My Lord, the princess doesn't want you anymore.

After leaving the imperial study, Prime Minister Mei and Cui Hongjing walked slowly side by side.

"Is Shaoqing Zhu the prince's man?" Prime Minister Mei sighed and asked slowly.

Cui Hongjing stopped and looked at Prime Minister Mei calmly.

After a while, he answered with two words, "No."

Prime Minister Mei sighed again, "The Emperor takes the imperial power very seriously. He hates anyone coveting the throne the most and hates to take sides in advance. Because the Emperor believes that whoever can sit on this position in the future is granted by him, and no prince should get it by trickery... At the same time, he is afraid, afraid that anything will be out of his control. Your Majesty, it is better to be careful."

Cui Hongjing nodded and said, "Father-in-law, I don't know if Xue'er has contacted you."

Prime Minister Mei was slightly stunned because he heard Cui Hongjing call him "father-in-law" and "Xue'er".

Could it be that he finally acknowledged his princess?

Prime Minister Mei opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but no words came out.

Cui Hongjing looked ashamed, "Xue'er, she left the palace with Nanxing last night. I haven't been able to find her yet." He paused, then quickly added, "But father-in-law, don't worry too much. Xue'er has secret guards following her."

Prime Minister Mei was relatively calm, "Please tell me the truth about what happened, Your Majesty."

Cui Hongjing: Tell the truth? Do you want me to say that I wanted to rape her, so I scared her away?

"Anyway, it's all my fault. I made her angry." He said it without confidence.

"Did you have a fight?" Prime Minister Mei was anxious, but still asked patiently.

Cui Hongjing nodded, "I guess so!"

Prime Minister Mei sighed, "My daughter is naughty. If it were any other day, I would be more relieved. But the current situation in the capital is so chaotic. Sigh... If the prince still cares about my daughter, you should think of a way quickly... I, I should also send someone to look for her quickly..."

Prime Minister Mei did not blame him, but Cui Hongjing felt very uncomfortable.

Unexpectedly, Prime Minister Mei stopped him again, "Oh, by the way, there is one more thing I need to tell His Majesty. It's about my daughter Zhihua. This is a family scandal, but it concerns His Majesty..."

After listening to Prime Minister Mei's general account, Cui Hongjing felt more and more guilty. He had angered Prime Minister Mei's legitimate daughter so much that she ran away from home, and now her life or death was unknown, but Prime Minister Mei was still thinking about him.

But in the palace, he couldn't show any emotions.

"Come to think of it, this is also my fault. I shouldn't have told Jiayun about this at home, otherwise Zhihua's mother wouldn't have heard it. But the prince already knows what the late emperor left for you. If the emperor knew about this... Your Majesty should make preparations early."

Cui Hongjing's pupils contracted instantly.

All these things came together, and he felt like there was a huge stone pressing on his heart.

No, he couldn't panic.

When people are in a panic, they will inevitably be careless.

Even a small wrong step could lead to irreparable consequences.

When I returned to the palace, there was still no news of Mei Xueer.

This made Cui Hongjing even more upset, and he couldn't even calm down and think about what to do next.

He paced aimlessly in the mansion.

Before I knew it, I was standing at the gate of Qingfeng Garden.

I thought that I had finally found her, but lost her again that night.

When he had her, he didn't realize how good she was.

After losing her, he realized that he could even give up many things he had been fighting for for her.

After coming out of Qingfeng Garden, he stood quietly in front of the osmanthus tree again.

He suddenly thought of the day when Nanny Kuang came and he said, "My princess said that if the crown of the osmanthus tree is cut off in the winter and only the stump is left, the osmanthus will bloom better next year." Mei Xueer looked aggrieved but dared not refute.

He suddenly laughed, and his laugh was sad and lonely.

I really want to see that deflated face again.

I really want to wipe away the tears from her face.

Xueer, where are you?

Could it be that you really don’t want to see me again in this life?

Even if I have to turn the capital upside down, I will find you.

You will always be the princess of Prince Jing’s Mansion.

This king will never let go!

Humph, you will never leave me in this life!

He returned to his own Jianxian Pavilion.

On the wall hung the words "The Great Dao of Inaction" in a flamboyant style. He remembered that when Mei Xueer came here for the first time, she read these four words as "Superherb Picking Man".

He smiled bitterly.

Why is her shadow everywhere I go?

Wherever I go, I will think of her.

Then he shook his head vigorously, as if he could get rid of her shadow from his mind.

He gently took down the painting.

The calligraphy and paintings are quite old and are framed in exquisite mahogany frames.

He carefully removed the frame and stroked it gently.

Only he knew that there was a layer behind the rice paper with the words "Dao Wuwei" written on it.

The mezzanine is very hidden and difficult to detect even with careful inspection.

In the interlayer, there was a piece of bright yellow silk that was as thin as a cicada's wing, the same bright yellow color as the imperial edict.

This is the will left by the late emperor——

My grandson Cui Hongjing, born to Concubine Dong, was named the Crown Prince. After my death, he will succeed me to the throne and become the Emperor!

At that time, Cui Hongjing was only five years old. He already knew that his royal grandfather was about to leave him forever. He also remembered that besides him and his royal grandfather, there were only two people in front of the sickbed: Prime Minister Mei, and Eunuch Fu, the personal eunuch who had served his royal grandfather all his life.

