After being forced into a marriage with a wealthy family, the virtuous wife caused a huge uproar.

Yuwen Yi narrowed his eyes dangerously, considering this possibility.

"Your Highness, I have also received information that the Fourth Prince's crippled legs on the battlefield were a result of your secret planning."

The Fourth Prince has already discovered this information, so I believe that what happened last night was very likely the Fourth Prince's doing, with the aim of retaliating against you for harming him." Du Liangyu only obtained this information by chance today after carefully investigating last night's events.

"What did you say?" Yuwen Yi asked incredulously. "I didn't arrange for anyone to cripple the Fourth Prince. He's nothing but a dog, a lowly prince whom Father Emperor has despised since childhood. Why would I waste my time on him?"

"Your Highness, you really didn't do it?" Du Liangyu was stunned, but the clues he found pointed directly to the Crown Prince.

"Whether I've done it or not, do you think I don't know?" Yuwen Yi said with certainty.

The Empress had no children, and his birth mother was a Consort. No one else would dare to compete with him for the throne.

The mother deliberately kept that lowly servant girl to avoid arousing suspicion. If the emperor had no other sons besides her, the matter would be too obvious, making it impossible to prevent people from thinking about the mother.

If he ascends the throne and the fourth prince gets in his way, it will be easy to kill him.

"Could it be Consort Cao?" Seeing the Crown Prince speak with such certainty, Du Liangyu turned her attention to Consort Cao.

"Impossible. If Mother were to do this, she would definitely consult with me first."

Du Liangyu was at a loss for words.

The two remained silent for a long time.

Finally, Du Liangyu spoke first: "Your Highness, it seems that our opponents are not only the Emperor and Gu Ce, but there may also be a deeply hidden third party that we are unaware of."

Du Liangyu, as the Crown Prince's Chamberlain, had served Yuwen Yi for many years. As the Crown Prince's confidant, he knew that their fates were intertwined and had always done his best to serve the Crown Prince.

It was only today that he discovered the existence of a third-party force, which is a serious dereliction of duty on his part.

"I have also considered this possibility. Starting today, expand the scope of your investigation and do not miss any clues."

We also need to keep an eye on the fourth prince. Since you say he was the one who did it last night, let's teach him a lesson he'll never forget tonight.” Yuwen Yi felt his position as crown prince was threatened.

He would never tolerate such a threat.

The two discussed the matter.

Honghao Building.

While listening to the gossip outside, Rong Yingluo and the other two ate and chatted, discussing how their escort agency should develop in the future.

Li Xuanye promised to send a martial arts master to the escort agency to train the escorts and improve their martial skills.

Just then, Gu Ce, who had come out of the palace, walked in.

As soon as he left the palace, An Yi told him that his wife was dining at Honghao Restaurant, so he came.

"Oh, the Prime Minister has arrived, please have a seat." Li Xuanye quickly adapted to his role as the Prime Minister's Chief Secretary and took the initiative to pull out a chair for him, but unfortunately Rong Yingluo was not by his side.

"Why aren't you at home helping me with official business? What are you doing here?" Gu Ce didn't care about his little tricks and sat down casually with a flick of his robe.

"Isn't it because the Prime Minister's wife wanted to come out and listen to gossip? I brought it over for you and also got to mooch lunch." Li Xuanye, that slick soldier, started showing off.

"Husband, has the Emperor accepted the land deed?" This was Rong Yingluo's biggest concern.

They worked all night, but little did they expect the emperor to actually accept it; it was merely a show of loyalty, a mere formality.

"No." Gu Ce poured himself a full cup of tea, and surprisingly, he sensed that his wife was greedy for money.

"Great, our efforts weren't in vain." Rong Yingluo was overjoyed.

"However, His Majesty only asked for 20% of the shares, instructing us to manage the business well." Gu Ce picked up his teacup and took a sip.

