After a moment of contemplation, the crown prince spoke again.
"The Cining Palace is next to the Yangxin Hall. If we act rashly, we may alert the Imperial Guards."
“That’s why I said we should act after nightfall!” Song Xibai continued, “Now that Princess Qin has moved over there, even the Imperial Guards will be discreet and won’t get too close, right?”
"Qingqing is right, I'll go and make the arrangements right away."
The crown prince embraced her, kissed the top of her head, and then quickly went out to summon his men and give them instructions in a low voice.
Seeing that everything was arranged properly, Song Xibai felt relieved and prepared to return to the East Palace.
The Crown Prince was worried.
"I'll go back with you."
Song Xibai glanced at him: "Your Highness, aren't you busy with important matters?"
Nothing much happened today.
The Crown Prince waved to Feng Jia outside, and Eunuch Feng immediately understood and beckoned the eunuchs to follow.
Upon returning to the East Palace, Song Xibai paused for a moment in the front hall. Suddenly, she noticed that Eunuch Jin Xiang, who was originally in charge of the front hall, was not there. Instead, a middle-aged man with delicate eyebrows and a fair complexion and no beard was present.
Song Xibai asked casually.
Where is Eunuch Jin?
Before the Crown Prince could speak, Eunuch Feng interjected, "Jin Xiang made a mistake and was punished with ten strokes of the military rod by His Highness. He is currently recovering from his injuries!"
Song Xibai blinked, somewhat surprised.
"What mistake did you make?"
Jin Xiang was no ordinary eunuch. He was originally a secret guard. During a mission, he injured his manhood and was sent to the Crown Prince's side by the former secret guard commander to be responsible for interrogation. He could be said to be the Crown Prince's right-hand man.
The crown prince said calmly, "He is disrespectful to you."
Song Xibai was taken aback, not expecting this to be the reason.
"Is it because of what happened last time? It's not a big mistake, is it?" At most, it was just that his tone of voice wasn't very good. Is that something to be punished for?
The prince reached out and touched her face.
"Mistakes are not about size; if you're wrong, you're wrong and you should be punished. If there's no clear system of rewards and punishments, how can you manage your subordinates? Qingqing, you're kind-hearted, so leave these kinds of things to me from now on."
Song Xibai felt a little embarrassed by his touching, thinking to herself that she wasn't that kind.
Upon returning to the East Side Hall, Song Xibai thought for a moment and then asked Wei Hong to deliver a bottle of ointment to Jin Xiang.
I could have been unaware of it before, but now that I've heard about it, I can't just pretend I didn't know.
Jin Xiang was recuperating at his residence when Wei Hong, without any hesitation, went straight in and explained her purpose.
This made Jin Xiang feel very uncomfortable.
"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. I'm nothing, just a few blows."
Wei Hong placed the medicine bottle on his bedside table.
"Has Eunuch Jin been going to the west hall quite often lately?"
Jin Xiang shifted his body, awkwardly averting his gaze: "Not many times. After all, we're old acquaintances, and I just occasionally bring her something; there's no other meaning behind it."
Wei Hong's expression was cold.
“Eunuch Jin, you must remember your place! The woman in the West Hall is nominally His Highness’s woman, but she is not the Ding Yi of the past. Even if you have other intentions, you should inform His Highness first.”
Jin Xiang seemed to have his secret exposed, and in a fit of anger and embarrassment, he slammed his fist on the bed.
"What nonsense are you spouting? How could I possibly have any other thoughts about her?! Don't slander me! I am utterly loyal to His Highness!"
"I'm just offering a word of advice: if Eunuch Jin doesn't exist, that's for the best. But if she does, I'd also like to advise you not to be fooled by her."
Jin Xiang's expression stiffened slightly.
"She's still your sister, how can you say such things about her?"
"Isn't what I said reasonable? But you, Eunuch Jin, have no relation to her, so why are you so biased towards her? And you say you have no ulterior motives?"
Wei Hong scoffed, ignoring Jin Xiang's ugly expression, and turned to leave.
Back in the east hall, Song Xibai asked about Jin Xiang's situation, and Wei Hong replied directly.
"This servant sees that he's alright, and he even has the energy to argue!"
Song Xibai was shocked by these words: "What, did you two have a fight?"
"Don't worry, my lady, he can't win an argument with me." Wei Hong snorted lightly. "I think he deserved to be beaten. He had ulterior motives, but he won't admit it."
As she spoke, Wei Hong told Song Xibai her guess.
Song Xibai's eyes widened.
I've had too much gossip to process today, let me sort it out.
"You mean, Jin Xiang likes Rou Liangyuan... Lin Qing'er? That's why he doesn't like me?"
There was so much information here that Song Xibai's mind couldn't quite process it all.
Jin Xiang is a eunuch who has a crush on the Crown Prince's nominal mistress. My goodness! What a grand palace intrigue drama!
Of course, Lin Qing'er was not the Crown Prince's woman. Although Jin Xiang was a eunuch, he was still a man at heart, and as a human being, he would fall in love.
Song Xibai accepted it quickly.
She just couldn't understand why Lin Qing'er harbored resentment towards her.
"I didn't do anything to her!"
Surely she couldn't possibly have fallen for the Crown Prince?
Song Xibai suddenly sat up straight, her eyes narrowing.
"Who knows? I don't understand what she's thinking. In the future, Master should have less contact with her."
Wei Hong pursed her lips.
At this moment, the Crown Prince walked over from the side room, and Wei Hong immediately shut her mouth and started tidying up the table.
The Crown Prince didn't hear the whispers between the two, but instead started talking to Song Xibai about the Renshou Palace.
Afterwards, Song Xibai and the Crown Prince ate and rested on time as usual.
In the latter half of the night, as Song Xibai was drifting off to sleep, she was suddenly awakened by a slight noise.
When I opened my eyes, I saw that the Crown Prince had already sat up and was getting dressed.
"Your Highness?"
The prince, with his outer robe open, turned around, rubbed her face, and whispered something.
"The guards outside have an urgent report to give. You continue sleeping, I'll be right back."
After hearing this, Song Xibai could no longer sleep and hurriedly tried to get out of bed.
"Is there news from the Third Institute of the West?"
Seeing that she didn't even bother to put on her clothes, the prince had no choice but to pull her back into bed.
Song Xibai looked at him expectantly, shook his hand, and called out in a sweet voice that even she found cloying.
"Your Highness~"
The crown prince couldn't bring himself to refuse.
He rubbed his temples and finally said only, "Get dressed and sit behind the screen."
Song Xibai chuckled, hugged him, and gave him a hard kiss on the cheek.
Then, I quickly got dressed.
The crown prince went to the outer room first.
A moment later, Song Xibai heard a slightly deep voice.
"Master, we dug up several corpses in that courtyard."
Song Xibai sighed inwardly.
really……
Then she heard the crown prince ask, "Do you know who it is?"
"Judging from his clothes, he should be a palace eunuch. His hands are rough, so he probably does manual labor. But his face is disfigured, so we can't tell what he originally looked like. It will probably take some time to find out his identity."
There are no coroners among the secret guards. At most, they can see the external injuries of the deceased, but it is very difficult to know how long they have been dead or the specific cause of death.
Song Xibai wasn't good at this either.
But she had already guessed the identities of those corpses.
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