Chapter 1096 A Period of Rapid Change, Who Is Behind the Scenes

Since the doctor had already entered the Palace, sending him out would arouse suspicion. It was better for the doctor to stay here. For one thing, it displayed Prince Zhou’s filial piety. For another, it meant they were perfectly open in all their actions. In addition, it would sound perfectly reasonable to the Emperor if he heard she let the doctor stay with the imperial physicians. At this time, they had better do everything in an open and aboveboard way so as not to awaken the Emperor’s suspicion.

The Empress thought this was the most difficult time for her, and she couldn’t afford to arouse the Emperor’s suspicion, not even the slightest.

At present, she could be considered to be grounded. Her power had been divided and given to Consort of Virtue and Consort Ming. Outside the Palace, her son was also forbidden to leave his place. Thus, she could no longer discuss matters with her son.

Everything happened fast. Not only Prince Zhou but also other people had sent assassins there. To everyone’s surprise, such a small assassination eventually caused a sensation.

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Assassinations were usually completed in a low profile. Even if these killers successfully finished off their targets, they would keep silent and lie low. How could anyone carry on the assassination in such a big way by using heavy crossbows from the army? It should be an assassination instead of a forcible kill. Which fool would choose such a heaven-shaking killing weapon to kill Princess Chen, who lived in the deep inner court?

Princess Chen didn’t count for much in this situation. But because she had been involved in the Empress Dowager’s matter, others thought she had also joined the competition for the throne and was even a key figure. Her sudden death would generate a lot of unexpected results. Once anyone shifted the blame onto someone else, it might cause enormous damage.

After a brief discussion, the Empress and Prince Zhou decided to assassinate Shao Wanru. Now thinking back on the whole thing, they were not the only ones with such a plan.

The Empress had such a panic fear after the incident. Fortunately, she had thought about what would happen if their scheme failed and was discovered, so she had prepared a series of countermeasures.

At this moment, it was time to deal with sudden changes. How were they doing so far?

Nothing serious had happened to her and her son, which was the best result they could get.

Then, who else was secretly plotting against Shao Wanru? Did they want to kill Shao Wanru, create confusion, and fish in troubled waters? In the end, they pushed the blame on her. After thinking everything over and over again, the Empress only came up with one suspect: Consort of Virtue. Only Consort of Virtue, who had arranged many back-ups in the Palace, was powerful enough to compete with her.

It was bound to be Consort of Virtue or Prince Cheng.

The Empress didn’t pay much attention to Prince Cheng in the past. But now, things related to him happened one after another, which made Prince Cheng especially suspicious in her eyes. Besides those imperial consorts, Prince Cheng might also know what had happened in the past. Back then, Prince Cheng had been raised by the Empress Dowager and was favored by her.

It was said that he had devoted himself to studying Buddhism and wanted to become a Buddhist monk. However, after talking animatedly about it for so long, he still wasn’t a real monk. It was just his deceptive trick to deflect suspicion from himself.

Everyone knew that she and Consort of Virtue were bitterly hostile to each other. At present, only Prince Yue was the most likely one to compete with her son. When their people came back from the scene that day, they said there were several groups of people instead of two, which meant that the third and fourth parties must have intervened.

If no one in black hadn’t come back to report this, the Empress would have only guessed that. Now she was sure that Prince Cheng had also sent some people there.

No one knew what had happened in the Empress Dowager’s place. Shao Wanru had been involved accidentally and became the key. Everyone secretly felt it had something to do with the fight for the throne. Shao Wanru’s death would inevitably arouse the others’ suspicion of Prince Zhou and Prince Yue. At this time, the least likely one would usually benefit.

The Empress thought the whole situation over and concluded Prince Cheng was the likeliest to gain benefits.

The Empress thought that Prince Cheng was the most likely to use military weapons compared with Consort of Virtue. First, he would benefit from the struggle between the two princes. Secondly, he had been to the army before, so it was much more convenient for him to get these military crossbows.

Chu Liuchen was not in the capital city, and Chu Liuxin was just being childish. In fact, it was only worthy of investigating Prince Cheng.

“Ask Prince Zhou to keep an eye on Prince Cheng secretly and send more people.” The Empress gnashed her teeth and said sinisterly. This time, she must have been set up by Prince Cheng. Unexpectedly, there was Prince Cheng around them, who glared at the throne like a ravening and dangerous tiger.

The Nanny answered and left.

Meanwhile, in her living place, Consort of Virtue was also issuing similar instructions to her subordinates. Even in Consort Ming’s place, Consort Ming was pondering this question: if all the princes suffered the loss of power, who was the most likely to benefit?

In the past, the throne was not passed to the former emperor’s son but to his brother. Would they follow the same old road this time? In this case, Prince Cheng was indeed their most formidable enemy.

Prince Cheng was very annoyed. This incident gave him a terrible headache. He had circled his study several times but couldn’t stop. He had been hiding in the dark and planning for so many years. At present, he just needed to slowly haul in the net and watch Chu Liuyue and Chu Liuzhou fight for the throne.

But now, his ambition was unmasked.

Although the Emperor did not say anything, he grounded him, as he did to Chu Liuyue and Chu Liuzhou. It seemed to be fair. The Emperor sent his guards to guard the gate of each mansion.

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But how could it be the same with Prince Cheng?

He was the Emperor’s younger brother, so he was not supposed to take over the throne. Chu Liuyue and Chu Liuzhou were the most likely to be the heirs to the throne. Then why would the Emperor treat them equally and ground all of them? This meant he was fighting for the throne like Chu Liuyue and Chu Liuzhou.

