Princess Zhaoping seemed to have lost her soul, like a puppet that could only shed tears.

They boarded the carriage.

Granny Chang gestured for Yimeng and Siyi to tidy up Princess Zhaoping's appearance, while she gently advised, "Princess, you've forgotten again. Don't act rashly in the heat of the moment. Once you're in the palace and meet the Empress Dowager, you can make your own plans. By acting so weak in front of everyone, you'll only become a laughingstock. What will you gain? You'll only ruin your reputation and make the Ninth Prince look down on you even more, and distance himself from you further and further away."

At this point, Granny Chang felt extremely tired.

Princess Zhaoping is like a giant baby. You might think she's grown up properly after being comforted, but the next second someone touches her and she just starts crying again.

“Okay, I won’t cry anymore, I won’t cry anymore,” Princess Zhaoping agreed, sobbing, thinking that what Granny Chang said made a lot of sense, and tried to hold back her tears.

But she didn't seem as decisive as she had been yesterday.

Granny Chang felt even more exhausted looking at this – this was the most hopeless master she had ever managed.

The two carriages were not far apart.

With their current level of five senses and six perceptions, Shang Xiye and Ji Fengyao could easily hear what Granny Chang was saying, even though she was speaking in a very low voice.

Ji Fengyao rested her left hand on the small square table, her chubby little chin in her palm, and looked at Shang Xiye with a smile like a little fox: "Your Highness, the Empress Dowager really went to great lengths to get you and your cousin together; even though she's terminally ill, she still hasn't forgotten to dig a pit for you."

"It's time for the truth about the Sun family to come to light." A barely perceptible glint of coldness flashed in Shang Xiye's eyes, but he carefully avoided looking at Ji Fengyao, not letting that coldness fall on his little bandit.

Ji Fengyao raised her eyebrows slightly and quickly realized what she meant: "Do you suspect that the Empress Dowager is the member of the royal family who has been in contact with Black Purgatory in private?"

“Even if she wasn’t the mastermind, she can’t escape responsibility,” Shang Xiye said in a deep voice. “I’ve never believed that the massacre of the Sun family and the fact that Princess Zhaoping, Sun Mengxi, escaped by chance was just a coincidence.”

Ji Fengyao was surprised: "You mean, back then, the Empress Dowager joined forces with Black Purgatory to wipe out the entire Sun family, just to keep Princess Zhaoping in her grasp so that she could control you when she grew up? Why did you spend so many years playing such a long game?"

Wasn't the Ninth Prince easy to kill when he was young?

Do we have to wait until he grows up and becomes fully independent before we have to go through the trouble of controlling him?

“It’s probably because of my mother.” Shang Xiye lowered his eyelids, concealing the deep confusion and disappointment in his eyes: “I vaguely remember that my mother seemed to have said something to her aunt back then. She said that the Empress Dowager had a shocking secret. But when my mother saw me enter the palace, she stopped talking.”

"So, the Empress Dowager went to such lengths to deal with you because of that secret?" Ji Fengyao tapped her soft, round face with her delicate, fair fingertips. "It seems that this secret is really big, completely arousing my curiosity. I really want to search that old hag's soul."

Shang Xiye remained silent for a long time, his voice low and hoarse: "If the Sun family's affairs are truly related to her, I will definitely expose what happened back then to the world and give the Sun family justice."

Ji Fengyao felt a sharp pain in her heart as she listened to the strained sound coming from his throat.

He transformed from a helpless young child into a fearsome war god; he endured countless hardships and faced numerous life-or-death trials.