Deposed Crown Prince: After three years of service on the frontier, the entire court knelt and begge

The man dressed as a prison warden was none other than himself.

It was Ma Su, who had just been reinstated to his original post.

Ma Su nodded with a serious expression, without uttering any further words.

He looked at the three assassins dressed as prison guards: "You'll come with me."

The three of them didn't waste any words.

He got up, got off the carriage, and followed Ma Su.

The carriage did not stop and left directly.

Ma Su, with his identity revealed, led three people inside, and they passed through without hindrance.

"I'll open the door for you in a bit. Once you're inside, be quick and efficient!" Ma Su said calmly.

"Don't worry, it won't take more than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea! Just prepare an escape route for us," said the leader of the assassins.

Ma Su quickened his pace: "You don't need to worry about that, I will naturally make arrangements for you."

As they were talking, Ma Su arrived at a cell deep inside the prison.

There were two people lying inside.

Ma Su said to the three jailers guarding him, "You can hand over your shift now."

The three jailers didn't waste any words. They looked at the three unfamiliar faces, their eyes filled with doubt, but they remained silent.

After watching the three jailers leave, Ma Su took the key and opened the cell door.

He nodded to the three assassins.

The three of them exchanged glances.

One person stood at the door, while the other two went inside.

Seeing this, Ma Su immediately raised his leg and kicked one of the assassins guarding the door inside.

"Get out of here! Go inside."

The person who was suddenly kicked was completely unprepared.

Waiting for him to react.

Ma Su acted very quickly, locking the cell door in an instant.

The lead assassin approached two people with their backs to the door. He then realized they weren't the people he was looking for!

"Damn it, you bastard, you tricked me!"

At this moment, Xiao Ce had appeared beside Ma Su without anyone noticing.

He said calmly into the cell, "Are you looking for me?"

The leader of the assassins, his face grim, said, "That's right, it's you! Don't think that just because you're out there, I can't do anything to you... Third Brother!"

After the assassin shouted, one of the assassins next to him immediately raised his hand.

However, Da Lei, who was preparing on one side, immediately pulled the trigger of the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow in his hand.

Boo hoo hoo...

A series of rapid-fire shots struck their hands and feet precisely.

This deprived them of the ability to resist.

Xiao Ce scoffed, "With brains like yours and skills, you're ranked assassins in Xiao Kingdom? I bet you could barely kill a chicken... let alone a human..."

The three men were so humiliated by Xiao Ce that their faces turned extremely ugly.

"Ma Su, you betrayed the young master, do you know the consequences? The young master will not let you get away with this!"

They were indeed careless; even if they were allowed to come on their own...

Ma Su's face was grim: "Since I made this choice, I've already considered the consequences!"

Da Lei took the key from Ma Su and went inside.

They pried open their mouths one by one and stuffed the pills into them; they tried to resist a few times.

However, with their limbs injured, they were no match for Da Lei.

They said with icy eyes, "Don't expect to get anything from us."

Xiao Ce sneered, "You're overthinking it. If I want to know about that person, I'll just ask Ma Su!"

The assassins, their faces pale, asked, "Then what do you mean?"

Xiao Ce smiled without saying a word, and said to Ma Su, "These men are yours to handle!"

Ma Su nodded, noticing that his expression seemed rather unpleasant.

Xiao Ce said to Ma Su, "If you help me, I won't let anything happen to your family."

Ma Su said with a grim expression, "Your Highness, I have already sent people to search. There is no news at all! The most important thing is that I don't even know who the other party is, so there is no way to find them."

Xiao Ce patted Ma Su on the shoulder: "Don't worry, leave it to me!"

When Ma Su returned home last night, he found that some people had come to his house.

His wife, daughters, and mother have all passed away.

Those people didn't beat around the bush; they directly stated their purpose: to have Ma Su bring a few people in and take them to kill Xiao Ce.

Once the deed is done, his wife, daughters, and family will be released.

If he doesn't cooperate, he will only be able to see the corpses of his wife, daughters, and family.

Ma Su immediately agreed, but after agonizing over it all night...

He still decided to tell Xiao Ce.

Xiao Ce was still somewhat moved after hearing Ma Su's explanation.

After all, they were risking their entire family's lives to tell him this.

Of course, Ma Su was also gambling; he was betting that after telling Xiao Ce, Xiao Ce would choose to help him.

