Chapter 17 Dim Light (Part 8) "Your Highness, is there truly not a trace of it...?"

Lan Huaien looked up and glanced at her face. Sure enough, she had a deep and cold expression that was frightening. But he quietly grabbed Yan Chao's cloak with his hand.

Just an inch from his fingertips, a white crane with patterns as graceful as snowflakes appeared. In his mind, the frost and snow of that day seemed to fall, along with the trail of footprints that stretched far into the distance.

Yan Chao quickly noticed his little trick, raised a cold eyebrow and pushed his hand away, immediately becoming wary: "What are you doing!"

Lan Huaien blinked, then looked at her with a pitiful and terrified expression: "I...I wasn't castrated, so I'm not really a eunuch. If others find out, I won't survive. In this world, besides His Majesty, Your Highness the Crown Prince has the highest status, so only you can protect me! I beg Your Highness for protection!"

Yan Chao was shocked and looked at him in disbelief: "This is a capital offense of deceiving the emperor! How dare you? You've been in the palace for over ten years..."

At this point, Yan Chao seemed to suddenly realize something. The thought struck her like a blow to the head, instantly bringing her back to her senses. She snapped out of her daze, drew her short dagger with a "whoosh," and held it to his neck.

"I know you're cunning. Are you trying to trick me again? What's your purpose? Speak!"

Lan Huaien was momentarily stunned, completely taken aback by this unexpected turn of events. But the coldness on his neck made him catch his breath, and he immediately said in a trembling voice, "This servant would not dare to deceive Your Highness."

Yan Chao stared at him intently: "Don't even think about trying anything funny again."

She glanced down at him again, her hands still moving with unwavering focus: "I don't believe you. Unless you can prove it to me."

Lan Huai's face fell, and he was on the verge of tears. After staring at Yan Chao for a long time, he lowered his head and said in a muffled voice, "...Then, Your Highness, please inspect it yourself."

Yan Chao couldn't figure out what he was thinking, but seeing how readily he agreed, she glanced at him and moved the dagger away a little. With her other hand, she put down the hand warmer and was really going to lift the blanket.

A slight breeze swept by. Lan Huaien suddenly felt a lightness in his lower body, and the instant chill that swept through his limbs made his heart tighten. He instinctively arched his body to avoid it, but this aggravated his wounds, causing him to wince in pain.

"Your Highness! You really want to see it..."

Yan Chao looked at him, who was trembling, and raised an eyebrow: "What, you don't dare?"

"No..." Lan Huaien murmured, but she endured the pain and protected her body tightly, "This servant was afraid of offending your eyes."

Yan Chao remained silent. Although she felt somewhat uneasy, she was in a hurry to find out the truth and couldn't worry about that now. Besides, if she showed any weakness and Lan Huai'en became suspicious, wouldn't she have been tricked again?

So she steeled herself, held her breath, and reached out towards the man's waist. Before she even touched anything, Lan Huai'en suddenly screamed in surprise, "Ah!!!"

Yan Chao paused, could it be that he touched his wound?

Lan Huaien tugged at his robes again, lowering her voice urgently, "Your Highness is, after all, a woman. Are you really not ashamed at all for insisting on seeing a man's private parts?"

Hearing the commotion inside, Liang Lu, who was outside the door, felt a chill run down his spine and hurriedly knocked on the door, calling out, "Your Highness!"

"It's nothing."

Yan Chao's voice was stiff and his face was ashen, but he still tried his best to remain calm and said, "Without my order, you are not allowed to enter."

Liang Lu replied "yes," but remained standing there anxiously, unsure of the situation inside.

And another dagger was placed against Lan Huaien's neck. Seeing the blade about to pierce his skin, and feeling a sharp pain in his neck, he dared not breathe, his lips trembling as he said, "Your Highness, please don't be impulsive, this servant has something to say..."

But Yan Chao showed no sign of letting go.

Left with no other choice, Lan Huaien threatened her: "If I die in the East Palace today, someone will immediately expose His Highness's identity. You will suffer a great loss."

Yan Chao gritted his teeth in silent resentment and sheathed the dagger. A thin red line remained on Lan Huaien's neck, a testament to her murderous intent.

"Your Highness, please think carefully. If I weren't confident, how could I dare to come before you and hand over my biggest weakness to you?"

Lan Huaien let out a soft sigh, carefully observing her expression. He needed to achieve the desired effect without provoking her, lest she act impulsively and he really lose his life.

"You don't need to worry that I'll lie to you. I am a lowly person and insignificant, but Your Highness can't afford to gamble, can you?" He silently looked into her eyes and slowly explained.

“This servant has heard the story of Empress Wenhui back then. It was no easy feat for Your Highness to survive. Especially after returning to the palace, for the past ten years or so, you have walked on thin ice, barely managing to secure your position after six years of painstaking planning to finally enter the Qing Palace. But now Prince Xin is eyeing you covetously, and Your Highness must be worried day and night, not to mention the life-threatening matter of your identity. You would not want your years of hard work to be destroyed by this servant, would you?”

"The Emperor is currently embroiled in power struggles and deceit. I have always admired Your Highness's magnanimity and courage, and I cannot bear to see you lose."

