Chapter 74
The simplest way to frame someone was to place some tokens or items on the assassin’s body to prove their identity.
But the Emperor wasn’t foolish, nor was the Great Zhao Bureau or the guards investigating the case.
This matter was serious, so they couldn’t use the usual framing methods.
Yuwen Min took a jade bottle from his chest, poured out a pill, and stuffed it into the assassin’s mouth.
Lu Hanzhi asked, “What is this?”
Yuwen Min replied, “It’s a wax pill used by death warriors to end their lives.”
Lu Hanzhi looked confused. “This… what’s the use? Are you stuffing poison into a corpse?”
Yuwen Min answered, “This isn’t an ordinary wax pill. It’s a potent poison extracted from a fish by the Easterners, called ‘River Demon.’”
Lu Hanzhi still didn’t fully understand, so Yuwen Min continued to explain, “Only one person has used this poison.”
Lu Hanzhi suddenly understood and asked, “Yin Pingwu?”
Yuwen Min nodded. “He was just a little boy with no martial skills or means of self-defense. The Yin family had trained a group of death warriors for him, and the wax pills used to control them are ‘River Demon.’”
Lu Hanzhi was shocked. “The Yin family trained death warriors for Yin Pingwu?”
Yuwen Min added, “The Crown Prince couldn’t do it. At that time, the Crown Prince was under constant surveillance by the Xiao family, so he had to rely on the Yin family.”
Lu Hanzhi understood and asked, “But how do you have ‘River Demon’?”
Yuwen Min replied, “Not only do I have River Demon, but I also have access to all sorts of rare poisons.”
Lu Hanzhi hesitated and asked, “Is this… the work of… Doctor Lin?”
Yuwen Min nodded. “He also has some connections with your second brother. They’re from the same school but different branches.”
Lu Hanzhi’s mouth opened, astonished. “You big shots seem to have connections everywhere.”
With such a powerful network, how did you end up losing to Su Wan’ning?
Looking back, it seemed the loss was because the Eldest Prince was too much of a gentleman, and the Fourth Prince didn’t compete or strive, so he ended up being used as cannon fodder.
Lu Hanzhi asked, “I thought you were going to frame the Crown Prince, but you’re actually framing the Yin family?”
Yuwen Min replied, “Framing the Crown Prince, is that really framing? They were the ones who did it in the first place.”
That was true.
Even if Su Wan’ning had done this without informing the Crown Prince, in the end, it was the Crown Prince’s household that benefited.
Marrying Su Wan’ning— was it a blessing or a misfortune for the Crown Prince?
In the original story, Su Wan’ning helped the Crown Prince step by step onto the throne.
But now, things seemed to be getting more difficult. Even Lu Hanzhi, as an observer, could feel her impatience.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have made such a fast connection with the Emperor, given that the risks involved were the greatest.
After stuffing the wax pills into the mouths of the assassins, Yuwen Min said to Lu Hanzhi, “Let’s go! It won’t be long before someone traces this back to here.”
The two of them left the scene and took a shortcut back to the capital.
Even after completing this task, Lu Hanzhi still didn’t feel completely at ease.
He asked, “Do you think the Crown Prince will be deposed because of this?”
Yuwen Min slowly shook his head and said, “The Crown Prince has no idea about this, and his concubine saved the Emperor. It’s impossible to both kill the Emperor and save him— it doesn’t make sense.”
Lu Hanzhi agreed and said, “So, your goal in doing this is to target the Yin family? No… it’s the Yin clan?”
Yuwen Min nodded and said, “The Emperor despises the interference of the imperial family in politics. Since Young Master Ping’s death, the Yin family has not been allowed to raise any assassins. But now, after more than ten years, these people have reappeared before the Emperor. I’ve said before that it doesn’t matter whether it’s true or not. What matters is that someone can fabricate false accusations to imprison my royal brother, and all they need to do is exploit the Emperor’s displeasure.”
