The gatekeeper of the Crown Prince's Mansion had been on duty for many years, but it was the first time he had encountered such a terrifying thing!
There was actually someone who dared to act presumptuously under the nose of the current crown prince!
No, to be more precise, to touch a woman!
The gatekeeper felt his tongue was all tangled up. "Wh-which mysterious man?"
Qingqing slightly shifted her body and looked towards Sheng Jiangli standing under the willow tree in the distance without saying a word.
The gatekeeper followed her gaze and immediately understood.
He gave a fierce glare at Sheng Jiangli, who was idly chewing on a willow branch. Then he took the Yusi brocade. A cruel and bloodthirsty look flashed in his eyes. He took out a few copper coins and threw them to Qingqing.
"Drag him out for me. This money is your reward!"
Qingqing readily agreed. She watched him rush into the mansion with the Yusi brocade in his arms. A happy smile appeared on her face.
She quickly ran up to Sheng Jiangli. "Brother Sheng, the brocade has been sent in!"
"How was it?"
Qingqing waved the five copper coins in her hand and said with a smile, "Everything went just as you expected. The gatekeeper was greatly shocked and went in to report. We just need to stay here and watch the show."
Sheng Jiangli reached out and ruffled Qingqing's hair. He praised, "Good girl. If I hadn't seen your cruel and cunning side, I would really like you!"
Qingqing said, "Hehe! You'll like me sooner or later."
After they finished speaking, they squatted outside the Crown Prince's Mansion, listening intently.
Sure enough, not long after.
The furious roar of a man came from inside the Crown Prince's Mansion, soaring into the sky. "Lü Baiwei!"
Immediately afterwards, the man's crazy curses and the woman's miserable cries came one after another.
Not long after that.
The gates of the Crown Prince's Mansion suddenly opened.
A group of servants rushed out menacingly, brandishing weapons. They looked in the direction of Sheng Jiangli and the others, and then charged towards them with their weapons raised.
Sheng Jiangli spat out the willow branch in his mouth. He felt something was wrong. "Dead girl! I'll run first. You cover me!"
As soon as he took a step, he felt a stinging pain in his ankle, as if being pricked by a needle.
"You..." Sheng Jiangli looked up in shock and met Qingqing's sly smile.
Qingqing smiled innocently. "Brother Sheng, why are you in such a hurry? It's not too late to leave after watching the show."
Sheng Jiangli: ...
Well done!
It seemed that not only had she framed him, but she had also earned five copper coins for nothing!
Song Chengyuan grabbed Lü Baiwei by the back of the neck with one hand. The Yusi brocade was torn to shreds. He rushed out in a rage, shouting,
"Song Yinghuai! Good fourth brother! Don't leave yet. I'll kill you two adulterers and whores first!"
Sheng Jiangli's ankle was numb, and he couldn't use his lightness kung fu to escape for a moment. He watched helplessly as Qingqing ran away in a flash.
He reached out and rubbed his throbbing temple.
He had been careless...
Although the Crown Prince's Mansion was vast and there were not many common people around, such a commotion still attracted some attention.
A few onlookers stood at a distance, peeping at the excitement.
"Ah!"
Lü Baiwei was thrown out. She staggered towards Sheng Jiangli.
Sheng Jiangli's eyebrows twitched. He dodged to the side.
Lü Baiwei fell flat on the ground at Sheng Jiangli's feet.
She was dizzy.
Her hairpins and ornaments were scattered all over the ground, and her hair was disheveled. She looked like a crazy old woman.
Sheng Jiangli looked down indifferently and said with a smile, "Oh! Your Highness, what's going on? You're making this humble general feel uneasy!"
Song Chengyuan had already taken a long sword from a servant beside him. He pushed through the crowd and stabbed at Sheng Jiangli.
"Song Yinghuai! You've gone too far!"
Sheng Jiangli didn't move. He pinched the tip of the sword that was stabbing towards his face with two fingers and said with a loud laugh,
"Crown Prince, please calm down! It's a misunderstanding!"
Only then did the enraged Song Chengyuan realize that the person in front of him was someone else. He was stunned.
He squinted his eyes for a second. His gloomy expression gradually faded. He slowly opened his mouth and asked, "General Sheng? Why is it you?"
Sheng Jiangli carefully pushed the tip of the sword aside. His eyebrows slightly raised, and his thin lips curled up.
