The Crown Prince’s brow furrowed tightly upon hearing these words.

“Until the criminal emerged from Prince Liang’s mansion, the person who saved the criminal had someone summon the criminal to a residence. Later, the elderly man and the gentleman from the Crown Prince’s mansion arrived. That person made me tell the two gentlemen from the Crown Prince’s mansion his name, then had someone take me away. Later, he brought me to the Crown Prince’s mansion. This is everything the criminal knows!” Wang Qiulu finished speaking and kowtowed again. “The criminal knows that the criminal’s sins are unforgivable and dares not deceive Your Highness again.”

“Is it… did Princess Zhenguo save you, and you’re saying this to avoid implicating Princess Zhenguo?” the Crown Prince asked.

“Your Highness, the criminal also doesn’t know whether it was Princess Zhenguo who saved the criminal! If Your Highness doesn’t believe me, you can certainly ask the two gentlemen from your mansion about who exactly that person was—the one who claimed to have saved the criminal and then handed the criminal over to the two gentlemen from the Crown Prince’s mansion! The criminal is also very eager to know!”

The Crown Prince straightened in his seat, gazing intently at Wang Qiulu who was prostrated at his feet, his fingers rubbing against the armrest of his chair.

The tightly bound jailer and the gambler from Shouyang trembled all over, kneeling there, not daring to breathe heavily.

“What do you two have to say?” the Crown Prince looked toward the jailer and the gambler.

Those two only kept their heads buried, trembling, completely unaware that the Crown Prince was calling them. Quan Yu stepped forward with quick steps and kicked the jailer down, shouting sternly: “The Crown Prince is asking you questions, why don’t you answer!”

The jailer struck his head against the ground, making loud banging sounds as he hit the floor: “Your Highness, spare this humble one’s life! This humble one… this humble one was deceived by my cousin. My cousin brought eight hundred taels in silver notes to this humble one. This humble one became blinded by greed and helped with this scheme of switching death row prisoners! Please spare this humble one’s life, Your Highness!”

The gambler imitated his cousin’s manner, kowtowing forcefully until his forehead turned bright red, urgently pleading to the Crown Prince: “Your Highness! Your Highness! Someone gave this humble one five hundred taels of silver, promising that after the matter was accomplished, they would give this humble one another three hundred taels. This humble one only then went to find my cousin for help! This humble one… this humble one truly knows nothing! Your Highness!”

“Who gave you the silver? Was it Princess Zhenguo… or someone from Princess Zhenguo’s mansion?” the Crown Prince asked.

“This humble one doesn’t know! This humble one truly knows nothing! That person came with their face covered… please spare this humble one’s life, Your Highness!” The gambler only kept kowtowing, and after kowtowing for a while, he fainted.

The jailer was so frightened he nearly cried out, closing his eyes in endurance, trembling even more violently.

“Speaking of Princess Zhenguo…” Quan Yu took the opportunity to replace the Crown Prince’s tea with a fresh hot cup, saying, “I heard from the nanny beside the Crown Princess earlier that today Princess Zhenguo doesn’t seem to be doing very well. Princess Zhenguo’s sister, Madam Qin, personally came to the door, begging Your Highness to grant an imperial physician to go examine Princess Zhenguo.”

Quan Yu chose this moment to speak because he could see that the Crown Prince harbored some suspicion toward Bai Qingyan, wanting to remind the Crown Prince of how Bai Qingyan had saved him… to dispel his doubts about Bai Qingyan.

“Princess Zhenguo is not doing well? In what way is she not doing well?” the Crown Prince looked toward Quan Yu.

“Your Highness, this servant accompanied Your Highness to the palace and was not at the mansion, so truly doesn’t know the details!”

“What about the imperial physician? Did the Crown Princess send one to Princess Zhenguo?” the Crown Prince asked urgently.

Quan Yu nodded: “The nanny said that the Crown Princess, being kind-hearted, sent a nanny from the Crown Prince’s mansion along with an imperial physician to Princess Zhenguo’s mansion.”

