Crown Prince
This discovery left me somewhat bewildered. I untied the stone and climbed out of the water, collapsing weakly by the poolside. My aunt ran over and asked, "Auntie, what's wrong?"
I waved my hand, "I'm fine..." and then returned to the Imperial Observatory, still quite bewildered. When I saw the Director still sitting under the eaves drinking tea, I went over and asked him, "Director..."
The supervisor raised his hand to stop me, and then smiled at Ah Shi who had come with him, saying, "Your aunt is looking for a mudfish and dragging you along, that's ridiculous. Go do your important business!"
Ah Shi looked at me, then bowed to the supervisor and said, "Alright, Ah Shi will take his leave now."
After Ah Shi left, the supervisor looked at me again. I couldn't wait any longer: "Supervisor, I found a dragon at the bottom of the pool... It's the imperial dragon..."
The supervisor raised his hand again to stop me from speaking: "Don't say that word."
I nodded: "What's going on?"
"What do you mean, what happened? It's just like what you see!"
"But how could I have seen it? Aren't these things usually invisible? And it was the little mudfish that led me there."
“Perhaps…” Jian Zheng took a deep breath: “Little Mudskipper is trying to tell you something, you can go and see for yourself later.”
"Alright." This matter is of great importance, so I really ordered the Imperial Observatory and the Imperial Guards to surround the pool and strictly forbade any unauthorized personnel from approaching.
When I went back into the water, I saw the little loach not far away. It glanced at me and then swam away. I quickly followed it and swam with it for a long time before I found the dragon again. This time, the dragon only opened one eye, and when it saw me, it closed its eyes again.
The little loach chirped twice and led me behind the dragon. The dragon turned its head in dissatisfaction, shifted its body, and finally quieted down.
When I followed the little mudskipper to the front half of the dragon's body, the little mudskipper stopped and chirped at me twice.
I raised my hand and brushed the mud off the dragon's body, and found that the dragon scales in this area were somewhat dull. I brushed off all the mud around this part of the dragon's body and found that only this small patch of dragon scales was dull in color, showing a slight bluish hue... If this dragon is transformed from a dragon vein, wouldn't the change in the dragon vein indicate that there is a problem with the royal succession?
If there's a problem with the succession, doesn't that mean—the crown prince is treacherous?
I was startled by my own thought. No way, don't scare me like that...
If the Crown Prince's abnormality is due to my mistake, then the fate of this dynasty will be blamed on me... I'm doomed... I'm going crazy...
I felt my heart pounding, each beat filled with trepidation...
I rushed ashore in a panic, threw on my cloak, and charged toward the Imperial Observatory. Even Ah Shi and Mu Li didn't have time to react. When I got back to the eaves of the Imperial Observatory, I saw the Director was still leisurely drinking tea. I grabbed the tea from his hand and said, "Something terrible has happened, and you still have the leisure to drink tea?"
"Oh dear," the supervisor sighed, "Even if the sky falls, we still have to drink tea!" He then snatched the tea back from my hand.
At this moment, A-Shi and Mu-Li caught up and asked me, "What's wrong, Auntie?"
I glanced at the supervisor who was leisurely drinking tea, and could only relax and say to them, "It's nothing, you can rest first. Remember not to let anyone get close to the pool, and no one is allowed to go into the water."
Muli and Ashi exchanged a glance, and finally Muli spoke up: "Alright, I will strictly forbid anyone from approaching the water." Then he and Ashi withdrew.
After they left, I paced back and forth anxiously. "That's..." I couldn't bring myself to say the word, so I changed my mind. "What am I going to do? I'm going crazy! If I really touch the foundation of the royal family, all those royals and court officials who came and went will probably be turned to dust by me..."
"Hahaha!" Unexpectedly, the supervisor could still laugh: "It's not that serious, just deal with the anomaly..."
"But, but this involves the Crown Prince, we cannot act rashly!"
"We can't just watch it go bad and wait for it to rot, can we?"
This "it" refers to both the crown prince and the one at the bottom of the pool...
The Crown Prince is crucial to the stability of the court. My elder brother is now very old, and most of his power has been transferred to the Crown Prince. If we were to take action against the Crown Prince now, it would mean affecting two-thirds of the entire court, which is no small matter...
"Aaaaaah..." I screamed, "It's insane, it's insane, it's insane..."
Looking back at the supervisor who was still drinking tea, I sighed helplessly and could only mount my horse and leave the palace to find the prime minister.
When I finally arrived at the Prime Minister's residence, I learned that the Prime Minister had not yet returned...
I was waiting for someone in the pavilion, feeling restless and anxious, uneasy and incredibly frustrated...
When the prime minister finally returned, he came straight over without even changing out of his court robes: "What's wrong?"
I couldn't say too much, so I could only say, "It's nothing... it's just, it's just..."
I really don't know how to make this up...
