Fourth Master looked up at Jiaming, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

This was the first time he had heard such words from her. Even when Xuan'er had smallpox last time, she hadn't been so direct.

Jiaming had no idea about Fourth Master's doubts. If she did, she would definitely say that she hadn't found any evidence at the beginning of the smallpox incident. That's right, concrete evidence.

Later, you did impose penalties, but this time the evidence is conclusive, and most importantly, you haven't imposed any penalties yet.

Without keeping Jiaming waiting any longer, the Fourth Prince gave Wuya's punishment: "Cold Courtyard!"

Upon hearing those two words, Jiaming felt comfortable and satisfied.

However, the punishment for Wuya could not bypass the Fujin (principal wife), after all, the Fujin was the mistress of the inner court.

Sure enough, when the Fourth Prince arrived at the main courtyard and told his wife this, she was filled with complicated emotions.

Although she had a grudge against the Uya clan in her past life and wished for the Uya clan to die in this life, she felt quite good that they were now locked up in the Cold Courtyard.

However, she also felt uncomfortable because the prince ignored the rumors and defended Guarjia and the fourth prince so much. How could she feel comfortable with that?

Absolutely not!

After weighing the options in her mind, the Fujin (wife) felt that it would be easy for her to kill Uya in this life. In addition, she disliked Guarjia and Xiao Hongxuan, so she raised her objection.

"Master, Sister Wuya didn't do it on purpose. She only let go because the Fourth Prince hurt her. Punishing her like this is too much..."

Blinded by resentment, the Fujin was careless and failed to see the Fourth Prince's increasingly clenched fist on his knees.

So, she continued recklessly, "Besides, the Fourth Prince really did punch Sister Wuya twice and kick her once..."

The Fujin, who was trying to find an excuse to exonerate Wuya, suddenly met the cold gaze of the Fourth Prince, who could no longer bear to listen. Instantly, she stopped talking and fell silent.

"Fujin!" The Fourth Prince paused, then snorted coldly and continued, "Rumors are swirling in the mansion. If you can't manage the inner quarters, then delegate some of them to someone else."

Upon hearing this, the princess's expression changed drastically, but she quickly returned to normal.

The wife understood the warning and implied meaning in the Fourth Prince's words.

Your Majesty is clearly implying that she is spreading rumors and deliberately suppressing Guarjia and the Fourth Prince. Moreover, Your Majesty might even suspect that the rumors were her doing.

Knowing that the Fourth Prince was suspicious, the Princess Consort felt even more strongly that her guess might be exactly what the Fourth Prince was thinking.

Seeing the Fourth Prince's departing figure, the Fujin had no choice but to abandon her objections and sent someone to send Wuya to the Cold Courtyard as instructed by the Fourth Prince.

Not long after the Fourth Prince left, the First Prince Honghui returned.

Nine-year-old Honghui looked rather frail. As soon as he walked in, he was met with the Fujin's forced smile.

"Mother, what's wrong?" Honghui asked worriedly, suppressing what he was about to say.

Princess Ulanara shook her head and said, "It's nothing!"

Seeing that he was unwilling to talk, Honghui knew that based on past experience, he would not get an answer if he pressed him further, so he did not ask any more questions.

He then changed the subject, beginning to recount what he had originally intended to say, "Mother, you really need to keep a close eye on things in the household. Those people are so outrageous, spreading rumors and ruining Fourth Brother's reputation..."

His sudden return was all about his fourth brother's situation.

As the Fujin listened to her son indignantly praising Guarjia's son, she frowned and retorted, "Hui'er, that's not necessarily nonsense. Your fourth brother is indeed..."

"Mother!" Honghui suddenly stopped him, then frowned and said coldly, "How can this not be nonsense? Fourth Brother often plays with my son, how could I not know his nature? It must be that person who has bad intentions towards Xuan'er..."

Seeing Honghui desperately defending the Fourth Prince Hongxuan, the Fujin couldn't help but clutch her chest, feeling a tightness in her chest, "Hui'er, you, you..."

"Mother?" Honghui blinked, looking at Ulanara with a puzzled expression.

Looking into her son's innocent eyes, knowing his kind nature, the wife could only wave her hand and let it go, no matter how upset she was.

"Alright, what you said makes sense. Mother will have someone handle this matter properly."

As he said this, he comforted himself, "Forget it, just consider it helping Hui'er win over Hong Xuan! Besides, Master just warned me."

Furthermore, Hui'er is kind-hearted, both in her past and present lives, and she can't change it. Although she was somewhat dissatisfied, it seems that Hongxuan has been quite well won over by Hui'er.

Furthermore, the master seems quite satisfied with Honghui as he is.

Thinking about it this way, Consort Ulanara's attitude of regarding Xiao Hongxuan as a stumbling block gradually lessened.

As a result, her mind gradually became clearer.

Yes, it's impossible for the Emperor to have only one prince, Hui'er. Even if Hongxuan is gone, there will be other princes.

If that's the case, then the previous plan to win over Hui'er's brothers in advance, just like how the Master won over the Thirteenth Prince, was indeed the best choice. Moreover, given the Master's emphasis on his eldest son and his offspring, this was the best solution.

Didn't you think you understood it before?

She frowned as she reflected on her recent actions.

Just as the Princess Consort was reflecting on the past and looking forward to the future, a mournful voice came from a courtyard in the Fourth Prince's residence.

"Impossible! Master could never be so heartless to me!"

"My lord, I truly didn't mean it!"

"Let me go! I need to find Master! I'm innocent..."

No matter how much Wuya struggled or how unwilling she was, in the end, she was still locked up in the cold courtyard.

When Jiaming heard about Wuya's actions and her mournful words, she simply smiled and ignored them completely.

Moreover, she ignored the women in the backyard who gossiped about her cruelty and said that the punishment given to Uya was too much.

With comments like "There are plenty of red peaches" and Jiaming remaining silent, she couldn't help but worry that her mistress was overthinking things.

“Master, please don’t overthink it. That Princess Wuya brought this upon herself and deserves the punishment. Besides, this was Master’s idea…”

"Hehe," Jiaming looked at Hongtao and shook her head slightly, "Don't worry, your master won't overthink it."

For someone like her who had experienced the wickedness of people in the apocalypse, and who had seen too many stories of people being ungrateful and letting others go only to be repaid with ingratitude, she really didn't think that the Fourth Prince's punishment of Wuya was too harsh.

After all, Uya clan has a lot of the characteristics of those who repay kindness with enmity in the end times.

You must understand, in her previous life, Uya was able to lay a hand on the First Prince. She couldn't guarantee that if she really gave him a chance to turn things around, Xuan'er wouldn't follow in the footsteps of the First Prince Honghui in her previous life and be destroyed by him when she couldn't see him.

After all, she is not a god and cannot watch over Xuan'er all the time to protect him from all dangers when he is young.

To avoid having no chance to regret it, she preferred to be ruthless and nip the danger in the bud.