The Emperor issued a decree. Xiao Zhen had someone deliver the message to the Eastern Palace. Although Consort Liu had long anticipated that their mother and son would not end up well and had no other choices, she was still somewhat unwilling when she heard they were sent to reunite with Xiao Ze.
Xiao Ze had been the Crown Prince for twenty years. Consort Liu had been in the Eastern Palace for five or six years. Although she didn't fully understand Xiao Ze, she knew him well enough to foresee that after Xiao Ze was deposed as Crown Prince, he could not spend the rest of his life peacefully.
She felt that Xiao Ze had two paths ahead: one was not to accept his fate. Even after falling from a great height, he wouldn't be able to behave obediently. He might contact the former Eastern Palace subordinates and secretly plot a comeback; the other was to become despondent, wallow in self-pity, drink every day, and eventually drink himself to death.
