Tianliangyuan

Chapter 72 Opening the Door

Xu Zhaozhao pretended to be unaware of all the commotion outside.

However, she had a premonition that a fool like Jiang Ning was bound to suffer a major setback this time!

She guessed correctly, because the Prince of Zhong was furious.

"Didn't you say everything was arranged? And this is it? Not only has Li Jin's reputation not been ruined, but people are now suspecting that I killed my second brother! Jiang Ning, I was so wrong to trust you!"

Jiang Ning never expected things to turn out this way.

She had considered many possibilities, but she never expected that the Second Prince would use an assassination attempt to extricate himself from this predicament.

This is indeed a bit tricky.

"Your Highness, please don't worry. Even if we didn't manage to get the Second Prince into trouble this time, at least we've confirmed that he definitely has spies in the Duke of Su's mansion. Otherwise, how could his personal guards have arrived so quickly?"

The Prince of Zhong was taken aback; he hadn't considered this possibility.

However, this is not important.

Which of these prestigious mansions isn't like this?

"Right now, we should make Father Emperor lose faith in my second brother as soon as possible. He is currently recuperating from his injuries, so we can keep him away from court affairs for the time being, but it won't be for too long. And if Father Emperor feels sorry for him, then he will have gained more favor."

"Your Highness is right. We still have a chance. Don't be anxious. Right now, we should focus on developing and strengthening our own power."

The Prince of Zhong gave a faint "hmm," and then did not react further.

Jiang Ning knew that her suggestion had not achieved the desired result because the prince was dissatisfied with her.

But she had no choice. Since she had chosen to support the Prince Zhong's ascension to the throne, she had to do everything in her power.

"What is Grand Tutor Jiang's attitude?"

To date, none of the key members of the Jiang family have publicly expressed their support for any prince. Even at grand court assemblies, they might hold any prince accountable. Therefore, at present, the Jiang family is the royalist faction among the civil officials.

The Jiang family did not explicitly support any particular prince, and with Grand Tutor Jiang as their patron, they enjoyed extremely high prestige among civil officials.

“My grandfather has not made a clear statement on this matter. Your Highness, if I may speak disrespectfully, the Jiang family is very powerful, and it is right for them not to make a clear statement until they can see which prince is more outstanding. Moreover, His Majesty is in his prime, and choosing a young master for himself too early will only displease His Majesty.”

These words were partly intended to deceive the Prince of Zhong, but they were also the truth.

The Prince of Zhong merely snorted coldly and turned away.

The Loyal King isn't stupid. If you don't explicitly take sides, at least he can offer help secretly.

To put it bluntly, the fact that Jiang Ning is currently the only woman willing to take the initiative to pledge allegiance is not a good sign.

The Prince of Zhong already has a princess, who is also from a noble family and is definitely not someone he can easily divorce.

In fact, the marriages of the princes were all arranged by the Emperor himself, and no one could divorce their wife unless they received the Emperor's approval.

Jiang Ning's plan was actually quite simple: to have Princess Zhong die of illness.

But this matter was far too difficult to handle, far exceeding Jiang Ning's imagination.

Jiang Ning was able to harm so many women and even important court officials in her previous life only after she became the Princess Consort of An. Before that, she did not have such means.

After becoming Princess An, she had the opportunity to come into contact with the forces around Prince An, and gained a more accurate intelligence network and manpower.

Now, haha, she has very few people she can use!

Xu Zhaozhao didn't want to get involved in the princes' struggle too early, so when she asked Dingxiang to find the guard, she asked a servant from the Duke's mansion to do it. The servant was unaware of the situation, and since Dingxiang was dressed plainly and was looking for just an ordinary servant, the servant couldn't possibly recognize which household's maid she belonged to.

Therefore, this matter was essentially left unresolved.

Although the Second Prince Li Jin also wanted to thank this benefactor, now was not the time to make any big moves, so he had to hold back for the time being.

"Miss, the provincial examination is coming soon. My aunt has come to the mansion again to ask for some writing materials, saying that she wants to ask for peace of mind for the young master."

Xu Zhaozhao curled her lips. Her aunt was really restless!

Last time, the old lady forcibly took me to Huguofeng for more than half a month, which finally made the Marquis's mansion much quieter.

Unexpectedly, this person started thinking about profiting from the Marquis's mansion again.

In the past, this would have been fine.

But after failing to scheme against Xu Zhaozhao several times, Xu Lin still wanted to take advantage of the Marquis's mansion. Isn't that a bit shameless?

Wang Wenxiu was unaware of Xu Lin's situation, but she had heard that this Madam Sun often used her family background to seek benefits for the Sun family, and that many people outside had mixed opinions about Xu Lin.

Of course, most of the criticism was negative.

“Cousin, your aunt comes from a respectable family, so how come she’s become so stingy and greedy? It just doesn’t seem right!”

Xu Zhaozhao laughed and said, "Indeed, it doesn't match. Who told her to insist on marrying into the Sun family back then, and the Sun family has indeed been in decline for more than ten years!"

To put it bluntly, the Sun family wanted both a prestigious reputation and a life of extravagant wealth.

What's the difference between this typical "wanting both" attitude and those hypocritical bitches who want to have it both ways?

Xu Zhaozhao naturally had to go and pay her respects this time, since they were elders and she didn't want them to find fault with her.

However, she didn't intend to label Xu Lin'an as possessed by evil spirits again, since some things become less effective when done too often.

"Auntie's complexion looks much better. It seems that she has been recuperating at Huguo Temple for a while and has indeed received the Buddha's blessing. I was right to have foresight. Now Auntie's dark circles are gone, and she looks several years younger."

Xu Lin loves to hear people compliment her on looking young: "Really? I also feel like I've been sleeping better lately."

The old lady felt that her decision was wise. She even checked on the flowers in her room several times, and so far, everything is fine and there has been no change.

Judging from this, it seems that the evil spirits were driven away by Buddha.

That's good.

At least the old lady could rest easy and no longer worry about whether Xu Lin was possessed by evil spirits.

Xu Zhaozhao knew Xu Lin's intentions, but she wouldn't stop her. After all, it was just one or two sets of writing implements. Unless they were particularly valuable, she wouldn't interfere. After all, she was an elder, and in front of her grandmother, she was willing to give her aunt such face.

It's just a pity that Xu Lin doesn't realize her own identity.

“Mother, I remember Father left behind a Chengni inkstone and a Hetian jade pen holder inlaid with sapphires. Please be kind to Huaizhi this once and let him also share in the Xu family’s nobility.”

Xu Zhaozhao was almost vomiting from her behavior.

How could you even bring that up?

The old lady hesitated for a moment, but still took the lead due to her bias: "Ruolan, I remember you've been keeping these things safe. Go and fetch them quickly, so we can have a good omen for Huai'an's provincial examination this year!"