Rescuing the Villainous Boss with a Little Dirty Master

On the carriage back to the palace, Jiang Heng squeezed close to Dong Tinglan, her eyes gleaming, clearly plotting something wicked.

"What kind of article can be written about this?"

Dong Tinglan's answer at the restaurant just now doesn't seem quite right. What does "it's not necessarily aimed at him" mean?

Dong Tinglan lowered her eyes to look at the person next to her. Although the young prince was now wearing Sun He's face, the cunning in his eyes added a lot to his overall appearance.

"How to say?"

"Are you playing riddles with me?" Jiang Heng chuckled, grabbed the man's chin and shook it. "Speak quickly."

Dong Tinglan smiled and took the man's hand away, then whispered in his ear, "These people are after me, but also after Dongling Yu. This is a trap set for Dongling Yu; he'll have to fight my third brother then."

Then, he explained the division of power in Dongli to Jiang Heng in detail. Jiang Heng sorted it out, which meant that before this, Dongli had always been a battle between the Third Prince Dong Jingming and Dongling Yu, with neither able to gain the upper hand, but Dongling Yu was more favored than Dong Jingming.

Dong Jingming's assassination attempt served two purposes: first, to ensure Dong Lingyu's mission failed, thus sowing discord between him and Qi Lan; and second, if successful, to prevent Dong Tinglan from returning to Dongli and taking a share of the spoils. After all, Dong Tinglan currently enjoys considerable prestige among the people of Dongli, and the King of Dongli would undoubtedly summon him to court.

However, he didn't really consider Dong Tinglan a rival, otherwise he wouldn't have sent only a few people to carry out the assassination in broad daylight. He just hadn't anticipated that he wasn't the only one setting a trap for Dong Lingyu; Dong Tinglan had also made his move.

"Lu Ting, I give you three days to investigate this matter."

On his high throne, Emperor Qilan's face was grim. Regardless of who was behind this, it was extremely detrimental to the current relationship between Qilan and Dongli. Liangchu was now stirring up trouble on the border, and if they were to use this incident to join forces with Dongli, it would be very unfavorable for Qilan.

He glanced at Dong Tinglan, who stood below with his eyes lowered. If this was all orchestrated by him... Before he could think further, he dismissed his doubts. After all, Dong Tinglan's departure from the palace today was indeed unintentional. Everything would have to wait until the assassin was interrogated before making any decisions.

"Young Master Lan has been frightened. If you intend to leave the palace in the next few days, it would be better to bring some guards with you. That way, I will feel at ease."

"Thank you for your consideration, Your Majesty."

When the two returned to Chunhua Palace, Dongling Yu had returned to his peaceful state and was sitting on a stone bench in the courtyard, sipping tea and facing the main gate of Chunhua Palace.

"What bad luck! If you like that stone bench so much, you might as well move it back to Dongli."

Jiang Heng saw Dong Lingyu's figure from afar and muttered curses behind Dong Tinglan. Dong Tinglan almost lost his composure and wanted to hug and rub him.

He waved one hand behind his back at the other person. Jiang Heng was confused, but no matter what the situation was, she secretly took his hand first. Unexpectedly, as soon as she put her hand on his, Dong Tinglan pressed his palm and squeezed his fingertips before letting go.

Jiang Heng: ? ? ? To be fair, he used the same technique when he wanted the cat's paw to bloom.

"Why did my younger brother go out of the palace to play by himself without taking his elder brother with him?"

Dongling Yu watched Dongting Lan walk towards him, then glanced at Sun He behind him with a gloomy look. He really took this eunuch with him everywhere he went.

"Does Your Majesty really want to ask why and make yourself miserable?" Dong Tinglan glanced at his scalded hand, his eyes filled with blatant mockery.

Dongling Yu's smile remained unchanged as he admired the reddened back of his hand with great interest, considering it a small gift to himself, knowing it wouldn't fade for long. Suddenly, his gaze sharpened, his expression turned grim, and he abruptly stood up and strode towards the side hall.

"What's gotten into him again?" Jiang Heng couldn't help but complain, rolling her eyes at the side hall before following Dong Tinglan into the main hall.

A moment later, a commotion arose from the side hall. Jiang Heng walked to the door, peeked out to observe, and asked 886 to check what was going on.

"Host, Dongling Yu has rummaged through all the luggage. It contains bottles and jars, which look like ointments or similar medicines."

In the side hall, Dongling Yu had already washed off the ointment from the back of his hand, revealing skin that was reddish-blue, almost imperceptible unless one looked closely. The accompanying physician took the jar of ointment he had applied that morning and examined it carefully.

