However, the Crown Prince seemed to have been inspired to talk by Mu Hanjiang’s words.

She thought for a moment, then changed the subject: “Speaking of that rebel Meng Zhun, I recall hearing my teacher, Master Ge, mention that Meng Zhun joined the army at twelve and had an illustrious military career. Unfortunately, his official career didn’t progress well. At nearly fifty, despite his military achievements, he ended up with his family destroyed. When a person is lonely and desperate, they may inevitably take extreme measures… However, during the Jiangzhe floods, with refugees everywhere, Meng Zhun took advantage to cause chaos, which is truly despicable! May I ask if Young Master knows exactly how much damage he has caused?”

Mu Hanjiang thought the Crown Prince was unusually diligent today.

But this kind of diligence, neglected for so long yet now pretending to care about the country and its people, should be performed before His Majesty to avoid being wasted.

Rarely in the mood to toy with a fool, he said, “Meng Zhun was greedy and deceitful, colluding with his subordinates to sell military rations, which led to being reported by colleagues. His home was also robbed of hoarded wealth, bringing disaster upon his wife and children in a tragic massacre. The consequences of his actions led him to blame the court. Now, taking advantage of the floods to cause trouble, he is naturally a scourge to the people! Why does the Crown Prince ask this?”

Yan Xiaoying smiled, the light in her eyes so bright that it gave the frail young man an inexplicable sense of vigor. Mu Hanjiang was momentarily distracted by it.

“I’ve been bored these days and happened to look at the Jiangzhe grain and fodder files, eventually reaching those from seven years ago. During Meng Zhun’s tenure, there were three floods, each more severe than the previous one. During his time in office, the grain allocated to assist local prefectures and counties was exact without discrepancies, and there were even surpluses that could be returned to Shao Fu to aid other areas. But after his rebellion, when the court appointed other worthy officials, the wastage gradually increased. The grain sent by the court would be reported as insufficient by county offices, with people starving everywhere. Looking at it this way, the common people seemed more stable under the rebel Meng Zhun’s administration, at least able to eat their fill… Interesting that Meng the rebel, when in office, left untouched the disaster relief funds, which would have been easiest to embezzle, but instead chose to steal the life-critical military rations. This man… doesn’t have a brain; he couldn’t make a fortune that way!”

Mu Hanjiang’s expression remained unchanged, seemingly uninterested in the incompetent Crown Prince’s discovery: “Could Your Highness have misread…”

Xiaoying lazily mentioned a few figures, then sneered: “These accounts aren’t some secret. Anyone who cares to compare the ledgers from before and after would see it. I might misread, but surely Minister Mu, your eyesight must be better?”

Mu Hanjiang’s expression remained unchanged: “Disaster relief grain is Shao Fu’s internal affairs, unrelated to an idle person like me. Why is Your Highness telling me these things?”

Yan Xiaoying, having had enough tea, stood up, stretched her waist, then swayed over to Mu Hanjiang’s wheeled chair. With a mischievous smile, she crouched down and reached toward Young Master Mu’s knee…

The slender willow-like youth, seemingly bewitched by male beauty, behaved frivolously, losing propriety: “Aren’t we just talking about what came up in conversation? True, Young Master Mu has always only concerned himself with capturing and killing people, investigating corrupt officials, but never had achievements as great as taking a rebel’s head. I hope Young Master will take it easy and not be too eager for merit by splashing dirty water on innocent people… I’m having a difficult time staying alive, with such a frail body, I can’t withstand being splashed!”

Such an impertinent hand! Mu Hanjiang’s gaze turned cold as he reached out to grab her wrist.

This disrespectful youth, if not protected by his status as Crown Prince, would deserve to be cut into a thousand pieces for his mockery and frivolous behavior!

Yan Xiaoying ignored his reaction, smiled as she shook off his hand, then rose and walked away.

There was no help for it—if she didn’t leave, she feared she couldn’t resist slapping this pretend-cripple!

The raging floodwaters of Jiangzhe couldn’t wash away her adoptive father’s unjust treatment. How could an upright, incorruptible official contend with a group of vermin?

