The Empress Dowager was simple-minded, so the Grand Empress Dowager placed many people around her to protect her.

If the Empress Dowager merely listened to Empress Niohuru and personally came to bring the Crown Prince to Ciren Palace, the Grand Empress Dowager would actually have been pleased that this grandniece of hers had finally taken some initiative.

But for the Empress Dowager to go off to pray on her own, leaving the Crown Prince alone in a room with Empress Niohuru, that wasn't right.

The moment the Empress Dowager left, someone reported it to the Grand Empress Dowager.

After a brief moment of thought, she understood all the twists and turns behind it and forced herself out of bed despite her illness.

A petty scheme like this from Empress Niohuru was transparent at a glance.

By the time Empress Niohuru dismissed the attendants around Yinreng, the Grand Empress Dowager was already standing outside the window. Suppressing her cough, she waited to see what the woman intended to do.

She hadn't expected that before Empress Niohuru could reveal her purpose, Yinreng would already leave her speechless.

The Grand Empress Dowager didn't know whether to be annoyed or amused. Baocheng usually looked like a silly child, but in truth, he understood everything. He simply couldn't be bothered to think, and he relied on others to protect him.

It's all Xuanye's fault for spoiling him too much, she grumbled inwardly at Kangxi, before leading her entourage into the room, ending this farce.

Caught off guard, Empress Niohuru had her pulse taken by the elderly physician. If she claimed stomach pain now, it would no longer be Yinreng's fault, but the Grand Empress Dowager's, for "frightening" her.

How could she dare blame the Grand Empress Dowager? Even if she truly felt pain now, she would have to endure it.

The Grand Empress Dowager dismissed all the servants. Apart from her own attendants, only Gu Wenxing remained.

Gu Wenxing was Kangxi's trusted aide. Everything that happened here would be reported to the emperor in full.

"Speak. Why did you seek out Baocheng?" the Grand Empress Dowager demanded sternly.

Yinreng looked worried. "Great-grandma, you should rest. I'm fine. From now on, I'll stay in the Cining Palace and won't go out. I won't cause trouble again."

"You didn't cause any trouble. it was trouble that came looking for you," she said, taking the cup he handed her and moistening her throat to suppress a cough. "If you can't give me a proper explanation, then you shouldn't remain as the empress. Even if the emperor needs the Niohuru clan, you are not the only suitable woman they have."

Color drained from Empress Niohuru's face, and her body began swaying.

"Great-grandma…" Yinreng said softly, a little reluctant.

"You are the Crown Prince. One day you will inherit the empire, so you cannot afford to be soft-hearted," she replied.

A light seemed to go off in Yinreng's head.

So if I stay soft-hearted… does that mean I won't have to inherit the throne?

Unaware that his thoughts had gone wildly off track, the Grand Empress Dowager saw him fall silent and assumed he had taken her words to heart. She nodded in satisfaction.

"Speak," she pressed Empress Niohuru again.

"I only… I only wanted the Crown Prince to share some of his good fortune with the child in my womb," Empress Niohuru said, shrinking back, stammering. "I didn't mean to do anything else."

The Grand Empress Dowager's expression darkened. "Who told you that the Crown Prince can share good fortune?"

Empress Niohuru remained silent.

"Do you want me to interrogate everyone in your palace one by one?"

Tears welled in her eyes as she dropped to her knees. "Grand Empress Dowager, why force me like this? Isn't the child in my womb also the emperor's legitimate heir, your great-grandchild?"

"Help her up. She may not care for the child she carries, but I do," the Grand Empress Dowager said coldly. "You reached for the Crown Prince, and you say I'm forcing you? It's you who's trying to use that child to force both the Crown Prince and me!"

Leaning against her, Yinreng spoke with quiet helplessness. "Empress Mother, you've got it wrong. There's no such thing as sharing good fortune."

Empress Niohuru's composure cracked. "Wasn't it you who saved Concubine Rong and her child? Everyone in the palace knows! Why won't you save mine? Because mine is a legitimate son? Because he would threaten your position?"

"Silence!" the Grand Empress Dowager snapped, coughing violently.

Seeing her anger, Empress Niohuru finally calmed down, clutching her belly as fear set in.

In the end, she was only nineteen, a young woman raised in comfort and indulgence.

She entered the palace at eighteen as a consort and was crowned empress at nineteen. She knew all along that she was destined for the position, that she would soon take the Kunning Palace as her own. Whether before or after entering the palace, she had never truly suffered or faced hardship. Under pressure, she lost control and spoke recklessly.

"Great-grandma, let me explain things to Empress Mother clearly," Yinreng said, focusing his adult intelligence coming back online. "If I don't, she'll continue to resent me."

He looked at Empress Niohuru.

His gaze was too calm, too mature, as if it could see straight through her, making her shrink again.

"Someone in the palace once used witchcraft to curse Khan-Father's heirs."

This was a story Kangxi and Yinreng had constructed together, with the Grand Empress Dowager's involvement. Kangxi knew that what had happened at Zhongcui Palace that day couldn't be silenced, given how many had witnessed it. The truth about the dragon veins couldn't be revealed to others, so witchcraft was turned into a convenient cover.

