Yin Susu was quite magnanimous. Seeing that Shen Baozhu felt very sympathetic towards the Fourth Prince, she told Shen Baozhu her secret passage, "… Take another turn, and you'll see a small hole. Crawl in through the small hole, and you'll reach the room where the Fourth Prince is staying. Just find an opportunity to throw some food in."
"I went into the palace to throw in some food a few times before. But later, my cousin beat me, so I dared not enter the palace anymore. I don't even know how the Fourth Prince is doing now."
Shen Baozhu suddenly had an idea. "Then let's go into the palace now to see the Fourth Prince?"
"No way. Every time I enter the palace, I'll think of my cousin beating me. I don't want to go." Yin Susu immediately refused. She didn't want to enter the palace at all. Even if her cousin's words were lies, she was still afraid of being beaten by her cousin.
A packet of pastries was mostly eaten by the two girls and the bird. Yin Susu couldn't eat anymore. She pulled Shen Baozhu up, and then patted the dust off their bodies. Shen Baozhu hid the remaining pastries behind the yard.
Seeing that it was getting late, Yin's father took the initiative to end the topic. "Since that's the case, it's settled then. I'll go back and discuss it. If there are any changes, I'll write to inform the princess."
Princess Jingning stood up to see him off.
But while Yin's father wanted to leave, Yin Susu was reluctant. She pouted and said sullenly, "I still want to play with Baozhu…"
Yin's father was eager to go home and was too lazy to coax his daughter. He directly picked Yin Susu up by the waist and strode out.
Princess Jingning took Shen Baozhu's hand and said gently, "Does your head still hurt?"
Shen Baozhu shook her head. "No. The immortal gave me pills. It doesn't hurt at all. Sister Ruxia told me to protect my head and avoid the wind as much as possible."
"That's good. Sister Ruxia is right. Baozhu should be a good girl and don't go out these days." Princess Jingning helped Shen Baozhu adjust the white cloth and gave her a few more instructions.
The Yin family wanted to depose the crown prince because of this incident. At first, Princess Jingning didn't want to get involved. Both the crown prince and Baozhu were still young, and it was normal for kids to fight. If such a small thing could lead to the deposition of the crown prince, then there would be no one qualified to be the crown prince in the world.
Even though Princess Jingning was a bit dissatisfied with the crown prince because of Shen Baozhu's injury, she never thought about deposing the crown prince.
But Yin's father said that the crown prince was vindictive. He might forget about beating Shen Baozhu tomorrow, but since Shen Baozhu had fought back and knocked him out, with the crown prince's personality, he would always remember it and take revenge on Shen Baozhu.
Yin's father was the crown prince's uncle, so Princess Jingning had to consider his words.
The two of them agreed that Princess Jingning wouldn't take the initiative to participate in this matter, but if someone brought up the matter of deposing the crown prince, Princess Jingning should persuade the military officials of the Mu family faction in the capital to stay neutral.
The matter of deposing the crown prince was too big, so Princess Jingning told Shen Baozhu to stay at home pretending to be ill these days to avoid this storm.
Princess Jingning suddenly remembered that she had bought some pastries. She told Hongshen to fetch them. "Baozhu, mother bought your favorite pastries for you, but you can only eat three pieces because you still need to save your appetite for dinner."
Forgetting that she still had to have dinner, Shen Baozhu, who had eaten quite a few pastries, lifted up the little phoenix guiltily. "Mother, look. This is Baozhu's new gift. Isn't it cute?"
The little phoenix raised its head proudly, looking extremely majestic.
Princess Jingning praised with a smile. "What a majestic little bird."
…
Early in the morning, in the Fengyi Palace.
The queen looked at the emperor opposite her, looking surprised. "Your Majesty, it's getting late…"
"I've had too many troubles these days. There will be no morning court today." The emperor began to have his breakfast as usual.
He ate with relish, but the queen couldn't sit still.
The queen glanced at Zhuyue, and the palace servants waiting in the hall withdrew. The grand eunuch also left with Zhuyue.
In the spacious bedroom, only the emperor and the queen were left.
The queen wiped the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief. "Your Majesty, it's my fault that I didn't discipline the crown prince well, which made him cause such a big disaster. Now that he has fallen out with Baozhu, he may not be qualified for the position of the crown prince…"
The emperor didn't expect the queen to share his thoughts. He smiled and said, "Don't worry. In at most three days, the crown prince will be deposed."
Under the queen's surprised gaze, the emperor sighed and explained to her. "I didn't explain it clearly to you before. The immortal has always been with Baozhu. Princess Jingning often takes Baozhu into the palace. You also know Baozhu's personality. On the contrary, Xuyang has been spoiled by Concubine Li… Alas, Xuyang must be to blame for this matter."
"If the immortal blames us because of this, it will truly be a misfortune for the Great Yong Dynasty!"
The queen gasped. She thought of the treasure - hunting rat that suddenly appeared in the Fengyi Palace yesterday and immediately understood the reason for its sudden appearance.
Thinking of this, the queen was shocked and hurriedly urged, "Then what are you waiting for, Your Majesty? Depose the crown prince quickly!"
The emperor wasn't in a hurry at all. He even had the time to pick up a shrimp cake for the queen. "The crown prince must be deposed, but we can't take the initiative. Otherwise, Xuyang will hate us."
"Although this matter was triggered by Baozhu, judging from Princess Jingning's personality, she probably won't bring it up on her own initiative. At most, she will ask the military officials not to get involved."
"Fortunately, Xuyang has offended quite a few people before. The Empress Dowager and Shen Qingshan should both take action, and they will act quickly, leaving no chance for the Yin family to react."
The queen followed the emperor's words. "So, Your Majesty cancelled the morning court today to help them unite and submit a memorial to depose the crown prince?"
"You're right. I'll also give them an illusion that I'm protecting the crown prince and trying to completely suppress the crown prince's scandal. In this way, they will be more nervous, and someone will kneel in front of the Qianqing Palace this afternoon." The emperor didn't tell the queen that if Shen Qingshan and the Empress Dowager didn't send anyone, he would find a civil official to kneel there and advance Shen Qingshan and the Empress Dowager's plan.
The queen had grasped the emperor's train of thought. She continued, "Don't agree at first and let them kneel for a day?"
The emperor nodded and then shook his head, holding up three fingers.
One day was too short. After these people had knelt for three days and even the court historians would record this matter, even if the emperor doted on the Third Prince, he would have to agree to depose the crown prince.
The Third Prince, upon learning of this, couldn't blame the emperor either. After all, the emperor had even postponed the morning court for this matter and endured it for three days. Wasn't this a "good father"?
The "good father" didn't forget to remind the queen. "You, how could you spoil Xuyang so much? Among the kids who can enter the palace, which one has a low - status family? How could you let Xuyang bully them like this? And you even suppressed those memorials of dissatisfaction."
Just thinking of the Third Prince pointing at Shen Baozhu and calling her a commoner made the emperor headache. Although Shen Qingshan and Shen Yunfeng had no official positions, it didn't mean that the Shen family could be bullied. Shen Qingshan's students were all over the court, and two of his three sons were court officials.
Shen Yunfeng had no official position because he had married the daughter of General Mu. If he hadn't been self - destructive, he would still be the princess's husband.
No matter how you looked at it, the Shen family was not an ordinary commoner family, let alone the commoners in the Third Prince's mouth.
The emperor made up his mind that after this matter was resolved, he would discipline the Third Prince properly…
"Your Majesty, it's not that I spoiled Xuyang. I only found out about his bullying others yesterday. As for suppressing the memorials, I have no idea." The queen was also a bit confused. She thought it was the emperor who had suppressed them.