Princess Tianfu's carriage has been hijacked, and the thieves are now galloping down the mountain on horseback.

Meng Huaiyi tightened his grip on the knife: "Your Majesty, I am going to rescue the princess."

Just as Bai Qing was about to nod, Yun Fei suddenly spoke up: "No!"

Meng Huaiyi's gaze instantly turned cold. Meng Ruoyun, holding the little prince, looked at Meng Huaiyi with righteous indignation: "General Meng, His Majesty is here. Are you going to abandon His Majesty to protect the princess?"

"If something happens to His Majesty, how many heads do you have to take the blame?"

Meng Huaiyi gripped the knife tighter, while Meng Ruoyun's eyes lit up, and she pointed ahead: "Your Majesty, look, the Imperial Guards have already gone to rescue the princess!"

Bai Qing was worried about his daughter. Meng Huaiyi was a black-clad guard he had personally trained, so he was the one he trusted the most. "Go and bring the princess here."

"yes."

However, this back and forth did take up some time.

At the same time, Meng Abao led his two crippled cats and his Imperial Guards to catch up with the princess's carriage. He knew that this was a play put on by the people hired by Prince Duan, so he did not want to be overshadowed and was the first to rush forward.

"I am Meng Abao, the third son of the Meng family. Put down the princess and I will spare your life!" Meng Abao jumped onto the speeding carriage and quickly gave the assassin a meaningful look.

The assassin glanced at him, puzzled.

At that moment, Meng Abao swung his knife down again, and the assassin frowned, stabbing him in the leg.

"Ah!" Meng Abao let out a scream like a pig being slaughtered.

The assassin raised his knife to strike again, but Meng Huaiyi, who had come on horseback, shot an arrow. The assassin, still on the carriage, fell to the ground with a thud. Meng Abao was in excruciating pain, while the horse, startled, pulled the carriage and galloped away.

But at that moment, the carriage curtain was lifted, and the instant he looked up, he froze on the spot.

The princess was wearing a red nightgown, her hair was loose, and she had obviously gotten up suddenly in the middle of the night.

Even without makeup, she is breathtakingly beautiful... Is this beauty going to marry me?

Enraged, resentful, and terrified, Meng Abao even forgot his pain. "Princess, do not be afraid, I will subdue this wretched horse!"

Having trained in the Imperial Guard, he could subdue an assassin, but he could rein in a horse.

Seeing that the horse had stopped, Meng Abao revealed a dashing smile: "Princess, it's alright."

Then the princess gave him a gentle smile: "Thank you for saving me, Young Master Meng."

Seeing that the princess was wearing her nightgown, Meng Abao quickly took off his cloak and handed it to her.

Meng Huaiyi was two steps behind. When he stepped forward again, he saw Meng Abao helping the princess down from the carriage. She was wearing Meng Abao's outer robe, and Meng Abao looked very cautious.

"General..." The lieutenant noticed his expression was off and murmured a sentence.

Meng Huaiyi gripped the arrow tightly, and the veins on the back of his hand bulged.

"Protect His Majesty and bring him back to the palace!" he said.

"yes!"

...

The trip to the royal villa came to an end, and the Crown Prince's position as the Eastern Palace also came to a close with the assassination attempt at the villa.

"You heartless little beast!" Bai Qing slapped the Crown Prince hard: "One is your own brother, and the other is your own sister, how could you do this to them!"

"It's all about the winner taking all the credit."

Now that things have come to this, the Crown Prince has nothing to fear: "Father, you speak so righteously, but didn't you kill your brothers when you seized the throne?"

Bai Qing's chest pounded: "But you are my crown prince!" How could his situation back then be compared to his current one?

"Father, you still know I am the Crown Prince? Then why have you given me less power than a woman like Tianfu!" The Crown Prince's eyes turned red with anger. "Tianfu's return and her good relationship with Consort Yun, isn't that because Father wants to depose me?"

Bai Qing glanced at the Crown Prince with surprise, his eyes filled with a myriad of thoughts.

Finally, he sighed and said, "So be it. You wretched child are indeed unworthy to be the Crown Prince."

He turned around, no longer looking at the resentful Crown Prince, and said to the Grand Steward: "Issue my decree: the Crown Prince is immoral. Effective immediately, he is hereby deposed as Crown Prince, removed from the imperial clan, and imprisoned in the Bai clan's territory in Huaicheng for safekeeping. He shall never return to the capital."

It's equivalent to being placed under house arrest.

The crown prince sat weakly on the ground and was soon taken away by the chief eunuch.

Bai Qing sat on the throne, gazing at the darkness outside, and then let out a long sigh.

...

The Crown Prince was deposed, and although the Second Prince had not yet been established as the heir apparent, it was only a matter of an imperial edict, since the Emperor only had these two sons.

Meng Huaiyi was rewarded for his meritorious service in suppressing the rebellion and was granted the title of Earl of Loyalty and Righteousness.

Meng Abao was injured while saving the princess, and many people saw him helping the disheveled princess down from the carriage.

The Meng family then proposed marriage to the emperor on the grounds of not wanting to damage the princess's reputation, and the emperor quickly agreed to the marriage.

With the marriage settled, the princess, a symbol of wealth, was married into the Meng family, definitively declaring the two-year-old second prince the winner in the Eastern Palace Rebellion.

Half a month later, it will be the wedding day of Meng Abao and the princess.

Meng Abao was in high spirits because of his good fortune in saving the emperor. Now that he had become the emperor's son-in-law, he was fawned over wherever he went.

Today, I was out drinking at a restaurant with a group of cronies.

"That Meng Huaiyi just got away with it. If I hadn't fought my way up and killed a bunch of assassins, would he have gotten the credit?" Meng Abao argued vehemently.

The others naturally offered their flattery, saying, "Meng Huaiyi is nothing more than a cruel official. His Majesty uses him when the world is in turmoil. But with his background and hands stained with blood, I think his time to climb to the rank of Earl is limited."

"Unlike you, who have been promoted three times in a row and will be a prince consort tomorrow, marrying a princess! Come, Brother Meng, I toast you!"

In a private room of the restaurant, Meng Huaiyi lowered his eyes: Yes, how can someone of his status compare to Meng Abao?

If she marries Meng Abao, she will be tied to the future crown prince... She is someone who loves to manipulate power.

Meng gripped the wine glass tightly, and the glass, filled with wine, shattered in his hand.

And what about him? Did she just treat him as a plaything? How many of those words spoken during moments of intense affection were truly heartfelt?

Meng Huaiyi wiped the wine from his lips, his dark eyes narrowed slightly, and he sneered again: He is already the kind of person the world sees him as, so what if he's a little worse?

The following evening, the princess's residence was decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers. Bai Yan, dressed in a bright red wedding gown, was helped into the bridal sedan chair by two maids. The groom, Meng Abao, who had come to fetch the bride, was also in high spirits. However, after the sedan chair passed a corner, the groom did not emerge for a long time.

The procession ahead couldn't find anyone. When they turned back, the bridal sedan chair was still there, the prince consort was still there, and everyone else was still there, but the princess inside the sedan chair was gone.