Mo Xiaobao’s eyes sparkled as he grinned, “I’ve got it, let me tell you…” He leaned close to Qin Lie’s ear and whispered. After hearing his words, Qin Lie’s eye twitched slightly as he asked, “Will it work?”
“Absolutely no problem. Just wait and watch the show.” Mo Xiaobao smiled mischievously.
Qin Lie fell silent for a moment before saying sincerely, “Being too wicked will bring karmic retribution.”
Mo Xiaobao rolled his eyes at him, “Don’t act like you’re not interested.”
Qin Lie remained silent as they exchanged glances, both breaking into meaningful smiles. Mo Xiaobao cheerfully pounced on Qin Lie, vigorously pinching that delicate face identical to his own. “Brother, I knew you’d find it fun too.” This just proved that anyone who could survive and thrive in Prince Ding’s manor wasn’t a good person.
Just as Mo Xiaobao finished plotting with Qin Lie, they heard chaotic footsteps outside. Although there were many guards in this courtyard, they usually moved very carefully. Mo Xiaobao and Qin Lie could barely hear any footsteps unless they paid close attention. The only person who would walk so brazenly was probably Mo Jingli. Mo Xiaobao glanced at Qin Lie, quickly leaped onto the beam, and disappeared through an inconspicuous small hole above.
As soon as Mo Xiaobao vanished, the room’s door was kicked open from outside. The child who had been sleeping peacefully was startled by the loud noise, and their little mouth quivered before breaking into loud wails.
Seeing the baby crying heartbreakingly, Qin Lie broke into a cold sweat. He didn’t know how to comfort children – this little ancestor had only fallen asleep thanks to Mo Xiaobao’s efforts.
“Silence!” Mo Jingli, radiating a threatening aura, shouted coldly. Qin Lie rolled his eyes, “If you’re so capable, why don’t you try comforting the child? What’s wrong with you? Don’t you know children are difficult to console?”
Mo Jingli, who had just suffered a major setback from Mo Xiuyao, became even more displeased after being mocked by Qin Lie. His expression darkened further. He rushed forward and grabbed Qin Lie by the collar, his expression cold as he said, “Do you wish to die?”
Qin Lie retaliated without hesitation, thrusting his fingers toward Mo Jingli’s eyes. Mo Jingli quickly raised his other hand to block, but Qin Lie executed a mid-air flip, kicking away Mo Jingli’s hand before landing steadily several steps away, raising his chin to glare at Mo Jingli defiantly.
Qin Lie’s skillful counter made Mo Jingli’s expression even worse. Though he wasn’t worried about this youth rebelling completely, seeing Mo Xiuyao’s son display such prowess at such a young age while his son…
Qin Lie snorted lightly, “Do you dare kill me? Kill this Crown Prince and you’re asking for death.”
Mo Jingli’s expression turned savage. “Even if I die, having you accompany me in death wouldn’t be bad! I want to see just how heartbroken Mo Xiuyao and Ye Li would be losing a son.”
Qin Lie clapped his hands and laughed, “Oh my, the Chu Emperor has such grand aspirations. So your dream is to watch my royal father and mother suffer? Then what? Even if you kill me, the realm will still belong to my royal father. I have brothers and sisters. My royal father and mother will still enjoy their golden years. This Crown Prince thinks… having a Chu Emperor as company in death isn’t bad either. Perhaps… in his rage, Father might send a few more people to accompany this Crown Prince. Like that… Mo Xuyun, and maybe even Mo Suiyun. Trading one Crown Prince for three generations of Chu Emperors seems quite worthwhile to me.”
“You truly don’t fear death?” Mo Jingli stared at Qin Lie.
Qin Lie smiled sweetly, “Perhaps just a bit less than Your Majesty. Your Majesty can try – kill this Crown Prince and see if you can make it out of Li City alive. Oh… there’s also that little Nanzhao prince. Perhaps you could use him as a bargaining chip.” Though Mo Jingli’s expression remained dark, the killing intent around him gradually receded. He knew very well that the Nanzhao infant prince could only add weight to less important matters. If he killed Mo Xiaobao, Mo Xiuyao’s fury absolutely couldn’t be appeased by one Nanzhao prince.
With a cold snort, Mo Jingli finally turned to leave, “You better behave yourself. I may not be able to kill you now, but that doesn’t mean I can’t cripple you!”
