Chapter 179

The eldest princess believed she had a clear understanding of the situation. With the death of the eldest prince, the first person anyone aspiring to the throne would need to deal with was the second prince, who was supported by powerful families and had the highest chance of becoming the crown prince in court. She thought Xue Jin'an would likely cooperate with him, but the price would be higher.

However, the eldest princess's scheme was destined to fail.

Xue Jin'an showed no intention of making a bid. He made his point clear: "The Second Prince is not a threat. Every step he has taken since entering the court has been a dead end. The fact that he was able to hold out against the First Prince for so long and become the nominal winner means his contribution is -100."

The implication is that if the second prince hadn't been so quick-witted, the first prince would have spent a few more years in prison.

The eldest princess choked: "..."

The eldest princess desperately wanted to defend the second prince, but after racking her brains for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, she couldn't utter a single word.

Her silence was deafening.

In the end, the eldest princess gave up trying to find fault with the second prince's lack of qualities. "Yes, although I am reluctant to admit it, my younger brother is indeed a fool without a doubt."

"Both stupid and vicious," Xue Jin'an added cautiously.

Xue Jin'an learned from Xi Yun about everything the Second Prince had done over the years. Even though his database contained enough low-quality human behavior patterns to hold a grand exhibition on human diversity, he still had to admit that the Second Prince was definitely one of the best.

What's most astonishing is that the Second Prince's poison wasn't acquired later in life. Acquired poison is like the Fifth Prince's gradual evolution into a pervert due to the torment he suffered from his family of origin; the Eighth Prince, being alone and helpless, learned to be cautious and observant in order to survive, while also developing a petty thought of comparing himself to the Seventh Prince... The formation of their personalities and the reasons behind their vile behaviors are all traceable.

However, the second prince was not like that.

When Xue Jin'an heard Xi Yun imitate the eldest princess saying that she had a handle that could bring down the second prince, she already guessed that it was related to the second prince's younger sister, the second princess who drowned when she was six years old.

This explains why the Eldest Princess reprimanded the Second Prince at the Lakeside Pavilion earlier; it wasn't a warning, but a threat. It also explains the Second Prince's unusually abnormal expression and state at that time.

The Second Princess did not accidentally fall into the water; she was pushed into the water and killed by the Second Prince. The Second Prince must have acted with malicious intent. Otherwise, Consort Min would not have been so reluctant to reveal the true cause of the Second Princess's death. It is even very possible that Consort Min was the one who orchestrated the Second Princess's death.

This can be seen from the fact that the eldest princess deliberately brought a pot of twin lotus flowers to the presence of Consort Min and broke them off.

"Actually, I don't understand why he would lay a hand on my second sister." The eldest princess recalled and said, "When they were born, the emperor had few children, and the children in the palace were precious, especially the princes. The mother needed the princes to establish their position, so she always doted on him more. When my second sister was four years old, she contracted typhoid fever at the summer palace. It was very serious, and the imperial physicians said that it depended on the will of heaven. My mother was afraid that the disease would be transmitted to him, so she sent him back to the palace and stayed at the summer palace to accompany my second sister."

"However, a few days later, I sent a message to my mother, saying that the Second Prince was crying and making a fuss all day because he couldn't see her, and he was not eating well. He had lost a lot of weight. My second sister's life was in danger and she might not be able to survive. But there was another child who was healthy. In the end, my mother chose the healthy child. No matter how many people she arranged at the summer palace, it couldn't hide the fact that she had abandoned my sick second sister."

"Perhaps that's why, after my second sister recovered and returned to the palace, she became distant from our mother and clung to me more often. But at that time, I preferred horseback riding and archery, and was always out and about, rarely staying in the palace." The eldest princess paused here, "However..."

"However, people are always perverse." Xue Jin'an completed the unspoken words she had left unsaid.

The second princess stopped bothering Consort Min, but the latter was awakened to maternal love—no, perhaps it shouldn't be maternal love, but rather a supplementary psychology caused by guilt.

Consort Min wanted to get close to the Second Princess, but the Second Princess resisted. Not only that, the Second Prince was also very dissatisfied, which eventually led to a tragedy.

Perhaps when the Second Prince acted, it was only out of childish jealousy, wanting to teach the Second Princess a lesson, and he didn't really want her to die. However, none of that matters anymore. The Second Princess's death is an indisputable fact, and any reasons or excuses are pale and powerless.

Moreover, neither Xue Jin'an nor the Eldest Princess believed in the Second Prince's character; more accurately, they felt that the Second Prince lacked any character whatsoever.

While there's still room for discussion about whether the second princess's actions were subjective, the fact that he deliberately sent away the maids and guards around Tai Le, almost causing young Tai Le to be abducted, was something he did when he was around ten years old.

In ancient times, there were plenty of boys who married and had children at the age of fourteen or fifteen. They were all very precocious. Besides, it's a bit far-fetched to say that it wasn't out of malicious intent.

