“After the incident last time, we investigated everyone in the manor and found that many people weren’t innocent… So Her Highness fired many servants. Later, Princess Royal fell ill and enjoyed peace and quiet, so we just let it be first. When Her Highness gets better, we will pick some servants to come in,” Nanny Qin explained with a worried look, but her words were noncommittal.

Mo Xuetong knew that she was referring to Ling Fengyan’s death. Even though it was said that it had nothing to do with Princess Royal in the end, was it true? Why did she hold that banquet? Why did she invite all the princes to attend it? Why wasn’t there anyone ask others when the incense was lit? Or perhaps there were other small matters that appeared suspicious. If Mo Xuetong came to think of it carefully, how could Princess Royal’s Manor really be innocent?

It was very convenient to send someone into a manor like Princess Royal’s where there was only a idle mistress. In the past, King Xuan’s Manor was full of spies from other manors!

The curtain was lifted high into the air. There was only a maidservant who stood at the inner room door and lifted the curtain. Mo Xuetong walked into the room, turned around the nine-fold screen with paintings of beautiful ladies, and then saw Princess Royal sitting quietly on bed. When the latter saw her coming in, she looked up. But she looked so old that Mo Xuetong could not help but widen her eyes. Was she really that beautiful and noble Princess Royal?

Her pale and thin face looked ill, and her long black hair was casually draped over her shoulders. It seemed that she had just gotten up from the bed, but her body was straight, and she still retained the image of an exalted princess.

“Your Highness, why are you up? I will help you lie down again. Her Lady is not an outsider, so you don’t have to make yourself tired.” Nanny Qin hurried forward to help Princess Royal.

Princess Royal shook her head and pushed her hand away with determination. Then she said in a hoarse voice, “Go and make two cups of tea. I’ll have something to say to Tong’er.”

“But, Your Highness…” Nanny Qin still wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Princess Royal. “Go. Watch the door after making tea. Don’t let anyone in!”

Mo Xuetong frowned secretly. The entire manor belonged to Princess Royal, and all the suspicious servants had been dismissed. Was there still anyone spying on her?

“Mo Ye, Mo Lan, you go out as well!” She waved at the two maidservants beside her. It was obvious that Princess Royal wanted to tell her something. Looking at Princess Royal, Mo Xuetong felt an inexplicable sadness. It was as if she had seen how her mother looked before she died. Looking at her from the side, Mo Xuetong found that Princess Royal really looked like her mother.

After all, they were genetic sisters. In the past, when Princess Royal appeared in front of others, she was always beautiful and dignified. However, in her memory, her mother had always been weak. Even though Princess Royal was still sitting upright, Mo Xuetong could sense her weakness and powerless. Then her nose twitched slightly.

At this point, Princess Royal aroused the softness and sadness in Mo Xuetong’s heart!

“My Lady, His Highness…” Mo Ye uttered.

“Don’t worry. I just have some private things to talk with Consort Xuan. It won’t take her long.” Princess Royal smiled gently, while looking at Mo Xuetong with complicated emotions in her eyes.

“Off you go!” It was not proper for Mo Xuetong to ask her people to stay here any longer since Princess Royal had said that.

Mo Ye and Mo Lan hesitated for a moment and had no choice but to retreat to the outer room.

“Mo Ye, you stay here. I’ll go outside the room!” Mo Lan said in a low voice.

“Alright!” Mo Ye agreed immediately. This was the best way. Mo Ye was skilled in martial arts, so if she discovered something wrong, she could barge into the inner room to save Mo Xuetong.

Inside the room, Princess Royal looked at Mo Xuetong quietly. When Mo Xuetong became more and more confused, she suddenly gave a little cough and asked, “Tong’er, how do I treat you?”

Mo Xuetong reached out to hold on to Princess Royal’s hand and said seriously, “Mother has done me a great favor weighty as a mountain. If not for you taking care of me, I would not be Consort Xuan now.” If not for the fact that Princess Royal had taken her as her adoptive daughter and gotten the position of princess of the royal family for her, Consort Yu and the Empress Dowager would have been able to kill her without even asking her.