“This Crown Prince is so scared,” Qin Lie said without sincerity. Ignoring the furiously departing Mo Jingli, he walked to the bedside and began awkwardly trying to comfort the still whimpering baby.
In Prince Ding’s manor, Mo Xiuyao and Ye Li weren’t in a hurry to search for Mo Xiaobao. This entire incident was meant as a trial for Mo Xiaobao. Otherwise, if they had wanted to kill Mo Jingli, it wouldn’t have required such complexity – they would have dealt with him long ago.
In a somewhat dim prison cell within the manor, Mo Jingyu sat silently in a large chair, looking at Mo Xiuyao and Ye Li sitting opposite him with slight unease. After a long while, he couldn’t help but ask, “Are you truly not worried about the young Crown Prince’s safety?”
Mo Xiuyao glanced at him, and lowered his head to continue reading the documents in his hand while calmly saying, “If he could be so easily harmed by Mo Jingli, he wouldn’t be worthy of being Prince Ding’s Crown Prince.” Mo Jingyu frowned. He had personally witnessed Mo Xiaobao being drugged and taken away by Mo Jingli. But Mo Xiuyao and Ye Li’s calmness made him vaguely sense something wasn’t right. There were no parents in the world who wouldn’t worry about their children’s safety unless they were certain their child wasn’t in danger.
“The Crown Prince is in Mo Jingli’s hands,” Mo Jingyu said.
Mo Xiuyao nodded, “This prince knows that, otherwise, why would this prince let Mo Jingli leave? Now this prince isn’t interested in that. Mo Jingyu, tell this prince about all of Great Chu and Mo Jingli’s strongholds in Li City.”
Mo Jingyu started, saying gravely, “This matter has nothing to do with Great Chu. Cooperating with Mo Jingli was this prince’s personal decision.”
Mo Xiuyao raised an eyebrow and smiled, “You don’t need to explain this to this prince. This prince wants you to reveal all the Great Chu royal family and Mo Jingli’s strongholds and the list of their spies.” Just how many spies and hidden forces the Great Chu royal family had concealed among the common people, even Prince Ding’s manor couldn’t fully know. If not for these forces, Mo Jingli couldn’t have caused so much trouble in Li City.
“This prince is just a royal clan prince, only Mo Jingli himself knows these things,” Mo Jingyu said.
Mo Xiuyao shook his head, clearly not believing his words. He smiled, “But this prince thinks there must be many things even Mo Jingli doesn’t know. The one who truly knows should be… the Grand Empress Dowager. And when you came to Li City this time, the Grand Empress Dowager couldn’t have told you nothing.”
Mo Jingyu froze, lowering his eyes in silence.
Mo Xiuyao reclined leisurely against the couch, saying indifferently, “When Mo Jingqi was still alive, he placed many spies in the Northwest. These things Mo Jingli naturally wouldn’t know. But… the Grand Empress Dowager knows. Originally this prince didn’t plan to deal with it – after all… no wall’s completely airtight. Even if we eliminated these, there would always be people racking their brains to squeeze in. However, this time… Mo Jingli’s matter taught this prince a very important lesson – being too merciful brings big troubles. So, this prince has decided to clean out those insects more thoroughly, regularly spray some insecticide, and set some fires to burn them out. Perhaps then no more insects will grow.”
Mo Jingyu’s mouth twitched involuntarily. If you call this being merciful, then everyone else in the world must be living Bodhisattvas.
“From the beginning… did you want to dig out Great Chu’s spies in the Northwest, or did you want to catch Mo Jingli?” After a long while, Mo Jingyu finally asked. Mo Xiuyao stroked his chin, asking leisurely, “Why can’t this prince want both? That old witch from Great Chu is quite bold, using this to negotiate with this prince. The Moling Army won’t attack Jiangnan for twenty years? How did she come up with such an adorable condition?”
Mo Jingyu finally understood that all these unfortunate events originated from the Grand Empress Dowager’s presumptuous decisions. He had no idea the Grand Empress Dowager had offered such conditions to Mo Xiuyao – clearly, she was still wary of him. Sighing, Mo Jingyu said, “I don’t know about this matter. If the Grand Empress Dowager didn’t even tell me about this, do you think I would know the list of Great Chu’s spies in the Northwest?”
Mo Xiuyao sneered, “If you didn’t know, would you dare make this trip?”
