“I… once suspected that Prince Liang and the Empress had already joined forces. After all, the Imperial Teacher that Father Emperor appointed came from Prince Liang’s mansion! And now the most favored Concubine Qiu in the rear palace also came from Prince Liang’s mansion!” The Crown Prince’s eyes darkened, and thinking of Prince Liang made him gnash his teeth. “Moreover, when Prince Liang framed Duke Zhenguo for treason, it was for Prince Xin’s sake. I don’t believe Prince Liang is as weak and incompetent as he appears. I thought… all these matters were done by Prince Liang and the Empress working together.”

The Crown Prince leaned his elbow on the armrest and moved closer to Bai Qingyan: “But Princess Zhenguo said… it concerns the Imperial Family’s reputation, and mentioned Fu Ruoxi. Could it be… all these matters were done by the Empress and Fu Ruoxi?”

“I dare not deceive Your Highness, the Crown Prince. When Qingyan was young, I vaguely heard Grandmother mention once that it seemed before the Empress married His Majesty… before becoming the Crown Princess, she once had a marriage engagement with General Fu. But this matter happened many years ago, and I can’t remember it clearly. Later, when Your Highness mentioned seeing the Empress’s personal maid escort Fu Ruoxi out of the palace, I found it strange…”

“Later, I worried that someone in the Capital City direction would forge imperial edicts to control the Anping Military Camp, so I ordered Lu Ping to intercept messengers traveling between the Capital City and Anping Military Camp on the main road. We intercepted a letter that Fu Ruoxi was sending to the Capital City! Then there was Fu Ruoxi, disregarding the lives of the entire Fu Family and attempting to assassinate Your Highness in front of all the officers and soldiers of Anping Military Camp! I found this deeply strange. When I returned to the Capital City and saw Grandmother, the first thing I did was ask Grandmother about this matter. Grandmother said… she had indeed heard of such a thing back then, but because after His Majesty married the Empress, Fu Ruoxi also married a wife, and according to Old Madam Fu, they were betrothed from childhood, so at that time she only considered it baseless rumors!”

The Crown Prince’s palms tightened. He could already guess what Bai Qingyan was going to say next, and immediately held his breath.

The Empress and Fu Ruoxi?!

How dare they!

Seeing the Crown Prince’s face suddenly turn pale, Bai Qingyan understood that the Crown Prince had comprehended.

The reason for bringing up Grandmother, the Grand Princess, was first because both the Emperor and Crown Prince would somewhat trust Bai Qingyan’s grandmother, the current Grand Princess, and second… since this matter was told to Bai Qingyan by Nanny Jiang, bringing Wei Zhong, Grandmother must certainly already know!

From Lu Ning’e encountering the Empress and Fu Ruoxi’s secret meeting, to Wei Zhong investigating the relationship between the Empress and Fu Ruoxi, perhaps Grandmother only wanted to figure out why the Empress would seek Fu Ruoxi to plot a palace coup, or perhaps… with Grandmother’s wisdom, she already suspected whether the child in the Empress’s womb was truly the Emperor’s offspring.

But as the Grand Princess, Grandmother was already a member of the Bai Family. Even though entrusted by the Emperor to manage the rear palace, she could not rashly investigate the Empress. And the Grand Princess absolutely could not tolerate matters that would confuse the Imperial bloodline.

Regardless of whether this matter was true or false, it was an Imperial scandal that absolutely could not be exposed by the Grand Princess, lest it implicate her own granddaughters.

Even if this matter were to be exposed, it could only be revealed by someone from the Emperor’s rear palace, or… the Emperor’s own son. Only then would the Emperor not kill to keep secrets, since for a man, this matter could be considered an ultimate humiliation.

“Now that Prince Xin has returned to the capital, the identity of the heir in the Empress’s womb is unclear, and Prince Liang wants to sit on the fence, waiting for Your Highness and the Empress to fight… so he can profit like a fisherman. Originally, I thought that as long as Your Highness could remain steady, conduct yourself uprightly, and not give anyone leverage against you, those setting traps should become anxious! But if the child in the Empress’s womb is not His Majesty’s, if Your Highness quietly investigates this matter clearly and tells His Majesty when he awakens, letting His Majesty handle it privately… preserving His Majesty’s dignity would be a great achievement!”

