As soon as Song Yaozhu stepped out of the palace gate, the servants attentively presented her with a cloak and a hand warmer.

"Your Highness, please come with me."

"Where is my maid? Let her come with me; she'll serve me more attentively."

A palace maid sent someone to fetch Caijin, who came running over, feeling chilly all over.

Seeing that the other party so readily summoned Caijin, Song Yaozhu wondered if the other party was really just being kind by letting her change her clothes.

A palace maid carrying a palace lantern led the way for them along the path, and Song Yaozhu felt dizzy after walking a few steps.

"Your Highness, what's wrong?"

The palace maid turned around and saw that Song Yaozhu was starting to stagger. She said, "Perhaps the princess is drunk. I saw her drink half a pot of fruit wine at the banquet. That wine has a strong aftereffect, so it seems she's feeling the effects now. Please help the princess, and let's hurry up and go."

Caijin, unsuspecting, helped Song Yaozhu and followed her.

It was her first time entering the palace, and she didn't know where this road led. But as she walked, she began to feel that something was wrong.

"Why is no one here?" Even the palace lanterns are scarce.

"Today is a palace banquet, so all the staff have been moved to the front to help out. Each palace only has one or two people left to guard the gates," the palace maid explained.

Caijin felt relieved and saw the palace maid walk to a palace, knock on the door, and then a young eunuch opened the door and helped Caijin help Song Yaozhu inside.

"Your Highness is quite drunk; she can barely walk!" The palace maids told them to help Song Yaozhu into the hall, where a charcoal brazier had been lit, making it warm and cozy. "I'll go get some clothes; let Your Highness rest here for now. I'll go to the banquet later and tell the Prince to put his mind at ease."

Caijin thanked them repeatedly. The palace maid left the clothes there and then withdrew, leaving only Song Yaozhu and Caijin in the room.

Caijin looked at her drunken princess, took the hand warmer from her hand, and then took off her cloak and covered her with it. Then she started yawning and soon fell asleep leaning against the chair.

After everyone in the room had fallen asleep, the eunuch who had helped Song Yaozhu in earlier came in again, carried Song Yaozhu out the door.

A gust of cold wind made Song Yaozhu, who had been pretending to be unconscious, even more awake. Being carried on someone's back made her feel nauseous from the jolting.

When the palace maid thoughtfully brought her a hand warmer, she sensed something was off about the smell. Being cautious, she had grabbed a pinch of snow from her sleeve, soaked her cuff, and covered her nose to avoid inhaling too much. Although she hadn't completely fainted, she felt weak all over and her head was spinning.

The eunuch carrying her walked silently along the dark palace path when he suddenly heard voices. He immediately stopped and concealed his presence.

"Your Highness, you promise you will marry me!" a woman's hesitant voice rang out.

Then she heard a male voice reply: "I promise you! I will not marry anyone but you! Don't worry, I will definitely persuade my mother to give you to me in marriage!"

"Your Highness, you are so kind!"

"We grew up together, how can I watch you marry my brother, the emperor!"

"Your Highness, our future depends on you!"

After a long while, the two stopped talking, but Song Yaozhu seemed to hear even more ambiguous sounds, including a woman's panting. The sound was so seductive that even she, a woman, felt a shiver run down her spine.

She wasn't an inexperienced woman; she knew that the two of them were probably making out right there.

She had been observing the Liu family's young lady's attitude towards the eldest prince, but she hadn't expected to discover her affair with the third prince so easily, saving her a lot of trouble.

Wait, no, the real headache now is figuring out how to save myself!

She knew Yuwen Wuji was a scoundrel, but she never imagined he would be this utterly despicable. He dared to so openly lay a hand on the wife of a subject!

The eunuch carrying her stood there for a while, but the couple having their secret rendezvous showed no sign of leaving. Left with no other choice, he stepped on the snow beside him. The sound startled the pair of lovers, who immediately scattered.

Song Yaozhu sighed, "Xie Liwei, you can't let me down."

At the banquet, many people left their seats halfway through their meal to get some fresh air. The heat inside the hall made them feel the effects of alcohol, and they were afraid that they might not be able to control themselves and vomit all over the place, thus losing their composure.

Xie Liwei also excused himself and left the hall. A few followers followed him, but he didn't care.

As soon as he left, the Imperial Concubine received the news.

"Have someone lure him to Fengwu Palace!" The Consort's tone was full of malice. As she said this, the scene of the Emperor and the Princess Consort of Xiaoyao being caught in the act by the Prince of Xiaoyao had already appeared in her mind.

If that's the case, it would be quite a show!

"Your Majesty, if the Emperor finds out, I'm afraid..." Mo Yu said hesitantly.

"So what if he knows! He did such a disgusting thing; he deserved to be caught!"

"Then Princess Xiaoyao won't survive."

"It would be better if she didn't live! The moment I saw her face, I wanted to slash it to pieces!"

She already slashed that face ten years ago, so why does another face that looks so similar have to appear now!

Mo Yu sighed, "Yes."

After giving her instructions, she came back in and whispered, "A palace servant came to report that they saw the Third Prince and Miss Liu together."

"Insolence!" the Imperial Concubine exclaimed angrily. "I already told him that she was to be his elder brother's concubine! How dare he do this! It seems that woman surnamed Liu is no good either. I already spoke with her mother, yet she still dared to seduce the Third Prince!"

She beckoned Mo Yu over, whispered a few words in her ear, and told her to do it.

Mo Yu acknowledged and withdrew, and the Imperial Concubine rubbed her throbbing head.

Nothing went her way!

Meanwhile, Song Wenyue, who was sitting in the side hall, noticed that Liu Manli had gone out and returned with a shy expression, leading her to suspect that she had gone to meet her lover. She then recalled seeing the Third Prince talking to a woman in the Imperial Garden that afternoon; although she hadn't seen the woman's face, the color of her clothes was very similar to Liu Manli's.

So when Liu Manli was about to get up and leave again, she also made an excuse to leave.

Liu Manli was led out by a palace maid who served the Imperial Concubine. She thought that the Third Prince had gone to plead with the Imperial Concubine, so she was very uneasy and nervous.

The palace maid led her to a palace where ladies and young women rested. "Miss Liu, please wait here."

Even if Liu Manli was stupid, she would understand that the Imperial Concubine did not want to recognize her as her daughter-in-law, but rather was issuing a warning to her.

"Let me leave! I need to find the Imperial Concubine!"

The palace maid shoved her hard and slammed the door shut behind her.

"Her Majesty said that Miss Liu may not recognize her own status, and asked her to think about it carefully!"

Liu Manli pounded on the door, but no one answered.

She couldn't help but cry. All she wanted was to be with the person she loved. What had she done wrong?

After a while, there was a soft knock on the door.

Liu Manli frantically cried for help: "Is anyone outside? Please help me get out!"

Song Wenyue stood outside the door and said in a rough voice, "His Highness sent me. I can't open this door."

"Then go find the Third Prince and tell him to go find the Imperial Concubine!"

A fierce glint flashed in Song Wenyue's eyes. Liu Manli was actually having an affair with the Third Prince!

"Yes, I'll go find Your Highness right away!"

Her face contorted with rage. She would go to find His Highness, but not the Third Prince!