When her adoptive father’s entire family was humiliated, with over twenty family members, including his wife and children, brutally killed, and no way to report the injustice, how could a proud man with a clear conscience not seek his path rather than submit to false accusations and death?

Meanwhile, after watching the Crown Prince depart with swinging sleeves, Mu Hanjiang turned his gaze toward the window and remained silent for a long time.

Seeing this, guard Gao Qi asked in a low voice: “The Crown Prince is crafty and refuses to talk. Should we ask His Majesty to intervene and directly question the Empress?”

Mu Hanjiang closed his eyes to rest, calmly saying: “Unnecessary. If it involves the Tang family and reaches the Empress, it will only end in nothing being done.”

However, holding Tang Mingquan and observing the Tang family’s reaction wasn’t bad either. After all, knocking on the mountain might startle out some rare beasts.

Gao Qi said, “Then with Meng Zhun having escaped, it will be difficult to capture him again.”

In the Jiangzhe area, this rebel Meng, had considerable popular support. Moreover, his deputy, nicknamed “The Little King of Hell,” had been exceptionally active in recent years. This person possessed extraordinary intelligence and strategy, establishing considerable achievements in helping Meng Zhun rebel and occupy the mountains as their territory.

If not for inside information revealing that Meng Zhun was alone without support, they wouldn’t have been able to capture him!

“Order the spies to lie low, not to expose themselves easily, and continue tracking Meng Zhun and ‘The Little King of Hell,'” Mu Hanjiang instructed.

Thinking about the Crown Prince’s words, he fell silent again, then ordered, “…Have someone seal and transfer all Shao Fu’s Jiangzhe disaster relief files from the past seven years to the Court of Justice. In these muddy waters, there should be invisible big fish.”

After saying this, Mu Hanjiang pushed his wheeled chair to move forward, but the wheels remained stuck. He pushed harder, and with a crack, the chair tilted as one wheel completely fell apart.

His body lurched with it, and caught unprepared, he fell heavily to the ground.

Mu Hanjiang looked quite embarrassed. Looking down to check, he discovered that several date pits had been wedged into the axle. Coincidentally, because of his forceful push just now, the axle had snapped, causing the wheel to fall apart…

He removed a small date pit from the axle hole and realized that when the Crown Prince had crouched beside his wheeled chair, seemingly flirting with him, he had been tampering with it.

Mu Hanjiang smiled, though his expression carried a hint of killing intent.

Gao Qi was also startled and hurriedly went to help his master. But Mu Hanjiang supported himself with one hand on the ground and stood up with ease.

His towering figure was even taller than the eight-foot-tall Gao Qi.

Gao Qi was somewhat dumbfounded and stammered: “Ma… Master, are you preparing to… recover?”

Mu Hanjiang put away his smile and glanced at him: “It is time to recover, but not too quickly. Go find a carpenter and repair the wheeled chair first.”

That smile carried a chill, and Gao Qi immediately realized he had spoken out of turn.

Having followed his master since childhood, he naturally knew his unfathomable nature.

Back then, to weaken the deposed Crown Prince and diminish the Tang family’s power, his master had deliberately fallen, then used the leg injury as an excuse to recuperate elsewhere, actually going to Wei Country to deploy Dragon Scale spies.

Only he, as a trusted confidant, knew these secrets.

Unfortunately, they had come so close, yet that troublesome Crown Prince hadn’t been deposed and was becoming increasingly powerful.

There was no longer any point in his master pretending to be lame—indeed, it was time to recover…

Thinking of this, he quickly fell silent and turned to leave to find someone.

Meanwhile, Mu Hanjiang turned and sat in a chair, examining the date pit. With a slight application of force, the pit crumbled to powder.

“Feng Qiyuan, I’ve underestimated you…”

As for Yan Xiaoying, she walked away briskly. Others might fear Mu Hanjiang, but she did not!

In recent days, she had heard plenty about the great achievements of this Minister.

This fellow had been favored by the Emperor since childhood and was frequently brought to palace banquets by his father.

Despite being able to drink a thousand cups without getting drunk and possessing martial skills, he had been knocked down by her brother, weak as a chicken, with just a slight bump, becoming half-crippled. Wasn’t Young Master Mu as fragile as a willow in the wind?