"I am the Crown Prince. I carry the aura of a hidden dragon, and I can attract and wear down such curses. That's all I can do."

"I'm not some spirit child who can share blessings. I'm not a ginseng doll, not monk Tang's flesh. I can't cure illness or save lives. I'm not as powerful as you think."

A self-mocking smile appeared on his face.

"If I really had that power, would I stand by while great-grandma coughs every winter? Would I let my mother die during my childbirth? Empress Mother, ask yourself honestly, did something really happen to your child because of a curse?"

Empress Niohuru wanted to say yes, but her lips moved, and no words came out.

The Grand Empress Dowager held Yinreng close, her gaze toward the empress growing colder.

She had long advised her to relinquish power and focus on her pregnancy. When she refused, the Grand Empress Dowager couldn't be bothered to say more. After what had happened with Fulin, she no longer wished to interfere in the emperor's harem.

In the end, Empress Niohuru had brought this on herself and yet blamed a child.

Forget that the Crown Prince truly had no way to save her son. Even if he did, so what? Since she knew about Zhongcui Palace, she should also know that the Crown Prince had fallen ill and even broken out in pox because of it.

Why should the Crown Prince sacrifice himself for her son?

Yinreng had wanted to ask the same question, but swallowed the words.

Most people were selfish. There was no "why." That was simply how it was.

He regretted it now. Perhaps he shouldn't have used that excuse to win Kangxi's favor.

A lie, no matter how many limits he placed on it, would still make people cling to him as a lifeline. And when that lifeline proved to be useless, they would turn it into resentment.

He doesn't like being hated, and even more so, he dislikes seeing the devastated expressions on others' faces when their hopes are dashed.

But once spoken, words couldn't be taken back. Once he told a lie, he had to spend his whole life trying to cover it up.

All Yinreng could do now was say tiredly, "Great-grandma, don't punish Empress Mother. The child in Empress Mother's womb can't endure more turmoil."

The Grand Empress Dowager sighed. "She wronged you. Why do you care?"

"I don't care about her. I care about my family. I don't have a mother, so I have one fewer relative than other people. I don't want to see any more of my family in trouble." Yinreng rubbed his eyes red before slipping out of her arms.

He walked up to Empress Niohuru and placed his small, warm hand on her belly.

"Empress Mother, your child is not cursed. All the curses cast on the princes of this Qing palace will only come to me from now on. Don't worry. Take care of yourself, and stop always thinking about the Niohuru clan."

The world gives men every advantage. They can fight wars, hold office, achieve greatness, and become ministers and generals. On the other hand, women are confined to the inner quarters and criticized even for showing their faces. With such inequality, yet the honor of a family still depends on women, isn't that absurd? If men can't bring glory to their ancestors and a family can only rise through women's connections, then no matter how prosperous it appears, it's just a castle in the air. One that won't last.

The most important thing is yourself. Empress Mother, treasure your life, and think more about my younger siblings. Look at me. Even as Crown Prince, even with Khan-Father and great-grandma protecting me, without a mother, I was still…"

He paused, leaving the sentence unfinished, then smiled faintly.

"Empress Mother, rest well. I'll plead your case to Khan-Father."

The Grand Empress Dowager said coldly, "Even if you plead for her, she won't appreciate it."

"I know," Yinreng replied. "Great-grandma, I'm not doing it for anyone else. I just want to do it. Nothing matters more than my family."

She sighed. "Baocheng, you should think more for yourself. Never mind, I won't punish you. Focus on your pregnancy, and remember who you are. You are the Empress of the Great Qing, a member of the Aisin Gioro family."

By the time she understood this, her son had already passed away from a serious illness, and there was no way to bring him back.

It was the pain that would never fade in the heart of the Empress Dowager.

Empress Niohuru remained pale and silent. Yinreng had put on quite the show, but it seemed to have made no impression on her.

The Grand Empress Dowager ordered her to be carried back to Kunning Palace and stationed imperial physicians there to constantly watch over her.

She issued a verbal decree. The weather is bitterly cold. All consorts and concubines are to stay obediently in their palaces and not disturb her or the Empress Dowager.

The matter passed quietly, as if nothing had happened.

Yinreng didn't know, but the Grand Empress Dowager did. While they were talking to Empress Niohuru, YinZhī had stood outside the door and heard everything.

With Kangxi away, YinZhī used the heavy snowfall as an excuse to suspend his studies on his own.

He came to find Yinreng, eager to share the "good news" that they could play together every day.

He first went to the Cining Palace. Upon hearing that the Grand Empress Dowager had charged off, despite her illness, to Ciren Palace in anger, he immediately guessed someone had bullied Yinreng. Brandishing his little riding whip, he rushed toward Ciren Palace, shouting about rescuing his little brother.

Instead, he was stopped at the palace gate and ended up hearing the entire conversation. His face turned cold as he left.

The next day, when he came to play again, his expression was no different from before, as if he didn't understand a single word of what he had heard.