“Did none of you detect anything abnormal about Zhao Shunde’s words and actions these past few days?”

Guo Rong’s eyes glared grimly at the inner residence servants standing before the great hall. He hadn’t expected that after watching over Linjiang Marquis Manor for two months without incident, the manor would erupt into chaos in just half a day while he returned to the palace to handle business.

Han Qian sat in the lower hall with Feng Yi and Kong Xirong, his eyes looking around nonchalantly as if today’s matter had absolutely nothing to do with him.

With such an incident occurring, no one dared to conceal it. Since Guo Rong wasn’t at the manor at the time, Deputy Manor Supervisor Guan Bao rushed to the palace to report the matter.

How the Emperor raged upon hearing this news, Han Qian and the others didn’t know. They only knew that very quickly a contingent of guards rushed from the palace and took the Third Prince Yang Yuanpu away.

Afterward, Inner Attendant Bureau Deputy Director Shen He and Guo Rong hurriedly rushed over, gathered everyone together, and investigated the matter. Chen De and Qian Wenxun led the Guard Battalion in sealing off Linjiang Marquis Manor.

After the incident occurred, Han Qian had been secretly lamenting. He had originally hoped the Third Prince would deliberately lose control and severely injure or “accidentally kill” one or two detestable servants, then voluntarily admit fault and seek forgiveness. This way, it would both make it difficult for Anning Palace to impose punishment and establish authority among the manor’s servants. He could also legitimately “not dare to avoid or slight” the Third Prince without having to deliberately evade Anning Palace’s omnipresent eyes and ears.

However, he never imagined the Third Prince would be so hasty. Without enduring a few more days to find a better opportunity, he actually directly framed a subordinate servant for attempting to assassinate him.

After the incident occurred, Han Qian was somewhat dumbfounded and deeply frightened.

A prince accidentally killing someone versus a prince encountering assassination and killing the assassin in counterattack were fundamentally two completely different types of incidents. Yang Yuanpu only focused on struggling against his constraints but didn’t consider how great the difference between these was, or how much trouble it might provoke!

An assassination attempt on a prince—generally speaking, such a major matter should be sent to the Censorate and Court of Judicial Review to jointly investigate with the Imperial Clan Court.

Once the Censorate, Court of Judicial Review, and Imperial Clan Court were all involved, Han Qian couldn’t estimate at all in which direction the situation would develop.

However, the palace ultimately dispatched Inner Attendant Bureau Deputy Director Shen He to investigate this matter together with Guo Rong and Chen De, which allowed Han Qian to relax slightly. He guessed that Emperor Tianyou didn’t want the situation to escalate—otherwise, he truly didn’t know how to resolve it.

At present, it had been determined that the dagger used in the “assassination” wasn’t brought into the manor by Zhao Shunde but was inadvertently lost by a guard from the Guard Battalion. This guard adamantly refused to admit colluding with Zhao Shunde and was currently detained under Shen He and Guo Rong’s orders for interrogation under torture.

At this time, over a dozen palace attendants and maids from the inner residence who had connections to Zhao Shunde were all brought to the great hall for questioning. But after interrogating them all afternoon until now when the red candles burned high, nothing substantive had been extracted.

How could anything substantive possibly be extracted?

Song Xin stood with hands on hips behind Guo Rong, her chest thrust prominently forward. Those rather alluring eyes were now filled with gloom, fixed on Li Chong.

Song Xin had initially also been panicked, only thinking of ensuring the Third Prince Yang Yuanpu was safe and sound to avoid them being implicated and inviting fatal disaster. But now with her mind calm, she naturally could see that today’s assassination had too many suspicious points.

Zhao Shunde was a tall, burly man. No matter how diligently the Third Prince Yang Yuanpu had practiced riding and archery these past two months, he was still a physically frail youth not yet fourteen years old. How could Zhao Shunde’s hasty assassination attempt fail, yet conversely result in the Third Prince Yang Yuanpu stabbing him with scissors?

When everyone rushed over upon hearing the commotion, Li Chong’s first reaction to subdue Zhao Shunde wasn’t wrong, but during the process of subduing Zhao Shunde, he directly crushed Zhao Shunde’s throat—wasn’t that using excessive force?

And now, not only were all the palace attendants and maids connected to Zhao Shunde dragged out for interrogation, but the guard who lost the dagger had also been tortured all afternoon without uncovering any trace of evidence. Wasn’t the matter clear enough?

At this time, Li Chong only stared at the blue-patterned bricks on the floor. Others couldn’t see what expression was on his face, but seeing his shoulders rigid, it was evident he was under tremendous pressure.

Han Qian touched his nose and observed Shen He and Guo Rong standing in the hall with grim faces.

As Inner Attendant Bureau Deputy Director and Wenying Palace Attendant, Shen He was one of the eunuch officials most trusted by Emperor Tianyou. Although he was investigating the assassination case by imperial decree, he rarely spoke after arriving at Linjiang Marquis Manor, mainly leaving it to Guo Rong and Chen De to bring forth the manor’s people for thorough questioning.

However, Shen He wasn’t like Song Xin—he seemed uninterested in Li Chong. Half a day had passed and his eyes had barely paused on Li Chong at all.