He definitely made the right bet.

After Xiao Ce found out, he told Ma Su to do as they asked, and that he would do everything in his power to ensure the safety of his family.

Ma Su bowed to Xiao Ce and said, "Your Highness, I entrust this to you!"

Xiao Ce looked at the burly man Ma Su, his eyes reddening.

He patted him on the shoulder, leaned close to Ma Su's ear, and whispered a few words.

Ma Su nodded as he listened.

Xiao Ce then said to Da Lei, "We've already gotten the fish to bite, there's no need for us to stay here any longer."

The two changed their clothes and then disappeared into the crowd.

...

at the same time.

Yin Weiyong sat in the main seat, looking at Gou An, who was covered in wounds and stood bowing in the center of the room.

Gou Anxian acted as if nothing had happened and greeted Yin Weiyong.

Yin Weiyong did not hide anything.

"Gou An, what's wrong? Are you disappointed that I'm still alive?"

Gou An immediately knelt down: "Prime Minister Yin, it's a misunderstanding! It's a misunderstanding. It seems they have come! But thankfully, they didn't succeed. I've come today to apologize."

Yin Weiyong looked at Gou An meaningfully, but did not respond.

Gou An, crawling on the ground, fabricated a story, saying that the assassins they kept had been receiving fewer orders lately.

They had been searching for a while, and they actually found out the information.

It is said that someone bribed their assassins to assassinate Xiao Xiangqing in the name of the Eighth Prince.

Gou An has been searching for the missing assassins these past few days, but there has been no news of them. Later, he heard that there was some unusual activity at the Prime Minister's residence last night.

After thinking it over, Gou An decided to come and take a look.

Although this story sounds fake, it's enough to clear them of any wrongdoing.

Gou An prostrated himself on the ground: "After our Eighth Prince found out, he ordered me to come immediately. Heaven help me, Prime Minister Yin, that you are safe and sound. Otherwise, even if we were unaware of the situation, we would still be guilty of a thousand deaths."

Yin Weiyong watched him perform quietly, and after he finished speaking, he looked at Gou An with piercing eyes.

"Finished?"

Gou An raised his head slightly, as if trying to find something in Yin Weiyong's expression.

Unfortunately.

After staring into his eyes for a while, I still couldn't figure it out.

“Our prince said that although this was done by someone else, these assassins are ours, and we cannot escape responsibility. Therefore, we wish to seek Prime Minister Yin’s forgiveness. As long as Prime Minister Yin is willing to let this matter go, we can grant you any request.”

Yin Weiyong smiled knowingly: "Oh? Any requests? You decide!"

Gou An continued, "That's right, Prime Minister Yin. Privately raising assassins is a capital offense. If this matter blows up, the Eighth Prince will definitely be implicated. To be honest, a foreign delegation is on its way, and the leader of this delegation is none other than the Eighth Prince's maternal uncle. Severely punishing the Eighth Prince at this critical juncture will likely be detrimental to the peace talks."

"Moreover, those who instigated this might be trying to use this to attack the Eighth Prince. Prime Minister Yin, we cannot let our loved ones suffer while our enemies rejoice! From a certain perspective, our Eighth Prince is also a victim!"

Yin Weiyong just looked at Gou An with a cold smile.

They are now trying to absolve themselves of all responsibility.

However, Yin Weiyong knew very well that what seemed to have been resolved very easily yesterday...

That's because these people are powerful. If they were ordinary guards, he would probably be in grave danger.

"Gou An, get to the point. The morning court session is about to begin! To be honest, so far, I haven't seen any sincerity from you."

Gou An rummaged in front of him and said, “This is a letter written by His Highness himself. He said that if Prime Minister Yin has not decided what he wants him to do, he will give this letter to you so that you can open it yourself! After you read it, you will know His Highness’s sincerity.”

At this moment, the bat stepped forward, took the letter, and immediately tried to open it for inspection.

Gou An: "I need Prime Minister Yin to personally inform me."

Yin Weiyong said calmly, "Who knows if you've done anything suspicious in the letter? If you don't let him open it, we won't read it."

Gou An, looking embarrassed, gestured for the bat to proceed.

After opening the letter and checking it to make sure it was safe, Bat handed it over to Yin Weiyong.

Yin Weiyong opened it and took a look; it was indeed Xiao Xiangqing's handwriting.

