Chapter 28

The Fourth Prince's words, like a thunderclap out of nowhere, completely dispelled the somewhat tense atmosphere. The Emperor, his brows furrowed in cold indignation, said, "If you don't want to hear it, then get out of here."

"Your Majesty, I will never dare to do it again." The Fourth Prince shrank back, his face pale. The Emperor, considering that he was also a victim, gave him a cold look but said nothing.

Xue Jin'an stared intently at the Fourth Prince, and had to admit that many common sayings are quite true, such as "fools are often blessed."

The Fourth Prince's unexpected move broke the silence, greatly diminishing the effectiveness of his defense and counterattack against Consort Zhen, and giving her time to calmly consider her options.

Code-based life forms can surpass humans in many ways by continuously upgrading their algorithms, but they lack the ability to think. Everything a code-based life form can do is typed into a program, and its behavior is inseparable from the data entered into a database. However, human thought is boundless, capable of imagining things that have never been seen or existed, and of traversing the length of the universe within a limited time.

Even just three seconds of thinking time is enough for humans.

Then, Consort Zhen sighed, seemingly helpless and sorrowful, and held the jade prayer beads in her hand again. With her eyes half-closed, she twirled the beads with her fingers, her breath calm as if she had been so angered by the Fourth Prince's inappropriate and mood-ruining words that she was about to become a Buddha on the spot.

In fact, Xue Jin'an felt that Consort Zhen was very satisfied.

Consort Zhen was indeed very satisfied; her helpless voice was half genuine and half feigned, but the Third Prince's sympathy was real.

Poor little fourth son, he's good for neither literature nor martial arts, and now he's even disliked by his father, so his future is doomed. But this is a good thing for him. Although little fourth son is useless and stubborn, he is still a number of people. If he is brought into the camp, he can play a role in deterring the second son in terms of numbers.

Having witnessed the entire incident up close and nearly gotten caught up in it himself, the unruly Third Prince surprisingly didn't lose his temper. Instead, he patted the Fourth Prince on the shoulder to comfort him.

He had intended to say something to win him over, but then he saw the Fourth Prince suddenly tremble. He looked even more panicked than when his father had scolded him. Before his brain could even process what was happening, his body instinctively shrank behind the Third Prince's broad back, just like a mouse seeing a cat.

The fourth prince was still in shock, his diaphragm spasmed and contracted, and a hiccup suddenly rose to the tip of his tongue, but he quickly covered his mouth and sealed it back. His body only shuddered, which made the third prince raise his eyebrows.

Is it really necessary to be this afraid?

The Third Prince looked up and met Xue Jin'an's eyes, which were staring straight at him, so dark they seemed to swallow up all light, and were exceptionally pure.

It stared at people with its dark, unblinking eyes, like a ghost from a storybook, its eyes wide open in death, ready to claim their lives.

Xue Jin'an was examining the Fourth Prince's head. He had already drawn the route to lift his skull by referring to the human anatomy diagram. He decided that while he was repairing the Fourth Prince's battery, he would also repair his CPU.

Xue Jin'an had already drawn the skull cutting lines and didn't care whether the Fourth Prince dodged or not. When he looked away, he met the Third Prince's gaze.

Completely unaware that his words had become a prophecy, and that Xue Jin'an was actually contemplating how to take Xiao Si's life, the Third Prince paused for a moment, lost in thought, and muttered to himself, "Seventh Brother has quite a big eye. He stares like that without blinking. Doesn't his eye get tired?"

Xue Jin'an, who could read lips, was speechless. The Third Prince's CPU had been added to the deluxe repair package.

"What does Your Highness think?" Consort Zhen calmed down and realized that she had been too hasty. His Majesty was always perceptive and must have already noticed something. It was better to say less and make fewer mistakes, so she simply dragged the other party involved into the mess.

Consort Rong observed the Emperor's expression, fiddled with her nails, and said, "Since that's the case, why not send that servant to the Ministry of Justice for a thorough interrogation? The truth will be revealed then."

