Those officials who went to investigate the missing disaster relief silver in Yufu County all died on their way back to the capital! They said it was death by illness! Others said it was death from exhaustion! Opinions varied, but something was clearly amiss. After pondering for a moment, Jingrong’s mind began to turn this over. He asked Lu Jiang, “Did those officials find nothing at all?”

Lu Jiang replied, “It’s unclear. After those officials were killed, they all said it was death by illness, or that they died from exhaustion on the journey, so the court didn’t pay much attention to the cause of their deaths. But this subordinate believes that those officials must have discovered something, and it must be related to the disaster relief silver. They were planning to return to the capital to report, and when the murderer found out, they silenced them.”

Jingrong nodded in agreement.

After thinking it over, he said in a low voice, “This matter of the disaster relief silver is indeed thorny.”

“Your Highness need not go to Yufu. The Emperor has not issued any order.”

“This is perhaps… a difficult choice, but it is also the beginning of a hard battle between Jing Yi and myself.”

Though his tone carried more determination, it still held helplessness.

Emperor Qizhen wanted to choose one person between himself and Jing Yi to go. The final result would inevitably be one of two possibilities.

First, if nothing could be discovered, one would have to stay in Yufu County, permanently exiled.

Second, if something was discovered, but given how complex this case was, by the time the truth came to light, whichever prince remained in the capital would surely have been appointed Crown Prince.

The struggle for succession could thus be cleverly avoided.

This truly revealed Emperor Qizhen’s schemes.

They say sons scheme against fathers, but in this imperial family, it’s always fathers scheming against sons!

The next day, Jingrong was busy early in the morning handling the trivial matters following the Crown Prince’s burial.

These so-called trivial matters were cleaning up the mess the Crown Prince left behind during his lifetime.

For instance—

The pile of troublesome affairs left in the Eastern Palace.

The writing of documents he had undertaken while alive.

The matter of the silver spent on the pre-New Year city construction and repairs!

And so on…

This chaotic mess, though not consisting of major matters, when accumulated piece by piece, was truly troublesome.

It gave one a headache.

Fortunately, Jingrong’s efficiency was quite high, and he finished handling everything in a day.

After returning to his residence, he was just about to change clothes and rush to Zhuxi Garden.

But when he placed his hand at his waist and felt around, his expression immediately changed.

At this very moment, at the General’s Residence!

Ji Wanxin sat in the pavilion, wearing a light cyan cloak, one hand supporting her chin as it rested on the stone table. Her other hand held an ordinary-looking pearl, turning it around and around on her slender fingertips. Following the light from the side, the pearl faintly glimmered with a blue halo.

Though unremarkable, it was very translucent!

And wasn’t this pearl precisely the one from the silver clasp on Ji Yunshu’s hairpin?

Ji Wanxin stared intently at that pearl, her sickly, gentle eyes dark to the extreme.

She tilted her head and rose to her feet. The maid beside her intended to help her up, but who would have known she would push her away and even scold her.

“Don’t treat me as someone about to die.”

“Miss?”

“I’m fine.” After saying this, she coughed lightly a few times.

The little maid could only stand a bit farther away!

Ji Wanxin walked to the edge of the pond outside the pavilion. The orange-red light from the horizon fell precisely on her pale profile, radiating a small woman’s sense of tranquility.

But her tightly clenched teeth betrayed this delicate face.

Clearly fierce!

She turned the pearl on her fingertip in a circle, then extended her hand toward the lotus pond. At this moment, if she simply loosened her fingers, that pearl would drop into the lotus pond.

Just as she steeled herself to release it, someone suddenly came running over.

A servant, out of breath, said, “Second Miss, Prince… Prince Rong has come, saying he’s looking for you.”

Eh!

Ji Wanxin instinctively withdrew her hand, clutching that pearl tightly in her delicate palm.

Harboring an unfathomable heart, her expression suddenly darkened as she asked the servant, “Where is he?”

“Right at the gate.”

He actually didn’t come in!

“Mm.”

Ji Wanxin turned her head and ordered the maid to bring over an exquisite brocade box. Immediately, she wiped clean the pearl she had originally intended to throw into the lotus pond and placed it in the box.

Only then did she go to the gate.

Jingrong’s visit to find her was not done with great fanfare, so it did not alarm Ji Li or Ji Huan.

He stood outside the General’s Residence gate, his back to the main entrance, standing on the stone steps. His sleeves fluttered and rustled in the cold wind. Dressed in his splendid brocade robes, standing there, he radiated masculine grandeur and a unique attractiveness.

Ji Wanxin walked lightly with small steps behind him, lowering her eyes and bending her knees.

She bowed!

“Greetings, Your Highness.”

Hearing her voice, Jingrong turned around, looking at her coldly. “Miss Ji need not be so formal.”

She kept her eyes lowered, facing Jingrong with those curved willow-leaf eyebrows.

Jingrong spoke directly, “The object this prince lost—did you pick it up?”

“An object?” She slightly raised her eyes, meeting Jingrong’s gaze, her small lips parting lightly. “Your Highness comes at this hour just to ask if I found your object?”

“Yes.”

“Is that object very important to you?” she asked.

Jingrong’s expression remained unchanged as he replied, “Yes, it is very important to this prince.”

Utterly certain!

That belongs to this prince’s future wife—it counts as a love token.

Ji Wanxin’s heart felt as if it had been filled with a thick layer of mercury, stifling her until she couldn’t breathe, her chest tight.

But she concealed this emotion extremely well.

With a trace of a smile, she drew the brocade box from her sleeve, held it in her palm, and offered it to Jingrong.

“The object that is extremely important to Your Highness is inside here.”

As her words fell, Jingrong took it and opened it to look.

That translucent pearl was indeed inside, wiped clean and placed on a handkerchief.

An ordinary pearl contained in an exquisite, expensive brocade box.

It very much had the flavor of “a common object entering a celestial abode.”

Ji Wanxin said, “This pearl probably fell from Your Highness’s person and happened to catch on my skirt. Thinking it belonged to Your Highness, I collected it and carefully placed it in the box. If Your Highness had not come, I would have sent someone to deliver it.”

Jingrong put the item away and said, “Many thanks, Miss Ji.”

“This rightfully belonged to Your Highness. Returning it to Your Highness is only proper.”

Her soft words were like a flower petal on a spring day.

Slowly drifting toward Jingrong’s ear.

However, Jingrong was like a cold, hard stone. This flowing gentle charm couldn’t chisel into him at all.

He only said, “The weather outside is cold. You should go inside. This prince will take his leave now.”

“Your High—”

Before Ji Wanxin could finish calling out, Jingrong swept his sleeves and left.

She took two small steps in pursuit, but ultimately stopped, watching helplessly as Jingrong boarded his carriage and departed.

As the carriage gradually moved farther away, her vision also grew increasingly blurred—whether from the wind or from the tears brimming in her eyes.

She pressed her lips tightly together, feeling somewhat distressed.

And behind her—