Cui Guifei was furious upon hearing this, and since she had a long-standing grudge against the Grand Princess of Dai, she didn't need to give her face like she did with the Grand Princess of Jin. She immediately stood up, her voice cold as ice: "Your Highness, the Crown Prince's consort is making another mistake, but that doesn't mean you can pin any crime on her head! As a senior member of the imperial family and a noblewoman of high status, you're not only older than her, but also more refined. To treat a junior like this, it's really laughable if word gets out - what kind of dignity does the imperial family have?"

  "Don't put on that wronged face with me!" Princess Dai Guo had always been arrogant, how could she tolerate the attitude of Imperial Consort Cui?

  At these words, she swept her wide sleeves and said disdainfully, "You ask me about the imperial family's demeanor? I'd like to ask you about the etiquette of consorts - who doesn't know that Princess Hengshan is a senior member of the royal family, with high virtue and prestige, even the empress treats her with courtesy? Since she said there was no grudge between Ah Yu's wife and your niece, then there definitely wasn't any! In that case, since your niece isn't stupid, why would she try every means to put Ah Yu's wife to death?"

  The Empress Dowager smiled coldly and said, "The reason lies in the relationship between Ah Yu's wife and the Crown Prince's sister!"

  She turned her head to look at the thoughtful Princess of Jin State, "Sister, think about it: if Ah Yu's wife is found out to have tampered with the silk she wore today, who would not think that she was the one who harmed Consort Cui?"

  But since Song Yixiao and Cui Jianlian had "no grudges", they were the wife of a national duke and the concubine of the crown prince, respectively, and normally didn't have any interactions. Why did Song Yixiao do this?!

  "When the time comes, someone will remind us: Ah Yu's wife and the Crown Princess are sisters-in-law, and the Crown Princess has been taking care of Cui Ce Fei recently, to the point where even the Empress Dowager asked a few questions! The Grand Princess Dai coldly said, "If we determine that Ah Yu's wife harmed Cui Ce Fei, how can we not suspect that the Crown Princess's concern for Cui Ce Fei is just an act, and in reality she has been jealous of Cui Ce Fei for a long time, wanting to get rid of her - and entrusted Ah Yu's wife to do the deed?!"

  "Blood on your mouth!" Cui Guifei slapped the table and stood up, "If Ruo Lian'er really bribed someone in the Yan State Duke's mansion to tamper with Madame Yan's clothes, why couldn't it be found out just now?!"

  Song Yi smiled and calmly explained, "Six days ago, on the birthday of Princess Yushan, my wife accidentally fell into the snow and got her clothes wet in many places. When we returned, she naturally had to wash them - but these past few days have been continuously rainy and snowy, and the fabric and embroidery of the clothes are difficult to dry. Even this morning, they still felt a bit damp, so the set of clothes I'm wearing today is borrowed!"

  "That's it!" Cui Guifei said immediately, "Since the swallow dress of the Yan country lady has not been dry until this morning, how could the people serving her not know? How is it possible to tamper with that set of swallow dress?"

  The imperial princess sneered and swept a glance at the noble consort: "This proves that the people around Consort Cui were telling the truth. Because the servants bought by Consort Cui, although they have some status in the backyard of the Yan Guo Gong Mansion and have the opportunity to manipulate the clothes, are not close attendants of Ah Xū's wife, so they don't know about this matter!"

  "Without looking at the pale-faced Gui Fei again, he continued his previous deduction, "In this way, Ah Xū's daughter-in-law and the Crown Princess will both be ruined! The eldest son of the Crown Prince, Zhong Ling, will also be implicated, not to mention being abandoned by the Crown Prince and the Emperor, but his future prospects are definitely bleak! On the other hand, Cui Ce Fei, although she lost a pair of twins, is still young, and since she took the abortion medicine herself, how could she be so foolish as to confirm that it wouldn't cause great harm to her body? After recuperating for a few years, she can still give birth again - originally, the Crown Prince liked her, and after eliminating the Crown Princess and Zhong Ling, who else could be the new Crown Princess but her?"

  The Grand Princess let out a cold laugh, "At that time, the new Crown Prince's consort will be in her rightful place in the Eastern Palace, with the Noble Consort protecting her from above, the Crown Prince doting on her from the middle, and the palace maids scurrying about to serve her below - it is only natural that the child she bears will become the Crown Prince! At that time, even if the Cui family exhausts all their resources, they will still have unending wealth and glory, and an unstoppable position of power!!!"

