Huo Qixiao did not wait for Prince Rui to make up his mind before getting up with his tired body, preparing to leave Prince Rui's mansion.
Seeing that he was indeed getting up to leave, Prince Rui felt that this Huo Qixiao was quite temperamental. At the same time, he worried that his attitude might hurt someone who sincerely wanted to be loyal to him, so he quickly stepped forward to keep him.
"Young Master, please stay. You look so weak, you should rest in the mansion for a while! It's not that this Prince is unwilling to believe what you said. This matter involves Prince Ning and Prince Qin, and it is indeed a matter of great importance, so this Prince cannot just believe your words alone..." Prince Rui personally stepped forward, helped Huo Qixiao to sit on a chair, his face full of a difficult expression.
Huo Qixiao was playing hard to get. Now that Prince Rui had given him a way down, he naturally would not leave. However, he felt that this Prince Rui was too indecisive. It seemed he had to find another way to provoke him hard!
Thus, although Huo Qixiao's attitude softened later, he was no longer as humble and obedient as before.
"If Your Highness has doubts, you can send spies from your mansion to investigate and see if the mastermind behind this is really Prince Ning and Prince Qin."
"If Your Highness does not want brothers to turn against each other, and is willing to swallow the bitter pill and suppress the assassination matter, then everything today is just me talking nonsense. Your Highness can also treat what I said earlier as my wild claims and not take it to heart..."
Seeing Huo Qixiao speak with such conviction, Prince Rui's heart began to waver. "Alright, then this Prince will send people to investigate. This way, neither of my brothers will be wronged, and it can also test the learning results of Young Master. It's killing two birds with one stone! Haha..."
Prince Rui chuckled to himself after speaking, but Huo Qixiao did not respond, and the situation became a little awkward. They each held their teacups, and neither spoke again.
After another quarter of an hour, Huo Qixiao's complexion had also improved a lot. He put down his teacup, stood up again, bowed to Prince Rui at the head of the table, and said.
"Your Highness, Qixiao has exerted himself too much today. I will go back to rest. It is not too late to come again after Your Highness has investigated this matter thoroughly. Qixiao does this only to let Your Highness know that since I recognize you as my lord, whenever you need it, Qixiao is willing to go through fire and water, and die without regret."
In fact, no matter how stubborn Prince Rui was, deep down he had already agreed with what Huo Qixiao had said. With such a foresight-capable person by his side, who could anticipate everything, how could his great undertaking not succeed?
Prince Rui nodded, his gaze towards Huo Qixiao now held more of the feeling of looking at his own people. He couldn't help but speak more gently, "Good! This Prince knows about this matter. Since you feel tired, why don't this Prince send someone to escort you back?"
Escort him back? How could that be possible! "Thank you for Your Highness's kindness, but this is absolutely not possible. The Emperor is currently considering the matter of establishing a Crown Prince, and my uncle is a close minister to the Emperor. The Huo family naturally cannot be too close to any of the princes. If others see Your Highness interacting too much with me, it might cause unnecessary trouble. Therefore, it is better for me to go back on my own."
Huo Qixiao refused without thinking. The reason he came to visit secretly was precisely because he did not want Huo Sizhun to know that he had already privately corresponded with Prince Rui. If Prince Rui were to escort him back so openly, wouldn't it be known to the world that the Huo family was working for Prince Rui's mansion?
Prince Rui nodded repeatedly after hearing Huo Qixiao's analysis. "Young Master's considerations are thorough. What you said is true, this Prince was indeed inconsiderate. Fortunately, you reminded me."
This indeed reminded Prince Rui. When the current Emperor ascended the throne back then, it was extremely perilous. His uncles fought each other to the death, and it was no exaggeration to say that he climbed out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Therefore, the Emperor most detested the princes privately associating with ministers and forming factions. After all, no emperor wanted his own son to covet the throne at all times.
Huo Sizhun was a Prince of the highest rank, and also a confidant who had gone through thick and thin with the Emperor. He was deeply trusted by the Emperor. Perhaps the Emperor would even consult his opinion on the matter of establishing a Crown Prince.
Although the Huo family and Prince Bing Jian's mansion were established separately, they were ultimately one family. If those who were always watching him saw that he had frequent private dealings with the Huo family, and it was reported to the Emperor, it would likely cause complications.
