Zhao Helin’s eyes suddenly contracted as he stared intently at Cheng Maoming.

Cheng Maoming didn’t look at him, addressing Emperor Tai’an instead: “Whether or not Zhao Helin instructed Yang Wu, Your Majesty need only ask to find out.”

After a brief silence, Emperor Tai’an asked, “Where is this person?”

“He’s being held in the Jinlin Guard.”

“Bring him here.”

What followed was a suffocating wait. Zhao Helin was drenched in cold sweat, repeatedly raising his sleeve to wipe it away.

Emperor Tai’an expressionlessly leafed through memorials on his dragon desk. In the room where one could hear a pin drop, the only sound was the faint rustling of paper being turned.

After what seemed like an eternity, Yang Wu was finally brought before Emperor Tai’an.

Emperor Tai’an casually tossed the memorial onto the desk and looked down with heavy-lidded eyes at the person kneeling on the ground, trembling violently.

“Raise your head.”

Following this authoritative command, Yang Wu slowly lifted his head.

This was a man in his thirties with a square face, thick eyebrows, and quite proper features, but his overly shifty eyes made his whole person appear frivolous.

Emperor Tai’an frowned in displeasure.

Yang Wu, a street hoodlum, had never imagined he’d have a day of seeing the Son of Heaven. He was immediately frightened senseless.

“This commoner greets, greets, greets Your Majesty…”

“Why did you hire an assassin to kill someone?” Emperor Tai’an asked in a heavy voice.

Having failed to resist the Jinlin Guard’s methods, Yang Wu couldn’t possibly hold out before the ruler of a nation.

At this moment, without a shred of thought to conceal anything in his mind, he blurted out without hesitation: “It was Lord Zhao who told this commoner to do it!”

“Yang Wu, don’t you dare spout nonsense!” Though he had prepared for the worst, actually witnessing Yang Wu sell him out so readily still made Zhao Helin explode with rage.

Yang Wu looked at Zhao Helin and said dumbly, “Lord Zhao is here too…”

It turned out he had been too nervous and hadn’t noticed Zhao Helin was present at all.

Emperor Tai’an shot him one cold glance, and Zhao Helin didn’t dare make another sound. Beads of sweat emerged on his forehead one crop after another, as if he’d been fished out of water.

“How did he instruct you?”

Yang Wu honestly recounted everything, and finally even produced the silver he’d profited from: “This commoner wasn’t doing it for money—I was afraid that if I didn’t listen to Lord Zhao, he would make trouble for me. I beg Your Majesty to spare my life!”

He kowtowed repeatedly, making the floor boom with each impact.

Liu Chuan, the head eunuch standing at Emperor Tai’an’s side, felt extremely pained, thinking to himself that if the gold bricks got damaged, this wretched thing couldn’t possibly afford to compensate.

“Enough, take him away.”

As soon as Emperor Tai’an spoke, Yang Wu was immediately dragged off.

Emperor Tai’an looked toward Zhao Helin.

The kneeling Zhao Helin’s body tilted, collapsing to the ground like a puddle of mud: “This subject deserves death—”

“You do deserve death, but I still want to know—why did you do this?”

Zhao Helin hung his head, falling into silence.

Should he tell the Emperor it was the Crown Prince?

Then the Emperor would certainly fly into a humiliated rage.

Emperor Tai’an laughed coldly: “Zhao Helin, do you think Cheng Maoming hasn’t already reported to me? I’m merely giving you a chance to see whether you choose to bear the consequences yourself, or implicate your entire clan’s lives.”

Cheng Maoming, who had been silently kneeling, felt secretly alarmed upon hearing these words.

His Majesty truly wielded the art of extracting information to perfection—he had just used it on him, and now it was Zhao Helin’s turn. He had been prepared and avoided the trap, but as for Zhao Helin under such heavy pressure, his mind probably wasn’t working quite so nimbly.

Just as Cheng Maoming predicted, because Yang Wu had confessed without hesitation, Zhao Helin’s mental defenses had long been shattered. Hearing Emperor Tai’an say this, he was immediately frightened out of his wits: “This subject will confess, this subject will confess—it was Eunuch Wang at the Crown Prince’s side who told this subject to do it!”

“What did you say?” Emperor Tai’an’s hand trembled, knocking over the teacup beside him, yet he paid no attention to the flowing tea soaking the memorials.