  "She shouted loudly, 'Cui! How dare you say this isn't a conspiracy of your Cui family?!'"

  Song Yi smiled faintly as she gazed at Cui Guifei's rebuttal, her face filled with the same shock and incredulity as Qingjiang Junzhu. However, her heart remained calm and peaceful, thinking to herself: "The topic shouldn't continue to drag towards Lu Guanglun anymore, right? After all, even the Empress Dowager has made such an inference."

  If it is said that the Zhao Wang faction was dissatisfied because the legitimate son of the imperial palace could not inherit the throne, so they wanted to fight for the position; then Princess Chang of Dai State would definitely have a bad ending if she didn't fight for the position!

  Furthermore, with the hot-tempered personality of this Grand Princess, Song Yishang knew that as long as she provided a reason to attack Concubine Cui or the Cui family, the Grand Princess would charge into battle without hesitation!

  As soon as the conclusion "the concubine harms the child, aiming at the crown princess" is inferred, Empress Su will also follow immediately!

  After all, a prince's concubine from the Cui family could covet the position of crown princess; wouldn't Cui Guifei's own son, who had been the crown prince for many years, have long since set his sights on Weiyang Palace?

  The crown prince who has Cui's blood flowing through his veins and also dotes on Concubine Cui, what reason does he have to not help these two?

  Song Yixiao could already imagine that Empress Su would probably go to Emperor Xianjie tonight to request that when he passed away, she be allowed to follow him in death and be buried with Prince Zhao.

  "It's better for me to follow you and Zhao Wang, rather than staying behind as a thorn in the crown prince's side and leaving behind an infamous reputation. This way, we can fulfill our duties as husband and wife, as well as father and son, and also avoid future troubles for the crown prince!"

  Since Emperor Xian of Han had allowed King Zhao to enter the capital, he was obviously not indifferent to Empress He and her son. After hearing this, he favored Crown Prince Liu even more, and his heart could not help but feel desolate.

  The biggest backing of the crown prince was originally Emperor Xianjia. If Emperor Xianjia changed his mind, the outcome for the crown prince can be imagined!

  These Song Yixiao could think of, how could Cui Guifei not know?

  It was actually someone who had served Emperor Xian of Jin in the previous dynasty, under the questioning of Princess Chang Le of Dai State with an imposing momentum. Cui Guifei calmed down instead and even had the leisure to lift her hand to tidy up her hair: "Your Highness's words are quite serious, but I also want to ask Your Highness a question: Even if what you said is true, why would Princess Yan and Prince Yan, who were a loving young couple, have been granted a first-class noble title and had no further room for advancement among the women of the outer court, yet still sacrifice themselves for the crown prince's consort?

  She looked deeply at the mother and daughter of Jin Guo, "Don't even mention the maiden family of the Yan Guo lady! But as soon as this matter came out today, the Princess of Jin Guo immediately brought Qing Jiang to rush over, showing how much importance she attaches to this daughter-in-law! I dare say that even if the Yan Guo lady is now confirmed to have harmed Lian'er, the Princess will fight for her until the end! So the doubt I raised, the Princess will definitely ask too! But who can answer this question?!"

  The Empress Dowager frowned and said, "Ah, Rong's wife is young and inexperienced...".

  "Young people are always ignorant?" The Grand Princess of Jin State said calmly, "In the past, Qingjiang chose this child because she was steady and calm, understanding the overall situation! Don't use Nanzhuang to measure my daughter-in-law! Not every mother is like you, only doting on their children but not teaching them to understand things and reason!"

  The Empress Dowager of Dai noticed that the Empress Dowager of Jin was helping Cui Guifei to gain an advantage, and after a moment's thought, she suddenly felt that her previous response following the empress' words was a foolish move.

  With a faint smile, she said: "The imperial concubine also doesn't need to ask me again! These things weren't done by me, how can I answer? It's just that Concubine Cui and her servant slandered Ah Ru. This is something that happened in broad daylight! The testimony of the warm and gentle person and the evidence found by the empress are all there - you'd better think carefully about how to explain it to the empress dowager and the crown prince after the banquet!"

