Why Did the Crown Prince Plot a Rebellion?

Shen Chengqian was younger than Xu Xian had imagined.

Despite having been the crown prince for over a hundred years, he showed no signs of aging and appeared to be only in his early thirties. However, his posture was somewhat crooked, with his right leg stiffly dragging on the outside of the stone bench.

He saw Mo Feichang and gave a peaceful smile.

"Master Mo, it's been a long time. The last time I saw you was at the palace banquet on the winter solstice last year. You sat far away from me and left after only a few bites of food."

"I remember that day the imperial kitchen made your favorite crab meat lion's head meatballs, but you didn't get a single bite. Instead, you ate all the braised pork knuckle on the next table."

"Your Highness has a good memory. That day, my crab meat lion's head was taken away by Chief Minister Yan, so I had to eat his braised pork knuckle instead."

Shen Chengqian then turned to Ouyang and smiled slightly.

"Ouyang is here too. He must have been wronged in Qingzhou..."

Before she could speak, Shen Chengqian turned his gaze to Xu Xian, sizing him up.

"This must be Xu Xiaoqi. I've long admired your name. From the border to the capital, and then to Qingzhou... Xu Xiaoqi has completely ruined my plans..."

"To be honest, I've killed you in my mind at least a hundred times, but now that I've seen you in person, I feel that you're not quite what I imagined. I thought you would be a burly man with a face full of scars, but I didn't expect you to look so refined."

Xu Xian raised an eyebrow slightly; the reaction of the person in front of him was completely unexpected.

There was no anger, no resentment, not even wariness.

It's like a businessman who lost money in business, sitting in his empty shop, saying to the creditors who came to collect on the loss, "You've come..."

"Doesn't the Crown Prince intend to defend himself?"

Shen Chengqian chuckled, "I'm tired."

Xu Xian was slightly taken aback.

"After planning for so many years, after so many deaths, Your Highness, so many people have died because of you, and you just say 'I'm tired'?"

Shen Chengqian sighed, placed his fishing rod on the stone bench, stood up, limped to the stone table, sat down, poured himself a cup of tea, and took a sip.

"Since Father is on guard, I have already lost the initiative, so there is no way I can succeed. There is no need to waste any more effort."

He looked up at Xu Xian, his eyes calm.

"Xu Xiaoqi, I didn't lose to you, I lost to time. Your timing was perfect..."

"If we delay by just two months, I'm confident we can take the capital within three days. Just two months short!"

Xu Xian looked at him and asked the question that concerned him most.

"Why is the Crown Prince plotting a rebellion?"

Shen Chengqian finished the last sip of tea, placed the cup back on the stone table, and looked up at Xu Xian.

"You haven't been a successor for a hundred years, you wouldn't understand..."

  

"I have no talent for martial arts. Even if I use all the rarest and most precious materials, hire the best teachers, and consume countless elixirs, I am still only at the Qi Refining Realm, and my lifespan is only a little over two hundred years..."

"My father reached the Golden Body Realm a hundred years ago and is in his prime. With his cultivation, he could easily live for several hundred more years. I cannot outlive him."

He poured himself another cup of tea, picked it up but didn't drink it, just stared at the amber-colored tea in the cup.

"For the first thirty years of my reign as Crown Prince, I worked diligently and never dared to slack off. My desk was piled high with government documents, and it was common for me to be reviewing them until the wee hours of the morning. Back then, everyone said that the Crown Prince was virtuous and would surely become a wise ruler in the future..."

"In another thirty years, I will wait for the person in that chair to step down, but I can't see any hope. When I attend court, I will sit below my father and watch all the officials paying homage in the direction that chair is directly above me... I am afraid that when I die of old age, my father will still be sitting there."

He took a sip of tea, then put down the cup.

"Later, my leg ailment flared up suddenly. Overnight, I lost all feeling in my right leg. I secretly consulted countless imperial physicians and tried countless kinds of elixirs, but I just couldn't get better..."

"Later, a Gu master was brought in from the Southern Region to temporarily suppress it with medicinal Gu. After the medicinal Gu burrowed in, the leg could move again, but the meridians were riddled with holes. In a few years, the medicinal Gu will completely lose its effectiveness..."

"At that time, I will have no choice but to show my lameness to the world and to my father."

He turned to look at Xu Xian, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.

"Xu Xiaoqi, have you ever seen an emperor who was lame?"

Xu Xian raised an eyebrow slightly and shook his head: "No."

Shen Chengqian laughed heartily.

"I've never seen it either, so I know I can't sit in that chair. Since I can't sit in it, I'll naturally take a gamble. It's a pity... if it's two months late, the great thing could have been accomplished."

After he finished speaking, Xu Xian asked another question.

"The sorcerer who kidnapped the child claims it was ordered by the Fourth Prince. Why?"

"Disguise..."

Shen Chengqian said it casually.

