The maid's road to success

While the Fourth Prince was busy with the child, a guest came to the Sixth Prince's place. In order to make it easier for his subordinates to come and discuss things with him, the Sixth Prince opened a secret passage in the garden of his mansion. The bookstore was another entrance to the passage. This was An Zizhong's first time here. Because the Sixth Prince didn't trust him very much, he only told him the contact point and didn't tell him that there was a secret passage that could lead him directly to the Sixth Prince's Mansion.

Now it seems that the Sixth Prince is very satisfied with the information in the account book and he is not even shy about sharing such important information with himself.

It was obvious that the owner of the bookstore respected him more and personally led him to the Sixth Prince's Mansion. The Sixth Prince had been waiting in the study for a long time. Because the Sixth Prince had a large number of people and could not guarantee that there were no spies here, An Zizhong came wearing a black mask.

"Zi Zhong finally waited for you. I haven't seen you for almost a year. You look taller than before. It's really a good thing for you that Princess Baozhu is gone."

As soon as the Sixth Prince opened his mouth, he reminded An Zizhong that the reason he could be so comfortable and capable now was because he had taken the initiative to expose the affair between the Fourth Prince and Princess Baozhu, which brought An Zizhong a good life.

"Your Majesty is right. If it weren't for you, I would still be a fool who has been kept in the dark."

An Zizhong naturally had to cooperate with the Sixth Prince. The more superior he was in front of him, the less likely he would suspect him.

"Thank you for your hard work in getting that account book. It was not until I returned to Kyoto that I realized that it was not easy for you to get that account book. Thanks to you for helping me, I was able to return successfully this time. I have nothing else, so I prepared something for you. Keep it."

An Zizhong looked at the Sixth Prince, who had made progress. The reality reminded him that he was able to get rid of Princess Baozhu thanks to him. He also praised himself for doing a good job and rewarded himself. If someone didn't know this, they would probably really express their determination to the Sixth Prince.

"Your Majesty, you are too kind. It is my duty to serve you. How can I accept your gifts? I just feel sorry that so much evidence has not been able to bring down Lord Cheng'en, nor has it allowed you to restore your dignity as a prince."

The Sixth Prince froze for a moment and waved his hands, pretending not to care.

"You don't know, my second brother has come to his senses since he stopped indulging in the harem. He wants to trample me and the Fourth Prince under his feet forever. Naturally, he will not restore me because of this incident. But it doesn't matter. You are still too naive. Duke Cheng'en has been entrenched in Kyoto for so many years. The time I spent on my way back was enough for him to deal with a lot of evidence. But it's okay. He can't take care of the five city defense armies now, which makes him more heartbroken than losing half of Duke Cheng'en's mansion. It's enough."

The Sixth Prince patted An Zizhong's shoulder and suddenly thought of the Sixth Princess' words.

"The Sixth Princess did remind me. Your sister is not young anymore. Girls of the same age are already mothers of several children, but she is still unmarried. There are many good boys in the Sixth Princess's family. Do you want to..."

An Zizhong immediately lowered his head to hide the murderous intent in his eyes, and said that the Sixth Princess was the one to be on guard against. In order to make himself more loyal, he actually had bad intentions towards An Wen Niang and wanted to use An Wen Niang to control himself. This was like offending someone he shouldn't have offended.

"My sister is in poor health. Besides, I am now the eldest princess's son-in-law, and I have a relationship with the Sixth Princess's family. Wouldn't that expose my relationship with the prince? It will be difficult to find out anything in the future."

Seeing the Sixth Prince nod in realization, An Zizhong finally felt relieved. In fact, An Zizhong also knew that the Sixth Princess had only mentioned it, and would not really let An Wen Niang marry into her family. They still needed him to follow the Grand Princess and be a qualified spy. He did not expect to expose himself so early, but it was also a reminder for himself to prevent the Sixth Princess from really using An Wen Niang to threaten him.

Before the Sixth Prince could continue speaking, An Zizhong quickly took out an envelope from his arms.

