In the study, after a short whispered conversation, the Fourth Prince instructed Su Peisheng to have some food and supplies prepared, and then he led the servants and things to the place where the Crown Prince was being held.

Upon arrival, the Fourth Master had his men put down the things they had brought and then dismissed them. He was the last to leave.

As he turned around, he asked softly, "Second Brother, what brings you here?"

The Crown Prince didn't look at the Fourth Prince, but said softly, "Be careful of those around you, even your closest and most loyal ones."

Upon hearing this, Fourth Master's heart skipped a beat. He continued walking out, but quickly asked, "Who is it?"

The prince continued softly, "Those who can access the solitary seal."

Fourth Master was shocked! But his steps remained perfectly steady as he continued walking towards the door.

Although the Fourth Prince appeared calm and composed on the surface, his heart was already in turmoil because of the Crown Prince's words.

Previously, although he had already known that the Crown Prince was implicated by his loyal followers, he had no intention of doing so. He also thought that it was very likely that the Crown Prince's loyal followers had run into trouble. However, he did not expect that it was actually someone so close to him who had run into trouble.

Those who have access to the Crown Prince's seal must be extremely trusted by him. For example, He Zhu, the husband of the Crown Prince's wet nurse, the Crown Princess, and of course, the Crown Prince's second son, Hongxi.

Of course, it's not necessarily that these three people had a problem; it's highly likely that one of their trusted confidants betrayed them.

The reason my second brother told me this was threefold: first, he was under house arrest and no one was available to investigate him, at least not openly; second, he was afraid that some of his subordinates were pretending to be loyal to him and might use his authority to do things that would implicate him; and third, my second brother was warning me to be careful.

Thinking this, a warm glint flashed in the Fourth Master's deep eyes, followed by a glint of malice. It seemed he needed to investigate the people around him, and investigate them thoroughly.

If anyone betrayed him, the Fourth Prince sneered, then climbed into the carriage and returned to the Prince's residence.

Back at the manor, the Fourth Prince ordered the Imperial Guard to investigate everyone around him, while he himself remained locked in his study, still pondering the matter of the Crown Prince.

Whose reach is so long that they could frame the Crown Prince?

Eldest brother? Third brother? Eighth brother… Fourth Master thought of all his brothers, and none of them seemed possible. Even he, who secretly held considerable power, didn't have the ability to frame Second Brother in such a way.

The concubines and their mothers in the harem didn't have that ability; otherwise, when the crown prince was young and didn't have that much power, they could have quietly gotten rid of him.

Except for Father Emperor, even though Father Emperor and the Crown Prince had some issues with each other due to power struggles... But thinking about it, when Father Emperor learned that Second Brother had spied on the imperial tent that night, he was angry and furious, but he was also truly heartbroken.

He was perceptive. While his elder brother thought that the Emperor was angry about the Crown Prince's spying on the Emperor's tent at night, and that's why he dared to petition the Emperor to kill his second brother, he knew that the Emperor still had a loving fatherly heart for the Crown Prince, because he sensed the Emperor's sadness.

Just as Fourth Master was contemplating in his study, Xiao Hezi hurriedly came to Jiaming's side in Taoyuan.

"Hey, Xiao Hezi, why are you back again?" Jiaming looked at Xiao Hezi with a puzzled expression and continued, "Why are you in such a hurry? What happened?"

Xiao Hezi replied nervously, "Master, I don't know what's going on with the Prince, but he seems to be investigating the background of everyone in the manor very thoroughly."

Upon hearing this, Jiaming, while guessing why the Fourth Master was conducting such a large-scale investigation of the mansion, instructed, "Don't be nervous. Tell our people to behave themselves and let the Master investigate. He won't find anything. Even if he does, we haven't done anything shameful, so it's fine."

Xiao He thought about it and realized it made sense, and immediately stopped being nervous.

He was about to take his leave and give instructions to his master when he heard his master's voice, "Wait."

Xiao Hezi: "Master, is there anything else you need?"

"Tell our people in the Eighth Prince's residence to behave themselves recently. If there's anything that could harm Taoyuan, there's no need to send any more messages back."

Xiao Hezi looked at his master in confusion. Didn't he just order someone to send back news of the excitement at the Eighth Prince's mansion a while ago? Why did he suddenly change his mind?

Is it that the master doesn't want to hear the commotion at the Eighth Prince's mansion?

I don't think so. Just yesterday, the master seemed quite pleased with what he heard!

Why?

The prince is investigating the people and affairs of his own household, not the neighboring household. What is there to be afraid of?

Meeting Xiao Hezi's questioning gaze, Jiaming replied, "The princes are fiercely competing and wary of each other. If our people are exposed, those princes are not to be trifled with, and the one next door is no simple character either. Moreover, our Prince Beile might have people in the Eighth Prince's residence as well. If we are discovered..."

At this point, Jiaming chuckled.

Xiao Hezi suddenly realized.

Then, seeing that his master had given no further instructions, he withdrew and relayed his orders to others for execution.

As Jiaming had predicted, after the Fourth Prince investigated everyone and everything in the mansion, some people were removed from the household. Some of them had their backers traced back to the First Lady, Consort Hesheli, and Lady Li. Of course, Jiaming's own connections were also uncovered, but the Fourth Prince did not remove any of them.

After all, these people were in a position he could tolerate and did not pose a threat to him.

However, there were some people whose origins were unclear, and the Fourth Master had not yet had time to interrogate them, or rather, even if he had interrogated them, he had not found out anything.

After Fourth Master found out who these people were, he felt a chill run down his spine!

At the same time, the Fourth Prince wondered who that person was, that they had such great power to plant people around the Crown Prince and him, or perhaps, their other brothers also had people planted around them.

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