The afternoon sun shines through the window onto the rosewood desk, illuminating Lin Qingya's slender fingers. She carefully reads the secret letter found in the home of the dismissed official. The letter paper is yellowed and the handwriting is sloppy, but it reveals a shocking secret. These fragments of the letter, like a puzzle, let her gradually glimpse the conspiracy of Crown Prince Li Chengqian. She sighed softly and frowned slightly - the evidence is not enough.
"Li Rui," Lin Qingya put down the letter and called the guard standing beside her, "Please ask His Highness the Eighth Prince to come here." After she gave the order, her fingertips tapped the table lightly, making a slight knocking sound. The guard bowed and accepted the order, and left the study. In the study, only she and the scattered letters on the desk were left, and cicadas chirped outside the window.
A moment later, Li Rui walked into the study. He was wearing a dark blue robe, looking serious and walking steadily. He walked to Lin Qingya and asked with concern, "Qingya, is there any difficulty?" His eyes were deep and full of worry. He noticed the messy papers on Lin Qingya's desk. He glanced at it and saw the familiar handwriting - the words "treason and collusion with the enemy" were clearly visible.
Lin Qingya handed the collected evidence to Li Rui and explained: "These are evidences of Li Chengqian's collusion with Beidi, but there is still a key link missing, which is not enough to bring him down. I plan to set up a trap to force him to show up." She paused, her eyes firm: "We need a bait that can lure Li Chengqian." She pushed the letter in front of Li Rui and pointed at a few key words. Li Rui read it line by line, pondered for a moment, and stroked his chin with his fingers, thinking.
After reading the evidence, Li Rui gently stroked his chin with his fingers, a trace of worry flashed in his eyes, but he immediately regained his composure, "Qingya, this plan is very risky. Once it fails, the consequences will be disastrous." The atmosphere in the study was solemn, and only the occasional sound of birds flying outside the window broke the silence.
Lin Qingya raised her head, staring at Li Rui firmly, her tone calm but powerful: "I have thought of a countermeasure. I will take advantage of his greedy and conceited character and his desire for power. You just need to act according to the plan." As she spoke, she slowly stood up, walked to the window, looked at the palace wall in the distance, and seemed to be in deep thought.
Li Rui nodded, "I understand, I will do my best to help you." After he finished speaking, he walked to Lin Qingya's side, and the two looked out the window quietly, with complicated expressions. After a moment, Li Rui bowed to Lin Qingya, turned around and left the study, his steps firm and steady.
Lin Qingya looked at Li Rui's back as he left, a confident smile on her lips. She returned to the desk again, picked up a pen, and began to plan her next move. She divided the plan into several steps, and recorded them in detail to ensure that there would be no mistakes. She wrote quickly, her handwriting was beautiful and powerful, showing her precise and clear thinking. Outside the window, the setting sun dyed the study room a golden red.
Lin Qingya handed the carefully forged "Secret Letter from the Northern Di" to Zhang Cheng, the guard commander, who she secretly planted beside Li Chengqian. The letter described the imminent invasion of the Northern Di and promised that once Li Chengqian ascended the throne, he would be given a large amount of gold, silver, jewelry and support to help him stabilize the court. The letter paper was yellowed, the handwriting was sloppy but authentic, and the seal of the leader of the Northern Di could be vaguely seen - this was forged by Lin Qingya in several days according to the original she got from Li Chengqian's memory. Lin Qingya put the letter paper down gently, and her slender fingertips tapped lightly on the table, and her knuckles turned white. There was only a single lamp in the study, and the light was dim, only illuminating part of her desk.
Zhang Cheng took the letter, his expression changed slightly, he bowed and quietly left the study. Lin Qingya looked at Zhang Cheng's back as he left, a barely perceptible sneer appeared on the corner of her mouth. She knew that Li Chengqian would definitely take advantage of her, greed and ambition are often the best weapons.
Meanwhile, in the East Palace, Li Chengqian was waiting anxiously. He had been secretly dealing with the Northern Di these days, and had invested a lot of money and manpower, but he never got clear support from the Northern Di, which made him extremely anxious. He looked at the pile of memorials on the table and irritably brushed them to the ground. The magnificent East Palace seemed extremely depressing at this moment.
Zhang Cheng presented the "secret letter" to Li Chengqian, who opened it with trembling hands, his eyes gleaming with greed. The more he read, the more excited he became, his gloomy face gradually turned red, his body trembled slightly, and his breathing became rapid. After reading the letter, he slammed the table and roared excitedly: "Great! Great!" He stood up suddenly and paced back and forth in the hall, his face full of excitement and greed.
Li Chengqian immediately acted according to the instructions in the letter. He contacted the Beidi envoy and agreed to meet secretly outside the city to discuss the specific action plan. This was what Lin Qingya expected.
That night, Zhang Cheng sent the evidence of Li Chengqian's secret meeting with the Northern Di envoy to Lin Qingya. Lin Qingya unfolded the solid evidence - the detailed meeting place, time, and even some secret codes known only to the two of them, all clearly recorded. She presented the evidence to Emperor Li Heng.
Faced with overwhelming evidence, Li Chengqian was speechless and was eventually taken to the prison. Li Heng watched Li Chengqian being taken away, with a complex emotion flashing through his eyes, but more of it was admiration for Lin Qingya. He looked at Lin Qingya, and the admiration in his eyes became even stronger, "Qingya, you have done a great job!" The hall was silent, with only Li Heng's low voice echoing.
Lin Qingya was observing secretly. She knew that Li Chengze and Zhao Sisi were staring at her closely... Her eyes were slightly dim and her lips were slightly pursed.