Jiaojiao is getting married, and the male leads fall for her and fight over her.

Chapter 305 Choosing a Crown Prince

"They could be from Nanzhou, or they could be His Majesty's people." Pei Dongzhou couldn't be sure either.

Shen Shuyi pondered for a moment and immediately sensed something was wrong: "Does His Majesty suspect that the Crown Prince's cousin has been in contact with the Prince of Jin?"

“His Majesty is by nature suspicious, and recently he has placed more expectations on Prince Jin, so naturally he will be suspicious. If His Majesty finds out that I was the one who encouraged Prince Jin to compete for the position of Crown Prince, Prince Jin may no longer have a chance. Therefore, I must try to avoid meeting Prince Jin, so as not to arouse His Majesty’s suspicion again,” Pei Dongzhou said solemnly.

Shen Shuyi thought of someone, but hesitated to speak.

"Is Madam worried that Xizhou and Prince Jin are getting too close, which might arouse His Majesty's suspicion?" Pei Dongzhou noticed Shen Shuyi's concerns.

Shen Shuyi knew that nothing could escape Pei Dongzhou's eyes: "Although Third Cousin used to be close to Prince Jin, given the current situation, isn't it inappropriate for Third Cousin to continue associating with Prince Jin?"

“If Xizhou stops associating with Prince Jin recently, then it will be like trying to hide something obvious. It's best to leave things as they are now.” Pei Dongzhou thought for a moment, then said to Shen Shuyi, “Recently, my wife and I should keep a low profile. If anyone invites you, it's best to decline. At this critical juncture, doing nothing is the best we can do…”

"Winning by doing nothing!" Shen Shuyi blurted out, feeling that this word best described the situation.

"Winning by doing nothing?" Pei Dongzhou pondered these two words for a moment, then chuckled in a deep voice, "Madam always has so many fresh and apt words."

Shen Shuyi thought to herself, "Isn't that the crystallization of modern people's wisdom in surfing the internet?"

Although these ancient natives were skilled at political maneuvering, they were inferior to her in some aspects.

In fact, Pei Dongzhou's concerns were unnecessary. No one had sent an invitation to Shen Shuyi. It was simply because the Pei family was currently being neglected by His Majesty, and Pei Dongzhou was still sitting on the sidelines.

In addition, rumors have spread that Emperor Jinglong will soon depose the crown prince.

Just as everyone was watching and waiting, Pei Nanzhou seemed to realize that he had been too high-profile, and suddenly announced that he would close his doors to guests and would not see anyone, no matter who came to visit.

Everyone was waiting for Emperor Jinglong to announce the removal of the crown prince, but no one expected that Li Hong would enter the palace to meet the emperor and request to be deposed.

Emperor Jinglong naturally went along with the trend, but he still wanted to test the waters, so he asked, "In your opinion, is the Southern Continent suitable for the position of Crown Prince?"

Upon hearing this, Li Hong's eyes flickered slightly. He knew he shouldn't interfere with Emperor Jinglong's decision, but he suspected that Pei Nanzhou was the one who poisoned him. If that was the case, how could he stand by and watch his enemy rise to power?
Since he was already a cripple anyway, he couldn't be any worse, so he replied bluntly, "In my opinion, it's not suitable!"

Emperor Jinglong was testing Li Hong's reaction. Seeing how direct he was, he became certain of one thing: Li Hong also suspected that Pei Nanzhou had poisoned him.

"Then do you have a preferred candidate for the crown prince?" Emperor Jinglong pressed on.

Li Hong could not get involved in this matter: "Your subject has no opinion on this matter."

Emperor Jinglong was genuinely worried that Li Hong would directly name Li Yi, but seeing that Li Hong remained silent, he felt slightly relieved.

After Li Hong stepped down from the position of Crown Prince, the situation in the court became very strange.

Many people began to take sides. A large number of court officials supported Pei Nanzhou, believing that he had the best chance of winning, while a small number of officials sided with the Prince of Liang.

Although Prince Liang himself is of average talent, the Wang family behind him is quite powerful. Pei Nanzhou comes from the Pei family, but the Pei family has recently shown signs of decline, and apart from the Pei family, Pei Nanzhou has no other significant backing.

Who can predict what the future holds?

Of course, there were also a few people who stood with the Ninth Prince. Although the Ninth Prince was not yet an adult, he had been intelligent since childhood. However, he was still too young, and his maternal clan was of low status. But there were always gamblers who wanted to take a big gamble.

All three factions had supporters, except for Li Yi. Actually, it wasn't that no one initially considered supporting Li Yi, but Li Yi was too muddle-headed in his dealings with others. Some even tried to test Consort Xian, but it turned out that Consort Xian was also unambitious and didn't support her son's path to seizing the throne at all.

Eventually, everyone naturally removed Li Yi from the list of candidates for crown prince.

Li Yi himself was also questioning his life, wondering if he was really that bad.

He's been going to the palace a lot lately, and he even tried to test his own mother. The Empress Dowager told him to be a good playboy prince and not to have any wild thoughts.

Well, even his own mother doesn't think highly of him. Only Pei Xizhou, who relayed the message to him, said that Pei Dongzhou firmly believes in him and that he can win without doing anything.

He himself felt that this matter was too outrageous and had no confidence in competing for the position of crown prince. However, Prince Pei had full confidence in him. Sometimes he even felt that Prince Pei's support was more than the support of many people. Prince Pei said that he could win by doing nothing, so he would definitely win by doing nothing.

Time flies, and soon it's Dragon Boat Festival.

There was supposed to be a banquet in the palace, but Pei Dongzhou feigned illness and stayed home, so he did not attend.

Pei Nanzhou had been eagerly anticipating seeing Shen Shuyi, only to find that Pei Dongzhou hadn't appeared at all. Since Pei Dongzhou wasn't there, Shen Shuyi naturally couldn't be either, which greatly disappointed him.

Li Yi has recently been living a life of abstinence, having only shared a room with the princess and not touching any other beauties.

The strangest thing is that recently he suddenly felt he had lost interest in marital relations.

When the dragon boat race started, he searched the surrounding area but couldn't find Pei Dongzhou and his wife anywhere.

Therefore, even though Pei Dongzhou knew that the princes were going to lead a dragon boat race, he didn't offer any encouragement. Did he want him to win, or did he want him to lose?
Pei Xizhou didn't show up today either. After all, Xizhou wasn't on the invitation list; he's not an official.

Looking around, he saw that the other princes all had people encouraging them, but he didn't.

When he looked at his mother, Consort Xian received Li Yi's gaze and walked over.

He thought his mother would say some nice things to coax him this time, but to his surprise, Consort Xian said, "Participation is the most important thing. It's not shameful to lose."

Li Yi: ...

Little did Consort Xian know that Li Yi had already made enough fools of himself in the past, so losing to that child, the Ninth Prince, today was not something to be ashamed of.

Just then, Emperor Jinglong suddenly spoke up: "The position of Crown Prince is still undecided. Taking advantage of today's dragon boat race, I would like to choose one of the participating princes to be the heir apparent. Everyone, do your best in today's dragon boat race!"

Everyone held their breath when Emperor Jinglong uttered these words.

Only Li Yi looked completely bewildered. He subconsciously glanced at the remaining soldiers behind him, then looked around and found that there was no one behind him.

Very well, Pei Dongzhou indeed let him go, regardless of whether he lives or dies.

Perhaps even Pei Dongzhou didn't expect that his father would suddenly decide to announce the crown prince today?

(End of this chapter)