Han Xi's prayers were heard by God.

In fact, while running in the dense forest of Shanglin Garden, Shao Qing said to Wei Jing: "Husband, should we go back to the posthouse?"

Take care of it, just in case.

Wei Jing smiled at her: "Well, that's exactly what should be done."

The couple wanted to go together.

The chilly spring wind blew in from the other side of the valley, lifting a strand of messy black hair on her temples. He raised his hand to tuck it behind her ear and held her tight in his arms: "Let's hurry back to Luojing immediately."

The whistling wind was indeed a bit cold, Shao Qing shrank into his arms, "Yeah."

After leaving Shanglin Garden, they reunited with the remaining Qing Zhai Guards. Wei Jing ordered the two to stay and watch the movements in Shanglin Garden from afar, while he led the crowd back.

The group arrived in Luojing, and it was already night.

But today is the Emperor's Birthday, and the whole country is celebrating, especially in the capital. The curfew was extended for one night, the city gates were not closed, the streets were brightly lit and crowded with people, and the excitement all night was no less than the Lantern Festival the day before.

Wei Jing and the others were now dressed as ordinary people. They swaggered into Luojing City and headed directly towards the Yizhou Posthouse.

When they reached a place with few people, he took Shao Qing and jumped up again, and quickly ran into the deserted Yizhou Posthouse.

The two of them went to their rooms first and packed their makeup, clothes and other items. Finally, he checked carefully again, including the next room and Han Xi's residence. After making sure there were no mistakes, he left quietly.

They settled down at the Qing Zhai guards' contact point.

This is a shop with a store in front and a house in the back. It is located at the entrance of an alley near the north city gate. The street outside is very prosperous, but the alley inside is ordinary. It is not conspicuous and busy, but it is very convenient for finding out the news of the market.

It was already the end of the third watch, and the noise outside had died down a little. The two had just sat down when the Qing Zhai guard who had been keeping an eye on Shanglin Garden came to report that Prince An had entered the capital at night and was now on his way to the palace.

Not long after, news came that a royal decree had been sent to Shanglin Garden. At the same time, the imperial guards searched the post stations in various states.

"The restrictions on the princes, dukes and their families should be lifted, and they should be able to set off back to Luojing before dawn." Wei Jing said calmly.

"With so many people, the investigation won't take long. But this search of the posthouse should be the intention of Prince An, right?"

Apart from him, no one else was so eager.

Shao Qing was glad that they had cleaned up the Yizhou Posthouse.

By daybreak, the ban on Shanglin Garden was lifted, the vanguard troops were about to return to the capital, and the search of the post station had been completed. There was no unusual movement at the Yizhou post station.

all the best.

Just when Shao Qing breathed a sigh of relief, he received another report that Prince An had left the palace and was returning to the palace.

"Back to the palace?"

Wei Jing was waiting for this moment. He immediately stood up and said, "Ah Qing, I'm going to Prince An's Mansion."

If he were to sneak into Prince An's mansion at this moment, there would be no doubt that he would be able to obtain a lot of important information. However, when he looked down at Shao Qing, he felt a little troubled.

Luojing was the enemy's territory, and he felt uneasy leaving his wife alone. But it is obviously inappropriate to bring it with you. Prince An's mansion must be in the highest state of alert at this moment. Ordinary people are breathing heavily. I wonder if Prince An has recruited any experts?

"Just go ahead, I'll wait for you to come back."

Shao Qing understood and made a rational choice for him, then smiled and said, "This place is secretive, and there are Chen Mi and others here, so you should be careful."

Wei Jing thought about it again and again, and finally nodded: "Okay, you go to sleep for a while, I will call you when I come back."

Shao Qing didn't sleep much in the past two nights, and he didn't close his eyes at all last night. In order to prevent any unexpected situations, the makeup on both of their faces was not washed off, so it was not possible to see whether there were any bruises under her eyes, but it went without saying that she was definitely sleepy.

Before leaving, Wei Jing gave a strict order that everything should be done to protect Shao Qing first. He looked back at her again, and then took advantage of the last bit of light at dawn to leave.

Except for one person who opened the door as usual but actually intended to observe the environment, the rest of the personal guards were on high alert and guarded near the main house.

Shao Qing couldn't sleep because he had something on his mind, but he was really tired. He knew that he could not help if he just sat there, so he lay down with his clothes on, forced himself to empty his mind, and closed his eyes to rest.

Hope all goes well.

…

Wei Jing headed west.

The east is rich and the west is noble, the south is poor and the north is lowly.

It is said that Prince An's Palace is located in the west of Luojing City, but in fact it is a bit exaggerated because it is very far away and you can reach the north of the city in just a few steps.

