When Shao Mingyuan decided to decline the banquet, Prince Rui and Prince Mu were immediately dumbfounded upon hearing the news.

The Xijiang envoys led by Prince Gong had specifically mentioned that all of Xijiang had long admired Great Liang’s Marquis Guanjun and wanted to properly witness the marquis’s distinguished bearing at the banquet.

How could Marquis Guanjun not attend?

“Fifth Brother, I heard you recently took a concubine who is the biological sister of Marquis Guanjun’s fiancée?” Prince Mu asked with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Prince Rui immediately understood Prince Mu’s meaning: he was asking him to go make the request.

Marquis Guanjun wasn’t one of those young masters who relied on family connections to get by, nor was he among those scholars who studied hard in cold chambers before joining the civil service in batches. His achievements were earned through fists and blades – you couldn’t find a second person like him in all of Great Liang.

Marquis Guanjun had once promised to owe Prince Rui a favor, but Prince Rui wasn’t a fool. Of course, he didn’t want to waste this favor here.

“Although they are biological sisters, Lady Li is merely a concubine. I can hardly be called Marquis Guanjun’s brother-in-law. Speaking of it, my relationship with Marquis Guanjun isn’t much different from Sixth Brother’s.”

“Ah, Fifth Brother, you jest. Sister-in-law and Marquis Guanjun’s fiancée are biological sisters. With this connection, even if it’s just for the sake of his future father-in-law’s face, Marquis Guanjun wouldn’t distance himself from you.” Prince Mu spoke meaningfully.

Prince Rui was honest and not eloquent, so he just laughed dryly upon hearing this.

On the night of the Lantern Festival, he had taken advantage of the situation to make Scholar Li’s eldest daughter his concubine, harboring exactly this thought.

He had sent people to investigate. Scholar Li’s eldest daughter was born to his first wife, while the second daughter was born to his second wife. The relationship between the two sisters wasn’t particularly good.

However, the quality of relationships between young ladies wasn’t important. When any family married a wife, they didn’t simply look at the woman herself but at her family background.

By taking Scholar Li’s eldest daughter as his concubine, just as Prince Mu said, when he approached Marquis Guanjun through Scholar Li in the future, would Marquis Guanjun have the nerve to refuse?

Unfortunately, Lady Li’s family background was too ordinary to marry her as a secondary consort. Unless Lady Li bore him a son or daughter in the future, only then would she have the capital to be elevated to primary status. At that time, he and Marquis Guanjun would be legitimate brothers-in-law. Whether Marquis Guanjun acknowledged it or not, in others’ eyes, Marquis Guanjun would be someone from his faction.

Thinking of this, Prince Rui’s heart grew faintly heated.

Physician Li had instructed him not to touch women for a year, and calculating the time, the deadline was approaching…

This year had been truly difficult to endure for a man in his prime!

Prince Mu stared at Prince Rui thoughtfully.

Ever since last spring when Fifth Brother had specifically invited Physician Li to the capital, he had quietly sent people to investigate the situation. There were several of his spies in Prince Rui’s residence, and now the reason for inviting Physician Li to the capital was clear – it was to regulate Fifth Brother’s health.

Thinking of this, Prince Mu felt a sense of crisis.

Fifth Brother was incompetent, having lost several children in succession, and currently had no heir. It was precisely because of this that among the Great Liang officials who valued lineage continuation, quite a few stood on his side.

Otherwise, being neither the legitimate heir nor the eldest, what advantages did he have compared to Fifth Brother, who was older than he?

Their imperial father’s attitude was too ambiguous. He wanted to take the filial piety route but couldn’t, because their imperial father had consistently refused to see them for over a decade. He truly couldn’t remember what Father Emperor looked like.

Unable to play the emotional card, he could only rely on the most practical conditions to defeat the Fifth Brother.

Fifth Brother’s fatal weakness was having no heir!

