Zuan remained completely calm, simply smiling as he looked at the other person.
Soon a group of fierce-looking guards rushed in to arrest him. King Qi frowned, but ultimately waved them away, saying, "You seem unafraid?"
Zu An smiled and said, "Why should I be afraid? I am investigating the case by imperial decree. If the prince kills me, wouldn't that be an open rebellion? In that case, even the ministers in the court who support the prince would have no choice but to distance themselves from you."
The Prince of Qi snorted: "If I wanted to kill you, why would I need to do it myself? I can just relay your words to my brother, the Emperor, and tell him that you have been sowing discord between us brothers. He will then kill you."
Zu An sighed: "I won't admit what I just said once I leave this room. When I tell the Emperor that you framed me because I found out the truth about the concubine's drowning, who do you think the Emperor will believe? Can the bond between you brothers be trusted?"
King Qi was taken aback at first, then burst into laughter: "Haha, you are indeed shameless. I admire that about you."
Zu An also breathed a sigh of relief. Although he was quite confident that the other party would not turn against him, who knew if he might do something stupid in a moment of impulse: "Your Highness is a smart man, so I won't beat around the bush. I don't want to follow in Sang Hong's footsteps, so I've come to form an alliance with Your Highness. This way, we can exchange what we have, which will benefit both of us."
"If you really want to form an alliance, why do you need to go to the Emperor to report the case later?" Prince Qi sneered.
Zu An sighed: "Your Highness should know how suspicious our Emperor is. Moreover, he gave me a death order beforehand: if the truth is not found, I will be exiled. I had no choice but to inform Your Highness in advance. With Your Highness's abilities, I am sure you will find a way to resolve this."
"You are indeed a clever man; no wonder you've lived so long," King Qi remarked. "Very well, I accept you as an ally!"
Zuan smiled slightly: "I hope we can have a pleasant collaboration in the future!"
"It's a pleasure to cooperate!" King Qi's eyes gleamed, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
After Zu An left, Princess Qi emerged from a secret room behind the bookshelf: "Your Highness, you believed him so easily?"
The smile on King Qi's face had vanished: "Believe? It's not that easy."
"Could it be that the Emperor deliberately sent him to get close to us?" Princess Qi frowned. "Why don't we secretly have someone keep watch for the Emperor and see what their reaction is?"
“No,” King Qi shook his head. “If the other side really betrays us, by informing the emperor, I will have lost a useful pawn.”
"But what if he has ulterior motives?" Princess Qi asked worriedly.
King Qi smiled and said, "He can't just gain my trust with words. I will find an opportunity to make him pledge his loyalty. Once he starts, he will gradually fall into it and eventually he will be unable to get off the boat... cough cough, he will be unable to get off the boat."
Princess Qi finally breathed a sigh of relief: "But I don't like this person. The thought that he might become your loyal minister in the future makes me very uncomfortable. Zhi'er's leg was broken by him last time and he hasn't fully recovered yet!"
King Qi said coldly, "Don't worry, I'm just using him. Once he's no longer useful, I'll make him pay the price for his arrogance towards Zhi'er."
Princess Qi then smiled broadly: "Your Highness is indeed far-sighted."
...
Zu'an arrived at the palace, in an exceptionally good mood. The case was solved, he had a wonderful night with Zheng Dan, and this morning he officially made contact with Prince Qi. His future looked bright!
As for whether the Prince of Qi would betray the emperor and tell him, he wasn't worried at all. In any case, he was tasked by the emperor to give the fake secret manual to the Prince of Qi. When the time came, he would say that he was only doing this to deceive the Prince of Qi and the emperor would have nothing to say.
As for the King of Qi himself, he did not choose to believe it either. They were just using each other. The emperor's fake secret manual was the final gift he had prepared for him.
After entering the palace, the emperor had already begun his court session. Zu An was not foolish enough to wait idly outside the imperial study, so he went directly to the East Palace.
He first went to pay his respects to the Crown Prince. The fat man saw Zu An and kept pulling him into playing various games. It was only with great difficulty that he managed to get rid of him and then went to pay his respects to the Crown Princess.
"So it's Lord Zu. This is your first visit to the Eastern Palace in so many days. It seems you've been busy with important matters since being promoted to Viscount." Bi Linglong sat upright at the table, one hand holding her sleeve, the other writing something on the desk, seemingly drawing. She didn't even lift her eyes as she spoke.
The maid Rong Mo glanced at her in surprise. She knew that the Crown Princess was usually generous and proper in her dealings with others, and she treated her subordinates with both kindness and severity. She had never openly shown her displeasure to anyone like she did today.
Hmph, as expected, that guy from Zu'an is just too annoying.
Sensing the deep resentment in her tone, Zu An wondered if she was upset that he hadn't come to see her these past few days.
However, with so many people around, he couldn't very well ask, so he could only explain, "The Emperor has ordered me to investigate the matter of the Prince Qi's concubine falling into the water..."
Bi Linglong interrupted her directly: "Oh, I almost forgot, Lord Zu is now a favorite of the Emperor."
Rong Mo also stared wide-eyed at Zu An. This guy actually used the emperor to pressure the crown princess. What an annoying person.
Zu'an was speechless for a moment, thinking to himself, "Others may not know, but don't you know? How could I possibly be in league with the emperor?"
He coughed lightly and said, "Mainly because I was thinking of avenging the Crown Princess, I worked day and night without daring to delay, and as a result, I actually found some things."
Bi Linglong finally raised her head, a hint of curiosity appearing in her beautiful eyes: "What did you find out?"
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