Reborn into the Harem of the Enemy Nation’s Prince CHAPTER 54

Chapter 54: The Deal Between Jiang Yingnan and Chu Lianmo

The woman finally shifted her gaze from her own child, lifting her tear-filled eyes to look at the little boy who was staring at her timidly, his face streaked with tears.

Her maternal instinct was instantly awakened. She finally let go of the already cold corpse and pulled the little boy into her embrace. “Poor child!”

Seizing the opportunity, Qi Xiaojun picked up her child’s body and handed it to the officials. “We will give him a proper burial.”

“…Thank you.” The woman raised her eyes to look at Qi Xiaojun, her previously lifeless gaze finally regaining some light. Qi Xiaojun knew she had found a reason to live again.

Ji Hua smiled at Qi Xiaojun. “I only know how to treat illnesses. I knew you’d have a way with these things.”

Qi Xiaojun could only offer a bitter smile.

He had indeed solved one problem, but there were still far too many problems remaining—

Could the woman really raise a child alone? Would she remarry? If she did, would her new husband treat the child well? How would those who lost their ability to work support their parents and raise their children? How would the elderly who lost their children face their future lives?

The lives of these refugees had been forever changed, and countless difficulties lay ahead.

And the instigators of all this were Chu Ziqian and Chu Weide.

With a heavy heart, Qi Xiaojun led Chu Tianlin and Jiang Yingnan away from the place. “Did you know? I heard from His Highness yesterday that the former River Transport Governor, Zheng Demin, was recommended by Prince De. The tragedy of the dam collapse was caused by Zheng Demin cutting corners and substituting materials, and this matter was very likely instigated by the Crown Prince.”

“…No… Impossible…” Chu Tianlin’s face instantly turned pale. “Are they… really that kind of people?!”

“What do you think?” Qi Xiaojun looked at Jiang Yingnan, who was solemn and silent.

“…Let’s talk about it when we get back.” Jiang Yingnan finally spoke, his voice somewhat hoarse. “I want to make a deal with Prince Rui. If the deal is reached, I will tell you everything I know.”

“Alright.” Qi Xiaojun nodded.

He knew that Jiang Yingnan had grown up educated by his father to love his country and its people. In fact, his nature was kind, and he also couldn’t tolerate such things.

So, some things needed a resolution.

That evening, Jiang Yingnan met with Chu Lianmo behind closed doors to discuss the deal.

“I can help you pull Chu Ziqian down from the position of Crown Prince,” Jiang Yingnan got straight to the point. “But you must promise me that after it’s done, you will spare his life.”

Chu Lianmo frowned. “Can you still not let go of him even now? A life for a life is only right!”

“He didn’t intentionally want to kill those people!” Jiang Yingnan’s eyes reddened. “I think he is also very sad that such a thing happened… His judgment at the time was that using slightly inferior materials to save money wouldn’t cause problems in the short term. Once he could rest easy, he planned to rebuild the dam… He really needed that money at the time, he also had his helplessness…”

“What did he need that money for?” Chu Lianmo interrupted Jiang Yingnan. “The Crown Prince’s residence already has so much money, isn’t it enough for him?”

“…I don’t know. I really don’t know. He doesn’t tell me everything.”

Chu Lianmo didn’t doubt this. Chu Ziqian didn’t absolutely trust anyone in the world; Jiang Yingnan was already the person he trusted relatively the most.

“Prince Rui, do you still need me to continue telling you the information I know? If you do, please agree to my conditions.”

“…” Chu Lianmo pondered for a moment.

“Your Highness, you and Chu Ziqian are brothers who grew up together. Do you really not understand him at all? He also aspired to be a good Crown Prince who loved his people like his own children. But many things happened later that were out of his control, especially your existence made him deeply apprehensive. He was forced to take risks out of desperation!”

Hearing these words, Chu Lianmo sighed silently in his heart.

Ideally, the intelligence Jiang Yingnan held was crucial to him right now; emotionally, he indeed didn’t want to bear the charge of fratricide.

“Fine,” Chu Lianmo finally made a decision. “This Prince agrees to your condition. But this Prince can only spare his life; nothing else can be kept.”

“Thank you, Prince Rui.” Jiang Yingnan smiled, but there was a hint of bitterness in his smile. “I didn’t need anything else from him anyway; those were just burdens to me… Alright, let’s get down to business…”

Then Jiang Yingnan continued with the main topic:

“As Your Highness guessed, Zheng Demin’s official position was indeed bought from Chu Ziqian and Chu Weide, and most of the silver he embezzled did end up in Chu Ziqian’s hands.

“There are two account books in the Crown Prince’s residence. One is the public record of income and expenses, kept in the accounting room; the other, the more genuine one, includes these illicit incomes.”

Chu Lianmo hurriedly asked, “Where is the other account book?”

“In his own room, kept personally by him.”

Chu Lianmo pondered for a moment. “Then this Prince will find a way to have someone steal it.”