"Your Highness, do you still remember the incident a while ago when Master Bai Shoude was injured? As far as I know, the Fourth Prince was involved in this."

The Sixth Prince immediately stood up and looked at An Zizhong in surprise. He also knew that Bai Shoude was injured, but the Grand Princess suppressed the matter, and he did not get much useful information. He only heard that it was a concubine of Bai Shoude who was bullied because she was neglected and deliberately took revenge.

Is there another secret here? Isn't the Fourth Prince in league with my aunt? Back then, he also wanted to win over my aunt. After all, she was the daughter of the Grand Empress Dowager. How could she help the Fourth Prince but not her own child who was raised by the Grand Empress Dowager?

"Tell me carefully."

An Zizhong took out a letter with only a few words on it.

"After Bai Shoude was injured, the Grand Princess has been tracking down that woman, but that woman was of ordinary birth. She was bought by Qi Yangchuan specifically to please Bai Shoude. How could such a woman have such ability? I am also very curious, but one day the Grand Princess was called over by Princess Baozhu in a hurry. When she came back, she was very strange. A woman suddenly appeared on the road and threw a purse. Although I don't know what was in the purse, my informant said that after the Grand Princess returned, she called Prince Consort Bai to the study room to identify the handwriting."

"These are the contents of a few sentences. I don't know the whole thing, but what's strange is that Prince Consort Bai later went to find Yan Ling, who is the Fourth Prince's aide. Logically, Bai Shoude was injured and Princess Baozhu was also seriously ill. He didn't have any other mood at all, so why would he find Yan Ling to appreciate the paintings? Yan Ling went back and found a doctor in the middle of the night. After that..."

You don't need An Zizhong to say much about what happened next, you know what it means, because Yan Ling died in a very strange way. The doctor did not diagnose poisoning or some other disease, it was as if he died suddenly. The only way to determine that he had a heart attack was based on the difference in his heart compared to ordinary people when he died. Moreover, Yan Ling had consulted doctors many times during his lifetime, but no one could diagnose the problem. This matter was ignored because the coroner later determined that it was caused by heart disease. It seems very strange now.

"Go on."

If An Zizhong didn't dare to come to his mansion casually just because of these speculations, there must be other evidence.

"I visit Princess Baozhu every month. I bought some calming incense once before and sent it to her. After I came back, the doctor at the Grand Princess's residence asked me where I bought the calming incense. I bought the prescription and gave it to the Grand Princess directly. Later, the Princess's residence would send calming incense to Princess Baozhu regularly. Now it seems that she uses it every day."

The Sixth Prince didn't want to listen to An Zizhong say so much, and his face looked a little impatient, so An Zizhong immediately brought up the point.

"I was very suspicious as to why Princess Baozhu used the tranquilizing incense so frequently. Even if her temperament changed due to a miscarriage, she wouldn't use so much. Ordinary people would stop using it after a month or so. So I kept an eye on that place and found out that the Grand Princess had interrogated all the servants that day. It seemed that Princess Baozhu's temperament change was not only due to the miscarriage, but someone had drugged her. I didn't find out much else, but I knew that all the things that the Fourth Prince had sent to the villa were taken back to the Grand Princess's residence intact."

The Sixth Prince looked at An Zizhong in surprise, with doubt and surprise flashing in his eyes. If this was true, he could use this incident to completely win over the Grand Princess to his own hands. Even though the Fourth Prince had developed well in recent years and cultivated many forces independent of the Grand Princess, as long as the Grand Princess did not stand on his side, he would be a lame wolf. How could he catch up with him?

The Sixth Prince looked at An Zizhong's face and became more and more excited. He had deliberately found An Zizhong in order to train a spy beside the Grand Princess. He was thinking that he would have to test him a few more times before he could really use him. Unexpectedly, he brought him two such big surprises. One was to help him find the account book of Duke Cheng'en and successfully summon him back to Kyoto from his fiefdom, and the other was to bring him news that would severely defeat the Fourth Prince. This was truly a treasure.

"What do you think we should do next?"

