Phoenix Ascending

The other officials laughed. “That’s right. The fourth prince seems like a good candidate. He’s polite and friendly to others. While the second prince and the third prince were at each other’s throat, he stayed loyally at the emperor’s side, attending to his needs as he recovered. Never has the young prince done anything untowards. Besides, no one knows exactly what happened during the second prince’s coup. Whatever we say does nothing but to challenge the authority.”

Another man who believed that Qi Yun had been pulling the strings spoke up, “The rule of thumb is to ask who’s the one who benefits. Think about it. The fourth prince must be the one behind everything. He just managed to hide from us until now. It’s chilling to think of the possibility, doesn’t it?”

The room fell silent. No one could come to an agreement, but the points brought up were worthy of consideration. As the man had said, Qi Yun was the one who ended up benefitting. He seemed to have done nothing, and yet he became the biggest winner. That shouldn’t happen to a young man obsessed with arts and literature. Perhaps he truly was the shrewdest of all the princes.

The officials broke into sweat. A trace of doubt snuck into their hearts. They feared that they might suffer the same fate as Qi Chen if they got on Qi Yun’s bad side.

The officials had agreed to stay put until the emperor decided on the crown prince. They’d see where the currents go. The one thing they mustn’t do was to offend Qi Yun. Even those who had been friendly with Qi Yun started dreading him.