Chapter 637: Chapter 636: Journeying with the Prince
As they entered the Prince Mansion, the guard leader stepped forward, while on the other side of the guest room, the deputy leader and a few others were filled with trepidation.
This man’s name was Guo Da, and tonight the burden on his shoulders was heavy.
He was responsible for guarding this guest room because the notorious criminal "Xuelong" released from the Heavenly Prison was inside. This was evidence of the Seventh Prince’s crime. As long as Song Lifu was convicted, he could storm the guest room, capture the criminal, and implicate the Seventh Prince.
However, what was happening over there?
Song Lifu was not taken down!
The Seventh Prince also returned with a cheerful expression!
The Seventh Prince spoke: "Li Gen!"
The guard leader bowed: "Present!"
"From the Ministry of Justice, a secret order has come: Guo Da and his seventeen subordinates are suspected of three major crimes. Master Song personally came to the Prince Mansion to supervise the matter. In the face of lawbreakers, even my close attendants cannot be shielded. Fully cooperate and seize them!"
The guard leader’s face changed drastically, almost unable to believe his ears.
Guo Da, in trouble?
"Execute!"
"Yes!" The guard leader waved his hand, and a squad surrounded the guest room.
Guo Da’s face changed dramatically: "Mr. Li, what is the meaning of this..."
The door opened, and the person inside, suspected to be "Xuelong," took off his mask, revealing his true identity. How could it be Xuelong? Every inch was the Guard Commander of Song Lifu. He extended his hand, holding a bronze token, a genuine arrest warrant from the Ministry of Justice!
"Guo Da, your deeds have been exposed!"
Guo Da’s face turned ashen, his ominous foreboding fulfilled. Tonight was a special operation initiated by the Crown Prince against the Seventh Prince and Song Lifu. The script had followed the design from the beginning, but at the last moment, it went off course.
It wasn’t Song Lifu who was purged from the court, nor was the Seventh Prince drawn into chaos, but rather Sun Chong was flogged to death directly. The Crown Prince’s insider by the Seventh Prince’s side, Guo Da, and his seventeen controlled subordinates were all cleared out.
For a typical person, they might shout their grievances, but Guo Da did not.
He knew that the crimes committed would not stand up to reasoning.
If the Ministry of Justice wanted to deal with you, they could naturally fabricate charges.
However, to truly capture him would depend on the Crown Prince’s approval!
Therefore, he wasn’t particularly anxious either.
Just quietly taken away...
The wind blew past, the trees swayed in the breeze.
In the study, two bigwigs sat opposite each other.
No one was serving because they had matters to discuss.
Song Lifu let out a light breath: "Your Highness, today’s events were extremely perilous!"
"Indeed!" The Seventh Prince also let out a long breath: "Without his reminder, the two of us might have truly fallen for their plot!"
The prisoner exchange was no trivial matter.
In ordinary circumstances, no one would choose such a perilous affair.
But wasn’t it because there was no other choice?
Xuelong absolutely could not die, this was the Seventh Prince’s bottom line.
So, no matter how difficult, he had to handle it!
He Yun from the Heart Pavilion proactively offered a plan, negotiating a transaction with the Seventh Prince. The Heart Pavilion would cooperate in this operation, and the Ministry of Justice would release their three captured members.
It was because it was a transaction that the Seventh Prince trusted him.
However, conducting the prisoner exchange by other departments would have difficulty escaping the Ministry of Justice’s re-examination, but if it was executed by the Minister of the Ministry of Justice himself, it could be foolproof.
This was what the Seventh Prince thought as he left He Yun’s tower.
But with Li Chengnian, he was hit hard. Li Chengnian pointed out the absolutely secret plan of prisoner exchange at the outset, indicating it couldn’t be done.
Yet, turning around, Li Chengnian offered him a piece of advice, a fake prisoner exchange!
With just three words, both the Seventh Prince and the Minister of the Ministry of Justice had to comply.
Because this strategy could advance or retreat, leaving no after-effects.
Sure enough, once the fake prisoner exchange was launched...
Sun Chong immediately discovered that Your Majesty had secretly visited the Heavenly Prison overnight, and the atmosphere inside the Prince Dingbei Mansion was equally eerie.
In the end, the dust settled, Sun Chong was immediately removed, the insider within the Prince Dingbei Mansion was cleaned out, and indications showed that no matter how the Ministry of Justice judged, the Crown Prince dared not rescue anyone because he was at fault, lacking confidence.
Originally a game that was bound to lose no matter what they did, in a blink, it turned into their advantage, yielding substantial gains.
Therefore, the two bigwigs felt it necessary to have a review, to discuss the person who offered the idea.
"Your Highness, why not truly engage with this person?" Song Lifu suggested.
The Seventh Prince held a teacup to his lips and paused, his eyes gleaming with a slight glint: "Master Song, what do you think this person’s intentions are?"
"Besides creating conditions for Your Highness’s use, I see no other intentions," Song Lifu replied.
The Seventh Prince smiled faintly: "I am the Prince with the worst standing. Why would he wish to be of use to me?"
"Precisely because Your Highness has no one to rely on, you shouldn’t miss such a person!"
"Then tomorrow, shall I invite him over for a meeting?"
Song Lifu gently nodded.
"Master Song, would you also be present to observe with your discerning eye?"
Song Lifu smiled: "Today his strategy resolved not just your dilemma, Your Highness, but also a deathtrap for me. Logically and sentimentally, I must thank him face-to-face."
"Then it’s settled, tomorrow... no, today at noon, Yuanyang Tower!"
In the Heart Pavilion.
Next to Lin Xiaosu’s loft.
He Yun had just awakened from a dream when he heard the report of the Grey Curse...
Yesterday evening, the Heavenly Prison prisoner exchange was executed.
