Who put the yellow robe on me?

The debauched Sixteenth Prince, Jiang Chen, was covered in a fine layer of cold sweat, which trickled down his temples to his jaw. Hidden within his sleeves, his fingers clenched tightly around his palms, his nails practically digging into his flesh.

"Your son...your son caught a cold at that time..." The Adam's apple of the dissolute Jiang Chen rolled, and the salty taste of sandalwood mixed with cold sweat surged in his throat.

He remembered that Concubine De's maid in the dark room had said that the real Sixteenth Prince had indeed had a high fever during the winter hunt.

He couldn't remember what De Fei's maid said next. He only remembered that the maid who came to deliver the message to her had a soft body, a prominent figure, and her moans were very pleasant to the ears. She was more enjoyable than the other maids who had delivered messages to De Fei before...

"Sixteenth Prince!" Annan General Zhong Xiaodan interrupted Jiang Chen's reminiscences, suddenly bowing. The rhino horn box on his waist swayed slightly with his movements. It was a personal item he never took off. "On September 17th of last year, Your Highness and I were trapped in the White Wolf Valley of Dayan Mountain. That night, Your Highness used a torch to draw a battle formation on the rock wall. Do you remember what you drew?"

Suddenly a strong wind blew outside the hall, and the vermilion window frames were rattling.

Jiang Chen, with dark skin, lowered his eyes to look at the swaying tree shadows on the bluestone floor tiles, and the smell of blood and rust from that night rose to his nose again.

He remembered the three feather arrows on Zhong Xiaodan's back trembling like butterflies in the moonlight, and he remembered that when he was drawing on the stone wall with a burnt pine branch, blood dripped from his palm onto the word "Preface" in "Preface to the Lanting Collection".

The Adam's apple of the dissolute Jiang Chen rolled, and a taste of rust rose in his throat.

He clearly remembered the secret guard saying that the Sixteenth Prince was good at military tactics and often conducted sand table exercises with General Zhong.

But why didn't Defei's maid mention this past event? Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Defei's skirt swaying slightly, like a dead leaf trembling in the autumn wind.

"The battle formation diagram... I asked General Annan to plan an escape route..." He tried to remain calm, but he could hear a tiny tremor in his voice, like a flag ripped by a sharp blade whimpering in the wind.

Before he finished speaking, veins on Zhong Xiaodan's hands were already bulging.

The dark-skinned Jiang Chen closed his eyes and pondered, the bitter taste of burning pine resin rising suddenly in his throat. "That's not a battle formation diagram, it's the 'Preface to the Lanting Collection'. You laughed at me for being pretentious, but I said, 'If I die here, I must leave behind some literary legacy.'"

He ripped open his collar, revealing a hideous arrow wound coiled around his collarbone like a centipede. The dark red scar shone eerily in the sunlight. "You carved out that poisoned arrow with your own hands."

Before he finished speaking, the rhino horn box on Zhong Xiaodan's waist suddenly fell to the ground, and a black arrowhead rolled down the green bricks, making a crisp sound in the silent hall.

"It is indeed His Highness the Sixteenth Prince!" Zhong Xiaodan knelt on one knee. "I still keep the poison arrowhead I dug out that night in a rhino horn box close to my body!"

He suddenly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot like spider webs, "Your servant, Zhong Xiaodan, wishes to continue to be His Highness the Sixteenth Prince's vanguard, guarding the border of Daliang forever!"

Guo Wulie, the Minister of War, suddenly stepped forward, the jade belt buckle on his waist clashing against his sword sheath with a clear sound. "I remember that before His Highness the Sixteenth Prince left for the Western Regions, he and I played chess for three days in the duty room of the Ministry of War. Does Your Highness still remember the moves we used in the last game?"

Zhen Jiangchen casually took off the jade pendant from his waist, and the white jade chess piece twirled like a star at his fingertips. "Minister Guo used his chess pieces to replace soldiers, dividing his troops into six groups to trap me in the middle of the board. However, I used Han Xin's troops to advance alone and defeat them."

