Chapter 155 Two Masterminds? A Trap...
The more the censor thought about it, the more convinced he was that his guess was correct.
Although he was unfamiliar with none of the officials who testified this time, regardless of rank, just listening to what they said...
The person who first exposed the matter was definitely acting with malicious intent.
In the previous life, the new emperor was exposed much later than now, and there was no news of any movement in Liuzhou. In other words, now is not the best time for the new emperor to expose himself. However, this official who was unaware of the situation still revealed it.
So how can we make up for it?
The subsequent impeachment proceedings sounded like a veiled compliment disguised as criticism.
This is the solution.
The censor's heart began to race.
Ultimately, no matter how these measures are used to compensate, they cannot truly offset the disadvantage of having one's dormant state exposed. One can only hope that His Majesty will not be angered or wary because of the Second Prince's strategy of concealing his abilities...
It would be best if things developed the way they did in the previous life.
Emperor Hongren's thoughts were far less profound than those of his reborn ministers.
He was still in a daze of disbelief.
Is it true or false?
All of this is about his cowardly and insignificant second son?
Unfortunately, Emperor Hongren specifically named two important officials, both because their visits were ill-timed, making it difficult to discern their authenticity. As for the others, they hadn't paid much attention to remote areas like Liuzhou in the past two years.
These are all officials from the capital.
To confirm this, Emperor Hongren would have to consult the officials stationed elsewhere or the prefect of Liuzhou. But that would be too slow. The nearest channel that would allow him to find out more quickly was…
It was the imperial eunuch who had been sent to reprimand the second prince years before.
"This matter will be discussed later." Emperor Hongren waved his hand, suppressing the unbelievable joy in his heart, and calmly withdrew from the court.
He would wait for the imperial eunuch to return and ask him for clarification. He didn't have the patience to wait that long, so he would have the palace servants in the Imperial Garden send out a message to urgently inquire and verify the information from both sides.
After the court session, Emperor Hongren went nowhere and summoned no one to accompany him. Instead, he went to the Imperial Garden with his hands behind his back, dismissed the onlookers, and strolled around a few times with great pleasure.
Only Grandpa Fuman stood silently and respectfully guarding the area.
Emperor Hongren was still in a daze, feeling conflicted.
It's a lie to say that he knew nothing about the second prince's situation over the past two years.
But he never took it to heart.
The prince who had been separated from the emperor was one of the princes he least wanted to see. In Emperor Hongren's mind, he had already lost his right to compete for the throne. When disaster struck, he sent people to help. As long as he didn't incur the wrath of heaven and earth, he usually left him to his own devices.
Emperor Hongren never thought that having more than one second prince could cause any suffering.
No matter what, he's still a prince, a nobleman... As long as he has some ambition and some means, he can always live a good life. If he doesn't even have that much ruthlessness, then he deserves his miserable fate.
Therefore, when Emperor Hongren heard bits and pieces of news about his second son profiting outside or minting his own private currency, he would just let it pass by. As long as the princes didn't get involved in military power, they could do whatever they wanted.
But now...
Now……
The ministers came to impeach the second prince in a noisy commotion; how did things escalate to this point without any fanfare?!
Emperor Hongren felt a mixture of disbelief and impending ecstasy.
Before he became wary of his young and vigorous son, Emperor Hongren had long been troubled by his inability to find a single prince who was even remotely decent. He was, after all, a wise and capable ruler; how could his princes be so utterly useless? It was a disgrace to his reputation. Now, it seemed there was a glimmer of hope?
...
Emperor Hongren actually had a pretty good year.
It was truly a case of choosing the tallest among the short; there was no other way. At the palace banquet, Emperor Hongren could only use the excuse of the New Year to have his eldest son offer a toast to the Empress Dowager on his behalf.
The eldest prince, who had been silent for more than half a year, thus returned to the public eye.
The young prince, who appeared well-behaved and composed while accompanying the Empress Dowager, seemed to stiffen his smile.
At the palace banquet, Emperor Hongren sat majestically at the head of the table, looking down at his three princes.
The eldest prince is adept at putting on airs, his gentle exterior masking a more sophisticated and cunning nature. The legitimate prince, though young, has tempered his impetuousness and, with the help of his mother, manages to maintain the status quo. The youngest prince is cunning and intelligent, his mind treacherous and prone to straying from the right path, but he possesses considerable skill and remains a potential candidate for reform.
