, and even two imperial physicians went to see her."

"It's cold in winter, let's give everyone waiting outside a bowl of ginger soup." Emperor Kangxi sighed, taking a sip of tea. "What kind of tea is this? It has no taste."

"It's your usual Junshan Silver Needle tea. Perhaps the heat wasn't right today, so I'll serve you a fresh cup." Liang Jiugong quickly kowtowed to apologize, then watched as the palace maid brewed it.

Kangxi took a sip, then spat it out: "Does this palace servant not want to work anymore?"

"This servant is guilty." Liang Jiugong suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He lowered his voice and said, "Your Majesty, why don't you invite Consort Huo to make tea?"

Emperor Kangxi was stunned for a moment, then chuckled softly: "Send it over!"