HomeAfter I Bloom Hundred Flowers DieChapter 588: The Twelfth Prince Is the Most Useful Tool

Chapter 588: The Twelfth Prince Is the Most Useful Tool

“A bet is a bet,” Shen Xihe’s lips curved upward as she looked at Xiao Huayong.

“Indeed, indeed, I sincerely admire Youyou,” Xiao Huayong smiled tenderly, his voice extremely gentle. “Everything happened exactly as Youyou predicted.”

“Not everything was within expectations,” Shen Xihe pondered. “I hadn’t expected the Second Young Lady Yu to make use of the Yu family.”

The general outline matched her predictions. She had been curious about where Yu Sangning would find skilled assassins to target the Zhao Prince. Hired assassinations inevitably left traces, with too many loose ends. When a Prince faced assassination, the Emperor would certainly investigate thoroughly. If it was discovered that the Marquis of Pingyao’s household had orchestrated it, they wouldn’t merely face exile but the complete execution of the entire family.

Only after a thorough investigation proving the Marquis’s household had no connection to the assassination could they be completely established as victims. Yu Sangning had utilized the previous Yu Zao incident, making the tormented Young Master Yu’s actions appear reasonable.

This way, even Yu Sangzi’s timely appearance with guards at the same location as the Zhao Prince wouldn’t arouse suspicion or seem too coincidental.

As for how Young Master Yu had the resources to orchestrate such a large operation, Yu Sangning knew she couldn’t handle it alone, which was why she drew in the entire Marquis household. With the Marquis and his heir involved, these details weren’t her concern.

“There’s one more thing,” Xiao Huayong said. “The First Young Lady Yu didn’t die, and was sent away by the Marquis’s heir.”

Shen Xihe hadn’t had people watching the Marquis’s household, so she was unaware of this. The Marquis’s people had handled it cleanly, nearly deceiving even his spies.

“Didn’t die?” This surprised Shen Xihe.

Yu Sangning typically acted ruthlessly, never leaving loose ends. Yet this time she had spared Yu Sangzi’s life.

“Perhaps she still retained some conscience?” Xiao Huayong said in an amused tone.

Shen Xihe glanced at him: “It can only be that the First Young Lady being alive benefits her more than being dead.”

Xiao Huayong chuckled softly: “Indeed, Youyou understands young ladies’ thoughts better.”

Things had happened as Shen Xihe suspected. Yu Sangzi hadn’t died because of the fake death medicine Yu Sangning provided. With weapons involved, no one knew if Yu Sangzi’s intervention would prove fatal. The worst outcome would have been death anyway, but heaven favored her – though the knife appeared to strike deep, it hadn’t hit any vital spots.

After removing the knife, the Imperial Physician said if Yu Sangzi could wake up, she would survive the crisis. She did wake up and then took Yu Sangning’s fake death medicine. She had to die, real or fake – she couldn’t marry into the Prince’s household.

She didn’t “survive,” and in her “final moments” entrusted Yu Sangning to the Zhao Prince. Owing to a life debt, the Zhao Prince naturally agreed. Even the Yu family, after sending Yu Sangzi away, for the Zhao Prince’s face, actively registered Yu Sangning under Lady Yu’s name. Now Yu Sangning was no longer a concubine’s daughter but a legitimate daughter.

Moreover, this legitimate daughter, having helped Yu Sangzi and benefited the Yu family, would surely receive the Marquis household’s full support in the future. Even if Lady Yu, for her birth daughter’s sake, wouldn’t be particularly kind to Yu Sangning, at least she wouldn’t make things difficult for her.

With this move, she had completely won over the Marquis’s household, making them her support and maternal family. As for the Zhao Prince, owing the Marquis’s household a life debt, he absolutely couldn’t neglect Yu Sangning.

After Yu Sangzi’s seventh-day memorial service, the Zhao Prince requested imperial permission to marry, expressing his wish to wed the Yu family’s Second Young Lady. The entire capital knew this marriage was bought with the First Young Lady’s life, and since Yu Sangning had been registered as a legitimate daughter, the Emperor naturally granted the Zhao Prince’s request.