"This humble general has been in the capital for many days but has never had the opportunity to pay his respects to the Crown Prince. Today, I happened to be on leave. When I passed by the Jinxiu Pavilion, I saw that there was a rare Yusi brocade newly on the market in the capital..."
"I thought that the Crown Prince and Concubine Lü had a deep affection for each other, so I bought this piece of Yusi brocade and dedicated it to the concubine, hoping to pay my respects to Your Highness through the concubine's introduction..."
"I didn't expect such a big thing to happen. Please calm down, Crown Prince, and Your Highness, please calm down..."
Lü Baiwei was lying on the ground and couldn't even get up. She had no time to calm down.
Song Chengyuan put away his sword. His expression was obscure. "Since you're here, General Sheng, please come in!"
Sheng Jiangli responded with a smile. He secretly exerted his strength and forced out the silver needle in his ankle. Then he stepped forward.
As for Lü Baiwei lying on the ground, he still gave a symbolic greeting. "Your Highness, the ground is cold. Lying on it for too long will hurt your body. Get up quickly!"
Lü Baiwei raised her head with difficulty from the ground and met Sheng Jiangli's teasing eyes.
A strong sense of humiliation welled up in her heart. A sob came from her throat.
Everyone had seen it!
The common people had seen it!
Everyone in the capital knew it!
They all knew that she, Lü Baiwei, was worthless in the Crown Prince's Mansion and had been beaten in public by the crown prince!
Damn Sheng Jiangli!
Sheng Jiangli didn't care about the venomous look behind him. He swaggered into the study with Song Chengyuan.
As soon as the study door closed and there were only the two of them left, he immediately put away his idle look and said coldly,
"Where's Fan'er?"
A strange cold laugh came out of Song Chengyuan's throat. "Hehe! Young Master Lan? Look at what you've done!"
"I've been harmed by you and lost the power to supervise the country. I haven't even settled the score with you yet. I gave you a chance to assassinate the fourth brother, but you still didn't cherish it... You still want to see Lan Guifan?"
"Sheng Jiangli, you're asking for too much! Don't say I won't let you see Lan Guifan. The only reason I haven't killed that kid is that I think you're still useful!"
Song Chengyuan's eyes were blazing with anger. He wished he could really stab Sheng Jiangli with a sword.
Facing Song Chengyuan's threat, the smile on Sheng Jiangli's face gradually faded. Instead, there was a hint of bloodthirsty killing intent that was almost imperceptible.
"Hehe!" Sheng Jiangli let out a soft laugh. "If the Crown Prince wants to kill him, just do it. Why show off your strength in front of this humble general?"
"What?" Song Chengyuan looked at him in surprise.
Sheng Jiangli wasn't threatened by him?
Couldn't he control Sheng Jiangli with the lives of the Lan family?
"Does the Crown Prince forget that the blood flowing in this humble general's body is not from the Lan family? I'm just an adopted son of Lan Yuanyi."
Sheng Jiangli drawled lazily. His face was full of nonchalance.
"I've only lived in the Lan family for three years."
Song Chengyuan stared blankly at Sheng Jiangli's cold thin lips spitting out heartless words.
"The Crown Prince may not know that my biological father's head was cut off by Lan Yuanyi himself."
What?
Song Chengyuan looked at Sheng Jiangli in shock. "It's impossible!"
Sheng Jiangli casually picked up the writing brush on the table and carefully traced the outline on the imperial edict. His tone was as gentle as if he was talking about the ordinary weather.
"I accidentally heard about this, so I left the Lan family without hesitation and defected to the Marquis of Changxing. I erased all my past..."
"The only reason I still ask about the Lan family is that I want them all to die at my hands."
"The hatred of killing one's father is irreconcilable, Crown Prince!"
Song Chengyuan was stunned for a long time by this news. He felt that his cognition had been overturned.
"The information my spies brought back is not like this." Song Chengyuan said sinisterly. "Sheng Jiangli, don't try to deceive me!"
"What the Crown Prince inquired about is only what this humble general wants the world to know." Sheng Jiangli smiled. "If Your Highness doesn't believe it, you can just order someone to kill Lan Guifan. I just guess that Your Highness is keeping Lan Guifan to threaten someone else?"
Sheng Jiangli's eyebrows slightly furrowed. A cold killing intent flashed across his eyes. Then, he looked up with a half-smile, almost seeing through Song Chengyuan's heart.
"Is it Lan Jinshu?"