He simply went all out, saying, "The Crown Prince might be suspicious, which could affect the royal succession, so..."
The prime minister glared at me, quickly raised his hand to stop me from speaking, and then instructed the steward: "Go, guard the courtyard, and don't allow anyone to approach."
The butler's cloudy eyes flashed with a sharp light, and he replied, "Yes."
Then the prime minister led me to his study, pressed a button somewhere on the bookshelf, and opened a hidden door. He then gestured for me to follow.
I followed the prime minister into the secret room, and only then did I hear him ask, "What exactly happened?"
I quickly told the prime minister what I had seen, encountered, and guessed. The more the prime minister listened, the more his brows furrowed: "Does His Majesty know about this?"
"I wonder how my brother will react if he really finds out..."
"So, you've come to ask me if it's feasible to depose the crown prince?"
My heart skipped a beat. I wanted to deny it, but this was indeed my biggest worry: "If there's a way to help the Crown Prince recover, that would be best, but if he can't..." I didn't finish the sentence.
The prime minister sighed, "But within the royal family, there is simply no one like the crown prince who can succeed him..."
Have you noticed anything unusual about the Crown Prince lately?
The prime minister shook his head: "The crown prince has been working diligently and conscientiously lately, without making a single mistake. In fact, he has made great progress and corrected many of his bad habits..."
"No way?" My head hurt even more. The Crown Prince was actually better than before after being corrupted by the murderous aura?
I thought of a possibility, so I quickly took out the spirit stone and asked Xiao Huang, "Tell me, among the malevolent energy with you, is there anyone from the royal family?"
Xiao Huang shrank back and didn't speak for a long time.
"You're not going to tell me?"
Perhaps my tone was too harsh, because Xiao Huang wisely nodded repeatedly: "Tell me, tell me, I'll tell you. There was indeed a hostile voice before claiming to be a descendant of royalty, but I don't know for sure whether that's true or not!"
"What? Royal family members have died prematurely in this palace?" I looked at the prime minister.
The prime minister raised an eyebrow: "His Majesty's third, fifth, and seventh princes have all passed away. The current crown prince, according to the order, should be the ninth prince."
"Who could it be?"
The prime minister breathed a sigh of relief: "The third prince disappeared suddenly when he was seven years old, the fifth prince died while still an infant, and as for the seventh prince, he was just learning to speak at the time..."
"So, it's the Third Prince?"
The prime minister nodded: "Based on this reasoning, the third prince is indeed the most likely candidate..."
"How did he die?"
"This..." The Prime Minister raised his eyebrows: "I really don't know. I wasn't the Prime Minister when the Third Prince disappeared, and the person who handled the case is no longer alive."
"What should I do then? Should I just go and ask him directly?"
The more I thought about it, the more feasible it seemed, so I quickly turned to leave, but the prime minister stopped me: "Don't go now, don't alert him. We don't even know his identity. What if he's just a page who assists the royal family?"
"How do we investigate?"
"I'll go check the files in the Ministry of Justice. You go back first, and I'll have someone try to probe the situation further."
Speaking of testing, I thought of Mu Li, so I nodded and said, "Okay, let me know as soon as you have any news. I'll also go back to the palace to check the palace records."
When I left the Prime Minister's residence, I was feeling extremely down. The Crown Prince had been corrupted by the malevolent energy for so long, and it was still unclear whether he still had his own mind. What was more important was that, now that he was corrupted by the malevolent energy, he was actually acting as the Crown Prince better than before...
My heart was filled with such complicated emotions. When I returned to the palace and met Muli, I heard that Chef Deng's son had been brought back... The thought that I might not be able to eat Chef Deng's food anymore made me even more depressed...
Let's take it one step at a time. First, I took the jade pendant that came back with the Deng family to the imperial kitchen.
When Chef Deng saw me arrive, he greeted me with a smile, "Xu girl, you're here? Today isn't mealtime, are you here to help out?"
“Yes,” I murmured to myself, “today is not the time for dinner…”
I walked over and handed the jade pendant in my hand to Chef Deng.
Chef Deng looked me up and down, then took the jade pendant from my hand with a puzzled expression. After seeing the blood-stained character "Deng" on it, he couldn't accept it and took two steps back.
I quickly went over to help him up: "Are you alright, Chef Deng?"
"This is..." Tears welled up in his eyes, and he asked me, still unwilling to give up, "This is..."
"This is your son's jade pendant... He... he was ambushed by the enemy... He has... he has died on the battlefield..."
"What?" The tear still slid down Chef Deng's cheek...
“I’m sorry, you asked me to take care of your son before, but the news of his death came as soon as our inquiries reached the border…” I paused, looking at Chef Deng’s hand tightly gripping the jade pendant, and unconsciously choked up: “I… I originally thought of not telling you… but, I really, really didn’t want to lie to you… He’s at the Imperial Guard right now, you…”
“I will go,” Chef Deng nodded firmly, “I must go.”
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