Inside was a letter of self-reproach, in which he recounted the story that Gou An had just made up, although he did not admit to sending someone to kill Yin Weiyong.

However, the crime of harboring assassins alone would be enough to get him into serious trouble.

After reading the letter, Yin Weiyong put it away.

"Alright, since His Highness the Eighth Prince has personally written about this matter, I will trust you for now. Besides, I didn't ask you to do anything, so just remember it."

When Gou An saw that Yin Weiyong had given in, his face beamed with a smile as bright as a chrysanthemum.

"but..."

Upon hearing this, Gou An's face immediately stiffened.

"Since you claim to be the mastermind, then you should find this person as soon as possible."

Gou An thought Yin Weiyong was about to say something, but when he heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He nodded repeatedly.

"sure!"

Yin Weiyong stood up and said, "Alright, there's nothing more to say. I must go to court now."

After giving the order to leave, Gou An bowed and departed.

Yin Weiyong went directly to court in a carriage.

...

Xiao Ce's original intention was to fish in the prison.

Now that he has achieved his goal, there is no need for him to stay in the prison.

In any case, the emperor handed over the power to deal with Xiao Ce to Xiao Yang.

He can leave whenever he wants.

He sent Da Lei out first to check if there were any hidden sentries or anything like that.

He was terrified that the person who wanted him dead had arranged for someone to keep an eye on him here.

After all, Ma Su's family members are still in their hands.

After wandering around for a while, Da Lei didn't find any hidden sentries.

I don't know if that person was just too confident.

There were no hidden sentries.

They changed into jailer's clothes, and after going out, they changed into civilian clothes and went to the Qian family's house.

When Qian Dafang saw Xiao Ce, he knelt down with a mournful face.

Apologize to Xiao Ce.

He had heard about the recent news, and it terrified him.

If it really was because of the person he introduced that Xiao Ce, this god of wealth, was killed.

Not to mention Qian Dahai won't let him off the hook, he himself won't let himself off the hook either.

Xiao Ce looked at Qian Dafang, this big fat man, his nose running and tears streaming down his face, revealing his true feelings.

He found it quite amusing: "Alright, Mr. Qian, this has nothing to do with you. I've called you here to talk about serious business."

Qian Dafang wiped away his tears: "Your Highness, please say..."

Xiao Ce then recounted how Ma Su had been threatened.

“You’ve been operating here for many years, so you naturally know all sorts of people. Go and ask around; I think Ma Su’s family is definitely still in Kyoto.”

Qian Dafang patted his chest and said, "Your Highness, leave this matter to me... I will definitely find the person."

Xiao Ce nodded: "We must search secretly and not let anyone know. And we must do it as soon as possible!"

Qian Dafang nodded: "Your Highness, I will take care of it right away."

"By the way, have there been any rumors circulating lately?"

Qian Dafang shook his head: "They're all saying the King of Zhen is dead. At first, they said you killed him, but the people didn't really believe it. Later they said he committed suicide out of guilt, but most people still didn't want to believe it. Anyway, there are all sorts of rumors... and some even more outrageous ones."

It's obvious that Qian Dafang deliberately filtered out some of the less pleasant news.

Xiao Ce asked with some curiosity, "What's even more outrageous?"

Qian Dafang said, "Some say the King of Zhen faked his death. Others say the King of Zhen who died was an imposter, a body double! The real King of Zhen is no longer here. Isn't what you're saying a bit too far-fetched? Do they really think the coroners of the Department of Punishments are just sitting around doing nothing?"

Xiao Ce listened and gave a wry smile, not taking it seriously.

"Then you go ahead and get busy. Rescuing Ma Su's family is the most important thing."

Qian Dafang nodded.

...

At this moment, inside the palace, outside the main hall.

When the officials saw Yin Weiyong arrive at the morning court session, they were all somewhat surprised.

What surprised everyone even more was that both of the princes who were said to have been attacked, Xiao Yang and Xiao Xiangqing, also came.

The expressions on everyone's faces became quite interesting; today's morning court session was sure to be a lively affair.

Xiao Yang and Xiao Xiangqing were originally standing on opposite sides, but when they saw Yin Weiyong coming over, they both stood up.

He went up and greeted Yin Weiyong.

Yin Weiyong did not show favoritism and treated both of them with courtesy.

The scene that the officials had hoped for—the two men fighting at the palace gate—did not happen.