"Yes, it is a jade-green chicken-head wine pot," said the old man.
"Very well, you will personally accompany me to the Prince Heshuo's residence to find that wine pot. And those Gu poisons you gave the Prince Heshuo may have been destroyed by him, but this wine pot may still be there!" Fourth Prince said.
Gao Tan and Shan Lao no longer had the energy to negotiate any terms with the Fourth Prince. They had thought they could still hold out, but a few words from the Fourth Prince made them feel hopeless. Because this Fourth Prince was simply too terrifying.
Having gained their trust, the Fourth Prince instructed the executioners to throw Gao Tan into prison and not to torture him further. As for Old Man Shan, the Fourth Prince took him out of the Imperial Prison, had his face washed and his clothes changed, and then the Fourth Prince, accompanied by some guards, took him to the Prince Heshuo's residence.
When they arrived at the Prince Heshuo's residence, it was past noon, the most leisurely time of day. Some of the guards who were guarding the Prince Heshuo were standing or leaning against the large stone balustrade in front of him.
"Open the door quickly, Prince Yong is here," a guard said to the group of guards at the gate.
Upon seeing that it was the Fourth Prince, the group of people immediately scrambled to their feet. One of them, the leader, said, "The Emperor has decreed that no one is allowed to enter."
"Then take a look at this!" The guard revealed the imperial sword that the Fourth Prince had obtained from Emperor Kangxi.
Upon seeing this, the guards immediately lined up, then personally tore off the seals sealing the Prince Heshuo's residence and opened the door themselves.
The Fourth Prince led his men inside until they reached the front courtyard of Prince Yinti. Yinti already knew that the Fourth Prince had entered with his entourage, and he was standing at the gate of the front courtyard, watching the Fourth Prince and his party approach.
"So it's Fourth Brother! I wonder if Father Emperor sent you here?" Yinti had been living a life of constant anxiety these past few days, wondering every day how Kangxi would deal with him.
“This time, it wasn’t Father Emperor who sent me; I came of my own accord, as I’m looking for something. Please forgive me, elder brother,” said the Fourth Prince.
"You came here? Didn't Father Emperor say that no one was allowed to enter, and I was not allowed to leave?" Yinti breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that the Fourth Prince said it was not Kangxi's order.
"I am acting on Father Emperor's orders to thoroughly investigate this matter. I have come here today specifically to investigate. According to this old man, he gave you a jade pot. I have come to ask you if you could give me this jade pot so that I can explain things to Father Emperor," said the Fourth Prince.
Yinti glanced at the old man standing behind the Fourth Prince, wishing he could rush up, but he held back and said, "Fourth Brother, are you looking for that jade-colored wine pot?"
The Fourth Prince said, "That's right. Father Emperor, how did the Crown Prince contract the Gu worm? I need to explain it to him clearly."
Yinqi nodded and said, "Fourth brother, no need to look anymore. Please come in with me. However, my study is not a place where just anyone can enter!"
The Fourth Prince nodded, then turned to them and said, "You all wait over there. I'll go in with my elder brother to take a look."
After the Fourth Prince followed Yinti into his front courtyard, they went together to Yinti's study, which was where he usually discussed matters with his trusted subordinates.
"Brother's study, this seems to be my first time entering! I didn't expect it to be like this." Fourth Master said, looking at the weapons displayed everywhere.
"Hehe, I've never been to Fourth Brother's study either!" Yinti said. He and Fourth Master used to have a relationship where they didn't interfere with each other, weren't close, and weren't particularly hostile.
"Brother, many of these weapons don't belong to our Great Qing. You must have captured them on the battlefield!" Fourth Master said, looking at several of them.
“Not bad, come and take a look. Let me introduce you.” Yinti said with a slight smile.
The Fourth Prince then followed Yinti to see every weapon he had personally captured from the battlefield.
"This item was seized by me from the remnants of the ******* tribe. I almost had my fingers chopped off back then," Yinti said.
"When my elder brother received this weapon, he must have been filled with pride!" Fourth Master said.
“Indeed, I was almost crippled because of this weapon. My father promoted me to Prince Zhi after that incident,” Yinti said.
The Fourth Prince glanced at the weapon, then at Yinti's expression, and understood that this was a show of force against him, a display of his past glory!
"Fourth brother, come here. Look, there's this too. This is a weapon that I captured from the Khan of that tribe in Outer Mongolia. Father Emperor told me at the time that I was his most skilled son in battle and that he was very proud of me!" Yinti said.
The Fourth Prince looked at Yinti and at the room full of his great achievements, and said, "Brother, you have made countless military exploits, which I greatly admire. However, after admiring you, I also feel very sorry for you."
Yinti was initially quite pleased with himself, but after hearing the second half of the Fourth Prince's words, he said, "What's there to regret?"
Fourth Prince said, “My elder brother has countless military achievements and is a role model for us all. Originally, Father Emperor bestowed upon him the title of Prince Zhi, and now he is a Prince of the First Rank. He is extremely noble and powerful. Even if he does nothing in the future, he will still be a meritorious official of our Great Qing. Tell me, with a meritorious official like my elder brother around, how dare the new army be negligent? Moreover, my elder brother is also Father Emperor’s son, and with such military achievements, no one will dare to neglect him. Father Emperor will also pave the way for my elder brother.”
Upon hearing the Fourth Prince's words, the smile on Yinti's face gradually faded.
"Please, elder brother, bring out the jade bottle from which you used witchcraft to poison the Crown Prince. I can then go back and tell Father Emperor about the whole affair," said the Fourth Prince.
"Fourth brother, I never noticed you before, you're really something!" Yinti said.
“I have always followed His Highness the Crown Prince in doing things, and I don’t like to stand out, so my elder brother hasn’t paid much attention to me. But I have always looked up to my elder brother as a role model,” the Fourth Prince said.
"Eldest brother is truly blind, for he did not even see fourth brother. No wonder he suffered such a crushing defeat today!" Yinti said.
"Big Brother didn't lose to anyone else, but to his own greed!" Fourth Master said.
“So you don’t want that position? Third brother, and fourth brother, and eighth brother, aren’t you all coveting that position?” Yinti said.
"If I were to say that I have never coveted that position, I'm afraid my elder brother wouldn't believe me," the Fourth Prince said. "I have always been doing what I can, and I have never slacked off over the years. Father Emperor simply saw my efforts and gave me a chance to try."
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