“Your Highness, this ointment has indeed been tampered with. If applied continuously, it can cause skin ulceration at best, and the toxins can penetrate to the bone at worst, potentially costing you your right hand.”

"I had no idea a mouse had gotten in. I checked the rest too."

Dongling Yu brought some commonly used medicines for injuries with him on this trip, all taken directly from the treasury. If he were to commit any wrongdoing, it would either be done in the mansion or on the road, and he preferred the latter.

After the physician finished his examination, he found that all the wound medicines were contaminated with poison. Dongling Yu sneered, "Good, excellent."

"Have Li Lian investigate who is in charge of guarding the area and who has approached it. Once the investigation is complete, keep the person under guard, and we'll discuss it further after I leave the palace."

Upon hearing 886's real-time report, Jiang Heng quickly instructed Dong Tinglan to summon Sun He, avoiding Zhao Yi.

"Sun He, have you made your move?"

"I didn't have a chance yet. There were people guarding the side hall the whole time, so I didn't find an opportunity."

"Don't make a move yet. Someone else has the same idea as us. Dongling Yu has already discovered it. He will definitely be more careful in the next few days. We have no chance."

Their original plan was to sprinkle the powder on his clothes—not fatal, but definitely enough to cause serious injury. They hadn't expected someone to tamper with his medication. It was a pity they discovered it so quickly; it was a harmless, insignificant act, just like the assassination attempt earlier that day. Jiang Heng frowned in deep thought. Could it be Dong Jingming again?

Twice now. Dong Tinglan, sitting not far away and watching them, stroked the teacup in her hand, her lowered eyelashes concealing the coldness in her eyes.

He didn't understand why Jiang Heng distrusted Zhao Yi so much. If she discovered Zhao Yi's betrayal, she would surely tell him. Her current actions only indicated that she was still in the suspicion stage, so why was she so distrustful?

Two nights later, in the Dali Temple prison, the only surviving assassin of the day was dragged to the ground and interrogated for several hours. Finally, the man spoke, but what he said only made Lu Ting feel more troubled. After obtaining the confession, he hurriedly went to the palace.

"Your Majesty, are you saying that Dongli sent someone to assassinate my brother?" In the main hall, Dongling Yu glanced at the confession, thinking it was ridiculous that an assassination could be carried out in broad daylight. He shook the thin paper in his hand and said, "How can you be sure it was someone from Dongli? Just based on this confession?"

"Your Highness, Young Master Lan has been in Qilan for four years without incident. Now that his term as a hostage is about to end, assassins have suddenly appeared. I suspect that someone doesn't want Young Master Lan to return."

Lu Ting bowed to the other party and began to argue without changing his expression. In fact, he was more inclined to believe that the person behind the scenes was targeting Qi Lan and Dong Li, but before Dong Lingyu arrived, His Majesty directly rejected this possibility and told him to point the finger at Dong Li.

"Hand that person over to me, and I will find out whether he is from Dongli or not."

Dongling Yu has many methods that can make people wish they were dead. Once you get your hands on something, I don't believe you won't get more information out of him.

“The assassin was already dead in prison. When he was captured, he was already seriously injured and had already passed away before I entered the palace.”

Lu Ting was helpless; he was also unlucky. The man died right after pressing his handprint.

"Lord Lu has quite the methods, interrogating someone to death before the truth is clear."

Dongling Yu was so angry that he summoned him late at night and gave him a nonsensical confession. Now that the assassin had died without even being seen, it was hard for him not to suspect that it was a play staged by Qi Lan, since Dong Tinglan had returned unharmed in the afternoon.

"Your Highness, please be careful with your words. I have served as the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review for more than ten years and have handled countless cases, large and small. I am confident that I can discern whether something is true or not. Therefore, I need not trouble Your Highness to instruct me."

Seeing that the two were getting further and further off-topic, Emperor Qilan interrupted, "Alright, I don't mean to dwell on the assassin's identity. It's just that the return journey is imminent, and I'm afraid that too much trouble could affect the relationship between the two countries."

Dong Lingyu's eyes flickered. If we only consider the assassination attempt, one could say the mastermind was suspected of sabotaging relations between the two countries. But then he discovered the problem with the ointment. Assuming both incidents were orchestrated by the same person, and that person wanted him and Dong Tinglan to die out there… Dong Jingming!

Dongling Yu concealed the malice in his eyes, acknowledged that the assassin was from Dongli, stated that he would conduct a thorough investigation upon returning to Dongli, and then took his leave.

Emperor Qilan watched his departing figure thoughtfully, then casually put the object down. The younger generation these days are truly cunning and unpredictable.