Seeing the Crown Prince’s expression grow darker and darker, she sighed softly again and said, “The world chases profit. Now that I hold no value, who would bother to associate with me?”
The Crown Prince’s face became even more unpleasant. He gave Bai Shixi a deep look before slowly speaking again: “Don’t you want to leave this place?”
What did that mean?
Bai Shixi’s heart gave a jolt. She looked up, a hint of surprise and joy in her voice as she asked,
“Your Highness, has Royal Father found out the truth and is planning to reinstate you as Crown Prince? I always knew Your Highness was innocent.”
The Crown Prince: …
He had originally wanted to test the waters, to see if the Crown Princess had any intention of standing up for him—turns out she was just stupid.
Forget it.
The Crown Prince rose and strode out without sparing Bai Shixi another glance.
Bai Shixi’s tightly wound nerves slowly relaxed. She held onto a chair and sat down, her back soaked in cold sweat.
She had seen it clearly—just now, the Crown Prince had looked at her as though he wanted her to do something. But her performance clearly didn’t meet his expectations, and he’d left in anger.
Whatever Mingxi had done, it had pushed the Crown Prince to the point of wanting her to step forward.
It couldn’t be anything good. If it were, why would it fall to her?
How laughable.
***
Mingxi looked at the stack of account books Xiao Muchen brought back and asked in surprise,
“Where did these come from?”
These books carried a musty, oppressive smell that filled the nostrils—truly unpleasant.
“Found them in the hidden chamber.”
Duan Mingxi was shocked. “Qi He actually made it into the secret passage? Wait—you mean there’s a hidden chamber within the secret passage?”
Xiao Muchen nodded.
“I didn’t expect it either. I skimmed through them—these are the records of assignments the Emperor gave to the Crown Prince since he began attending court. I had the accounting office go over them too, and they didn’t find anything wrong.”
Hearing this, Mingxi understood immediately. “If these account books were hidden in a secret chamber, they clearly aren’t useless. We just haven’t figured out what’s off about them yet.”
“Exactly. See if you can spot any flaws?” Xiao Muchen knew Mingxi was brilliant at reading accounts. The Duan family sent in stacks of records monthly, and she went through them with an abacus in one hand and pages in the other—never once making a mistake.
Mingxi casually flipped through them. “Alright, I’ll look into them. Let’s see what we can dig up.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you. I’ll likely have to make a trip to Dongjiang in the next few days.”
Mingxi was startled. “On imperial orders?”
Xiao Muchen nodded.
“Why would the Emperor suddenly send you to Dongjiang?”
“I requested it. There happened to be an assignment headed that way from court, so I decided to go along—also to inspect the implementation of the new policies there on the Emperor’s behalf.”
Mingxi nodded. That last part was what truly mattered.
In other words, the Emperor didn’t trust Gao Zhan.
That was certainly a good thing.
“How long will you be gone?”
“I’ll return before winter sets in.”
So it wouldn’t be too long.
Mingxi glanced at the account books. “If some of these go missing, won’t they notice?”
“No. These came from the deepest chest in the secret chamber. Even if someone goes in, they won’t think to dig out the most sealed box to check the accounts.”
Qi He was actually quite competent—Mingxi could rest easy.
Since Xiao Muchen was departing the next day, the two spent a rare, indulgent night together. The next morning, Mingxi got up early to see him off.
Xiao Muchen went to check on their daughter. Xiao Zhiyi was sleeping soundly, so he didn’t disturb her before leaving the prince’s residence with long strides.
Mingxi continued having Li Quan fan the flames, making sure things stayed turbulent on Bai Zhiwei’s end.
Zhang Pingtai’s mistress already had a child—and she was even his maternal cousin. His wife, Ge Hongchou, naturally wanted to get rid of both mother and child, but that was out of the question.
Zhang Pingtai’s intent was to bring his cousin into the household as a concubine. How could Ge Hongchou tolerate that? Wouldn’t that be a slap in the face?
Besides, he was just a servant—who did he think he was, daring to take a concubine? He might not even live to enjoy it.
By rights, Duke Zhen’s household should have punished Zhang Pingtai for such behavior. But since Bai Zhiwei was backing him, things reached a delicate stalemate.
Ge Hongchou couldn’t swallow the insult. So Li Quan paid a loafer to pose as a merchant returning from Dongjiang and had him approach Ge Hongchou’s brother, Ge An.
Ge An, unlike his useless younger brother Ge Chong, was steady and capable. During a chance meeting at a restaurant, while discussing business, they happened to run into Liu Huiyue out with her child. The man casually remarked, “Huh? That little lady looks a lot like the favored concubine of the governor-general of Dongjiang.”
Ge An was taken aback and quickly asked, “The Governor? You mean the governor-general of Dongjiang?”
“Yeah. I do business in Dongjiang, so I have to pay respects here and there. I’m quite familiar with the chief steward of the Governor’s residence. Once when I visited, I happened to see the Governor’s favored concubine—draped in gold and jewels, flanked by attendants, really quite grand. If you didn’t know better, you’d think she was the main wife.”
Ge An’s eyes lit up. “Is that so? How strange. Come, let’s keep drinking. I’ve never been to Dongjiang, but I do know that because it borders Donggang, business over there is booming. I’m definitely interested in working with you this time.”
With this fabricated “big deal,” they hooked Ge An like a big fish and used him to pass the message to Ge Hongchou: Gao Zhan treats his concubine in Dongjiang like a legal wife.
Because Bai Zhiwei was protecting Zhang Pingtai’s affair, the Ge family was furious with her.
So what if she was the noble daughter of a ducal household? She’d brought them nothing but disappointment. This time, it was her turn to suffer.
Ge Rong, the head steward of the duke’s residence, wasn’t someone foolish—he’d only kept his position by being shrewd.
When he got wind of the matter, he first sent someone to Dongjiang to verify it.
As luck would have it, the loafer Li Quan hired had just signed a deal with Ge An and was about to return to Dongjiang for goods. When Ge An asked him to bring someone along, he readily agreed, even thumping his chest and saying he’d help with anything once they arrived.
It was like a pillow appearing for a dozing man—Ge An eagerly accepted the help, stepping right into Mingxi’s carefully laid trap.
The next time Mingxi received word, it came in a letter sent by the loafer to Li Quan.
The letter said that as instructed, he had brought along the person sent by the Ge family and was now keeping an eye on Liu Xiangyue.
And following Liu Xiangyue, they had uncovered something big—she had given birth to a son for Gao Zhan.
Bai Zhiwei, the legal wife, didn’t even have a child yet, and the mistress already had one. Now that was a bombshell.
The members of the Ge family immediately returned to the capital and reported the news to Ge Rong.
Ge Rong had long been holding in resentment for his daughter. The eldest miss was defending Zhang Pingtai’s mistress and her child—how would she feel if she found out that not only did her husband have a mistress, but that mistress had also given birth to the illegitimate eldest son of the Governor?
After Ge Hongchou deliberately stirred up another quarrel with Zhang Pingtai and led people to smash up Liu Huiyue’s courtyard, trying to forcibly take the child back, Zhang Pingtai once again invited Bai Zhiwei to intervene.
Bai Zhiwei was already fed up and immediately scolded Ge Hongchou for not knowing what was good for her, even threatening that if she didn’t behave, she would have Zhang Pingtai divorce her and formally bring Liu Huiyue into the household.