"That's easy, just find someone to wear a mask and pretend to be one of Shen Tai's men... Let me tell you something else, that Vice Minister of Revenue, you've always thought he was one of the Fourth Prince's men? No, he's one of mine too."

"Three million taels is just the account on the surface; there's much more hidden behind the scenes. Otherwise, what do you think I rely on to support my Gu soldiers? Supporting Gu soldiers is more expensive than supporting border troops."

Xu Xian did not speak again.

Mo Feichang emerged from the shadows of the corridor and made a gesture to Shen Chengqian.

"Your Highness, please come with me to see His Majesty."

Shen Chengqian put down his teacup, stood up, and limped toward Mo Feichang.

As he walked up to Mo Feichang, Ouyang suddenly rushed out from behind Xu Xian and blocked his way, his eyes bloodshot and his fists clenched.

"The massacre of the Marquis of Nanlong's entire family...was it...you who did it?!"

Shen Chengqian looked at the girl he had raised for twelve years.

When she was four, she nestled in his arms and called him Your Highness. When she was twelve, she practiced swordsmanship in the courtyard and was praised by him, which made her happy for days. When she was fifteen, she returned from her first mission and hid in her room, crying secretly all night.

"How did you find out? I'm very curious, how did you know?"

Ouyang didn't answer, but just stared at him intently, tears streaming down her face.

Seeing the tears on her face, Shen Chengqian was silent for a moment, then chuckled softly.

"It is I who have wronged you. The treasure map in the hands of the Marquis of Nanlong is related to the secret of ascension. I wanted that map, so I arranged for people to disguise themselves as outlaws and wipe out your family. Your master was among them..."

"I originally intended to intervene and rescue your father after they were finished, to do him a favor and get him to hand over the map voluntarily. I didn't expect your master to be so ruthless; your father died on the spot..."

"I had no choice but to save you, thinking that since you are his only daughter, you might know the whereabouts of the map. But you know nothing at all."

He looked at Ouyang and said, "I'm sorry."

Then he walked past her and continued towards the outside of the courtyard. Ouyang stood there, tears streaming down her face.

...

Mo Feichang took Shen Chengqian to the palace to see the emperor.

Xu Xian and Yang Xu took Ouyang back to the Inspection Department.

Ouyang followed behind them like a walking corpse, his eyes fixed straight ahead as he walked, neither crying nor speaking.

Xu Xian led her to the inner dungeon and pushed open the door to a cell.

He glanced back at her; she stood in the middle of the cell, head bowed, hands hanging at her sides, motionless.

"You stay here for now. Once the case is closed, the chief judge will decide how to deal with you."

Ouyang did not answer.

Xu Xian closed the cell door, handed the key to the Black Cavalry Guard on night duty, and then returned to the public quarters with Yang Xu.

Yang Xu picked up the teapot on the table, took two gulps of cold tea directly from the spout, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, plopped down in a chair, and let out a long sigh.

"Tsk, it's finally over. I'm finally free from investigating this stupid case with you anymore. We investigated from the capital to Qingzhou, and then back to the capital. I only came back alive because I'm so lucky..."

"Let me tell you, next time there's any overseas assignment, you can find someone else to go. I'm not going. My left arm is covered with old and new injuries, and if it keeps piling up, I'll have to have it amputated."

Xu Xian sat in the chair, tugging at the stubble on his chin, his brows slightly furrowed.

"Although Shen Chengqian confessed readily, I still feel that something is wrong. This crown prince seems too nonchalant. He could have struggled, after all, we don't have direct evidence."

"Sun Buhai's warrant was tricked back by him by impersonating Mo Feichang. Sun Buhai himself is also dead. All the witnesses and physical evidence that could prove that he was involved in the Han Tie case are gone."

"Regarding the child case, the Gu Master claimed to be the Fourth Prince's man. He could have easily continued to maintain this claim. Why did he take the initiative to admit that the Gu Master was his man and that the Vice Minister of Revenue was also his man? If he hadn't said these things, we would never have been able to find out."

"He took all the blame upon himself, as if he was afraid we wouldn't be able to find him."

Yang Xu put the teapot back on the table and glanced at him.

"Tsk...you're overthinking it. The mastermind confessed himself, and he admitted it to Lord Mo's face. Lord Mo is a witness, the evidence is irrefutable, what's wrong with that?"

After thinking about it, Xu Xian couldn't find any fault with it.

The motive was reasonable: the crown prince, who had endured for a hundred years, could no longer hold on; his leg ailment had completely extinguished his hope. The action was reasonable: after losing power, he gave up resistance and readily confessed his guilt.

The logic is sound from beginning to end, without any flaws.

But he always felt that Shen Chengqian had given his instructions too quickly.

He suppressed the thought, thinking, "Forget it, the mastermind has already admitted it, so it's not my place to question him, a mere flag officer."

However, Mo insisted that he wait at the Inspection Department first, and that he could not go home yet.