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

Xiao Lie played along with the emperor, saying, "I dare not accept this."

The emperor's face darkened, and he asked angrily, "What? You don't even want the elixir I found?"

"Your Majesty, these pills are made from rare medicinal herbs. I am merely a hostage; how could I be worthy to consume them?" Xiao Lie lowered his stance.

In doing so, he managed to make the emperor beam with joy.

After taking the elixir for two days, the emperor was able to revel in the pleasures of love again, and was so happy that he was willing to share the elixir with Xiao Lie.

In fact, the emperor also had his own selfish motives; he wanted Xiao Lie to try it out for him first.

If Xiao Lie is fine after taking the pills, he can then take the newly refined pills.

The emperor had also told Yuan Ajiao this.

Before Xiao Lie entered the palace, Yuan Ajiao had already sent word to him.

"If I could truly achieve immortality after consuming the elixir, then you wouldn't need to remain a hostage in the capital."

"I will not die, and I will be more energetic every day. I no longer need to worry about your grandfather starting a rebellion."

The emperor was convinced that he had found a miraculous cure that would make him as vigorous as the midday sun.

Xiao Lie thought to himself, "The emperor doesn't need to be so blunt with me."

"Your Majesty, my Zhenguo Duke's Mansion is utterly loyal to you. How could there be any talk of rebellion?" Xiao Lie straightened his back and knelt before the emperor. "If Your Majesty suspects us, you might as well kill me now."

The emperor still needed to use Xiao Lie to test the medicine, so he couldn't bear to kill him now.

"Stand still and answer properly. Don't kneel down at the drop of a hat." At this moment, in the emperor's eyes, Xiao Lie was the best test subject for medicine.

The emperor used a lot of coaxing to get Xiao Lie to swallow a pill right in front of him.

Xiao Lie was almost kept in the palace by the emperor.

However, Xiao Lie found an excuse to return to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.

That night, Xiao Lie learned that the emperor had sent people to secretly monitor him.

He then went to Lin Wan'er's courtyard.

Lin Wan'er has been under house arrest for some time now.

She thought that after he discovered her last attempt to contact the outside world and confined her to her quarters, he would never look for her again.

She clung to him, taking an exceptionally proactive approach.

"Your Highness, it's all my fault, no matter what." Lin Wan'er looked pitiful, with tears welling up in her eyes, making one's heart ache. "I was too scared, thinking I was going to be abandoned in this Duke Zhenguo's mansion, which is why I took the risk to try and find out what was going on outside."

"I assure you, I bribed the maid not to try and contact the Third Prince again."

After learning that the Third Prince had been imprisoned, Lin Wan'er's dream of becoming Empress was completely shattered.

Whether the Third Prince will be able to leave the Imperial Clan Court unscathed remains to be seen.

"Your Highness, you kept me around before because you wanted to use me to bewitch the Emperor and the Third Prince." It turned out that Lin Wan'er was fully aware of her usefulness. "Now that the Third Prince has fallen, I'm afraid you don't want to keep me around anymore."

Suddenly abandoned by both sides, Lin Wan'er lived in constant fear.

Xiao Lie let her cling to him and led her to bed.

He lay there, and Lin Wan'er took the initiative to help him remove his outer garment.

One by one, from the outside in... until there was nothing left to take off, Lin Wan'er kissed her.

Just as she was about to kiss him, Xiao Lie pushed her head away.

He was very disgusted!

The thought of how she and Jiang Heng almost kissed while embracing at the pavilion in the middle of the lake made her feel nauseous.

Lin Wan'er was pushed away unexpectedly and was covered in injuries.

She stood there dumbfounded, somewhat at a loss. "Your Highness, what did I do wrong?"

Xiao Lie was somewhat annoyed, but he didn't say anything. He flipped over and trapped her beneath him.

He urged her, "Call me."

Lin Wan'er finally couldn't hold back her tears, which streamed down her face.

He didn't want to touch her, nor did he want her to touch him.

His search for her was merely another performance for the people secretly watching him.

In order to stay and continue being the Crown Prince's wife, Lin Wan'er had no choice but to comply, even though she felt deeply humiliated.

After an unknown amount of time, her voice was almost hoarse from shouting, when she heard a few birds chirping outside.

Xiao Liecai got out of bed with disgust. "You can rest now."

Then, he turned and walked away without looking back.

Ignoring the persistent gaze of Qi Ai Ai staring at him from behind, Xiao Lie hurriedly returned to his room.

He was still waiting for a letter from his grandfather, Xiao Tianze.

"Your Highness, the letter has arrived." Sixteen's face was filled with undisguised joy. "Our messenger said that our previous plan was successful. Not only did the Fifth Prince's recommended man suffer a defeat, but even the Left General guarding the Xize Gate was implicated."

"The urgent dispatches regarding the border conflict will soon be delivered to the palace."

Xiao Lie's face lit up with joy; he had finally received the good news he had been waiting for.

He eagerly opened the letter from home; his grandfather, Xiao Tianze, had other plans.

Tell him to relax and not worry about the frontier at all.

Everything was under Xiao Tianze's control.

Xiao Lie let out a long sigh of relief and continued reading.

"This batch of furs and medicinal herbs has been received, and the quality is even better than before," Xiao Tianze affirmed Xiao Lie in his letter.

Xiao Tianze had Shen Qinglan use a newly discovered transportation route to expedite the delivery of this batch of supplies.

And it's not like before, where it was purchased from imperial merchants.

Shen Qinglan used one of the Shen family's businesses to gather many small shops from the local community.

The furs and medicinal herbs were collected from these small shops.

Unexpectedly, these were of far higher quality than those bought from the imperial merchant.

What surprised them most was that this newly opened transportation route was two or three days faster than the waterways and land routes they had previously used.

Xiao Lie carried a generous gift and ordered Sixteen to personally deliver it to Shen Qinglan's residence.

No sooner had Sixteen left than Seventeen came looking for him with a worried expression.

"Your Highness, the Fifth Prince suspects that our people are behind this, and he has eliminated several of our spies in the Ministry of Revenue."

Xiao Lie was furious.

He went to great lengths to place so many people in the Ministry of Revenue, but he never expected to be retaliated against by the Fifth Prince.

The Fifth Prince, perhaps having absorbed a great deal of the Third Prince's influence, has become somewhat arrogant and ignorant of his own limitations.

They were still secretly investigating who else Xiao Lie had in the Six Ministries, hoping to eliminate them all.

Xiao Lie was so angry he wanted to grind his teeth. "Let him do what he wants. The Fifth Prince is about to suffer. Grandfather has already sent a memorial impeaching him to the capital."

"It will be delivered to the Emperor in a few days."

"By then, it will be enough to give the Fifth Prince a hard time."

Seventeen asked anxiously, "It's just that it will be a bit difficult for us to send someone into the Ministry of Revenue again."

The Ministry of Revenue currently has no one left to use.

If it were in the past, Xiao Lie would have been as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

But now, they no longer need to rely on the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War to prepare supplies for sending to the frontier.

"We can proceed gradually. We still need to have our own people keeping an eye on the Ministry of Revenue, and we can't let the Fifth Prince have everything go his way."