At its root, it was because the Second Prince’s forced palace coup and rebellion had left an extremely deep shadow in the Emperor’s heart. Whenever any son touched military power… the Emperor became extremely prone to seeing enemies everywhere.

Today, when Bai Qingyan suddenly learned that Prince Liang planned to deceive Dong Tizhen into marriage, she deliberately had Bai Jinzhi point out before the Crown Prince that Prince Liang might be courting Prince Xian of Nandu. The Crown Prince perhaps wanted to create the appearance that Prince Liang was simultaneously seeking to marry Dong Tizhen while having unclear entanglements with Liu Ruofu, who was already engaged to Great Liang’s Fourth Prince, for the Emperor to see.

Given the Emperor’s suspicious nature and wariness of princes touching military power, he would certainly believe that Prince Liang wanted to use marriage to gain support from Prince Xian, who held significant military forces, and Dong Qingyue.

Then… Prince Liang’s good days would be over.

And at this time, right when Great Liang wanted to negotiate peace with Jin, even if the Emperor inwardly didn’t want Liu Ruofu to marry into the enemy nation of Great Liang, he absolutely couldn’t let such a scandal spread and give Great Liang grounds to bargain with Jin.

Making Prince Liang suffer losses while not letting Prince Liang gain any benefits.

What a scheme indeed!

Originally, Bai Qingyan had planned to make an issue of Prince Liang violating ancestral teachings by practicing alchemy, but unexpectedly, the Crown Prince’s residence couldn’t hold back and made moves first, wave after wave.

Bai Qingyan turned to look at the two secret guards kneeling in the courtyard to report, instructing: “Go back and have the others continue watching the six people the Crown Prince’s residence sent out. Send someone to report the situation every quarter hour, and report immediately if there are any special circumstances.”

“Yes!”

The secret guards quickly disappeared from the courtyard. Bai Qingyan pondered for a moment, then sent someone to summon Lu Ping.

Tonight, Lu Ping had first been sent by Bai Qingyan to deal with the people from the Crown Prince’s residence who were spreading rumors about Prince Liang and Dong Tizhen. After returning to report, he had been waiting for Bai Qingyan’s instructions. When Bai Qingyan sent someone to summon him, Lu Ping immediately rushed to Qinghui Courtyard.

“Uncle Ping, I’m sorry to trouble you to make a trip to the Dong residence right now. You must see Uncle and tell him… If Uncle feels assured, tomorrow I want to bring Tizhen back to Shouyang together, as if letting Tizhen accompany my mother and help Tizhen clear her mind away from the capital’s troubled waters! If Uncle and Aunt agree, we’ll depart at the chen hour tomorrow, and our convoy will go to the Dong residence early to pick up Tizhen.” Bai Qingyan looked at Lu Ping.

“Miss, rest assured, I’ll go immediately!” Lu Ping cupped his hands in salute and headed out without another word.

It was already the zi hour, with several hours until the chen hour – enough time for Bai Qingyan to arrange everything properly.

Bai Qingyan sat down on the stone bench in the courtyard, her fingers lightly stroking the edge of the stone table. If the Crown Prince’s residence made moves to arrange the matter between Prince Liang and Liu Ruofu, Bai Qingyan would help them succeed, ensuring the Crown Prince’s people handled the matter properly without mishap.

The best outcome would be for that foolish girl Tizhen to see Prince Liang’s true nature.

Her fingers curved slightly, tapping the stone table intermittently.

Prince Liang’s designs on Dong Tizhen were simply for the military power in the Dong family’s hands. Whether Prince Liang and Prince Xian had already allied or not, there weren’t sufficient deep constraints to bind the two firmly together.

So, with the Dong family marriage currently unachievable and him being deliberately paired with Liu Ruofu by the Crown Prince, if Prince Liang had to choose, he would certainly choose Prince Xian’s only daughter Liu Ruofu.

As for Prince Xian, compared to having his daughter marry far away to Liang, naturally, becoming Jin’s imperial father-in-law would be more attractive to him.