Lu Hanzhi fully understood this time and spoke, “The Emperor might think that the Yin family’s patience was due to Yin Liwu not being Empress before. Now that Yin Liwu has become the Empress, the Yin family is eager to unite with her to disrupt the court.”
This sounded fantastical, almost as unbelievable as how Yuwen Mingji had once used a simple letter to slander the Eldest Prince of treason and collusion with foreign enemies.
But the Emperor in our original story was extremely cautious to the point of being overly paranoid.
Few on that throne were not paranoid.
This Emperor, aside from his paranoia, also had a very meticulous mind, excessively petty at times.
However, Lu Hanzhi felt that it wasn’t these small details that had truly ruined him, but his lack of compassion.
Behind his apparent deep affection for Young Master Ping, there was only his weakness—his cowardice in choosing to compromise for personal gain.
There was also the matter of the Empress Dowager, who had betrayed her entire family to help him rise to power, only to be discarded by him after he seized control.
One must have a ruthless means to rule; while it is fine to reward military generals with a cup of wine, it is taboo to discard the donkey after using it.
In short, Lu Hanzhi had little regard for this Emperor, and probably, after tonight, Su Wan’ning would control him at least once.
At least the Crown Prince’s house arrest could be lifted.
By the time they returned to Prince An’s residence, it was already late at night. They had intentionally detoured through the southern city before entering the capital.
When the carriage stopped, Lu Hanzhi hurriedly made his way toward the Prince Chu’s residence.
He had asked his second brother to bring Ah Chan back, unsure if the little troublemaker had started causing chaos again.
As expected, as soon as he entered the gates of Prince Chu’s residence, he could hear the sound of crying from Prince Qinxiao that seemed like it would blow the roof off the building.
At that moment, three old maids and six servants were surrounding Prince Qinxiao, with Lu Xuzhi, his second uncle, holding him.
Prince Chu wanted to hold him, but Lu Xuzhi refused, saying, “No, no, Ah Chan kicks very hard when he’s angry. If he kicks you, it won’t be a joke.”
Prince Chu, standing aside, was anxious. “But can he be comfortable like this? Hey, he’ll be uncomfortable! No, we can’t keep holding him like this! You should let me hold him!”
Seeing the room full of people unable to deal with the little terror, Lu Hanzhi couldn’t help but cover his face.
He quickly stepped forward and said, “Let me do it, let me do it. Thanks, everyone. Let me handle this!”
As soon as the voice of Prince An’s Wang Fei was heard, everyone immediately sighed in relief.
However, when Ah Chan heard his father’s voice, he cried even louder, starting to pout in grievance.
Lu Hanzhi stepped forward and picked him up, patting his chubby little bottom, saying, “Don’t cry, don’t cry, Ah Chan. It’s Father’s fault. I shouldn’t have left you alone. I’ll never leave you again. Is that alright?”
Ah Chan began to sob while muttering, “Ah, kekekek, dadada…”
Lu Hanzhi continued to comfort him, “Okay, okay, hit, hit, hit. Is it okay to hit Daddy?”
Note: Da is hit in Chinese.
Ah Chan kept sobbing, “Ah, wuwuwu, hmm, aoh aoh aoh…”
Lu Hanzhi smiled helplessly. At this point, he couldn’t understand what Ah Chan was saying, so he patiently tried to soothe him, “How about I sing a song for you? I’ll sing to help you sleep. Is that okay?”
Ah Chan grabbed onto Lu Hanzhi’s hair and clung tightly to his shoulder, as if afraid that he might run away.
Yuwen Min, who had arrived a bit later, saw how Ah Chan was so clingy and felt helpless.
Children often have an unusual attachment to their biological parents, and Ah Chan was no exception.
He was deeply attached to Lu Hanzhi, with an almost fearful anxiety that his father might abandon him.
Yuwen Min wondered what Ah Chan had experienced that made him so afraid of being left behind.
Am I the kind of father who would abandon my child?
At this thought, Lu Hanzhi froze for a moment, and he realized why Ah Chan was so fearful.