People like the Second Prince are called "born bad seeds" by humans.

Xue Jin'an had no interest in delving into the Second Prince's psychology, nor did he need to take action against someone who would eventually destroy him, and he had no desire to get involved with the siblings.

The second prince is both stupid and vicious, and his behavior is unpredictable. The eldest princess is too meticulous and also quite unpredictable. Xue Jin'an still thinks it is more time-saving and effortless to watch the snipe and the clam fight and then reap the benefits.

Seeing that the princess was still pondering how to persuade him further, Xue Jin'an decided to divert her attention and asked, "Does Tai Le know?"

“I asked the prince consort to take her to another residence for a while, so she shouldn’t know.” The princess didn’t intend to involve Tai Le in this matter. She wanted to say something, but saw Xue Jin’an shake his head.

"I'm not talking about today's events, but about the human trafficking." Xue Jin'an asked again, "Does Tai Le know the truth?"

"Of course I don't know—" the princess subconsciously denied, but at that moment, a sudden thought flashed through her mind: every time Tai Le was chatting, he would suddenly stop responding. Her pupils trembled, and her lips quivered involuntarily.

"She..." knows.

The eldest princess was unable to utter a complete sentence.

Xue Jin'an was not surprised by this answer at all. After all, if you really think about it, Tai Le was the first to recognize Zhou Yushu's identity.

He said, "Tail is very perceptive; she should have noticed something was wrong when she was abducted."

Tai Le is intelligent; she knows exactly who hurt her. She desperately hopes that she will be rescued and that the murderer will be punished as he deserves, but nothing happens. Her mother chose to keep the matter a secret and used her disappearance to win over many people.

The only person Tai Le would proactively greet was the one who saved his "uncle," while Xue Jin'an received preferential treatment because he had eyes that were inherited from the Zhou family.

Xue Jin'an only understood everything when she learned that Chu Wenjing was actually Zhou Yushu, while the eldest princess, who had always been by her daughter's side, only realized it today after being reminded.

Perhaps I haven't stopped thinking about it, but I just haven't dared to think about it too deeply.

"What should I do?" the princess asked Xue Jin'an instinctively.

Xue Jin'an shook his head: "I don't know."

“You are very pleasing to her eye, and she likes you very much. What would you do if you were in such a situation?” The princess tried to find a way out.

Xue Jin'an bluntly refused to answer: "I won't let the people I care about stand on either side of the scale, so you won't get an answer from me. But I can tell you what I would do if I were her. Do you want to know?"

The princess was stunned by this truth and was completely at a loss. She nodded subconsciously.

"Okay, identifying." The only person Xue Jin'an cared about was the Dead Machine Slave, and the relationship between him and the Dead Machine was somewhat similar to the relationship between the Princess and Tai Le. Xue Jin'an put himself in that situation.

That's like, although he accidentally fell into the space-time rift when he was undergoing tribulation and ascending to immortality, the dead machine slave thought that since he had already fallen, he could just get a new one. Then, in the novel world, he overcame all obstacles and defeated all enemies. The dead machine slave casually picked out beauties in a brothel (mobile phone store) while holding the national supplement... Xue Jin'an couldn't think anymore. His fists were already hard, and he wanted to punch the dead machine slave hard in the face twice.

"You're dead," Xue Jin'an said definitively to the princess.

Princess Eldest: "..."

The eldest princess felt that she could still salvage the situation, but Xue Jin'an saw things clearly: "Can you give up the power you've already gained? Can you give her complete maternal love? Can you guarantee that you won't be tempted when you have another opportunity to take advantage of the situation?"

The eldest princess did not answer these questions, but Xue Jin'an had already gleaned the answer from her momentary daze.

"That's why Taylor keeps all her emotions inside and never tells you." Once she speaks up, she won't get the assurance she wants, and she'll only be more disappointed.

Xue Jin'an served tea to the guest and had no intention of continuing the conversation with the princess.

Before leaving, the princess asked him again about his willingness to cooperate, but Xue Jin'an refused once more: "It's unnecessary. He's worthless to me."

"The one above won't let any of you succeed." Xue Jin'an exposed the true nature of this power struggle.

The eldest princess was skeptical: "Father has been on the throne for almost thirty years." The implication was that the emperor was getting old and would only live a few more years. As the saying goes, "a young ruler makes the country suspicious." Even if it was just to consolidate the country, the next emperor should be chosen from among the current older princes. The princes after the ninth prince would still be children in ten years, so they basically had no chance.

“Perhaps he will outlive the prince Chengcai? Or perhaps he has other illegitimate children? Or perhaps…” Xue Jin’an listed a number of possibilities, leaving the princess speechless.

While the story may not explicitly focus on the princes in the original novel, it becomes apparent in reality that the emperor is always lurking in the shadows, intentionally instigating conflict among them. Therefore, the princes' true enemy is actually the emperor; only by eliminating the emperor can one truly seize power.