The timing of his disability was perfect, further damaging Feng Qiyuan’s reputation, inciting imperial anger, and nearly causing the Crown Prince to be completely deposed, changing the succession.

When she had pretended to be frivolous earlier, reaching out to test his leg, despite being disabled for four years, his leg showed no muscle atrophy and remained full and strong.

Those deliberately inserted date pits were a reminder to this fake cripple that if he wanted to falsely accuse Feng Qiyuan with empty words, he’d better change his tactics!

As for making enemies, Mu Hanjiang had already clearly established his position and had even used underhanded methods. How could she not respond?

Thinking of this, Yan Xiaoying walked with a light step. She was busy today and hadn’t had time to feed the madman and cultivate their relationship. She would see if she could find time to go later.

But before entering the palace gate, she was intercepted by Song Ao to see the Empress.

The Empress’s old face was like frost that wouldn’t melt, coldly questioning why she had taken it upon herself to meet with Mu Hanjiang.

It seemed her guard had reported her meeting with Mu Hanjiang at the Court of Justice to the old crone.

Yan Xiaoying was generally unafraid of the plague-woman’s cold face and got straight to the point, dropping a bombshell on the Empress by asking if she knew that her dear nephew had been captured by the Dragon Scale Shadow Guards.

With these words, the Empress indeed no longer had the leisure to blame her, but drew in a cold breath and asked her to explain the matter in detail.

Yan Xiaoying knew the Empress would find out sooner or later, so she didn’t conceal anything and repeated what Mu Hanjiang had said.

The Empress listened, grinding her teeth: “This mad dog dares to implicate me!”

After speaking, she looked at Xiaoying with a penetrating gaze. Her meaning was clear—fearing exposure of the plot, she was considering how to eliminate all traces of the cat-for-prince swap without leaving evidence.

Before the Empress could come up with her evil scheme, Xiaoying spoke with righteous indignation: “Is Tang Mingquan still your dear nephew? He could have easily dismissed it as pursuing escaped slaves, yet he deliberately wants to ruin Your Majesty? By using the Crown Prince as an excuse, did he determine that since the Crown Prince is disliked by His Majesty, he could take it upon himself to make the Crown Prince take the blame? This truly leaves Your Majesty no way out! Now that I’ve finally helped the Crown Prince improve his relationship with his father, the Emperor, and just started taking charge to counter the Western Palace’s influence, how can we get involved in a rebel case over such a small matter?”

The “carrot” Xiaoying dangled was so sweet that the Empress was indeed led by it. With furrowed brows, she muttered to herself: “This won’t do. This matter is too troublesome. How can we distance ourselves from it?”

Xiaoying picked up some pastries from the plate and spoke while eating: “This Tang Mingquan is loose-lipped. Who knows if, after implicating the Crown Prince, he might implicate Your Majesty next… You don’t have any compromising information in that boy’s hands, do you? I’ve heard the Court of Justice’s torture methods are terrifying, and that boy has soft bones. If he can’t endure the torture, he might fabricate false accusations to smear Your Majesty. Perhaps it’s better to act quickly, before it’s too late…”

Empress Tang heard this and raised her eyebrows sharply, glaring at Yan Xiaoying: “How dare you! Are you trying to instigate me to silence someone by murder?”

Yan Xiaoying blinked innocently, seeming shocked: “Mother! For such a small matter, is it necessary to kill someone? I was just speaking casually. He… he is your dear nephew! Even if I suggested it, you wouldn’t bear to do it! Isn’t that how the operas portray it? As the Empress, couldn’t you just issue an imperial edict to release him? I… I just wanted to remind Your Majesty to quickly issue an edict to release him, before it’s too late!”

How could it be so simple? This time, it wasn’t the Court of Justice handling the case, but the Dragon Scale Shadow Guards who had captured the person and were temporarily holding him at the Court of Justice. Unless His Majesty spoke up, no one else could easily interfere!

Empress Tang thought that this country girl didn’t understand the palace power struggles or possess the calculated mindset for decisive killing. Her earlier suspicion must have been overthinking.