Even the crown prince is getting a marriage of convenience? Why are you in such a hurry to stop bein

"You're just imagining things. Go to sleep."

After saying that, Xiao Lie stopped paying attention to her and went to sleep.

Lin Wan'er felt aggrieved and helpless, so she could only shrink in the corner and secretly curse Xiao Lie as a "bastard".

After several days of favor and overnight stays, the servants in the manor gradually realized that the young master was likely to regain favor, and the number of people trying to curry favor with him increased. Naturally, such rumors also reached the Kang Prince's residence.

The thought that Xiao Lie had tricked him and was now embracing his beautiful wife and concubines made him so angry he felt like he was going to vomit blood.

"This Xiao Lie is really going too far."

The young maid was already on edge, and when she was startled by him, her hand trembled, and a handful of white powder fell onto his wound. The young man grimaced in pain and trembled violently.

The maidservant quickly blew away the excess powder and cautiously advised her.

"Your Highness, getting angry is bad for your health. You are still injured, so it's best not to think about so many troublesome things."

"How could I not think that Xiao Lie had just tricked me, and then immediately started to favor that bitch Lin Wan'er, and he was doing it so lavishly. He wasn't just doing it for others; he was clearly doing it for me."

"He just wants to tell me that I am his defeated opponent, and that I can only watch him live a carefree life."

"That brat, one day I will definitely trample him under my feet and make him submit."

The maids looked at each other, realizing that they couldn't persuade him otherwise, so they could only apply the medicine to Prince Kang with even greater care.

A moment later, King Kang lay on the bed fully clothed, his back facing upwards, with a soft pillow under him.

Jiang Bo was hiding in the shadows, reporting to him the results of his investigation over the past few days.

"Your Highness, the incident happened suddenly and was quite rushed. If someone took advantage of the search by the military police to secretly open the warehouse door and put in a batch of weapons made from xiawen ore, it wouldn't be impossible."

King Kang frowned deeply. "What do you mean? Are you saying the situation is too chaotic for you to investigate?"

Uncle Jiang shuddered, wiped his sweat, and answered cautiously.

"Well... I can only find some clues and a few suspects. As for anything more, I'm afraid Your Highness will have to use your means to interrogate them."

King Kang waved his hand impatiently, "Since that's the case, go and interrogate him yourself. What do you want to say to me? I only want answers."

Jiang Bo became even more cautious. "If the suspicious people were just lowly servants, I wouldn't have brought this matter to Your Highness's attention and troubled you. The reason I'm not sure is that this matter might involve Qingyi Garden."

"Qingyi Garden?"

King Kang suddenly opened his eyes, his face darkening. In a few breaths, he pieced together the events of the past few days.

Shen Qinglan betrayed him by smuggling weapons. If he could be brought down because of this, she might be able to escape as well. So, what was the purpose of her deliberately hosting a banquet with him the other day…?

He rubbed his forehead and thought carefully for a while, but could only recall that it was a blurry light and shadow.

He vaguely remembered saying something about the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion transporting military equipment.

In an instant, King Kang's face turned deathly pale, and his spine felt chilled to the bone.

He hadn't expected that this deadly scheme was actually cracked from within, and that it had quietly and subtly strangled him without him even noticing.

He suddenly stood up, gripping the butler's arm tightly, with a force so great it could almost crush his bones.

"Is what you're saying true?"

Uncle Jiang hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly.

"This is just my guess, but I've already checked with all the servants in the manor. Apart from a few suspicious servants and old women, only the one in Qingyi Garden seems suspicious."

"Could you explain in more detail?"

Uncle Jiang had no choice but to reveal his clues.

He was ordered to investigate the storeroom matter, but since it involved the storeroom, the most likely suspects were the old women and the manager. However, if anyone in the household were to take the keys to retrieve silver and utensils, they had to go in pairs, supervise each other, and have their records checked by the old woman in charge of the storeroom's accounts.

Jiang Bo's first suspicion was the storeroom maid. She held the key and could easily have conspired with someone from the inside to frame Prince Kang. After all, she was a servant in the Prince's mansion who had signed a contract with him. What good would it do her to bring down Prince Kang's mansion?

His second suspect was Cuihe, the maid who went to collect her monthly allowance two days before the incident. They were supposed to go together, but when they reached the storeroom, another maid, Qiulu, suddenly had a stomachache and immediately went to find the latrine. Taking advantage of this quiet moment, Cuihe could very well have committed the crime.

He searched Cuihe's room thoroughly but found nothing amiss. Undeterred, he even hung Cuihe up and tortured her severely, but the girl cried until she was convulsing, still gritting her teeth and saying she knew nothing.

Seeing her like that, Uncle Jiang roughly understood that the girl was truly wronged.

"Then why do you suspect the Princess?"

"It was only because the old woman in charge of the storeroom said that the servants from Qingyi Garden had been ordered to come and fetch some writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, and that she had been sent away under the pretext that the Princess Consort had summoned her for questioning."

At this point, the butler kowtowed twice on the ground, trying to explain himself.

"I did not intend to slander the Princess Consort. However, Your Highness ordered me to investigate this matter thoroughly, and I dared not neglect it. I could only report the truth to all those who were suspected, and I ask Your Highness for your judgment."

King Kang glanced at him with a lingering look.

"Judging from your style, you must have already tried various methods to verify the previous two people. Your response today is specifically to identify the princess, isn't it?"

Uncle Jiang shuddered and pressed his head firmly against the ground.

"That's not what I meant."

King Kang snorted coldly and didn't dwell on the matter.

"Since you find the princess suspicious, let's go to Qingyi Garden and see if there are any ghosts in this garden."

Prince Kang was physically weak and seriously injured, so the servants could only carry him to Qingyi Garden in a soft rubber tent.

At the same time, Shen Qinglan's eyelids twitched, and she suddenly felt uneasy.

"Yunxiu, have you handled that matter properly?"

The maid nodded, but a hint of hesitation appeared on her face.

"But sending the old woman away from the storeroom that day was rather obvious. If they investigate, they might..."

Shen Qinglan smiled slightly, and suddenly felt a little more at ease.

This was what she feared least, and she had made preparations well in advance in order to get rid of people in a reasonable way.

A few days ago, the Kang Prince's mansion was in dire financial straits, and even the monthly allowance was almost impossible to pay. When the Consort Xian learned of this, she immediately summoned her to the palace and rewarded her with a sum of money to replenish the imperial treasury.

Under the pretext of checking accounts, she distributed money from one place to another. It was perfectly normal for the warehouse manager and old women to go and collect their monthly wages that day.

Upon hearing the King of Kang's unfriendly question, Shen Qinglan frowned slightly, showing a hint of surprise.

"Your Highness, given the current situation of the Kang Prince's residence, how can we possibly allocate any reward money? Every penny must be spent sparingly. Calling it reward money is just a nice way of saying it; it's just to make up for the money that wasn't paid out last month."

"Besides, this has always been the order in which the servants in the manor receive their monthly stipends. I was just being a little more careful; how could I have delayed anything? Your Highness suspects that I'm putting on an act, but would I possibly persuade my mother to join me in this charade to harm Your Highness?"