"Who does Your Highness think is the most suspect this time?" Shi An asked gravely, finally uttering a sentence.
"Prince Lian hasn't shown up for a long time since his son's accident last time, right?"
Right! How could he have forgotten about this man? So last time, Prince Lian also admitted that it was all his son's fault, but he must still hold a grudge against the young emperor and the empress dowager in his heart. He would never miss such a good opportunity for revenge.
The two looked at each other, and gradually came up with a plan in their hearts.
"Come here! Prince Lian hasn't come to the palace to see me for a long time. I forgave him for his great grief at losing his beloved son before. Now shouldn't he come and pay his respects?"
Fu Lu understood what he meant and immediately sent someone to invite Prince Lian into the palace.
The court officials outside still knelt there. The passing palace servants didn't even glance at them, as if they had become invisible.
The two officials kneeling in the front whispered to each other. It was the hottest time of the day. They had been kneeling here for so long without even a sip of water. Now they were full of complaints.
"I'm about to faint from the sun. Why doesn't the emperor show any reaction? Doesn't he care about the safety of us officials at all?"
"Let's wait and see. The emperor surely won't ignore us. Hold on a bit longer. Don't forget the rewards the prince promised us."
Hearing this, the official rolled his eyes. In fact, he still didn't believe that the prince would really fulfill his promise.
"The prince has fallen so low. He's already sold all his valuable things to curry favor with others. Can he still give us those rewards now?"
Actually, the other official wasn't sure either, but the prince had come to them for help. In terms of status and position, the prince was above them. Serving the prince this time might gain them some favor in the prince's eyes. It was a worthwhile deal anyway.
"What's promised to us will be ours. The prince won't shortchange us subordinates. Even if we don't get all the rewards in the end, the prince will remember our loyalty and won't forget us next time."
It seemed to make sense. They saw Fu Lu rushing out in a hurry and were filled with doubts.
"Fu Lu is the emperor's personal eunuch. Judging from his hurry, is something going to happen?"
"What happens has nothing to do with us. We just need to follow the prince's order and kneel here with the others."
"Alright."
Their conversation fell into Shi An's ears. As a martial artist, Shi An had superhuman hearing, and since they were kneeling close to the door, he could easily hear them.
Shi An curled his lips. "It seems these people were really sent by him. What does Your Majesty plan to do next?"
The young emperor also heard what the two said. His eyes darkened. "It didn't matter much when they plotted against other things before, but now they've touched my bottom line. There's only one empress dowager in this palace, and no one can shake her position."
With the young emperor's firm attitude, Shi An felt that his younger sister's efforts hadn't been in vain.
...
Prince Lian was quite surprised when he saw Fu Lu.
"I wonder why the emperor suddenly summoned me at this time. What's the matter?"
Fu Lu had heard Shi An and his master's speculation in the imperial study. Now he didn't show the prince any kindness.
"You'll know when you get there. Hurry up and come with me. It's not good to keep the emperor waiting."
He deliberately kept it mysterious. Prince Lian had no choice but to follow.
Sitting in the carriage, he kept speculating in his mind. Could it be related to the matter of sending people to the imperial study before?
It was quite possible. Maybe the young emperor and the empress dowager were going to make concessions and apologize to him for Yun Ting's matter.
Just thinking about it made him feel happy. If that was really the case, he would definitely hold a grand banquet to celebrate and give those two a warning. He definitely wouldn't agree easily.
Seeing Prince Lian humming all the way, Fu Lu felt disgusted.
If it weren't for the fact that they were soon arriving at the imperial study, Fu Lu was really afraid that he would punch the prince in the face.
"Your Majesty, Prince Lian has been brought here."
The two people in the hall turned around at the same time and saw the man standing at the door.
The emperor was about to fly into a rage, but was stopped by his uncle.
Shi An calmed him down with a look. There were still so many court officials kneeling outside. This wasn't the time to fall out.
Ji Heng took a deep breath and managed to calm down his emotions.
"Prince Lian is here. I haven't seen you for a long time. I've been too busy recently."
Prince Lian bowed respectfully, but his tone carried a hint of arrogance.
"The emperor has so many state affairs to attend to. It's normal to forget. I wonder why the emperor suddenly remembers me today?"
"Sigh, you must have seen those officials kneeling outside when you came in, right?"
Sure enough, it was about those officials outside. It seemed that the young emperor had learned his lesson and was being obedient now.
He pretended to be completely in the dark, looking utterly confused.
"I don't know what's wrong with those officials either. They suddenly knelt outside. Has something happened? Since I lost my son, I've been staying in the mansion all the time, not caring about outside affairs. If something happens outside, I might be the last one to know."
Goodness! As soon as he opened his mouth, he managed to absolve himself completely.
When it came to acting, Shi An had to learn from this old fox.
"It's a long story. Although it might seem a bit presumptuous, I've long since stopped minding about the big incident in Prince Lian's mansion before."
His sudden words caught Prince Lian off guard. Wasn't he summoned here today to apologize and make concessions? Why was the emperor suddenly shifting the blame onto him?
His expression froze for a moment. Before he could react, the young emperor continued.
"You haven't come back to the court to share my burdens for a long time. Today, I'd like to give you a chance. What do you think?"
His sixth sense told Prince Lian that this chance was definitely not a good thing, but as a subject, he couldn't refuse. He could only stiffly ask.
"What does the emperor want me to do?"
"Those officials outside don't want to leave. Please do me this favor and get them to go back first. Anyway, Prince Lian and I are family. You won't refuse, will you?"