"I won't go." Xue Jin'an refused outright, and said directly, "The problem lies in your palace. If you want, send all the people around you in there. You'll find out more, and that will restore order to the harem."

None of the empresses in the original novel had clean hands.

All the concubines couldn't help but glance at him. Consort Rong's face turned ugly for a moment, her eyes as cold as knives, wishing she could cut Xue Jin'an in half on the spot. But when she turned her head, she smiled at the emperor with a forced expression and said, "Seventh Prince is truly eloquent. This concubine can't argue with him at all."

A hint of tears flickered in her lowered eyes.

Xue Jin'an had seen this move before; he had just learned it.

Xue Jin'an couldn't bring himself to feign reluctance or cry on cue in front of the emperor. So he simply lowered his eyes and pursed his lips, trying to hide his expression and minimize his facial expressions.

"Fu Lu is the only memento my mother left me; he was meant to grow up with me." Xue Jin'an mimicked the tone of the Fourth Prince's apology to the Emperor, speaking at half speed to make it sound slow and labored, as if overwhelmed by emotion.

The child's calm and indifferent voice suddenly became emotional, just like a person who has always been indifferent suddenly showing a smile, or a person who has always been smiling suddenly breaking down in tears. Unconventional emotions are always moving.

The emperor's eyebrows twitched slightly; he was indeed thinking: that voice...

Just as Bingzhu had said, he was a good child who cherished the past. The Empress Dowager looked at Xue Jin'an with pity and personally extricated him from the matter, saying, "Alright, why make things difficult for a child? Let's start investigating from where the incident occurred."

The assassin who kidnapped the Sixth Prince came from Minghua Palace, and the dead Cuiyun was from Yihe Palace. Where else can we start our investigation? Naturally, we should start with Consort Rong and Consort Zhen.

"Yes." Regardless of what they were thinking, now that the Empress Dowager had spoken, they had no choice but to bow their heads and agree.

Xue Jin'an pondered that Consort Zhen and Cuiyun's attention to the blood dragon wood bracelet was strange. The original text's special description of the blood dragon wood must be a clue. And today's assassin wearing skin was aimed at him... No matter how you look at it, the other party's purpose in doing this must be related to Chu Wenjing's attempt to reopen the case of Consort Zhen.

Forget it, whatever. All he needs to do is find out who he wants to report back to, and the quickest way is to lure the snake out of its hole.

"Whoever wants to harm me, or what they want from me," Xue Jin'an stood up, stroking the blood dragon wood bracelet on his wrist, and said expressionlessly, "I'm at Qifeng Courtyard, come and get me."

As for what to do if the snake doesn't come out of its hole, Xue Jinan said that's fine, then there's no need to choose, just report to everyone, and you'll eventually find the correct one.

"Your subject takes his leave." Xue Jin'an, who had remained seated even when replying, performed a very thorough and solemn salute to the emperor, just as taught in his etiquette textbook.

The emperor was flattered and just reached out to tell him to get up, but Xue Jin'an, having finished his greeting, straightened up on his own and turned to leave without looking back.

They just left like that.

The princes exclaimed, “!” Not only did he engage in a verbal battle with the concubines and issue a challenge to the mastermind behind the scenes, but he also ignored his father, the Emperor. Well done, what an amazing little seventh prince!

The emperor rubbed his forehead, almost sighing: "..." Oh well, at least the etiquette and movements were very standard, as if they had been copied from a book, which was quite good.

The emperor consoled himself for a moment, then winked at Li Hechun and whispered a few words in his ear. Li Hechun's expression turned strange for a moment, but he still bowed and left. Let's not go into how miserable he was inside.

As Xue Jin'an's figure disappeared outside the door, the princes snapped out of their shock and realized that this was a good opportunity. They bowed and took their leave, while the emperor waved his hand without even raising his eyes.

The princes came out to find Xue Jin'an. The other princes mainly wanted to observe this rare species and see how he managed to choke his father to death without being scolded by him.

