But—

After thinking for a moment, he suddenly snapped back to reality!

He shook his head!

What marriage or not marriage?

Was he sick or something?

He immediately stood up, showing a face full of disgust again, and quickly turned around to leave the room, closing the door behind him.

Then, he went to another small room partitioned off in the attic.

After pushing the door open, he locked it.

The space inside wasn’t large, but it was quite elegant. The surroundings were filled with bookshelves, and the shelves were stacked with books. Each book seemed to have been stored for a long time, so much so that they all looked somewhat worn.

He searched through them once, then took down a book from above!

The cover of the book in his hand bore the two characters “Medical Records”!

This was the medical text left behind by his father who had drunk himself to death. Each volume was a treasure, with every book recording many rare cases, large and small. They contained the origins of diseases, medical principles and medicinal materials, difficult and complicated illnesses, and secret formulas for refining various poisons.

For Ji Yunshu’s illness, he could only leaf through the medical texts his father had left behind, to see if he could find any records related to toad poison.

……

Prince Yi’s Manor.

The news that Jingrong had returned to the capital and entered the palace had reached Jing Yi’s ears two hours ago.

Calculating the time, Jingrong had already left the palace and returned to his manor by now.

Yet at this moment, he sat calmly in his seat, brewing tea with composure.

In a corner of the room hung an exquisite birdcage. The bird inside the cage chirped incessantly, jumping up and down!

Extremely unruly!

Dou Quan stood nearby, not daring to make a sound.

But seeing that Jingrong had already returned to the capital, yet his own prince remained so calm, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat worried.

After thinking it over, he stepped forward to remind him, “Your Highness, at this time, if Prince Rong remains in the capital, in the future I fear…”

Before he could finish—

Jing Yi, who had been calm and composed, suddenly picked up the small teacup beside him and violently smashed it toward the ground.

“Bang!”

The sound was extremely loud.

The originally exquisite and delicate small porcelain cup shattered into pieces on the ground.

What a pity!

Dou Quan immediately shrank back.

“Your Highness, please forgive this servant.”

Jing Yi’s eyes were sinister, and his lips curved into a strange smile, as if the person who had just thrown the cup wasn’t him at all.

“He wants to compete with this prince? Well, we’ll see how he can possibly compete with this prince. Even if we let him enter the capital with the late emperor’s edict, so what? Now, nearly all the civil and military officials in court are this prince’s people. Even if he sprouted wings, he still couldn’t fly out of this prince’s palm.”

Full of confidence!

His eyes were gloomy.

Dou Quan dared not speak further.

Just at this moment, Ji Li entered Prince Yi’s Manor. He had just withdrawn his men from outside the capital, and his blood-stained clothes hadn’t been changed yet, but he had rushed over in a hurry.

Jing Yi gestured to Dou Quan with his eyes, signaling him to quickly clean up the shattered cup on the ground.

Dou Quan understood and used his foot to sweep all the fragments on the ground to one side.

Ji Li entered, his face cold and stern, unsmiling, and bowed with clasped hands, “Greetings to Your Highness.”

And Jing Yi greeted him with a smiling face, “Minister Ji has worked hard.”

“What Your Highness entrusted, this official was unable to accomplish. I had already given orders to kill Prince Rong, but Qin Shiyu suddenly arrived with an imperial edict.”

“This prince already knows all that you’ve said.” Jing Yi stood up, walked around the table in front of him, and approached him while saying, “Actually, not just you, Minister Ji, even this prince never anticipated that Prince Rong would have a copy of the late emperor’s edict in his hands. Today, outside the city, no matter who it was, it would have been impossible to stop him.”

Ji Li harbored doubts, “However, this official suspects that imperial edict might be fake.”

“It’s not possibly fake, but definitely fake.”

Hm?

Ji Li’s eyes narrowed.

Jing Yi explained, “As this prince knows, His Majesty did not issue an edict, but rather conveyed an oral decree. Qin Shiyu must have received the news early, so he falsely transmitted an imperial edict and saved Jingrong’s life. This Qin Shiyu is quite bold indeed. However, since he was able to safely leave the palace, it means His Majesty isn’t pursuing the matter either. From this, it’s clear that His Majesty’s secret decree to have Jingrong return to the capital is now a foregone conclusion.”

“So Your Highness is just letting it go like this?”

“Letting it go?”

He smiled, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked to the birdcage, picking up a fine feather nearby and reaching it into the cage to tease the bird.

The bird, which had already been chirping and jumping up and down, became even more excited under the teasing of the feather.

The more it behaved this way, the broader the smile on Jing Yi’s face became.

Yet it was also extremely eerie.

He chirped “tweet tweet tweet” at the bird a few times.

Then he said, “Even if he’s returned to the capital now, this prince cannot let him return so easily.”

His words carried hidden meaning!

Turning his head, he instructed Dou Quan, “Go notify them that tomorrow during morning court, all the ministers must make a big fuss about the disaster relief silver matter. Make it as big as possible.”

“This subordinate understands.”

“As for you, Minister Ji…” His bird-teasing motion stopped, and he turned to look at Ji Li. “Although you have your duties to protect the capital and the palace’s safety, he is still a prince after all. If he had been killed, that would be one thing, but now you’ve let him escape with his life. Tomorrow in court, Father Emperor will certainly hold you accountable. Deploying troops to block is a responsibility, but sending troops to kill is a crime.”

It was a reminder!

He was washing his hands of this matter quite cleanly.

Ji Li smiled, “Your Highness’s words are using a horse as a shield. This official can only accept it, but… I said before that I, Ji Li, am unwilling to participate in factional struggles. This matter, I’ll shoulder it, but after this, there won’t be a next time.”

“Minister Ji, rest assured. This matter was beyond expectation. Since you’ve helped this prince this time, your sister’s matter, this prince will naturally keep it secret. But I must repeat that…” he said, “If this prince wins, then your Ji family wins. If this prince loses, then your Ji family loses.”

Ji Li’s expression turned cold, his eyes blazing like torches, staring intently at the feather in Jing Yi’s hand.

He said nothing!

Jing Yi continued teasing the bird. He said, “Back then, Father Emperor bestowed upon this prince a golden silk finch. That bird was extremely docile, staying in its cage only knowing to chirp cheerfully, unlike this red-beaked bird with its fierce nature, struggling desperately to rush out of its cage. But the more it behaves like this, the more this prince wants to keep it tightly confined.”

Just like a pervert!

As if to say he enjoyed taming and controlling things.

Such a person, with eyes only for power and status, was someone who could sacrifice even relatives for these two things.

If he truly became emperor, all the civil and military officials in court would be corrupt ministers.

After a long while—

He put down the feather, slowly withdrew his sinister gaze, and stared at the bird in confusion, wondering aloud, “It’s just… this prince cannot understand why Father Emperor would summon Jingrong back?”

Idiot, you don’t even understand this!

Isn’t it because you were too hasty, and coupled with the assassin sent to the capital being killed in the Court of Judicial Review’s prison, all these incidents made Emperor Qizhen inevitably suspect that you instigated that good-for-nothing son of his to rebel and commit regicide? Just on this point alone, your father won’t look favorably upon you, let alone other matters.

He wondered again, “And what exactly is written in that edict?”

Unable to figure it out no matter how hard he thought.