When the news reached Prince Chen's residence, Su Wenyuan joked, "If you had known the Crown Prince was so fragile, why bother looking for evidence? You might as well have just let him know you can see it."

Sheng Jingyu sneered, "You can get away with pretending to be crazy, embezzling, and harming your colleagues."

Su Wenyuan was taken aback and asked in confusion, "Even if he's not insane, the Emperor won't kill him. Why bother?"

This matter has already been exposed. The deposed crown prince has been severely punished. The subsequent investigation is just a formality, and there will be a final result.

But the final outcome, whether he's crazy or not, won't be that different.

If he hadn't gone crazy, his chances of making a comeback in the future would have been greater. Why pretend?

Sheng Jingyu reminded him, "Have you forgotten the Seventh Prince?"

Su Wenyuan suddenly realized that Sheng Yuanhe was afraid of leaving the capital.

His demotion is a fact; the next step should be to exile him to a remote place, just like the Seventh Prince.

Even if the emperor had no intention of doing so, the empress and court officials would force him to do it.

Once you're far from the capital, it's hard to come back.

If Sheng Yuanhe pretended to be insane, Consort Wan would have a reason to keep him around, since there was no need to keep pressing a madman.

And he's not really crazy now, he just talks a bit erratically.

It can be explained clearly in the future.

The next day, Sheng Jingyu claimed illness and did not attend court for several days. Since he often fell ill in the winters of previous years, it was normal for him to claim illness this year.

In the few days he was away, everything concerning Sheng Yuanhe had been thoroughly investigated.

The evidence is valid, and the accusations against Sheng Yuanhe are also valid.

Sheng Yuanhe used the Crown Prince's name to do many bad things, which were all exposed in a short time.

Some suggested exiling Sheng Yuanhe to a distant place. After all, the Seventh Prince was severely punished for saying a few inappropriate things, but Sheng Yuanhe has gone even further. Simply deposing the Crown Prince is not enough.

The matter had been debated for several days, and the Emperor was still unable to make up his mind.

Once you leave the capital, it will be very difficult to find a way to transfer back and stay there in the future.

Consort Wan cried all day long, saying that Sheng Yuanhe had realized his mistake and that he was now in poor health and had difficulty taking care of himself, so he could not leave the capital.

The Emperor asked the Empress for her opinion again. Although the Empress appeared very magnanimous, she inevitably had to involve the Seventh Prince when pleading for him.

This put the Emperor in a difficult position. Should he summon the Seventh Prince back as well because of Sheng Yuanhe?

He doesn't mind the seventh prince staying in the capital, but doesn't this seem like too obvious favoritism?

That day, Consort Wan went to see the Emperor again, but the Emperor refused to see her.

When Granny Cheng reported to the Empress, she said, "The Sixth Prince is in a daze all day long, talking nonsense. He seems to be seriously ill. If this continues, it will be difficult for him to leave the capital."

The Empress said with a gloomy face: "At first, I thought it was a good thing that he had gone mad, as it would make it less likely that he would be made Crown Prince again in the future. Now I know that it was just a means to keep him in the capital."

Sheng Yuanhe hadn't thought that far ahead at first, but he was genuinely provoked by Sheng Jingyu during the morning court session.

Later, he felt that he was no longer able to solve the problem, so he might as well pretend to be more thorough.

Granny Cheng knew that the Empress wanted Sheng Yuanhe to leave the capital, but given the current situation, things were unlikely to go as planned.

“Prince Chen claims to be ill and will not attend the morning court session. Otherwise… Your Majesty could invite him to the palace and ask him what he thinks?” suggested Granny Cheng.

The whole thing was orchestrated by Sheng Jingyu. He was able to expose the Crown Prince amidst the doubts of the crowd in the Golden Hall, so he can certainly do the same now and drive Sheng Yuanhe out of the capital.

The Empress didn't say whether it was okay or not, but simply asked Granny Cheng to send some medicinal herbs over to show her concern for Sheng Jingyu.

Sometimes you have to put on a show for outsiders.

When Granny Cheng arrived at Prince Chen's residence, she was immediately blocked in the front hall by Su Wenyuan and didn't even get to see Sheng Jingyu.

But seeing Su Wenyuan's worried face and listless spirit, as if she hadn't rested well, Granny Cheng became suspicious. Was Prince Chen really sick this time?

Su Wenyuan expressed her gratitude to the Empress, but did not mention a word about the Crown Prince.

Granny Cheng couldn't find a topic to talk about, and seeing that it was almost time, she returned to the palace.

"Send all these medicines to Hua Ling. Is anyone else coming to visit today?" Su Wenyuan asked.

Yuexiu said, "No, I asked Yeshan, and she said that in previous years, there weren't this many people visiting the manor to see the sick."

Su Wenyuan sighed, "It's just that his temper has changed this year. Before, everyone avoided him like the plague, and they were afraid to even walk past the gate of Prince Chen's mansion."

Not only has his temper changed, but the situation has changed too.

While Sheng Jingyu was recuperating at his residence, he managed to stop those with ulterior motives who wanted to come and inquire about information.

At the same time, it stopped Su Wenyuan, who wanted to go out and cause trouble!

Su Wenyuan wanted to take advantage of the chaos to do something. Although Sheng Jingyu disagreed, he couldn't stay by her side every step of the way. As long as Sheng Jingyu wasn't in the mansion, she would sneak out.

Who would have thought! Sheng Jingyu could actually stay by her side every step of the way.

These past few days, we haven't let her leave the house even once.

Not long after Granny Cheng left, Sheng Jingyu noticed that she hadn't returned to Zhuyue Pavilion yet, so she immediately chased after her at an astonishing speed.

When Su Wenyuan saw the figure who had been watching over her day and night, she couldn't help but let out a wail.

"Are you that free? Look at the chaos outside!" Su Wenyuan pulled the blindfold off his eyes and stared straight at him.

Sheng Jingyu smiled slightly and said, "It is precisely because it is chaotic outside that we cannot go out at will. There are people guarding the gate of the Prince Chen's mansion every day. Even the nearby vendors have been replaced. They are all informants from all sides."

They were all observing Sheng Jingyu. They had never suspected him of faking his blindness before, but now that they did, they all wanted to find evidence to prove that he was faking it.

Some had ill intentions, such as those sent by the Emperor and those sent by Sheng Yuanhe.

Some are simply curious and want to put their minds at ease.

These days, most of the people who come to visit and give gifts are trying to curry favor.

More and more people are apologizing to Su Wenyuan; they are following in Madam Mo's footsteps.

She received more than a dozen invitations, for birthdays, weddings, and even invitations to sample new wines.

Such activities are common in Beijing. Young people have their reasons for getting together, and older people have their own reasons as well.

No matter which group they were in, Su Wenyuan had never managed to get in; she had basically never received an invitation.

These past few days, they've all come.

Using Sheng Jingyu's illness as an excuse, Su Wenyuan refused all of them again.

But there was one exciting event she planned to attend: an invitation from the Duchess of the State for her grandson's first birthday celebration the day after tomorrow, which would be attended by many people.

When Duke Wan invited Sheng Jingyu to his residence last time, he only mentioned the matter of Marquis Anle.

His purpose was simple and clear, without any concealment: he wanted Sheng Jingyu to stop helping Su Wenyuan investigate the past.

How could Su Wenyuan not personally get to know someone like that?

It is said that the Duke of Wan and the Marquis of Anle were once friends. I wonder if he was involved in what happened back then.