Only then did Zhao Helin realize he’d been trapped into confessing. He suddenly looked at Cheng Maoming.

Cheng Maoming showed no reaction on his face, but his eyes held a hint of amusement.

Zhao Helin’s heart plummeted straight down, dropping into an icy pit.

It was over, everything was over!

Cheng Maoming had long since investigated the connection to the Crown Prince but didn’t dare speak of it, yet he himself had been momentarily slow-witted and been tricked by the Emperor into blurting it out!

Zhao Helin looked at Emperor Tai’an in despair, with only one thought: As the exalted Son of Heaven, how could he do such a thing?

Emperor Tai’an strode before Zhao Helin and asked word by word: “Someone from the Crown Prince’s side told you to do this?”

Zhao Helin didn’t dare answer, his head nearly buried into the ground.

“Speak!” Emperor Tai’an kicked him over, his voice cold and hard as a blade. “Otherwise I’ll execute your nine clans!”

Zhao Helin scrambled up in disarray to kneel properly again, sobbing: “Yes…”

Emperor Tai’an took a deep breath to calm his emotions that raged like wind and rain, then looked toward Cheng Maoming kneeling on the other side.

Cheng Maoming lowered his head even further.

“What else did you investigate?”

Cheng Maoming hastily replied: “In response to Your Majesty, this subject only discovered that Zhao Helin instructed Yang Wu to hire an assassin to kill someone. I haven’t yet investigated the reason why Zhao Helin did this.”

A resentful gaze shot toward him, which Cheng Maoming calmly accepted.

A defeated opponent—no matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t stir up any waves.

“Anything else?” Emperor Tai’an’s voice revealed no emotion, yet it pressed down on people so heavily they could barely breathe.

Cheng Maoming struggled internally for a moment, then honestly replied: “I also investigated the background of the two criminals. One is called Wang Hu, the other Zhang Shan—they’re soldiers from the same squad in the Xuanwu Battalion.”

Given Emperor Tai’an’s suspicious and cautious nature, he used only people he trusted in key positions. Hearing this, his first thought was of his brother-in-law Dou Qisheng.

Zhao Helin had admitted that the one who told him to silence the witnesses was Wang Gui at the Crown Prince’s side, and Cheng Maoming had investigated that the two criminals were soldiers under the Crown Prince’s uncle’s command. At this point it could be said there was no longer any doubt—the abduction of Miss Lin had been orchestrated by the Crown Prince.

This scoundrel!

If not for having subjects present, Emperor Tai’an would have loved to jump up and curse for a full hour, then go to the Eastern Palace and slap the Crown Prince’s face swollen.

But now he still had to clean up the mess the Crown Prince had created.

After composing himself briefly, Emperor Tai’an spoke: “Zhao Helin, as Assistant Regional Commander of the Jinlin Guard, knowingly violated the law. Because of his dissatisfaction with Prince Wei’s selection of a consort, he instructed someone to abduct the future Princess Consort of Wei and silence witnesses—his crimes are unforgivable! In consideration of his many years of service to the court, his family will be spared from collective punishment, and he is immediately granted a cup of poisoned wine.”

Zhao Helin collapsed to the ground, thanking him through tears: “This subject thanks Your Majesty for your great mercy—”

Soon two guards came over and dragged Zhao Helin away like a dead dog.

The hall suddenly became desolate. Apart from the palace attendants who were even restraining their breathing, there were only Emperor Tai’an and his subject Cheng Maoming, this pair of ruler and minister.

“Minister Cheng.” Emperor Tai’an spoke.

Cheng Maoming’s scalp tightened as he quickly responded: “This subject is here.”

“These past days investigating the case, you’ve worked hard.”

“Relieving Your Majesty’s concerns is this subject’s honor. I only regret not handling the matter well.”

“Minister Cheng has already done excellently—didn’t you expose a treacherous official like Zhao Helin who was loyal on the outside but traitorous within?”

This kind of praise didn’t relieve Cheng Maoming; rather, the pressure felt mountainous.

“Investigate the Xuanwu Battalion side more thoroughly and see what connection those two criminals had with Zhao Helin.”

Cheng Maoming’s heart sank.

His Majesty’s meaning was clear—he obviously intended to cover up for the Crown Prince.