  She smiled and glanced at Song Yishuang, "You're really lucky! But also unlucky - you were splashed with dirty water, and just when you managed to dry off, the Empress Dowager has always treated that little Cui as her treasure. Otherwise, how would that little concubine dare to order the Crown Princess around? This time it was Cui's own doing, but the Empress Dowager will definitely remember this in the future! You'd better be careful! Haha!"

  "Your Highness, however, never forgets to stir up trouble!" Although Cui Guifei had managed to calm herself down at this moment, she was still enraged by the words and her whole body trembled. "But there is one principle that prevails over all things in the world. If I were muddled and couldn't distinguish right from wrong, the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty would not have tolerated me for so many years in the palace!"

  "A'ru was raised by her mother after her father's death. Now that her mother and the emperor are both present, his daughter-in-law is someone you can't afford to offend. What pleasant words can't be spoken?" The Princess of Dai Guo smiled and gazed at her, saying leisurely, "But who knows what will happen when you and the crown prince take charge in the future?"

  After finishing speaking, she didn't even look at Cui Guifei's iron-green face and turned away with a flick of her sleeve!

  The room fell silent for a moment, and Cui Guifei took a deep breath, ordering the attendants to withdraw and asking Queen Dowager Hengshan to return to her seat. Only when only the three people, Jin Guo's Long Princess Mother and daughter, and Song Yixiao were left, did the imperial concubine solemnly raise her hand and say: "Your Highness, I dare to swear that I am not such a person! Lian'er is my niece, but the child in her belly is my own grandson! If I had known earlier that she was such a vicious person who would disregard even her own flesh and blood, I would never have allowed her to enter the Eastern Palace! And it's even more impossible for me to bear a grudge against Yan Guo Furen because of her!"

  She was second only to the empress in the harem, and had been treated as "the future empress dowager" since more than a decade ago. Except for being humiliated by Crown Princess Duan, she was extremely glorious at all other times.

  If I weren't forced into a desperate situation, I would never make an oath to Heaven in front of two younger generations!

  But the more it is so, the more credible are the words of the Princess: in the face of today's unprecedented humiliation, who can guarantee that Concubine Cui will not settle accounts after autumn?

  It's just an oath, and it can't guarantee anything at all!

  Despite both sides' efforts to mediate, the rift was finally born under the successive efforts of Empress Su and Crown Princess Dai!

  And from what can be seen at present, there seems to be no reliable way of making up for it.

  The Princess of Jin State remained silent for a long time before saying, "We haven't even seen Nuan Shu, nor do we know whether what she said is true or false. To be honest, although Cui Ce Fei's heart is ruthless, after all, she is just a woman in her early teens. I really don't believe that she could be so heartless!"

  Cui Guifei wanted to say something else, but the Princess of Jin had already stood up. "It's almost enough to talk about it here, let's wait for the result between Empress Dowager and His Majesty! Even if the Queen is there, you know that Empress Dowager and His Majesty are both biased towards the Crown Prince. I think the conclusion they come up with should be the truth."

  But so far, neither the Empress Dowager nor Emperor Xian of Han has sent anyone to tell them anything, only Empress He has sent someone to convey a message, what does this indicate?

  The truth is unfavorable to Cui Jianliang, and even to the Crown Prince!

  Otherwise, how would the task of searching for Cui Xian in the Ning Palace be given to Empress Su?

  "Your Majesty, have you lost hope in the Crown Prince?" Concubine Cui dared not think so, yet could not help but think so!

  In an instant, endless fear surged up in his heart!

  Even the eldest princess of Jin State has left with her daughter and daughter-in-law without being detected!

  Song Yixiao followed her mother-in-law and elder sister-in-law back to the main hall, only to find that everything was still peaceful and joyful, with no signs of anything out of the ordinary having occurred.

  Of course, seeing them return, some puzzled and speculative glances were still cast from the crowd.

  However, it was already time for the banquet to end, so after the three of them sat down, it wasn't long before an imperial attendant came out to read aloud the edict of reward.

  Everyone thanked and took their rewards, then respectfully sent off the Empress Dowager, the Empress, and others before dispersing.

  As soon as they left the palace gate, Princess Chang of Jin ordered Song Yixiao: "Don't go back to the Yan Guo Gongfu tonight, come to my place! Tell me the whole story clearly!!!"