“Your Highness, please don’t speak such nonsense,” Shen Xihe frowned.

Like a clear stream slowly flowing through, gliding across the heart field, refreshing and sweet, Xiao Huayong said joyfully: “Since Youyou doesn’t like hearing these things, I will certainly not speak such nonsense in the future.”

She had once chosen him because she believed her life would be short. Now she not only didn’t wish for his early death but also disliked hearing him speak such inauspicious words. This meant that to her, he was no longer someone unimportant.

Even though it was far from the level he yearned for, it was enough to make Xiao Huayong feel satisfied and happy.

Shen Xihe didn’t say much. Her attitude toward Xiao Huayong had been different since the moment he saved her – not romantic feelings, but gratitude.

Her benefactor, although Shen Xihe might not invest much genuine emotion, she still didn’t want him to die young.

In Liyang County, Shen Xihe and Xiao Huayong had witnessed the people’s grief over the tomb-raiding case. The milder ones merely sought justice from the officials, the harsher ones directly scattered paper money in front of the yamen, the clever ones knelt at the yamen gates wearing mourning clothes and holding memorial tablets, and the most extreme even included someone who died from smashing their head against the yamen gate.

Each incident immediately ignited the anger of all the city’s citizens. If killing someone’s parents was already an unforgivable hatred, how much worse was disturbing the peace of the deceased? Any person with a conscience, even if they hadn’t experienced such a thing, could understand the shock and pain.

If the officials couldn’t even protect the dead, how could the people expect them to protect the living?

“Could it be… Prince Xin didn’t know things would develop to this point?” Shen Xihe had personally witnessed a seventy-year-old woman, whose husband’s grave had been disturbed, smash her head against the government office and die, her blood splattering and staining the stone lion red.

“These things aren’t important to him,” Xiao Huayong lowered his eyes.

Xiao Changqin had been groomed by Emperor Youning for over ten years as the reserve crown prince, just waiting for the emperor to close his eyes to take his position. If not for the incident with the Gu family’s daughter, he would probably be the prince with the highest prestige right now.

He had learned many imperial techniques, and being clever since childhood, he had probably already figured out some things the emperor hadn’t even taught him yet. Those who are destined to become emperors all have cold hearts.

Xiao Changqin now had an emperor’s iron-blooded nature and ruthlessness but lacked the benevolence an emperor should have – considering the bigger picture and the welfare of the people.

It wasn’t that Emperor Youning hadn’t taught him these things, or that he couldn’t comprehend them himself, but rather that these weren’t what he sought.

He no longer desired the throne; he only wanted to make His Majesty’s days miserable.

“Will Your Highness not intervene?” Shen Xihe looked at Xiao Huayong.

With things having reached this point, she could no longer interfere. She had no evidence it was Prince Xin’s doing, and even if she had evidence that he had bombed the imperial tombs, it wouldn’t quell the people’s anger.

“Now we can only wait for His Majesty to issue an edict of self-blame,” Xiao Huayong gazed toward distant Jingdu and said, “Whether it’s the disturbance of the ancestors outside the imperial tombs or the wide-reaching implications of this case, only His Majesty’s self-blame edict can calm things down.”

Speaking to this point, Xiao Huayong smiled with an unclear meaning: “Fifth Brother’s move has more benefits than drawbacks.”

“More benefits than drawbacks?” Shen Xihe didn’t understand.

Xiao Huayong said in a low voice: “If the imperial tombs hadn’t been bombed, even if His Majesty issued a self-blame edict, the people might not have been appeased. But now that the imperial tombs have also been bombed, it means the court didn’t condone this – the royal family is also a victim. As long as the self-blame edict is written sincerely, shows empathy, and mentions His Majesty’s twenty years of reign bringing national strength and prosperity, after the people’s greatest grief has passed, finally having two local respected people whose tombs were also disturbed to speak up, this storm won’t be difficult to settle.”

After hearing this, Shen Xihe thought carefully and realized it seemed truly so. If the imperial tombs hadn’t been bombed, the people would surely have thought this was all due to officials protecting each other, oppressing the common people, and the royal family’s cover-up.

But with the bombing of the imperial tombs, they could share the people’s righteous indignation. As long as they finally caught the mastermind behind it all and brought them to justice, this matter would be completely over and wouldn’t leave a thorn in the people’s hearts.

“It just puts His Majesty on the hot seat,” Xiao Huayong said, letting out a low laugh.

This way, His Majesty had no choice but to issue a self-blame edict, whether he wanted to or not.

Shen Xihe glanced at the grieving victims crying in the distance and asked softly, “His Majesty won’t issue the self-blame edict quickly.”

Xiao Huayong’s smiling eyes were full of praise: “Youyou has seen through it.”

Shen Xihe: “Thanks to Your Highness’s guidance.”

Xiao Changqin was targeting His Majesty. He might have arranged for news of the imperial tomb bombing to spread across the country overnight, but he hadn’t arranged for people to incite the masses. While the disturbance of ancestors naturally caused shock, anger, and unbearable grief, it shouldn’t have led to people giving up their lives.

There was clearly someone else who took advantage of the situation and manipulated things, and this person must be the mastermind behind the tomb-raiding case.

Since His Majesty couldn’t escape issuing a self-blame edict anyway, why not catch the person behind it all to vent some anger?

“I hope fewer lives are lost,” Shen Xihe sighed softly.

“Youyou, in this world, truly foolish people are as rare as extremely clever ones. Most people are ordinary, and ordinary people won’t easily be incited to stake their lives,” Xiao Huayong’s tone carried a hint of coolness. “The elderly woman you saw who died from the impact earlier – her family fortune had already been squandered by her son. She was over seventy with not many years left to live, but she still had three grandchildren.

Her death at the yamen gate, while partly seeking justice for her husband, was also because she felt her life was worth something, or she wouldn’t have decided to die.”

Xiao Huayong wasn’t making callous speculations; he had investigated before concluding. This elderly woman had been weak and sick, long-suffering from age and illness, only enduring because she worried about her daughter-in-law raising three children. Now her eldest grandson had come of age and could support the household.

What she needed most now was to secure a future for her grandsons. By dying this way at the yamen, she could find release while also leaving a way forward for her grandsons – the court would certainly have to provide compensation and support.

This was human nature. She might not have been clever, but she was using everything she had to plan for her descendants’ future, not caring if others used her as long as she could get what she wanted.

“Your Highness means that of those who stake their lives over this matter, nine out of ten are doing it for gain.”

“Yes.” Only one or two might truly be impulsive and unyielding.

Most people would rather witness how this matter would be resolved and how they should face their disturbed ancestors.

“Even so, I still hope this matter is resolved soon,” Shen Xihe said. “Your Highness, I will set out for Henan Prefecture tomorrow. That’s where the root cause lies.”

Including the previously confessed Hehe Pawnshop, which was also in Henan Prefecture.

“I must return to the capital,” Xiao Huayong said.

He would have liked to accompany Shen Xihe to Henan Prefecture, but firstly, the Qionghua matter couldn’t be delayed, and secondly, the imperial tomb matter was no small issue – his absence from the palace at this time could easily expose him.