Prince Jing wasn't very clear-headed at this moment, and even when he was, he wasn't very smart. But now, after being fooled by Lin Yiping, he suddenly felt that it made a lot of sense.
"But all the evidence points to Daoping. If he could poison the Emperor this time, he might do it again next time. Wouldn't I then become the culprit?"
Fortunately, although he was tempted, he still retained a sliver of rationality. If something went wrong in this kind of thing, it would be a disaster.
“Your Highness’s thinking is not wrong, but think about it again. Daoping is an old man over two hundred years old. Why would he care about such mundane matters? In my opinion, there is definitely something fishy about this matter. Daoping must have been framed. What bad things could a Taoist priest do?”
Lin Yiping was so persuasive that Prince Jing actually started to believe him.
Yes, a person who has lived for two hundred years should have long since become indifferent to worldly affairs and may simply be focused on researching how to live longer. As for the emperor being poisoned, that certainly needs further consideration.
"Brother Yiping's analysis seems to make some sense."
"Of course! He's just a Taoist priest. If there's anything wrong with him, it's that he presented the emperor with a poisoned pill. Who would be so foolish as to openly deliver poison? Besides, he's lived for over two hundred years. Why would he suddenly have a change of heart and do something so obviously suicidal? He's definitely been wronged!"
Lin Yiping became more and more excited as he spoke, and his smile became bright, making Prince Jing feel that Lin Yiping was truly thinking of him and planning for his future.
Seeing that Prince Jing was becoming increasingly hesitant, he continued, "Your Highness, think about it. Whoever opposed this matter the most from the beginning is most likely the instigator. If we can find out the instigator, we can prove Daoping's innocence and gain the Emperor's trust. Wouldn't that make you surpass the Crown Prince in the Emperor's eyes?"
Lin Yiping deliberately spurred the fire on Prince Chen, and sure enough, Prince Jing fell for it.
"Isn't it obvious who the real culprit is? A few days ago, the third prince went to the palace to slander Daoping and was punished by the emperor. Now the emperor has been poisoned. How could such a coincidence happen?"
Prince Jing immediately understood and repeated, "Yes, yes, this must have been the Third Prince framing Daoping! He's just being nosy, why bother arguing with a Taoist priest? Humph, I'll go to the palace right now to see Father Emperor and let him know that it was the Third Prince who poisoned him. That way, Father Emperor can deal with him directly without me even having to fight with the Third Prince!"
The more he thought about it, the happier he became. He felt that Prince Chen had indeed been a bit foolish in this matter, but it didn't matter as long as it was to his advantage.
He couldn't contain his excitement at the thought of soon bringing Prince Chen down from the throne!
As he spoke, he started to walk out, without considering that he was about to enter the palace to meet the emperor in the middle of the night.
Lin Yiping grabbed him and said, "Your Highness is still the same as always, so impatient. Let's not rush. We need to plan how to convince the Emperor instead of acting rashly. Besides, we can't let Daoping's rescue go unrewarded. We need to let Daoping know and be grateful so that he will be of service to Your Highness in the future."
"Yes, yes, I didn't even think of that! I was too hasty. I'll listen to Brother Yiping!"
Prince Jing nodded in agreement, deeply admiring Lin Yiping and grateful that he had come to offer advice in the middle of the night.
What they didn't know was that Lin Yiping had already been seen when he entered Prince Jing's residence, and the news had been reported to Prince Chen and Lu Baichuan.
"What do you think they'll be discussing?"
Prince Chen looked at Lu Baichuan, wanting to hear his thoughts.
Lu Baichuan did not answer immediately, but pondered for a while before speaking: "Lin Yiping has always presented himself as a carefree young master, and his relationship with Prince Jing is merely a superficial gentlemanly friendship. However, he has now broken into Prince Jing's residence at night, which clearly shows that he can no longer hold back. He must be asking Prince Jing to help him resolve Daoping's matter."
“I once followed Lin Yiping and saw him meet with Prince Jing. When the two talked about Daoping, Prince Jing referred to Daoping as a sorcerer and looked very disdainful. He should not have had anything to do with Daoping before, but Lin Yiping vaguely mentioned that Prince Jing should cooperate with Daoping, and Prince Jing was somewhat tempted.”
"If we go to see Prince Jing tonight, we will most likely try to shift the blame onto Your Highness. Prince Jing is simple-minded and will definitely fall for it. In that case, Your Highness will be in danger."
That's what they said, but Lu Baichuan didn't seem to be in a hurry at all; in fact, he seemed quite confident of victory.
Prince Chen nodded repeatedly as he listened to Lu Baichuan's analysis. What Lu Baichuan said was similar to what he had thought, and many of the things he hadn't even considered were actually what Lu Baichuan had said, yet he had managed to say them in such a short time.
"Sigh, I don't know who he took after. He's been sold out and he's still helping the seller count the money. After all, he's my half-brother, and I don't want him to keep being used."
Lu Baichuan nodded and said, "Then let him learn his lesson."
The next morning, Prince Jing got up early to prepare to go to the palace. Just as he was about to leave, he overheard the servants in his residence secretly discussing Daoping's matter.
He vaguely heard some of it and sensed something was wrong, so he called the people over and asked, "What are you talking about? What's going on outside?"
The servants trembled and dared not speak for a long time.
Prince Jing grew increasingly angry and said, "I'm letting you all speak! The one on the far right, you speak!"
"Yes, yes..."
The servant spoke in a trembling voice, "It's...it's...it's..."
"Speak properly!"
Prince Jing was very impatient and kicked the man to the ground: "If you don't speak properly, I'll cut out your tongue and sell you off!"
"Your Highness, please calm down! I'll explain properly!"
The servant was startled and stopped trembling as he spoke.
"Early this morning, His Highness Prince Chen made the arrest of Dao Ping Zhenren public, and paraded those Daoists through the streets. Those Daoists all said that Dao Ping Zhenren was not really two hundred years old, that he was a fraud! His Highness Prince Chen even had the imperial physician examine Dao Ping Zhenren, who said that his body was that of a middle-aged man, and that it was impossible for him to have lived for two hundred years!"
"He wasn't a proper Taoist priest either. The Taoist temple never taught any Taoist practices; he was always thinking about how to swindle the emperor's money!"
"That's all I know, Your Highness! Please spare my life!"
He kept kowtowing as he spoke, and blood quickly appeared on his forehead, showing that he was really afraid of being sold off.
As slaves, they had no right to make decisions about their own lives.
Prince Jing was stunned. Daoping was an imposter?
Is all of this a scam?
"Guards, summon all the men who were stationed at the Taoist temple last night. I need to get to the bottom of this!"
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