This palace was also built in very compliance with regulations.

Why do we need to emphasize this point? Aren’t all royal palaces supposed to be built according to regulations?

This is because almost every part of Prince An's Mansion merely meets the regulations, nothing more. In the eyes of common people, although it occupies a vast area and looks majestic, it is quite shabby compared to Wei Jing's former Palace of the Prince of Qi.

The superiors lead by example, and the subordinates follow suit. This shows whether the late emperor valued Prince An.

However, it is not without benefits for Wei Jing now. It is easier for him to find a loophole and sneak into Prince An's Mansion.

Just as he entered for a while, Prince An's carriage entered the palace.

From afar, Prince An, still wearing the azure royal robe seen yesterday, got out of the carriage, his face as gloomy as water, and walked quickly inside.

Wei Jing followed not far away.

Prince An did not go to the main hall or the outer study, but went straight to a side hall facing the water.

It was particularly cold in early spring, but the door of the side hall facing the water was wide open. From a distance, one could see a young man inside, leaning over the window and quietly watching the gurgling water.

The man had sharp eyebrows, phoenix eyes, a high nose, red lips, and a fair and shiny complexion. He was wearing a snow-white robe with wide sleeves, and his long, shiny black hair was not tied up, but only tied behind his head with a piece of silver satin. He was handsome and elegant, and seemed like a banished immortal who was not affected by the world.

She has an outstanding appearance, but Wei Jing's focus is on another aspect.

Prince An pushed the door open, and the man turned around, without any greeting, and walked slowly to the long desk, sat down, leaned casually, and spoke something to Prince An.

His posture was relaxed, but his back was straight. He walked as gracefully as flowing water, but every step he took was very stable. After sitting down, he just leaned casually, with his elbows slightly bent backward, one hand naturally resting on the table, and the other hand hanging at his side, already in a defensive state.

This is a habitual action that has been ingrained in our bones through years of hard practice. Whether standing, walking or sitting, you subconsciously put yourself in a position where you can attack or defend.

With just one glance, Wei Jing could tell that this was a master.

There are many masters whose skills may not be inferior to his.

Where did Wei Ping find such a hermit-like master?

Naturally, no one would answer him this question, but now he had to be extremely careful if he wanted to approach the side hall.

Wei Jing looked at the side hall for a moment, then glanced around, and after thinking for a moment, he came up with an idea. He approached the side hall using the sound of water as cover, chose a leeward position, and silently slipped under the eaves of the corridor.

The corridor extending from the roof has various beams and rafters under the eaves. In the past, Wei Jing would have simply climbed onto the beam, but this time he was extremely cautious, with his feet against the sides of the left and right beams, hanging in the air between them. It was laborious, but it left no trace on the beams and rafters which were covered with a layer of dust.

There was indeed a palm-sized air window at this location. Wei Jing approached silently. Very good. There were not many curtains in the side hall, so Prince An and the other two could see clearly and distinguish their voices.

His eyes passed over the young man in white and fell on Prince An.

…

The young man in white, Wei Xu, entered the hall with a gloomy face. He turned around and raised his eyebrows: "No clue yet?"

Wei Xu, the first aide of Prince An's palace.

However, this person was not just a staff member. He was a famous scholar in Jingzhou. Prince An came to visit him several times because of his reputation. The two of them had similar interests and were close friends, so he came out to help.

Wei Xu had no interest in royal events such as the Wanshou Festival, so he did not go to Shanglin Garden, but he received the news yesterday.

"Not a single trace." The person who came disappeared without a trace like morning dew meeting the morning light.

Prince An frowned and said, "This person is very skilled. He may have escaped from the palace and the hunting ground."

This was the only explanation, because no matter if they were royal nobles or officials inside or outside the court, all of their guards were searched thoroughly, especially those wearing blue clothes and those who were tall, who were almost skinned alive.

It can be confirmed that this person is not among the guard team.

The correct statement is that he was not among the guard team during the search.

There are two possibilities. One is that the man sneaked in and stole the guards' uniforms and changed into them. The other possibility is that he was originally following orders from someone in Shanglin Garden and somehow managed to get in.

In short, there must be an insider.

The person who comes to pay his respects must be someone with ulterior motives. I wonder what changes this mysterious person will bring to the future situation? I don’t know how the other party will use Ding Hua’s matter?

Prince An frowned as he was worried about the near and suspicious about the far.

"Those who came to the capital to pay tribute will surely disperse in the next few days. Since we can't find them, we should think about how to deal with them."

We’ll talk about the situation later, let’s solve the current crisis first.

