“Your Highness, the Crown Prince, what… what do you mean by this?” Lu Jin was so flustered that he didn’t dare raise his head.

The Crown Prince was also startled by Lu Jin’s sudden, clean, and straight kowtow without warning. After a moment of stunned silence, he quickly stepped forward to help Lu Jin up.

“Minister Lu, please rise!” After helping Lu Jin up, the Crown Prince continued, “This matter concerns the royal family’s reputation. I only wanted to ask Minister Lu not to speak of it before investigating everything, to act in secrecy, and also those jailers from just now… please ask Minister Lu to keep them in line!”

Lu Jin breathed a sigh of relief and repeatedly agreed: “Naturally! Naturally!”

“Then, this case is entrusted to Minister Lu!” After the Crown Prince nodded to Lu Jin, he walked down the high steps.

The Crown Prince’s guards brought over a horse. After the Crown Prince mounted, he looked deeply at Lu Jin.

Lu Jin quickly bowed formally and didn’t straighten up until he heard the Crown Prince and his escort cavalry gallop away, then leisurely rose and brushed the dust from his knees.

Lu Jin knew about Old Lady Fu of the Fu family. Though she was a woman from the inner quarters, she was an extremely shrewd and decisive person.

Today’s events all came from Old Lady Fu’s mouth, while Fu Ruoxi never spoke…

But with Old Lady Fu’s death, having essentially accused the Empress in front of Fu Ruoxi before dying, and Fu Ruoxi calling out to Old Lady Fu several times, trying to interrupt but unable to say more.

Based on this alone, Lu Jin knew… the truth no longer mattered, because what would come from Fu Ruoxi’s mouth—the most important witness—would be the same as Old Lady Fu’s account.

Because Fu Ruoxi could not betray the lives of the entire Fu family, could not betray Old Lady Fu’s life, and even less could he betray Old Lady Fu’s lifelong good reputation.

In the Dali Temple prison, a jailer ran out and bowed before saying to Lu Jin, “Sir, General Fu is frantically ramming the prison door like a madman, saying he wants to see Old Lady Fu!”

Lu Jin pressed his lips together and squinted for a long while before saying: “Go heat a pot of wine and prepare two small dishes. I’ll personally go see General Fu.”

“Yes! This subordinate will prepare them immediately!”

After the jailer withdrew, Lu Jin stood at the entrance of the Dali Temple prison for a long time without moving.

It wasn’t until the capital city suddenly became windy, causing the high-hanging lanterns in front of the Dali Temple prison to sway left and right, that Lu Jin clasped his hands behind his back and sighed inwardly, feeling that though the capital appeared calm on the surface, underneath it was turbulent with rising winds and surging clouds.

Chun Tao entered carrying a small silver cup filled with milk tea, pushing aside the azure curtains that had been lowered. She saw Bai Qingyan, who had already undone her hair knot, sitting on the soft couch by the window with her raven-black hair flowing freely. She was reading intently from a military treatise that Duke Zhenguo Bai Weiting had once annotated, leaning against a ginger-yellow hidden pillow, with a thin velvet blanket draped over her knees.

Chun Tao stepped forward with small steps, placing the small silver cup and silver spoon in front of Bai Qingyan, saying gently: “First Miss has been exhausted for so many days. Now that you’ve finally returned to the capital, please rest early!”

“I’m afraid I can’t rest yet.” Bai Qingyan picked up the hot tea beside her and took a sip, looking up at Chun Tao, whose face also showed exhaustion. “You go rest. You don’t need to attend to me here.”

“This servant will stay here to accompany First Miss.” Chun Tao casually placed the black lacquered tray aside and deftly closed the window lattice that had been left slightly ajar, then went to trim the lamp wick, fearing the light was too dim and would hurt Bai Qingyan’s eyes.

Bai Qingyan placed the book on her knees and said to Chun Tao, who was as busy as a spinning top: “If you collapse from exhaustion… who will take care of my daily needs? I’ll read a bit more and then sleep. No one needs to keep vigil tonight. Be obedient!”