From this point of view, Mo Xuetong indeed appreciated Princess Royal!

But appreciation didn’t mean that she had to be obedient to her. She could have many ways to repay her kindness and she didn’t want to be used by others.

“Tong’er, you’ve also investigated many things recently. You must know that I am actually your second aunt. For the sake of your mother, I have to take care of you, so it is not a favor,” Princess Royal said with a bitter smile, with a hint of loneliness on her lips. “Our three sisters are split. In fact, your mother and I felt sorry for our elder sister. She was the only one who truly wants to avenge our parents.”

Princess Royal’s voice became lower and lower, and her breath grew heavier and heavier, making Mo Xuetong breathless.

“The winner will be the Emperor in the fight for the throne. Since they had such intentions, then there was no need for them to complain after their defeat. Mother, you don’t have to worry too much.” Mo Xuetong tried to persuade Princess Royal. She had always thought that since they had entered the fight for the throne, it was not personal hatred. The winner would be the Emperor, while the loser would die. Everyone knew that.

The reason why King Jin had set up so many routes of retreat was that he wanted to leave a way out in case he failed to take the throne in the future!

His failure could only be blamed on fate, but no one else. If the late Emperor failed back then, he would also end up losing his life. If the children of the royal family fought for the throne, they would be fated to have a close call.

Princess Royal raised her head and said softly, “Even so, not only have we not sought revenge for Father, but we have also occupied the manpower to prevent Elder Sister from taking revenge. It is even worse.” She suddenly grabbed Mo Xuetong’s hand, with pleading in her eyes. “Tong’er, I will not lie to you. Anyway, you are already Old Eight’s wife and you have him to protect you. Old Eight is an idle prince and needn’t snatch the lofty throne. You can just give all the secret guards in your hands to Yihao. It’s… not easy for him!”

Sure enough, it was for those secret guards! Did Princess Royal ask for the secret guards in her hands today?

“Mother, it’s up to you. The secret guards are in the hands of Shopkeeper Xing of Xiuning Workshop. If you want them, you can take them at any time,” Mo Xuetong said docilely. Then she naturally let go of Princess Royal’s hand and took an orange from the fruit bowl beside her. Placing the orange on a handkerchief, she started to peel it.

Princess Royal did not expect Mo Xuetong to agree so straightforwardly without asking for a reason. She paused for a moment, unable to react for a while. After a while, she said, “It is a jade token that could mobilize the secret guards. It should also be in your hands. You can give it to him together so that it will not be inconvenient for him to use these secret guards.”

This must be Princess Royal’s real purpose. After peeling the orange, Mo Xuetong wiped her hands slowly. When she was done, she had already thought it over. Then, she looked up and said with a smile, “Mother, the token is really gone. My mother didn’t tell me about it in detail back then. I haven’t seen the jade token that is used to mobilize the secret guards yet.”

“How is that possible? Your mother is a meticulous person. How could she have lost such an important thing?” Princess Royal asked in disbelief. She shook her hand impatiently and almost knocked the teacup beside her to the ground!

“Mother, don’t you believe me anymore?” Mo Xuetong asked lightly, but her smile was gentle and cold.

Princess Royal was at a loss for words. After a long while, she asked, “Tong’er, what do you want me to do to give it to me?”

“Mother, it seems that you really don’t believe me. Then I could do nothing. I might as well look for it after I go back today? If I can find it, I’ll send the jade token to you tomorrow. My mother had left a lot of jade pieces in the dowry. I couldn’t sort them out for a while, so I threw them aside.” Mo Xuetong got up with a smile and was about to leave.

At this point, she only wanted to leave. Today, not only was the Princess Royal strange, but even Nanny Qin of Princess Royal’s Manor was very strange. Nanny Qin said that she was worried about Princess Royal’s health, but she had not come back since she went out to make tea. It was really weird. Mo Xuetong’s intuition told her to leave as soon as possible. So she stopped being polite and got up directly.

“Do you really still have some jade pieces that haven’t been checked?” A hint of confusion flashed across Princess Royal’s eyes.