Wei Xu's words were very direct. The secret of killing Ding Hua could not be made public, and the suspects included all the noble officials inside and outside the Chu Dynasty. It was possible to investigate once under the pretext of the assassin, but it was impossible to continue the investigation.

The Wanshou Festival is over, and the foreign ministers who have come to Beijing to pay tribute will soon disperse, and by then they will be like streams flowing into the sea, with no trace left.

He asked again: "How is Ding Hua?"

"The body has been buried and mourning has been held. There is no doubt about it."

Prince An was well prepared beforehand and did not make any mistakes. This is why he did not consider putting the blame on the men in blue and thereby intensifying the search efforts.

It is easy for loopholes to appear when plans are changed temporarily. Behind Ding Hua's death is the Yellow River embankment, which is no less important than the man in blue and the master behind him.

However, after successfully dealing with Ding Hua, the crisis of the men in blue became imminent.

Wei Xu said objectively: "If this person wants to stir up trouble with this matter, it will happen soon."

Words are not enough. If one wants to deal a severe blow to Prince An, the only way is to uncover the truth as soon as possible and let the emperor order a thorough investigation. Otherwise, Ding Hua had been dead for a long time and all the evidence would have been wiped out.

Speaking of evidence, Wei Xu pushed a box on the table over to him and said, "Tongqing sent it over the night before."

In fact, Prince An had wiped out all traces of evidence. He only silenced the witnesses after he was sure he had the box of letters. Not afraid of investigation.

Prince An looked through it carefully and found that the number was correct, it was all here.

He opened the fumigation cage, opened a letter, read it, confirmed that it was correct, and threw it into the charcoal basin in the fumigation cage.

The orange flames burned fiercely, and Prince An narrowed his eyes: "Notify Chu Zhu, forge a few more letters, and give them to Tong Qing to arrange. Also, don't rush to erase the traces he arranged earlier."

Chu Zhu?

Wei Jing outside the air window raised his eyebrows slightly. Is Chu Zhu Prince An's man?

In fact, when he witnessed Prince An killing Ding Hua, he had some vague guesses, and it turned out to be correct.

Putting the blame on Prince Ji is indeed a very practical method. Prince Ji is about to rebel and has no way to defend himself.

In fact, what Wei Jing didn't know was that in order to silence Ding Hua, Prince An actually had two plans. The first one was to have Ding Hua assassinated and then put the blame on Prince Ji.

The lack of solid evidence made the emperor suspicious of Prince Ji and forced him to rebel. But later, Prince Ji decided to rebel first, so this plan could not be used.

It may not be used, but it is ready. Prince An has now made some slight changes to it, which is just right for dealing with possible attacks from the men in blue.

Prince Ji will return to his fiefdom in the next few days. If the emperor sends someone to question him or summons him to Beijing to defend himself after the incident, he will definitely not come but will rebel directly. Once the charges are proven, the matter will be over.

Wei Xu hesitated for a moment and nodded: "Yes, it's just that the emperor is suspicious..."

Prince An was mentioned after all. Jian is in the emperor's heart. You should know that their subsequent plans are largely based on the emperor's trust and reuse.

If there are any mistakes, the plan will have to be adjusted drastically, which is very troublesome and will lose a lot of convenience.

Prince An said slowly: "The emperor will not easily doubt me. If he really does, I will try to dispel it at that time."

He has spies around the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. They are not his most trusted confidants, but they are also close to them. They have served the old men for many years, and he can always get clues by deliberately inquiring.

Moreover, Prince An was confident that even if the emperor had some doubts, it would not be difficult to dispel them.

After all, he and his mother had endured living under someone else's roof for many years, and it was not without benefit.

Thinking of this, Prince An pursed his lips and his eyes uncontrollably turned cold.

…

Prince An Wei Ping, his mother was Concubine Zhu, who was of a very humble origin and had been a maid serving the previous emperor since she was a child.

Yes, that's right, just like Concubine Li, the current Empress Dowager, the two of them had worked together for many years, and were later taken into the master's room together, and had children to gain status.

Everyone said that his mother was a lucky person who became a phoenix overnight.

But only Wei Ping knew that it was not the case. His mother was just a shield chosen by the late emperor to attract fire for Concubine Li.

Concubine Li was only pretty in appearance, but she caught the eye of her master. Even before she was chosen to succeed the throne, the master and servant had been very close.

Later, the late emperor was chosen to inherit the throne, and later he married the daughter of the Fu family as his empress. He wanted to win over the Fu family and remove powerful ministers and eunuchs. He "loved" Empress Fu for twenty years, so naturally he could not have a favorite concubine during this period.

Therefore, Concubine Li was never favored.

