The little prince was completely unaware of just how big of a wave the words he was saying right now would stir up in court. Seeing that Meng Fu still hadn’t given the book to him, the little prince took a deep breath and continued to chatter non-stop, directly spilling all those bits of dirty secrets that even Nanny Liu had refused to confess under several days of severe torture.
Meanwhile, Nanny Liu in the prison was already on the verge of madness. Unfortunately, her mouth had already been sealed, and she could only make some muffled “wuwu” sounds expressing hatred and unwillingness. Her pair of eyes stared dead at the Ninth Prince, as if wishing she could kill the little prince with just her gaze.
The little prince had been hurt by her so many times in the past but never cared. How could he possibly care about her gaze now?
Nanny Liu’s heart was filled with regret. She never would have thought that after being cautious and meticulous for so many years, hiding her background and origins flawlessly, never leaving behind any evidence when dealing or cooperating with others — not letting anyone catch her — she would end up falling into the hands of this little prince whom she looked down upon the most.
Should she blame herself for speaking without restraint in front of the Ninth Prince?
She was the little prince’s wet nurse, and for most of the day she had to stay by the little prince’s side. She had to watch as their enemy became ruler of the world, while her own plans were repeatedly thwarted, and her heart was constantly stifled with resentment. If the Ninth Prince had been a normal child, Nanny Liu would naturally have hidden all her malice before him. But the Ninth Prince was not — hit him, scold him, bully him, and he would show no reaction at all. After a long time, Nanny Liu naturally stopped caring about him.
Who would guard against a mute idiot?
And now this idiot not only could speak one day but could even repeat word-for-word the things she had said back then.
She heard the little prince repeating the words she had once used to scold him. At that time, she had said it was all retribution. Now that everything was happening, wasn’t it also a kind of retribution for her?
After the former Crown Prince died, they started investigating who had secretly harmed His Highness. In the end, they discovered that among all the adult princes at that time, aside from Li Yue, the rest had all had a hand in it. Yet in the end, it was Li Yue who ascended the throne. They couldn’t help but suspect that Li Yue might also have acted behind the scenes.
Before they could even find evidence, a portion of the remaining party of the former Crown Prince was swiftly eliminated by Li Yue with thunderous methods. They immediately felt that Li Yue was unfathomable, and that the Crown Prince’s death must also be related to him. If he weren’t guilty, why would his methods be so ruthless?
Nanny Liu was originally a hidden pawn planted in the palace by the former Crown Prince to monitor these princes. There had been many such hidden pawns in the palace, but after enduring rounds of royal power struggles, only a few remained.
After the Crown Prince died, their goal became to avenge him and let the Crown Prince’s bloodline ascend to the throne. To achieve this goal, naturally they had to first get rid of that dog emperor.
Nanny Liu was situated inside the palace, serving at the side of a foolish prince, unable to access any useful information and unable to assist her comrades outside the palace. But she also wanted to contribute to their grand plan, so she began to sow discord between the emperor and the Empress Dowager, trying to make the mother and son grow apart, to make the brothers kill each other. Even if they couldn’t achieve their goal in the end, they wanted the inner palace to never know peace and to make that dog emperor suffer all his life.
Thanks to her performances, the Empress Dowager once suspected that the emperor did not like the Ninth Prince. But the Empress Dowager was soft-hearted and timid. Even if she suspected the emperor, she didn’t dare to act. Nanny Liu had no choice but to find a way to work on Li Yue.
She thought it wouldn’t be hard to stir up discord between mother and son, especially since that dog emperor had such a violent temper. Just provoking him with a few words should be enough to get the job done.
However, Nanny Liu — who had never failed before — for the first time tasted the bitterness of failure in front of Li Yue. She had gone before Li Yue and, beating around the bush, wept and complained that the Empress Dowager wished he would stay away from the Ninth Prince. But that dog emperor simply couldn’t understand!
It was too difficult. Before starting this plan, Nanny Liu never imagined it would be so hard. If it were the former emperor, she could make him suspicious with just a few sentences. But this dog emperor seemed like his brain lacked that string entirely. She had hinted and insinuated many times right in front of him, and was just short of directly saying the Empress Dowager thought he was hurting the Ninth Prince — and the dog emperor still couldn’t understand, doing whatever he was supposed to do.
Because of this matter, Nanny Liu often cursed Li Yue as “dog emperor” in front of the Ninth Prince. The few sentences that the Ninth Prince was now repeating outside the prison were exactly what Nanny Liu had said at that time.
When Nanny Liu saw that this plan had failed, she then tried to collude with Prince Xuan, hoping to use Prince Xuan’s hand to strike at Li Yue.