However, due to the First Young Lady’s recent death, the wedding was delayed by three months.

As for Young Master Yu’s assassination attempt, it inevitably led to requests for the Emperor to reinvestigate Yu Zao’s case. But the trap Shen Xihe had set and Xiao Huayong had cleaned up couldn’t be overturned – Yu Zao was still an impostor, and Young Master Yu had simply acted out of desperation upon learning of his changed status.

“The Zhao Prince’s eldest legitimate son will likely face difficulty…” Shen Xihe had met the child, a handsome young boy with a likable personality.

Yu Sangning was self-serving. Yu Sangzi had refused to marry the Zhao Prince because of her kindness – she couldn’t bear to harm the children, yet didn’t want her children to be born inferior, which was why she had strongly resisted becoming the Zhao Prince’s wife.

Yu Sangning was different – anyone who stood in her way wouldn’t meet a good end. Her next target would certainly be the Zhao Prince’s eldest legitimate son.

Hearing her words, Xiao Huayong touched the five-colored thread on his wrist: “You say she fears you like a tiger. Now that she’s marrying Second Brother, will she persuade him to stay in line?”

“She feared me because she was a concubine’s daughter in a Marquis’s household, without support; I was a Prince’s legitimate daughter with immense power. Now she’s no longer a minor concubine’s daughter. Though I’m the Crown Princess, outranking her, once she becomes the Zhao Prince’s wife, privately she’ll be my elder sister-in-law. She may not fear me anymore.”

Shen Xihe handed a treat to Baisui, then one to Duanming: “If the Zhao Prince has ambitions, and you maintain your reputation, with the Zhao Prince still unaware of your true nature, as the wife rises with her husband, her ambitions will only grow.”

The position of Empress – how could Yu Sangning, now with family support, not be tempted?

“In that case, why not send them away sooner?” To avoid the eyesore.

“Why hurry to remove people who can be sent away anytime?” Shen Xihe wasn’t anxious. Keeping them around would trouble the Emperor, and occasionally serve as a smokescreen. “But as for Prince Jing…”

Xiao Lengyan had become Minister of War, holding the highest official position among all princes. With Xiao Huayong’s occasional illnesses, many speculated about the Emperor’s thoughts regarding Xiao Lengyan. Xiao Lengyan had been very quiet lately as if he’d forgotten about Pei Zhan’s death.

But Shen Xihe hadn’t forgotten what he’d said to Xiao Huayong in the Eastern Palace that day. He suspected Xiao Huayong, or perhaps her and her father, feeling that Pei Zhan’s death wasn’t accidental. This made him all the more unpredictable.

“Little Eight is indeed more interesting than them,” Xiao Huayong chuckled softly. “Don’t worry, I’ll assign someone interesting to him as well.”

The Twelfth Prince, Prince Yan Xiao Lenggeng, had thought his Crown Prince brother would become normal after marriage. But after a year without being tasked, his Crown Prince brother had remembered him again, asking him to align with Eighth Brother – prettily called alignment, but speaking, he was to be a spy.

Regarding this Eighth Brother, Xiao Lenggeng didn’t know much. When Xiao Lengyan left the capital, he had been very young, but his Crown Prince brother had anticipated all his concerns and sent him a detailed account of the Eighth Brother’s habits.

“Why do you always single out the Twelfth Prince to use?” Shen Xihe couldn’t help asking after hearing Xiao Huayong’s arrangements.

She remembered several times when Xiao Huayong had set traps, Xiao Lenggeng had played unexpectedly crucial roles at key moments. Yet Xiao Lenggeng was skilled at hiding, performing his duties properly, making him easy for many to overlook.

“He’s useful,” Xiao Huayong revealed his bright white teeth.

For those who had designs on their Youyou, not making full use of them would be a waste of their intentions.

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