But how to say it? In the previous emperor's harem, which was filled with noble ladies, a low-ranking concubine with an extremely humble origin and a child would be a clear target. It would be a question whether the mother and child could survive.

Therefore, the late emperor prepared a helper for Concubine Li, and at the same time set up a more conspicuous target.

Concubine Li was a pretty girl from a small family; while Concubine Zhu was beautiful, the most beautiful among all the palace maids around the late emperor. She was also loyal and silent, and had a child from the family.

As a palace maid who had also served her master since childhood, Concubine Zhu knew the truth very well, but she could not resist and could only pretend to be deaf and dumb. She always followed Concubine Li's lead, attracted the attention of the crowd and never dared to show any resentment, only trying her best to save herself and her son.

Unfortunately, there is always a loophole in a perfect plan, and Concubine Zhu died after all. She died when she had finally become a mid-level concubine and no longer had to be beaten everywhere.

Concubine Ling, after losing her second child, was shocked to hear that her family was overthrown and the whole family was executed. This crazy woman suddenly appeared in the imperial garden, glared at Concubine Li and said hatefully that she would drag her to hell even if she died.

The late emperor was not happy to have a son with Ling's blood, so he instructed Concubine Li to do something. Of course, it turned out to be an accident after it was accomplished.

Concubine Ling rushed over with a golden hairpin in her hand like a mad tiger. Concubine Li shrank behind Concubine Zhu in panic. She escaped the disaster, but unfortunately Concubine Zhu was not only stabbed by a hairpin, but also pushed down the stairs and hit her head hard.

Concubine Zhu is dead.

She had a strong desire to survive, but after struggling for several days and nights, she still died.

Before she died, she whispered the truth into her son's ear. Her purpose was not to ask him to take revenge, but to urge him to be more cautious and take good care of himself.

The situation was stronger than the people at that time, and his son was still young. If he wanted him to grow up safely, he could only rely on Concubine Li's protection. She said intermittently, don't seek revenge, don't feel resentment, just grow up, be crowned a king and live in a fiefdom, that everything will be fine.

But why? !

Wei Ping's face turned ferocious for a moment, the hatred for killing his mother was irreconcilable! He pretended to be ignorant and filial, and regarded the thief as his mother for many years. Is it really true that he can only live in disgrace? !

No, it's impossible.

How could he not feel resentment? How could he not take revenge?

He would tear the hypocritical smiles of the mother and son to pieces and let them taste the pain of having their body repeatedly pierced by gold hairpins, having their heads repeatedly hit by heavy objects, and lying on bed for a long time but unable to die.

Wei Ping took a deep breath, closed his eyes to calm himself down, and opened them again after a moment.

However, he endured humiliation for more than ten years, obediently following the lead of his adoptive mother and half-brother, and never hesitated to go west when pointed east, and it was not without results.

At the very least, the emperor is convinced that he has complete control over himself and that he cannot have any other thoughts, nor does he have the ability to endure any other thoughts, right?

Wei Ping smiled sarcastically, calmed down, and said to Wei Xu: "But we still need to make more preparations."

To avoid any real changes that might occur and the plan not being able to keep up with the changes.

Wei Xu nodded: "That's true, but this matter can't be rushed, we need to..." think about it over time.

Before he finished his sentence, his voice suddenly stopped, and he raised his head and looked towards the air vent in front of him.

After Wei Xu came to Luojing, he lived in this side hall. He got up before dawn every day without exception. After practicing martial arts and appreciating the scenery, he would sit behind the table and drink tea. If Wei Ping came, he would come with him. If he didn't come, he would be alone.

He didn't like to light candles indoors during the day, but there were several air windows on the east side, and in the early morning, there were always a few palm-sized spots of light shining into the room, one of which even fell right in front of his desk. Sometimes it is sunshine, and when there is no sunshine it is skylight.

When Wei Xu was speaking just now, his eyes moved casually, but he paused when he swept across the table.

The light spot is gone.

Anyone?

He suddenly raised his head and looked straight up at the air vent.

There was no one in sight, but through the palm-sized air window I could see a patch of grayish-white sky and some branches and leaves passing by.

He supported himself on the back of the chair, jumped out of the hall, and flew to the corridor outside the air window in an instant.

The author has something to say: Prince An's alarm was a false alarm. In fact, Wei Jing did not intend to expose the other party's killing of Ding Hua. He did not care about letters or anything like that because he did not intend to fight with Prince An.

His goal was to raise an army to overthrow the Great Chu. He paid attention to Prince Ji and Prince An and the situation in the court, mainly to know himself and the enemy, and to speculate on the situation after the major changes.