"Since that is the case, this Prince will not escort you. Young Master should leave on your own."
"Yes, Qixiao takes his leave."
After Huo Qixiao's figure completely disappeared, the expression on Prince Rui's face turned gloomy. He beckoned to the dark shadow guards in the shadows.
"Immediately dispatch all the dark shadow guards. Within two days, this Prince wants to know if this batch of assassins today has any connection with Prince Ning and Prince Qin..."
Prince Rui's voice was exceptionally cold, his face filled with gloom, no longer showing the gentle and kind demeanor of the past. If those who associated with him on a normal day saw this, they would find it very unfamiliar.
In fact, how could people who grew up in the imperial palace, a place where people were devoured without spitting out bones, be truly gentle and generous? For children in the imperial palace to live well, unless you were born of the Empress and held the status of being legitimate, you would naturally receive respect from others, or have a favored mother to protect you.
If you had neither, and wanted to grow up safely, you could only be smart yourself. First, you had to learn to act like a pig to eat a tiger, and be as low-key as possible in everything.
An ordinary and mediocre prince, who was neither favored nor posed a threat to other princes, could naturally grow up safely in the palace. Prince Rui was the type who had no strong backing and relied entirely on his own development.
After returning to the mansion, Huo Qixiao quickly adjusted his internal energy and rested for a while before his strength was fully recovered. He pressed two vital points on his body, creating a false impression of weakness due to the reversal of his meridians.
Although this action would not be life-threatening, it would also cause considerable damage to his body. Therefore, in order to gain Prince Rui's trust, Huo Qixiao had indeed paid a heavy price.
After sitting in the room for a short while, Huo Qixiao got up, opened the hidden compartment behind the cabinet, and went to the secret room at the end of the secret passage. Wang Bingchang was waiting for him there, holding the information he had found.
Seeing Huo Qixiao's pale face, Wang Bingchang stepped forward to support him with concern, "Brother Xiao, your complexion doesn't look good. Are you alright?"
"Thank you, Elder Brother, for your concern. I just pressed two acupoints, and my internal energy is a little unstable, but I'm fine." Since Huo Qixiao was reborn in this life, besides vigorously expanding his influence, he spent his spare time diligently practicing martial arts.
The main reason was that he had suffered greatly from his lack of martial arts in his previous life. After the incident was exposed, he had no ability to save himself other than to surrender. Therefore, after waking up this time, he was determined to practice martial arts well!
However, he had started learning late, and now he was in his twenties. His body was no longer in the best condition for learning martial arts. Therefore, even though he practiced diligently day and night, the results he achieved were still mediocre.
After a period of pleasantries, the two exchanged all the information they had investigated and then made detailed arrangements for the tasks ahead.
In the previous life, it was rumored that Prince Rui, in order to avenge a sword injury, had orchestrated the assassination of Prince Ning in Furong Pavilion and framed Prince Qin, who was drinking with Prince Ning.
However, rumors were just rumors. Prince Rui always appeared gentle and courteous, so after this rumor spread, not many people took it seriously. Instead, they felt that it was someone with ulterior motives trying to frame him.
Regardless of whether Prince Ning died at Prince Rui's hands five days later, Huo Qixiao had to prepare for both possibilities.
He had already warned Prince Rui about Prince Ning's death. If Prince Rui was unwilling to act in the end, or if the real culprit made any changes, then he would have to let his own people do it.
In any case, Prince Ning must die in Furong Pavilion as he had predicted, and Prince Qin must be the survivor and the mastermind.
Everything seemed simple, but it was still full of difficulties when it came to deployment.
Soon, the two-day deadline given by Prince Rui to his dark shadow guards arrived. The guards arrived at Prince Rui's study early on the third day with the investigation results.
A moment later, the sounds of things being smashed could be heard from the room. The servants waiting outside in the courtyard exchanged glances, feeling very surprised.
What had happened to make the usually good-tempered Prince Rui so angry? What kind of temper tantrum was this, that he had never smashed things like this before?
The study was in disarray, and a low-pressure atmosphere permeated the air. Prince Rui, with a gloomy face, listened to the dark shadow guards report the findings of their investigation.
