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

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The wind in Kyoto seemed to have become unusually noisy overnight.

The three-day deadline given by Emperor Qing was like a Damocles' sword hanging over everyone's heads, plunging this once bustling ancient capital into a suffocating tension.

The Second Prince's Residence, Tingchao Pavilion.

This pavilion, modeled after the Northern Liang Prince's Palace, may not have been as grand and imposing, but it was nonetheless extremely elegant. Li Chengze sat barefoot on the railing of the top floor, with a plate of crystal-clear grapes and a pot of warm pear blossom wine on the table in front of him.

He held a grape in his hand, and through the layers of flying eaves, his gaze seemed to pierce through half of the capital, landing between the majestic Prime Minister's residence and the gloomy Imperial Censorate.

"The show has begun."

Li Chengze popped a grape into his mouth, its juice bursting forth, a blend of sweetness and tartness. "Bi'an, tell me, who's in the most urgent situation right now?"

Standing in the shadows, Xie Bi'an, sword in hand, coldly uttered a single word: "Prime Minister."

"That's right, Lin Ruofu is the most anxious." Li Chengze smiled, a hint of mockery in his eyes. "He's afraid that if Lin Gong dies, the Lin family line will end. He's even more afraid that if Lin Gong is caught alive, he'll be confirmed as a traitor, and the entire Lin family will be executed. So, he must find Lin Gong first, and then... send him away, or shut him up forever, but he must die by his own hand, not by someone else's."

"What about Fan Xian?" Xie Bi'an asked.

"Fan Xian?" Li Chengze shook his head. "You think he's looking for the truth, but actually he's looking for someone. He should now believe that it was his father who saved Lin Gong."

……

Meanwhile, at the Forensic Institute.

Fan Xian frowned as he looked at the mountain of files in front of him.

Wang Qinian slipped in like a slippery eel, holding a stack of newly received secret reports.

"My lord, we have news." Wang Qinian lowered his voice, his face mysterious. "Our brothers have discovered that the Prime Minister's private troops have all been mobilized. Moreover, Yuan Hongdao is personally leading the troops south of the city."

"South of the city?" Fan Xian tapped his fingers lightly on the table. "South of the city is mostly slums and abandoned warehouses; it would be a good place to hide someone. But, if Lin Ruofu can think of a place, can't the Princess think of one?"

Fan Xian stood up, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

His logic is now very clear: the expert with "golden true energy" rescued Lin Gong, and he is convinced that the expert was one of Emperor Qing's men.

Since it was Emperor Qing who saved him, Lin Gong must be in an extremely safe place now.

The three-day deadline given by Emperor Qing was actually to force Lin Ruofu to make a statement, and also to watch the Eldest Princess make a fool of herself.

However, Princess Li Yunrui would never sit idly by and wait for her doom.

"That crazy woman..." Fan Xian muttered to himself, "If I were her, what would I do to sever ties with Lin Gong and prevent him from revealing the truth about the assassination on Niulan Street?"

Wang Qinian swallowed hard and made a throat-slitting gesture: "Kill me to silence me?"

"That's right." Fan Xian sneered, "Lin Ruofu wants to save his son, I want to find witnesses, but the Princess... she only wants a corpse. As long as Lin Gong is dead, there will be no one to testify, and she can throw all the dirty water on me, saying that I assassinated a court official to avenge a personal grudge."

"Then what do we do?" Wang Qinian asked.

"Take him away!" Fan Xian grabbed a strip of black cloth from the table, covering half his face except for his piercing eyes. "Keep an eye on the people in the Prime Minister's residence, and also on the Eldest Princess's people. Once we find Lin Gong, we must stop at nothing to get him alive!"

……

A light drizzle began to fall, casting a hazy, gray veil over Kyoto.

In the south of the city, there was an abandoned dyeing workshop.

The terrain here is complex, with crisscrossing alleys, making it a perfect place for filth and crime to hide.

Lin Ruofu's strategist, Yuan Hongdao, was currently leading a team of elite guards from the Prime Minister's residence, quietly setting up surveillance around the dye shop. They had received intelligence that someone had seen a seriously injured young man being brought here by men in black the previous night.

"The Prime Minister has ordered that we must see him alive or dead," Yuan Hongdao said gravely in a low voice. "If we find the Second Young Master, take him away immediately. If... if anyone tries to stop us, kill them without mercy!"

"yes!"

Just as the guards of the Prime Minister's residence were about to rush in, a sudden change occurred!

Whoosh!Whoosh!Whoosh!

Several sharp arrows pierced the air with a mournful whistling sound, instantly piercing the throats of several guards on the outer perimeter.

"There's an ambush!" Yuan Hongdao exclaimed in alarm, drawing his sword.

