In the summer resort not far from the Beicheng Street Pier, Murong Yao was standing on a viewing platform in the resort, waving a folding fan, overlooking the dotted lights of ships on the river.

The lights on the dock formed a long galaxy, outlining the river bank.

The corners of his lips curled up as he praised, “This is the first time I’ve seen Murong Yan so flustered, and it has to be my cousin who gave this prince such a big surprise in one go.”

Minister Liu stood in the shadows, his gaze fixed on the Beicheng Street pier. A hint of pride lingered in his voice, "Zhang'er has been clever since he was young. Ever since he gave up pursuing Miss Xu, he seems to have become much more intelligent. I used to think he was too stubborn and rigid, just like his grandfather, talented but inflexible."

Liu Zhang was his eldest son, a brilliant and talented man. At the age of fourteen, he bravely unveiled the imperial edict and solved a robbery of government silver in just half a month. He was appreciated by the emperor and appointed to the Dali Temple.

He has been an official for ten years and has solved many strange cases. Now at the age of 25, he is already the highest-ranking official in the Dali Temple.

Whenever he talked about his son, Minister Liu's heart was filled with pride and satisfaction.

However, their father-son relationship was not close, and they had basically nothing to talk about on weekdays. Liu Zhang did not like the way he behaved in officialdom, and he also thought Liu Zhang was too upright and did not know how to protect his family.

In the past, when he and Murong Yao were planning something, the Dali Temple was of no help at all. On several occasions, his people were arrested and interrogated by the Dali Temple.

Minister Liu personally went to retrieve the man, but Liu Zhang asked him to follow the formalities. If he wasn't his own son, he would have impeached him long ago.

This time, Liu Zhang suddenly said that he wanted to participate in their plan, which surprised Minister Liu for a long time.

But after he planned this plan, Minister Liu was not only convinced but also admired himself for being able to give birth to such an outstanding son.

"You should listen to Zhang'er's opinions more from now on. He is your cousin and he won't cheat you. He is also thoughtful and can handle the gang behind Murong Yan."

"Well, it has to be a family member." Murong Yao nodded in agreement. If it weren't for the confidence given by the Liu family, he would not have the courage to compete with Murong Yan.

After all, behind Murong Yan, in addition to his uncle Ling who was in charge of the national treasury, there were also the Imperial Envoy's Office, royal relatives and county governors from all over the country, and the 300,000 southwestern troops led by the great uncle, all of whom were his supporters.

If you want money, you have money. If you want soldiers, you have soldiers.

The only one who could compete with him was Marquis Shen of the Southern Territory. However, the Southern Territory only had soldiers, food and fodder, but no support from the officials in the capital. It would be a long and difficult road for Marquis Shen to help his own nephew Murong Tao ascend to the throne.

Now that Liu Zhang and Dongyi City Lord Jiang Yulou have joined his army, he has the support of the three ministries of rituals, punishments and officials and the Yulin Army, and the support of 300,000 black sail troops outside. He feels that he can definitely fight for the position of crown prince.

He also gradually became bolder in his actions.

Minister Liu stood aside and continued, "Yao'er, this Miss Xu is no pushover. I don't understand why you're still protecting her after she killed your guards. I don't think the Jiang Yu she mentioned is that powerful.

"I don't know if Jiang Yu is a deity or not, but she is pretty deity anyway."

Murong Yao fanned himself, pondered for a moment, and then said, "She seems to be very interested in Jiang Yulou, the Lord of Dongyi City. They are two people who have nothing in common, but she seems to care a lot about his family affairs. It seems that she knows some of Jiang Yulou's secrets... no, everyone's secrets.

Don’t you think this Miss Xu is very interesting?”

"No matter how interesting she is, her father, Xu Yushi, is also the Crown Prince's man. You are well aware of how many of our people have been impeached and exiled by Xu Yushi. If you rashly keep her by your side, be careful that she might stab you in the back one day."

"Don't worry, uncle." Murong Yao snorted and replied, "I'm on guard against her."

"Is Prince Shen reliable? If not, then just follow the rules and kill him. I don't think Marquis Tingnan cares about this son. It would be better to break Murong Yan's arm."

"Well, at dawn, we'll check his household registration to see if he has that much money. Miss Xu said he's a very secretive person, so this is a good opportunity to test him."

Minister Liu saw that Murong Yao seemed to trust Xu Wanrong very much, so he quickly reminded her, "Yao'er, you must not trust that woman too much. Zhang'er is so smart, but she has suffered a lot at her hands. You must be careful and don't ruin our plan."

Murong Yao fanned himself, feeling the soothing mountain breeze. His voice was deep and rich, neither hurried nor slow. "Well, it's said that extreme wisdom leads to harm, and deep love does not bring longevity. This prince has more important things to do, and I won't invest too much energy in love affairs."

Minister Liu did not respond. He was silent for a moment before slapping his head and saying, "I must write a memorial tonight to thoroughly impeach the Crown Prince on this matter."

"No need. This prince will make sure he never comes back tonight."

"Well, I'd better go prepare the memorial, so I can have a backup plan."

"Uncle, you are always so cautious."

"Better safe than sorry."

As soon as Minister Liu left, Ye Qingshan and Jiang Yulou changed their clothes and hurried up to the stairs.

Before he even sat down on the chair, Ye Qingshan complained, "Who was that guy who kidnapped Master Shen with us? He almost sold me out."

"Yes, without a word, he stabbed Master Shen, then dragged him into the water and pinned him to death. Then the Maritime Customs patrol boat arrived. If it weren't for Brother Ye's good stamina, I would have been buried at the bottom of the river to feed the fish today."

"What did you say!" Murong Yao was shocked, "Prince Shen was killed by him? How is that possible!"

"He must be dead. Master Shen was stabbed and his hands were tied behind his back. He held him in the river for quite a while. If the river patrol hadn't arrived, we would have definitely stopped him."

Ye Qingshan replied confidently: "Even if one's martial arts skills were great, it would be impossible for him to escape and swim ashore, not to mention that Prince Shen doesn't have any martial arts skills."

Jiang Yulou slammed the table in anger and cursed loudly, "Damn! Ten million taels of silver are gone just like that. All my efforts were in vain!"

Murong Yao didn't quite understand Liu Zhang's actions, and pursed his lips without explaining. However, he still believed that Liu Zhang had his own arrangements for doing so, and it was just a pity to waste the 10 million taels of silver.

Ever since Murong Yan discovered that he was taking advantage of the young ladies, he quickly stopped doing so in order to avoid the prince's party from making a fuss about it, thus losing a considerable amount of income.

When Ye Qingshan and Jiang Yulou came back, he had already guessed whether Liu Zhang had killed someone. But Murong Yao did not give up using this to plot against Murong Yan.

He sent a bloody handkerchief and a letter to Murong Yan in order to lure him into a trap.

Concern leads to confusion. It seems that Murong Yan has turned his fake play into reality with Master Shen...

At this time, the guard came to report that Murong Yan had entered the mountains with a small group of people and would soon arrive at their designated location.

The curve of Murong Yao's mouth deepened. "Commander Ye, it's time to come. The prince is searching the mountainous area. Commander, you can take revenge if you have a grudge, and you can avenge a grievance if you have a grievance. Don't be soft-hearted."

"Hmph, of course not. I will not fail this time." Ye Qingshan stood up and tightened his sleeves. He ordered someone to bring him an iron-hearted silver spear, and then he walked out of the villa with the spear in hand.