Yan Chao had regained her senses, though her complexion remained grim. She leaned against his bedside, remaining silent for a moment before asking in a low voice, "How did you know my identity?"

Lan Huaien knew that her concerns hadn't subsided and that she probably hated him intensely at this moment, so she had to be even more careful with her words: "Your Highness, once when I went to the Imperial Hospital, I inadvertently saw Physician Feng Jingmo's medical records. There was a prescription in it that used medicines commonly used by the ladies of the harem. I vaguely remember that it contained angelica, white peony root, and chuanxiong..."

“The pulse diagnosis was falsified. Logically speaking, there shouldn’t be any flaws in the written medical records…” Yan Chao said softly, frowning as he held a hand warmer in his hand.

“Oh, by the way, that prescription was tucked in the medical record, not in the main register. The handwriting also looks a bit messy; perhaps it was a draft that Physician Feng wrote on the spot,” Lan Huaien licked her dry lips and added before she could ask any more questions. “At the time, I was just a little suspicious, but later I made a point of having someone investigate. There were indeed those things in His Highness’s medicine dregs. And, and in daily life, although His Highness’s every move is impeccable, if you look closely, there are some subtle differences. For example, the night His Highness returned from being tortured at the Qianqing Palace, when I was supporting you, your eyes and brows showed a hint of fragility, not like a man’s.”

Even though Yan Chao hated him at this moment, he was still quite surprised to hear what he said: Is there really such a difference?

He was then pressed further: "Did you secretly investigate the Eastern Palace? How many spies do you have in the Eastern Palace?"

Lan Huaien hurriedly shook his head and explained, "Your Highness, please don't misunderstand. This servant didn't dare to place anyone in your palace. At most, I followed the palace servants..." He felt very guilty, and his voice gradually became softer.

Yan Chao snorted and turned his head away. Thinking that the other man had something on him, he felt really unhappy.

"This servant did not mean to upset Your Highness, but I was truly desperate and had no other choice but to come and beg you." Seeing Yan Chao's displeasure, Lan Huaien tried her best to lower her voice and carefully put away her self-righteousness.

Yan Chao pursed his lips and reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"This servant has one more thing to remind Your Highness."

Yan Chao turned his head warily: "You speak."

“There are spies in the Eastern Palace, but they are not mine. I swear, they really aren’t.”

A piercing gaze shot over, making Lan Huaien's scalp tingle. Clutching the corner of the blanket, he explained, "Lord Shen, the Junior Grand Tutor of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, has secret connections with the Cao family. Recently, Prince Xin's men have also been keeping an eye on him. Your Highness must be extra careful."

"The Eastern Depot investigated this? Lan Huaien, you actually dare to keep an eye on Shen Wei!"

"Your Highness, please calm down and let me finish speaking..." He secretly wiped away his sweat and took a deep breath. "When I demanded that Lord Shen be flogged at the Meridian Gate, Your Highness did not really think that he had no problems at all, did you?"

Yan Chao suppressed his anger and replied, "His Majesty has already ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guard to investigate this matter, and there is indeed no crime that you framed."

Lan Huaien pursed her lips, avoiding her clarification: "At the time, I said he was involved in Bai Cunzhang's embezzlement case. Coincidentally, Cao Hong died a few days ago. If Your Highness has a good memory, you should remember that a few months ago, when the case was being investigated, the Cao family was also implicated. At that time, Cao Fu, the son of Grand Secretary Cao, was impeached, but he was exonerated in just two days. It was later found that Cao Hong was the one with problems. Anyone with eyes can see the strangeness of this."

Yan Chao pondered for a moment and said, "Cao Fu was not caught because he had Cao Ying as his backer, but Cao Hong himself is indeed not clean either."

“But initially, the person who impeached Cao Fu was targeting him,” he looked at Yan Chao, who sat upright and motionless. “And the person who impeached Cao Fu was Lord Shen. Your Highness, you know this, but you were afraid that Lord Shen would also be implicated, so you suppressed him. Also, before Cao Hong died, Lord Shen went to see him, but as for what they talked about, I don’t know. Many people say that I was responsible for Cao Hong’s death, which is indeed true, but at that time Cao Hong was already determined to die.”

Yan Chao remained silent. She knew in her heart that if Cao Hong didn't die and brought out Cao Fu, Cao Ying wouldn't let his family off the hook.

She had thought at the time that Shen Wei usually loved to stand up for the weak, and perhaps she couldn't stand Cao Fu's frivolous behavior. But now, thinking about it, something did seem off.

Furthermore, Meng Huai's death also seems to be related to Shen Wei.

She didn't want to think about it anymore, and simply said, "Chen Wei may not have any ulterior motives. I will investigate and find out."

Lan Huaien nodded and continued, "There's one more person." He hesitated for a moment before saying the name.

“Ying Chunwu”.

Then Yan Chao suddenly stood up, his anger almost bursting out.

The scene startled Lan Huaien, making his heart skip a beat. Perhaps it was because he had spent so much time in front of the emperor that this atmosphere was too familiar, but he almost jumped up and rolled off the bed.

The Crown Prince's eyes flashed like sharp blades: "Lan Huai'en, how dare you!"

He even set his sights on her wet nurse. What is his true intention?

A note from the author: