Xu Yin stared fixedly at the young man of twenty in front of him, and the other party was looking at him as well.
Their interaction in the past was not uncommon; during the coming-of-age ceremony, the Crown Prince had consulted Xu Yin on various matters. For example, at the ceremony, he eventually followed Xu Yin’s advice to attend with Consort Yu instead of Consort Li.
At that time, the Crown Prince was humble and courteous, but now he carried a slight air of superiority.
Xu Yin retracted his gaze, adjusted his sitting posture slightly, and said, "It seems nothing escapes Your Highness’s notice. No wonder His Majesty chose you early on to be the Crown Prince; with an eye that sees through the finest details, it is a blessing for Great Zhou."
The Crown Prince said, "So it is Prince Rong who injured you."
Xu Yin nodded, "I dare not deceive Your Highness. Earlier at the memorial hall, a small misunderstanding occurred, and it was then that Prince Rong accidentally injured me."
This incident today was intentionally used to gain an audience with the Crown Prince, and since the topic had already been raised, he saw no need to avoid it.
"Accidentally?" The Crown Prince looked at him keenly and said, "He is a dignified prince, you are a respectable Assistant Minister of Rites. Both esteemed individuals, and you are also father-in-law and son-in-law. To say it was accidental, that indeed is quite difficult."
His eyes slightly narrowed as he continued, "Do you not plan to tell me the truth?"
Xu Yin took a deep breath and cupped his hands, "Your Highness has keen insight. As you mentioned earlier, the Prince has never been quite satisfied with me. These years I have been cautious and thorough at the Prince Manor, yet it still couldn’t bridge the gap of family disparity. When the Princess was alive, she often summoned me to the manor to advise me to be a good husband and son-in-law. The Prince was somewhat better, but because of this... in any case, such a matter, even if it didn’t happen today, would eventually happen."
"’This’?" The Crown Prince focused intently, "What do you mean by ’this’?"
Xu Yin stood up from his seat and took a few steps forward, saying, "With Your Highness’s sharp insight, since you already discerned my injury came from Prince Rong, you must also know what actions took place in the Prince Manor on the night the Princess was murdered."
His words virtually pierced through the veil.
These few days, the Crown Prince had pursued investigations leading to Zhang Shicheng, and hearing this, he also stood up. He looked at Xu Yin for a moment and said slowly, "What do you know?"
Xu Yin raised his head, "Besides knowing that Prince Rong and his son have a jade bone fan in their possession, I know nothing else."
A glint of brilliance flashed in the Crown Prince’s eyes. "Clarify what you mean!"
Xu Yin gazed at him deeply, "It is a jade fan with a phoenix carved on the fan bone. I have never seen this fan, but it was seen by Princess Rong that night."
The Crown Prince’s facial muscles twitched, and he took half a step back. "You mean to say that because Princess Rong saw this fan, she was killed?"
"The Princess’s death was so sudden; Your Highness must also find it strange, right? Although the Prince Manor claimed she was mistakenly killed by intruders, given the manor’s defenses, how could intruders easily breach it? And wouldn’t unusual intruders refrain from rashly intruding to kill the mistress of the manor?" Newest update provıded by 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝓷𝓮𝓽
The Crown Prince’s face turned as pale as a piece of washed-out paper.
Every word spoken by Xu Yin pierced his heart.
Indeed, Princess Rong’s death was highly suspicious.
Others may not dare suspect, but as the Crown Prince of the nation, how can he ignore it? Even the Emperor specifically sent Pei Zhan to stay at the Prince’s Manor, didn’t he?
These days, he indeed sent people to strictly investigate what exactly was happening within Prince Rong’s Manor. But he didn’t expect that Princess Rong’s demise was indeed tied to this fan!
"So, what is the reason?" His words came out even slower, "Why is there such a fan? And how do you know all of this?"
On the night of the incident, Prince Rong disregarded the wounded and dying Princess Rong and instead led people to the Xu family’s place, which he already knew about.
However, at that time, his main focus was still on the Prince Manor, so even though this puzzled him, he put it aside for a while.
Yet today, Xu Yin’s departure from the Prince’s Manor after being injured in front of Prince Rong could not be ignored.
No one could deny that there were definitely unusual circumstances between this father-in-law and son-in-law!
"The reason I know about the fan is that Princess Rong told me," Xu Yin said confidently and slowly, "Recently, many things have happened at the Prince’s Manor, and since Zhe Yu was injured and Yongping was demoted, I suppose Your Highness has already deduced Princess Rong’s situation. Under such circumstances, it was only natural that I was brought under Princess Rong’s command.