Chapter 264 Actively Winning Over the Crown Prince

As soon as I stepped outside, I saw Tan Wanqing and Lin Yu waiting for me.

Xie Shang glanced at them and said in a deep voice, "Master Tan and Manager Lin have also come to visit the Crown Princess?"

"Yes and no," Tan Wanqing said.

Xie Shang asked, "What do you mean?"

Tan Wanqing explained, "Ever since His Highness introduced Wanqing to the Crown Princess, we hit it off immediately. The Crown Princess gave Jishantang a lot of advice, which I admire. I also heard that the Crown Princess was about to give birth, so I invited Manager Lin to come over. Manager Lin donated a lot of money to Jishantang, and the Crown Princess also appreciates Manager Lin."

Lin Yu also said, "I am grateful that the Crown Princess does not look down on me, and we can be said to have hit it off immediately." They had already prepared their explanation, and it was indeed the truth, so Xie Shang could not find any clues.

Besides, the Crown Princess is about to enter the palace, and her chances of leaving the palace are almost slim. So today, they originally wanted to take advantage of the Crown Prince's birthday banquet to expose Su Dehai's crimes, but unexpectedly, Jiang Fenghua suddenly went into labor.

"I recall that Manager Lin is also in charge of Yichun Restaurant," Xie Shang said, then turned to Jiang Jinyan. "Jinyan and Manager Lin know each other, don't you?"

Jiang Jinyan said, "Actually, I met Miss Lin Yu at Yichun Tower. At that time, I wasn't married yet, and I just met her while drinking with a group of friends."

Fortunately, Mo'er and her mother went to see Ruan Ruan, otherwise there would have been a misunderstanding. It's better not to let Mo'er know many things, lest she, with her personality, can't keep things to herself and will worry.

Xie Shang knew that the young masters of Shengjing City liked to frequent brothels like Yichun Tower, and that high-ranking officials and nobles were even more addicted to such places. He never expected that Jiang Jinyan would also like it.

Jiang Jinyan further explained, "Your Highness, although Miss Lin Yu was born into a brothel, she is different from other women of the brothel. She entered the world of prostitution out of sheer desperation. Miss Lin sells her art but not her body. I greatly admire her courage and sympathize with her plight."

Lin Yu knelt directly in front of Xie Shang, "Actually, I have come here today to ask Your Highness for a decision. I want to seek justice for my godmother."

Lin Yu didn't say who she was going to sue, and Xie Shang glanced at the group.

He pulled Jiang Jinyan aside and said to him, "You know about this too."

"I've heard some of it, but not all of it," Jiang Jinyan said.

"Do you know that your sister is giving birth today, and you sent someone to come to me to seek justice?" Xie Shang said.

"As Mother just said, Ruan Ruan and the child are both safe and sound. Besides, I didn't know Ruan Ruan would give birth early; it was purely a coincidence." This was Ruan Ruan's idea. Since the Emperor is afraid of the Su family, then give the Su family some solid charges to ruin their reputation, smear them with mud, and spread rumors. The Su family will eventually be driven to desperation, and the reputation of the dignified General's Mansion will be tarnished.

"So you're the one who arranged for Lin Yu to appear at a gathering like today? The person she's suing is right there at the banquet outside," Xie Shang said in a deep voice. "If I don't stand up for her, this banquet won't be able to be held up, will it?"

Jiang Jinyan nodded and quickly cupped his hands to apologize, "Please forgive me, Your Highness. I had no choice. I would rather die than follow Your Highness's lead. My life belongs to Your Highness."

Xie Shang truly admired Jiang Jinyan's efficiency and ability. Jiang Jinyan would be a great help to him in purging the court in the future. "Remember, you owe me more than one favor. As for your life, I have no use for it. If I really wanted to take your life, I'm afraid Ruan Ruan would fight me to the death."

Jiang Jinyan was stunned. "Your Highness means you are willing to help Miss Lin."

"Come with me, I want to hear who she wants to sue first." Xie Shang led the group directly to the study.

Jiang Jinyan finally breathed a sigh of relief and left with Lin Yu and Tan Wanqing following Xie Shang.

Butler Cheng hurriedly chased after them, "Your Highness, what about the guests outside?"

"Let them eat and drink for now. The singing and dancing shouldn't stop; everyone must have a good time," Xie Shang said coldly.

Butler Cheng didn't know what His Highness the Crown Prince meant, but it was already late at night, so he hurried to the front yard to appease the guests.

In the study, Lin Yu knelt respectfully on the floor and slowly began to speak...

"I was sold into a dance troupe when I was young, and I grew up there. I was lucky enough to recognize Lin Shuang, a dancer in the troupe, as my godmother. After living there for a few years, Lin Shuang didn't want me to stay there anymore because she knew that when I grew up, I would be sold to a man and spend my life being used by men for their pleasure. So, my godmother entrusted me to her family."

Years later, I returned to the dance studio to find my godmother, but the dance studio was long gone, and the dancers there had scattered to various places, some even ending up in brothels.

I found out that my godmother was recruited by a high-ranking official to dance, along with the other girls in the dance troupe. None of them survived. I heard that they died tragically. The people who killed them were General Su Dehai, Minister Yang who died last year, and some other officials.

We are just ordinary people of low status, and there's nothing we can do about them.

Later I went to Yichun Tower, actually hoping to find an opportunity to assassinate those corrupt officials. I knew they would definitely go to such places, but all the women waited, except for Su Dehai, because he had never returned to Shengjing. Now that he had finally come back, I didn't want to let this opportunity slip by.

Xie Shang glanced at Tan Wanqing, "You want to kill Su Dehai using the same method you used to kill Yang Jing?"

Tan Wanqing said, "Su Dehai is not like Yang Jing. He is not easy to kill, which is why Miss Lin thought of going to His Highness the Crown Prince to sue him."

Xie Shang sneered, laughing at their naivety. "So you've come here today to accuse General Su. I suspect that the dance studio isn't just a real dance studio; there must be some other transactions involved."

"Yes." Lin Yu did not deny it. Most of what she said was true. Lin Shuang's wife was indeed murdered, and they did have evidence that the Su family was even more wicked.

Unfortunately, they were too weak to sue them.

"Even if you produce irrefutable evidence now, you'll only think it's a false accusation. Women from that kind of place could die at their hands and it would be hard to explain. The chances of convicting him are almost zero." Xie Shang stated the cruelest truth directly. Yang Jing was a second-rank official, and Su Dehai was a first-rank general. If they could really kill them so easily, they would have died a hundred times over.

"Does His Highness mean that we women deserve to be played with by them and killed like animals? Just because they are high-ranking officials, is there no one in the world who can speak up for women and stand up for them?" Lin Yu cried. "I was born into a poor family, unlike the daughters of noble families who live a life of luxury and do not have to beg for survival."

The commoner thought that His Highness the Crown Prince and Princess had established a place like the Jishan Hall to shelter pitiful women from all walks of life, pitying their helplessness and tragic fate, pitying their homelessness. But it turns out it was all for show; once a high-ranking official committed a crime, even His Highness the Crown Prince couldn't punish them.

Lin Yu's eyes were cold as she continued, "If I have evidence, and evidence that General Su's mansion set up palaces for pleasure on the border, where, besides prostitutes forced into prostitution, there were also respectable women, who were initially provided for General Su's amusement, and then discarded to his soldiers and officials when he no longer needed them, until they were tortured to death, and even used to profit from them, are such officials the kind of officials His Highness the Crown Prince wants to protect?"