The front hall.

The guards and servants swarmed forward. Yan Huai, who had just sent out the three people, drew his sword, kicked away several guards who approached Chu Yu, and stood protectively in front of him.

Prefect Song had already verified the conjecture in his heart through Yan Huai’s actions. He squeezed through the crowd and rushed to Old Master Wang’s side: “Old Master Wang! Quickly have them stop! This mustn’t be done! This mustn’t be done!”

Old Master Wang, who was busy ordering servants to capture Ji Linxi and the others, assumed Prefect Song was merely wary of the two noble young masters’ identities. He pushed the man away with a hard shove: “Get lost!” As long as he delayed them and prevented these two from seeing the true incriminating evidence of his Wang family, Chancellor Wang would be able to mediate afterward, and his Wang family would still have a chance at survival.

He shouted sternly: “Whoever captures Second Young Master Shen and Yan Shizi will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver!”

His nephew held a government position as high as the Prime Minister, backed by the Empress and the Crown Prince. As long as this matter was not brought directly before the Emperor, no one could do anything to him.

Prefect Song gritted his teeth.

How he wished to tell Old Master Wang that the person in front of them was highly likely a prince from the palace and absolutely must not be touched! Yet this was merely a conjecture. If it were true and he rashly exposed it, what should he do if he incurred the prince’s resentment? If it were false, he wouldn’t have a good outcome either; Old Master Wang would think he had ruined his plans and write a letter to Chancellor Wang. Then his days as the Prefect of Jingzhou, promoted by Chancellor Wang, would pretty much come to an end.

Under the siege of dozens of people, Yan Huai was already slowly finding it a bit strained. The dancers and singing girls had long since hidden themselves in the corners. Old Master Wang looked at Yan Huai, who was “making a last stand” to protect the person behind him, gave a mocking smile, and with his hands behind his back, said arrogantly: “Second Young Master Shen, Yan Shizi, today this old man will properly teach you a truth. There is a saying that goes: even a powerful dragon cannot suppress a local snake.”

Just at this moment, the front hall courtyard door was kicked open with a loud bang, and a sharp shout rang out: “Stop!”

Old Master Wang looked over.

It turned out to be that old servant by the two noble masters’ side.

Right now, he didn’t even place these two noble masters in his eyes, let alone an aged servant. However, what surprised him was that this old servant actually brought quite a few people behind him. Taking another look at the women brought by those people and the few servants being escorted under guard, he immediately understood.

Following closely was furious rage.

“Good! So you all had a premeditated plan from the start! You came for my Wang family!”

With Old Master Wang’s brains, the only possibility he could think of was that Chancellor Wang had political enemies in the capital, and the opposing faction intended to attack Chancellor Wang through his Wang family, which was why they had put on such a play.

What a fine strategy of making a feint to the east while attacking in the west—having someone cause a huge scene in the front hall to draw his attention, while privately sending his own people to the courtyard where his son kept women to bring all those women out, trapping his Wang family with ironclad evidence.

He thought he had figured everything out, and it was precisely because of this that he was incomparably shocked and enraged.

Old Master Wang knew that the luxurious life he lived now entirely relied on his nephew, Chancellor Wang. If something happened to his nephew, his Wang family’s sky-high wealth and status would also vanish into thin air.

A trace of deep, sinister malice flashed through his eyes, and he had already given rise to killing intent. If just a moment ago he was still thinking of temporarily confining them first before “moving them with emotion and reasoning with logic,” now that he knew these two came prepared, he intended to kill them to eliminate any future trouble.

“This is all forced by you!” He snatched the sword from the hand of the guard closest to him in one swift movement and slashed violently toward Chu Yu.

Eunuch Chen was so frightened his face turned deathly pale, his voice breaking into a high screech: “Audacious! To dare lay hands on His Royal Highness the Crown Prince! Are you and your nine generations tired of living?!”

The four words His Royal Highness the Crown Prince suddenly exploded like a violent thunderclap right above Old Master Wang’s head.

The Crown Prince? How could that be possible? How could the Crown Prince appear in their Wang family? Shouldn’t the Crown Prince be inside the deep palace of the capital?

