The Fierce Teacher of Zhenguan: Starting with Teaching the Crown Prince to Make a Comeback

Chapter 26 Opening... the Palace Gates?
Wang De's actions were swift and direct.

Less than an hour after Changsun Wuji left, the atmosphere in the Eastern Palace suddenly became tense.

Several eunuchs dressed in the robes of the Inner Palace Service, with stern faces, led by a middle-aged eunuch, went straight to the gate of the East Palace and showed their Inner Palace Service tokens.

Instead of entering the inner palace, they were summoned by the guards of the Eastern Palace and began calling out the eunuchs and palace maids serving inside the palace one by one.

At first, there were two low-ranking palace maids responsible for sweeping outside the palace, followed by the two personal eunuchs on duty today.

When they were taken away, their faces were ashen, their eyes filled with fear, and they looked back towards the main hall, their expressions filled with helplessness.

The news quickly spread throughout the Eastern Palace.

The remaining palace servants were all silent with fear, their eyes filled with terror as they exchanged glances.

Everyone knows what being taken away for questioning by the Imperial Household Department means, especially at this sensitive time.

The air was so heavy it was suffocating, as if an invisible hand was gripping everyone's throat.

Li Chengqian could initially hear some noises outside the palace, but he didn't pay much attention to them.

Until a trusted eunuch came in to report.

"Your Highness! Chief Steward Wang sent men to take Li Fu and Zhang Shun away! They said they were going to question them!"

Li Chengqian was taken aback at first, then suddenly realized what was happening.

"Questioning?"

On what grounds can the Imperial Household Department arrest and question people at the Eastern Palace?

This investigation has clearly traced it back to the Crown Prince!

A surge of anger, a feeling of being violated and humiliated, rushed to his head.

His face flushed instantly, his chest heaved violently, and he swept the teacup off the desk in front of him!

With a crisp "crack," shards of porcelain scattered everywhere.

"How dare you! Who is Wang De! Daring to come to my Eastern Palace to arrest someone!"

The veins on Li Chengqian's forehead bulged, and the stinging pain in his right foot from the excitement made him even more irritable.

"Does he even respect me as the Crown Prince? Does he really think I'm made of clay?!"

He suddenly stood up, and because of the pain in his ankle, he swayed. The servant next to him was so frightened that he rushed to help him, but he pushed him away.

"Everyone get out of here!"

Li Chengqian drove all the palace maids and eunuchs out.

Li Chengqian grew angrier the more he thought about it.

Just then, Li Yichen arrived after hearing the news.

Upon seeing Li Yichen, his eyes turned bloodshot, like a trapped beast that had been thoroughly enraged.

"I'm going to the Liangyi Hall right now! I want to ask my father personally whether the Eastern Palace of the Great Tang has already been taken over by the Inner Palace Attendants! I want to ask Wang De who gave him the audacity!"

he roared.

Just as Li Chengqian, limping and furious, was about to rush out of the palace...
"Your Highness, if you go, you will lose everything."

Li Chengqian abruptly stopped, turning around to stare intently at Li Yichen, who had just spoken. Li Yichen's posture remained unchanged, his face showing no sign of panic. "Loss? How did I lose? Wang De has gone too far! If I tolerate this, what face will the Eastern Palace have left?"

Li Chengqian roared, his voice hoarse with anger.

Li Yichen slowly walked up to Li Chengqian and met his gaze calmly.

“Your Highness, if you rush to the Liangyi Hall now, question His Majesty, and denounce Wang De, what will His Majesty think? He will only think that you have been hit where it hurts, that you are furious and have no demeanor as the crown prince. Wang De is acting on the emperor's orders. If you scold Wang De, you are scolding His Majesty. You are just making it obvious that you are trying to hide something.”

Li Chengqian was panting heavily, his fists clenched, but Li Yichen's words were like ice water, gradually extinguishing his out-of-control anger.

“This is not Wang De’s personal behavior, Your Highness,” Li Yichen said firmly.