Han Qian sighed slightly in his heart, secretly thinking it was strange. Previously, he had been blind to all these kinds of details, but the memories of Zhai Xinping from the dream realm seemed to have merged into his bloodstream. From this seemingly deadlocked scene, he could perceive far too much information.

The Third Prince Yang Yuanpu’s acting was very clumsy. No one was a fool. Shen He could earn Emperor Tianyou’s trust and be commissioned by Emperor Tianyou to investigate the case of the prince’s assassination—he was even less likely to be a fool. How could he not see the flaws within?

When Emperor Tianyou received the report, he should have already guessed this case was most likely a family scandal. He didn’t send the case to the Censorate to jointly investigate with the Court of Judicial Review and Imperial Clan Court but instead dispatched Shen He—the purpose was that family scandals shouldn’t be made public.

When Shen He came and noticed the flaws yet completely ignored Li Chong, naturally he was following Emperor Tianyou’s will not to publicize the family scandal. But he also didn’t directly cover up this case. Instead, he had Guo Rong and Chen De drag out the manor’s people for investigation. Fundamentally, Shen He also didn’t want to offend Anning Palace.

Whether to expose the Third Prince Yang Yuanpu’s clumsy acting—he was actually just watching Guo Rong and Chen De engage in a battle of wills, wasn’t he?

This way, Shen He didn’t have to be caught between Emperor Tianyou and Anning Palace, unable to satisfy either side.

Of course, Guo Rong’s reaction was also very strange. After bringing the palace attendants and maids connected to Zhao Shunde to the great hall, he repeatedly asked only those same questions, even using eye signals to restrain the eager Song Xin, not letting her impulsively direct her accusations toward Li Chong.

Guo Rong was stalling for time—perhaps waiting for Anning Palace to make a final decision before deciding whether to lift the lid?

“…”

After waiting a good while longer, hurried footsteps sounded in the courtyard. Then they saw Deputy Manor Supervisor Guan Bao, who had gone to the palace at noon to report the news and disappeared all afternoon, only now rushing back. He walked to Guo Rong’s side and whispered several sentences.

Inner Attendant Bureau Deputy Director Shen He narrowed his eyes, as if turning a blind eye to the scene before him.

“This case has been thoroughly investigated. It was Zhao Shunde harboring malicious intent, colluding with Guard Zhao Cang to plot the assassination of His Highness,” Guo Rong said, turning to Shen He seated in the hall.

“Truly thoroughly investigated?” Shen He asked.

“Thoroughly investigated,” Guo Rong affirmed. “This one failed to detect it, allowing villains to infiltrate the manor. I will return to the palace together with Director Shen to request punishment from His Majesty.”

“Requesting punishment from me now is pointless. Since the case has been thoroughly investigated, everything awaits His Majesty’s judgment,” Shen He said. His body was corpulent—he must weigh no less than two hundred pounds. At this time, he supported himself on the armrests and pulled his massive body from the narrow grand armchair. As if unwilling to stay at Linjiang Marquis Manor a moment longer, he took two young eunuchs in blue robes and hurried back to the palace to report.

Since the case had been “investigated” thoroughly, Han Qian and the others could each return to their manors.

Although the Guard Battalion sealed off the manor and strictly forbade news from leaking out, with such a major incident occurring, at minimum the Han family, Feng family, Kong family, and Xinchang Marquis Manor couldn’t possibly be completely unaware.

When Han Qian walked out of the manor, besides Zhao Kuo, Fan Dahei, and Lin Haizheng waiting outside the manor, Fan Xicheng and Han Laoshan were also standing before a carriage waiting for him to emerge.

The night was already deep. Han Qian and the others hadn’t really eaten lunch, and at this time were ravenously hungry with no energy to ride horses. He walked toward the carriage, preparing to take it back.

“Seventh Young Master Han, the hour is still early. You and I should go somewhere to drink and calm our nerves,” Li Chong strode over from behind and without allowing refusal, grabbed Han Qian’s arm, not letting him leave.

“The night is already so deep. Presumably His Highness will stay in the palace for several more days this time. It won’t be too late for us to drink together tomorrow to calm our nerves,” Han Qian said, looking up at the crescent moon climbing above the treetops.

That Li Chong hadn’t been frightened into utter panic today already counted as quite composed. Han Qian secretly lamented, thinking that if he went with Li Chong now, even if Li Chong didn’t stab him with a blade in his fury, he would most likely give him a severe beating!

“Seventh Young Master isn’t even interested in going to Wanhong Tower, which you usually miss most?” Li Chong stared viciously at Han Qian. At this moment, he wanted to tear him to shreds. Recklessly instigating the Third Prince so rashly had nearly caused them to lose everything. If he didn’t teach Han Qian a lesson today, how could he swallow this anger?

“…” Seeing Li Chong’s uncontainable fury as he insisted on dragging him to Wanhong Tower to settle accounts, Han Qian knew he couldn’t escape this calamity. He said to Fan Xicheng, “The Young Marquis insists on taking me drinking. I can’t decline. You all go back first and tell my father. I’ll return after drinking with the Young Marquis.”

Fan Xicheng, Zhao Kuo, and the others didn’t know what was happening, but seeing Han Qian already being pulled by Li Chong onto another carriage, they could only return first and discuss later.

Feng Yi and Kong Xirong, seeing this scene, were full of astonishment, not knowing when Han Qian and Li Chong’s relationship had become so close.