“When the Imperial Guard arrests and interrogates people, does every single person require evidence?” Song Chuyi’s lips held a smile. Seeing that Lai Chenglong across from her had also begun to smile, she withdrew her casual smile, sighed, and looked at him. “Uncle Lai, you really must pay close attention.”

Lai Chenglong truly found it somewhat unbearable to hear Song Chuyi constantly calling him uncle. The corners of his mouth twitched, but in the end, he still cupped his hands toward her. “Easily said, easily said.” In his heart, however, he thought that recently, the letters Cui Shaoting sent back were always similarly cryptic and mysterious. This pair of niece and uncle truly gave people terrible headaches.

Song Chuyi stopped smiling. Her pitch-black, ink-dot eyes stared straight at Lai Chenglong, as if they could penetrate the outer shell covering a person’s body and reach directly into their heart. After pausing for a moment, she spoke again. “I must also ask Uncle Lai for another favor.”

Lai Chenglong felt goosebumps rising all over his body. Song Chuyi’s favors had never been easy to grant, especially when she so solemnly spoke the word “favor”—it scared him so much that even his chopsticks trembled.

He simply stopped pretending to be dense. He set down his chopsticks, glanced at Song Chuyi, and his smile appeared faint even under such bright sunlight. “You want me to be the one to stick my neck out?”

Song Chuyi never fought battles without certainty. This time, clearly pointing out the path toward the Heir of Marquis Guangping meant she had definitely confirmed that the Heir of Marquis Guangping was colluding with Prince Gong.

He sighed and looked at Song Chuyi. “Girl, you’ve been teaching me step by step how to gain His Majesty’s trust and become a loyal subject—was it all for this day?”

He had already roughly guessed Song Chuyi’s intention in calling him here and telling him that the Heir of Marquis Guangping was Prince Gong’s traitor—she wanted him to personally tell Emperor Jianzhang about these matters. Emperor Jianzhang had entrusted the matter of Prince Gong to him. Those people exposed by Elder Du were also all being handled by him. Now, for him to continue stabbing Prince Gong again, ensuring Prince Gong could never recover in Emperor Jianzhang’s eyes—this was truly reasonable and appropriate, and would not arouse Emperor Jianzhang’s suspicion.

Anyone who could reach the position of Commander of the Imperial Guard absolutely could not be a fool. Song Chuyi had never dared to be careless before Lai Chenglong. Even though she had in fact already maximally and imperceptibly gradually pulled Lai Chenglong onto their ship, she still had to be careful not to let him disembark or betray them.

She never pretended to be clever before clever people. Hearing his words, she straightforwardly answered yes. Seeing Lai Chenglong put down his wine cup and frown, she pretended not to notice, slightly lowered her eyes to look at him, thought for a moment, then opened her mouth to ask him, “What situation does Uncle Lai think I’m in now? What situation is His Highness the Crown Prince in?”

Lai Chenglong was stunned. Currently, Prince Gong had clearly become like a stray dog. Even if he had luckily escaped from the Imperial Guard’s hands several times relying on the insider, so what? At most, Prince Gong would merely live like a frightened bird, hiding here and there from now on. Correspondingly, naturally Crown Prince Zhou Weizhao’s days would get better and better—Prince Lu and Prince Su had never been favored and didn’t occupy legitimate succession rights. Only Zhou Weizhao, only Zhou Weizhao, had both reputation and occupied the position of legitimate eldest grandson. Any discerning person knew he was currently Emperor Jianzhang’s only choice.

He thought this way and answered accordingly.

“Is that so?” Song Chuyi asked this question. Only after Lai Chenglong asked back, “Isn’t it?” did she withdraw the knowing smile from her face and heavily exhaled a breath of turbid air. “Currently, rumors about me being the Tiansha Lone Star are causing a storm throughout the city, even worse than the rumors Master Yuanhui and Madam Wei deliberately spread before. Who does Uncle Lai think could accomplish this?”

Lai Chenglong didn’t speak.

Song Chuyi didn’t expect him to speak either. She let out a cold laugh on her own. “Uncle Lai, you yourself must weigh whether you dare offend someone of the Heir of Marquis Guangping’s standing, mustn’t you? Prince Gong is still wandering and displaced, yet has such power. You say the Crown Prince and I currently have nothing to worry about? How can we have nothing to worry about? The day before yesterday I got married. The night before the wedding, all the cups, plates, bowls, and dishes used to receive guests at home were tampered with. If someone had succeeded, what would my situation be? What would His Highness the Crown Prince’s situation be? Can Uncle Lai not imagine?”

“Rumors fill the city, a storm is approaching. What Prince Gong wishes to do is definitely not merely to flee for his life.” Song Chuyi fixed her eyes tightly on Lai Chenglong’s, almost telling him word by word, “Let’s all stop having beautiful dreams of peaceful coexistence. He even harbors rebellious intentions toward his own father—what about you?”

Lai Chenglong gave a solid shudder. Even though he held high position and power, controlling the power of life and death over countless people, he couldn’t help but be somewhat shocked and distracted by the malicious intent filling these words.

He looked at Song Chuyi, somewhat hesitant. “You mean Prince Gong, he—”

“Isn’t this a self-evident matter?” Song Chuyi clearly and explicitly confirmed Lai Chenglong’s speculation. “If he didn’t want to rebel, why would he run? Staying at the imperial mausoleum, returning to the capital after three months—at least as long as His Majesty remains on the throne for one day, he could be a wealthy and noble prince for one day. But he didn’t want to. He even abandoned both his sons. Abandoning his father and children—could he merely be going out to relax? Uncle Lai, you’ve seen many great storms and waves. Don’t tell me you haven’t even thought through this.”

In other words, from spreading rumors onward, Prince Gong had already begun laying a very large net.

And once he succeeded, all those who had ever opposed him…

Lai Chenglong was silent for a while. “His Majesty has already ordered to kill without mercy.”

“But he is unwilling to meekly submit to execution. Even more so, he has clearly already begun counterattacking step by step.” Song Chuyi mercilessly shattered his desire to let things pass peacefully. “The Prince of Zhennan has had no news for over a month. The situation on my uncle’s side is also dire. Once he successfully contacts his minions in the Jin region and seizes control of the Guard Army, for all of us, it will be a catastrophic disaster.”

Lai Chenglong instinctively felt Song Chuyi’s words were somewhat alarmist, but reason told him what Song Chuyi said absolutely could come true—Hongfa and the others indeed also hadn’t sent news back for quite a long time.

“Buy time.” Song Chuyi flicked her sleeve and stood up, leaning against the railing to watch the rippling waves. “We don’t have much time left either. I’ve thought for a long time, and indeed only if Uncle Lai goes before His Majesty to expose this matter will it appear most reasonable and appropriate. Although His Majesty ordered you all to kill Prince Gong without mercy, he doesn’t know Prince Gong has so many actions going on behind the scenes. If he knew, he would always make preparations in advance.”

Song Chuyi had spoken so plainly. Lai Chenglong wanted to refute but didn’t know where to begin.

He shook his head, which had already become a tangled mess, and finally asked aloud, “What exactly do you want me to say before His Majesty?”