"Nan Yi, I'm sorry, my mother was wrong." Eighth Prince felt a tightness in his chest as he thought of the ten years she spent in the Forbidden Garden. It was all his fault. His mother was too protective of her son and hurt her. Afterwards, he thought she would recover in a month or so, but who would have thought that she would anger the Emperor.

Ten years, the best years of a woman's life, were wasted in that kind of place.

"I'm sorry," he apologized again, earnestly.

Nan Yi pursed her lips. There was no point in investigating what Consort Liang had done to her; the person was dead, but the doubts in her heart remained unresolved.

“It’s all in the past. The most important thing now is for the living.” Nan Yi said with a faint smile, then asked, “Actually, I’ve never understood why your mother did this. We seem to have no grudges against each other.”

"Perhaps she thinks I have feelings for you, so she's using you to warn me."

Eighth Master's voice seemed to come from beyond the heavens, low and deep, ending with a barely audible sigh.

Nan Yi was stunned for a long time, her mind reeling. The Eighth Prince was fond of her... This... Based on this alone, why did Consort Liang attack her? Could it be that she thought she had seduced the Eighth Prince and therefore used such a vicious drug?

How ridiculous! Why not say she seduced Ah Tang? To be honest, she was closer to Ninth Prince than Eighth Prince.

"However, where did Consort Liang get such absurd news? She is in the deep palace, there's no reason for such words to reach her ears."

She often sneaked out of the mansion to play with Ah Tang. Eighth Prince also came to see her, but much less often. Unlike Ah Tang, Eighth Prince didn't like to fool around with her.

Moreover, she always kept her whereabouts secret. The palace's informants were so capable that if even Consort Liang in the deep palace knew, then what about the former owner of this palace?

Was Kangxi's ten-year confinement intentional?

The more Nan thought about it, the more inexplicably she felt that this was most likely the case. In that case, the fact that she was able to survive until today was due to Kangxi's mercy.

One prince's concubine was seducing another prince. She unconsciously raised her hand and touched her neck. It was a miracle that her head was still firmly resting on her neck today.

At four in the morning, she returned to her palace, threw the dirty clothes under the bed, released the acupoints on Yiren's body, and pretended to be asleep.

She thought her actions that night were completely undetected, but little did she know that the scene in front of the Imperial Ancestral Temple had already been observed by those secretly watching and reported to Su Peisheng.

She was half asleep, half-awake, when she was suddenly shaken awake and pulled to the ground.

"Tong Yilan, are you trying to drive me crazy? Tell me, are you trying to drive me crazy?"

Nan opened her eyes, shook off his hand, climbed back into bed, and muttered, "What's all the noise so early in the morning? Can't a person get some sleep?"

Yinzhen was furious. He locked her up, but she still climbed over the wall in the middle of the night to go out and keep the Eighth Brother company. What did she think she was? She knew he hated them, but she still went against him behind his back. Not only did she leave the palace, but she also sneaked out at night.

This woman infuriated him.

"Get up and explain yourself." Yinzhen pulled at her again, lifting her blanket and grabbing her arm to pull her away.

The woman kneeling inside couldn't bear it and pleaded, "Your Majesty, please have mercy. My mistress knows she was wrong. Could you wait until she's had enough sleep before I inform her to apologize to Your Majesty?"

Pfft, Su Peisheng, who was standing to the side, almost burst out laughing. He pursed his lips tightly to suppress his laughter.

Su Peisheng glared at Yiren inwardly. "You brat, you don't even know when to be funny. You don't even admit your mistakes sincerely. Who makes a mistake and then makes her sleep through it before she can admit her guilt? Don't you even know that the other party is wrong? He is the Emperor, and he is the Emperor in a fit of rage."

Oh dear, of all the mistresses in the harem, only Mistress Tong is the most unruly.

"Get out!" Yinzhen threw a pillow at him and immediately ordered Su Peisheng, "Drag her out of here, don't let her get in my way."

"Your Majesty, the mistress is frail, please do not harm her..."

Seeing her continue to chatter in his ear, Yinzhen glared at her fiercely and said, "Get out! You can't even keep an eye on your master, you useless servant. Go outside and kneel down."

"emperor……"

"Girl, that's enough." Su Peisheng scolded in a low voice, grabbed her arm and walked out of the palace. After a few steps to the door, he said irritably, "Don't put on that face for me. Who is Consort Tong? Would the Emperor bear to hurt her? All these years of arguing have never amounted to much noise and little action. At most, you've just suffered some earache."

He leaned against a pillar, clutching his whisk, and sighed softly, "Judging by this, it'll be a while before things get noisy. I'm still hungry. Is there anything to eat?"

Yiren patted the dust off her knees, her previous sorrowful expression vanishing. She looked back at Dianxiang and pouted, "Your Majesty hasn't had breakfast yet. The Emperor is really something, not even choosing to come in the afternoon."

Su Peisheng rolled his eyes upon hearing this. "Who has eaten yet? As soon as the court session ended, the Emperor rushed to Chengqian Palace. How about this, lunch will be served here, and the two masters can eat together. What do you think?"

“No way.” Yiren shook her head decisively. “The Emperor definitely won’t use it in Chengqian Palace. With the Master’s temper, he’ll definitely anger the Emperor and leave. Let’s save the food.”

The first-class maids serving outside the palace were used to this. Lan Zhi and Lan Ye went about their business as usual. Su Peisheng was in a good mood bickering with Yiren. Only a few newly arrived palace maids were terrified and huddled to the side, not daring to utter a sound.

Inside the hall, Nan Yi finally woke up. She sat slumped on the footstool, hugging a soft pillow, yawning as she looked at the Fourth Master, "What are you doing, disturbing my peaceful sleep?"

"I'm going to make a scene, Tong Yilan, don't you have a heart? Should I give you a wake-up call?" Yinzhen angrily pointed at Nan Yi with dark eyes. "Why did you go to see him last night? Did you ignore what I said? You're not allowed to see them again, you're not allowed to see them! Did you even listen to me?"

“I didn’t agree,” Nan Yi said calmly. She glanced at him, who was furious, and continued, “Put me in solitary confinement, and take the opportunity to transfer Ninth Master away from the capital and punish Eighth Master. Do you think I wouldn’t know just because they didn’t say anything?”

She snorted coldly, thought for a moment, and continued, "You are already the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, why bother arguing with them? People often say that a prime minister's belly can hold a lot, so the emperor's belly should be big enough to run a dragon boat, right? Please stop making things difficult for them."

"I'm in a difficult position, huh~" Yinzhen's hands trembled with anger. He took two deep breaths and tried his best to suppress his anger as he asked, "You blame me for being petty and for standing up for them, right? Tong Yilan, who are they to you that you need to speak up for them?"

Nan Yi uttered two words calmly, "Friend, can you let them off the hook?"

"Are you pleading for them?" Yinzhen asked coldly.

"Yes, for the sake of them being my friends and brothers, don't make things difficult for them."

"Don't even think about it." Yinzhen roared, gritting his teeth, "I haven't forgotten a single thing they did back then, and they will never be spared by me."

“You’re being unreasonable. What did they do back then? You didn’t do anything either. It’s the same thing, so neither of you should criticize the other or blame the other.”

Yinzhen's expression changed, his eyes turned bloodshot with rage, and his look became fierce. "You bastard, what have I done that you dare to slander me? Believe me or not, I'll chop off your head."

Nan Yi's heart pounded wildly. She had to admit that the Fourth Master was extremely terrifying at this moment, with an intimidating aura. She was afraid that if she dared to say another insolent word, he would really drag her out and chop her up.