Though as Mr. Qingfeng had said, only theatrical plays would dare write such dramatically turbulent and astonishingly bizarre plots, both Song Chuyi and Song Jue inexplicably felt that this matter was most likely true.

With Great Lady Fan’s methods, winning over a man—especially one who had been devoted to her with desperate adoration in his youth—would be effortless. Moreover, when all was said and done, there were indeed very few reasons that could make a man raised with proper orthodox education disregard his wife and children—unless he had something to rely on.

Before the investigation here had yielded results, Lai Chenglong brought back another earth-shattering piece of news.

Not long after Emperor Jianzhang’s sixtieth birthday celebration had passed, with Crown Grandson Zhou Weizhao’s grand wedding imminent, Commander Lai returned from the imperial mausoleum, bringing with him a jaw-dropping announcement—His Highness Prince Gong had been kidnapped by fierce bandits.

For a time, both the court and the populace were shocked.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty’s two hundred plus years since its founding, there had never been a case of a prince being kidnapped by bandits—such a thing was unheard of! This was simply a national disgrace!

According to Lai Chenglong’s account, after the three-month period had passed, he had been ordered by the Emperor to go to the imperial mausoleum to escort the tomb-guarding Prince Gong back to the capital, but His Highness had been kidnapped halfway by bandits of unknown origin.

This was absolutely a shameful humiliation! Though Prince Gong had been expelled from the capital by Emperor Jianzhang to guard the imperial mausoleum, no matter how much he had angered Emperor Jianzhang, he was still a prince of the realm, the legitimate son of the Emperor and Empress!

The entire court was in an uproar. Emperor Jianzhang was furious beyond measure and immediately declared that the Imperial Guard and the Ministry of Justice would thoroughly investigate, posting wanted notices for the remnants of Ma Yuantong’s gang.

Naturally, things couldn’t be so simple. Anyone with half a brain could tell how absurd this explanation was. Though the imperial mausoleum was rather distant, it was still the resting place of the Great Zhou Dynasty’s former rulers and ancestors, guarded by countless troops. How exactly had Prince Gong been kidnapped? Even if it was as Lai Chenglong claimed, that he was kidnapped halfway, it was as fantastical as a storyteller’s tale. Were all the Imperial Guards dead?! Normally so domineering and imposing, yet completely useless when it mattered!

Memorial after memorial impeaching Lai Chenglong for incompetence flew like snowflakes to the Grand Secretariat, which then piled them up before Emperor Jianzhang. Yet the Emperor merely gave Lai Chenglong a few days off without much concern, and promoted Imperial Guard Commander Chen Ping to handle the matter.

Chen Ping was famously known as the Iron-Faced King of Hell. Without a word, he led the Imperial Guard to zealously pursue the case, leaving everyone in constant apprehension.

The entire affair reeked of inexplicable strangeness.

Prince Zhennan, who was preparing to depart for his border inspection tour, received an imperial edict ordering his府君卫 to cooperate with the Ministry of Justice in searching and suppressing the bandits near the imperial mausoleum. He felt his head was about to split.

This expedition naturally yielded nothing. The area where Lai Chenglong claimed Prince Gong had gone missing was in the middle of nowhere, and it had rained for several days afterward. Not even a footprint could be found—who knew where to search for what bandits.

Ye Jingkuan privately discussed with his father: “What bandits? This matter isn’t at all as simple as it appears on the surface!”

Of course it wasn’t as simple as it appeared. For Prince Gong to be kidnapped from Lai Chenglong’s hands by remnants of Ma Yuantong’s gang was like telling a fool’s dream! Last time when the Crown Prince and Crown Grandson were in danger, they also used Ma Yuantong’s name as cover. Even in death, Ma Yuantong kept getting dragged out by the court to be flogged—truly his ill fortune knew no bounds.

Prince Zhennan sighed: “I’m afraid when Lai Chenglong left the capital for the imperial mausoleum, his purpose wasn’t to escort Prince Gong at all.” Instead, he had likely received some kind of intelligence and gone to stop Prince Gong.

Ye Jingkuan’s entire body shuddered as he looked at his father, his voice dropping as low as it could go: “You mean…”

What remnants of Ma Yuantong’s gang—even ghosts wouldn’t believe such a pretext. Prince Zhennan’s expression grew grave as he rapped the table: “Put yourself in his shoes—if you were Prince Gong, what would you do?”

Ye Jingkuan froze for a moment. He vaguely grasped the edge of Prince Zhennan’s meaning. He opened his mouth, and though his usually clever mind normally excelled at reading between the lines, now it refused to bend. After pondering for a long while, he stammered: “It couldn’t be…”

Nothing was impossible to do. When pushed to a dead end with no way forward, anything became possible.

Prince Zhennan sat down and looked at his son, his voice growing cold: “The consequences will be endless.”

Ye Jingkuan felt his hands and feet turn cold, even his fingertips freezing: “He actually dared to do it…”

Officials and commoners throughout the realm all received the news. The matter of His Highness Prince Gong being kidnapped by fierce bandits spread until it was known in every street and alley. Naturally, the Duke Changning Estate also received the news.

When the news arrived, Old Madam Song was showing Princess Duanhui and Song Chuyi the inventory list of Lady Cui’s dowry. By rights, these things should all be handed over to Song Chuyi. Previously, the major items from Lady Cui’s dowry had all been stored in the treasury, while the estates and shops were managed by the First Madam, with ledgers recording their yields over the years. The smaller items and trinkets had been kept by Nanny Xu and had long since been given to Song Chuyi.

While the roomful of women were so busy with Song Chuyi’s dowry preparations that their feet barely touched the ground, they suddenly received this earth-shattering news and were all stunned on the spot.

No one spoke. Old Madam Song suspected she had misheard and, straining her ears, asked Nanny Huang again: “Jieyi, what did you say?”

Princess Duanhui’s dowry inventory list fell onto the small table as her eyes fixed on Nanny Huang, unable to conceal the shock within them.

Others like First Madam Song and Second Lady Song were even more astonished and unable to react.

Nanny Huang had no choice but to repeat: “They say it was done by remnants of Ma Yuantong’s gang. The Ministry of Justice’s reward notices have already been posted.”

Him again. Every filthy deed was blamed on his head. Even in death, Ma Yuantong probably never imagined his reputation would spread so widely that he’d likely now be used to stop children from crying at night.

Blaming everything on remnants of Ma Yuantong’s gang—everyone knew better.

Old Madam Song finally believed this was real, then immediately felt her blood run cold—using Ma Yuantong’s remnants as an excuse couldn’t fool anyone, certainly not the Song family! If it wasn’t Ma Yuantong’s remnants, then who had kidnapped Prince Gong?

Who was so audacious, who had such capability, to dare kidnap someone from the Imperial Guard? And kidnap the current Emperor’s own son at that! Moreover, what was the point of randomly kidnapping a prince?

Stripping away all pretense, the answer was already self-evident. Princess Duanhui exchanged glances with Madam Yu, both seeing their own ashen faces. She couldn’t sit still any longer. After glancing at Old Madam Song, she stood up abruptly, pressed her lips together, and said: “I’m going into the palace.”

This was no small matter—she simply couldn’t sit still and had to enter the palace to probe for information.

After both she and Madam Yu had left, Old Madam Song immediately instructed Nanny Huang: “Go to the front courtyard and see if the Old Master is home!”