Chun Tao wanted to argue further, but just as First Miss said, if she collapsed, who would take care of First Miss’s daily needs, especially with Nanny Tong not here?

Chun Tao nodded, bowed to Bai Qingyan, and withdrew.

Just as the hour of zi (midnight) arrived, Bai Qingyan heard extremely faint sounds from outside the window. She closed her book and pushed the window lattice open slightly.

The warm yellow light from inside the room streamed out through the window lattice. A hidden guard quickly knelt and said, “Master, Old Lady Fu crashed into the wall and died in the Dali Temple prison. Before her death, she met with the Crown Prince and Dali Temple Minister Lu Jin. Minister Lu has ordered the Dali Temple jailers to keep Old Lady Fu’s final words secret, and also ordered that all jailers on duty tonight are not permitted to leave the Dali Temple prison from today onward. This subordinate was unable to investigate in detail. And now… all the generals who returned to the capital with Fu Ruoxi from the Anping Camp have been invited into the Dali Temple.”

Bai Qingyan’s hands resting on her knees tightened slightly, and her heart sank. It wasn’t surprising that the Anping Camp generals were invited to the Dali Temple—Lu Jin would need to summon them for questioning to investigate this case thoroughly.

But she truly hadn’t expected that Old Lady Fu… would crash into the wall and die.

Old Lady Fu wasn’t the type of person who would collapse when faced with trouble or threaten Fu Ruoxi with her life. So… Old Lady Fu was using her death to create a scheme to save the entire Fu family.

Bai Qingyan closed her eyes. She didn’t know what Old Lady Fu had said to the Crown Prince and Lu Jin.

But Bai Qingyan could guess that regardless of what Old Lady Fu had told the Crown Prince and Lu Jin, this time the Empress would likely have no chance of recovery.

The Empress had sought out Fu Ruoxi, implicating the entire Fu family. Since Old Lady Fu was determined to die… she would drag the Empress down with her. Only by dragging down the Empress… would the Crown Prince intervene to help.

Bai Qingyan believed that with Old Lady Fu’s wisdom, she had forced the Crown Prince to promise to protect the entire Fu family in front of everyone.

Though the Fu family hadn’t been one of the most prominent aristocratic families in the capital for many years, they had produced generals for generations and had been loyal to the Jin for generations. Later, Fu Ruoxi emerged… everyone said it was the Fu family’s ancestral virtue that had produced someone who could bring glory to the Fu family!

Who would have thought he would be deeply trapped by love and nearly harm the entire Fu family?

Old Lady Fu had already done everything possible for her descendants!

The reason Old Lady Fu had no choice but to use her own life to pave the way for the Crown Prince’s goals was because after meeting the Crown Prince, Old Lady Fu would know that the Crown Prince and the Emperor were the same.

People like them, even if the Fu family showed loyalty, if these loyal people couldn’t sacrifice their lives to pave the way for them, they wouldn’t expend even a bit of energy to protect the Fu family. So she could only seek a chance for the Fu family’s survival by assisting the Crown Prince’s schemes.

Bai Qingyan gripped the velvet blanket covering her legs tightly to steady her voice before saying, “Understood. Pass this news to Prince Xin’s ears.”

The hidden guard acknowledged and disappeared beneath the corridor as the candlelight flickered.

She looked at the hazy candlelight swaying in the glass shade, thinking of Fu Ruoxi. She wondered… having witnessed his mother’s suicide before his very eyes, would Fu Ruoxi still be able to protect the Empress as he had before?

She deliberately had someone pass this news to Prince Xin’s ears. The Empress would be unable to sit still. At this time… with the Crown Prince’s return to the capital, the Empress and Prince Xin were already at a disadvantage. What the Empress feared most was Fu Ruoxi revealing everything, so she might very well send people to eliminate Fu Ruoxi.

And Prince Xin… would only accelerate his pressure on his uncle Zhong Shaozhong to contact former associates.