Mo Jingyu fell silent again. After a long time, he finally raised his head to ask, “If I tell you, what benefit would I get?” Mo Xiuyao smiled amiably at him and said, “You won’t have to be tortured.” Mo Jingyu shook his head, saying, “Not enough. You must guarantee my life’s safety. Although I agreed to help Mo Jingli, I haven’t done anything. So, it shouldn’t count as offending Prince Ding’s manor, right? I can tell you where the Crown Prince is now, but you must guarantee my safety and let me leave the Northwest.”
Mo Xiuyao looked at him with an ambiguous smile, “Haven’t done anything? Forcing Great Chu’s young emperor to trick Mo Xiaobao out, does that not count as doing something?”
Mo Jingyu’s eyes suddenly widened, “How did you…”
Mo Xiuyao waved his hand, and the prison door opened in the distance. An eleven or twelve-year-old boy wearing imperial yellow dragon robes walked in. Looking at Mo Jingyu, he softly called out, “Uncle Yu Wang.”
Mo Jingyu stared at Mo Suiyun in disbelief, “It was you… you told Mo Xiuyao?” Just looking at Mo Suiyun’s appearance showed he hadn’t suffered any hardship, which meant Prince Ding’s people hadn’t forced him. He even saw a hint of joy and schadenfreude in Mo Suiyun’s eyes, making Mo Jingyu realize he might have always underestimated this seemingly unremarkable young emperor before him.
Mo Suiyun blinked his eyes, looking somewhat aggrieved as he said to Mo Jingyu, “Uncle Yu Wang, I’m very sorry. I don’t want to die, and I don’t want to die with you. I’m very afraid… very afraid of Uncle Prince Ding. Weren’t you all always telling me how formidable Uncle Prince Ding is? So why did you make me try to capture his son? People could die from that.”
Mo Jingyu was so angry he felt like coughing blood. Now he could see this kid had been playing dumb all along. Mo Jingyu gritted his teeth, “Mo Suiyun, do you know what you’re doing?”
Mo Suiyun hesitated for a moment but still nodded.
Mo Xiuyao lazily said, “This child understands what he’s doing better than you do. How do you think this prince knew what you were planning to do tonight? And how did Shen Yang know to put the ice magnolia in the great hall beforehand?”
“It was you?!” Although he knew Mo Suiyun had betrayed him, Mo Jingyu still couldn’t believe that Mo Suiyun had been colluding with Prince Ding’s manor so early, “You… cooperating with Prince Ding’s manor, aren’t you afraid of dealing with a tiger?”
Mo Suiyun raised his eyes to look at Mo Jingyu, saying seriously, “Uncle Yu Wang, without cooperating with Prince Ding’s manor, I might already be dead. Working with Uncle Prince Ding, I at least have a chance to survive, and surviving means a chance to turn things around.” After taking a deep look at Mo Suiyun, Mo Jingyu finally collapsed back into his chair powerlessly, appearing speechless. Mo Xiuyao waved his hand for someone to take Mo Suiyun away.
The prison fell quiet again. Mo Jingyu looked at Mo Xiuyao and Ye Li, smiling bitterly, “Prince Ding truly has impressive methods and schemes, able to manipulate everyone under heaven with a wave of his hand.” Mo Xiuyao slightly raised his eyebrows without speaking. Mo Jingyu looked at him and said, “From the beginning, you knew Mo Jingli wanted to target the Crown Prince. And you even knew how he planned to do it, so… the Crown Prince being so easily captured by Mo Jingli was probably also part of your design, wasn’t it?”
After suddenly realizing everything had been in someone else’s control, Mo Jingyu became clear-headed. Remembering how when Mo Xiuyao had faked his death before, neither Mo Jingli nor Lei Zhenting had noticed anything amiss, his heart suddenly sank, and he said, “The one Mo Jingli captured isn’t even the Crown Prince!” No parent could remain so calm and composed when their son was kidnapped, even with countless people protecting him in secret.
Mo Xiuyao sighed softly, looking at Mo Jingyu with some regret as he said, “Mo Jingyu, you’ve always been a clever person. It’s just a pity… you did such a foolish thing in this prince’s territory. You left this prince no choice but to move against you. What benefits did Mo Jingli offer you that made you dare to oppose this prince?”
Mo Jingyu’s face turned pale. He closed his eyes and said gravely, “The Imperial Seal.”