“Of course. I didn’t think it was important before. Since you’ve mentioned it, I have to go back and have a look.” Mo Xuetong took a step back respectfully, hinting to Princess Royal that there must be the jade token among them. At this time, she had already known that Princess Royal was up to something. If something went wrong, she would not be able to go back!

So she could only repeatedly indicate that she had a way to find the token.

Princess Royal didn’t say anything. She frowned and thought for a while, but she couldn’t make a decision for the moment.

At this time, Mo Xuetong had slowly stepped back to the door of the inner room. Just now, Mo Lan had taken her hint, so Mo Ye must be staying in the outer room. Mo Ye was good at martial arts, so even if there was an accident, she could take Mo Xuetong away.

Princess Royal finally reacted. A strange smile appeared on her lip corners as she pointed at where Mo Xuetong was, saying, “Tong’er, you don’t leave now. Have your two maidservants bring the jade pieces over. How about I check them with you?”

Behind her was the outer room, which was only separated by a curtain. As long as Mo Xuetong called, Mo Ye would come over.

“Mother, you are not feeling well, so you don’t have to do it. I will check them with my maidservants. It will be done soon,” Mo Xuetong smiled, standing sideways and placing one of her hands on the curtain. As long as she lifted it gently, Mo Ye who was outside would hear the sound and come over.

“Tong’er, how nice would it be if you weren’t so smart!” Princess Royal’s sigh could be heard from behind her. There was inexplicable meaning, as well as hints of pity and sadness, in her voice!

Mo Xuetong subconsciously felt that something was wrong. Before she could lift the curtain with the hand that was on it, the curtain was suddenly lifted from outside. Two tender and white fingers lifted the bead curtain calmly. Under the flickering bead curtain, the lifted curtain slipped down and made a crisp sound, which was very pleasing to the ear.

However, Mo Xuetong only felt that the sound was like a heavy blow to her ears. Her neck was hit heavily. Darkness came to her, and she fell to the beautiful face behind the luxurious bead curtain.

“Do you really have to take her away?”

“Yes, Your Highness, pack your things as well. The horse carriage is ready.”

“She actually doesn’t know anything about it! Maybe Third Sister has never told her about the token.”

“Never mind. She herself is the best jade token. Although the secret guards say…” The voice became softer and softer, and disappeared into the chaos in the end!

Feng Yuran returned to King Xuan’s Manor during dinner time. The first thing he did when he returned to the manor was ask people to invite imperial physicians from the palace. At last, the few of them shook their heads and left. They only said that Consort Xuan was gravely ill and needed to take a good rest. Since Mo Xuetong needed to rest and recuperate for the time being, the entire courtyard was immediately sealed.

In order not to prevent Consort Xuan from recovering from her illness, King Xuan moved to his Jinwei Pavilion. Most of the people in the courtyard had been transferred away, leaving only the old and young maidservants coming from the Mo Manor with Consort Xuan.

For a while, the news that Consort Xuan was seriously ill spread out! Everyone thought that Consort Xuan was seriously ill this time and could not even get up. They guessed that she didn’t have much time left. A while back, Consort Chu and Consort Ning had just passed away, but now Consort Xuan was also ill. No matter how they looked at it, they felt that it was weird.

It was not easy to be the daughter-in-law of the royal family.

The lights on the third floor of Feng Yuran’s Jinwei Pavilion were on all night. The servants said that His Highness was in a bad mood, so he was drunk in the tall building. The singers and dancers that they had not seen for a long time were called from the backyard again. It was not easy for those singers and dancers to come out, so all of them tried their best to flatter Feng Yuran. The sweet voice of the whole night made people’s ears itch. King Xuan was indeed a playboy. It had only been a few days, but he couldn’t stand it anymore.”

The next day, it was said that King Xuan was drunk and injured his leg when he went to the bathroom last night. Thus, he had to recuperate for a while. The Emperor in the palace was furious, rushed out of the palace and arrived at King Xuan’s Manor.

The Emperor scolded the group of servants and palace maids. Then, he grew mad for no reason, and cleaned up the back courtyard of King Xuan’s Manor. In the end, the large manor was immediately clean.