She knew that cooperating with Prince Xuan was no different from seeking skin from a tiger, but in the end, no one could yet say who the deer would fall to. [鹿死谁手 — “to whom the deer falls” is a metaphor for who will win a power struggle]
After that palace banquet in June, the emperor came to Cining Palace and, for the first time, saw through her intentions. Although that day Nanny Liu kowtowed so hard her face was covered in blood, she was very happy in her heart. She thought for sure that the emperor and the Empress Dowager would harbor estrangement from then on. But the result was that she miscalculated once again, and not long after, her secret was exposed, and she was thrown into the hidden dungeon.
Even so, Nanny Liu wasn’t too worried. At worst, it would just cost her life — no one could possibly find out her true background.
But perhaps, in the dark, there was fate at work. The secrets she had hidden — all of them were remembered by this little prince, who was now repeating them word for word for everyone to hear.
This was even more unbearable than any torture Nanny Liu had ever suffered. If her hands and feet weren’t tied with rope, she really would’ve wanted to smash her head to death right then and there.
The little prince had imitated for quite a long time, and his throat was a bit dry. He paused again and tilted his head to look at Meng Fu, his eyes filled with helplessness and grievance.
At this moment, Meng Fu felt that she actually understood the meaning behind the little prince’s gaze. She squatted down and picked up the little prince from the ground, saying to him, “In a bit, I’ll give you the book.”
The little prince didn’t speak again. He leaned his head on Meng Fu’s shoulder and opened his mouth in a small yawn, as if he was a bit sleepy.
Meng Fu instructed someone to keep a close eye on Nanny Liu, then carried the little prince back to Zichen Hall.
Although the little prince could now speak, the way he spoke was a little different from what Meng Fu had imagined before. If they wanted him to become a slightly more normal child, they would still need to find a way to continue guiding him.
He could remember every word he heard, but couldn’t understand the meaning in time, so he wouldn’t respond. However, when it came to things he was interested in, he could respond rather quickly.
Meng Fu had Eunuch Gao bring the book. The little prince immediately picked up the brush and began to calculate seriously. Meng Fu sat opposite him, observing.
What Nanny Liu said in front of the Ninth Prince — not every sentence was useful. The curses at the Ninth Prince, the Empress Dowager, and even the emperor were unnecessary to listen to. She had to find a way to get the little prince to extract the important information first.
Fortunately, there were still many arithmetic books in the palace library. That should be enough for now. But it was time to cultivate some new hobbies for this little prince as well.
Meng Fu had Eunuch Gao bring a few more books, using keywords like “Prince Xuan” to guide the little prince to speak more information.
The little prince pouted. He didn’t want to speak, but he really wanted those books in Meng Fu’s hands.
He tapped on the table. Meng Fu waited patiently and didn’t rush him.
After about half an hour, the little prince spoke again.
From the little prince’s words, Meng Fu deduced that Prince Xuan and Nanny Liu had colluded, that Nanny Liu was one of the former Crown Prince’s people, and that the former Crown Prince still had remnants of his faction causing trouble everywhere. The little prince even mentioned the names of several of those remnants, as well as their current hiding places.
Meng Fu wrote all of this down and had the shadow guards deliver it overnight to the Marquis of Xuanping’s residence, asking His Majesty to make a decision.
The shadow guards sighed: such a big matter had occurred, yet His Majesty still had the mind to send someone a love letter. What deep feelings! His Majesty should really find a way to make that lady divorce the Marquis of Xuanping already. Always sneaking around like this — what if someone found out? Or was it that His Majesty just enjoyed the thrill?
Ew.
At the marquis’ residence, Li Yue had been about to sleep, but upon receiving the shadow guard’s letter, he got up again and wrote a reply. In the letter, he instructed Meng Fu to first send some people to keep an eye on the exposed remnants, not to alert the enemy. Wait until the time was right to catch them all in one net. Then send someone to investigate where Prince Xuan was now, what he had done recently, who he had been in contact with — every detail must be thoroughly checked.
After writing the letter, he had the shadow guard quickly send it back. He sat on the bed and vigorously rubbed the rabbit plush’s ears. These remnants of the former Crown Prince really were endless — they even dared to crawl out and cause trouble again. Did they think that just because he hadn’t killed anyone lately, he no longer had the strength to lift his blade? Or that he couldn’t bear the sight of blood anymore?
…Speaking of which, just what exactly was the former Crown Prince doing back then? Raising cockroaches? How did he end up with so many people in his hands?
What proper person raises so many retainers?
After Meng Fu received His Majesty’s letter, she immediately followed his instructions and sent people out. After morning court the next day, she summoned Prince Xuan’s subordinates to the palace to inquire about Prince Xuan’s illness.
Because the emperor had, without reason, smiled at him twice before, this subordinate came into the palace this time under immense pressure, deeply afraid of messing up Prince Xuan’s affairs. And when a person is nervous, it’s very easy to make mistakes. Even though his rationality reminded him not to let the emperor grow suspicious of their prince, his facial expressions and movements couldn’t be flawlessly controlled. Any tiny detail could betray him, allowing others to see his true thoughts.