Zhou Jing'an's face immediately darkened.
He originally thought that his token was either left in Jian Yang's room or taken by Jian Yang.
In this light, even his concubine cannot escape suspicion.
He immediately said coldly, "Let's go see Madam Yan."
After the morning court session, the emperor summoned Jian Hong for a special audience.
"Did you, my dear minister, take the locksmith to see the keyhole of that mechanism?"
Jian Hong respectfully replied, "Your Majesty, I have seen it. However, the keyhole is not an ordinary keyhole, but a square slot. A special key is needed to fill the slot before the mechanism door can be turned."
The emperor handed over the token that Jian Yang had given him and asked, "Take a look, does the shape of the inlay match this token?"
After examining it carefully for a few moments, Jian Hong's face lit up with delight. "Indeed, they are exactly the same shape and size. Where did Your Majesty obtain them?"
Yesterday, when the emperor and Jian Yang were being intimate, he, as the emperor's brother-in-law, was too embarrassed to continue peeking, so he didn't know that it was Jian Yang who gave it to the emperor.
The emperor told him the truth, and Jian Hong couldn't help but praise his younger sister for being so intelligent and lucky.
The Emperor nodded and said, "It can now be basically confirmed that this token is the key to unlocking the mechanism. I have decided to steal the Second Prince's account books tonight."
Upon hearing that the emperor was about to act so quickly, Jian Hong hurriedly advised, "Your Majesty, the Second Prince's residence has now been reinforced with security. Obtaining the account books will not be easy. Why not wait until the guards are less vigilant before taking action?"
The emperor shook his head and said, "It's easier said than done to wait for the second prince to relax. Besides, I can wait, but A-Yang can't. She's all alone in the prince's residence, and I'm really worried about her."
Jian Hong was naturally worried about Jian Yang. Upon hearing the emperor's words, he immediately volunteered, "Your Majesty, why don't you let me go and get the account books?"
The emperor refused him.
"I have other tasks to assign you."
That night, the disguised emperor once again sneaked into the Second Prince's residence.
Last night, only the East Courtyard where Zhou Jing'an lived was reinforced with security, but today, it appears that the entire Prince's residence has also been reinforced with at least three times the number of troops.
With soldiers patrolling all the time, it became much more difficult for him to sneak into the East Compound.
The emperor frowned and hid in a large tree, waiting for his opportunity.
"Brother Wang, I think I ate something bad tonight. I need to go to the restroom." Not far away, a soldier clutched his stomach and said to his brother.
Another soldier nodded and said, "Okay, go ahead, and come back quickly."
"Alright!" The soldier quickly ran towards the latrine.
Seizing the opportunity, the emperor silently leaped down from the tree, quickly jumped onto the roof, and followed the fleeing soldiers toward the latrine.
The servants' restrooms were located in a remote area, so naturally no one guarded them.
Just as the soldier was about to reach his destination, the emperor appeared silently behind him like a shadow, raised his hand and delivered a swift chop, knocking the soldier unconscious.
He then dragged the man behind a big tree, quickly stripped off the soldier's clothes, put them on himself, and headed towards the east courtyard where Zhou Jing'an lived without looking back.
With this outfit, it will be much easier to sneak into the East Courtyard.
Using the poison powder that Jian Yang had given him before, the emperor knocked out several guards who were standing by the artificial hill, and took out a token to embed it into a groove in the rock wall of the artificial hill.
It fit perfectly without any discrepancy.
The emperor was overjoyed and was about to turn the mechanism when he suddenly heard Zhou Jing'an shout behind him, "You audacious thief! How dare you break into the prince's residence at night! Cut him to death!"
The surrounding area was suddenly brightly lit by flames.
The emperor was shocked. Although he did not know when he had been discovered, it was clear that there was no time to open the mechanism.
"Whoosh—" An arrow almost grazed his ear and hit the stone wall, but because it didn't have enough force, it bounced off the stone wall and fell to the ground.
The emperor frowned deeply, drew his sword from his waist, and rushed out in a flash.
Zhou Jing'an was shocked that this person would dare to resist at this moment, and he was so frightened that he kept backing away.
His guards rushed forward to protect him and began to fight with the emperor.
Although the guards in the Second Prince's residence were quite skilled, the Emperor still managed to carve a bloody path through them.
Seeing that the emperor was about to jump over the wall and escape, Zhou Jing'an was furious. He grabbed the bow and arrow from the guard beside him, aimed at the emperor's back, and shot the arrow with all his might.
"Pfft—"
However, since it was nighttime, even with torches lit, the arrows still missed their mark somewhat.
He originally aimed for the back of the head, but ended up only hitting the left arm.
Despite the excruciating pain, the emperor leaped over the wall and fled. Zhou Jing'an roared, "Go after him! If you don't catch him, don't come back tonight!"
The guards immediately poured out of the prince's residence.
This farce started quickly and ended just as quickly.
After the surroundings quieted down, Zhou Jing'an gradually regained his senses. He suddenly felt that the thief who had tried to open the secret room of the artificial mountain looked somewhat familiar.
Although the thief had covered the lower half of his face, his features were so familiar that Zhou Jing'an gritted his teeth and said, "Emperor! You just wait!"
After the emperor fled the prince's residence, he hid in various places until almost dawn, finally shaking off the guards of the second prince's residence.
However, he could not return to the palace at this time, lest he be discovered, so he hid in an abandoned mansion.
After a brief moment of calm, he gritted his teeth and endured the excruciating pain to pull out the arrow. He then quickly tore off the hem of his clothes to wrap around the wound to prevent excessive blood loss.
After a whole night of travel and suffering injuries, the emperor finally collapsed from exhaustion and fell asleep leaning against a door.
After daybreak, Zhou Jing'an knocked on Jian Yang's door again.
However, this time Jian Yang didn't have any morning grumpiness, because she hadn't slept at all all night.
This was all thanks to the maid Hongguo.
Last night, just as she was getting ready for bed, Hongguo casually mentioned that an assassin had entered the east courtyard while making the bed for her, which immediately startled Jian Yang awake.
She didn't know whether the person who came was her brother or the emperor, but in any case, she believed that the emperor would find it difficult to entrust something so important to someone else.
After Hongguo finished talking about the assassin being injured and chased, Jian Yang's heart immediately clenched.
She didn't want either her brother or the emperor to get hurt, and she especially didn't want them to be captured by Zhou Jing'an.
She waited all night until Zhou Jing'an came to her door.
Seeing that Jian Yang looked unwell, Zhou Jing'an questioned Hong Guo, "How did you take care of the Empress?"
Hongguo said in a trembling voice, "Your Highness, Her Majesty suffered from insomnia last night and did not sleep at all. I tried to persuade Her Majesty, but she wouldn't listen."
Zhou Jing'an raised an eyebrow, walked up to Jian Yang, and asked, "The Empress didn't sleep all night. Could it be that she was worried about someone?"
Jian Yang shook her head and denied it, saying, "Second brother, you misunderstand. I have always suffered from insomnia, and it flares up from time to time."
Zhou Jing'an smiled and said, "That's good. I thought the Empress was worried about the Emperor."
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