“The Imperial Seal?” Mo Xiuyao raised his eyebrows with interest, turning to look at Ye Li and asking, “Ali, do you like the Imperial Seal?”
Ye Li smiled at him, “The Imperial Seal? What use is it?”
“Seems rather useless,” Mo Xiuyao pondered for a moment, “Just like Prince Ding’s seal but bigger, I suppose.”
Ye Li shook her head, “If you think it’s too small, you could have the Nine Dragons Imperial Seal engraved with Prince Ding’s inscription.”
Mo Xiuyao nodded in agreement. He had no interest in any Imperial Seal, and besides… the one in Mo Jingli’s possession could hardly be called an Imperial Seal – at most, it was Great Chu’s hereditary jade seal. If he were interested, he could simply establish his dynasty and have any piece of jade carved into an Imperial Seal to pass down through the ages.
Mo Jingyu’s smile turned bitter. Not everyone had Mo Xiuyao’s abilities and resolve. For someone ambitious for the throne, the Imperial Seal was an irresistible temptation. Moreover, Mo Jingli’s promised conditions went far beyond just the Imperial Seal, making it impossible for him to refuse.
Mo Xiuyao looked at him calmly and said, “A mere Imperial Seal wouldn’t give you the courage to oppose this prince. What else is there?” Mo Jingyu remained silent, not because he still wanted to deny anything to Mo Xiuyao, but because he truly couldn’t say. If he did, death would be his only option.
Seeing his determination to hold out until the end, Mo Xiuyao sneered, “You think if you don’t say it, this prince won’t be able to find out?”
Mo Jingyu’s face paled, and he finally lowered his head, saying hoarsely, “Since Your Highness already knows, why ask?”
Mo Xiuyao stared at him and said, “This prince just doesn’t understand… as a member of the Great Chu royal family, why would you sell out your own country for mere hundreds of thousands of silver taels? Those civilians massacred in the North during those two years – at least a small portion must be counted on your head, right?” Mo Jingyu’s face turned ashen, his lips trembling slightly. He kept his eyes closed for a long while before finally sighing, “For what… I don’t even know for what. Perhaps it was to prove a point. Though we’re all the royal father’s sons, Mo Jingqi and Mo Jingli, those two fools, ruined Great Chu completely, yet they could still take turns holding power. Even though Mo Jingqi was killed by Mo Jingli, rather than let outsiders like us hold power, the Grand Empress Dowager still preferred to tolerate the one who imprisoned her son. They schemed and plotted for power, while those of us who worked diligently for Great Chu, despite our noble status on the surface, couldn’t even afford small luxuries. Such a life… didn’t Prince Ding experience it too? If Prince Ding’s manor hadn’t been as wealthy as the nation itself, what kind of life would the Prince have lived in those years?”
“You think you’re smarter than Mo Jingqi and Mo Jingli?” Mo Xiuyao sneered and asked.
Mo Jingyu covered his eyes with his hand, saying dejectedly, “I used to think so, but now… I don’t know.” He wasn’t a heartless traitor – a moment of confusion had led to irreversible mistakes. By the time he came to his senses, Great Chu had already moved south. These years, he had served Mo Jingli diligently, but unfortunately, due to his royal status, Mo Jingli always remained wary of him. And now… someone had finally come to settle these accounts?
For a moment, Mo Jingyu appeared completely dispirited. He looked up at Mo Xiuyao and said, “Whatever you want to know, I’ll tell you. However, you want to deal with me… do as you, please. Just… my children are still in Great Chu. I hope Prince Ding’s manor can guarantee their safety. I don’t ask for wealth or status, only that they remain safe and sound.” After saying these words, Mo Jingyu seemed to age several years instantly.
Mo Xiuyao pondered for a moment before nodding in agreement.
Mo Jingyu understood Mo Xiuyao – although his schemes made enemies gnash their teeth in hatred, once he made a promise, he always kept it. Mo Jingyu nodded, “Bring paper and brush. I can only tell you what I know, but the Grand Empress Dowager might not have told me everything.”
Shortly after, Mo Xiuyao and Ye Li left the prison cell with the information Mo Jingyu had provided. In the cell, Mo Jingyu remained sitting in that large chair, completely motionless as if devoid of life. Mo Jingyu’s fate had long been sealed – for traitors, whether Mo Xiuyao or Prince Ding’s manor always meted out severe punishment. Whether he confessed or not, death was his only path, and now, no one would care about his life or death anymore.