With a stern expression, he slapped the table. “Cheng Lan, how dare you have an illicit affair with the guard commander Chen Qi and frame the Second Prince? Guards, take the Second Princess to Phoenix Yang Palace and await further punishment!”
What!
Phoenix Yang Palace was the prison for guilty members of the imperial clan!
A wave of immense fear surged within Cheng Lan, leaving her utterly bewildered. “No, I didn’t… I didn’t…”
Murong Chen now understood that the Emperor was shifting the blame to help him escape punishment. He thought to himself, “It was Cheng Lan who was ambitious, first having an affair with Chen Qi, then inciting him to create the dragon robe and weapons, forcing this prince—”
“Murong Chen, you despicable…” Cheng Lan lunged toward him.
However, a group of fierce guards stepped forward, covering her mouth and dragging her away.
The hall fell silent. The officials present remained calm, not even blinking an eye.
They knew Cheng Lan was being wrongfully accused.
But so what?
She was merely an insignificant daughter of a concubine—no one would care.
In their minds, they were calculating: His Majesty was determined to protect the Second Prince. If they continued to press the matter relentlessly, their own fates might not be any better than the Second Prince’s.
The Third Prince, Murong Ye, unwilling to let it go, gave a meaningful glance to his left.
A censor understood the signal and spoke up, “Your Majesty, when a prince breaks the law, he should be punished like any commoner. The Second Prince—”
The Emperor interrupted with an indifferent tone, “Lord Feng, you must be getting old and hard of hearing.”
Murong Chen chimed in, “Lord Feng must have heard that Cheng Lan has already confessed her guilt. This prince was wrongfully accused.”
Among the officials present, several couldn’t help but show looks of disdain.
To forcibly frame and incriminate one’s own wife with such despicable methods, yet still pretend as if nothing happened—it was truly an ugly display.
This Second Prince was utterly useless!
Thinking this, some of the veteran ministers decided to risk it all, stepping forward without hesitation to refute him. The Minister of Xing Bu even summoned all the servants from the Second Prince’s residence to the hall, ordering them to recount the events.
These servants’ hatred for Murong Chen outweighed their fear of the Emperor. Each of them eagerly spoke of the crimes Murong Chen had committed.
When it was revealed that Murong Chen had poisoned everyone in his residence, even the Emperor felt a surge of anger, nearly spitting out blood in fury. His residence housed over two hundred people, including guards and personal soldiers—how could such a massive loss of life be concealed!
Now that it had been exposed in front of these officials, no one could save him.
The Emperor was utterly disappointed in Murong Chen. Rubbing his temples, he waved his hand wearily. “Take the Second Prince to Phoenix Yang Palace as well.”
Murong Chen panicked. “Father, I know I was wrong. Please spare me this once—”
Before he could finish, guards stepped forward and took him away.
“Father…” The entire hall echoed with Murong Chen’s desperate cries.
The ministers and princes bowed their heads, not daring to provoke the Emperor’s wrath, but they couldn’t suppress the corners of their mouths from curling upward.
Especially the princes—they were almost laughing out loud.
Eliminating one useless prince meant greater security for the nation. For the princes, it meant one less competitor—a win-win situation.
Hidden in the shadows, Cheng Yao felt somewhat bored. The supporting female character and the male counterpart were too foolish, exiting the stage so quickly that she felt no sense of accomplishment.
At least she had already stored all the wealth from the Second Prince’s residence into her Space, which was some consolation.
As Cheng Yao pondered this, a dark shadow suddenly rushed toward her.
Her heart gave a violent leap, and in the next instant, her figure flickered as she vanished from the spot.
The hidden guard’s pupils contracted sharply. With a single palm strike, the flower stand and pot in that area were reduced to dust.
Yet, seeing no trace of anyone, the guard’s expression turned grave. He made a hand signal, and several more imposing hidden guards appeared, shielding the Emperor.
All the guards and Imperial Guards surged forward to protect the Emperor.
