The Fourth Prince presented the wine jug he had brought back from Yinti's residence and the remaining Gu worms provided by the old man in front of Kangxi. He then recounted the cause and course of events in detail, and finally placed the portrait painted by Gao Tan on Kangxi's imperial table.
*Smack!*
"How dare they! They actually dared to deliberately lure the Prince of the First Rank to plot against the Crown Prince." Kangxi had never been so angry. He felt that to manipulate his two sons like this was an utter contempt for the Qing imperial family.
"Please calm down, Your Majesty! The most urgent task now is to find the person in the portrait, so that the mastermind behind him can be revealed." Although the Fourth Prince suspected that the Crown Prince was behind all of this, he would not speak out until he had solid evidence.
"Yes, Fourth Prince, go investigate. Even if you have to search high and low, dig this person out for me," Kangxi said.
"Yes, Your Majesty, I will do everything I can to find this person! Also, I have a request, Your Majesty, please decide on it first!" The Fourth Prince thought of what he had promised Gao Tan and the others, so he decided to take this opportunity to say it.
"What?" Kangxi asked.
"The reason we were able to figure out the whole story so quickly and smoothly this time is because those two people confessed. I want them to come with me to catch the person behind this, because only they have seen him. I dare to plead for them to be spared the death penalty, and to be exiled to the northern desert for life, never to return," the Fourth Prince said.
Kangxi did not answer immediately. After all, those two were the direct perpetrators of the plot to murder the Crown Prince. Letting them go would seem to damage the dignity of the imperial family.
"Father, I know that they are guilty of heinous crimes, but without their confession and exposé, who knows how long this matter would have been kept secret, or how many more people would have been implicated," the Fourth Prince said.
"Very well, since you have pleaded for them, I will show them leniency. Once we find the person behind this, I will immediately send them both to the northern deserts to do hard labor, never to be released for the rest of their lives!" Kangxi seemed to have made up his mind before he hurriedly said to the Fourth Prince.
After obtaining Emperor Kangxi's approval, the Fourth Prince brought Gao Tan and Shan Lao out of the Shenxing Division and imprisoned them directly in the Ministry of Justice.
Meanwhile, the Crown Prince had recovered and resumed attending court and governing, serving Emperor Kangxi daily alongside the Fourth Prince and others.
That day, after court, the Crown Prince called out to the Fourth Prince. It had been a long time since he had spoken to the Fourth Prince alone like this.
"Fourth Brother!" The Crown Prince, dressed in a pale yellow brocade robe with a four-clawed golden dragon, called out with one hand placed on his chest.
"I wonder what business the Crown Prince has?" These past few days, the Fourth Prince has been busy attending court and then going back to discuss with the Ministry of Justice and the Prefect of the Capital about arresting the person depicted in the portrait painted by Gao Tan. He has been so busy that he hardly distinguishes between day and night.
"Second brother wants to thank you!" the Crown Prince said with a smile. "If you hadn't quickly found out that the person who practiced witchcraft against me was Prince Heshuo, I wouldn't have known that eldest brother would be so intolerant of me."
If it weren't for his growing suspicions about the Crown Prince, the Fourth Prince might still be on good terms with him. But hearing him say these words now, the Fourth Prince felt a pang of unease.
"It's just that Father Emperor is wise; I, your foolish brother, did nothing," the Fourth Prince said, bowing.
"Fourth Prince, I heard those two traitors are already imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice? They dared to plot against the Crown Prince; they should be executed by slow slicing. Why are they still imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice?" the Crown Prince asked in surprise. Because Kangxi had entrusted this matter entirely to the Fourth Prince, he couldn't ask Kangxi directly, so he had to ask the Fourth Prince instead.
It seems understandable that the Crown Prince is concerned about the two traitors who plotted against him. Since he cannot directly tell the Prince of Heshuo what he should do, he can only ask these two people.
“They confessed to some things, and I’m investigating them. They’re temporarily detained at the Ministry of Justice. We’ll determine their crimes once the investigation is complete!” Fourth Master said.
"Haven't we already investigated everything? What else is there to investigate? Could it be that Prince Heshuo ordered them to do this?" The Crown Prince's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately asked.
"Well, it's too early to say right now. Your Highness, I have to attend to some business, so I can't say any more. Please wait for good news," said the Fourth Prince.
Watching the Fourth Prince's retreating figure, a dark cloud gradually settled over the Crown Prince's face. His personal eunuch, A Bao, bowed and said, "Your Highness, it's about to rain. You should hurry back."
The crown prince looked up at the dark clouds on the horizon and said coldly, "It seems a torrential downpour is coming!"
The moment the Crown Prince stepped into Yuqing Palace, a torrential downpour began, like a waterfall cascading from the sky.
"Where is the Crown Princess?" The Crown Prince saw a palace maid walking towards him, grabbed her and asked.
"The Crown Princess is reading with the Third Princess." The palace maid was planning to go out to fetch the Crown Princess lunch, but she didn't expect the Crown Prince to ask about her as soon as he returned, something that had never happened before.
Before they could say anything more, the Crown Prince turned and headed towards the Crown Princess.
"Father!" The Third Princess saw the Crown Prince enter and immediately jumped up from the table, bypassed the Crown Princess, and pounced on the Crown Prince.
"My dear, your father and mother have something to discuss. Why don't you go out and check on the rain first?" The Crown Prince lowered his head and stroked the Third Princess's hair.
The Third Princess nodded, glanced at the Crown Princess, and then left with a palace maid beside her.
"Your Highness, what's wrong?" The Crown Princess Shi knew something was wrong when she saw the Crown Prince's gloomy face.
"You'd better deal with that distant cousin of yours quickly, otherwise he'll eventually find his way here. Fourth Prince has already sent them to the Ministry of Justice. It seems they're going to continue the investigation. The only person they've ever met is your cousin," the Crown Prince said. Fortunately, he had been careful and the Shi family sent a cousin to represent them.
"Is it that serious?" The Crown Princess asked, a glint of shrewdness flashing in her eyes.
“What kind of person is the fourth prince? He won’t let this go easily. Now, Father has entrusted him with all the affairs. I don’t even have the right to ask questions anymore.” The Crown Prince’s expression had never been so resentful. “I really underestimated this fourth brother before. I never imagined that he was a wolf lurking by my side. The fiercest wolf. We were only focused on dealing with the eldest prince, but we didn’t know that there was a fourth prince who was even more powerful than him.”
“Aren’t they in the Ministry of Justice? If they suddenly die there, then there will be no witnesses!” Shi quickly realized this.
The crown prince hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "That's right. As long as they are dead, no one will identify them."
Shi said, "Quickly think of someone in the Ministry of Justice. Killing two people there is as easy as stepping on two ants."
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