Inside the Second Prince’s residence.
Looking at Song Yin who appeared in front of him, the Second Prince was pleasantly surprised.
During the days he had been thinking behind closed doors, he had received quite a lot of news, including that the Emperor had the intention of making the fourth prince the crown prince, which made him panic and had long ago sent a message for Song Wangyue to come over.
If Song Wan Yue did not come, it would be the same if Song Yin came.
Song Yin was disguised as a palace servant in the second prince’s palace.
“Your Highness has something to say, I can’t delay for too long.”
The Second Prince also made a long story short.
“Mother Consort has sent me news that Father intends to make Fourth Brother the Crown Prince, what do you think?”
“This is just a test by the Emperor, he will not really make the fourth prince, Your Highness need not take it to heart.”
The second prince was puzzled, after hearing the news he had also gathered his staff to discuss it, and the consensus was that it was because father had decided that he had killed the oldest three and had no intention of making him the crown prince.
They had even discussed how to get rid of the fourth prince silently.
Song Yin was calm and collected, “Does Your Highness still remember the rumours from the other day?”
“You mean the one about Crown Princess Qin?”
Song Yin nodded, “No matter how that rumour got out, the credibility alone should be eight to nine. The emperor has a ghost in his heart, he would be very scornful of the Duke of Ding’s House and the Fourth Prince, and how would he allow the Fourth Prince to be the Crown Prince?”
The Second Prince was enlightened and overjoyed, “So, Father is only testing and does not really want to make the Fourth Prince the Crown Prince, he, the person he wants to make is me.”
A sneer flashed in Song Yin’s eyes.
The second prince was so immersed in excitement that he did not notice.
“The Emperor should allow Your Highness to attend the palace banquet on New Year’s Eve, Your Highness should prepare well in these few days, maybe there will be good news then.”
“Good, great.”
The Second Prince smiled broadly, he had been holding back for so many years and was finally going to sit on the throne of the Crown Prince.
……
The old man did not ask Song Yin what he was doing at the second prince’s residence. After eating his medicinal meal, he asked Song Wan Yue to accompany him to play chess, and before a game was finished, Song Yin returned. Song Yin poured himself a cup of tea and sat down beside Song Wan Yue, watching the two play chess while slowly sipping it.
Song Wan Yue won the game.
Song Yin got up again and poured tea for the two of them.
Without waiting for the old man to ask, he repeated what he had said within the Second Prince’s residence.
As soon as the old gentleman heard it, he understood, “You are trying to get the Second Prince to let his guard down.”
Without Song Yin’s words, the Second Prince would still have had suspicions in his heart, even if the Emperor had lifted his closed door and allowed him to attend the palace banquet, he would have been on guard at all times, with Song Yin’s words, his guard would have completely disappeared.
Song Yin nodded, “You guessed right, that’s what we were thinking, whatever that one wants to do to the Second Prince, the palace banquet is the best time to do it. Let’s help out and let them proceed more smoothly.”
“Everything is our guess, have you thought about it, what if we guess wrong about what the Emperor has in mind? What if not only will he not make a move against the Second Prince, but he will also make him the Crown Prince?”
“Don’t tell me it’s not possible, there are variables in everything, and since we’re going to do it, we can’t just have one intention, we should prepare several hands.”
Song Wan Yue and Song Yin looked at each other.
“The only people who can do this matter are Duke Ding and Queen Consort Xian, it’s almost New Year’s Eve, as partners, you and your uncle should also go to Duke Ding’s house to send some New Year’s gifts.”
The two of them went to Xu Yan, who immediately prepared some New Year gifts himself and took them to the Ding Guo Gong’s residence, where they gathered in the study and talked all afternoon until it was getting dark before returning to the Xu residence.
……
The second prince’s uneasy heart was stabilized since Song Yin came over and said those words.
On the 28th day of the waxing moon, Eunuch Huang personally came to the Second Prince’s residence, “His Majesty’s oracle, Second Prince Chu An is released from his grounding and will attend the palace banquet on New Year’s Eve.”
The Second Prince took the purse handed over by the butler and stuffed it into Eunuch Huang’s hand.
Eunuch Huang weighed it without a trace and put it into his own arms, “Speaking in a serious manner,” “Your Second Highness, the Emperor has high hopes for you, so don’t let him down.”
The Second Prince automatically interpreted these words as meaning that the Emperor really wanted to make him the Crown Prince, “Thank you, Eunuch Huang, for your advice, please go back and tell Father that I will not let him down.”
Eunuch Huang nodded, “Then, I will go back and resume my duties.”
The second prince let the butler send the man out, and went back inside himself and closed the door, screaming silently in excitement.
The second prince’s consort came at the news, saw the door of the house closed and was a little worried, walking to the door and whispering, “Your Highness.”
The second prince did not answer.
The Second Imperial Consort became even more worried and raised her voice, “Your Highness!”
Only then was the room slowly opened, and the Second Prince came out with an unchanged expression, “Father has asked us to attend the palace banquet, so you should quickly have the embroiderer in the house rush to make two outfits.”
……
When he was halfway to the palace, Eunuch Huang asked two eunuchs to get off the carriage and go back to the palace, he himself stayed on the carriage, changed into ordinary clothes and instructed the carriage driver to go to the Liu residence.
When he arrived, he didn’t go to the main entrance, but found a side door and asked the little eunuch who was driving the carriage to knock on the door.
Since Liu Ying had been removed from his post as commander of the feathered forest army, the Liu family had been closed to visitors, and only the underlings who were shopping in the house left this side door.
“Who is it?”
“A friend of Commander Liu.”
The doorkeeper, a big, thick woman with an extremely rough voice, was very uncomfortable to hear this voice with its shrillness and did not open the door immediately, but looked out through the crack.
He saw an old man with a white face and a bent back standing in the doorway, and he looked like he had been working as a servant for many years.
How could such a man be a friend of his own master?
His eyes rolled, “What is your surname and where do you come from, I will go and tell my master.”
“You can just tell Commander Liu that my surname is Huang.”
The granny skimmed her lips and went to report without delay.
Liu Ying had hatred in his heart and would go to the backyard every day to practice martial arts to vent it out, and today was no exception.
Halfway through the practice, the housekeeper hurriedly came over, “Master, the old lady guarding the side door said there was a man surnamed Huang who claimed to be your friend and wanted to see you. ”
“Surnamed Huang?”
Liu Ying went through all the people he knew in his head, but he couldn’t think of a friend surnamed Huang.
“Go and see, who is it?”
The housekeeper hurriedly went to the side door and asked the old lady to open it to have a look.
“Huang Gong ……”
Eunuch Huang made a gesture of silence.
The butler swallowed back the word Gong at the end and respectfully invited the man in, and after arranging it, he quickly ran to the martial arts training ground, “Master, it’s Eunuch Huang from the Emperor’s side.”
The large sword in Liu Ying’s hand almost flew out.
He withdrew his stance and put the sword down on the weapons rack, not even bothering to wipe off his sweat, as he put on his clothes and walked quickly to the flower hall.
When he saw Eunuch Huang in his regular clothes, his eyes flashed and he bowed, “Greetings, Eunuch Huang.”