Hearing the words “great achievement,” the Crown Prince perked up: “I would gladly hear Princess Zhenguo’s guidance.”

“Your Highness, there are currently two urgent matters. First, investigate clearly whether the matter of the Empress and General Fu having a marriage engagement years ago is true. This matter is not difficult to investigate. Your Highness can send people to find human traffickers in the Capital City, examine their records from the year His Majesty married the Empress, looking at changes in servants in both the Empress’s maternal family and the Fu Family! Find the old servants who were sold off and inquire of them!”

The Crown Prince’s face was tense as he nodded: “The matter of General Fu and the Empress having a marriage engagement back then must be investigated in detail, but the urgent priority is to determine the exact month when the Empress became pregnant! If it doesn’t differ from the day Fu Ruoxi entered and lingered in the palace, and if Father Emperor did not stay in the Empress’s palace during that period…”

The Crown Prince spoke halfway, then remembered that since the Empress became pregnant, she had been under the care of Imperial Physician Hu from the Imperial Medical Bureau. Also at the palace banquet… when the Empress had severe abdominal pain, she also said to summon Imperial Physician Hu, claiming that Imperial Physician Hu was familiar with the Empress’s body and pulse. This sounded reasonable, but if connected to the child in the Empress’s womb, not being Father Emperor’s, then it became suspicious.

“If it’s truly not Father Emperor’s child, but the Empress and Fu Ruoxi’s, then those four words ‘await the opportunity’ that Fu Ruoxi sent to the Capital City were meant for the Empress?” The Crown Prince hated Fu Ruoxi to the point of gnashing his teeth, but also felt some joy in his heart.

The Crown Prince still kept those four words, “await the opportunity,” from Fu Ruoxi, planning to use them as evidence of Fu Ruoxi’s treason. It was just unfortunate… that the messenger died, so nothing could be interrogated from him.

If the child in the Empress’s womb was truly Fu Ruoxi’s, then Prince Xin and the Empress… would never have a chance to turn things around. How could Prince Liang be his match then?

The Crown Prince raised his eyebrows, took a long breath, leaned his back against the chair, with his lips showing a barely perceptible smile.

Time was of the essence. The Crown Prince thought for a moment and instructed: “Quan Yu, send people to summon Old Fang, Master Qin, and Master Ren!”

“Your Highness… this matter concerns the Imperial Family’s reputation. The fewer people who know, the better, lest His Majesty blame Your Highness the Crown Prince.” Bai Qingyan added.

The Crown Prince thought this made sense, so he said: “In this matter, I would like to entrust it to you, but Father Emperor’s suspicion of you has not been resolved. If you handle it, Father Emperor would instead become suspicious! Let’s entrust this matter to Old Fang!”

Quan Yu, standing at the door, heard this and turned to send someone to summon Old Fang.

Since Bai Qingyan could work for him, the Crown Prince naturally had to show consideration for Bai Qingyan as well.

“I don’t fear His Majesty’s suspicion, but I worry about ruining Your Highness’s affairs!” Bai Qingyan stood up and gave the Crown Prince a formal bow. “Then let’s entrust this matter to Old Fang. Old Fang is mature and prudent and will surely handle it well. I won’t stay longer!”

In this matter, Bai Qingyan could only serve as someone who guided the Crown Prince, not as the one who completed the task. Otherwise, the Crown Prince would suspect her. So even if the Crown Prince hadn’t said this, Bai Qingyan would have claimed she had no one in the Capital City and couldn’t investigate this matter in detail for the Crown Prince.

“By the way…” Bai Qingyan asked the Crown Prince as if suddenly remembering something, “On my way back to Princess Zhenguo’s mansion, I saw what seemed to be a battle report being delivered to the government office, coming from the east. Has something happened at Anping Military Camp?”