Joy of Life: Me, the Second Prince? Summon Yuan Tiangang!

"Chen Pingping..." Li Chengze murmured the name. "The old cripple has been unusually quiet these past few days. He took the Emperor's imperial sword but remained inactive, which is not in line with his usual style. If he was secretly planning this assassination to escalate the conflict between my elder brother and me and to shift the blame onto me, that would be consistent with his insidious ways."

"But why would Chen Pingping do this?" Si Lili asked, puzzled. "The First Prince commands a large army. If Chen Pingping angers him, it won't benefit the Censorate either, will it?"

A glint of shrewdness flashed in Li Chengze's eyes: "Perhaps it's because the waters aren't muddy enough. Chen Pingping needs a perfect excuse to carry out a major purge in the capital. The assassination of the eldest prince has brought the struggle for the throne among the princes into the open, which is the best excuse. He can use the pretext of investigating the case to extend his reach into any place he wants, including my princely residence, the crown prince's palace, and even the military."

At this point, Li Chengze suddenly stood up and paced back and forth in the study, his tone turning somewhat cold: "What a lame old man, he's just creating a reason for himself to wield his knife."

Seeing Li Chengze's anxious appearance, Si Lili also felt a sense of unease rising in her heart.

"Your Highness, what should we do now? Should we have the people from 'The Net' withdraw from Kyoto to avoid trouble?" Si Lili suggested.

"Withdraw? No need to withdraw. The mere Forensic Science Institute is not qualified to make my Net back down," Li Chengze stopped and sneered.

"Everything can remain as usual."

"Go and rest first. Keep an eye on your younger brother." Li Chengze released Si Lili, turned and walked towards the door. "I should go to the palace for the banquet."

Watching Li Chengze push open the door and leave, Si Lili's heart was filled with worry.

……

On the other side, in the Imperial Palace, in the Imperial Study.

After Li Chengze and the Crown Prince left, the Imperial Study fell into a deathly silence.

Emperor Qing remained seated on his dragon throne, the vermilion brush in his hand hovering in mid-air, not falling for a long time. A drop of crimson ink gathered at the tip of the brush, but finally succumbed to gravity and dripped onto a memorial, spreading out in a glaring red pattern.

In a corner of the hall, the shadow seemed to shift slightly.

A very faint sound of a wheelchair rolling on the ground rang out, and a gaunt figure wearing a black cloak and sitting in a wheelchair slowly slid out from the shadows.

Emperor Qing did not raise his head; his gaze remained fixed on the spreading red ink, his voice low and authoritative, as if questioning the air, or perhaps his own heart:

"Pingping, do you think the second son did this?"

Chen Pingping pushed the wheelchair and stopped it about ten feet away from the imperial desk.

He lowered his head slightly, and his wrinkled, orange-peel-like face showed no expression.

"Your Majesty," Chen Pingping's voice was hoarse and shrill, like two rusty pieces of iron rubbing together, "this old minister believes that although the Second Prince acts eccentrically and is deep in thought, he still retains some rationality when faced with matters of great importance. Assassinating the First Prince at this critical juncture would be entirely detrimental to him. The Second Prince is a smart man, and smart men usually don't do such a thankless and foolish thing."

Emperor Qing finally raised his head, his gaze fixed intently on Chen Pingping: "Oh? Since it's not him, then who is it? Could it be the Crown Prince? Or perhaps…?"

Faced with Emperor Qing's almost confrontational questioning, Chen Pingping didn't even flinch.

He merely bowed slightly, his tone indifferent: "Your Majesty is joking. This old minister's bones are too weak to even hold a knife, let alone assassinate the Crown Prince. As for His Highness the Crown Prince... he has even less courage."

"Then, in your opinion, who is it?" Emperor Qing leaned forward slightly, exuding a powerful sense of oppression.

Chen Pingping raised his cloudy eyes to meet Emperor Qing's gaze and said, word by word, "Your Majesty, this matter is strange. The location where the First Prince was assassinated is only fifty miles from the capital. To be able to accurately grasp the First Prince's whereabouts in such a short time and organize experts capable of breaking through the First Prince's personal guards' defenses is something that ordinary martial arts forces could not accomplish. This old minister has already sent people from all directions to investigate the scene. The weapons and martial arts techniques used by the assassins are extremely diverse, as if they were deliberately concealing their identities. However, the fatal wounds on some of the corpses are somewhat similar to... the methods of the Ku He sect of Northern Qi."

"Northern Qi?" Emperor Qing sneered. "That old bald monk Ku He has really got his hands on things. But do you think I'd believe such a clumsy frame-up?"

"Your Majesty is wise," Chen Pingping continued. "If Northern Qi wanted to incite internal strife within our dynasty, they wouldn't need to resort to such easily exposed methods. Therefore, this old minister speculates that these assassins are most likely an undercurrent within Southern Qing. Perhaps they intend to use this opportunity to incite infighting among the princes, or perhaps..."

Chen Pingping paused, then lowered his voice slightly: "Or perhaps they want to test His Majesty's bottom line."

Emperor Qing snorted coldly and slammed his vermilion brush heavily on the table: "Testing me? How dare you! Pingping, I entrusted the Forensic Bureau to you, not to have you make predictions for me here. What I want are results! Heads!"

"Your humble servant obeys the imperial decree." Chen Pingping bowed respectfully. "Your humble servant will do everything in his power to find out the real culprit behind this."

Chen Pingping pushed the wheelchair backward slowly. "Your Majesty, the time for the welcoming banquet is approaching. This old minister still needs to arrange the defenses, so I will take my leave first."

"Go." Emperor Qing waved his hand.

As Emperor Qing watched Chen Pingping's figure disappear into the shadows, a complex light flickered in his eyes.

"Stir it up, the more murky the better."

……

Weiyang Palace, side hall.

The sounds of string and wind instruments filled the air, and palace maids flitted among the tables like butterflies, serving up platters of exquisite delicacies. However, beneath this seemingly peaceful and prosperous facade, a suffocating undercurrent was brewing.

The welcome banquet has already begun.

Emperor Qing sat high in the main seat, a smile on his face, as if he were truly a kind father welcoming his long-lost son back home.

The eldest prince, Li Chengru, sat at the head of the left-hand side. Although he had changed into a magnificent prince's everyday robes, the steely aura honed on the battlefield was impossible to conceal. He sat there upright, like a drawn sword, ready to drink blood at any moment.

The Crown Prince and Li Chengze sat on the right. The Crown Prince tried his best to maintain the demeanor of a heir apparent, frequently toasting the First Prince and uttering some high-sounding polite words. Li Chengze, on the other hand, seemed somewhat indifferent. He held a wine cup in one hand and fiddled with the jade pendant at his waist with the other, his gaze occasionally shifting between Emperor Qing and the First Prince.