"The Crown Prince thought that the Princess Consort had ordered the fire, which is why he chose to set fire to the Qu residence. Fortunately, the Princess Consort had something else to attend to that day and was unable to go; otherwise, she would have been the one who got into trouble."
Qingdai bit her lip, still feeling angry. If she weren't worried about exposing the prince and princess, she would have wanted to kill the crown prince and Ren Nuanyun directly.
"Fortunately, heaven has eyes, and a highly skilled assassin appeared to teach the Crown Prince a lesson."
Upon hearing this, Qu Qingxi exchanged a glance with He Liufeng but said nothing.
"Did Chunxin buy that packet of abortion pills?" Qu Qingxi asked, somewhat puzzled. She knew Chunxin; she was originally a bodyguard for the Crown Prince, but was later assigned to protect Ren Nuanyun.
Unexpectedly, the abortion drug was made by Chunxin. Wasn't she sent by the Crown Prince to protect Ren Nuanyun? How could she give Ren Nuanyun an abortion drug?
"No, that packet of medicine was given to Chunxin by the Empress. Moreover, the Empress secretly promised to find an opportunity to arrange for Chunxin to be by the Crown Prince's side in the future." Qingdai revealed an even bigger bombshell.
The abortion pills given by the Empress? This answer is both logical and unexpected.
Qu Qingxi thought Ren Nuanyun had deliberately set a trap to harm her, but she didn't expect that the medicine was not from Ren Nuanyun, but from the Empress.
However, that makes sense. The Empress values the Crown Prince and has long been dissatisfied with Ren Nuanyun's status. When she learned that Ren Nuanyun was pregnant, she was bound to be furious. Fearing damage to the Crown Prince's reputation, it is understandable that she sent someone to abort the child.
However, since she's going to throw this mud at me, then I won't hold back.
Let her think about what method she should choose to repay the Queen this time.
"Qingdai, have someone find a way to leak this matter to the Crown Prince. Make sure the Crown Prince knows that it was his mother who plotted to abort his child."
He Liufeng poured himself a cup of tea, took a sip, and bowed his head to give instructions.
"Yes, Your Highness, I'll go right away." Upon hearing this, Qingdai's eyes lit up, and she nodded quickly before turning to leave.
At noon, just as He Liufeng was having lunch with Qu Qingxi, Ling Mu brought news that the Emperor had sent someone to invite Xu Ding and his two sons to the palace.
Qu Qingxi and He Liufeng exchanged a glance and knew that the Emperor wanted to verify whether their guess was correct.
"How skilled is that Xu Xingfeng?" If Xu Xingfeng doesn't have any martial arts skills, then this show can't go on.
“Xu Xingfeng is also very skilled, not much different from the Crown Prince’s previous head of the secret guards,” He Liufeng gave a precise answer.
With his skills, the jade pendant he wears close to his body, and this medicinal powder, Xu Xingfeng must be the one, if not the one.
"By the way, I heard that Xu Ding is secretly helping the Crown Prince raise an army?" At this moment, there were only the two of them in the room. Qu Qingxi glanced at He Liufeng and casually probed.
Upon hearing this, He Liufeng paused, picked up a piece of meat for Qu Qingxi, and nodded slightly, "That's true."
He Liufeng didn't ask Qu Qingxi how she knew, as he himself had only recently learned of the matter.
"So, does Xu Ding really support the Crown Prince?" Qu Qingxi raised an eyebrow, staring at the piece of meat in her bowl.
"What do you mean?" He Liufeng looked at Qu Qingxi with slight surprise.
"In other words, is Xu Ding really loyal?" Qu Qingxi's question was quite revealing.
Is the loyalty here loyalty to the Crown Prince, loyalty to the Emperor, or loyalty to the He family's rule?
Turning to look into Qu Qingxi's clear eyes, He Liufeng stopped what he was doing, remained silent for a moment, and slowly said, "You mean Xu Ding has a plan to take that position?"
That position is the position of the supreme ruler, how could Xu Ding have such wolfish ambitions?
"I didn't say that, I was just a little curious." Qu Qingxi's brow twitched, and the corners of her lips curled up, as if she had asked casually, without admitting anything.
He Liufeng frowned, said nothing more, but began to ponder the question in his mind.
Qu Qingxi wouldn't say such things without a reason, so she must know something.
Does the Xu family really have such intentions?
It seems he needs to investigate thoroughly to find out if Xu Ding really has such ambitions.
"Alright, let's eat first. Wasn't the Xu family's treasury robbed before? Regardless of whether this hypothesis is true or false, he shouldn't have that much power yet." Qu Qingxi patted He Liufeng's hand and smiled lightly.
Qu Qingxi knew what was in the Xu family's treasury: treasures and real gold and silver. All those valuable things must have been the money Xu Ding had accumulated long ago to prepare for raising an army.
She had robbed him of everything before, so it would be impossible for Xu Ding to collect enough money in a short time. Unexpectedly, he had accidentally done a good deed.
“Yes, if he really has such intentions, then his treasury should indeed have quite a few good things, at least a lot of money for raising soldiers.” He Liufeng nodded thoughtfully.
“However, do you think the theft of the treasury might have been orchestrated by Xu Ding himself, who moved the contents of the treasury and then pretended it was stolen?” He Liufeng narrowed his eyes, the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
He couldn't openly allocate the money, so this method wasn't out of the question.
"Huh? You think so?" Qu Qingxi paused, sighing inwardly. He Liufeng was overthinking things; she was the one who took all these things.
"I think it's not impossible. I've sent people to investigate the location of the Xu family's treasury, but they couldn't find it. How could those petty thieves have found it so easily?"
Qu Qingxi was somewhat surprised to hear He Liufeng say this. She did not expect that He Liufeng had also sent people to the Xu family mansion to look for the Xu family's treasury, and had not found it yet. However, Qu Qingxi was lucky that day and happened to run into a servant stealing something inside. Otherwise, Qu Qingxi estimated that she would not have been able to find the treasury for a while.
Since He Liufeng believes that Xu Ding orchestrated the whole thing, let's just assume that Xu Ding did it himself.
“If that’s what you’re saying, then it’s very possible.” Qu Qingxi looked at He Liufeng in agreement. “The Ministry of Personnel is in charge of the appointment and removal of all civil officials in the Ling Dynasty. It’s highly likely that someone would want to bribe Xu Ding in this regard.”
"He must have received a lot of bribes from there, and then felt it was too dangerous to keep it in his own treasury. So, taking advantage of the previous theft in the capital, he transferred the property out and then shifted the blame onto those thieves." Qu Qingxi's words almost made her believe them.
All of this makes perfect sense, and with Xu Ding secretly building up his army, the destination for this money is also clear.
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