He looked at his great grandfather quietly, just sobbing, not daring to cry out for fear of making his great grandfather sad.

He remembered that his grandfather was already very weak at the time. He held his grandson's hand and said, "How you use this will depends on your own ability. It may allow you to ascend to the throne, or it may bring you disaster. Your father is already powerful, and you are still young. I dare not announce the will publicly, otherwise it will only bring you disaster. I wanted to arrange everything before leaving, but it's too late... From now on, everything depends on you."

Cui Hongjing remembered that when his father arrived, his great-grandfather was just barely holding on to his body and writing the four words "Dao Wuwei" on rice paper.

After finishing writing, he signaled Eunuch Fu to put away the calligraphy and painting, and in front of the prince, he personally handed it to Cui Hongjing, "It's good to do nothing and not fight. I only wish you a peaceful life..."

Cui Hongjing felt that his father had doubts at the time, but these were calligraphy and paintings bestowed by his grandfather to his grandson, and he had no right to take them away.

Besides, my father also checked it carefully at that time and found nothing wrong.

But Cui Qimo never expected that the rice paper had an interlayer, and inside the interlayer was an imperial edict that was powerful enough to shake his throne.

Over the years, this will has been hanging prominently in his Jianxian Pavilion, and anyone who walks into this room can see it at a glance.

No one could have imagined that he would hang such a deadly thing directly on the wall.

That was the handwriting of the late emperor, and no one dared to touch it.

After the death of the previous emperor, the eunuch Fu who had always served him was also buried with him. Only two people in the world knew about this will: Prime Minister Mei and Cui Hongjing.

Cui Hongjing was only five years old at the time. No matter how much he looked like an emperor, he could not support this huge state machinery.

Moreover, at that time, most of the people in the court were Cui Qimo's people. If he took out this edict, he would only have one way to go, and that was death.

Therefore, Prime Minister Mei asked him to be patient, to be patient and not to fight, and to accumulate strength in secret and slowly make his move.

Over the years, Prime Minister Mei has had little contact with Cui Hongjing and has always remained neutral in the court.

Only in this way can the new emperor be reassured.

In fact, Cui Hongjing did not intend to seize the throne at first.

As long as he can live well, he has nothing else to ask for.

Father, you have courage and means.

He is a qualified emperor.

However, as he grew older, he also figured out many problems that he had overlooked when he was a child.

For example, why did my grandfather fall ill so suddenly? Why did my mother suddenly commit suicide?

As he grew up, he realized that there were too many doubts.

All doubts point to his father, the current emperor Cui Qimo.

After thinking about this clearly, Cui Hongjing changed his mind.

He must fight with all his might - even for his royal grandfather and his mother.

However, after his grandfather passed away, he could not achieve anything due to the suppression from his father and could only develop his own power secretly.

Cui Qimo is a smart person and is particularly wary of him, so he will be exposed if he is not careful.

If he had not been living cautiously all this time, if his father had not still remembered the father-son relationship a little bit, perhaps Prince Jing would have been a dead Prince Jing long ago.

For more than ten years, he has been walking on thin ice, as if walking on the edge of a knife, and he almost died several times.

Every step is so difficult.

Once a few years ago, Cui Qimo sent Cui Hongjing on a business trip, but the palace suddenly caught fire.

The first thing that Prime Minister Mei thought of was the late emperor's will hanging in Jianxian Pavilion.

The incident happened suddenly and Prime Minister Mei did not dare to show up at Prince Jing's Mansion to rescue. The only person he could think of and who he was completely confident in was his son Mei Jiayun.

Mei Jiayun knows some martial arts. If he is lucky, he can avoid the guards and sneak into Jianxian Pavilion to rescue the calligraphy and paintings.

But when Mei Jiayun, disguised as a firefighter, arrived, the picture frame had fallen off the wall and was broken, and a corner of the rice paper was on fire.

He quickly snatched up the calligraphy, and at the same time discovered the interlayer in the rice paper and the bright yellow silk inside.

Prime Minister Mei could only tell his son the truth.

My son is a man who knows the importance of things, and he will keep this secret in his heart forever.

Later, Cui Hongjing asked someone to restore the painting, and on the surface there seemed to be nothing unusual about it.

Therefore, the number of people who knew about this will became three.

Even Zhuang Xiang and Cui Hongjing were not told.

However, now the prince actually knows it.

Cui Hongjing knew that he was facing a catastrophe.

It would be good for Mei Xueer to leave like this. Could it be that I want her to face this crisis with me?

That would really cost her life. She shouldn't risk her life because of this king.

The sudden threat made Cui Hongjing suddenly realize that if he loved her, he should let go and keep her safe!

He used tweezers to carefully take out his great-grandfather's will from the rice paper layer, folded it carefully, and put it in his arms.

After rehanging the painting "The Great Dao of Inaction", he knelt down and kowtowed three times: "Grandfather, please forgive me for being unfilial and unable to follow your wishes and do what you said about 'not competing'. However, you also said that inaction does not mean doing nothing, but rather following the will of heaven, the nature of the earth, and the heart of man. If I don't compete or fight, I will have nothing. If I lose my life, how can I find out the murderer who murdered Grandfather, how can I find out the real cause of my mother's death..."