The chubby little girl was lying limply on the Empress’s shoulder. When she heard this, she immediately perked up and straightened up: [Why did the Imperial Noble Consort hit the Sixth Prince? ]

　　The Empress and Emperor Wen Zhao were also quite interested and listened quietly.

　　System: [Recently, the Sixth Prince has been deeply in love with a merchant girl, and he even intends to marry her as a concubine. He came to the palace to talk to the Imperial Concubine today about this matter.]

　　Ji Jinyou thought about it and asked in confusion: [If she can only be a concubine, then a merchant girl can also be acceptable? ]

　　When princes marry a principal wife, they have requirements on the family background, but for a concubine, it shouldn’t be so strict.

　　Moreover, according to the book, Dasheng had a prosperous business, and the status of merchants was not too low. In order to encourage trade, the emperor even took in several concubines who were born as merchants.

　　System: [The problem is, at the palace banquet a while ago, the Sixth Prince brought that woman into the palace. The Imperial Noble Consort met her and said that the woman had a prostitute-like air and didn’t look like a good person. The Imperial Noble Consort warned the Sixth Prince at the time to break up with the woman as soon as possible.]

　　[I didn’t expect that after so long, the two of them not only didn’t break up, but the Sixth Prince even had the idea of ​​marrying her. If he wasn’t afraid of not being able to pass the test of the Imperial Noble Consort and the Emperor, he would have wanted to marry her directly as his principal wife.]

　　Ji Jinyou was curious: [Is the Imperial Concubine accurate in her prediction? Is that woman a good person? ]

　　The system did not answer but asked: [Baby You, guess what the real identity of that woman is. ]

　　After spending so much time together, Ji Jinyou was already very familiar with the system’s temper. Upon hearing his tone, she boldly guessed: [Could it be that the Imperial Concubine really guessed it right? ]

　　[Our Baby You is really smart.] The system praised: [It is said that the Imperial Concubine has a sharp eye. The woman is a merchant’s daughter on the surface, but in fact she is a brothel girl. She was bought by someone with ulterior motives, and after being specially packaged, she deliberately approached the Sixth Prince with the purpose of ruining his reputation.]

　　Ji Jinyou didn’t understand: [Why would you want to ruin his reputation? This is not a palace fight story, not a political conspiracy story. Why did you end up fighting against the prince?]

　　[The former court and the harem have always been one and the same, and have never been separated.] The system sighed: [The old emperor had so many sons, but he was afraid of the prince’s power sharing, so he hesitated to appoint a crown prince. It was fine in the early years, but now the princes have grown up, and each of them is holding back a lot of energy, thinking that they are the right candidate, and they keep fighting openly and secretly.]

　　The Empress agreed with this and glanced at Emperor Wen Zhao casually.

　　You see, even System said that this is the fundamental reason why children have been fighting with each other in recent years.

　　The Empress did not say anything and her expression did not change. She was still smiling gently, but Emperor Wen Zhao could see a hint of resentment in her smile.

　　He reflected on it and wondered whether it was really time to appoint a crown prince.

　　Ji Jinyou pondered the system’s words, and then thought about the TV dramas she had watched before, and it seemed that this was indeed how it was played: [That’s true, then do you know who did all this? ]

　　The system flipped through the plot: [I don’t know, it hasn’t been unlocked yet. However, today the Imperial Concubine beat up the Sixth Prince and made him sad. After returning, the woman was gentle and considerate again, and the relationship between the two became even more passionate. According to the character summary, the Sixth Prince later died at the hands of the woman.]

　　Ji Jinyou thought about how good the Imperial Concubine and the Eighth Princess were to her, and she felt a little sorry: [System, if I propose to go to Hibiscus Palace now, will the Empress and His Majesty allow me to do so? ]

　　The Empress and Emperor Wen Zhao looked at each other with a look, “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go. We also want to go and see what the fighting is like.”

　　When the system heard the little girl’s worried tone, it asked: [Do you want to remind them? ]

　　Ji Jinyou sighed in his heart: [If the Imperial Concubine dies and the Sixth Prince dies too, then Eighth Sister will be left alone. How pitiful she will be.]

　　The system advises: [But even if you go, you can’t do anything. ]

　　—

　　Inside the Hibiscus Palace, the Imperial Concubine stared at the Sixth Prince kneeling on the ground, her face livid with anger: “I asked you to break up with that little witch, but not only did you not break up, you even wanted to marry her?”

　　Seeing that the Imperial Concubine was really angry, the Sixth Prince moved back a little, “She is a concubine, not a principal wife.”

　　”Even a concubine can’t do that.” The Imperial Concubine raised her hand and slammed the table, shouting, “Someone, bring me a broom.”