“Master, what do you think?” After turning a few circles, Prince Cheng sat down, picked up the teacup on the table, and took a few gulps before putting it down heavily.

Master Jieyan would come to live in the Prince Cheng’s Mansion from time to time. Everyone knew that he was Prince Cheng’s good friend and an eminent monk indifferent to fame and wealth. For this reason, it was not surprising for him to appear in the Prince Cheng’s Mansion.

Prince Cheng was also glad that Master Jieyan was with him at this time.

“Your Highness, don’t worry!” Master Jieyan remained calm.

“I know I should stay composed, but how can I not be in a hurry? At this time, whoever shows up in the limelight will become the public enemy. The Emperor, my brother, must have discovered my ambitious intention.” Prince Cheng was in a fret. His heart, which had always been peaceful, could no longer be at ease.

He had been practicing an ascetic life for many years, but all his previous efforts were wasted.

“Your Highness, it looks like you made the same mistake as Prince Zhou and Prince Yue, but that is not the case. The Emperor hasn’t found anything. It is impossible to punish you for your crime. He won’t bring Prince Zhou and Prince Yue to justice. Otherwise, will he pass the throne to Prince Chen or Prince Xin?”

Master Jieyan sneered, curling up his lips with sarcasm.

In his opinion, Prince Chen and Prince Xin couldn’t be suitable candidates. Prince Chen, needless to say, was not the Emperor’s biological son. Besides, he had been sick. How could he inherit the throne?

As for Prince Xin, Master Jieyan thought he was childish and immature and couldn’t bear such weighty responsibility.

For the Emperor, the proper candidates should be Prince Zhou and Prince Yue. Therefore, he wouldn’t punish both of them, which suggested Prince Cheng would also be fine. After all, the Emperor couldn’t let go of his two sons and punish his younger brother, who wasn’t closely related to the throne. His decision should sound convincing to all the officials!

“Chu Liuchen may inherit the throne. He is the eldest legitimate son of the deceased emperor. It is proper for him to take the throne. If so, he could get the support of many old officials who had worked for the deceased emperor. It would be even more justifiable for him to ascend to the throne than Chu Liuzhou,” Prince Cheng said. He was not that optimistic.

“Perhaps it’s the most reasonable for Prince Chen to get the throne. If the Emperor wants to pass the throne to him, he just needs to say the word. Better still, no one will say that the Emperor murdered the deceased emperor back then. But so what? Prince Chen is not the biological son of the Emperor, and the Emperor will not pass the throne down to his nephew instead of his biological son. If Prince Chen feels like fighting for the throne, he will not live long. With his frail body, he will die when facing a minor accident.”

Master Jieyan said disapprovingly.

Prince Cheng fell silent and thought his words made sense. However, he suddenly stood up in annoyance and said, “Who is so stupid as to assassinate Princess Chen with a crossbow? Wasn’t the person afraid that my imperial brother knew it?”

Thinking of this, Prince Cheng felt very aggrieved. He couldn’t figure out who was so stupid to cause such a considerable disturbance. After that, they all suffered and were grounded. The words and behavior of his imperial brother in the main hall that day didn’t seem to be unintentional. It was obvious that he had noticed something.

Prince Cheng had been scheming for so long, and he had pretended to seek no fame or wealth for a long time. He had always stayed invisible to others in the fight for the throne. Now someone uncovered his ambition and pushed him under the watchful eye of everyone. Flames of wrath leaped into Prince Cheng’s breast, making him very uncomfortable.

“Master, could it be done by the people over there?” Prince Cheng stopped, tilted his head, and looked at Master Jieyan with a gloomy face.

“That’s impossible. They wouldn’t be willing to make such a big deal out of it. If they irritate you, they will have to suffer!” After thinking for a while, Master Jieyan shook his head and denied it.

Those people felt even more reluctant to attract the Emperor’s attention. When Prince Cheng was noticed, he would be fine for the time being. But if those people were brought to the Emperor’s notice, they would die no matter what. The surviving dregs of the previous dynasty were looking for a place to live, so it was not a big deal, and they wouldn’t take the initiative to do something sensational.

“Since it was not done by them, who else would do it? The people who came back from there reported that at least three other groups had come. Two of the groups belonged to Chu Liuyue and Chu Liuzhou. Then, who dispatched the third assassination squad? And who was trying to fish in troubled waters? Could it be Chu Liuxin?” Prince Cheng muttered to himself, thinking the third team shouldn’t have been those remnant evil elements of the previous dynasty.

“It doesn’t seem to be Prince Xin. Maybe the people returning from the scene feared you would punish them, so they deliberately added one more group. At that time, there was such chaos that no one could see it clearly.” Master Jieyan thought it was impossible and shook his head.

“Since no one couldn’t have done it, who precisely sent the third group? The most important thing is which group used military crossbows. How could they take the road to their doom and dare to violate my imperial brother’s taboo?” Prince Cheng’s mind was in a whirl. He circled twice with his hands clasped behind his back but couldn’t come up with any brilliant idea. He could only growl, “How could such a champion idiot also want to seize the throne?”

Prince Cheng was like this, and so was Chu Liuyue. Several groups of people who took action on the sly guessed each other, but they couldn’t figure out who had caused such big trouble. At this time, the one who manipulated all of this behind the scenes was pushing on with his journey to the capital city by galloping at full speed.

No one had expected Chu Liuchen to use this opportunity to achieve his end. Yet, little did he know that Shao Wanru stabbed herself with a sword to prove her innocence…

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