Just after noon the next day, Tian Yu lied and said that she was not feeling well and wanted to take a nap. She asked people not to disturb her, locked the door, put away the quilt, changed into a eunuch's clothes, and quietly slipped out through the back window.

As expected, there was no one on duty near the records room. Tian Yu sneaked in and started reading, quickly, because time was short and there were so many books. Fortunately, she had been studying the characters beforehand, so she recognized most of them. After reading several books, she didn't find anything. They were just records of major and minor events that happened in the palace. Tian Yu put one down and picked up another. She flipped through a few pages. It recorded information about the Empress. The current Empress was Empress Wei. It said that Empress Wei had ascended to the throne fifteen years ago. Tian Yu calculated that there should have been another Empress before her, but she had never heard anyone mention another Empress. Or perhaps the Emperor had never appointed an Empress? Why? Tian Yu flipped through the pages again and found that the Crown Prince's birth mother and Empress Wei were sisters. Originally, the Crown Prince's mother, Wei Chan, should have become Empress, but Wei Chan fell ill after giving birth to the Crown Prince and eventually died. The Emperor was saddened by Wei Chan's death for a long time, but in the end, he still appointed Wei Chan's younger sister, Wei Mengluo, as Empress, which was considered an explanation to the former noble Wei family. Seeing that it was almost time, Tian Yu put down her books and quickly left the room of notes.

Just as Tian Yu returned to her room through the window and finished tidying up, Li Weiwei arrived. Because she had been confined to her quarters, she hadn't seen Li Weiwei for a long time. Li Weiwei seemed to be in much better spirits and was much more clear-headed. Upon seeing Tian Yu, she knelt down with a thud and said, "Your Highness, I was wrong that day. Please forgive my sister."

Tian Yu didn't want anything to happen between them again, so she smiled and helped her up, saying, "You don't need to take it to heart. I've already forgotten about it. It was my fault. I shouldn't have operated on you without your consent."

"If it weren't for you and Physician Li that day, I would probably be dead by now."

"It's good that you can think positively. As for the scars on your body, I've already asked someone to develop a scar-removing ointment."

"Really, can it be removed!?"

"Complete elimination is impossible, but some degree of dilution is possible."

Li Weiwei was clearly a little disappointed, but she still smiled and said, "Thank you, sister. I'm sorry to have troubled you."

Tian Yu was very puzzled by Li Weiwei's behavior today. She wondered what had gotten into her. She thought to herself, "Since you want to pretend, I'll play along and see what tricks you can pull." Tian Yu smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'm glad you're alright. You look good today, so I guess you're in a better mood."

"Yes, I've come to terms with it recently, but I'm afraid the Crown Prince will never touch me again."

"It's good that you can think positively. As for the Crown Prince, there's plenty of time ahead, so don't worry, there will be plenty of opportunities."

“What my sister said is true, but luckily I still have a child, so I can still visit him from time to time.”

"That's good. As long as you can come to terms with it, the child will naturally come back to you."

"By the way, the Empress has been seriously ill lately, and the Crown Prince has been taking care of her day and night. I wonder how he is doing."

"I've been to the hospital several times, but there's been no improvement. Even the Imperial Hospital can't help me."

"This empress has a hard life. She gave birth to the second prince in her early years, but the child died not long after. Later, she gave birth to the eldest princess, but then the princess married into the Che Kingdom. Now, the third princess and the seventh prince are still young. How can she be at ease?"

"Yes! It's good that the Crown Prince is by my side, that's some comfort."

“Crown Prince? Hmph!” Li Weiwei sneered twice.

"What's wrong? What do you mean by this?" Tian Yu asked, feigning curiosity.

"Do you know that this crown prince is not the empress's son?"

"I've heard some things; the Crown Prince's birth mother is the Empress's sister."

"Indeed, the Crown Prince's birth mother left shortly after giving birth to him, leaving the Crown Prince still an infant. It was the Empress who volunteered to enter the palace to raise the Crown Prince in place of her sister, which led to all of this."

"Yes, that's good. The Crown Prince now has family to take care of him."

"But later, the Empress had a second son and could no longer focus on taking care of the Crown Prince, so she sent the Crown Prince to the Empress Dowager."

"I see. What happened next? How did the Second Prince die?"

"This is a taboo in the palace, and few people know it. In fact, the Second Prince was killed by the Crown Prince. It happened to coincide with the war between the Che Kingdom and the Wu Kingdom. At that time, the situation in the Wu Kingdom was unstable, and it suffered repeated defeats. In the end, in order to protect the Wu Kingdom, the Emperor sent the five-year-old Crown Prince to the Che Kingdom as a hostage. It wasn't until the Crown Prince was fifteen years old that the Wu Kingdom became strong, and the Crown Prince was sent to marry the eldest princess, and only then could he return to the country."

"Is that so? I really didn't know." Tian Yu was surprised. She had seen some things in the notes room today, but there were still some things she didn't know. She was quite surprised to hear Li Weiwei say this.

"It's normal that you don't know. The palace never allows discussion of this matter, and outsiders only think that the Crown Prince went to learn from a master."

"So the Crown Prince's obsession with cleanliness, I mean his extreme cleanliness, has been present since childhood?"

"You noticed too!?"

Tian Yu nodded, and Li Weiwei said mockingly, "The Crown Prince has always tried not to let anyone know, but as long as you get close to him, no one can tell. Others are also clean, but he is different. Look at this entire Eastern Palace, it is spotless. The Crown Prince's room is cleaned several times a day. Even the concubines who are to serve him in bed have to be specially washed and groomed before he is satisfied. Things that have been used on a daily basis will never be used a second time."

Has he always been like this?

"No, I just heard that the Crown Prince wasn't like this before; he only became like this after he came back."

"Is that so? Did he suffer some unfair treatment in Che Country?"

"I don't know about that. He never talks about it with anyone, nor does he allow anyone to mention it. Sister, you must be careful."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!