　　The nanny standing guard at the door responded, went into the storeroom in the side hall, took out the broom that the imperial concubine used to beat her son, and brought it in. Then she went out and closed the door of the hall. Her movements were extremely skillful, and it was obvious that she had done this many times before.

　　Seeing this scene, the Sixth Prince was in disbelief. “Mother, I am already seventeen years old. I am an adult. I have already left the palace and built my own house. I can marry and have children. You are not going to beat me again, are you?”

　　”What do you mean old? I am not old at all^[1]if her son is old, then she is super old, and she can’t accept being called old, even unintentionally!” The Imperial Concubine was a little hesitant because of his accusation. When she heard the word “old”, she immediately got angry and stood up, waving the broom and hitting the Sixth Prince: “You little evil creature, I will break your legs today.”

　　The Sixth Prince had been naughty since childhood and would never take a beating quietly. The moment the broom was swung at him, he jumped up and ran around everywhere.

　　As he ran away, he argued, “Mother, can you please be reasonable? It’s ok for you to beat your son when he was little, but he’s grown up now, and he might even become the crown prince in the future. If you beat him like this, how will he save face if the news gets out?”

　　The Imperial Concubine spat, “Just because you want to marry that woman of unknown origin, you are not worthy of being the Crown Prince. Besides, with your eldest brother here, it’s not your turn.”

　　The Sixth Prince had always sincerely supported the First Prince, and had never really thought about becoming the Crown Prince. He was just saying this, and he responded, “Yes, yes, mother is right.”

　　No matter how angry the imperial concubine was, he was her own son after all. After chasing him for a while without catching up, she gave up, threw away the broom, and stood there with her hands on her hips, panting.

　　Seeing this, the Sixth Prince came over to help her with a playful smile: “Mother, are you okay? Sit down and take a rest. Can you still walk to the chair? Otherwise, your son will carry you on his back.”

　　After all, he was her own son. No matter how angry the imperial concubine was, she could not help but laugh after hearing his behavior. She shook off his hand, sat down on the chair and calmed down after her anger subsided.

　　Looking at the handsome young man in front of her, the imperial concubine changed her mind.

　　She knows her son best. Although he appears to be lazy on the surface, he is very stubborn at heart.

　　It was absolutely impossible for him to marry that woman, but she couldn’t be so tough. She had to find another way, otherwise she would push him too hard.

　　The more he felt that he and that woman were a pair of star-crossed lovers^[2]two people deeply in love whose relationship is ultimately doomed due to external forces or fate, the more he wanted to be together.

　　The Imperial Concubine thought for a moment, smoothed her hair, stood up and walked out: “It’s time for lunch, you and I should go to your father to pay your respects and have a meal with him.”

　　The Sixth Prince hurriedly followed: “Mother, what do you think about that matter?”

　　Imperial Concubine: “Don’t worry, put it aside for now and talk about it after dinner.”

　　If this little evildoer could hear something from Xiaojiu, she wouldn’t have to worry about it.

　　The Sixth Prince had no intention of getting things done today, so he nodded and said, “Okay.”

　　The Imperial Concubine then reminded in a low voice: “Your ninth sister is also with your father. If you see or hear anything strange later, don’t make it public. I will tell you slowly later.”

　　Seeing that the Imperial Concubine was so mysterious, the Sixth Prince asked curiously, “What’s the matter?”

　　The Imperial Concubine didn’t say much: “You’ll know when you get there.”

　　—

　　[System, I still want to go to Hibiscus Palace.] Ji Jinyou hesitated for a while, but still wanted to go.

　　Just when she was worrying about how to tell Her Majesty the Empress, she heard Liang Quan reporting from outside that the Imperial Concubine had brought the Sixth Prince to pay their respects to His Majesty.

　　Ji Jinyou’s eyes lit up, and she turned her head to look at the door: [Sixth brother is here.]

　　The emperor summoned everyone in, and the imperial concubine and the sixth prince bowed to the emperor and empress in turn, then sat down.

　　Emperor Wen Zhao, the Empress, and the Imperial Noble Consort did not say anything. They just looked at the Sixth Prince quietly.

　　The Sixth Prince felt very uncomfortable and a little uneasy as he was being stared at by those pairs of meaningful eyes.

　　What’s going on? If you have something to say, just ask. If you want to scold him, just scold him. Why are you staring at him like that?

　　Besides, my mother hasn’t told my father and my Empress mother about his affairs yet. What do those meaningful looks in their eyes mean?

　　[System, you said earlier that my sixth brother was killed by that prostitute. When did that happen? ]

　　The Sixth Prince was full of doubts when he suddenly heard Xiaojiu, who was sitting in the Empress’s arms opposite him, speaking.

　　No, no, no, she didn’t say that, because she didn’t even open her mouth.

　　Also, what did Xiaojiu say, that he was killed by a brothel girl?

　　The Sixth Prince was stunned. What, what, what is going on?