The tassel of the jade pendant swept across the teacup on the table, causing ripples. "The stakes in that chess game were the maps of the thirty-six prefectures in the Western Regions."

Guo Wulie suddenly burst into laughter, his laughter shaking the memorial on Emperor Liang's desk slightly. "Excellent! A great 'Han Xin Inspecting the Troops'!"

He turned to face Emperor Liang, the crane patch on his official robe fluttering in the candlelight, "How can such a broad mind and courage be imitated by such a mean person?"

"Lord Guo, please be careful with your words!" The ninth prince Jiang Yu paced slowly, the golden cloud pattern on his python robe shimmering in the sun.

He stopped beside the dissolute Jiang Chen, his fingertips brushing the rouge stains on his shoulder. "During the spring hunt in the third year of Yonghe, we buried a bamboo leaf green snake in the horse farm... Sixteenth brother, do you still remember it?"

The eyes of the dissolute Jiang Chen lit up: "Of course! That year we hunted a white deer, and we buried three jars of Bamboo Leaf Green..."

He paused at this point, as he saw a sneer curl up at the corner of Jiang Chen's dark-skinned lips. The Ninth Prince suddenly clenched his hands behind his back, his nails digging deep into his palms.

"Bamboo Leaf Green?" The dissolute Jiang Chen chuckled softly, his laughter shrouded in ice. "Ninth Brother, you remembered it wrongly. What was buried back then was clearly Pear Blossom White."

He turned to look at Emperor Liang, his eyes blazing like torches. "I still remember when Father hunted a black fox, he said he would give its fur to whoever first said the name of the wine."

Emperor Liang's fingers on the dragon throne twitched slightly. Memories flooded back like a tide—that spring hunting season, with its drizzling rain, and fifteen-year-old Jiang Chen kneeling in the mud, loudly answering "Pear Blossom White," his hair matted with grass dust, yet smiling brightly.

The black fox fur is still kept in Zhaoyang Palace, and half a dried pear petal is pressed at the bottom of the golden nanmu box.

Seeing this, Ninth Prince Jiang Yu seemed to have a spark of victory in his eyes, and his face flashed with excitement and joy that he could not hide. He excitedly shouted: "Sixteenth brother! You really are my sixteenth brother!"

There was a mixture of sincere expectation and cunning calculation in his voice, as if this moment could clear away all doubts.

For the Ninth Prince, compared to the "Sixteenth Prince" who had made great achievements in the Western Regions, had dark skin, and had been baptized by the battlefield, he hoped that the Sixteenth Prince in front of him, who was extremely licentious, often spoke frivolously but was real and touching, could be recognized as the authentic one.

The Ninth Prince knew clearly that the "Sixteenth Prince" who had fought for many years and made great achievements in the Western Regions had not only won the respect of the soldiers in the army, but also received the full support of General Zhong Wenbin. This accumulation of power would form an unshakable advantage in the court. If this extravagant Sixteenth Prince could be confirmed to be true, it would weaken the bargaining chips of the Prince of Yan's Mansion in the struggle for the Eastern Palace, leaving room for him to seize greater power.

At this time, an almost evil idea even arose in the heart of the Ninth Prince Jiang Yu: if there was a chance, he would be willing to secretly assist the licentious Jiang Chen, even if his authenticity was difficult to tell, and he would "transform" him into the real Sixteenth Prince.

In this way, no matter what the outside world says, this "Sixteenth Brother" will become an unimpeded helper on the Ninth Prince's road to the throne, and will never become a stumbling block to his promotion.

The gleam in the eyes of the Ninth Prince Jiang Yu was a mixture of ambition and cunning, as if a fox was sneering in the dark and planning its future layout.

Just as the Ninth Prince Jiang Yu finished speaking, the atmosphere among the crowd suddenly became tense, and all eyes were involuntarily focused on this conversation.

Everyone's heartbeat seemed to beat with the question and answer, as if waiting for a thrilling reversal.