The problem was… Prince Liang’s current strength gave him no way to compete with the Crown Prince. If the Crown Prince was determined to cover up this matter, Prince Liang had no room for resistance whatsoever.

At this point, Bai Qingyan had two strategies regarding Prince Liang.

First, let the Crown Prince act as he wished, watching the Crown Prince use this opportunity to crush Prince Liang and make the Emperor despise Prince Liang from then on.

Second, Bai Qingyan could help Prince Liang, letting him marry Liu Ruofu. Then the Crown Prince would fixate on this Prince Liang, who intended to compete for succession yet was disliked by the Emperor, entangling endlessly with Prince Liang in mutual restraint, while she returned to Shouyang to watch tigers fight from the mountain, secretly building strength.

Only when two forces in court were locked in a struggle would others not covet the Bai family of Shouyang. Otherwise, if the Crown Prince alone dominated… if he developed thoughts harmful to the Bai family, the Bai family wouldn’t even have room to maneuver.

When the Bai family army and the Bai family’s influence had grown strong, that would be when Bai Qingyan settled accounts with Prince Liang.

Bai Qingyan hated Prince Liang, wanting nothing more than to flay his skin and devour his flesh alive!

But for the Bai family’s long-term interests, Bai Qingyan was willing to choose the second method.

Tomorrow, she would probably need to meet Prince Liang and help him once more. Only then, when she had dealt with those people from the Crown Prince’s residence who went out to spread rumors, could the Crown Prince suspect Prince Liang.

The next day, before dawn.

Prince Liang clutched his clothes and hurriedly emerged from the back gate of his residence, his face deathly pale. Hiding under a tree while putting on his clothes, he heard the sound of approaching hoofbeats. Frightened, he gripped his half-dressed garments tightly, held his breath and hid behind the tree, clutching a defensive dagger in his hand, his heart pounding violently, still shaken.

Just now, when Prince Liang opened his eyes and saw Liu Ruofu lying beside him, he was so startled he nearly tumbled from the bed. He kept his composure and didn’t dare make a sound, his heart beating wildly as he realized he had fallen into a trap.

Last night after leaving the Dong residence, a woman had spoken to him through carriage curtains, saying… Dong Tizhen knew he had come to the Dong residence and wanted to meet him. Since going to the Dong residence already had an element of performing for Dong Tizhen to see, he suspected nothing and followed. Who knew that later his vision went dark and he lost consciousness.

If not for maintaining a thread of alertness in his heart, he probably wouldn’t have awakened at this hour.

Seeing Liu Ruofu beside him, after only a moment’s hesitation, he decided to grab his clothes and flee. Someone had set him up… and certainly wouldn’t let him smoothly marry Liu Ruofu, especially at this juncture when Great Liang was about to negotiate peace with Jin – it would only anger Father Emperor.

“Your Highness Prince Liang, no need to hide. Come out!”

Prince Liang froze. This was… Bai Qingyan’s voice.

How did she know he was here? Could it be… that Bai Qingyan had set him up?

Bai Qingyan’s gaze fell on the corner of clothing Prince Liang had exposed, raising her cold, fierce eyes, her fists clenched tightly to restrain her murderous intent.

“Your Highness Prince Liang, I’m returning to Shouyang today and have no time to waste here with you!”

Bai Qingyan’s voice came again. Prince Liang gritted his teeth, stood up straight to put on his outer robe, tied his belt, hid the defensive dagger at the small of his back, and emerged from behind the tree.

Seeing Bai Qingyan slowly descend from her carriage, Prince Liang concealed his hawk-like, terrifying gaze and put on a pitiful expression as he looked at Bai Qingyan: “Princess Zhenguo, this matter… could it be that you orchestrated this trap to harm me?”

“If I had orchestrated a trap to harm you, I absolutely wouldn’t have let you leave the residence… but would have made a scene to His Majesty!”

After Bai Qingyan finished speaking, Lu Ping had people drag out those three unregistered death warriors from the Crown Prince’s residence. The three were completely dead.

Prince Liang’s face was deathly pale. He shifted his gaze away from those three death warriors and looked directly at Bai Qingyan, who seemed to be smiling but was not smiling.