Prince Duan nodded, thinking that he would still need to rely on Consort Zhang to find the Marquis of Huainan. She owned several estates and shops in the capital, and the annual income was a considerable sum. Logically speaking, since Nihong was born out of wedlock, her dowry did not need to be so extravagant, but times had changed.
Consort Zhang pulled Prince Duan to the desk and personally ground the ink, saying, "Your Highness, please write."
Following Consort Zhang's wishes, Prince Duan registered all the properties in the capital under Zhao Nihong's name. He then urged Consort Zhang to go to the Marquis of Huainan's residence. If the Emperor wanted to find enough evidence, it would take at least two more days. Therefore, he only closed the city gates. Once the evidence was found, he would immediately surround Prince Duan's residence, making it impossible for the Prince to escape.
When Consort Zhang stepped out of the study, her palms were covered in cold sweat. A gust of wind blew by, and she felt a chill to the bone.
After watching Consort Zhang leave, Prince Duan asked Leng Yang, "Has everything been taken care of?"
"Your Highness, rest assured, everything will be foolproof," Leng Yang replied with a bow.
After listening in silence for a long time, Prince Duan slammed his fist on the desk and shouted, "Who leaked the news!"
"Your Highness, please forgive me. It was my fault. The person has not yet been found. Please punish me." Leng Yang knelt down with a thud, head bowed, extremely dejected. He had been in charge of this whole matter, but he never expected the news to leak out, and tens of thousands of weapons had inexplicably turned into straw.
The Prince Yong's mansion was at least four times the size of the Prince Duan's mansion, with rows and rows of empty rooms inside. Moreover, he had bribed four-fifths of the servants in the Prince Yong's mansion. Only a few maids in Qionghua Courtyard and a few close associates of the Prince Yong and Princess Jun, such as Granny Bi Qiaozhuang, could not be bribed. Furthermore, the Prince Yong's mansion had few soldiers, and many of them had been sent out. The soldiers in the mansion spent their free time training in the martial arts field and would never go to those places that had been vacant for eight or nine years.
He really couldn't understand how those things were slowly emptied out; it was almost as if every time he brought in a batch, another batch was taken away.
Prince Duan's face was grim. "I will give you a proper burial." He then quickly drew his sword. The two were inches apart, and before Leng Yang could react, the sword had already pierced his chest.
Leng Yang was the most trusted confidant of Prince Duan. Although his skills were not as good as Xiao Pang's and Zhi Hai's, they were still quite good. However, he was caught off guard and only slowly raised his head after being stabbed in the chest. "Your Highness?" Large mouthfuls of blood gushed from his mouth, and his eyes were full of disbelief.
Prince Duan met his gaze, his expression darkening further, and with another thrust of his sword, he pierced through Leng Yang's body.
Leng Yang's body seemed to be cramping, he swayed and vomited blood all over himself. His eyes, whether filled with hatred or understanding, were wide open. Duan Wang released his sword, and Leng Yang collapsed next to Ruyi. The two pairs of big eyes stared at each other, an indescribable eeriness and terror.
Prince Duan seemed to collapse, taking a few steps back. "It's all your fault for not eliminating the root of the problem. Now that you're dead, even if there are still some who escaped, they can't do anything to me. At most, I'm a suspect, but without evidence, Zhao Chongyi wouldn't dare to touch me!"
Suddenly, a rumble of autumn thunder sounded. Prince Duan threw down his sword, took off his coat, walked to the lampshade, removed it, picked up a tinderbox, lit the lamp, and slowly walked to the bookshelf...
The fire, like a dragon, quickly engulfed half of the Prince Duan's mansion from the study in the main courtyard, and the sounds of "Fire! Fire!" filled the air.
Prince Duan emerged from his study in a disheveled state, anxiously shouting, "Quick, quick, put out the fire! My books are still in the study!" He seemed extremely anxious, disregarding his status, he snatched a wooden basin from a servant and poured water onto the raging fire. However, no matter how hard he tried to extinguish it, the fire still razed the entire study to the ground.
When Consort Zhang arrived, Prince Duan was so exhausted that he sat on the ground, looking more than ten years older. He had long lost the high spirits he had when he first entered the capital. She remembered that when she entered the capital, news came from the capital that the emperor wanted to use the imperial examination fraud case to strip princes of their fiefdoms, just like Prince Yong. Now he had no fiefdom at all. She could not believe that Prince Yong had voluntarily returned his fiefdom. He must have been forced by Emperor Mingde.
So they rushed to the capital. Why were they in such a hurry? Prince Duan was also thinking about this question. At that time, the people of the Imperial Guard were frequently committing crimes in his fiefdom. That's right, most of the assassins he had kept for twenty years had died at the hands of the Imperial Guard. He also heard that the Imperial Guard was going to go to Jiangnan, so he went to the capital. The imperial examination cheating case was actually nothing, not enough to bring him down, not to mention the Wang and Yang faction. Later, the Wang family was defeated, and the Yang family chose to protect themselves.
He actively forged alliances in the capital. Yes, it didn't matter that he was out of weapons; he still had people and allies. Thinking of this, he felt a surge of energy throughout his body. He stood up, turned around, and met the gaze of Consort Zhang Yao Yao, who had finished her makeup. Across the bustling servants, he felt as if they were separated by thousands of miles. However, he didn't pay attention to these things and simply asked with a cold face, "Why hasn't Consort gone to see her father-in-law yet?"
Consort Zhang smiled, her smile as beautiful as a flower, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "I've already sent someone to deliver a message to Father, Your Highness, please rest assured."
"Alright." Prince Duan still had many things to do. Wearing only his undergarments, he took advantage of the chaos to walk towards the most remote side gate of Prince Duan's mansion. However, when he was about to reach the side gate, he heard a scream. His heart sank, and he ran over. However, what awaited him was only a corpse.
The moment he saw the corpse, he threw his head back and laughed, "Hahahaha!" Heaven was going to kill him!
Dejected, he returned to the unaffected backyard, where Consort Zhang was already waiting, having prepared a large table full of dishes. Upon seeing Prince Duan, she smiled gently with a hint of shyness and personally took his coat and draped it over him. "Your Highness, you're back. I've prepared a few dishes, all your favorites. Your Highness, the Duan Prince's residence still depends on you. Please don't lose heart." She gently rested her head on Prince Duan's shoulder, her words soft and peaceful.
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