Chapter 181 The Heir Apparent of the Earl's Mansion 4

Prince Su's Mansion.

Prince Su listened to his subordinates' report with a smile in his eyes.

"Your Highness, Lord Mu is one of our men. Now that his property has been confiscated, how can you..."

Why do you look so happy?

Prince Su glanced at his subordinates without speaking. He was naturally pleased. His elder brother had just killed a palace maid three days ago, killed a concubine who had accidentally bumped into him yesterday, and killed Lord Mu in public today. What did this mean?

This means that the Emperor's headaches are getting worse!

The more officials he kills, the more people in the court will fear him. When that day comes, I won't even need to raise my arm; those ministers will push me to sit on that throne!

"But what about the others in the Mu family?"

"Speaking of confiscating property, the Mu family mansion is now surrounded by the Imperial Guards. They're probably going to exile them. The Emperor has never been lenient with them."

"Have your subordinates keep an eye on things and help them as much as possible. Once the matter of the Mu family is settled, buy back those who can be bought back, and help with the necessary arrangements. Make sure the entire Mu family reaches their place of exile safely..."

Your subordinate understands. That's how Your Highness's good reputation is built. You don't need to spend much money, but your reputation will definitely spread.

"So, you spread the word..."

The subordinate immediately obeyed and left.

...

The next morning at court, the officials of Prince Su's faction were unusually well-behaved, while the officials of the Prime Minister's faction attacked the two officials in charge of confiscating property.

Yesterday, the two officials only seized a few hundred thousand taels of silver from the Mu family, less than five hundred thousand taels. According to Lord Mu, he should have at least two million taels of silver. So, where did the rest of the silver go?

The two people whose homes were raided must have embezzled the money.

Xiao Li had been lounging lazily on the dragon throne, resting his chin on his hand as he watched the clamor of the officials below. But after a while, his head started to ache again. His temper flared, he abruptly stood up. "The whereabouts of the Mu family's disaster relief funds shall be thoroughly investigated by the Minister of Justice and the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review. Court adjourned."

The emperor was clearly in a bad mood when he came out of the Golden Palace.

Ning Yan obediently kept her mouth shut. There's a right time to flatter someone. You shouldn't speak when you shouldn't, or you might get swatted like a fly.

She didn't want to die!

This situation continued for three days.

Over the next three days, the emperor's face grew increasingly dark, but fortunately he did not kill anyone.

Until the end of the court session that day.

Ning Yan, who was guarding outside the Golden Palace, suddenly became alert upon seeing the Emperor's face—his forehead was dark, which meant that the Emperor would suffer a bloody disaster today!

Just then, a young eunuch walked towards him. Normally, he should have given way to the emperor, as the emperor would not stop for anyone.

The young eunuch did indeed step aside and bowed to the emperor. Just as the emperor walked up to the young eunuch, Ning Yan sensed something was wrong and said, "Your Majesty, be careful."

Immediately afterward, he took a long stride to block the emperor's right side and kicked out. With a clang, the white blade flashing with blue light fell to the ground. "Quick, take him down! He's trying to assassinate the emperor!"

After kicking the man, Ning Yan pulled the Emperor back. The eunuch stumbled and fell to the ground, and the guards appeared and pinned him to the ground.

The little eunuch looked up and glared at Ning Yan with resentment. Ning Yan immediately shouted, "Remove his jaw! He's going to bite his tongue and commit suicide!"

Damn it, this kid's forehead is darker than the emperor's, he's doomed!

But he was too late. The little eunuch's poison sac had already been bitten open. By the time the guards dislocated his jaw, black poisonous blood was flowing from his mouth. His head lolled to the side, and he died.

Xiao Li felt his head hurt even more!

Those people are really persistent; they still want to assassinate him. It seems he hasn't killed enough.

"Si Xi, investigate for me!"

Did you think that if he died, they wouldn't be able to find anything? Dream on!

Sixi quickly knelt down to accept the order, then directed two eunuchs to drag the corpse away, and wrapped the murder weapon in a handkerchief before hurriedly leaving.

After Xiao Li finished speaking, he strode forward, and Ning Yan quickly followed. She knew that a large number of people in the palace would lose their lives today.

News of the emperor's assassination quickly reached the ears of those with ulterior motives. Some tried to quickly erase the traces, but unfortunately, they found that they had no influence in the palace and could do nothing they wanted.

...

"It's getting late today, my dear minister, why don't you stay in the palace? I've been wanting to have a long talk with you."

Ning Yan: ...Shouldn't the Emperor be promoting her to a higher rank and title? What is there for the two of them to talk about?

Dinner was naturally served to the Emperor.

After the meal, Xiao Li instructed people to prepare clothes and toiletries for Ning Yan.

Xiao Li found that his headache symptoms had been relieved for the past three days because Ning Yan was by his side, but he still couldn't sleep well at night.

He was going to test tonight whether Ning Yan's treatment was truly effective for his headaches!

If he could, he wouldn't mind keeping people by his side.

It was still early before the break, so Xiao Li took out a chessboard and asked Ning Yan to play chess with him. Ning Yan played white and Xiao Li played black.

This was the first time the two of them had played chess. At first, Xiao Li's expression was very relaxed. He even had the leisure to talk to Ning Yan about Lord Mu's matter. After investigating for three days, they still hadn't found anything. All the officials in the court were incompetent.

But soon, he lost interest in chatting. The only sound in the room was the soft thud of chess pieces falling. Ning Yan's expression remained unchanged, but Xiao Li was filled with dread!

Good heavens, I never expected the person in front of me to have such good chess skills, forcing me to save myself several times. With such a meticulous mind, it's no wonder that I was able to discover the assassin's abnormality today.

A quarter of an hour later, the outcome of the game was finally decided, with Ning Yan losing by one and a half pieces.

"Again."

Ning Yan responded softly, "Yes."

The second game continued, and Ning Yan maintained the same playing style, while Xiao Li changed his approach. However, he found it difficult to beat Ning Yan.

Ning Yan lost this game again, by a single move.

"I'm not playing anymore!" Xiao Li pushed the chessboard away and stood up.

"Your Majesty, let's play another game. I promise I won't lose this one!"

Xiao Li: "..."

Still want to dismiss me? Don't I have any dignity?

That kid is really bold!

"I wish to take a bath."

Ning Yan shut up.

However, the emperor did not want to let him go.

The bathhouse was already prepared. Xiao Li said, "Minister Ning, let's soak in the hot spring together."

Ning Yan: ...This can't be soaked, not even a little bit!

"Your Majesty, I faint when I soak in the hot spring. You should wash yourself. I'm not dirty, so I won't wash today."

She would be exposed as soon as she took off her clothes; now is not a good time to expose herself.

Xiao Li: ...He just didn't want to take a bath, so he said he would faint if he soaked in a hot spring, right? He really knows how to lie without batting an eye.

No, I've never heard of him having this problem before! Doesn't he like to take baths?

Or was it—he glanced at Ning Yan, or was there some secret about him that he couldn't let him know?

"Don't want to take a bath? Then come in and scrub my back!"

"Five Blessings, you may all leave."

(End of this chapter)