Chapter 40 (Revised)

There was no sunlight in the numerous prison cells. The flickering flames on the walls on both sides were particularly dazzling in the dimness, and the occasional "crackling" sound of the burning flames was particularly clear in the silence.

In the deep prison, only Prince Su was imprisoned there.

It's been three days.

Three days ago, he had been secretly proud of his position as Crown Prince, but within half a day, he had been reduced to a prisoner. This sudden and catastrophic change had caught him off guard, and he couldn't understand how he had ended up in this situation.

After being imprisoned, he repeatedly requested an audience with the emperor, hoping that the emperor would give him a chance to defend himself. However, no matter how many times he requested through the officials in charge of the case, the palace remained silent, not even a single word.

There were no words of rebuke, nor were there any words allowing him to see the emperor.

With such an attitude, what is there for Prince Su to not understand?

——He has been completely abandoned by the saint.

At this time, footsteps and the voice of the jailer's greeting were heard at the prison door.

"Greetings, His Royal Highness."

Prince Su raised his head and looked towards the prison gate, his brows furrowed.

Not long after, Wei Zhen stood in front of Prince Su.

Prince Su fixed his cold gaze on Wei Zhen. Although Wei Zhen, who had already won the fight, did not show any expression of complacency or gloating, his calm demeanor, as if he didn't care about anything or anyone, still deeply hurt Prince Su.

--Wei Zhen never regarded him as an opponent.

Prince Su felt a mixture of resentment and resentment in his heart. When he moved his gaze, his peripheral vision caught sight of a eunuch standing with his head bowed behind Wei Zhen.

Prince Su had some impression of this young eunuch, who served the sage. Now, the young eunuch was holding a tray with a green jade wine pot and wine cup on it.

"I was wondering why the saint didn't want to see me and listen to my appeal. It turns out he has wanted me dead for a long time." When Prince Su spoke, there was a tremor in his voice, and it was unclear whether it was sadness or fear.

"Although I am not the saint's biological son, I never expected that he would disregard the years of relationship between us as adoptive father and son." Prince Su said with hatred, gritting his teeth.

Wei Zhen then spoke coldly: "You blame the saint for not considering affection, but when you used the Duke of Ye and his wife to murder your mother, did you ever consider affection?"

"So we're just going to watch the Queen give birth to a legitimate child? Then what are we?" Prince Su said angrily, his eyes, red with anxiety and anger, fixed on Wei Zhen again. "Are we just pawns that can be manipulated by the Sage without complaint?"

"The truth is, we are pawns."

Wei Zhen's calm gaze met Prince Su's. He continued, "For the sake of stability, each of us is a pawn on his chessboard. You've spent years at the Sage's side. Don't you see clearly now? The only person in the world he doesn't consider a pawn is the Empress. Yet, you dared to attack her. You dare to touch the Sage's reverse scale? Be prepared to bear the Emperor's wrath."

"She's just a stupid, foolish woman—"

"If you say one more thing, it won't be as simple as ordering suicide." Wei Zhen glanced back, indicating that the person standing behind him was the saint's attendant.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, how ridiculous! I actually lost to a woman who looked like an idiot."

Prince Su, who found it difficult to accept the reality of his failure, was on the verge of collapse and began to laugh crazily.

"You are such a smart person, haven't you ever investigated the reason why you were able to enter the palace?"

Wei Zhen said something casually, which made Prince Su's terrifying laughter stop abruptly.

Prince Su suddenly remembered.

The reason he and Prince Huai were able to enter the palace and become the sage's heirs that year was because all of the first group of heirs, except Wei Zhen, had died suddenly of illness. He had previously suspected Wei Zhen of being responsible for their deaths, but later, after much investigation, he learned that the sage had secretly executed them for plotting to murder the empress and her unborn son.

Wei Zhen saw that Prince Su was distracted and knew what he was thinking about, so he said: "Everyone says that those who achieve great things do not pay attention to trivial matters, but I never thought that sometimes it is precisely the trivial matters that hold the key to success.

"You're not unwilling to be someone else's pawn, you're just unwilling to be someone else's chess piece. You disregard the lives of others to achieve your goals. What right do you have to resent them?"

Wei Zhen signaled the jailer to open the prison door, and the eunuch holding the poisoned wine walked up to Prince Su.

"This poison takes effect quickly, so you won't suffer too much."

Prince Su looked at Wei Zhen dejectedly and said, "Since I am about to die, I must die with a clear conscience."

"What do you want to understand?"

"At that time, all the circumstances showed that there was no chance of recovery. How did you win?"

Wei Zhen frowned slightly, and after a long pause, he slowly said, "Bet."

*

Things happened so suddenly that day that Wei Zhen didn't know the reason until he was confined to the Eastern Palace. He immediately realized that this was a trap set for him by Prince Su.

The Eastern Palace was heavily guarded at the time, making it difficult for Wei Zhen to leak any information. Fortunately, Jiang Weiqiu was quick to react and sent someone to pass on the news that he was already tracking down Pan Liang's whereabouts.

Jiang Weiqiu's work was reassuring, but Wei Zhen didn't hold much hope. If he were Prince Su, he would have either hidden Pan Liang or killed him to prevent future trouble.