Suddenly, a group of masked men dressed in black appeared on the rooftops all around. They were armed with crossbows and moved in perfect unison, clearly well-trained assassins.

"It's Yan Xiaoyi's personal guard style!" Yuan Hongdao recognized the archery style at a glance and was greatly alarmed. The Princess had actually made a move! And in broad daylight, she had used the garrison to intercept and kill the people from the Prime Minister's residence!

"Kill! Leave no one alive!"

The leader on the roof gave a cold shout, and the assassins swooped down like eagles hunting rabbits.

The two sides instantly clashed, with swords flashing and blood and flesh flying everywhere.

Just as the battle was at a stalemate, a dark figure cut into the battlefield like a ghost.

Fan Xian has arrived.

He was dressed in black and carried an ordinary iron sword, but his movements were astonishingly fast. He didn't attack the people from the Prime Minister's residence, but went straight for the assassins.

"Domineering True Qi!"

Fan Xian let out a low shout, his inner energy erupted, and he used his sword to break through the encirclement of three assassins.

"Fan Xian?!" Yuan Hongdao's pupils contracted when he saw the person who had arrived.

"Stop talking nonsense!" Fan Xian, with his back to Yuan Hongdao, blocked a volley of arrows. "You guys search for people, I'll hold them off! If Lin Gong dies, your Prime Minister can expect to collect his entire family's corpses!"

Yuan Hongdao gritted his teeth, knowing this wasn't the time for infighting. He waved his hand: "Charge in and search!"

Taking advantage of the moment when Fan Xian was holding back the main force of the assassins, the guards of the Prime Minister's residence broke down the gate of the dye shop.

However, when they rushed into the deepest room, everyone was stunned.

Empty.

There was only a blood-stained brocade robe lying on a dilapidated wooden bed. Yuan Hongdao picked up the robe with trembling hands and immediately recognized it as Lin Gong's favorite garment, embroidered with the Lin family crest.

"Where are they?!" Yuan Hongdao roared.

Fan Xian had also retreated to the doorway at this moment, and upon seeing this scene, his heart sank.

It's empty again?

"Withdraw!" Seeing that the mission seemed to be "complete" or the target was no longer there, the leader of the assassins whistled, and the remaining assassins quickly withdrew without any hesitation.

The rain poured down harder, washing away the bloodstains on the ground.

Fan Xian stood in the rain, looking at the blood-stained brocade robe, his face terribly gloomy.

"A diversionary tactic..." Fan Xian gritted his teeth. "Someone is playing us."

He suddenly looked up, towards the direction of the palace.

In his view, the only one who could calculate the time and place so precisely, and make the people of the Prime Minister's residence and the Eldest Princess fight like fools here while Lin Gong was nowhere to be found, was the high and mighty Emperor Qing!

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, this game of chess you played is truly disgusting."

……

The Second Prince's Mansion.

Li Chengze listened to his subordinates' report on the battle at the dyehouse in the south of the city and laughed so hard he almost fell off his chair.

"Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic!"

Li Chengze slapped his thigh, laughing until tears streamed down his face. "Fan Xian helped Lin Ruofu fight the Princess's men, and in the end, all he found was a tattered piece of clothing. I can only imagine Fan Xian's expression at that moment; it must have been worse than swallowing a fly."

"Your Highness, that dress..." Xie Bi'an asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Oh, I had someone throw it there." Li Chengze wiped away the tears of laughter from the corner of his eyes and said casually, "Lin Gong is being fed and cared for by me, so I have to give outsiders something to look forward to, right? Otherwise, how can this charade continue?"

"The eldest princess must be furious."

"I don't know if she's crazy or not, but I do know that Lin Ruofu is going crazy." Li Chengze stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the rain outside. "Two days have passed, and Lin Gong has disappeared without a trace. The fear in Lin Ruofu's heart is slowly consuming his sanity. By sunset tomorrow, this fear will turn into despair."

"And a desperate person is capable of anything."

A deep glint flashed in Li Chengze's eyes. "Father wants to subdue Lin Ruofu and warn the Eldest Princess. Then I'll give him a hand and let this fire burn even brighter."

The last day.

The atmosphere in Kyoto was extremely oppressive.

Inside the Prime Minister's residence, Lin Ruofu seemed to have aged ten years overnight. He sat in his study, his eyes bloodshot, clutching the blood-stained brocade robe tightly in his hand.

"Prime Minister," Yuan Hongdao knelt on the ground, his voice hoarse, "all the leads have gone cold. We've searched the south and north of the city, even the manors outside the city. The Second Young Master... it's as if he's vanished into thin air."

