That night at the clan residence.

Ever since Emperor Yong eliminated all the people stationed in various palaces, news about the Second Prince has been delayed a lot.

By the time he learned that the eldest princess had been punished, it was already late at night.

It was Liuyun who heard the news that Zhaohua Palace was searched and took great pains to find out.

She had no way of knowing some detailed details. She only knew that the Crown Prince, Qiao Zhongguo, Tan Hanchi, and Duke Yan were all present, and Concubine Wan was also there. It was obvious that there was nothing they could do to save the situation.

The second prince knew that today was the wedding day of Qiao's eldest son, so he had not slept well, waiting for news from the eldest princess.

Zhufeng stood in front of the couch, and after relaying the news from Liuyun, he couldn't help feeling worried.

"Your Highness, the eldest princess and Concubine Wan have always been close to you. Now they have both suffered serious injuries, and we really have fewer and fewer helpers."

The Second Prince's brows were gloomy, but there was not much surprise on his face. Instead, he murmured softly:

“As expected—”

Zhu Feng was puzzled when he heard this, "Your Highness, what are you doing?"

The second prince stood up slowly. There were no candles lit in the room. He stood barefoot on the ground, and seemed to have completely adapted to the simplicity of the clan residence.

"Wind Chaser, didn't you notice?"

Zhufeng looked confused. What should he discover?

The second prince walked to the window and opened it.

The moonlight shines in, clear and cool, which can make people clear-headed.

The Second Prince chuckled and said meaningfully, "As long as the Qiao family is involved, I will definitely fail miserably, right?"

Zhu Feng was shocked when he heard this. Is that true?

The second prince ignored Zhufeng. He slowly made a very clear connection in his mind.

"In the case of the Spring Examination at the beginning, if I can kill Tan Hanchi on the way to the Golden Palace, the game can be solved, and the Duke of Qing's Mansion can also be used by me."

"But Qiao Zhongguo stood up."

"During the Dragon Boat Festival Palace Banquet, Fourth Brother 'resurrected from the dead'. According to Liuyun's later information, Fourth Brother was talking to Miss Qiao before he left Funing Palace."

"After the fourth brother left Funing Palace, Qiao Diyi followed closely behind him, holding the young lady of the Qiao family."

"It's hard not to think that the person who fished the fourth brother out of Yuhua Lake was Qiao Diyi."

"And the death of Ah Sheng..."

"The Duke of Yan's Mansion and the Qiao's Mansion are so close. I don't believe that the Qiao family didn't cause Ah Sheng's death!"

"There is also the matter of the military power in the southern border. This military power was originally in the hands of General Xiao. It just so happened that Qiao Zhongguo asked his second son Qiao Diyi to worship General Xiao as his teacher."

"And the night I plotted against Guo Gaoyi, the Qiao family went to the Xiao residence as guests."

"Then my plan failed. General Guo acted decisively and brought Guo Gaoyi to the palace to apologize. In the end, he took over the military power of the southern border as he wished, and Guo Gaoyi's life was saved."

"Zhu Feng, do you see clearly? All these things are related to the word 'Qiao'."

"This time, I guided the Imperial Sister to plot against Tan Hanchi in the Qiao Mansion. Look, it failed again."

The second prince looked calm as he expressed all the thoughts that had been lingering in his mind these days.

When Zhufeng heard this, he looked at the thin back of the Second Prince and felt shocked and frightened.

What’s surprising is that the Qiao family actually hid it so deeply!

What's frightening is that it turns out that His Highness deliberately provoked the Princess to take action on the day of Qiao Dalang's wedding, just to... verify a hypothesis!

So, the eldest princess has been treated as an abandoned child by His Highness?

At this time, the second prince slowly turned around. His handsome face was hidden from the light and his expression could not be seen clearly.

As if he had seen through Zhu Feng's thoughts, the Second Prince spoke calmly:

"Zhu Feng, the royal family doesn't care about family affection. How can my sister treat me like that?"

"She has clearly been eyeing Tan Hanchi for a long time, but she insisted on putting on this show in front of me. If she had told me honestly and asked me to give her some advice, I would have been more relentless."

"After all, even if she had a purpose, she still gave me a lot of warmth in the palace."

“What a pity…”

The second prince's voice suddenly became low, and he seemed to be really melancholy and sad.

The next moment, he laughed at himself again.

Sometimes, even he himself felt that he was very much like his father, just as cold-hearted, selfish and cruel.

"Forget it. If I can get what I want in the future, I will naturally release the royal sister, and then I will slowly compensate her."

"Fortunately, my sister's failure still has some value. It is obvious that the Qiao family has been stirring up trouble behind the scenes!"

"Qiao Zhongguo, Qiao Zhongguo, I have highly regarded you, but I didn't expect that I still underestimated you!"

"How on earth did you do it? It's as if you were assisted by God..."

Zhu Feng's heart was also filled with turmoil.

He always thought that the mastermind behind obstructing His Highness was the Crown Prince!

"Your Highness, what about the prince?"

The second prince turned around and walked to the couch and sat down, saying calmly: "My royal brother should not be underestimated. After all, he is the one who can deal a fatal blow to me..."

Zhu Feng felt a tightness in his heart when he heard the Second Prince speak so calmly.

"Your Highness, what should we do next?"

The second prince tapped the bed with his fingertips, making a very regular "tap tap" sound.

"No rush. Whether it's the birthday celebration or the Nanli Kingdom's delegation coming to congratulate us, there will be a lot to do."

"The difficulty lies in how to bypass the Qiao family, or...how to drag the Qiao family into this as well!"

"Zhufeng, repeat the news that Liuyun brought back carefully. Be careful not to miss any details."

How could Zhufeng dare to make any mistakes? He quickly slowed down his voice and spoke every word clearly.

The second prince listened attentively, his face full of thought.

When Zhufeng finished speaking, the Second Prince suddenly started talking to himself:

"The Qiao family's position has been stable for too long..."

————

On the second day, an imperial decree came out from the palace, and everyone was shocked.

In order to pray for the blessings of the people of the world, the eldest princess Shen Yuanxian was willing to enter the palace temple for life, and from then on she would always be with the green lamps and ancient Buddhas, eat vegetarian food and recite scriptures.

Some smart ones quickly thought of the wedding banquet at the Qiao Mansion last night.

After all, the eldest princess also went there last night, but I heard from the lady at home that she went out to change clothes shortly after the banquet started, and did not return until the end of the banquet.

Considering that the prince left the table early and the host Qiao Zhongguo "disappeared" halfway, everything became suspicious.

The ministers secretly guessed that the eldest princess must have done something terribly wrong in the Qiao Mansion last night, which was why she was severely punished by the emperor.

What about praying for the people of the world? It's just an excuse made up by the royal family to save face. Isn't this just life imprisonment?

Although everyone knew the truth, no one dared to gossip about it.

On the contrary, the fact that the Qiao family managed to escape unscathed from such a turmoil made people in the capital look up to them even more.