Thinking of this, the princess sighed sadly and said, "I thought I could go visit Jiu Niang at the end of the year, personally visit Jia Yuan Ge and Lu Hei Ya snack shop, and also enjoy a private massage at Jiu Niang's newly opened club. Now it seems that everything has gone down the drain..."

She usually couldn't fit in with these social circles of wealthy women, mainly because she disliked their insincere flattery. Now that she had finally met He Jiuniang, the two of them were so far apart, and now that things had been sabotaged, she couldn't do anything about it.

Seeing the princess's disappointed look, Prince Chen said, "Who said we can't go? We can go anywhere except for the private massage at the club."

"Um?"

The princess was momentarily stunned and stared at him blankly.

“We haven’t been back to Jingzhou for a long time. We have nothing to do at the end of the month, so it wouldn’t hurt to go and stay for a few days. After all, it’s my fiefdom, so it’s only right that I go back and visit.”

The princess's eyes flickered, and she asked with delight, "Your Highness, shall we go together?"

"Um."

Prince Chen smiled and nodded. The princess hugged his neck tightly, so excited that she almost jumped up!

Prince Chen never expected her to make such a move. After all, everyone around her taught her the Three Obediences and Four Virtues, and that she should behave with dignity. Such a gesture of wrapping her arms around a man's neck was absolutely unacceptable.

She had never acted this way before meeting He Jiuniang, but after getting to know He Jiuniang, she became much more cheerful and optimistic, and her words and actions became relatively bolder.

Prince Chen didn't mind at all; in fact, he liked her very much. He felt that this was what a person should be like, what a wife should be like, not just a princess who only knew how to prioritize the overall situation.

While the couple were enjoying their time together, Prince Lin had already arrived at the palace to meet the old emperor and presented him with the tea he had brought.

"Father, I recently obtained a fine tea that I heard is very good for sleep. I know that you are often tired and have trouble sleeping, so I brought it to you to try."

He bowed respectfully, his face showing complete honesty, as if he were simply fulfilling his filial duty.

The old emperor's lips twitched. Drinking tea to help him sleep—was this guy sure he wasn't being taken for a fool?

Before He Jiuniang told him those things, he always felt that Lao Wu must have been framed. After all, he had never seen any ambition in Lao Wu since he was a child. But after experiencing Daoping's incident, he deeply understood a principle: a dog that bites doesn't bark.

Although he didn't want to admit that the dog that bit him was his own son, that was the truth.

The old emperor felt utterly dejected, unable to understand why Prince Lin hated him so much and wanted him dead.

Even as his father, he still couldn't bring himself to kill him, even at this point.

Prince Lin was a little nervous when he saw that the old emperor hadn't spoken for a long time. Could it be that the old emperor had heard something?

That shouldn't be the case. This kind of thing is a specialty of the Eastern Court and is extremely rare. Ordinary people don't know it exists. The old emperor has been neglecting state affairs and hasn't left the palace in recent years. He shouldn't know about it, right?

Thinking this, he relaxed a little.

“Father, this is a token of my filial piety. Please accept it. I cannot always be by your side, so it is my duty to find good things for you.”

The old emperor: ……

Thank you so much, you're so incredibly filial!

"Fifth brother..."

The old emperor opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but felt unable to utter a word.

On the contrary, Prince Lin saw a glimmer of hope and became even more respectful.

"You are truly my finest son!"

After holding it in for a long time, the old emperor only said this one sentence.

Lin Wang felt somewhat puzzled. This was clearly a compliment to him, but why did it sound so strange?

"Go down."

The old emperor waved his hand wearily, not wanting to see him at all.

Prince Lin asked no questions, bowed, and withdrew.

But when he went out, he found a corner and gave another packet of tea that he had hidden in his bosom to a young eunuch.

"I often brew this for my father, this is a good thing that I specially found for him."

The young eunuch respectfully agreed and carefully put it away.

This eunuch was planted by him to guard the old emperor; with two methods working together, he wasn't afraid the old emperor wouldn't fall for it.

However, no sooner had Prince Lin left than the packet of tea was delivered to the old emperor. The old emperor placed the two packets of tea together and smiled somewhat mockingly.

How impatient is the fifth brother?

Although the old emperor didn't know what was in the tea leaves, judging from Prince Lin's impatient manner, he knew without a doubt that it was something bad.

He didn't even bother to call the imperial physician to inquire about the matter.

"Send someone to deliver it to Prince Chen's residence."

The third son has already gathered a lot of evidence. Let him run wild for a few more days. When he is truly disappointed in this son, even if he can't bring himself to do it, he won't be able to help himself.

The young eunuch acknowledged and respectfully withdrew.

Although he was very reluctant to admit that among his sons, only the third son was reliable, he was still unwilling to give up on the crown prince. So he had been personally training him for a while, but the crown prince turned out to be a hopeless case, who did nothing but cry and whine all day.

It has to be said that he was truly out of options this time.

The Crown Prince has been in power for some time now, and things have been handled in a terrible mess. It's exhausting to see, and he has to stay up late every night to help revise things. It's even more tiring than when he was the Crown Prince himself!

Unfortunately, the crown prince was an incompetent but ambitious man. Relying on his favor, he dared to tell the court officials that he had personally revised all those memorials.

The old emperor: ……

Shuanq, I've never been so speechless in my life, really.

Therefore, during this period, he had already begun to consider whether or not to change the crown prince.

However, they couldn't find a good excuse to change the crown prince, one that would save them from embarrassment and also make things easier for them.

Fortunately, He Jiuniang will be coming to give him acupuncture soon, so perhaps I can ask her opinion then?

However, he would never admit that he thought what He Jiuniang, a woman, said made a lot of sense!