The naughty and cowardly little crybaby sold himself out

The Fourth Prince's answer shocked Li Ruyi. If the War Prince might have some room for maneuver against the Queen's faction, the Fourth Prince would be crushed into ashes if he faced the Queen's faction, and her Taifu Mansion would also be implicated.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine." The Fourth Prince comforted her.

"Let's not discuss this for now. Tell me what's going on with you guys?" Jing Muyang came over and wiped Chu Jian's hair.

"I don't know. Suddenly a masked man in black appeared and Qingye couldn't beat him. We were discovered again, so we ran and shouted for help. Finally, we were caught on the corridor and thrown into the water." Chu Jian told the whole story in just one sentence.

"Your Highness, that man's martial arts skills are extremely high, probably on par with Aoki." Aoba added on the bed.

Qingmu is the second most powerful expert around the King of War. There are only a few people in the entire capital who can fight him, but those people were already investigated after returning from the autumn hunt.

Jing Muyang narrowed his eyes. There was no clue about the madness of the autumn hunting animals. I wonder if this time is related to that time? How could it be such a coincidence that they happened to meet such a powerful master.

"Oh, Mu Yang, he might have been poisoned by Tianshui!" Chu Jian suddenly remembered, "I threw the poison bottle over and hit his wrist. It seemed to have all spilled on his sleeves. I don't know if it touched his skin at all. If so, there will be clues soon!"

"Haha, it looks like the princess is about to catch him." Jing Muyang laughed, "Princess, if we check now, how can we find this clue?"

"He ran away a long time ago. Even if he was one of the guests, he would have changed his clothes. If it didn't touch the skin, it wouldn't be detected. If it did touch the skin, it would take at least three or four days for abnormalities to appear. If he was startled in the process, wouldn't that be alerting the enemy?"

"So if it doesn't get on the skin, this clue is useless?"

"That depends on whether he wants the clothes or not. Mu Yang, generally speaking, those men in black won't wear their clothes once and then throw them away. They will definitely wash them, right? If they wash them, there will be contact. Although the toxicity is almost gone after washing in water, there will still be an impact. The skin on the hands of the person who washes them will shed severely. If no medicine is used, it will last for a long time. As long as we find such a person, we can find clues."

"The princess is really amazing." Jing Muyang dried her hair and tied it into a simple bun.

I had everything in my arms when I first went out, and I didn't expect that it would come in handy. However, the water that day was too poisonous, so I have to remind others carefully when I go back, so that I don't get poisoned by accident.

"Fourth brother, I'll leave the rest to you."

Jing Muyang brought Chu Jian back home early. The Fourth Prince stayed and told Minister Liu about the situation. Minister Liu was very angry. He was almost harmed in his own home. No matter who it was, he was so bold that he even dared to attack the current princess and the future princess!

He asked someone to hand over the list of all the guests today, including the opera troupe, to the Fourth Prince, "I will leave this old minister in the hands of the Fourth Prince."

"It is my duty."

Neither of them said anything extra.

*

In Liu Yiyi's boudoir, she took a hot bath and drank a bowl of ginger soup, but she still felt dizzy. Her head was full of panic when she was in the water, and the peace of mind when she was held in the arms of the Fourth Prince. The two opposing emotions alternated, disturbing her at the moment.

"Yiyi?" Li Ruyi came over.

"Ruyi!" Liu Yiyi sat up from the bed.

"How are you? You scared me to death!"

Most of the noble ladies in the aristocratic families cannot swim. There are very few who have an uncle like Li Ruyi who is willing to teach them and whose elders do not say anything.

"I'm fine. Fortunately, Princess Zhan can swim. She held me up the whole time, and I only choked on a few mouthfuls of water." Liu Yiyi held her hand, "How is Princess Zhan?"

"She is better than you. His Royal Highness the Prince of War has taken her back to the palace." Li Ruyi glanced outside and asked in a low voice, "Yiyi, tell me, was it His Royal Highness the Prince of War who saved you or my brother-in-law?"

"Yes... it's His Majesty the War King."

Liu Yiyi shrank back, but she still remembered the surprised look on Zhan Wang's face when he grabbed Chu Jian and saw her. He also looked disgusted and pulled her off Chu Jian and threw her onto the shore. It was really horrible.

"His Royal Highness Prince Zhan thought that only Princess Zhan fell into the water. He didn't expect that I was there too, so he threw me out. Fortunately, the Fourth Prince caught me."

