Chapter 43 The Third Prince's Plan

A few days ago, a letter was delivered to the third prince by Zhengzhong, inviting him to meet and discuss great undertakings.

The Third Prince lost the desire to seize the throne as he was under house arrest by his father, his mother was rebuked by his father, and his grandfather's family was uprooted because of a factional struggle.

However, Zhengzhong has been brainwashing the third prince these days, and unexpectedly, it has made the third prince more energetic.

So on the day the prince left the palace, he went to see that man quietly.

The man arranged the meeting place in the rockery of Yu Garden, but he did not show up behind the rockery. Even his voice was a hoarse falsetto: "Since His Royal Highness the Third Prince has come to the meeting, he must have thought it through."

The Third Prince felt uneasy when he saw that man was so defensive: "Why don't you show your true face?"

"Don't worry, Your Highness. I will give Your Highness a great gift when the Crown Prince comes. Just wait."

"What do you mean?" the third prince asked hurriedly.

But there was no response.

I turned around the rockery, but there was no trace of anything, as if I had just had a dream.

But he didn't expect that today's incident would reveal that he actually attacked the crown prince. Although he accidentally injured the second prince, it was still a sign of sincerity.

After trying hard to calm himself down, the Third Prince asked, "Zhengzhong, can you contact that person?"

Seeing that his master finally understood, Zhengzhong smiled and replied, "Your Highness, I will go right away."

After saying this, he hurriedly left Changqiu Palace.

In less than half an hour, Zhengzhong came back: "Your Highness, that person asked you to meet him at the old place."

"Your Highness, have you seen my sincerity?" The man still spoke in the same hoarse voice as that day.

Seeing that the third prince remained silent, he was not angry either.

The third prince is now his best choice.

"Your Highness can call me Xintian. Since I have chosen Your Highness, I will support you with all my strength. If there is anything in the future, I will inform Eunuch Zhengzhong. If Your Highness has any problems, you can also ask Eunuch Zhengzhong to pass the message to me."

"Next, what Your Highness needs to do is to apologize to His Majesty and make friends with the Crown Prince. Especially since the Second Prince is seriously injured, the Third Prince should visit him more often."

"Why should I go to see him?" The third prince was disdainful.

Xintian said, "Now that the Crown Prince is favored by the Emperor of Great Chu, we must plan step by step. Your Highness needs to be patient and keep silent."

The third prince thought for a long time, and finally said: "Okay."

On the way back to Changqiu Palace, the Third Prince asked, "Zhengzhong, why do you think he wants to support me?"

"Of course he saw your potential." After saying this, he saw that the Third Prince was still confused, so he spoke again, "If he supports the Crown Prince now, he will get nothing good; if he starts supporting your Highness from now on, when your Highness ascends the throne in the future, he will be the number one contributor."

The Third Prince laughed when he heard this: "This person is very good at plotting."

After saying that, he looked at Zhengzhong again: "Have you ever met him? How do you usually contact him?"

Zhengzhong shook his head and said, "I have never seen that person. Every time I put the token on the rockery, I would receive a reply after a while, but I have never seen him. I guess he must be very skilled in martial arts."

The third prince nodded, turned his head to look at the rockery, and said nothing more.

The master and servant walked towards Changqiu Palace together.

However, Xintian appeared behind the two of them, dressed in black and wearing a mask, looking meaningfully at the place where the two disappeared.

In the backyard of Mingjing Temple, Concubine Chen and the Crown Prince settled the Second Prince, and then went outside with the assassin.

The abbot, Master Mingshi, was already standing in the courtyard.

When Concubine Chen Guifei saw the young monks detained in the courtyard, she spoke politely: "Master Mingshi, please forgive me. Even if it was a child from an ordinary family who was assassinated, we should investigate the cause, let alone say that it was Prince Chu who was assassinated in Mingjing Temple."

Master Mingshi bowed and said, "Amitabha, Your Majesty is merciful. I will cooperate with Your Majesty to investigate this matter."

Concubine Chen then pointed at the assassin on the ground and asked, "Master, do you know him?"

Master Mingshi took a step forward, looked carefully, shook his head, and instructed the disciple behind him: "Changqing, come up and take a look."

The great monk called Changqing took another step forward and said, "Amitabha, to answer the master, this person is not from our temple."

Concubine Chen nodded. She knew that the assassin was not from the temple and she thought that nothing would be found out at this time. But she was still unwilling to give up and asked another question.

Master Mingze then took a step forward, squatted down, gently took the blood from the assassin's lip, put it under his nose and smelled it: "Madam, it's poison."

Concubine Chen nodded: "Thank you, Master."

Then he looked at Master Changqing and said, "Master Changqing, please identify the people being controlled by the guards. Are they all people from the temple?"

The Master Changqing walked forward and carefully identified them one by one, then turned back to look at Concubine Chen Gui: "To answer your Majesty, they are all disciples of my temple."

Concubine Chen looked at the prince. At the prince's command, the guards put away their swords, released the little monks, and stood in neat rows aside.

She then looked at the abbot and said, "Master Mingshi, please keep today's incident a secret from the outside world. Just let these few people know about it. If more people know about it, it will not be good for Mingjing Temple."

When Master Mingshi heard Concubine Chen Guifei say this, he was naturally willing and thanked her again and again.

Because of this incident, the group no longer went out to play, and just waited for the second prince to recover from his injuries before preparing to return to the palace.

"Xingruo," Concubine Chen called the eldest princess to her side, "You and your husband should not stay here. You are pregnant now. Are you afraid of seeing blood today?"

The eldest princess shook her head: "I just hope that my second brother is okay."

Concubine Chen nodded: "You are a sensible person."

After saying that, he raised his head and looked at Qin Xing who was standing beside him: "Hitch the horse and go back to the mansion immediately to find a doctor to check on Xing Ruo."

He then pulled the eldest princess's hand and said, "This pregnancy is not easy for you. You must protect yourself well. Your brother is now the crown prince, so it is reasonable for him to go through all this. Don't be afraid. My brother and I will protect you."

Thinking of what Wanwan said today, Concubine Chen Guifei loved the eldest princess even more.

The eldest princess did not refuse any more, she just stood up and said, "Aunt, if you need me and Qin Xing, please send someone to let me know."

After the eldest princess left Mingjing Temple, only a few of them were left to look after the second prince.

Because of concerns about the safety of several people, Concubine Chen Guifei made the decision and asked them to rest in her room.

She had slept on the grass when she was in the army, so she didn't care about these things.

But at night, the second prince suddenly developed a high fever.

So they could only use one basin of water after another to wipe his body to cool him down.

The second prince was running a high fever and started talking nonsense: "Mother, I respect my elder brother the most."

Then he shouted in surprise, "Brother Crown Prince, be careful."

All these nonsense in his sleep were actually meant to protect the Crown Prince. In the past, he and the Second Prince were just brothers, but his actions now moved the Crown Prince deeply and gave him some true love.