Chapter 173

"I see." Xue Jin'an integrated all the relevant data and basically figured out the ins and outs of the whole matter.

First, let's clarify the relationship between the eldest prince and Prince An.

The strongest yet most fragile relationship in the world is the relationship of interests. Consort De was planted in the palace by the Gu-wielding physician Zhang Jinghua, while Prince An had his identity switched with that of Prince Zhang since birth. He always believed himself to be the son of Consort Hui and the grandson of Zhang Jinghua, and he still benefits from Zhang Jinghua's legacy to this day—the group of Jianghu people he has gathered under his command all joined him because of Zhang Jinghua.

The eldest prince and Prince An may have initially become acquainted because of Zhang Jinghua, but the fact that their relationship has lasted for so long cannot be attributed to Zhang Jinghua, who has been missing for decades. There must be a deeper level of mutual interests involved.

The Fifth Prince had been determined to break free from Xiao Shu's control—no, it should be said that he began using the abandoned palace as a secret base, or more accurately, from the moment he first visited that abandoned palace, he had gained some knowledge of Prince An's secrets.

It's quite strange, isn't it? In the original story, the Fifth Prince knew the flowers and plants in the courtyard of the abandoned palace like the back of his hand, but there was no trace of him ever setting foot inside the palace. This means that the Fifth Prince's purpose was very clear: to go straight to the courtyard of the abandoned palace.

Xue Jin'an guessed that this secret was Prince An's trump card, and the reason why he had been able to control the people in the palace so many times without revealing his true intentions—a secret passage.

It should be noted that the Empress Dowager was not the emperor, and she would definitely investigate Chu Wenwan and Xiao Shu thoroughly. However, even with the Empress Dowager's intervention, she was unable to find any fault with Prince An!

If it were just Xiao Shu, it would be understandable, since she was someone who genuinely believed in the emperor's love. But it's highly unusual that someone like Chu Wenwan, who kept the Empress Dowager's severed hair, stabbed Xiao Shu in the back, and even managed to manipulate the emperor and almost clear his name, left no clues related to the person behind the scenes.

After Chu Wenwan and Xiao Shu died, Lu Bingzhu had been secretly investigating them. He had spies from the Imperial Wardrobe. If someone destroyed the evidence afterward, it would inevitably be discovered. Therefore, the lack of evidence pointing to the person behind the scenes could only mean that the person behind the scenes could ensure that every piece of evidence was "read and destroyed immediately".

There are two possibilities: First, the person behind the scenes has placed accomplices around everyone he has won over, and these accomplices are loyal to him and cannot be bribed by anyone; second, the person behind the scenes personally destroys every piece of evidence after arranging each matter.

Both of these possibilities are incredibly plausible, but after ruling out other possibilities, the remaining answer can no longer be the truth.

Compared to the option that tests human nature, Xue Jin'an preferred the latter, and thus came to the conclusion that Prince An knew a secret passage leading to the palace.

One of the exits of the secret passage is in the abandoned palace.

The Fifth Prince has been working for Prince An for years, but there has been no progress on the secret passage to the abandoned palace. He had no choice but to take a different approach and try to get the secret passage to be activated on its own.

Therefore, the Fifth Prince set his sights on the First Prince, who had the closest relationship with Prince An.

He orchestrated a series of plays to constantly provoke the Fourth Prince, leading him to believe that the deaths of the Tenth Prince and Chu Wenwan were related to the First Prince, forcing him to step out of his shell and confront the First Prince, thus compelling the First Prince to take action against him.

This is like stirring up the grass to alert the snake, but it's also a way to lure the snake out of its hole.

The eldest prince was a smart man, and smart men are good at overthinking. Feng Shi's death was clearly a frame-up. The fourth prince's questioning would make him realize that his situation was not optimistic. At this point, regardless of his own thoughts, he had to keep the fourth prince under his control in order to eliminate any future troubles.

Whether he is killed or hidden, the fourth prince must disappear from public view along with the ledger in an absolutely secret place where no one will associate him with the matter, before the storm passes.

The successive betrayals by the Feng siblings and the Fourth Prince have left the First Prince paranoid and on edge. He has no time to think things through. Of course, if he had time to think calmly and act in a way that does not meet the Fifth Prince's expectations, the Fifth Prince would step in to "correct" him. This is why the Fifth Prince returned to the First Prince's residence.

The only place the eldest prince could accommodate the fourth prince was the Prince An's residence.

Before the eldest prince felt safe, the fourth prince would absolutely not appear in public again. However, the prince's disappearance was a major event, and within three days, the capital would be under martial law and a search would be conducted. Even high-ranking officials and nobles would have to make way for the prince.

With this foreseeable future looming, the secret passage will become the first choice for the First Prince and Prince An to ensure that the Fourth Prince is not discovered.

"That concludes the Fifth Prince's complete plan," Xue Jin'an explained in one breath.

As Cui Zui listened, he unconsciously crossed his arms and hugged himself. After finishing the story, he shuddered and shook his shoulders. "They have brains but don't use them for scheming and plotting. It's terrifying."

"It's truly terrifying." Even Lingzhi, who is relatively more accepting of such things, agreed with Cui Zui's assessment.

Shou Quan remained silent, frowning as he held the account book wrapped in the cover of "Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art," seemingly completely immersed in a sea of ​​numbers.

"What's wrong?" Xue Jin'an noticed his unusual behavior and immediately looked at the ledger in his hand. He quickly determined the page number based on the thickness and mentally reviewed the contents of that page three times, but couldn't find anything wrong.