"What! He threw you out? So...so, it was your brother-in-law who caught you and carried you back to the room?" Li Ruyi would never have thought that King Zhan would use this trick.

"Yes." Liu Yiyi blushed.

She had taken off her cotton-padded jacket and was only wearing her inner clothes. Her whole body was wet. She lay in the Fourth Prince's arms, close to her body. The smell of the Fourth Prince and his hands around her waist and back, that hot feeling seemed to still be there.

"Did anyone see it?"

"Grandfather saw it." Liu Yiyi lowered her head. "Many people came behind us. His Royal Highness the War Prince was mediating over there. Grandfather had no choice but to ask the Fourth Prince to take me back to my room quickly."

"He was the only one who saw it?"

"He's the only one who saw it."

The two were silent for a while, and Li Ruyi was worried.

"Ruyi, it was the Fourth Prince who saved me during the last autumn hunt. At that time, my father and I were separated by a wild boar, and it was the Fourth Prince who pounced on me and kept me under his body, so I was not hurt by the wild boar. But I didn't say anything at the time, and even my father didn't know."

Liu Yiyi still didn't say too much specifics. When the Fourth Prince pounced on her during the Autumn Hunt, they were face to face with him and he held her head in his arms. She rolled several times before she avoided the wild boar's charge.

"What do you mean? Why are you telling me this?"

"Ruyi, this is not the first time that the Fourth Prince and I have had a blind date, and, I... I..."

Li Ruyi understood the hidden meaning and became very angry. "My sister was still alive at that time!"

"Ruyi, I didn't think much at that time. I knew that the Fourth Prince and the Fourth Princess were deeply in love, and the Fourth Prince was just trying to save people, so I didn't have any thoughts. But later, the Fourth Princess passed away, and my grandfather came back and said that the Emperor wanted to find a princess for the Fourth Prince, but the Fourth Prince refused. Then I found that I had some thoughts."

"But you are the future princess of the eighth prince. This is against human ethics. You should know better than me how powerful the queen is. How can you drag my brother-in-law into this? You will harm Xu'er and implicate the Taifu Mansion!"

"No, I didn't do anything. I only told you. And neither the autumn hunting incident nor what happened today was what I wanted to happen." Liu Yiyi cried.

"Why didn't you do anything?! Since my sister died, you often came to my house to find me. Aren't you taking the opportunity to get close to Xu'er? Also, on New Year's Eve, I heard that my brother-in-law was almost punished by the emperor because Xu'er called you mother. Did you teach him privately?!"

"No, no, Xu'er also calls Princess Guan Zhan mother. I didn't teach him, I really didn't teach him. I just felt sorry for Xu'er and hugged him a few more times when I went to your house. Weren't you there?" Liu Yiyi held her hand and kept explaining.

"Then what's the meaning of you telling me all this now?" Li Ruyi stared at her and asked.

"I..." Liu Yiyi also looked at her, "I seem to have fallen in love with the Fourth Prince."

"You can't!" Li Ruyi knew it was like this.

"You really can't! Do you know your identity? Do you know the weight of your Liu family in the court? Chu Jian said that you were prepared by the emperor for the prince, but for some reason the queen intervened. Now the prince and the queen are in an open standoff because of you. If the fourth prince is dragged in at this time, they will definitely make sure that my brother-in-law is killed without a burial place!"

"But I can't control myself, what should I do?"

"What should we do? We have to control ourselves even if we can't! Put away these thoughts and don't tell anyone! I came here to tell you that His Royal Highness Prince Zhan told everyone that only Princess Zhan fell into the water. The two of us were in the study the whole time, and later we returned to the courtyard together. You must remember this. Neither of us fell into the water, and your brother-in-law didn't carry you back to the room!"

Liu Yiyi nodded with tears in her eyes. Ruyi was right. No matter what method the Queen used, the marriage had been granted anyway, and her grandfather was also actively working on behalf of the Eighth Prince. Her grandfather said that he would seek the greatest benefit for her even if it meant risking the whole world's disapproval.

The Fourth Prince has no power and no ambition. If it were the Fourth Prince, when the Crown Prince or the Eighth Prince ascended the throne, the Liu family would suffer a devastating disaster even if they did nothing.

Moreover, the situation is now almost halfway through, and the Liu family no longer has any room for choice.

**