As Wei Zhen had predicted, Jiang Weiqiu and Xu Zizheng searched the entire capital and could find no trace of Pan Liang. Without Pan Liang, they were in no doubt about whether they could even survive, let alone overthrow Prince Su.

Wei Zhen, who had experienced that bloody storm, knew better than anyone the importance of the queen to the saint.

However, Wei Zhen gradually realized that he might still have room to fight back.

The Duke of Ye's family was imprisoned, and although he was confined to the Eastern Palace, he still waited for further punishment. If the Sage was truly furious and demanded his family's lives, he would have been thrown into the Heavenly Prison by now. The fact that he was still able to stay in the Eastern Palace showed that the Sage still had some fatherly affection for him.

Later, after the Queen Mother's birthday banquet, the Sage summoned Wei Zhen. Only then did Wei Zhen dare to be sure that he still had a chance to turn the tables.

Wei Zhen couldn't help but recall the night when he was summoned by the Saint.

The saint sat high up, and although he was only wearing simple casual clothes, his condescending aura made Wei Zhen very nervous. He could even hear his own heartbeat getting faster and faster.

Normally, the Saint had a relatively calm disposition, often appearing to be a kind father to Wei Zhen. The last time Wei Zhen saw the Saint, radiating coldness and murderous intent, was when he decided to execute his first batch of adopted sons.

"You're so brave."

The sage's voice was calm, but Wei Zhen knew beneath the surface was a surge of rage. While others might become increasingly agitated as their anger grew, the sage's rage grew calmer.

"You knew the consequences of attacking my wife, yet you still allowed the Duke of Ye to murder her. Do you really think I wouldn't kill you?"

Wei Zhen calmed himself down and knelt on the ground: "Father, I am wise. I am not a fool. Knowing the consequences, how could I dare to murder my mother?"

The sage narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "Words are not enough."

Knowing that there would be such a problem, Wei Zhen took a deep breath and seemed to have made up his mind.

"I, Your Majesty, dare to ask you to trust me once more and allow me to play the trick of luring the snake out of its hole. As long as I can lead out the person behind the Duke of Ye, I will be able to prove my innocence."

"How do I know that person isn't a scapegoat you threw out?"

Wei Zhen was speechless for a long time. The sage glanced at him with a half-smile: "Why, you have nothing to say?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Zhen shook his head and said, "If Your Majesty truly had no trust in me, I would be in the Heavenly Prison by now. Now that I've been summoned by Your Majesty, it means my gamble was at least half right."

*

"So, your demotion to a commoner and the exile of the Duke of Ye were all deliberately performed for my benefit."

After learning the truth behind the incident, Prince Su was shocked and sad.

"The saint actually trusts you so much!"

Wei Zhen said calmly, "Being deposed was a temporary measure. The exile of the Duke of Ye's family is true. But it was all bait to lure you out. I thought it would take some time before you took the bait, but I didn't expect you to be so impatient. You've lost your composure and walked right into the trap."

Wei Zhen paused, then continued, "Although I hate to admit it, you've forced me into a desperate situation this time. The only thing holding me back from a narrow victory is the Saint's trust."

"How could he believe you and be so partial to you?"

Wei Zhen was not sure about this question either: "Maybe it's some kind of fate."

"I refuse to accept this! I want to see the Saint! This victory was unfair from the beginning!"

"Didn't you give up the chance to compete fairly? What kind of fairness is that when your mother's life is at stake?"

This question left Prince Su speechless. His anger, resentment, and desperate desire to survive vanished in an instant.

The light in Prince Su's eyes went out.

Wei Zhen knew that the person in front of him was dead.

*

"So," Chu Miaomiao paused as she was about to pick up some food with her chopsticks and looked across at Wei Yan and Jiang Yingyue, "are they all fake?"

Chu Miaomiao turned her head sharply and cast a shocked gaze at Wei Zhen who was leisurely eating beside her: "Then, then what happened to you at the city gate that day——"

Chu Miaomiao took a deep breath, put down her chopsticks, and spread her hands to Wei Zhen: "I don't want the things anymore, give me back my money."

"How can you have the nerve to ask for something back when you personally gave it to someone and insisted on keeping it?"

Wei Zhen looked straight ahead, indicating that he was not going to return the favor.

"That's why I thought you were going to live a life of wandering after being deposed. Who knew you were just acting?"

Watching Chu Miaomiao and Wei Zhen arguing over money, Jiang Yingyue sighed from the bottom of her heart, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is acting very convincingly."

Jiang Weiqiu picked up a piece of fish for his sister and said, "Don't worry about them. It's rare for His Royal Highness to treat us, so we should just eat. The fish is not grilled well, so you should eat more."

Jiang Yingyue turned to look at Wei Yan again: "What are your plans after dinner? If you have nothing to do, could you go to the academy and help me sort out the registers?"

Wei Lu glanced at Cheng Zi and declined politely, "I have something else to do. I'll help you tomorrow."

"Anyway! At least return the banknote to me! That's five hundred taels! Five hundred taels!"

Seeing Chu Miaomiao's heartache over the money, everyone felt helpless. It turned out that five hundred taels was much more important than the crown prince!

Chu Miaomiao said that the five hundred taels were squeezed out of the money she had prepared for running away!