"Tingzhou, Princess Heyi has gone missing."
The Empress's eyes were fixed on Xie Tingzhou's face.
Xie Tingzhou feigned surprise, "How could you have disappeared?"
"The palace maid was drugged and woke up this morning to find that she was missing. I searched for her for two days without success. I summoned you today so that you could find her secretly as soon as possible."
Although the old princess's prestige is not what it used to be, the truth about her marriage alliance back then involved Emperor Renzhao, which was not made public. Even though she has made many mistakes recently, her past achievements still remain.
If anyone brings up Emperor Renzhao's last words again, it could be detrimental to the royal family.
As the empress who took care of the old princess, she also had an inescapable responsibility.
The Empress sighed. "Tingzhou, based on your understanding of the Crown Prince, do you think it's possible that he was behind this?"
Why does Your Majesty suspect the Crown Prince?
Xie Tingzhou countered, "Is it possible that he is a subordinate of the Grand Princess?"
He hadn't forgotten that the old princess had taken the blame for Kang Le. The old princess wasn't a kind person; the fact that she would willingly take the blame for Kang Le shows that the two had a deal in private.
Considering Kang Le's ambitions, Xie Tingzhou could easily guess that the old princess wanted to support Kang Le.
If that's the case, how could she possibly hand over all her power?
The Emperor and Empress must have thought of these things, which is why they spared the lives of the two princesses as bait, but the Empress still became suspicious of the Crown Prince.
Although her suspicions were correct.
The content of Ye Zhen's third dream made Xie Tingzhou determined to find out the Empress's attitude towards the Crown Prince.
That's why I asked the question.
The Empress summoned Xie Tingzhou today, partly to test him, "The night the Grand Princess disappeared, the Crown Prince beat up Prince Ning and Prince Yun."
"The old princess's disappearance will cause trouble for both me and His Majesty; that child holds a grudge against us."
These words sent a sharp, piercing pain through Xie Tingzhou's heart.
Does he hate the Empress?
Hate.
But he has never harmed the Empress and the others all these years, not because he lacks the ability.
It was because he did not want to see the royal family suffer further turmoil and cause unrest throughout the country; it was also because of his deep-seated compassion for the people who had given him life and raised him.
But the empress believed it was his revenge.
Xie Tingzhou composed himself and asked, "Does Your Highness mean that the old princess's disappearance is His Highness's revenge against Your Highness? Does Your Highness hate the Crown Prince?"
The Empress already had suspicions about him, so he might as well ask her directly. After all, if he didn't admit it, the Empress wouldn't dare to strip him of his face to verify it.
The Empress quickly replied, "He is my son, how could I hold a grudge against him?"
"But when His Highness fled to the border, he told me personally that the arrow that shot into his heart was given to him by His Highness himself."
Xie Tingzhou raised his eyes and stared at the Empress, saying slowly and deliberately, "Your Highness was chased all the way and was on the verge of death, with not a single patch of skin on your body intact."
He said that filial piety had killed him and that he would not let him go. He did not want to implicate the Marquis's family, so he left.
Your Majesty, hundreds of lives in the Eastern Palace were lost protecting His Highness. Your Majesty's use of the deadly poison at midnight has plunged His Highness's heart into hell.
If Your Highness truly desired revenge, you would not have waited until today, nor would you have acted so rashly.
What do you mean by that?
The Empress's face turned deathly pale.
When did she put the Crown Prince to death? Was that arrow actually aimed at his heart?
However, the head of the guards clearly reported that the Crown Prince had only injured his wrist and was otherwise unharmed, but had fled the capital because he hated her and His Majesty.
Xie Tingzhou didn't reply to her, but said to himself, "I heard from my father that His Majesty and the Empress have asked him to find His Highness within six months."
"Your Majesty, I humbly beg you to spare him, considering His Highness's many years of filial piety."
The Empress couldn't hear what he said after that, so she asked again, "You said the Crown Prince told you himself that I wanted to kill him?"
Xie Tingzhou observed her every expression. "Isn't she Your Majesty?"
"Why would I send someone to kill him?"
The Empress, no longer dignified, walked unsteadily to Xie Tingzhou. "He is the child I carried for ten months and painstakingly protected. He is my eldest son on whom I have placed great hopes. How could he think that I want to harm him?"
Xie Tingzhou remained silent.
As if remembering something, the Empress quickly turned and went to the inner chamber. A short while later, she came out carrying a box in her own hands.
"I received two smallpox pills back then. I gave one to my biological father because he attempted to kill the crown prince with smallpox."
I am not only a daughter, but also a mother. No one is allowed to take my son's life, including my father.
"For my son, I would even eliminate my own father; how could I possibly poison my own son?"
She no longer cared about maintaining her dignity as an empress; all she wanted was to prove to Xie Tingzhou that she had no intention of harming the crown prince.
"The last grain of midnight has been locked in the cabinet by me, and it has never left Fengyi Palace all these years."
When I shot him, I was trying to stop him from making a mistake. I aimed for his hand, not his heart. There must be some misunderstanding here.
She tried her best to explain.
If the person in front of her was indeed the Crown Prince, she hoped that the mother and son could clear things up and resolve the misunderstanding.
If the person before her wasn't him, she hoped he could relay the message to the Crown Prince so that he could return home sooner.
Xie Tingzhou looked at the pills in the box; it was indeed the third watch of the night.
But the guard leader also had the "Midnight" weapon back then, which he destroyed.
Therefore, the pill in the empress's hand was not the one that the head guard forced him to take.
The Empress herself told him that there were only two midnights in the world.
The reason she stayed was because the celestial master who assisted the late emperor in refining this elixir had said that if one were poisoned, one could use the third watch of the night to fight poison with poison, and perhaps save one's life.
The empress then kept the medicine.
It seems that there are more than just two midnights in this world.
Either the Empress lied to him, or the Empress herself had incorrect information, or someone else obtained the information about midnight from the late Emperor.
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