Chapter 75: The Fake Princess and His God of War Prince (Part 32)
“Your Majesty, please investigate clearly!!! That gyrfalcon was bestowed upon my father by You back then. It has been docile for so many years. Yesterday, for some unknown reason, it suddenly went mad during feeding, rushed out of its cage, and has not returned since! My father is wrongly accused!”
Concubine Cao refused to admit to using her maternal family to strike at the princes.
The Emperor had lost three sons in succession. Counting the Third Prince who had died earlier, the palace had held four grand funerals in less than a year. He had no heart left to deal with Concubine Cao’s excuses.
“He can’t even watch a bird properly; does We still expect him to serve the country? Tell him to go home and retire early.”
After these words were spoken, that very afternoon, Concubine Cao claimed illness.
When the Imperial Physician went to attend to Concubine Cao, the Empress led the various concubines to visit her. As a result, someone accidentally knocked over an orchid on Concubine Cao’s windowsill.
The flowerpot shattered, and a paper packet was found stuffed in the soil.
The Empress ordered someone to bring the packet over, only to find it contained some white powder. Upon inspection by the Imperial Physician, it turned out to be identical to the drug that had killed the Fourth Prince.
With irrefutable evidence, Concubine Cao couldn’t argue her way out. The Emperor immediately decreed a bestowal of poisoned wine, sending Concubine Cao to the afterlife.
Anyone with eyes could see that Concubine Cao’s actions were for the sake of the Eleventh Prince.
The Emperor was seriously ill now. These people were so impatient, hoping for his early death. Touching the Emperor’s reverse scale meant no one would get a good end. Although the Eleventh Prince seemed innocent, being implicated by his mother meant that even if the Imperial Family’s face needed saving, he still ended up with life imprisonment.
As for when he would go to keep his deceased brothers company, that was unknown.
The Emperor had thirteen sons.
The Second Prince died young. Little Twelve was just a child, his height barely past an adult man’s waist. Little Thirteen didn’t even need mentioning; a son of old age, he couldn’t even speak clearly yet.
Calculating it out, besides the Crown Prince and Xiao Ji, only the Sixth, Seventh, and Tenth Princes remained to be dealt with.
[Are you striking a bit too fast?] 037 had been truly frightened by Xiao Ji recently.
Xiao Ji leaned back in his chair, shaking the lot container in his hand. A bamboo lot fell out. He picked it up and looked at it; it was the character for [Six].
While rubbing the indented red number with his thumb, he said airily:
[I can’t make him wait too long. He will miss me.]
037 knew then that Xiao Ji was missing Xiang Yinnian.
But perhaps the Sixth Prince had good luck.
Before Xiao Ji could make a move on him, the Sixth Prince had an accident himself during mounted archery. Distracted, he made an error and fell from his horse, breaking his leg. The entire calf was bent forward; it was basically hopeless.
Those with disabilities could not inherit the throne. Xiao Ji was kind-hearted and wouldn’t relentlessly exterminate someone when it wasn’t necessary, so he let the Sixth Prince keep his life.
Thus, only the last three obstacles remained.
The changes some time ago came suddenly, catching everyone off guard. Now that the situation had evolved to this point, playing defense was clearly too passive.
The first person to realize that all the changes began after Xiao Ji returned to the palace, and who decided not to sit and wait for death but to take the initiative, was the Seventh Prince, Xiao Yu.
Although there was no solid evidence, and Xiao Ji had indeed not stepped past his second gate since returning, people have intuition, and Xiao Yu’s intuition had always been keen.
Unfortunately, in this era where communication was extremely backward, no one would suspect every bird landing on windowsills, under eaves, or on treetops.
While the Seventh Prince was talking with his strategist, trying to think of a way to get the Emperor to hold a ritual altar and point to Xiao Ji as Great Yue’s calamity star, a Brown Shrike landed in front of him, pecking around in the snack plate he had placed on the table.
After being discovered, it didn’t fly away. Instead, it tilted its head to look at Xiao Yu and opened its beak.
Xiao Yu casually broke off a piece of pastry and poured out the filling to feed it.
The Shrike finished the snack, landed on Xiao Yu’s head, wiped its beak, flapped its wings, and flew away.
And so, three days later, when a certain “high master” entered the palace and opened the altar for the ritual, the compass that had long been rigged to point constantly at Xiao Ji’s Mingyue Palace refused to obey orders.
It spun wildly, eventually snapping the mechanism inside and stopping right in front of the Emperor.
The Emperor flew into a rage and immediately had this “high master” thrown into the dungeon, ordering the Court of Judicial Review to investigate overnight where this demon priest came from.
This investigation revealed that the Tenth Prince’s aunt had been constantly offering incense and donations at that demon priest’s temple.
There were plenty of people in the palace willing to loot a burning house and kick someone when they were down. Once this matter came out, the Tenth Prince couldn’t wash himself clean even if he jumped into the Yellow River.
Xiao Yu couldn’t sleep peacefully for three full days, feeling that Xiao Ji was incredibly ominous.
Thinking it over, he invited Xiao Ji to meet at the Tianxiang Pavilion outside the palace.
The stated reason was to strengthen brotherly bonds.