"What did you find?" Xue Jin'an asked, puzzled.

Shouquan was brought back to his senses, quickly closed the book, and shook his head. "No, no, I didn't find anything. I was just thinking about something and was a little worried about Fulu, so I got distracted."

Cui Zui pondered, "Didn't Fu Lu go to the flower room to investigate the twin lotus? Did you think there was someone extraordinary in the flower room?"

Before Shouquan could answer, Xue Jin'an shook his head, "It's because the flower room and the abandoned palace are on a vertical line."

Lingzhi had been trained by Lu Bingzhu. Although she had not officially joined the Imperial Clothing Bureau, she still possessed some of the skills of an Imperial Clothing Bureau spy and knew the roads in the palace like the back of her hand. As soon as Xue Jin'an mentioned it, she immediately thought of it.

"Although the greenhouse is in a remote location, it's a straight path if you go from the abandoned palace." The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, so taking the straight path will save a lot of time.

Lingzhi said, "The abandoned palace is not far from the Imperial Study, and it is already within the territory of the former dynasty. People in the inner palace will not go there unless necessary. So although that road is closer, people usually take the road to the Imperial Wardrobe. But if Fulu is in a hurry, he may choose to go through the abandoned palace to get back and forth faster."

“It’s not just very likely, it’s certain,” Shouquan said. “Before Fulu left, he specifically asked me about the road, and I even told him about a route that would shorten the time to the abandoned palace.”

As mentioned before, Shouquan entered the palace with his fellow villagers. His fellow villagers were scattered throughout the palace. Fulu's intelligence department was initially supported by these people. It was precisely because of these fellow villagers that Shouquan, an orphan with no background, was able to work in such a lucrative place as the Imperial Kitchen. Later, his move to Xue Jin'an's side was even smoother. He could just do what he wanted without having to worry about anything else.

The villagers were all unfortunate people. The hardships in the palace made them stick together for warmth and treat each other as family. When Shouquan entered the palace, he was young and had tender skin. The blisters on his hands kept breaking and swelling. The villagers who treated him like a younger brother couldn't bear to see him like that, so they took the initiative to teach him how to steal a little time from his busy schedule and do less work. Taking shortcuts was one of them.

Therefore, Shouquan knew many little-known secrets within the palace.

Shouquan was somewhat uneasy, and his smile was almost fading. "Master, Fulu shouldn't be that unlucky, right? He was just passing by the abandoned palace. He shouldn't be involved in... anything else, right?"

The other things he mentioned naturally referred to the matter of the Fourth Prince.

Cui Zui tried to calm Shou Quan down, "It's alright. As long as the account books are still there, the First Prince won't make a move against the Fourth Prince so soon."

“But the ledger is already…” Shouquan looked down at the ledger in his hand.

"Is the Fourth Prince so stupid that he would voluntarily say that the account books are not in his possession at this time? Isn't he just courting death?" Cui Zui said, laughing.

He only chuckled twice before abruptly stopping under everyone's gaze, his face stiffening. "...Could the Fourth Prince really be that stupid?"

Lingzhi sighed softly, rubbing her forehead. "He actually believed the Crown Prince was a gentleman and went straight to confront him, putting himself in this predicament where his life and death are controlled by someone else. What do you think?"

Cui Zui: "..."

"On the bright side, maybe Fulu won't be so unlucky as to happen to stumble upon them committing murder to cover it up?" Cui Zui tried to find agreement. "What do you think, Master?"

Xue Jin'an's response was: "Do you know Murphy's Law? When you feel that something might go wrong, no matter how small the possibility is, it will happen."

What Xue Jin'an didn't say was that this was a fictional world, and as the saying goes, there's no story without coincidences. The development of any plot is inseparable from coincidences, and Murphy's Law is the only bridge to coincidences.

"It can't be that weird, can it?" As he said this, the moment Xue Jin'an got up and walked out, Cui Zui also grabbed his bow and sprang up from his chair, using his light-footed skill to fly onto the roof. "I'll go from up there."

"I'll clear the way for you," Lingzhi said, following closely behind.

The palace has imperial guards patrolling, and they will definitely pursue and stop anyone who sees someone scaling walls and roofs.

Sure enough, Cui Zui had only been on the roof for a few breaths when he ran out of the roof of Zhaoyang Palace. At that moment, an Imperial Guard shouted, "You scoundrel, don't run away!" and leaped up, his spear and halberd ready to strike.

"I am the personal lady-in-waiting of the Seventh Prince, sent by the Empress Dowager to rescue the Fourth Prince. You all must get out of the way!" Lingzhi simultaneously revealed the tokens of Xue Jin'an and the Empress Dowager, her voice, imbued with internal force, crashing against eardrums like thunder.

Lingzhi thought unwisely that her martial arts skills were still quite good, and if these Imperial Guards refused to give way, she could buy them some time if a fight broke out.

—This was originally just her backup plan, but unexpectedly, her words came true, and there really are some blind fools.

"You audacious scoundrel, how dare you falsely convey the imperial decree! Prepare to die!" Two men suddenly appeared from the side, raising their hands to directly injure the man with hidden weapons.

Lingzhi reacted quickly, kicking the tile away to deflect the hidden weapon, and shouted, "Insolence!"

Go straight into a close-quarters fight.

Once this happened, the other Imperial Guards naturally couldn't just stand by and watch, and they all came forward to help. Fortunately, the secret guards appeared in time and intervened, allowing Cui Zui to escape quickly.