"He grew up by the side of the late Emperor and Empress, and was as close as brothers with the Prince of Qin. Today I told the Crown Prince about the shameful things his father did. What do you think the Crown Prince will do, given his personality?"
The female official looked thoughtful: "Confront the Emperor?"
Empress Zhou smiled again: "No, the father and son had already confronted each other when he broke with the emperor. He had already suspected something, but because he had no solid evidence and could not bear to give up his father-son relationship, he trapped himself in the Eastern Palace to escape."
"And now, I lay out the bloody truth before him, so that he can see it with his own eyes."
"He couldn't accept the truth, and he couldn't possibly kill his own father with his own hands. He probably didn't want to watch his brother kill his father either, so he only had one path left."
"He will leave, and go far away, never to return."
Empress Zhou revealed a smug smile: "I merely told a story, yet I was able to eliminate one of the greatest threats. Why not?"
The female official looked enlightened and complimented, "Your Majesty is wise."
*
Before the case of embezzling military funds could be solved, another major event came from the Eastern Palace—the Crown Prince had gone missing.
When Emperor Cheng'an learned of the news, he was furious. He summoned the guards of the Eastern Palace and demanded, "Explain yourself! How exactly did the Crown Prince disappear? Wasn't he always in the Eastern Palace?"
The guard stammered, "That night, His Highness took his horse and said he wanted to go for a walk. Since His Highness often went out at night to relax, I didn't ask any questions. But this time, His Highness didn't return for a long time. During the day, the Chief Secretary looked for His Highness to discuss matters, but couldn't find him anywhere. Only then did he learn that His Highness hadn't returned all night."
"We initially thought His Highness was delayed outside, but we waited for two days and sent out many people to search for him, but we still haven't found him."
"Today was the day the servants went to clean the Buddhist hall, and they discovered that the memorial tablets of the Crown Princess and the two young princes enshrined in the hall had disappeared. Only then did we realize that the Crown Prince was missing."
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