Panicked, the Emperor was surrounded and escorted outwards, with several ministers stepping in front to shield him. They demanded of the hidden guard, “Is there an assassin?”
Sweat beaded on the hidden guard’s forehead. “This person’s skill is extraordinary—it seems like they possess the Invisibility Art…”
“Invisibility Art?” The Emperor’s face paled. Coming and going without a trace—if such a person wanted to kill him, wouldn’t it be as easy as turning over a hand?
“Protect the Emperor! Protect the Emperor!”
Realizing the severity of the situation, the commanders of the Imperial Guards and regular guards panicked, shielding the Emperor so tightly that not a drop of water could pass through. Li Peiyun even brought Armor and a Heart-Protecting Mirror for him to wear.
Hidden in the shadows, Cheng Yao was also somewhat frightened.
Still, seeing the Dog Emperor in such disarray gave her a bit of satisfaction.
She didn’t dare linger, for the Emperor’s hidden guards were exceptionally formidable.
Even though she had held her breath and concealed herself in a hidden spot, minimizing her presence, they could still sense her—proof that their martial arts were even higher than those of Zhan Haoting’s hidden guards.
Truly terrifying. These were the legendary Martial Arts Masters. If she were even slightly careless, she wouldn’t know how she died.
As soon as Cheng Yao returned to the Prince’s mansion, a messenger arrived from the palace, summoning Zhan Haoting for a council meeting.
Zhan Haoting leaned most of his body against his wheelchair and beckoned her over.
He took her soft, small hand in his, his deep, magnetic voice tinged with tenderness. “Don’t worry. Wait for me at home with peace of mind.”
Cheng Yao brushed aside a stray lock of hair from his forehead. “Be careful.”
Zhan Haoting gave an almost imperceptible nod, the warmth in his eyes deepening a little more.
After he left, Cheng Yao used Teleportation to arrive at the mansion’s accounting office.
Here, five accountants sat at their respective workstations, each sipping a cup of hot tea while working leisurely.
Cheng Yao hid in the shadows and flipped through the account books, wanting to know what industries Zhan Haoting owned.
However, after searching through them, she found nothing of note.
Old Madam Zhan was a stepmother. She resented the old master for loving Zhan Haoting’s birth grandmother his entire life and, by extension, held no affection for the stepson’s family.
Although she was in charge of the Household Expenses in the mansion, the real power of managing the household lay with her distant niece—Second Madam Zhan.
This woman was exceedingly greedy, skimming wealth from the common funds layer after layer.
Profitable industries had all been transferred under the names of the second branch’s members. What remained in the account books were either meager profits or outright losses.
Old Madam and Zhan Erniang took smug pleasure in this, secretly mocking Zhan Haoting for his foolishness.
Little did they know that Zhan Haoting intentionally let them embezzle to maintain the mansion’s surface operations.
The truly lucrative industries were all firmly in his grasp. The wealth they took was nothing more than a drop in the bucket.
In other words, Zhan Haoting’s real account books were not here.
Cheng Yao thought for a moment, then flashed away to his private treasury.
The book mentioned that on the day of the house raid, the Imperial Guards discovered a secret passage in a certain storeroom and unearthed a vast amount of gold, silver, and treasures from a Secret Chamber.
But that was only a portion of Zhan Haoting’s wealth. Sensing something amiss in advance, he had transferred a significant amount away, laying the foundation for his powerful rise in the land of Exile.
Zhan Haoting was far-sighted, and with her reminder, he had been so busy these past two days that he was scarcely seen—likely dealing with this very matter.
Sure enough, Cheng Yao teleported into the secret chamber, where only scrap metal and ancient books lining the four walls remained.
This was Zhan Haoting’s most deeply hidden place. If an outsider could break in here, it must have been authorized by the Emperor.
So he didn’t even bother pretending anymore. Apart from some assets that couldn’t be dealt with in time, everything else had been cleared out.