Xiao Ji happily accepted the invitation. Sitting in front of Xiao Yu, he only drank tea and didn’t speak.
There were only Xiao Ji and Xiao Yu in the private room. It was on the top floor, with no screens, and the guards outside were all Xiao Yu’s men.
“In just over a month, of all our brothers, only you, me, and the Crown Prince are left who can speak,” Xiao Yu said, breaking the silence first.
Xiao Ji nodded. “Truly, worldly affairs are impermanent.”
Xiao Yu looked at Xiao Ji. “I always feel there’s something strange. calculating it, everything happened after you returned to the palace.”
Xiao Ji didn’t deny it. “Yes, who could have imagined that?”
Seeing Xiao Ji simply not taking the bait, Xiao Yu changed his tactic, retreating to advance. “Born into the Imperial Family, I’ve seen enough dark schemes since childhood. I’m tired of it. Now I only hope Father’s health recovers soon, so I can make some achievements, be named a Prince in a few years, and go to my fiefdom to live a carefree life.”
Xiao Ji sipped his tea. “Me too.”
While secretly cursing Xiao Ji for being obstinate, Xiao Yu let out a light chuckle on the surface. “What I mean is, I ask that you and the Crown Prince show mercy and let me off.”
Xiao Ji remained calm. “Why does Seventh Brother say this?”
Only after finishing his sentence did he seem to remember something and put on a surprised expression at the right moment.
Xiao Yu looked at Xiao Ji’s demeanor and knew Xiao Ji had no intention of hiding anything from him; he just refused to say it outright.
So he opened the skylight to speak clearly:
“I’ve made my stance clear. Inviting you out for a talk is my sincerity. I have no intention of opposing you or the Crown Prince. Whether those things were done by you or not, I won’t investigate privately, nor will I point the spearhead at you. I only hope to coexist peacefully with you. Do you understand what I mean?”
Xiao Ji looked at Xiao Yu. “Then why did Seventh Brother use the ritual altar matter to frame Tenth Brother?”
Xiao Ji’s words were very definite. The playful look in his expression seemed to be waiting for Xiao Yu to deny it, so he could list out all his actions and expose him.
But Xiao Yu wasn’t a fool either.
Before Xiao Ji produced solid evidence, there was no guarantee he wasn’t bluffing.
So Xiao Yu simply said, “Ninth Brother, you can’t speak carelessly without evidence.”
Hearing this, Xiao Ji directly repeated, word for word and without emotion, the details of the plan Xiao Yu had discussed with his strategist a few days ago.
Xiao Yu’s face gradually stiffened.
That day, when he discussed the matter with his strategist, not a living soul was left within a radius of ten zhang. Even if there were spies, it was absolutely impossible for them to repeat the matter in such detail.
When Xiao Ji reached a critical point, Xiao Yu interrupted him:
“Is Liu Wei your man?”
Xiao Ji didn’t know who Liu Wei was, but if he guessed correctly, it was the strategist Little Cui had told him about earlier.
He denied it immediately. “No.”
Sure enough, Xiao Yu didn’t believe him at all. The more Xiao Ji denied it, the less he believed it.
Xiao Ji quit while he was ahead, not wasting too much time on the same issue. He simply asked:
“If Brother’s mind is pure, why go to the trouble of doing such things?”
Seeing that Xiao Ji already held leverage over him, Xiao Yu could only grit his teeth and show weakness.
“Everyone in the palace is in danger now; no one knows who will be next. I truly have no intention of fighting for the succession; I just wanted to save my life.”
Xiao Ji understood. “Ever since I returned to the palace, strange things have indeed happened one after another. But I haven’t stepped out of my doors. Having been away from the capital for so long, it is an indisputable fact that I have no one to use. Has Seventh Brother ever considered that someone is deliberately taking advantage of my return to start acting, with the goal of pushing the blame onto me, leaving me unable to defend myself?”
Xiao Yu narrowed his phoenix eyes. “You’re referring to?”
Xiao Ji shook his head. “I don’t know, nor do I wish to get involved. I only wish to still be alive when the dust settles, to live a life as an idle cloud and wild crane.”
Xiao Yu had come to probe Xiao Ji, but by the end of the meal, much of his own business had been exposed, while he hadn’t managed to get a single useful sentence out of Xiao Ji.
Xiao Yu was unsettled and left the table early.
After his figure appeared outside the Tianxiang Pavilion, got into his carriage, and headed all the way toward the Imperial Palace, Xiao Ji suddenly spoke again:
“Come out. You’ve heard what you should and shouldn’t have heard, Governor. I assume you know how to report back to Father now.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a figure flipped in through the window that had been wide open the entire time.
It was none other than the Governor of the Night Watch Bureau, who had nearly met with disaster alongside the Eighth Prince not long ago.
He bowed to Xiao Ji. “Rest assured, Ninth Highness. This subject will report truthfully to His Majesty.”
Recommended Reads
![Enemies on a Narrow Road [Esports]](https://beereads.space/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/enemies-on-a-narrow-road-214x300.jpg)
![[ABO] After Accidental Marking, I Became Everyone’s Darling](https://beereads.space/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ABO-225x300.jpeg)
![Does A Broken Mirror Reunion Exist in Esports? [Esports]](https://beereads.space/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/esports-225x300.png)