He smiled faintly, the bright sunlight shining on his face, making him look lively and dazzling: "Bu Feizhang, you're not that stupid."
"Moreover," he said slowly, "killing Zhu Chen won't make much difference. Does that mean his position as crown prince is secure? In reality, both of them have always known that the emperor would never truly hand over the throne to Zhu Zhi. On the surface, they seem to be irreconcilable enemies, but in reality, they may not be so."
He chuckled lightly: "As an opponent, Zhu Chen doesn't even consider Zhu Zhi a threat. As for a true rival, Zhu Chen has always regarded the Fifth Prince Zhu Dan as his biggest competitor."
"Similarly, Bu Feizhang and Zhu Zhi didn't take Zhu Chen seriously either; they were just putting on an act."
"As far as I know, although Zhu Dan has been traveling around these past few years, the two of them have tried to harm him quite a bit. However, Zhu Dan and the Imperial Preceptor are really formidable, and they have never succeeded in their efforts."
He snorted lightly: "Moreover, the Emperor values this Fifth Prince highly, and he has many secret guards protecting him."
Feng Yan was shocked. The princess knew even this. He had secretly investigated this information, and only he and his master knew about it.
Unexpectedly, the princess knew so much about it.
As Zhu Yu said this, he looked at Lu Xiaoyun.
Lu Xiaoyun's fingers tightened slightly. Zhu Dan had been away for several years, and danger was always around him.
He must have had a tough time these past few years.
Zhu Yu's heart suddenly ached, and he turned his face away, refusing to look at her again.
Seeing her worry about another man, he was afraid he would forget to breathe.
Feng Yan straightened up and became even more respectful to the "Princess": "Princess, do you know who did it?"
Zhu Yu lowered his head and slowly stroked the teacup in his hand: "To incite a popular uprising, all you want to do is disrupt the entire Mu City, or even the entire Great Zhou."
"You mean the State of Chen?"
After all, Chen Guo had just made a move against the emperor.
Lu Xiaoyun said, "The assassination attempt on my father during the Lantern Festival and the recent civil unrest in Mucheng were both orchestrated by an invisible hand."
Who could it be?
Who is behind the scenes?
Lu Yuyan toyed with the jade-bone fan in his hand: "Don't you guys think there's something wrong with Ren Yushan?"
Lu Xiaoyun looked at him: "Tell me."
Lu Yuyan moved his stool closer to his older sister and was about to speak when Zhu Yu interrupted him: "Qiyu, I asked you to keep an eye on Ren Yushan these past two days. Have you found anything?"
Lu Yuyan's lips twitched. He had only just discovered a problem, and this guy had already ordered people to keep an eye on him.
Qi Yu cupped her hands and said, "Yes, this servant discovered that one time, not long after he returned to the manor, he got into a servant's carriage through the back gate and went to a private residence to meet someone."
"who?"
Qi Yu shook her head helplessly: "That place is heavily guarded, and I dare not approach it casually."
Lu Xiaoyun looked at Zhu Yu: "When did you realize that Ren Yushan was acting strangely?"
Zhu Yu chuckled: "Naturally, it was after the palace banquet. Ren Yushan outwardly remained Zhu Chen's man, yet he allowed his daughter to have an ambiguous relationship with Zhu Zhi. Wasn't that his tacit approval, allowing him to gather information about Zhu Chen while simultaneously having his daughter gather information about Zhu Zhi?"
Lu Xiaoyun rubbed her temples. Compared to Zhu Yu, who was born into the royal family, she was still inferior to him in understanding the changes in the court and speculating about people's hearts.
Zhu Yu looked at Lu Xiaoyun with gentle eyes. There were too many people here, so he couldn't say anything, but Lu Xiaoyun understood his gaze.
He said, "You've done a great job, it's amazing."
Lu Xiaoyun smiled in response, indicating that she understood.
Lu Yuyan rolled his eyes at Zhu Yu, not thinking he didn't know what he was up to: "So, Ren Yushan is loyal to someone else?"
Lu Xiaoyun said, "Could it be other members of the royal family? For example, Prince Hui, or the Second Prince Zhu Heng?"
He remembered very clearly how Prince Hui pretended to be crazy at the palace banquet.
Lu Yuyan scoffed and said, "I think it's the Second Prince, Zhu Heng."
Everyone looked at him again.
He said, “Before the New Year, when the Empress Dowager fell ill for the first time, I went to the palace. This person gave people a very strange feeling. He looked like a transparent person and did not attract attention at all. But in fact, his eyes were very sharp. When you looked directly at him, he would smile gently at you. But when you looked away from him, his back was always staring at you, like a poisonous snake.”
“Think about it, he is a prince, with royal blood flowing in his veins. Is he really so willing to spend his whole life eating vegetarian food and chanting Buddhist scriptures? Whether you believe it or not is your business, but I don’t believe it.”
No royal is simple.
Lu Xiaoyun immediately ordered someone to bring paper and pen and wrote a letter to Zhu Dan, telling him to be sure to keep an eye on Zhu Heng.
She can now imitate Zhu Yu's calligraphy with about 80-90% accuracy.
Zhu Yu watched silently as she wrote the letter intently, her lips pressed into a straight line.
Lu Xiaoyun folded the letter, put it in an envelope, and handed it to Feng Yan. When she looked up, she saw Zhu Yu looking at her with a mournful expression.
Her heart skipped a beat: "What are you thinking about?"
Zhu Yu blinked his sore eyes and looked outside with a wandering gaze: "It's nothing. I was just thinking, could it be that Second Brother's plan to assassinate Father and transfer the Northern Army, while simultaneously instigating a popular uprising in Mu City and transferring tens of thousands of troops from the Xishan Military Camp, is actually aimed at forcing the emperor to abdicate?"
A coup?
Lu Xiaoyun pondered these two words in her heart.
Zhu Yu casually added, "Even if Zhu Zhi is brainless, he couldn't possibly have done that kind of thing with Ren Yong'an on the street that day when Father Emperor was assassinated. Someone in his Crown Prince's residence must have instigated him."
Even if his purpose that day was to win over the Lu family army and to force his father to marry him to the crown prince through such despicable means, given the major events that followed, it was impossible for Zhu Zhi to still go to Liaohu Residence to keep the appointment.
Lu Xiaoyun suddenly understood something she hadn't been able to figure out before, thanks to Zhu Yu's explanation.
She shifted her position and moved closer to Zhu Yu: "Hey, Zhu Yu, do all of you princes have eight hundred schemes in your hearts?"
Zhu Yu scoffed. What good are eight hundred schemes? When they come to her, they're all shut down, not even left to breathe.
"No, I have to meet with Zhu Dan. Zhu Heng might really force the emperor to abdicate. Zhu Chen isn't in Shengjing, so Zhu Zhi is useless. I'm also injured. It's too dangerous for Zhu Dan to face Zhu Heng alone."
Zhu Yu put down his pen, raised an eyebrow at him, and asked, "Are you that worried about him?"
"Yes, that was a coup d'état." The court was in turmoil, and blood was flowing like rivers; it was no joke.
Zhu Yu snorted coldly.
Since her last meeting with Lao Wu, he and Lu Xiaoyun have tacitly avoided mentioning it, but he can no longer kiss her as freely as before.
He could say at will, "Lu Xiaoyun, how about I become your mistress?"
"Lu Xiaoyun, please marry me again. Let's have a grand wedding procession, with heaven and earth as our matchmaker."
"Lu Xiaoyun, everything in the Prince An's mansion from now on, including me, is yours. You can do whatever you want with me."
While the two remained silent, a shocking imperial edict was issued from the palace.
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