The Crown Prince’s palm tightened, and before his eyes seemed to appear again the image of Bai Qingyan pushing him away while she was pierced through the chest by an arrow.

The Crown Prince became somewhat restless, his tone anxious: “Quan Yu, personally go to Princess Zhenguo’s mansion to inquire, and bring along several more imperial physicians. We must… not let anything happen to Princess Zhenguo!”

“Yes!” Quan Yu acknowledged the command, quickly striding out of the main hall to summon imperial physicians to accompany him to Princess Zhenguo’s mansion.

“Have Old Fang and Ren Shijie come in!” the Crown Prince lifted the hot tea beside him, speaking to the eunuch guarding inside the main hall.

The eunuch responded and walked out quickly to invite Old Fang and Ren Shijie back.

Since Old Fang and Ren Shijie had been dismissed earlier, they didn’t know what Wang Qiulu had said to the Crown Prince, so they could only truthfully recount the entire sequence of events to the Crown Prince exactly as it happened.

“Li Mingrui approached Ren first. He told Ren that he had evidence proving Princess Zhenguo saved a treasonous criminal. Ren felt this matter was of great importance and didn’t dare report it lightly to Your Highness without investigating thoroughly, lest it damage the friendship between Your Highness and Princess Zhenguo. So Ren informed Old Fang of this matter!”

As Ren Shijie spoke, he looked toward Old Fang. Old Fang nodded and continued: “After learning of this matter, this old one couldn’t uncover any clues, so they sent people to Shouyang to investigate the Bai clan. We unexpectedly encountered this gambler here. This gambler, when drunk, blurted out this matter. This old one then investigated… and discovered that this gambler had recently paid off his gambling debts, bought a house, and married a beautiful concubine. Then investigated his cousin who works as a jailer in the Court of Judicial Review’s prison, and coincidentally discovered that this jailer had recently bought a house and was spending very generously. The clues connected.”

Ren Shijie also nodded: “Today, that Li Mingrui arranged to meet with Old Fang and me, saying he would hand Wang Qiulu over to the Crown Prince’s mansion. It happened to coincide with the Crown Princess giving birth, so Old Fang and I didn’t dare disturb Your Highness. We accepted the invitation to meet Li Mingrui and took custody of Wang Qiulu and this jailer from Li Mingrui!”

“Oh yes…” Ren Shijie seemed to suddenly remember something, speaking solemnly to the Crown Prince: “That Li Mingrui also said he would give the credit for this matter to Old Fang and me, saying we needed to establish merit before Your Highness more than he did! He said he did this because his younger brother’s legs were broken by Princess Zhenguo, and he wanted to vent his anger. But Left Chancellor Li Mao wouldn’t allow him to seek revenge against Princess Zhenguo. He didn’t want Left Chancellor to know he had violated Left Chancellor’s orders, so he specifically instructed Old Fang and me not to mention him before Your Highness!”

“Exactly!” Old Fang continued, speaking with righteous loyalty: “But Ren and I are loyal to Your Highness and have always been honest with Your Highness. How could we deceive Your Highness in such matters!”

Hearing this, Ren Shijie glanced at the serious-faced Old Fang. If he didn’t know Old Fang well, he would have believed Old Fang’s act just from his appearance!

The Crown Prince narrowed his eyes: “I remember… this Li Mingrui once accompanied Prince Liang to provide disaster relief in Yanwo, and seemed to take on much responsibility for Prince Liang. Later, Li Mingrui made no effort to conceal his association with Prince Liang. When Prince Liang was confined to his mansion, and all servants of Prince Liang’s mansion were either killed or sold off, Li Mingrui would still secretly visit Prince Liang from time to time, sending people to serve Prince Liang at his mansion.”

“Father Emperor instructed me not to interfere in this matter. I thought Father Emperor still cherished father-son affection and had Li Mingrui care for Prince Liang, so I had the hidden guards watching Prince Liang’s mansion turn a blind eye. When people from the Li mansion went to Prince Liang’s mansion to deliver things and people, they didn’t need to report it. Now it seems that Prince Liang and Li Mingrui have quite a deep friendship!”