"Haha, with the Emperor's investment, the Heaven and Earth Gambling House can now open openly. Quick, let's discuss how to get it up and running." Li Xuanye was very excited.

"Don't forget, my men deserve the most credit. If it weren't for Ling Feng's amazing gambling skills, we wouldn't have had such a smooth run last night. So I should take the lion's share." Rong Yingluo hadn't forgotten that Ling Feng was the biggest contributor to this operation.

"Then how do you think it should be allocated?" Gu Ce asked with a doting smile in his eyes.

"How about this, Ling Feng and I will take 30%, and the remaining half can be divided among the three of you?" Rong Yingluo wasn't greedy, and with Gu Ce's share added, they would get the lion's share.

"I only need 10%, and Prince Li and the Fourth Prince can each take 20%." Gu Ce was embarrassed to ask for more.

The lady said it was for Ling Feng, but it's actually in their hands. They already have 40%, which is enough.

"Okay, I have no objection," Li Xuanye agreed.

Yuwen Zhang had no objections. He owed his success to the little fairy.

Just as the group finished their discussion, Zhong Sheng entered.

Now that Gu Ce has several people around him, Zhong Sheng spends less time with Gu Ce and mainly helps him gather information.

"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince may very well have guessed that what happened last night was the work of the Fourth Prince."

The people the Fourth Prince brought were all disabled, making their physical characteristics all too obvious.

"When I saw that the Crown Prince's residence sent people to the residence of the Director of the Arsenal, I guessed that the weapons the Fourth Prince's men were carrying were borrowed from the Arsenal," Zhong Sheng said.

The Crown Prince is ruthless; he doesn't need a reason to bully the Fourth Prince.

"Fourth Prince, you must strengthen the defenses of your residence, lest the Crown Prince destroy it." Li Xuanye seemed to want to see others make a fool of themselves.

"Don't worry, I'm not a pitiful little thing anymore," Yuwen Zhang said confidently.

After saying these words, Yuwen Zhang had someone push him away.

Rong Yingluo knew that he had taken Zhong Sheng's words to heart and that he needed to hurry back to make preparations.

"Oh, right, Prince Li, remember to bring back my dowry that ended up in the gambling den." Rong Yingluo stood up. "Husband, come with me to buy a compass. I didn't have time to ask the shopkeeper if they had any when we went to the Treasure Shop the other day."

Although Gu Ce had things to do, he had to accompany his wife first since she had other matters to attend to. He gave Li Xuan Ye a few instructions and then left.

Li Xuanye felt like a pitiful nobody, and he slunk off to do what Rong Yingluo had asked him to do, hoping to take the opportunity to steal a painting by the Hermit of Lingyin.

The couple visited Baibaozhai again.

The shopkeeper was even more enthusiastic when he saw that it was the couple.

"Lord Gu, Madam Gu, I have kept both paintings. Our master left a message inviting you both to his residence for a chat. Do you have the time?" The shopkeeper smiled obsequiously.

"Shopkeeper, your boss is Old Prince An, right?" Gu Ce had already investigated the shop's situation.

"Indeed, the old prince was ill a few days ago and is still not feeling well, so we can only ask you two to make a trip to the Prince An's residence." The shopkeeper handed over the two paintings without being arrogant because he was from the Prince An's residence.

In fact, he was a servant born into the Prince An's household, but he couldn't admit to being a slave to outsiders; he had to address his master as "Master".

"Since that's the case, let's go now, is that convenient?" Now that he was out, Gu Ce didn't want to make another appointment.

The old Prince An was just a leisurely prince, and being quite old, he rarely left his residence.

"Of course you can. The old prince said that you are now the prime minister and have many official duties to attend to. You can come to the mansion at any time." The shopkeeper gestured for them to come, as he wanted to personally lead the couple there.

"Shopkeeper, do you have a compass in your shop? I came here today mainly to buy one." Rong Yingluo didn't forget her business.