The entire process went as per the arrangement of the Lord Steward at that time, but the result deviated. Song Lifu put on a "prisoner exchange show" but didn’t actually exchange prisoners. The act here was performed fully; the Crown Prince arranged it personally, and the Prime Minister and the Left Grand Master made a grand display. His Majesty hurried to the Heavenly Prison only to find a complete farce...
He Yun’s expression suddenly changed: "What was the outcome?"
"The outcome was that Sun Chong was beaten to death on the spot. The eighteen people the Crown Prince planted in the Seventh Prince’s mansion were cleared out, leaving the Prime Minister utterly humiliated and the Crown Prince drenched in sweat, fearing that His Majesty’s wrath would fall upon him."
Sweat appeared on He Yun’s forehead as well: "Why... why did it turn out this way?"
The Grey Curse replied, "There are signs that the Seventh Prince and the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Song Lifu, were well prepared, even Xuelong was ready. Xuelong intended to show his wounds in front of His Majesty, proclaiming his loyalty and filial piety, while ironically criticizing His Majesty as heartless and unjust, which led to His Majesty’s angry embarrassment and a furious outburst."
He Yun slowly raised his hand.
The Grey Curse’s voice abruptly stopped.
He Yun quietly looked out the window, his chest rising and falling gently, his gaze flickering uncertainly.
"Lord Steward, do you still think there’s nothing wrong with the Seventh Prince being intercepted by Qing Ying that day?" the Grey Curse added.
He Yun suddenly stood up and stepped out of his loft with the next step, arriving outside Lin Xiaosu’s loft. Judging by his fiery demeanor, it seemed he was about to kick Lin Xiaosu’s courtyard door open and demand what exactly Lin Xiaosu said to intercept the Seventh Prince that day.
However, just as he raised his leg to kick, a wisp of sound entered his ear.
He Yun stopped!
In the next moment, he left the Pavilion Zone and entered a cave, descending all the way down.
Inside the cave, a middle-aged man stood quietly in the place where a sliver of daylight poured down. His figure was lean, with a short beard and a scholar-like appearance. Even situated in a cave, he seemed as at ease as a Great Scholar standing by a lakeside.
He was the true leader of the Heart Pavilion, He Fanglue, also known as the legendary Dark Pavilion Master.
"Father!" He Yun bowed.
He Fanglue slowly turned his head: "What are you intending to do at Li Chengnian’s loft?"
Though he hadn’t left the cave, he knew the matters within the Pavilion as if they were the lines on his palm.
He Yun spoke angrily: "I want to find out if it was he who leaked the prisoner exchange plan to the Seventh Prince."
"And how do you plan to ask him?"
He Yun was at a loss for words...
Indeed, there was no way to ask.
It was all speculation.
The prisoner exchange plan was He Yun’s suggestion to the Seventh Prince, and Li Chengnian didn’t know about it.
If the prisoner exchange had been implemented smoothly, it would have been a great achievement in the Heart Pavilion. Mentioning it could have garnered some merit from the Crown Prince, but alas, it failed!
For a failed plan, the planner is a blemish.
He Yun was the illegitimate son of this love-concerned Pavilion Master and was someone he put great effort into cultivating.
While He Yun could take credit for successful cases, the blemish of a failed plan must not be attributed to him.
This was the critical reason behind the intentional efforts of the caring father to immediately restrain He Yun when he intended to hold Li Chengnian accountable. He didn’t want He Yun’s carefully cultivated persona in the Heart Pavilion to crumble overnight.
He Yun wasn’t a fool. He had just been overwhelmed by anger and momentarily lost his composure. After his father’s question, he calmed down and agreed that his father’s prevention was right.
He took a deep breath: "Father, this matter is certainly related to him! On that day, when he stopped the Seventh Prince, he must have leaked the secret."
He Fanglue said, "He himself wasn’t aware of the plan, and moreover, as the father, I can almost be certain that no one in the senior ranks of the Pavilion transmitted this plan to him. How could there be a leak?"
Indeed, to leak a secret, one must be in the know!
If you don’t know, how can you leak?
He Yun furrowed his brows: "Father means, he surmised the Seventh Prince’s intentions merely from the clue of his visit and even analyzed the advice I gave the Seventh Prince. From there, he crafted a more sinister counter-advice for the Seventh Prince?"
He Fanglue slowly raised his gaze: "Though Li Chengnian is considered a wise man, his intelligence doesn’t reach such a level! The matter does indeed have a few suspicions."
"What should we do next?" He Yun asked.
He Fanglue said, "To determine whether he indeed advised the Seventh Prince, you only need to focus on one key point, which is to closely watch him and see if the Seventh Prince contacts him again!"
He Yun’s eyes lit up...
If, just if...
If Li Chengnian truly penetrated the Seventh Prince’s purpose in visiting the Heart Pavilion and saw through the advice given to the Seventh Prince, crafting such a sinister "counter-plan," how could the Seventh Prince bear not contacting him?
It’s important to consider that the Seventh Prince is currently without people or power and would desperately cling to even a straw. Anyone within the Heart Pavilion who can be used by him, he wouldn’t just let go.
He is sure to send someone to liaise with Li Chengnian.
He Yun slowly nodded: "Father, your words are very wise! I will cooperate with Yan, regardless of how discreet the Seventh Prince’s contact is, I will..."
Suddenly, He Fanglue lightly raised his hand.
He Yun’s voice came to an abrupt halt.
"Li Gen has ascended the mountain!"
He Yun’s heart skipped a beat.
Li Gen, the leader of the Seventh Prince’s guards.
What is his purpose for coming to the Heart Pavilion?
It’s unlikely to be directly inviting Li Chengnian, is it?
He Fanglue used the Primordial Spirit as Eye to observe comprehensively...