Jiang Yingnan frowned. “I’m afraid that will be very difficult. The Crown Prince’s residence has always been heavily guarded. How can you send someone to sneak in? In my opinion, it would be better for me to go to the Emperor personally and repeat what I just said, and have him order a search for the account book.”

Chu Lianmo gave a bitter smile. “Are you sure Royal Father will give that order instead of shielding his precious Crown Prince? Be careful you don’t end up charged with framing the Crown Prince. In this Prince’s opinion, getting the account book ourselves is the best strategy.”

“I can go steal it!” Chu Tianlin’s voice suddenly came from outside the window.

Chu Lianmo was startled and said sternly, “Who allowed you to eavesdrop on our conversation!”

“Who told you to stop halfway?” Chu Tianlin walked in through the door, looking aggrieved. “You said my dad and the others aren’t good people, but you won’t let me understand the whole story. What choice did I have but to listen for myself?”

“…You just said you could steal the account book?” Chu Lianmo suddenly remembered that Chu Tianlin was currently living in the Crown Prince’s residence.

“That’s right! I know you all look down on me and think I’m useless… Hmph, I’m not. I can be useful too.”

“Alright, then give it a try.” Chu Lianmo nodded.

Qi Xiaojun was somewhat worried upon learning about this. “Isn’t this too dangerous? Will the Crown Prince hurt Lin’er if he finds out?”

“Heh,” Chu Lianmo smiled dismissively. “Chu Ziqian still counts on him to be his only heir. At most, he’ll hit him a couple of times. Could he kill him? Besides, now that Chu Ziqian and Chu Weide are almost at odds, even if just to avoid a complete fallout with Chu Weide, he can’t do anything to Lin’er. Moreover, that’s his mother’s precious grandson.”

Chu Lianmo understood clearly that the person Chu Ziqian dared not offend the most in this world was his mother. He did whatever his mother told him to do, even offending his father to plead for his uncle back then.

“That’s true.” Qi Xiaojun offered no further objections.

The next morning, taking advantage of Chu Ziqian’s absence, Chu Tianlin sneaked into his room to steal the account book.

He rummaged through the boxes and cabinets in Chu Ziqian’s room and finally found a book pressed under a sachet. He flipped through it, and it was indeed an account book.

Chu Tianlin happily took the account book and ran to Prince Rui’s residence to give it to Chu Lianmo.

He also mentioned the sachet: “It’s quite nice looking, but it doesn’t seem very valuable. I don’t know why Father put it together with such an important account book?”

Hearing this, Jiang Yingnan felt a sudden pang of sadness in his heart. Because that sachet was embroidered by him personally for Chu Ziqian.

But at the moment, he just said indifferently, “It’s good that you got the account book; other things aren’t important. However, Prince Rui, with the Crown Prince’s alertness, he’ll probably discover it soon. You need to forge a fake one for Lin’er to put back.”

“I’ll do it.” Qi Xiaojun volunteered. “I have some experience with forging handwriting.”

“Oh?” Chu Lianmo was somewhat curious. “Ah Jun, how do you have experience with this?”

Qi Xiaojun leaned close to Chu Lianmo’s ear and whispered, “Before, to avoid blowing my cover, I spent a long time researching how to imitate Zhou Jun’s handwriting.”

“So that’s it.” Chu Lianmo instantly understood, and then suddenly remembered something, smiling playfully. “But the novel you wrote, the handwriting didn’t look like yours or Zhou Jun’s?”

“…That was written with my left hand.” Qi Xiaojun didn’t want to recall that dark history.

Chu Lianmo chuckled with appreciation. “I didn’t expect your left-handed writing to be so beautiful.”

“What secrets are you whispering about!” Chu Tianlin interrupted impatiently. “Aren’t we supposed to forge a fake one? Hurry up, or I’ll be in trouble if Father finds out!”

“Okay, okay, I’m going right now.”

So Qi Xiaojun immediately went to imitate the account book.

He specially found yellowish paper similar to the original, copied the same content in similar handwriting, and tried to make the binding as identical as possible.

Although it couldn’t be said to be flawless, it shouldn’t be difficult to fool Chu Ziqian for a while.

After handing the fake account book to Chu Tianlin to take back to the Crown Prince’s residence, Chu Lianmo and Qi Xiaojun finally had time to study the contents of the account book carefully.

Then they discovered that Chu Ziqian selling official positions wasn’t a one-time thing. It had been especially frequent recently.

“This Crown Prince!” Chu Lianmo slammed the account book heavily on the table. “If this continues, who knows how many innocent people will be killed! No, this Prince must solve this problem as soon as possible.”

“Then, Lianmo, how do you plan to solve it? Do you want to…” Qi Xiaojun paused, “show the account book to the Emperor?”

“…Sigh.” Chu Lianmo sighed, showing some hesitation. “This Prince still needs to test Royal Father’s attitude first. This Prince will take Ying Dong into the palace now.”

It was getting late, but Chu Lianmo didn’t want to delay this matter, so he took Ying Dong into the palace overnight.

He instructed Ying Dong to wait outside, and then went to see Emperor Chu Wen alone first.

“Mo’er, it’s so late. Do you have something important?”

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