Even among misshapen and deformed fruits, each has its own advantages.
Emperor Hongren smiled on the surface, but inwardly he disliked and picked and chose for a long time before finally managing to appease himself.
—Look.
If he can still have a decent mood during the Lunar New Year because of his three troublesome sons, wouldn't it be a blessing from heaven if his second son were truly outstanding?!
It's like rain after a long drought!
This doesn't mean that Emperor Hongren only had expectations for his second son. He also had things he didn't like about his second son.
First, investigate whether those claims are true or false.
If by sheer luck, all of this is true... What Emperor Hongren disliked most about his second son was that this child was the person he disliked the most.
That face...
Emperor Hongren did not dwell on it any longer and told Zhao Fuman to return home.
Now, all that's left is to wait for a reply.
...
Liuzhou.
A few days after the grand court assembly, Qi Chengming received several new letters, a thick stack of letters from different people.
He opened them one by one and examined them.
Regardless of who it was, the letters all mentioned the impeachment to some extent, urging him to pay close attention. However, Prefect Lu, contrary to his usual behavior, did not come, and not even his steward offered an explanation—this was unusually abnormal.
After a moment's thought, Qi Chengming decided to leave him alone for the time being.
"They're really targeting me." Although Qi Chengming had expected this, he was still shocked when it actually happened.
In his letter, Shen Shuzhi said that the official who initially proposed the impeachment was unknown, usually kept a low profile, and seemed to be a stubborn censor who did not participate in the struggle for the throne. But he always felt that things were not so simple.
"That's strange," Qi Chengming murmured. He looked up and said, "Xiao Dezi, invite Doctor Bian over again."
"Yes!" Xiao Dezi took off running.
Qi Chengming had some questions in his mind, and only Doctor Bian, who had personally gone to the palace to work on his plans, could discuss them with him.
On the way, Song Gu, who happened to run into Xiao Dezi, heard about the person Xiao Dezi was looking for and looked somewhat depressed: '—I wonder how His Highness's health is?'
If possible, Song Gu would actually prefer to disregard appearances and let Doctor Bian live directly in the main courtyard, so that he could go there directly if anything happened.
Little did he know that Qi Chengming's recent visits to Doctor Bian were not about the poisoning, but rather about various secret plots.
"Hmm?" Doctor Bian, who had been summoned to the study, looked surprised and uncertain. "Does Your Highness think... this was done by two groups of people?"
"Yes. Because Xiao Tao's confession came out, she didn't know who was behind it, she just simply listened to her godmother and wanted to harm me."
Qi Chengming calmly repeated this seemingly absurd confession.
"Her godmother was a lady-in-waiting in the palace, whom she called 'Auntie.' Once upon a time... when I was young, Xiao Tao, who was a servant of the Second Prince, was also bullied, and it was her godmother who saved her. When she left the palace, Xiao Tao was told about this plan, which was to be implemented three to five years later to poison me. This time, she received the news."
Qi Chengming sighed inwardly as he said this.
His selection of the list was tested when confirming the accompanying personnel.
At that time, Xiao Tao was probably still a naive palace maid, loyal to him, the second prince, so nothing seemed amiss. But precisely when leaving the palace, Xiao Tao changed her allegiance. Qi Chengming hadn't looked at his list carefully since leaving the palace—
The names were densely packed, and he wasn't familiar with everyone at the time, so he wouldn't notice if he suddenly missed one.
Qi Chengming could almost picture what the female official had fabricated. For example, how he had a grudge against her, and how she wanted revenge but couldn't find a way, and so on.
Xiao Tao is a simple and grateful person, and she is even willing to do things that would be punishable by death if discovered, for the sake of the female official.
You won't get any more information from here.
I just don't know who's behind that female official...
Therefore, after thinking it over for a while, Qi Chengming concluded that it might have been done by two groups of people:
Because, upon closer examination, the consequences of his being forced to expose his power and the benefits resulting from his sudden poisoning and collapse are actually contradictory.
So, which of these two incidents was actually committed by the Seventh Prince? And who was the other one who did it?
Qi Chengming was completely baffled, yet he also felt that... the more their plans clashed, the more flaws he could find in them.
"What does Dr. Bian think?" Qi Chengming asked the old doctor for his opinion after he finished speaking.
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