Chapter 47

But the maidservant, looking completely bewildered, immediately knelt down.

Considering that the young prince had just fallen asleep, she could only shake her head hastily to indicate that she had not done anything.

Seeing this, the Empress breathed a slight sigh of relief.

The little girl, who had been fast asleep, opened her eyes. Her big eyes were clear, indicating that she was no longer sleepy. "Mother, what happened outside?"

The Empress frowned, annoyed that others were disturbing Jiao Jiao's sleep, but she was still very gentle with Ling Wu.

"Mother doesn't know either. Would it be alright if Mother took Jiaojiao out to have a look?"

"good."

Soldiers had already surrounded the Second Prince's tent. Sheng Yu rushed over before he had finished reviewing the memorials, and in his anxiety, he was covered in ink stains.

He breathed a barely perceptible sigh of relief when he saw the Empress and Ling Wu arrive.

Li Yue knelt on the ground, her face pale and her eyes filled with fear. "Reporting to Your Majesty, after the bonfire, someone told me that the Second Prince was injured and that I had to go and deliver medicine..."

The Empress took a deep breath, but couldn't help but coldly rebuke, "Deliver medicine? No matter what, is it any of the business of a maid from Consort Shu's palace delivering medicine to the Second Prince?"

Li Yue raised her pretty face, "This servant, this servant thought the Second Prince he..." Moreover, she didn't know why she was like this, as if she had been blinded by greed.

She bit her lip and didn't continue, but everyone knew what was going on.

Consort Shu gritted her teeth, her face full of anger, and said, "I had no idea you were the kind of woman who would climb into the master's bed!"

After she finished speaking, she knelt down before Sheng Yu, her tone firm, "Your Majesty, I know nothing about this matter."

Upon seeing this, the Empress frowned, then bent down and helped Consort Shu up, saying, "This has nothing to do with you."

Consort Shu slightly raised her face, and some color gradually returned to her pale complexion. "As long as Your Majesty believes in me, that's enough." If she couldn't see Jiao Jiao again, let alone Xiao Wu, she herself would cry herself to death, wouldn't she?

At that moment, Sheng Yu raised his hand, his face cold and unreadable, and said, "Continue."

Li Yue sobbed, knowing that if she didn't continue, she would be sent to the Imperial Prison. Thinking of the Imperial Prison, her already pale face was almost transparent.

Her voice trembled as she said, "As soon as I entered, I saw the Second Prince had been stabbed in the back. In the chaos, I broke the tray, and the guards outside came in as well. I am absolutely certain that what I have said is true. If there is even the slightest falsehood, I will surely die a horrible death! I beg Your Majesty and Your Highness to investigate thoroughly!"

Sheng Yu's expression darkened slightly. "Do you still remember the face of the person who asked you to deliver the medicine?"

Li Yue pondered blankly, but her face gradually showed surprise. "This servant... this servant can't remember..."

Sheng Yu raised his hand. "Take him away."

Before Li Yue could even cry out, her mouth was covered, silencing her in front of the imperial family.

Everything happened very quickly, in just a short time.

After the Empress helped Consort Shu up, she remained silent.

She held Lingwu tightly, her heart filled with complex emotions, her face pale, and her voice inevitably trembled with difficulty:

"Is Xiao Er alright?"

Sheng Yu shook his head. "There was no one on the bed, only a pile of straw stuffed in the bedding, with a dagger stuck in it. It was dark inside, and if you didn't look closely, it looked like a person was lying there. But Xiao Er is nowhere to be found..."

Just then, a nonchalant young voice rang out, "Why aren't you sleeping? What are you doing standing around in front of my tent?"

Upon hearing this, Lingwu's gaze followed, and she saw that the Second Prince was chewing on a blade of grass, which contrasted sharply with the Crown Prince, who stood behind him with a refined and elegant air.

"Big brother, second brother..." Lingwu waved her little hand.

The second prince quickly stood up straight, spitting out the foxtail grass from his mouth, his carefree demeanor completely gone. "Why is Jiaojiao here too? Usually, she's already asleep by this time. What happened?"

