No one knows what the Crown Prince said at the Duke of Chengen's residence. When he came out of the residence, his face had returned to normal.
Outsiders might not be able to tell, but Shi Xiu knew that the Crown Prince was different from before.
The Crown Prince wasn't exactly approachable before, but now, his flat tone carries a sinister undertone, devoid of any warmth.
Upon returning to the Crown Prince's residence, the Crown Prince went to the Crown Princess's courtyard and dismissed everyone else.
Crown Princess Shi Yingying knelt down and cried, "Your Highness, I am guilty. I failed to take good care of Rang'er and Fen'er. Please punish me."
The Crown Prince looked at Shi Yingying kneeling on the ground without saying a word.
She was the eldest daughter of Shi Lang, the Director of the Imperial Household Department.
Shi Lang was the top scholar in the imperial examination during the reign of the late emperor. He came from a poor family and now holds the rank of third grade official.
The Empress's choice of a woman from the Shi family as the Crown Prince's consort was a gesture to Emperor Hui, demonstrating that the Crown Prince was not trying to win over powerful clans and was responding to His Majesty's call to promote people from humble backgrounds.
Shi Yingying came from a humble background and was not particularly beautiful. If it weren't for Emperor Hui's reassurance and the need for the court officials to keep their actions to themselves, neither the Crown Prince, nor the Duke of Cheng'en, nor the Empress Dowager, nor the Empress would have taken a liking to her.
Shi Yingying was quite successful, giving birth to the emperor's eldest grandson in her first pregnancy.
She could have continued living like this, but she was so stupid that she couldn't even take care of her child and raise him to adulthood!
Both sons died; even the mistress of an ordinary household wouldn't be this stupid.
"Shi Yingying, I don't want to say anything more to you. You know what it means that both of my sons are gone. From now on, every time I see your face, I will think of Rang'er and Fen'er."
Shi Yingying looked up at the Crown Prince with tearful eyes. He was high above her, his face full of gloom. He had never been very kind to her before, but he had always been polite on the surface and had given her face in public.
But now, he didn't even want to pretend anymore. She knew what he meant: he wanted her to die!
She lost two of his sons; she truly deserves to die.
“Even if I don’t die now, I will die after Your Highness ascends the throne.” Shi Yingying smiled faintly. “Father is right. I am just a transitional one. The Empress’s position will always belong to Lady Wei.”
The crown prince didn't want to hear anything she had to say, so he got up and left.
Shi Yingying called her maid in, stroked her hair and said, "You are someone I brought from my maiden home. We grew up together and you have served me for many years. If I have wronged you in any way, please forgive me!"
The maid knew something was wrong; the Crown Princess was probably going to commit suicide. She even changed her self-reference to "I".
The maid knelt down with a thud, crying, "Your Highness, please don't lose heart. You can have another child. Master is still waiting for you to come home... You have done nothing to wrong me; it's all my fault..."
Shi Yingying said calmly, "From the moment the Crown Prince asked His Majesty for a marriage decree, I knew that if I gave birth to a daughter, I might survive, but if I gave birth to the eldest grandson of the Emperor, I would surely die."
Wei Chuchu is the legitimate daughter of the Duke of Chengen's family. She is the candidate for empress whom the Duke of Chengen's family has been cultivating with all their might. The Wei family has been the empress for two generations and also holds a large army. Her background is exceptionally powerful.
Shi Yingying was just a runner-up.
Shi Yingying and her maid didn't say much, because saying too much would implicate the maid.
"Bring me a pen and ink."
He wrote a final letter, which was nothing more than that he had failed to take good care of the imperial grandson and had no face to live on in this world.
He finished writing the letter, placed it on the table, and went with his maid to the former imperial grandson's bedroom.
After Zhou Wenrang passed away, the people in the mansion, seeing her grief, locked the door to the eldest grandson's bedroom. Now, Shi Yingying opened the door again and saw everything in the courtyard and bedroom. It was as if she could see her son studying hard at the table again. She knelt down and cried her heart out, feeling like she was dying.
The maid also cried, sobbing as she advised, "Your Highness, it is not proper for you to cry like this."
Shi Yingying laughed loudly: "Rules? I've spent half my life bound by rules, and so has my son. My son and I have always tried to please others and lived cautiously, so what?"
Shi Yingying wept bitterly, then had no more worries.
At dawn, the Crown Prince went to the Crown Princess's courtyard. At dusk, news came from the Crown Prince's residence that the Crown Princess, unable to bear the pain of losing her son, had committed suicide by poisoning herself. She died despite all efforts to save her.
The crown prince, devastated by the loss of both his son and wife, also fell ill.
Originally, the court officials launched a barrage of accusations against the Crown Prince: his ineffective disaster relief efforts in Zhongzhou led to a riot among the people; upon being summoned back to the capital, he killed more than ten ordinary citizens as soon as he entered the city; and his extravagant and licentious lifestyle in Zhongzhou resulted in prostitutes reporting him to the capital, only to be murdered by the Crown Prince to silence them…
The crown prince has lost both his son and wife!
The impeachment petitions and condemnations were all suppressed.
Even more heartbreaking news followed: the maid discovered that the Crown Princess had taken poison and hurriedly reported it to the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince delayed for a long time before notifying the imperial physicians in the mansion to treat her and sent someone to the palace to seek help from the imperial physicians.
However, when the imperial physicians arrived at the Crown Prince's residence, they discovered that the Crown Princess had already suffered damage to her internal organs and was beyond saving.
The person was beyond saving, but there was a heartbreaking truth: the imperial physicians discovered that the Crown Princess was pregnant again!
Although it's early in the pregnancy, I am indeed pregnant.
The Crown Prince's eyes widened. He remembered that a month ago, the Crown Princess had personally gone to Zhongzhou and given him all the grain stored in her brothers' rice shops to support his disaster relief efforts.
They spent two nights together that time.
Judging from the timeline, the child is indeed the crown prince.
The imperial physicians in the palace wouldn't make a mistake; although the pregnancy was still in its early stages, she was definitely pregnant.
The prince froze for a moment, then roared, "Save her! Save her!"
However, he had prepared for the Crown Princess's death beforehand and did not send the imperial physician to treat her in time. The Crown Princess was also eager to die quickly and took a large amount of poison.
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