The weak princess is super fierce

Chapter 958 Huachun Palace

Ji Kuan replied, "It's impossible to find out the specifics. Judging from the scene where the house was razed to the ground, and based on what I learned from the neighbors, people who saw it from afar outside the alley, and people who heard the house collapse, it must have been swept and crushed by a huge external force, and razed to the ground in an instant."

Li Shou recalled Meng Shisan's words: "Did any of the witnesses see anything that shouldn't have been above the houses...?"

"Something that shouldn't be above the houses?" Ji Kuan repeated. "What does Your Highness know?"

After asking, he also thought of Meng Shisan: "Did Miss Meng reveal something to His Highness?"

“Yaoyao said that half of a black shadow fell from the sky and crushed the house into a pile of dust.” Li Shou told Ji Kuan frankly, “Go and check in this direction again… ask around and see if there are any witnesses. If there are, find out the details and tell them not to spread the word, so as not to cause unnecessary panic. If not, then let it go.”

"Yes." Ji Kuan understood.

Li Shou asked, "Has this matter reached Father Emperor's ears?"

“When I entered the palace gate, I happened to run into Chief Min, who entered the palace one after the other.” Ji Kuan frowned slightly. “I was heading towards the East Palace, while he was heading towards the Imperial Study. At this time, His Majesty must already know.”

When Min Fan left the palace, both Li Shou and Ji Kuan knew that Min Fan had left the palace on the emperor's orders, because he had heard of Li Heng's death.

As for how the news of Li Heng's death reached Emperor Zong's ears, he had also asked Ji Kuan to find out: "Has anyone been found out who was the first person to report to Father Emperor?"

“I found it.” Ji Kuan had been the commander of the Eastern Palace guards for quite some time. The longer he served in the palace, the more influential he became, and the more people he offended. But this did not hinder his convenience or his access to information. “At lunchtime, His Majesty had lunch at Qianhe Palace, and was served by Imperial Attendant Tong.”

Li Shou understood: "Before this, had someone from Consort De's side come to see Imperial Attendant Tong?"

"Xu Huiren from Huachun Palace has contacted Imperial Attendant Tong." Ji Kuan knew more or less about the female officials, maids, and eunuchs in Consort Shi's Huachun Palace, if not all of them. "The person was contacted in the morning. At that time, Young Master Meng had already been tied up and secretly placed in a room by the Second Prince. At lunchtime, Miss Meng had not yet received the Second Prince's condition of exchanging people for him."

"So, Father Emperor already knew about A-Kang's kidnapping by Second Prince through Imperial Attendant Tong during his lunch break." Li Shou sorted things out and then asked, "After Xu Huiren's house was razed to the ground in the late afternoon, did she go to Imperial Attendant Tong again?"

"I've looked into it." After Ji Kuan discovered Xu Huiren's dealings with Attendant Tong, he assigned a guard from the Eastern Palace to keep a close watch on her. The surveillance was conducted with extreme caution, and no one was alerted, neither in Huachun Palace nor Qianhe Palace. "Xu Huiren delivered two messages, both times handled by Attendant Tong. During that time, Chief Steward Gan didn't show his face." "Father tacitly approved it, so why would Chief Steward Gan show his face?" Li Shou scoffed. "When Father learned that my maternal grandfather's youngest grandson had been kidnapped and his life was in danger, he didn't take any action. But when he learned that my beloved second brother might be in danger, he quickly dispatched Chief Min."

Unfortunately, this time it was fate, a divine punishment. No matter how skilled Min Fan was, he couldn't save Li Heng.

He further instructed, "We must find out as soon as possible whether anyone saw the half-mast of shadows that Yaoyao mentioned, apart from Yaoyao, her cousin Kang, Ma Ji, and Huang Jing."

Ji Kuan accepted the order and then asked, "What does Your Highness intend to do if no one else sees it?"

Li Shou dusted off the four-clawed dragon pattern on his sleeve: "That shadow has never existed."

Ji Kuan was somewhat confused: "Your Highness means..."

“What I mean is that my maternal grandfather has instructed the entire Meng family to spread the word that the death of my second brother was caused by the unprovoked kidnapping of the fourth young master of the Meng family, with the intention of killing him first. Then, he also wanted to eliminate the eldest young lady of the Meng family. Therefore, Heaven sent down divine punishment, razing the house to the ground and severely striking my second brother and more than twenty assassins, causing them to die tragically on the spot.” If Meng Renping were here, Li Shou would not need to explain in detail to Ji Kuan; Meng Renping would have taken care of it. However, since Meng Renping had not yet returned from Fangshan, he had to explain it to Ji Kuan in detail himself. “Yes.” Before returning to the palace to report, Ji Kuan had also heard rumors circulating among the people about the divine punishment for Li Heng’s death, which Meng Tianguan had deliberately spread. He originally thought it was Meng Tianguan’s idea, but now it seemed to be a joint strategy between His Highness and Meng Tianguan, grandfather and grandson.

"Also, keep a close eye on Consort De. After the Second Prince's funeral, it's time to find some tasks for Huachun Palace." Li Shou had previously wanted to take action against Consort Shi, but there were two reasons why he hadn't. One was that compared to Consort Shi, Li Heng was a bigger scourge, and the other was that Consort Shi had been deeply favored by his father for many years, and her evil deeds were more well hidden. If he wanted to take action against Consort Shi, he needed to plan carefully.

"Alright." Although the contest between his Highness and the Second Prince had unfolded in an unexpected way, a victory is a victory. Ji Kuan did not think that Li Heng's death was too easy. He was only worried about the Emperor's bias towards Li Heng. "Your Highness, if His Majesty is furious, will he hold Your Highness responsible?"

“If my second brother hadn’t died, I would have had to put in a lot of effort. If he has died, it wouldn’t have been because of me, but because he kidnapped my cousin Kang, which brought about divine punishment. Under such circumstances, Father has no reason to blame me.” Although he said this, Li Shou also knew what Ji Kuan was worried about. “From the moment I decided that I must bring down my second brother, I anticipated that Father would blame me for his actions. I was mentally prepared and had a plan to deal with it.”

"That's good." Ji Kuan replied, but couldn't help thinking about Meng Renping. "Chi Nan has been in Fangshan for so long, why hasn't he come back yet?"

“The evidence Shi Ju left behind before his death concerns the lives of countless people, and Chi Nan’s trip to Fangshan is not a secret. Of course, given the current situation, even if Chi Nan wanted to go to Fangshan secretly, it would be impossible to do so completely undetected.” Li Shou stated the facts and the difficulties involved. “The tough battle that I and my second brother are fighting is being watched by many people. You and Chi Nan are both close to me, and many eyes are watching you as well. Your every move will not escape their notice. Even if you manage to hide for a while, you won’t be able to hide for long. Chi Nan’s trip is destined to be difficult.”

As long as Chi Nan obtains concrete evidence of corruption in Fangshan and returns to Beijing to hand it over to him, he will not only eliminate the remaining supporters of Li Heng's camp, but also those long-standing parasites in Fangshan who are in positions of power but are not competent.

Happy National Day! Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!