"This is His Majesty's doing. His Majesty suspects the Crown Prince and those around you, so he took action, using this most direct and humiliating method to investigate. This is an open scheme, Your Highness. His Majesty wants to see your reaction. If you become furious and lose your composure, it will confirm his suspicions—that the Crown Prince does indeed have a secret that cannot be told, which is why he has lost his composure like this."

Li Chengqian's breathing gradually calmed down, but his face was still pale.

"Am I just supposed to put up with this? Just watch them interrogate my palace servants like criminals? I can't swallow this insult!"

"Endure? Who said we should endure?" A strange smile suddenly appeared on Li Yichen's lips.

"Since His Majesty has made his move, Your Highness, you must certainly respond! Not only must you respond, but you must respond beautifully, in a way that catches him off guard, and leaves him... dumbfounded!"

Li Chengqian was taken aback by Li Yichen's sudden smile and tone: "How should I respond?"

Li Yichen stepped forward, getting closer to Li Chengqian, his voice low but highly inflammatory.

"Your Highness, didn't His Majesty suspect something was amiss in the Eastern Palace? Didn't he want to know if there were any experts around him? Very well! Then let's make it public! Let's open the gates of the Eastern Palace wide open! Let everyone come in and see! Let them see to their heart's content!"

"Open...the palace gates?" Li Chengqian didn't react for a moment.

"Yes! Open it completely!" Li Yichen's eyes flashed with a crazed light.

"Your Highness, please immediately order the lifting of all unconventional security measures at the Eastern Palace! From this day forward, all officials of the fifth rank and above in the capital may enter the Eastern Palace directly to see the Crown Prince without prior notice! The guards of the Eastern Palace may only check whether the Crown Prince is carrying weapons and shall not obstruct him for any reason!"

Li Chengqian was dumbfounded, almost thinking he had misheard.

"You...you're insane? Letting officials come and go as they please? Wouldn't that turn the Eastern Palace into a marketplace? What privacy would I have left? What if there's an assassin..."

"Privacy?" Li Yichen scoffed. "Your Highness, from the moment His Majesty sent people to question us, the Eastern Palace has had no privacy whatsoever! As for assassins? Within Chang'an and the Imperial City, which official of the fifth rank or above would dare to assassinate the Crown Prince? That would be courting the extermination of their entire clan!"

"Your Highness, the risk of doing this is extremely small, but the reward is enormous!"

His eyes were intense as he rapidly analyzed the logic behind this seemingly crazy move.

"Your Highness, think about it. When you open the palace gates and welcome all officials to visit, what will His Majesty think? Will he still suspect that there is something being hidden in the Eastern Palace? His act of sending Wang De to secretly investigate will immediately seem petty, suspicious, and ridiculous in the face of your open and aboveboard attitude! Doesn't this perfectly refute His Majesty's suspicions?"

“Second,” Li Yichen held up two fingers, “what will those officials, especially the neutral and observing ones, think when they see the Crown Prince so open and honest? They will think that the Crown Prince has nothing to hide and acts with integrity! This is more effective than a thousand explanations from you! This can greatly reverse your previous closed-off and eccentric image!”

“Third,” Li Yichen bent down his third finger, his smile growing increasingly eerie.

"That's the most brilliant part. When officials of all kinds can easily enter the Eastern Palace, they will see the Crown Prince studying diligently every day and discussing knowledge with his companions. Each of them will become your witness, witnessing your diligence and integrity. How credible will His Majesty be when he listens to the exaggerated reports that Wang De found out? The eyes of the people are discerning. You have used a clever strategy to thwart His Majesty's attempts to spy on you!"

Li Chengqian listened in a daze, his anger and grievances gradually replaced by extreme astonishment and rising excitement.

He felt his mind was a little slow to catch up with Li Yichen's train of thought, but these words seemed to have a magical power, pulling him out of his humiliation and indignation and leading him into a broader and more frenzied arena of competition.

"But... what if officials keep coming to bother us..."

(End of this chapter)