The reason for Prince Rui's true anger was not the princes' struggle for the throne and their persecution of each other.
It was because he was angry that Prince Ning and Prince Qin had sent people to kill him merely to create chaos by randomly killing an insignificant prince, not because he himself posed a threat to them.
What did these two mean? Did they think he wasn't even worthy of being an opponent, and only fit to be their stepping stone? Or did they think he was only fit to be a pawn in their struggle?
Thinking of this, Prince Rui was furious, feeling greatly insulted. Therefore, he dispatched all his dark shadow guards to track and monitor Prince Ning and Prince Qin, and to find out all their subsequent movements.
Another three days passed quickly. Today was the day of Prince Ning's predicted death. Coincidentally, the dark shadow guards discovered that Prince Ning would be drinking with Prince Qin that afternoon, and the location was Furong Pavilion.
At this point, Prince Rui finally believed that the old Taoist priest whom Huo Qixiao had mentioned was truly capable. At the same time, he pondered in his heart how he should exact his revenge for the incident five days ago, since today was Prince Ning's death date.
That night, Jinque Street was brightly lit. The sounds of various string and wind instruments could be heard from the various pleasure houses lining the street.
At the entrance on both sides of the road stood women in colorful clothes, holding handkerchiefs. They wore long dresses with slanted necklines and half-collars. The buttons on their collars were only fastened up to the collarbone, revealing a large expanse of tender white skin to attract customers.
The atmosphere was very high-spirited, and the entire street gave a feeling of boisterous luxury.
Compared to those frivolous brothels, Furong Pavilion was much quieter and grander in scale. It was located in the center of the lake on Jinque Street, built by the lake and surrounded by water. Travel had to be by flower boat.
It was the most renowned brothel in the capital of the Great Yu Dynasty.
In the largest private room of Furong Pavilion, Prince Ning and Prince Qin were drinking and having fun. On each side of them sat two young and beautiful women.
After hearing that Prince Rui had been assassinated, he had stayed shut in his mansion all day and refused visitors. The mansion had also closed its doors for a time. No one knew how badly he had been injured. However, one thing was certain: he had been scared witless by those assassins.
Therefore, after the assassination incident, Prince Ning and Prince Qin were busy with the aftermath and had to avoid suspicion. Hence, they had not contacted each other much in the past few days.
Prince Ning and Prince Qin had intentionally used Prince Rui to clear the way. He was the son of an unfavored concubine who, with just a casual compliment from the Emperor, dared to vie for the supreme position. They did not even consider if he was worthy!
After three rounds of drinks, their passion was high, and the temperature in the room made them dizzy and hazy. Prince Ning and Prince Qin's hands began to wander restlessly over the two young women beside them.
Just as the two were getting drunk and preparing to engage in lewd activities, suddenly everyone in the room seemed to have drunk too much and collectively collapsed, falling unconscious.
At roughly the same time, outside Furong Pavilion, a dark figure, taking advantage of the cover of night, leaped in through the window of the second floor behind the center of the lake.
He cautiously sneaked into the inner room of Prince Ning and Prince Qin's chamber and saw the two men and four women lying on the ground.
The dark figure slowly approached the two men. He raised the short sword in his hand, which was flashing cold light, but hesitated to strike. After a period of mental preparation, he finally hardened his heart.
He first stabbed Prince Qin in the abdomen, and then raised the short sword to stab Prince Ning in the chest. However, just as the sword was about to pierce his chest, the dark figure's hand sharply moved down by a palm's distance, diverting the sword's direction, and it fiercely pierced Prince Ning's rib.
After stabbing each of them once, the dark figure stood up in a panic and quickly returned the way he came. After the dark figure completely disappeared, Wang Bingchang, who had been hiding in the dark observing, leaped into the chamber.
In the brightly lit room, people lay scattered on the floor. The blood was flowing from beneath two of the men, and a sharp dagger was still inserted into Prince Ning's rib.
Wang Bingchang stepped forward and gave the two a cursory examination. Although they were bleeding a lot, neither of their wounds were fatal, so they were not enough to kill them.
It seemed that at the last moment, Prince Rui could not bring himself to be so ruthless and finally chose to teach them a lesson, not intending to take their lives. However, Wang Bingchang was very dissatisfied with this outcome.