However, this also reflects everyone's thoughts. In everyone's eyes, Lu Baichuan is a villain who used insidious means behind the scenes to get the emperor and the crown prince to protect them. Otherwise, who would be promoted so quickly!

On the other side, Lu Baichuan had already followed the Crown Prince out of the main hall. The Crown Prince was very angry and cursed all the way.

"These old fogies are brainless. They take advantage of their age and do nothing productive all day long. They just act like they're old and arrogant! We always try to give them some face, but they've only gone further and further!"

"I thought that after you exposed so many spies this time, their opinion of you would change, but I didn't expect their prejudice to grow even stronger."

The Crown Prince kept saying that the eunuchs following behind him wished they were deaf. If this got out to someone with ulterior motives, and His Highness the Crown Prince investigated, they would be guilty of a thousand deaths!

In contrast, Lu Baichuan was much calmer, saying, "The innocent are innocent, Your Highness need not worry. Besides, the results of the imperial examinations will be released soon, Your Highness should take this opportunity to cultivate more talents for your own use."

The Crown Prince nodded: "I understand. I've been personally overseeing the imperial examinations. By the way, what do you plan to do about Zhuo Jiayu's matter?"

"Let's keep him locked up for a few more days and see where the limits of the Duke Mu's mansion are."

Lu Baichuan had already made plans. Anyway, he was in charge of the prison now, so no one could do anything about it.

"Do you still suspect that Duke Mu has dealings with Dongting?"

The Crown Prince was somewhat skeptical, after all, the Duke of Mu didn't seem like someone with that kind of brains.

Lu Baichuan didn't answer directly, but just smiled and said, "How will you know if you don't try?"

"That's right. Do whatever you want. If those old fogies cause you trouble again, I will help you suppress it. However, the Duke of Mu's mansion may cause you trouble, so be careful."

The Crown Prince naturally trusted Lu Baichuan, so he remained steadfast regardless of what others said.

This friendship was forged during each other's most difficult times.

Lu Baichuan nodded and said, "Your Highness, rest assured, I will not put you in a difficult position."

He was already very pleased that the Crown Prince was able to set aside the prejudices of those courtiers and still trust his judgment.

In fact, he had been suspicious of the Duke of Mu's mansion for a long time. He had recently been asking Lou Chong to investigate the events of that year, and Lou Chong discovered something very strange.

Over the years, Mingze has been secretly suppressing the Mu family. The Mu family has indeed declined, but it has been able to remain standing, which is very abnormal.

At first, he thought that Mingze was deliberately trying to slowly torment the Duke of Mu's mansion, but later he discovered that there was another hidden story.

Every now and then, the situation at the Duke of Mu's mansion would improve; in other words, someone would keep sending him money.

Moreover, that money came from the profits of shops under the name of Duke Mu, but Lou Chong investigated and found that the shops were not profitable at all and could not possibly have so much profit. This could only prove that someone was secretly sending money to the Duke Mu's mansion.

Who it is remains unknown.

At that time, Lu Baichuan did not associate the Duke of Mu's mansion with the Dongting people. It was not until recently, when Zhuo Jiayu started to find excuses to approach him and took the opportunity to visit the Dongting people many times, that Lu Baichuan began to have doubts.

Although there was no evidence to suggest that she was from Dongting, Lu Baichuan suddenly remembered what the Third Prince had said before, that his wife was the child of someone from Dongting, and the connection was instantly made.

So, the previous investigation suggested that his wife might be the daughter of Xun Wang, but now it's said to be the daughter of Dongting Ren. In other words, Xun Wang is very likely a Dongting Ren.

When Lu Baichuan first had this idea, he also thought it was impossible. After all, Xun Wang was the old emperor's own brother. The official reason for his exile was that he had plotted a rebellion. However, the old emperor did not publicize it to save face, so the world did not know the specific reason.

Now it seems very likely that the exile was caused by the discovery that Xun Wang was colluding with Dongting, or that Xun Wang was an imposter from Dongting.

However, if these speculations are true, then the old emperor was far too lenient back then.

That's why so many troubles have arisen.

When those things happened, the crown prince was still young and probably didn't know everything. Unless you ask the old ministers who were involved, or directly ask the old emperor.

However, even though his relationship with the old emperor is still quite good, it's not appropriate for him to directly ask about such secrets; that would be taking himself too seriously.

Of course, if his wife asked, the old emperor might be willing to tell her, but he didn't want his wife to do everything; otherwise, he would be too useless.

After leaving the palace, Lu Baichuan went straight to the prison, only to find his servant anxiously waiting at the door. Upon seeing him, the servant hurriedly came forward and said, "Master, something bad has happened. Madam Zhuo from the Duke of Mu's mansion sent people to cause trouble at the mansion early this morning. I said that the masters are not here, and she also took people to the military camp to cause trouble. Uncle Huang is worried that Madam will have a hard time dealing with her, so he asked me to come and inform you."

The Crown Prince just mentioned in the palace that the people from the Duke of Mu's mansion would cause trouble, but I didn't expect them to come so quickly.

Lu Baichuan agreed and immediately turned his horse around and headed towards the military camp.

Although he knew his wife could handle it, he couldn't just ignore it.

Meanwhile, at the military camp, Yan Shi had already led a string of servants to cause a ruckus outside.

However, Madam Yan still had some reservations and didn't make things too ugly, but she insisted on seeing He Jiu Niang.

Yes, I've been standing outside all morning and still haven't seen He Jiuniang, because the soldiers said their sister-in-law is still sleeping and no one dares to disturb her.

Yan wanted to break off relations several times, but considering the power of the Lu family and her husband's instructions, she could only grit her teeth and wait, no matter how anxious or angry she was.

When He Jiuniang woke up, ate breakfast, and slowly came out, Yan Shi and a group of people had already been standing outside for more than an hour.

"Oh, it's the Duchess of the State. What brings you here?"

When He Jiuniang came out, she was holding a fruit in her hand and munching on it. She looked very relaxed and at ease, but she could make Yan Shi furious with just a few words.

Madam Yan gritted her teeth, but still forced a smile and stepped forward, saying, "Madam Lu, we have all heard about what happened last night. My daughter caused trouble in prison, and it is all her fault. But since it didn't cause anything too serious, please help me to plead with General Lu and ask him to release my daughter!"

Before He Jiuniang could speak, Madam Yan began wiping away tears, saying, "That child has been spoiled by us since she was little. She doesn't mean any harm; she was just deceived. Please, Madam, help her out since you're about the same age. She's never suffered much since she was little, yet she's been locked up with those spies. I don't know how terrified she must be. As her mother, just thinking about it breaks my heart... sob sob..."