"No one in the palace is simple," Xiao Yi said, shaking his head slightly.
"But no matter how clever his mother was, she still ended up losing her life."
Xiao Yi's face was full of scorn.
He hated the palace—everyone in it was full of schemes.
To climb the ranks, they would stop at nothing.
"His mother died?" Duoduo's eyes flashed with sympathy.
Seeing her expression, Xiao Yi gently patted her head.
"Worry about yourself first! Noble Consort Li has been demoted to Consort Li—she definitely won't let this go easily!"
Duoduo was a bit surprised.
"It's not like I made her get demoted! Shouldn't she be going after Prince Xian?"
"I'm just warning you to keep a low profile lately, so you don't get caught in the crossfire," Xiao Yi reminded her.
Duoduo nodded, looking obedient.
"I'll be very good! I won't go anywhere except to school."
Xiao Yi glanced at Duoduo but didn't say anything more.
The next day, Duoduo arrived at the Imperial Academy and noticed that both Song Shuyu and Xiao Yunming had come to class.
What surprised her even more was that Xiao Che was also there.
Duoduo sat down in her seat, curiously sneaking peeks at Xiao Che.
He was still alive!
But she noticed that while Xiao Che usually slept with both arms on the desk, today he could only rest one arm.
Duoduo could tell at a glance that his right hand was injured.
She sniffed the air, her brow furrowing.
There was something wrong with Xiao Che's medicine.
Duoduo fell into hesitation.
She remembered her promise to her father the day before, so she sat up straight and faced forward.
But the more she tried to ignore it, the more the smell of the medicine crept into her nose.
Duoduo clenched her fists, struggling to control herself and not meddle in other people's business.
Luckily, the Grand Tutor entered and began the lesson.
Duoduo focused her attention and listened carefully.
After the initial basics, the Grand Tutor's lectures had started to get deeper.
Some were happy, others were worried.
Song Shuyu realized she couldn't understand the lesson anymore.
She was confused, but then she noticed Xiao Yunming was just as lost, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
At least she wasn't the only one who didn't get it.
Song Shuyu's gaze casually swept backward.
Suddenly, she saw Duoduo listening with great interest.
A strange look flashed in Song Shuyu's eyes.
The day she had prayed for rain, even though it didn't fall while she was there,
the rain had come later.
So the emperor had rewarded her with gifts.
Song Shuyu had been very happy at first, but then the incident of Consort Li instructing a eunuch to frame the imperial heir had exploded.
Prince Ling had gone to plead for her and almost got punished himself.
Fortunately, the emperor let him off because the rain prayer had succeeded.
Even so, Prince Ling had been very irritable these past few days.
Ignoring that his health hadn't fully recovered, he was already discussing strategies with his advisors.
Song Shuyu didn't dare stay in the manor, afraid of triggering his temper.
Remembering what Prince Ling had told her, Song Shuyu bit her finger.
From the back row, Duoduo sensed a malicious stare and followed it.
Her eyes met Song Shuyu's.
Duoduo saw Song Shuyu casually look away, as if she had just glanced at her by accident.
Duoduo blinked and noticed that Danyang was also looking at her.
She felt a bit puzzled.
She belatedly realized that the atmosphere in the classroom today seemed off.
Ever since Xiao Yunshi's carriage overturned, he had stopped bouncing around like before.
He seemed to talk less, too.
Duoduo looked to her left; sure enough, Xiao Yunshi was slumped over his desk, daydreaming.
The bell rang for the end of class.
The classmates who usually hung out with Xiao Yunshi ran over to drag him out to play.
Xiao Yunshi waved them off, saying he wanted to sleep.
Duoduo walked outside—she really couldn't stand the smell coming from Xiao Che anymore.
She played with Lüdou for a while, then went back to the classroom as class was about to start.
Just as she was about to sit down, she heard Xiao Che's lazy voice.
"There's a needle on your stool!"
Startled, Duoduo jumped aside with a fright.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a hint of regret flicker across Xiao Yunshi's face.
She glanced back at Xiao Che, who was still lying on his desk with his eyes closed, as if he had only been muttering in his sleep.
Duoduo crouched down and carefully inspected her stool.
Sure enough, in a crack, she found a needle stuck upside down.
She wrapped it in paper and pulled it out.
Looking at the needle in her hand, she couldn't imagine how much it would have hurt if she had sat on it!
Who could have done this?
Duoduo's eyes swept over everyone in the room.
Finally, her gaze landed on Xiao Yunshi.
Xiao Yunshi snorted and turned his head away.
Duoduo bit her lip.
Enough was enough!
Clutching the needle, she walked straight up to Xiao Yunshi.
"Did you do this?"
Xiao Yunshi saw the needle almost poking his face and jumped up immediately.
"What are you doing? You almost poked my eye out, you know!"
"And what makes you think I did it?"
"Why would I target you? Don't be ridiculous."
Duoduo stared at Xiao Yunshi. She really had no evidence.
She fixed him with a steady gaze.
"If I find out you did this, you're dead!"
Duoduo said this and then sat back down in her seat.
Xiao Yunshi froze for a long moment before he realized what had happened.
He had been intimidated by the presence of this little tot!
His face flushed with embarrassment.
He glanced nervously around the room—luckily, their little commotion hadn't drawn too much attention.
Xiao Yunshi was about to leave when the Grand Tutor walked in, so he had to return to his seat.
Duoduo studied the needle. It was an ordinary sewing needle.
No clues at all!
Her eyes drifted to Xiao Che.
If he hadn't warned her, she would have fallen victim by now.
So Xiao Che must know who did it!
Duoduo held back her curiosity and focused on listening to the lesson.
Finally, the morning classes ended, and the students filed out one by one.
Duoduo saw Xiao Che stand up and slowly walk out.
She quickly packed up her book box and followed him.
Lüdou saw Duoduo coming out and was about to run over, when she saw Duoduo make a hand gesture.
Lüdou paused for a moment, then gathered her courage and blocked Xiao Che's path.
Xiao Che stopped and looked at Lüdou.
It had been dark that day, and he hadn't clearly seen what Lüdou looked like.
So when she blocked him, his face showed impatience.
"Xiao Che! I have something to ask you!"
Duoduo's words made Lüdou's face change color.
