With a warehouse full of supplies, I stood alone as king in this chaotic world, gun in hand.

As Old Man Ma said this, a greedy look appeared in his eyes. "I know that once she gets pregnant, it will be impossible for us to be together again!"

But I've become infatuated with the bodies of my two concubines, so I devised a plan to control them, hoping to continue my pleasures with them in the future, extract some money from them to spend, and then live a life of comfort and freedom from the drudgery of servants.

Upon hearing this, Li Zhan couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "A treacherous villain."

Old Man Ma continued, "In front of Consort Min, I removed the mask from my face. Consort Min was shocked and furious when she saw my true face, and she even wanted to run to the Prince to complain."

I quickly held her down and told her the cruel truth: if they made it public, they would all die a terrible death.

The prince disliked both concubines at all, but he had no choice but to obey the Empress Dowager's decree and consummate his marriage with them.

The prince didn't want to touch his two concubines, so he asked me to consummate the marriage in his place, thus deceiving the Empress Dowager's people.

Nangong Wu already had a feeling about it, but she was still shocked to hear Old Man Ma say it himself.

No wonder my grandfather didn't care about the people in the West District, because neither Nangong Qi nor Nangong Chen were my grandfather's blood relatives.

"So, Consort Min knew that Nangong Qi wasn't actually a descendant of the Prince?" I never imagined that my grandfather's love for my grandmother was so deep that he would do something so absurd for her sake.

I just can't understand why my grandfather knew that Nangong Qi and Nangong Chen weren't his children, so why didn't he get rid of them sooner?

With his methods, killing those two mothers and children would be a simple matter of a word.

But then she thought about it again. Her grandfather only had one daughter, her mother, and her grandmother died young. As his mother, the Empress Dowager couldn't possibly let him live with only one daughter. She wanted her grandfather to have a son so that the Zhenyuan Prince's Mansion could bring glory to its family, which is why she forced him to take a concubine to have more offspring.

If Nangong Qi and Nangong Chen both die, the Empress Dowager will send him even more women.

In that case, Grandfather would have been better off keeping Nangong Qi and Nangong Chen, to avoid trouble.

"I know, I told her everything that night." Old Ma was lost in his memories.

"In order to save our lives, we came up with a plan. After the child was born, Queen Min went to confront the prince and threatened him that if anything happened to her, the child, or me, she would expose the truth to the whole world and make him lose face as a royal family."

But we were naive. What kind of person was the old prince? How could he be blackmailed by us?

Two more months passed, and Consort Fang became pregnant with my child.

I used the same method to let her know that the child she was carrying was mine, not the prince's. But Consort Fang's reaction surprised me. After hearing what I said, she sat there stunned for a long time, then calmly dismissed me from the room and never saw me again.

As Old Ma finished speaking, he secretly glanced at Nangong Wu.

"Continue, tell me everything, big or small." Li Zhan placed his longsword against his neck again.

"After I was kicked out by Consort Fang, I knew things were going to go wrong, so I tried to find a way to get away. Otherwise, once the prince found out that both of my consorts were pregnant, I would be useless."

With the three hundred taels of silver given to me by the guard and the two hundred taels given to me by Consort Min, I secretly hid under the carriage that had been used for shopping that morning, and that's how I left the Prince's mansion.

I knew that once the prince discovered I was gone, he would definitely send people to hunt me down. So as soon as I left the palace, I changed into beggar's clothes and fled north from the capital.

I fled to the Northern Wilderness and stayed there for ten years, where I married and had children. But I was still unwilling to spend my life in the harsh and cold Northern Wilderness. I loved the prosperity of the capital and missed my fleeting romances with my two concubines. I felt that I should have a place in the capital.

So I took my wife and children back to Kyoto and rented a house with the remaining silver. But everything in Kyoto costs money, and things are expensive, so my meager silver was quickly running out.

Seeing the two children crying from hunger, I thought of Consort Min. I bribed the old man who emptied the chamber pots in the Prince's mansion, sneaked into the mansion, and secretly went to Consort Min's bedroom.

When Consort Min saw me, she was overjoyed, as if a parched land had received rain. We made love until the wee hours of the morning before Consort Min finally gave me one hundred taels of silver and told me to leave.

After that, I often sneaked into the Prince's mansion to be intimate with Consort Min, and she gave me a lot of silver. "My lord, I've said everything I need to say, please let me go!" Old Man Ma put the gold ingot into his pocket.

"What was the name of the guard who gave you the silver and took you to the old prince's study?" Nangong Wu asked.

"I don't know. That person always wore a veil whenever he came to see me. But at that time, the prince's most trusted person was Sima Ji, who was also the head of the guards." After saying this, Old Man Ma kowtowed to her, "I've told you everything, please spare me!"

"You bastard, you've already come all this way, and you still want to leave?" Li Zhan looked at him like he was an idiot.

Old Man Ma said anxiously, "You just said that if I confessed everything, you would let me go. If I don't go out, those people will kill my whole family."

"Li Zhan, go see his family and tell them that the old man is dead. Give them some silver and leave the capital immediately," Nangong Wu instructed before turning and leaving the dungeon.

"Understood." Li Zhan responded, then pressed down on Old Man Ma and took the gold ingot back from his arms.

"No, that's my gold..." Old Man Ma tried to snatch it from him, but Li Zhan kicked him away.

"What would a dying person need gold for?"

This is a royal secret; His Highness cannot allow this old man Ma to live.

Back at Zui Mei Courtyard, Li An was still processing Old Man Ma's words. "Your Highness, with Old Man Ma as a witness, we can go to the palace to reveal the truth to His Majesty and expel all those people from the West District from the Prince's Mansion."

"I will." Nangong Wu felt that this matter was of great importance, concerning the royal bloodline and reputation, and it had to be handled properly.

She walked to the table, picked up a pen and wrote a secret letter, then wrote an address on a piece of paper and handed them to Li An. "Send someone to find General Sima at the address on this paper and have him secretly come to the capital."

Sima Ji was a third-rank general. He had followed his grandfather since he was young. After his grandfather passed away, he asked the court for permission to retire and return to his hometown, citing his advanced age.

"Understood, sir." Li An took the secret letter and went to make arrangements.

Nangong Wu sat there deep in thought. In less than twenty days since she transmigrated, a lot had already happened.

She has driven the Zhou family to the brink of ruin, regained control of the Zhenyuan Prince's Mansion and the Huo family conglomerate, and cut off the financial resources of the Rui Prince's Party.

A cornered dog will jump over a wall; she has blocked the way for many people and become a thorn in their side.

Half of the court officials feared her, while the other half hated her to the core. Those who hated her would surely want her dead.

She then thought of the Imperial Noble Consort's fortieth birthday, which was three days later.

Holding a birthday banquet a month in advance is quite interesting.