That Imperial Concubine is both wicked and cunning! Your Majesty, wake up!

Song Shuangning's heart was in turmoil for only a moment.

In an instant, he understood the entire purpose of the Second Prince, or rather, the person behind the Second Prince.

The first step is to create "conflict".

The Second Prince's relentless pursuit was intended to annoy her and make her act impatiently.

This foreshadows the "pushing" mentioned by the Second Prince later, making it seem as if she acted out of "impatience."

The second step is to create an "accident".

The third prince fell down during the shoving.

This is the core of the entire plan of the person behind the Second Prince.

Whether she touched him or not, as long as the Third Prince was injured in front of her, she would be implicated.

The third step, and the most insidious one—

Qualitative analysis.

The Second Prince's statement that she was the one who pushed him was intended to instill a preconceived truth in everyone, especially the Emperor, Consort Shao, and Consort Xu, as soon as possible.

The goal is to portray Song Shuangning as a vicious and jealous woman, a sinner who murders a prince simply because she finds the child noisy.

Finally, there's the filter of "children are innocent."

In the eyes of the world, especially the eyes of the child's parents, the world of a five-year-old child is pure.

Children don't lie.

After all, compared to a concubine, who would suspect a child?

The commotion soon disturbed the inner palace.

Many concubines rushed to Xuefu Palace under the pretext of caring for the Third Prince.

The wet nurse led the third prince back to Xuefu Palace.

The Xuefu Palace was in chaos. Inside the bedchamber, the imperial physician was bending over the bed, carefully treating the Third Prince's wounds.

Outside the palace, wet nurses, palace maids, and eunuchs were kneeling on the ground, silent as if trembling with fear.

Consort Shao and Consort Xu were heartbroken to see the injured Third Prince. Even the usually gentle Consort Shao couldn't help but sternly reprimand the palace servants.

"How did Seung-ah get injured?!"

Before the palace servants could answer, the second prince burst into tears, "Waaah, it was Consort Yuan! Consort Yuan pushed my third brother!"

Consort Shao and Consort Xu exchanged a glance.

At this moment, a palace maid answered tremblingly, "Your Majesty, this servant...this servant also saw it...it was Consort Yuan who was upset and accidentally pushed His Highness the Third Prince..."

Song Shuangning looked at the palace maid, who was the same one who had just served the pastries.

Consort Shao did not believe it, for she knew Song Shuangning's character well.

"What I want to hear is the whole truth."

"Chun Mama, you speak."

Chun Mama was the wet nurse carefully selected by Consort Shao and Consort Xu to take care of the Third Prince.

Granny Chun crawled a few steps on her knees and recounted the whole story of what had happened that day, from how the Second Prince had pestered Song Shuangning to play around, to how he finally cried and pointed her out.

Consort Shao's eyes flickered slightly as she turned to the Second Prince, who was crying his heart out not far away.

The second prince cried so hard that his voice became hoarse.

Consort Shao's eyes darkened; she couldn't quite decipher them.

Consort Rong looked at Song Shuangning. Faced with the accusation, Song Shuangning remained unusually calm, as if it were not related to her, and did not panic or defend herself.

That's because Song Shuangning knew that any words she uttered at this moment would be seen as a guilty excuse, and would only make things worse.

If she were to say that the Second Prince was lying and framing her, no one would believe her.

As the saying goes, in the eyes of the world, especially in the eyes of the child's parents, the world of a five-year-old child is pure, and he will not lie.

It might even offend the Empress.

Therefore, she could only approach it from another angle.

Especially at times like these, it's crucial not to panic.

She calmly surveyed the room; the concubines all had different expressions, but there was nothing amiss.

Song Shuangning lowered her head and pondered. In that instant, she thought of the person she had ignored.

She raised her eyes, her almond-shaped eyes, usually filled with gentleness, now gleaming with a cold light as she stared directly at Consort Jiang.

Soon after, Xiao Yan and the Empress arrived together.

Xiao Yan remained silent, his face clouded with gloom. He strode to the bedside and looked at his youngest son with heartache. The Third Prince's head was wrapped in thick bandages, the child's face was bloodless, and his lips were as white as a sheet of paper.

The Empress followed closely behind.

The Empress first glared at the Second Prince, who was crying loudly.

Her eyelids had been twitching all day; something must have happened.

Hongtai has always been a mischievous person, and his insistence on going out to play today is probably related to him.

She had finally managed to behave for a few days, and she naively thought that the child had truly learned to be good.

And then this huge incident happened!

The Empress offered a few words of comfort to Consort Shao and Consort Xu.

Although she was wary of the Third Prince, she never considered using this method...

The second prince ran up to Xiao Yan, his eyes red and swollen from crying.

"Father, I saw it. It was Consort Yuan who pushed my third brother. Father, you must do justice for my third brother!"

Xiao Yan did not speak, nor did he try to comfort the frightened Second Prince.

Instead, he looked up at Song Shuangning.

Song Shuangning met his gaze and gently shook her head.

The Empress watched coldly from the side.

She knew perfectly well how the Emperor treated Consort Yuan!

The Empress gritted her teeth, cursing inwardly: Fool!

An ordinary child would be terrified to see a fellow citizen unconscious, but he eagerly ran up to identify the 'culprit'.

That's too deliberate, too stupid.

The Empress tried to soften her voice and beckoned to the Second Prince, "Tai'er, come here."

The second prince hesitated for a moment before walking to the empress's side.

The Empress pinched his arm, applying slight pressure. "Tai'er, Cheng'er is injured. You must have been frightened. Perhaps you saw things wrong. Be good, let the wet nurse take you to rest."

The second prince said, "I didn't see wrong!"

Then, glaring angrily at Song Shuangning, she said, "It's Consort Yuan!"

The Empress's loving expression was almost too much to bear.

Seeing that her time was ripe, Consort Rong pursed her lips slightly. "Your Majesty, you can't say that. Children don't lie. How can you not believe the Second Prince and instead side with an outsider? It's pitiful that the Third Prince is still unconscious. As a mother myself, I feel so sorry for him."

As soon as she finished speaking, Consort Qing immediately echoed her.

The palace has no shortage of people who would kick someone when they're down.

"Yes, children are the most innocent. Besides, there's that palace maid who can testify. With witnesses all there, what else is there to say?"

One of them played the good cop, and the other played the bad cop.

The Empress sat upright, her face expressionless, her cold gaze fixed on the palace maids kneeling on the ground outside the hall.

Since Hongtai was brought to Fengyi Palace, she has replaced all the old people around her.

Some people still managed to reach into the Phoenix Palace.