“Fifth Brother, I’ll leave the task of inviting Marquis Guanjun to you. This banquet is something we’re hosting together – it’s the first time in so many years. The Father Emperor will surely pay attention to this banquet. If he knows we’ve done it beautifully, he’ll certainly be pleased. Of course, we should do our best not to disappoint Father Emperor. Don’t you agree?”

Seeing that Prince Rui still wouldn’t relent, Prince Mu sighed deeply: “Anyway, I have no friendship with Marquis Guanjun. If Fifth Brother won’t go ask, then I can only tell the Xijiang envoys not to hold their hopes up.”

Only then did Prince Rui nod: “Then I’ll try my best, but I can’t guarantee whether Marquis Guanjun will be willing to come.”

“That’s natural.” Prince Mu smiled on the surface, but his heart was ice-cold.

That Marquis Guanjun thought that being able to fight wars meant he could shit on princes’ heads – utterly ridiculous.

This realm belonged to their Jiang family, not the Li family, not the Wang family, and certainly not the Shao family. No matter how capable a person was, they had to serve the master of this realm. If they instead rode on their master’s neck to lord over others and even made their master look at their expression, what was the point of keeping them around?

Heh, once he ascended to that position, as long as the realm was stable, the first person he’d make an example of would be Marquis Guanjun!

Prince Mu returned to his residence just as a spy who had infiltrated Prince Rui’s residence brought news.

In the secret chamber, Prince Mu raised his hand: “Rise. Speak of serious matters.”

The person stood up, bent over, and whispered a few words into Prince Mu’s ear.

Prince Mu’s eyes suddenly contracted: “Heh, Prince Rui’s newly taken concubine has been guarding an empty room alone?”

The person nodded.

“This shouldn’t be right.” Prince Mu frowned.

Prince Rui taking the Li family’s daughter as his concubine was clearly to establish connections with Marquis Guanjun. Why would he neglect his newly taken concubine?

Even setting aside these considerations, with a flower-like young girl placed before him, what normal man wouldn’t partake?

Normal man?

Thinking of this, Prince Mu’s heart stirred, vaguely understanding something.

“What is Prince Rui’s attitude toward his newly taken concubine?”

The person replied: “Prince Rui never enters Lady Li’s room at night, but when they interact during the day, his attitude is very gentle.”

Prince Mu closed his eyes.

Something was wrong – there was something wrong somewhere.

He paced back and forth in the small secret chamber, his heart churning.

Not disgusted with a young, beautiful concubine from a decent background, yet not entering her door at night—

Prince Mu shuddered, instantly thinking of one possibility: Prince Rui was impotent!

Upon reaching this conclusion, Prince Mu immediately denied it: No, if Prince Rui were impotent, why would he bother with all this? Even if he inherited the throne, wouldn’t it just benefit someone else in the end?

Connecting this to Prince Rui inviting Physician Li to the capital and continuously taking medicinal baths, Prince Mu finally understood: Prince Rui wasn’t impotent, but rather couldn’t touch women.

This abstinence from women must have a time limit!

In other words, if Prince Rui touched women before the time limit was up, all his efforts at regulating his body would be ruined!

Prince Mu’s heart began pounding wildly.

If he could make Prince Rui completely lose his chance of having an heir, he wouldn’t need to compete at all. As long as he lived healthily and robustly, the throne would fall to him.

Prince Mu suddenly stopped in his tracks and, suppressing his excitement, ordered: “Immediately investigate clearly for this prince exactly what Physician Li instructed Prince Rui at the time.”

As long as he could make Prince Rui break his discipline before that deadline, he would succeed.

Wait—

Prince Mu raised his hand to his forehead, suddenly feeling he was overcomplicating things.

To make Prince Rui break his discipline, he didn’t need to discover that deadline at all. Right now, Prince Rui wasn’t entering Lady Li’s room, which already proved that the deadline hadn’t arrived yet.

So he just needed to act as quickly as possible!

Prince Mu curved his lips in a smile and ordered: “Go, find a way to make contact with that Lady Li. She must be feeling bewildered and at a loss right now.”