He wanted to pull back his hand, but moving even faster than him was Yan Huai. Yan Huai threw his sword out. Hearing only a crisp and powerful clank, Old Master Wang’s wrist was jarred numb; the sword fell to the ground, and he stumbled back two steps. Immediately after, a swishing sound reached his ears as a group of guards disguised as lower staff surrounded him, and one of them suddenly took action, forcing him down onto his knees.

Shen Wenzhi, who was sitting at the lower seat, stood up with the support of his servant. He walked around the banquet tables, lifted the hem of his robe, knelt on the ground, and spoke composedly: “This subject, Shen Wenzhi, greets the Crown Prince.”

“May Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince live for a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand times a thousand years.”

The bright moon hung high in the sky.

The Wang family guards, who were originally full of hot blood because of the thousand-tael bounty, were now so frightened they couldn’t even hold their knives and swords steadily. The servants had already knelt on the ground in a flurry, Madam Wang nearly fainted away, and the County Magistrate, who didn’t dare to move, widened his eyes in horror. Prefect Song, who had just been trying to stop Old Master Wang, turned deathly pale, losing all his strength as he collapsed into a kneel on the ground.

He had suspected it would be a prince from the palace, but he had never imagined it would be the Crown Prince.

If it were a regular prince, with Chancellor Wang mediating, there would still be room for turnaround. But if it were the Crown Prince, then everything was completely finished—not just Old Master Wang, but him as well.

The crowd of people knelt on the ground with trembling shoulders, shouting loudly: “We greet Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince.”

“May Your Royal Highness live for a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand times a thousand years.”

Listening to these continuous shouts, Old Master Wang, who just a moment ago was full of rage and harsh expressions, wielding a sword to strike, was now shaking like a leaf as his body was pinned to the ground.

“Crown… Prince…” He couldn’t even form his words steadily.

Chu Yu walked up to Old Master Wang. Yun Sheng, who was pinning him down, raised his head and reported: “Your Highness, after we entered the Wang family, we went to find Eunuch Chen. Eunuch Chen led us to a courtyard, where eight women were confined. They are all present here now.”

Chu Yu looked toward the several women kneeling on the ground in the back.

Eunuch Chen had already walked quickly to his front. After inspecting him thoroughly with his eyes, he let out a huge sigh of relief.

Thanks to Yan Huai; otherwise, if His Highness had been injured here, Her Majesty the Empress would have wanted his life upon his return.

He turned his head to look at Old Master Wang on the ground, and couldn’t resist kicking him over, his voice deathly cold: “What immense dog audacity, actually daring to lay hands on the Crown Prince! Go back and wait for your execution!”

Old Master Wang hurriedly knocked his head against the ground, saying tremulously: “This grassroots citizen, this grassroots citizen did not know it was the Crown Prince…”

If he had known it was the Crown Prince, how would he have dared to do this? This was a major crime that would execute his entire nine generations. Bearing a bleeding forehead, Old Master Wang raised his face filled with terror: “Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince, this grassroots citizen did not mean it, this grassroots citizen did not know you were…”

“Shh.”

Chu Yu extended his hand, signaling Old Master Wang to silence himself.

He had no mind to spare on Old Master Wang right now.

“Yun Sheng.”

“Your Highness.”

“Take a group of people to investigate the locations Gu mentioned to see if there are any dead bodies.”

“Understood.”

……

Having received those addresses spoken by His Highness, Yun Sheng called over another person to pin down Old Master Wang, selected a few imperial guards from the palace, and went out.

Running head-on toward them was a ragged young man, his clothes and hair stained with grease and oil, panting endlessly. Yun Sheng took only one glance, and knowing it was someone unrelated to his mission, paid him no more attention. He hadn’t walked a few steps with his men when he heard a shout full of genuine emotion from behind, as if using every ounce of his strength: “Young Master! I’m here to save you!!!”

Following that, with a loud bang, it was the sound of the door being burst open. That young man gave a sharp exclamation of surprise, as if tripping over something: “Ouch!”

Yun Sheng turned his head, only to see that person suffer a solid, face-first faceplant into the dirt. His legs were still draped over the threshold, his feet twitching slightly, looking as utterly wretched as wretched could be.

The corner of Yun Sheng’s mouth, which usually never smiled, couldn’t help but twitch.

__

Author’s Note:

Wife (calmly): What a truly unexpected entrance. Just the thought of dating him in the future gives me a feeling of total darkness before my eyes.