The original owner of this body had once been manipulated by Su Wan’ning’s mental attack and had actually strangled Ah Chan to death.
Lu Hanzhi felt a sharp pain in his heart, instinctively tightening his hold on Ah Chan.
He swore to himself that he would never let Ah Chan live in fear again.
Lu Hanzhi walked around while gently singing a lullaby: “Only Daddy is good in this world, children with fathers are like treasures, they jump into their father’s arms, and where else can happiness be found?”
Hearing Lu Hanzhi’s lullaby, Ah Chan slowly fell into a deep sleep.
Lu Hanzhi held him in his arms and turned to Yuwen Jue, saying, “Second sister-in-law, thank you for your hard work. You should rest now. We’ll talk tomorrow about anything else.”
Yuwen Jue nodded and smiled, “It’s not hard at all, it’s just that your second brother is always making a fuss.”
Lu Xuzhi’s concern for Lu Hanzhi was obvious, and Lu Hanzhi noticed, saying, “I think second brother has a point. Second sister-in-law, you should take care of yourself.”
This morning, second sister-in-law hadn’t been feeling well and hadn’t gone to the palace to pay respects.
Yuwen Jue replied, “I’m aware. Hanzhi, you should take Ah Chan back to sleep now.”
Lu Hanzhi nodded and left with Ah Chan.
Yuwen Min stayed behind and told Lu Xuzhi about the events of the day.
Lu Xuzhi nodded, saying, “No wonder all the Feather Guards were sent out from the palace today. Something must have happened. Probably, the Emperor should have been found by now, right?”
Yuwen Min replied, “No news yet. Let’s not sleep tonight. We’ll pretend we just received the news and rush to join in the search.”
Lu Xuzhi nodded, saying, “I was thinking the same thing.”
The two of them mounted their horses and galloped toward the western suburbs.
Under Yuwen Min and Lu Xuzhi’s leadership, the Feather Guards searched through the entire night and finally found the Emperor, who had regained consciousness, in a cave at the edge of a cliff.
With the Emperor was Su Wan’ning, who had been picking herbs in the western suburbs.
Yuwen Min personally escorted the Emperor back to the palace and summoned Doctor Lin to check his pulse.
He prescribed some medicine to calm the Emperor’s nerves, but fortunately, there were no serious physical issues.
Upon his return, the Emperor’s first priority was to uncover the identities of the assassins who had attacked him.
He understood that such a skilled group of bandits couldn’t possibly be regular mountain thieves.
Thus, the bodies of the attackers were brought back, laid out in the Great Zhao prison yard.
Among those returning with the Emperor was Su Wan’ning.
She had spent the night in a cave with the Emperor, enduring hunger and cold. She couldn’t bear to leave him alone, fearing he might be harmed by wild animals, so she stayed by his side in the cave overnight.
For her bravery, the Emperor decided to reward her.
He immediately summoned the Crown Prince to the palace and, in his presence, praised Su Wan’ning’s noble actions, also lifting the Crown Prince’s house arrest.
The Crown Prince was initially stunned, but upon hearing about Su Wan’ning’s deeds, his admiration for her grew.
F
rom the beginning, he had known that Wan’ning was an extraordinary woman.
The night she hadn’t returned, he had spent the entire night worrying, even sending people to search for her.
When he heard that the Emperor had encountered trouble in the western suburbs, his heart sank.
What would happen to her, a young woman, if she ran into that group of bandits?
He never expected that, by chance, Wan’er not only escaped but also saved the Emperor.
This truly made her…. a little lucky star, bringing fortune to her husband!
Because of this, the Crown Prince not only had his house arrest lifted but also regained his role as regent.
After all, the Emperor had been shaken, and the country’s affairs required someone to assist in managing them.
At the same time, Lu Hanzhi, focused on his mission, returned to the southern suburbs and completed his first batch of porcelain.
Your favorite BL chaos wouldn’t be possible without coffee… lots of coffee….
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