"vanished into thin air..." Lin Ruofu gave a bitter laugh. "In this capital, the only places where a living person can disappear into thin air without my knowledge are the Imperial Censorate and the Palace."

"What the Prime Minister means is..."

"Your Majesty," Lin Ruofu closed his eyes, two streams of tears flowing down his face, "Your Majesty is forcing me. He saved Gong'er, but he won't hand her over to me, just to let me know that the life and death of the Lin family are entirely in his hands."

Just then, the steward rushed in: "Prime Minister, Fan Xian requests an audience."

"Get him out of here!" Lin Ruofu roared.

"He said... he knew where the Second Young Master was, and that he was there to rescue him."

Lin Ruofu suddenly opened his eyes: "Let him in!"

A moment later, Fan Xian strode into the study. He didn't bow, but went straight to the point: "Prime Minister Lin, time is running out. I know you hate me, and I don't particularly like you either. But now, we have a common enemy."

"You mean the eldest princess?" Lin Ruofu looked at him coldly.

"No, it's the person who made Lin Gong disappear." Fan Xian looked directly into Lin Ruofu's eyes. "Prime Minister Lin is a smart man; he should have guessed who it is. The Eldest Princess wanted to silence him, and that person wanted to use Lin Gong to control you."

Lin Ruofu fell silent. He knew that Fan Xian was referring to Emperor Qing.

"What do you want?"

"Cooperation," Fan Xian said. "My men discovered that Yan Xiaoyi, a confidant of the Eldest Princess, suddenly mobilized a group of men this morning and headed towards Luoxia Mountain in the west of the city. There is a royal villa there that is rarely visited."

"Luoxia Mountain..." A glint of light flashed in Lin Ruofu's eyes, "That's the Princess's private property!"

Lin Ruofu suddenly stood up, and a long-lost murderous aura erupted from his body.

"Hongdao! Gather all your elite warriors! Follow me to Luoxia Mountain!"

……

Luoxia Mountain, the setting sun is like blood.

When Fan Xian and Lin Ruofu's men arrived at the mountaintop villa, it was already in a state of chaos.

The gate was kicked open, and several corpses lay scattered in the courtyard, including spies from the Prime Minister's residence and assassins dressed in black.

"Gong'er!"

Lin Ruofu rushed into the main hall without regard for anything else.

Fan Xian followed closely behind, the dagger already slipping from his hand as he warily surveyed his surroundings.

The main hall was deathly silent.

Lin Gong is not included.

There was only one chair, and on the chair lay a broken sword, Lin Gong's prized sword that he always carried. Beneath the blade was a note.

Lin Ruofu picked up the note with trembling hands. It contained only four characters, written hastily, as if in a rush:

"Northern Qi, do not worry."

"Northern Qi..." Lin Ruofu stared at these four words, feeling as if his spine had been removed. On the chair.

Fan Xian leaned closer for a look, his brows furrowing.

He didn't recognize the handwriting, but something felt off.

"Gone? Just like that?" Fan Xian exclaimed in disbelief. "At this critical juncture, he fled to Northern Qi?"

"It's Gong'er's handwriting...it's his handwriting..." Lin Ruofu held the note, laughing and crying at the same time. "He's not dead, it's good that he's not dead...it's good that he escaped, it's good that he escaped! He went to Northern Qi, although he may not be able to come back, at least he can live!"

For a father, as long as his son is alive, even if he is a traitor and a fugitive, it is better than him becoming a corpse.

Fan Xian stood aside, watching Lin Ruofu, who was on the verge of collapse, his doubts growing stronger.

Everything is going too smoothly.

It was as if someone had written a script. Lin Gong disappeared when he was supposed to disappear, and clues appeared when they were supposed to appear. Finally, before the deadline, a perfect "ending" was given.

Lin Gong fled to Northern Qi in fear of punishment.

This ending confirms Fan Xian's accusation—Lin Gong did indeed have a guilty conscience.

This ending preserved Lin Ruofu's bottom line—his son was not dead.

This ending also relieved the eldest princess—the person had escaped, and although not dead, they couldn't come back and say anything reckless.

It seems that all three parties have achieved an acceptable result.

But Fan Xian always felt that there was a pair of eyes watching all of this coldly from above the clouds.

"Who is it?"

Fan Xian walked out of the villa and stood on the edge of the cliff, watching the setting sun.

"It's not His Majesty."

Fan Xian suddenly overturned his previous assumptions.

If it were Emperor Qing, he wouldn't let Lin Gong go to Northern Qi. He would keep Lin Gong in his grasp as leverage to crush the Lin family at any time.

Allowing Lin Gong to escape weakens Emperor Qing's control.

"She's not the eldest princess either."

The eldest princess only wanted to kill.

"It's not Lin Xiang either."

Who could it be?