The Third Prince was different. He simply thought that Xiao Qi was a ruthless person who wasn't even afraid of his father, the Emperor, and was worth winning over. If Xiao Qi skipped class, he could take the blame.

They couldn't find Xiao Qi, but instead ran into the Fifth Prince, who had just had his wounds treated.

"You're looking for Xue Jin'an?" The Fifth Prince looked at them with a strange expression. "Sure, as long as you're willing to sacrifice a part of your body, like your head, Second Brother, or your leg, Third Brother, you can not only find Xue Jin'an, but also get his free service of snapping your legs with your bare hands."

"Ha, he's got some nerve, actually trying to hit me? I'll have to teach him a lesson!" The Third Prince stretched his arms, eager to start a one-on-one fight.

"Hit you?" The Fifth Prince shook his head, his smile strange and meaningful. "Seventh Brother is the King of Hell. The King of Hell doesn't fight you to the death; he comes to take your life."

*

Xue Jin'an, whose reputation was unfairly damaged and who was not entirely innocent, was stopped by a eunuch when he reached the central courtyard. The eunuch said that someone was looking for him.

Xue Jin'an judged that he was not lying, so he followed him through a series of twists and turns and ended up in the martial arts arena, where Lu Bingzhu and Li Hechun were talking on the sand.

The two saw him, and Li Hechun whispered two words, which, judging from his lip movements, meant: "Be gentle."

"?" Xue Jin'an slowly typed out a question mark, and the image of Lu Bingzhu in the high-definition camera suddenly blurred.

Anti-fall mode activated, Xue Jin'an subconsciously stepped back to avoid it, gripping the hilt of the lotus sword. The numbers 1 and 0 scrolled rapidly in front of him, calculating the probability of victory in the battle against the person in front of him.

If the probability is zero, then we can only try to exchange one for one, and avoid losing out if possible.

Xue Jin'an drew his sword, adjusted the speed to three times the limit, and then hurled the longsword at Li Hechun with all his might, like a javelin.

Li Hechun, who had excellent eyesight and realized he was being targeted, jumped up in fright and ran away as fast as he could.

However, the sword was incredibly fast, leaving a trail of white light in the air. There was no time to dodge, but fortunately, Lu Bingzhu immediately unleashed his inner strength to deflect the sword.

"Whoa!" Li Hechun collapsed to the ground in shock, gasping for breath before asking incredulously, "Seventh Prince, I have no grudge against you, why are you trying to kill me?"

Xue Jin'an pointed at Lu Bingzhu, "I can't beat him."

"So you hit me?!" Li Hechun felt wronged.

Xue Jin'an looked at him and said matter-of-factly, "You're all in cahoots. I have to take one of you with me. It'll make it easier for you to fight."

Li Hechun was speechless.

“You didn’t practice when I told you to, so you deserve to be treated like dirt now.” Lu Bingzhu chuckled briefly, then pointed at Xue Jin’an and said, “A person’s reaction in a dangerous situation is the most genuine. He has no internal strength at all.”

Xue Jin'an didn't understand for a moment and asked, "What are you testing me for?"

There's nothing wrong with revealing this, Li Hechun said carefully, "A few days ago, Your Majesty encountered a master who used internal energy to transmit sound during the morning court session. The other party seemed to have the ability to speak, and spoke in a child's voice, which is somewhat similar to Your Highness. In addition, given what happened today, this servant decided to ask my master to test your true abilities."

Xue Jin'an, who had already realized what it was: It's not just like me, it's me.

However, it turns out that the sound of the comments can be heard, and only by the uploader? Xue Jin'an opened the "Daqi Morning Court Early Knowledge" live stream room thoughtfully, thought for a moment, and sent a set of comments commonly used by otaku in the completely black screen live stream room.

As the emperor was discussing important matters with the Empress Dowager, a long-unheard child's voice suddenly popped into his head: "[Check-in]"

[Sprinkling flowers]

【Press the claw】

emperor:"……?"