Seeing that Fu Ruoxi had made up his mind and would follow her words, Bai Qingyan finally said: “Uncle Ping, first take General Fu to rest. Tomorrow morning, find a way to send General Fu out of the city. After settling General Fu, Uncle Ping, come back once more—I have matters to instruct.”
“Yes!”
Lu Ping acknowledged and led Fu Ruoxi away.
Before long, Lu Ping returned.
Bai Qingyan walked a few steps closer to Lu Ping and lowered her voice: “Uncle Ping, before dawn, I need a corpse missing its right arm, dressed in Fu Ruoxi’s clothes, and beheaded. Can Uncle Ping accomplish this?”
The First Miss wanted to fake Fu Ruoxi’s corpse. This was rather troublesome—Fu Ruoxi was missing his right arm, and the arm had been severed not long ago.
Lu Ping gritted his teeth. Fu Ruoxi would return on October 15th, so they only needed to fool people for two days. It wasn’t entirely impossible. He cupped his hands and replied: “First Miss, rest assured. Before dawn, Lu Ping will handle it!”
After Lu Ping left, Qinghui Courtyard became quiet again, so quiet that only the sound of the wind remained.
Chun Tao looked at Bai Qingyan standing under the corridor lamp with furrowed brows and said gently: “First Miss, please sleep…”
“Mm!” Bai Qingyan responded. Indeed, she should sleep. She needed to rest well—tomorrow would be the main event.
Tonight, it wasn’t only Bai Qingyan who couldn’t sleep. The Crown Prince, Imperial Teacher Old Tan, and Lu Jin likewise couldn’t rest.
The Crown Prince and Imperial Teacher Old Tan had just obtained Fu Ruoxi’s confession when the Grand Court of Judicial Review prison suddenly caught fire.
Lu Jin immediately realized someone had come to kill Fu Ruoxi. While everyone was wholeheartedly fighting the assassins who had come to kill Fu Ruoxi and were busy with firefighting, Lu Jin ordered the reinforcement jailers to transfer Fu Ruoxi first. But later… Fu Ruoxi disappeared.
Besides the corpses of those suicide soldiers, Lu Jin discovered there were two additional jailer corpses. After identification by the jailers below, they claimed these two people weren’t jailers from their Grand Court of Judicial Review prison at all. Lu Jin was so shocked he nearly fell over.
The Crown Prince and Imperial Teacher Old Tan also looked grave, feeling that the Empress and Prince Xin’s people were simply omnipotent. They became even more cautious and immediately ordered a headcount of the Grand Court of Judicial Review jailers.
“Since Fu Ruoxi’s testimony is already in hand, Your Highness need not hesitate any longer… arrest Prince Xin,” Imperial Teacher Old Tan decided decisively. “Also have the Patrol Battalion search the entire city for Fu Ruoxi—we want him alive or we want to see his corpse!”
The Crown Prince’s hands, hidden behind his back, clenched tightly. He had a contemplative expression as he lowered his eyes, remaining silent.
He wanted to completely bring down the Empress and Prince Xin, but currently, they only had Fu Ruoxi’s testimony without physical evidence. If in the future Prince Xin and the Empress waited for Father Emperor to wake up and claimed Fu Ruoxi was falsely accusing them, given Father Emperor’s past favoritism toward Prince Xin, he would very likely raise his hand high but bring it down gently.
There was also the matter Old Fang mentioned about bribing a palace maid who had once served beside the Empress. After all, this concerned imperial bloodline… if Father Emperor investigated thoroughly and discovered it was his Crown Prince’s mansion playing tricks…
The Crown Prince couldn’t help but shudder. He would become a Crown Prince who framed his younger brother, and the Father Emperor might very well depose him.
The Crown Prince understood his Father Emperor—only if… Prince Xin threatened his imperial power and throne. Would his Father Emperor, possibly take Prince Xin’s life?
Therefore, to ensure the Empress and Prince Xin could never turn things around, they had to raise troops and force a palace coup, with irrefutable evidence.
It would be best if the capital descended into chaos. Only in chaos… would Father Emperor know that the Empress and Prince Xin truly intended rebellion, and know that he was a good son.
Fortunately, there were still twenty thousand Anping Great Camp troops outside the city gates, and Patrol Battalion Commander Fan Yuhuai was also his man.