An Zizhong looked at the almost ecstatic Sixth Prince, and his heart became even colder. Haohao was so happy that the higher he climbed, the harder he fell, but his face looked respectful and humble.

"Although I have heard about these things, I have no actual evidence. Now it seems that the eldest princess also knows that the matter between Princess Baozhu and Bai Shoude was caused by the Fourth Prince, but she still hasn't torn her face off. I think she still has her own plans. Moreover, if you want to talk about evidence, I come from a poor family, and there are not many people I can use in the capital. Everything still needs to be investigated by the prince before we discuss what to do. The prince has many capable people under his command, and they are definitely more reliable than Zi Zhong. Zi Zhong just heard some rumors and warned the Sixth Prince first."

This was the reason why An Zizhong came to find the Sixth Prince after careful consideration. The Sixth Prince was different from the Fourth Prince. He was severely suppressed by the Sixth Princess and the Grand Empress Dowager, so he had no clear understanding of his own abilities. He always felt that he could still accomplish things even without the Grand Empress Dowager and the Sixth Princess. So instead of telling him all the truth, it would be better to just give him a direction and ask him to check it himself. On the contrary, he would believe it more.

After all, how could a kid from a poor family, who couldn't even decide his own life-long affairs, have the ability to find out so many things? The only thing he could rely on was his identity as the eldest princess's son-in-law, and he knew just a little more than others.

It was obvious that An Zizhong had guessed correctly. Before the Sixth Prince even discussed it with anyone, he directly called the person who was best at gathering information to investigate the matter.

And it is not appropriate for An Zizhong to stay here at this time. He has achieved two great achievements in a short time. If the other staff of the Sixth Prince knew about this, they would be very afraid of him. There might even be someone targeting him and throwing dirty water on him. He does not want to end up with a loss. Although the staff around the prince are not Jinshi, they all have their own strengths. For example, Yan Ling, the staff of the Fourth Prince, is very particular about painting and writing poetry. The Sixth Prince also has several powerful figures under him, so it is better to have less trouble.

After An Zizhong and the Sixth Prince took their leave, An Zizhong left from the secret passage holding a box of jewels. It must be said that the Sixth Prince was really happy today, as he had already given him several precious jewels and ten ingots of gold, and later on, he gave him three times as much.

After all, he is a prince and has a lot of good things. It seems that the Sixth Prince is easier to please than the Fourth Prince. Liu Yan had already taken away all the private collections of the Sixth Prince in advance. Now he can still get so many good things from the Sixth Prince. Unlike the Fourth Prince, he treated himself like a living turtle and was only compensated with a fifth-rank official position.

Even if the Grand Princess hides well, the Sixth Prince can still find some evidence, and An Zizhong will help the Sixth Prince's people find the evidence, such as replacing the pearl necklace that the Fourth Prince gave to Princess Baozhu with another one, and telling the Sixth Prince's people about the Grand Princess's whereabouts. He can sneak in when she is out and find the letter from Yan Ling, but it is not the original. The Grand Princess kept it very carefully when she first knew that it was written by Yan Ling, so it is naturally difficult to find. An Zizhong asked his spies to put it in the mezzanine of the bookcase while cleaning in order to let the Sixth Prince's people find it.

The letter was written in a special ink, and if it was exposed to sunlight for too long it would disappear. It was just enough for the Sixth Prince to see what was on it clearly, and then it disappeared, so that he would not be exposed when he and the Grand Princess confronted each other later.

Then there was Princess Baozhu. She didn't have to make any arrangements herself as the Sixth Prince's people learned a lot of information from Princess Baozhu's mumbling.

"Cousin, you have such a cruel heart. That's our child. Why did you kill him? Why did you hurt me? Wasn't I good enough to you? Why did you turn me into a lunatic? Cousin, cousin, I hate you."

The secret guard stood in front of the Sixth Prince and imitated Princess Baozhu's tone to speak out the crazy words that Princess Baozhu said before she absorbed the calming incense. The Sixth Prince was stunned when he heard it.