Sheng Yu flicked his sleeve, his tone calm yet tinged with ease, "Zhang Delu, you speak."

After Zhang Delu finished speaking, the Second Prince also frowned.

"My elder brother invited me to play chess tonight, but I never expected to escape this calamity..."

He was about to continue speaking with a joking smile when he saw that his elder brother, who was always so kind and gentle, now had a sharp look in his eyes!

The Crown Prince cupped his hands, his face utterly cold. "Father, I am willing to thoroughly investigate this matter!"

Sheng Yu stared at the Crown Prince for a few moments, his eyes revealing nothing.

"Investigate, I await the results," Sheng Yu said calmly.

The Empress paused upon hearing this, and then she felt the little one in her arms tug at her clothes.

She looked down and met those big, dark eyes. "What does Jiaojiao want to say?"

Seeing the Empress's reaction, Sheng Yu smiled and exchanged a glance with her before taking Ling Wu from her hands.

"Is there something Jiaojiao wants to say to her father?"

Lingwu looked up at Sheng Yu, stretched out her small hand, and pointed to the dagger that had been thrown on the ground.

Sheng Yu gently rubbed her soft head.

"If Jiaojiao has any doubts, just tell your father. Don't be afraid, your father is here."

The incident happened so suddenly that the dagger was only briefly examined.

The crown prince's gaze swept across everyone's faces, finally concealing the doubt in his eyes.

Fortunately, just as the campfire went out, Xiao Er managed to voice his thoughts.

The contents of that secret letter were a mixture of truth and falsehood. What made Xiao Er suspicious was that he was not the child of his father and mother, but that was true.

When my father had just ascended the throne, while the forces behind his other uncles were putting up a stubborn resistance, they still managed to interfere when my mother was giving birth.

His real brother died that day, and Xiao Er, as his mother had said that day, was indeed just an abandoned baby found outside.

Actually, it's not entirely accurate to call him an abandoned child. During the struggle for the throne, the people were in turmoil, and Xiao Er's parents died at the hands of bandits. When he went out, the guards who accompanied him wiped out that group of bandits.

He was kind-hearted when he was young, so he took the second child in.

The other matter is that he and his mother will plot to murder Xiao Er tonight.

This is indeed a fake, because the original plan was to use Xiao Er's death during the autumn hunt to force the maternal grandfather to take sides and to make him resent the emperor.

As his two younger brothers grew up, the undercurrents beneath the surface grew stronger, and he didn't believe his father was truly unaware.

His two younger brothers may seem unintentional, but their maternal clans and the forces secretly supporting them will not agree.

However, for some reason, the Empress Dowager changed this plan today.

Looking into the trusting eyes of the waiter reflected in the campfire, he breathed a sigh of relief.

A relationship spanning over a decade cannot be faked. Back then, he had no idea that Xiao Er would have his current status. It was only after his mother saw the birth of a stillborn child and his father's change of heart that she devised this crazy scheme that would last for over a decade.

He hadn't originally intended for Xiao Er to die, but after Xiao Er spoke frankly with him tonight, he softened his heart.

Tonight, he just wanted to see who dared to provoke them. That person didn't expect the waiter to trust him so much.

The reason I've taken on this task is to prevent my father from finding out things he can't know.

What cannot be known is whether his subordinates were involved, nor can the Empress Dowager's schemes over so many years be uncovered.

Seeing Lingwu pointing at the dagger, the Crown Prince regained his composure.

He had inquired about the dagger before he arrived; it had no patterns or designs and couldn't be identified by anyone. But Jiaojiao hadn't behaved like an ordinary child over the past four years…

The crown prince raised an eyebrow, a smile playing on his lips.

Because she had already gone to bed, and because the prince's murder was so sudden, Lingwu's long hair was left loose behind her back, smooth as silk.

She stepped down from Sheng Yu's embrace and took small steps toward the dagger.

Despite being stopped by a group of people, he didn't bend down to touch it, but instead pulled out a long hair.

Her long hair, following the direction of the night wind, should have been going in the opposite direction from the dagger, but for no reason, it stuck to the dagger!

Then, in an instant, right before everyone's eyes, it vanished into nothingness!