“Imperial Teacher Old Tan, currently, we only have Fu Ruoxi’s testimony in hand, but we don’t have the letters the Empress wrote to Fu Ruoxi. This isn’t sufficient to prove that what Fu Ruoxi said is true. If we rashly detain Prince Xin, I fear Father Emperor will blame us when he awakens,” the Crown Prince furrowed his brow. “Though Prince Xin has been stripped of his title and made a commoner, he’s still the Father Emperor’s legitimate son. In handling this matter… if I don’t grasp the proper measure, I’ll be criticized.”
Imperial Teacher Old Tan’s brow twitched. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Quan Yu hurrying in from outside the Grand Court of Judicial Review office. He walked around the black lacquered sandalwood pillar to the Crown Prince’s side, covered his mouth with one hand, and informed the Crown Prince about Zhong Shaozhong’s meeting with his former subordinates at the flower house.
Indeed, the Zhong family was about to rebel.
The Crown Prince didn’t dare delay and immediately told Imperial Teacher Old Tan: “Imperial Teacher… Zhong Shaozhong is gathering his former Imperial Guard subordinates at the flower house. I fear they’re about to cause trouble!”
Imperial Teacher Old Tan’s grip on Fu Ruoxi’s confession tightened as he said: “Your Highness, to prevent chaos in the capital, send people to arrest Zhong Shaozhong and his group!”
Hearing Imperial Teacher Old Tan say this, the Crown Prince nodded repeatedly and ordered Quan Yu to command the Patrol Battalion to go arrest them.
As long as they could catch Zhong Shaozhong and the others red-handed, the Empress and Prince Xin wouldn’t be able to deny it.
Inside the flower house.
Seeing that all the trustworthy former subordinates had arrived, Zhong Shaozhong lifted the hem of his robe and knelt before his former subordinates.
Zhong Shaozhong’s former subordinates hurriedly knelt as well, all panicking: “Sir! Sir, what is the meaning of this?”
“Everyone, today Zhong Shaozhong has invited you all here because I’ve been entrusted by the Empress to ask you all to save His Majesty!” Saying this, Zhong Shaozhong bowed to all his former subordinates, tears streaming down as he said, “I won’t hide it from you all—while the public announcement claims His Majesty is bathing and fasting for forty-nine days to pray for our Jin nation’s blessings, the truth is… His Majesty fell from his horse and remains unconscious to this day!”
The Imperial Guard generals were greatly shocked.
There are no walls without cracks in this world. Some of them had heard whispers about the Emperor’s fall and coma.
Zhong Shaozhong gritted his teeth tightly: “This matter was the Crown Prince’s doing! Seeing that the Empress was again pregnant with a legitimate son and His Majesty had summoned Prince Xin back to the capital, the Crown Prince deeply felt his position as Crown Prince was threatened. That’s why he acted against His Majesty, intending to frame the Empress and Prince Xin, wanting to kill two birds with one stone—eliminate the Empress and Prince Xin while also causing His Majesty’s death… so he, as Crown Prince, could ascend the throne with rightful justification!”
“But… but this doesn’t make sense! I heard His Majesty fell from his horse when the Crown Prince was still in Dengzhou…” one Imperial Guard general said.
“This is precisely the Crown Prince’s cleverness!” Zhong Shaozhong had prepared for this, and tears seemed to flow from the pain: “With the Crown Prince far away in Dengzhou, no one would suspect the Crown Prince. They might even suspect the Empress and Prince Xin of acting against His Majesty, wanting to take advantage of the Crown Prince’s absence from the capital to cause chaos and support Prince Xin’s ascension!”
“But think about it, everyone!” Zhong Shaozhong cupped his hands toward the direction of the palace: “If His Majesty dies, who benefits most! It’s the Crown Prince! If His Majesty dies… the Crown Prince’s ascension would be the natural course of events!”
Zhong Shaozhong’s former subordinates frowned deeply, looking around at their colleagues before one spoke first: “Sir, I also heard that this time Fu Ruoxi was brought back under arrest because he followed the Empress’s orders to assassinate the Crown Prince!”
Zhong Shaozhong looked solemnly at his former subordinates: “If Fu Ruoxi’s assassination attempt on the Crown Prince was truly on the Empress’s orders, why can’t the Crown Prince’s side produce any evidence even now?”