Dad, open the door. I'll bring your mistress back for you.

"Grandfather, is there no other way? Why do we have to choose between them? Our Shen family..."

Upon hearing this, Shen Huaizhong's face darkened and he slammed his palm on the thick sandalwood table in front of him, making a dull loud noise.

"Shut up! How dare you say such treasonous words, kid? Our Shen family has been loyal ministers for generations, and we are loyal to Your Majesty. How can we have such rebellious thoughts! If this matter gets out, it will be a serious crime that will result in the execution of the entire family and the loss of our heads! From now on, don't say a word of this kind even at home!" Shen Huaizhong opened his eyes wide and scolded sternly.

After calming down a bit, he slowly spoke again, "As for your concern about being used and then kicked away, under the current situation, if we don't take the initiative to make a choice, then the Shen family will only end up dead. You have to understand that when you are in the vortex of power struggles, not expressing your position is tantamount to making an enemy of everyone. How could they allow our Shen family to occupy so many important positions in the court and remain indifferent?"

Hearing this, Shen Chuning sighed helplessly and said worriedly, "Even if it really comes to the point where I have to choose, I absolutely must not choose the Third Prince. This epidemic spread from the Third Prince's mansion. In my opinion, Xiao Yuanlang is no different from Xiao Jinhuan. He is very likely to use the epidemic to control his subordinates. If such a person is allowed to ascend to the throne, the people will surely suffer."

Shen Huaizhong leisurely turned the ring on his hand, his eyes deep and sharp, as if he could see through everything.

He narrowed his eyes slightly and said slowly: "You said that you have some friendship with the Linwei County Magistrate? If I remember correctly, the Linwei County Magistrate is the eldest prince's man! Between you and the eldest prince..." There was a bit of scrutiny and doubt in his words.

Shen Chuning quickly explained, "A Ning has never had direct contact with the Crown Prince. As for Linwei County Magistrate Feng Yucai, his sister is only a concubine in the Crown Prince's residence, and her influence on the Crown Prince's decision-making is really limited."

Shen Huaizhong nodded slightly, but then frowned slightly and began to analyze in a serious tone, "The eldest prince is not our first choice. His father-in-law is the Governor-General of Huguang, and his power has complex ties with the Ministry of War, which His Majesty dislikes. If the eldest prince wants to succeed, I'm afraid he will ultimately have no choice but to take the risky path of rebellion. However, to the north is General Dingguo, and to the west is Prince Hao. There is no way these two people will join the eldest prince in a rebellion. Therefore, the benefits of following the eldest prince are minimal, and the risks are enormous. The gains are simply not worth the losses. The two are simply not proportional."

As he spoke, Shen Huaizhong picked up the brush on the table, dipped it in ink, and solemnly wrote the big words "big", "three", "four" and "five" on the white paper.

Then, he crossed out the characters "大" and "三" without hesitation, leaving the characters "四" and "五" alone on the paper.

Shen Chuning, who had been listening quietly, couldn't help but feel a surge of shock in her heart at this moment, because she suddenly discovered that what her grandfather said was exactly the same as what she had experienced in her previous life!

In the previous life, the eldest prince did mobilize troops to rebel!

However, his plan, which he thought was perfect, ultimately failed.

General Dingguo Zhou Antai and King Hao joined forces and quickly suppressed the rebellion with lightning speed.

The eldest prince and his accomplices were all caught in one fell swoop, without any escape.

At this moment, Shen Chuning stretched out her slender jade fingers and gently placed them on the eye-catching "four" on the paper.

She frowned slightly and said softly, "The Fourth Prince was born with a leg disease, which makes his movements very difficult. Your Majesty will not allow Dayong to have an emperor in a wheelchair."

Then, Shen Chuning and Shen Huaizhong said almost at the same time: "Only the Fifth Prince is left over there."

The two looked at each other and understood in their hearts that the third prince was actually the most likely to ascend the throne.

But Shen Chuning was too resistant to the Third Prince, and what he did was really excessive.

So only the fifth prince was left.

Shen Huaizhong suddenly seemed to remember something, turned to look at Shen Chuning and asked, "Grandfather, do you remember that when you were a child, you took care of the Fifth Prince in the palace?"

Shen Chuning nodded slightly upon hearing this. "At that time, I was young and naive. I only thought that since he was of royal blood, it would not be a bad thing if I could establish a good relationship with him. Unfortunately, I later stopped entering the palace as a study companion, and my contact with the Fifth Prince gradually severed."

Shen Huaizhong nodded and continued his analysis, "The Fifth Prince was once disliked by His Majesty because of his biological mother. Fortunately, he was later raised by Concubine Wei, and his situation improved. However, the Fifth Prince has no powerful external support, making him the best choice to support him to the throne. However... Concubine Wei's background is quite mysterious, and her details have not yet been discovered. It is unknown whether she can be controlled."

At this moment, Shen Chuning suddenly started coughing violently as if she was choked by something.

"Cough... cough cough..." She covered her chest with her hands and tried hard to stop coughing, but the air just wouldn't come out. She coughed until her face turned red and she almost couldn't breathe.

Concubine Wei is a witch from Lingshan, and her fourth uncle is actually a half-cult leader in Lingshan!

As long as he can firmly control Lingshan, then capturing the concubine will be easy.

At this moment, Shen Chuning spoke thoughtfully, "There shouldn't be any major problems with Concubine Wei. However, we can try to contact the Fifth Prince. However, the current situation is still unclear, so we must not express our position too early. For the time being, it is best to maintain contact with him secretly."

As soon as he finished speaking, Shen Huaizhong's face turned gloomy. Without hesitation, he crumpled up the piece of paper covered with handwriting on the table and threw it into the burning charcoal brazier beside him.

In an instant, the charcoal fire, which had been relatively stable, suddenly jumped up high, and the orange-red flames jumped happily, illuminating the entire study room a lot brighter.

Then, Shen Huaizhong said slowly: "I will give this prescription to the Fifth Prince tomorrow, and he will be the one to take the credit for this achievement."

Hearing this, Shen Chuning nodded obediently and said, "Everything is up to Grandfather's arrangements."

After saying that, she turned around and was about to leave the study, but at this moment, Shen Huaizhong suddenly called her: "An Ning, you and Shen Jingwan will go to the city to distribute porridge tomorrow. We can't let her be the only one to take the limelight of our Shen family."