Indeed.
If the Crown Prince had truly suffered grievances at Mount Mao — been bullied, manipulated — then he should have returned to his royal grandfather for help.
Not secretly colluded with the Feng family to change his place of study.
With a dark expression, the emperor summoned Lu Yifeng. “Go, summon Feng Yuzhang into the palace.”
At this moment, Feng Yuzhang wasn’t at the Feng residence. He was at the restaurant across the street meeting with Qi Yuan.
Truth be told, he was now genuinely afraid of Qi Yuan.
Not the kind of fear one has in jest — but the real, bone-deep fear one has toward someone in power.
Seeing Qi Yuan drinking her tea, he nervously lowered his voice, “Miss… if you have anything to say, just say it. I… I…”
He didn’t even know what to say.
Qi Yuan raised her brows slightly. “Sit.”
Feng Yuzhang took a deep breath, sat down across from her, and hurriedly explained, “Whether you believe it or not, this matter really has nothing to do with me! That girl Caiwei… I truly never imagined she would dare do something so reckless.”
He already hated Feng Caiwei to death.
Especially after learning about the dog farm — he truly wished he’d strangled Feng Caiwei earlier. That way, his entire family wouldn’t be dragged down by her — now it was questionable whether they could even preserve their lives.
He deeply regretted it.
Why had he been so greedy?
Why had he indulged Feng Caiwei’s greed?
But Qi Yuan wasn’t here to listen to his remorse.
She raised her brows lightly. “Lord Feng, save that regret for later. I came today for something else. Are you aware that Feng Caiwei was colluding with Qi Wang?”
As soon as she finished, Feng Yuzhang, who had just lifted his tea to calm his nerves, immediately spat it out in a spray, coughing violently.
Tears streamed from being choked.
Qi Yuan had already spoken this plainly. He weighed the pros and cons, knowing that lying now was truly unwise. Swallowing nervously, he quietly said, “Not going to hide it… I truly didn’t know at first, but later… I started to suspect.”
Having recovered slightly, he hurriedly added, “Miss Qi, we even thought about killing her — ending this disaster — but there was no way. She had the backing of Nanan County Prince and even received an imperial decree granting her marriage. We… we had no way to act!”
If not for that, Feng Yuzhang wouldn’t have let her live.
Qi Yuan didn’t respond to that.
Words like that — she only listened to them in passing.
It didn’t matter anyway. She wasn’t here to settle old scores.
She chuckled lightly. “That’s truly unfortunate. Because of one careless slip, she caused a catastrophe. Perhaps you don’t know — Qi Wang’s most trusted assassin, Qilin, was by Feng Caiwei’s side.”
Feng Yuzhang’s face went deathly pale.
He opened his mouth, ready to explain—
But Qi Yuan was never one for listening to explanations.
She had too many things to do.
The less pointless talk, the better.
She raised her hand, cutting him off, then got straight to the point: “Lord Feng, enough chit-chat. I’m here to tell you — she bribed a Taoist priest from Longhu Mountain. That priest is now Cao Xingwang’s man. He’s going to tell His Majesty that you colluded back then to swap out the Imperial Grandson, sending him to Longhu Mountain instead.”
Feng Yuzhang’s soul practically left his body.
Though his body was still seated in the chair, his spirit had fled long ago.
It wasn’t until Qi Yuan set down her cup and gave a heavy snort that Feng Yuzhang finally snapped back to reality.
He wailed miserably, “It’s over! It’s really over! Cao Xingwang won’t let this go — he’s someone favored by His Majesty. He’s always acted like he had no ties to Qi Wang…”
In other words — his words were credible.
This meant the crime of deceiving the emperor would land squarely on Xiao Yunting.
Not only Xiao Yunting — the entire Feng family was doomed.
And what about Empress Feng? What would happen to her?
Qi Yuan curled her lips in a half-smile. “Alright, Lord Feng, lamenting won’t solve anything. The priority now is to handle this matter.”
Feng Yuzhang understood that much.
But the problem was — how to solve it?
There were witnesses, there was evidence — how could it be solved?!
Qi Yuan suddenly smiled. “No rush. The show’s just starting. Once you enter the palace, simply insist that this never happened. Say that after the Mount Mao case, you went to rescue the Imperial Grandson, but you never sent him to Longhu Mountain.”
Feng Yuzhang looked at her doubtfully. “Would that even work?”
Would the emperor possibly believe him?
Qi Yuan’s expression darkened. In that instant, an oppressive aura surrounded her. “Whether it works or not isn’t your concern. Just do exactly as I say.”
For some reason, at that moment, Feng Yuzhang thought of something inappropriate.
That was — there truly was no way.
Even if Feng Caiwei were still alive, there would still be no way.
Because Feng Caiwei was never a match for Qi Yuan.
He swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and agreed.
Sure enough, as soon as he returned home, an imperial summons arrived, summoning him to the palace.
Qi Yuan stood by the restaurant window, watching as he walked to the sedan chair, turning back three times with each step, and chuckled quietly.
Beside her, Qi Zhen looked uneasy. “Ah Yuan, can this really be solved?”
Why did he feel like Feng Yuzhang was such a coward?
Qi Yuan smiled. “As long as he does what I say, it can be solved.”
Qi Zhen made a noise of acknowledgment — of course.
If Ah Yuan said it could be done, then it absolutely could.
When Feng Yuzhang entered the palace, Empress Feng was already kneeling before Emperor Yongchang.
Even rarer, not only was the Empress kneeling — the Crown Prince, and the usually reclusive Crown Princess Lu, were kneeling as well.
Feng Yuzhang’s knees instantly gave out.
Emperor Yongchang glanced at him and bluntly asked, “Back then, did you send the Imperial Grandson to Longhu Mountain?”
It came. It really came!
Feng Yuzhang immediately burst into tears, kneeling and shaking his head furiously. “No, no, no! Your Majesty, what are you saying? His Highness — His Highness has always been studying under Daoist Qingfeng at Mount Mao!”
Empress Feng closed her eyes in pain.
The Crown Prince, ever simple-minded, squinted his small eyes and muttered, “Longhu Mountain’s nice too… What’s wrong with Longhu Mountain?”
Cao Xingwang nearly laughed out loud.
The Crown Prince is truly an idiot. Tsk, tsk.
With such a stupid Crown Prince, no matter how smart the Imperial Grandson or Xiao Jingzhao were — what could they even do?
Emperor Yongchang shot the Crown Prince a glare, then flung the memorial in front of Feng Yuzhang. “Oh? But someone says otherwise. A Taoist from Longhu Mountain personally stated that Yunting has been at Longhu Mountain, learning under Celestial Master Zhang this entire time. How do you explain that?!”
Learning under the Celestial Master — that was no trivial matter.
After all, the Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain was equivalent to a national teacher, the orthodox leader of the Heavenly Master Dao, and the head of all Daoist sects in the empire.
