Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

The eldest prince initially thought it was Zhou Linlang's doing, since this was aimed at Zhou Linlang. However, Zhou Linlang didn't come, but Qingcao did. No matter how you look at it, it must have been Zhou Linlang who did it.

But according to the servants, Zhou Linlang fainted by the roadside, which doesn't seem like Zhou Linlang did it, since she fainted according to his plan. So, who knocked Qingcao unconscious and put her on that bed?
Even if the eldest prince were incredibly intelligent, he wouldn't be able to figure out the intricacies of the situation—which is understandable, since it was actually the robots who did all of this, and he couldn't possibly come up with this detail no matter how hard he tried.

He only thought that it was probably the work of one of his good brothers. He guessed that when Zhou Linlang fainted, he felt that something was wrong, so he quickly made Zhou Linlang's maid faint as well, and then sent Zhou Linlang's maid over to save Zhou Linlang. In the future, they will have a chance to be with Zhou Linlang.

I don't know why he saved Zhou Linlang but didn't show up, since this was a great opportunity to improve Zhou Linlang's image.

How did he know about his and Qingcao's plan, and how did he put Qingcao on the bed he had arranged in advance?

However, he didn't have time to figure all this out at that moment; all he knew was that he was about to be scolded by his father again.

After all, when he goes to someone's banquet and everyone else is eating and drinking peacefully, does he really think he can do something like sleeping with someone's maid?
Originally, in his plan, after he tricked Linlang into doing this, even though his people discovered it, the Zhou family would definitely find a way to cover it up. Then, he would marry Zhou Linlang to him. Even if his father heard about it, seeing that Zhou Linlang was with him, he wouldn't do anything to him. He might even praise his own clever methods.

But now, the person with him is not Zhou Linlang, but her maid Qingcao, and the maid who poisoned people. The Zhou family will definitely be furious and will punish this maid. In that case, they will definitely not help him suppress this matter. His father will definitely know everything and will surely scold him for being out of his mind.

Constantly calling him stupid would greatly damage his reputation. Who would be willing to side with someone who was constantly being called stupid by the emperor? Thinking this, the eldest prince became anxious and began to consider how to resolve the matter.

As expected, after Madam Zhou invited Qingcao over, the evidence was laid bare before her, and Qingcao couldn't deny it no matter what. In the end, Madam Zhou pretended to be kind and asked the eldest prince, "Although this maid is Your Highness's favorite, I shouldn't hold her responsible. However, she betrayed her master and poisoned my daughter, which is unacceptable no matter what. So, please give your instructions on how to handle this matter, Your Highness."

This person actually regards Qingcao as the Crown Prince, so let the Crown Prince speak.

Could the First Prince simply let this matter drop? There were so many people present, all servants and members of the Zhou family. If he said he wouldn't deal with it and would take Qingcao away, his infamy would spread throughout the capital tomorrow. How could he do something so harmful to others and himself? So, ignoring Qingcao's pleading eyes, the First Prince pondered for a while and could only say, "Although I had feelings for Miss Qingcao, I was unaware that she had committed such a crime. Since she is a servant of the household, I cannot plead for her. The Duchess should handle this impartially."

The eldest prince didn't deny his affair with Qingcao, nor did he say that someone had framed him by drugging Qingcao and placing her on his bed. If he did, the subsequent investigation would reveal that the two had been together for a long time. If Qingcao hadn't gone to his bed this time, who was he trying to fool around with? It would be easy for people to recall Linlang, who had been drugged by Qingcao, and to think that he might have instructed Qingcao to drug Linlang and bring her to his bed, where she somehow became Qingcao.

So he simply admitted to the matter, but denied knowing that Qingcao had poisoned Linlang. He thought about it carefully and realized that Qingcao probably had no evidence that he had poisoned her. If he denied it, even if Qingcao panicked and tried to retaliate, she wouldn't succeed.

It has to be said that the First Prince was right. Now that Madam Zhou was demanding an explanation from the First Prince, Qingcao looked at him expectantly. After all, if the First Prince simply said that she was his person and took her away, what could Madam Zhou do to her? Madam Zhou dared not compete with the First Prince for her.

As a result, what was clearly a simple matter for the eldest prince was not helped by him. Instead, he handed her over directly, which chilled her to the bone. She knew that once she fell into the hands of Madam Zhou, even if Madam Zhou beat her to death for poisoning Zhou Linlang, no one would think she had done anything wrong.

Even if they don't kill her, but hand her over to the authorities, she won't survive because she poisoned her master.

Seeing that she was about to die, and all her glory, wealth, and even her dream of becoming Empress Dowager were shattered, Qingcao was unwilling to accept it. She immediately jumped up and said, "It was the First Prince who instructed me. He told me to poison Miss, to make her unconscious, and send her to his bed so that he could force the Zhou family to marry Miss to him. Then he could gain the support of the Zhou family and ascend to the throne. But somehow, I ended up in his bed. Even if it was wrong of me to poison her, the person who instructed me was the First Prince! He is also the murderer."

Upon hearing this, Madam Zhou and Master Zhou couldn't help but look coldly at the eldest prince.

They had suspected this before, but without evidence, they couldn't make wild guesses about a prince. But now, after hearing Qingcao's accusations, they knew that the truth was probably like this. They just didn't know who had protected their daughter and prevented this guy from succeeding.

Upon hearing Qingcao's accusations, the First Prince could not possibly admit it. He immediately said, "Absolutely not. This maidservant saw that she had no way out and deliberately implicated me. Your Excellency is wise."

Since there's no evidence, I can just deny it. Does the Zhou family dare to torture me and force me to admit it?
Master Zhou certainly didn't have the guts, but now that he knew the truth, he would have plenty of opportunities to deal with the eldest prince. Did the eldest prince think that he could get away with it just by denying it?
Master Zhou couldn't help but sneer, but he didn't say anything about it. After exchanging a glance with Madam Zhou, he said with a smile, "Of course, how could I believe the slander of a mere servant?"

As expected, the eldest prince nodded in satisfaction when he saw that the Zhou family dared not cause him any trouble. Relieved, he quickly left, citing that the Zhou family had to deal with some family matters and that he should not stay any longer.

Today was a terrible day. His plans failed, and this happened. He'd definitely be scolded by his father, and that would be the real problem. He needed to hurry home and work with his advisors to figure out a way to get past his father. (End of Chapter)