“No, it shouldn’t be like this…” Even though she had realized that her father might not be the way she thought, the princess never imagined that her father would treat them all as abandoned children.

"If you don't believe me, you can take a gamble," Xue Jin'an suggested. "There's a second prince right here, isn't there?"

After a moment of silence, the eldest princess finally agreed: "Okay."

The eldest princess decided to take a gamble with the second prince, but with one condition: "When Xue Nian comes to you, do not help her."

"You want to use Consort Wen?" Xue Jin'an immediately grasped the key point.

"Yes." The eldest princess nodded in acknowledgment. "Consort Wen is the only witness who can prove the truth about my second sister's death."

Back then, Consort Min, just in case, killed all the people who served the Second Princess. Only one escaped and was lucky enough to gain the Emperor's favor on the day of the incident. Even though she didn't have a formal title, her status was different, and she couldn't be killed at will. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to answer the Emperor's questions.

Consort Min originally planned to wait until the emperor's novelty wore off before turning her knife on this lucky fish. However, this fish, which had not received much favor from the emperor, somehow caught his eye and was given the lowest rank, becoming a mistress in the palace.

At this point, Consort Min had not given up. She let her linger under her nose, waiting for the emperor to forget her, and then let her slowly "die of illness." After all, there were plenty of women in the palace who died of melancholy, so one more wouldn't make a difference.

However, just when things seemed to be going wrong, the moment Consort Min thought it was time to make her move came. This fish that had been pinned to the chopping board was given a chance to live again. She became the foster mother of the Third Princess, was promoted in rank, and was even assigned to live in another palace.

Consort Min lamented that Consort Wen's life was not meant to end, unaware that it was the Eldest Princess who had been protecting Consort Wen all along.

After listening, Xue Jin'an felt that this mother and daughter were really good at playing the double agent game.

On the same day that the eldest princess began to deal with the second prince and Consort Wen beat the drum to appeal to the emperor, the third princess rushed to Zhaoyang Palace in a panic. There were some gray marks on her face and clothes, and she was holding a lump of clay in her hand. She was obviously too flustered and anxious.

She couldn't even catch her breath before kneeling down before Xue Jin'an. "I beg you, please save my aunt! I don't know who else to turn to. She'll die. The Imperial Concubine won't let her go, and neither will the Second Prince..."

"She won't let herself off the hook either," Xue Jin'an stated calmly.

Consort Wen accused the Second Prince of murdering his younger sister. Whether the accusation was true or false, she had no way out. The only thing she could do was to take action before others did, which was also a way to protect the Third Princess.

Death is solemn and sacred to humankind. A person can use death to clarify their will, and it can also be used to morally blackmail others, after all, there is a common Chinese idiom that says "the dead are the greatest."

The third princess was stunned. She stared blankly at Xue Jin'an: "What?"

Xue Jin'an heard the death knell toll and said, "It's too late."

It seems that Consort Wen chose the kind of death most associated with loyalty and integrity throughout history—heading against a pillar.

The Third Princess remained motionless for a long time until news of Consort Wen's death was announced in the palace. Only then did she snap out of her daze and scramble out of the palace.

Xue Jin'an prepared to open the live streaming app to see what the emperor's attitude would be. This was the second person to morally blackmail him with death. The previous Consort De chose to die in the public eye, and this Consort Wen even directly committed suicide in court. The emperor was almost completely losing face.

Xue Jin'an didn't get to see the emperor's spectacle. He had barely sat down when Lingzhi rushed over to report that someone from Cining Palace had arrived.

Consort Zhuang, who had been currying favor with the Empress Dowager for quite some time, took advantage of the lull following Consort Wen's death to stir up trouble.

Consort Zhuang and Prince An were in cahoots; they both wanted to uncover the secrets hidden within the Weiyang Palace in order to completely control the Emperor. Consort Zhuang initially wanted to pursue the path of becoming Empress, but seeing little hope and impatient with the timeline, she had to find another way.

Consort Zhuang was a smart woman; she chose to confess directly to the Empress Dowager.

Lacking any conversational skills, Consort Zhuang bluntly stated that Empress Xiaojingyi did not die in despair, but was poisoned after discovering the Emperor's secret, saying that the truth left by the Empress to the world was hidden in the sealed Weiyang Palace.

"Those must be extremely difficult marks to erase." Otherwise, the Emperor wouldn't have needed to completely seal off Weiyang Palace and forbid anyone from entering to this day. Consort Zhuang played the emotional card, "I wonder how much effort the Empress has put into this."

It must be said that Consort Zhuang is truly skilled at understanding the Empress Dowager's psychology perfectly; she has clearly figured it out more than once or twice.

—I wonder if the emperor ever imagined he would be outmaneuvered like this when he changed Prince An's identity.