"A few days ago, Princess Rong told me that Prince Rong had such a fan in his possession and that he had hidden it away. She wanted to get it.
"She suddenly approached me one day, claiming she had discovered the whereabouts of the fan and wanted me to assist her.
"Although I was not favored by the Princess for many years, she is Yongping’s biological mother and Lian’s grandmother. So, despite my great reluctance to interfere in her matters with the Prince, I reluctantly agreed to help her.
"That night, she began preparing to take the fan while the Prince was absent from the manor. Initially, I thought the fan was hidden somewhere in the Prince Manor, but to my surprise, it was concealed in the ancestral hall, a place for worshiping ancestors and deities. I was worried that the Princess would cause trouble and it would be impossible to resolve, so I rushed to the Prince Manor and found her in the ancestral hall.
"Unexpectedly, the Prince suddenly returned and trapped both the Princess and me in the ancestral hall. I didn’t want the Prince to misconstrue my intentions, so I desperately tried to persuade the Princess to leave with me.
"However, the Princess refused, insisting on taking the fan with her, and I had no choice but to leave. Just when the Prince Mansion Guards broke in, their weapons pierced through the Princess’s body!"
This whole narrative flowed seamlessly, with everything fitting together perfectly, as he maintained a firm gaze and spoke fluently.
The Crown Prince held his breath as he watched him, almost as if he was looking through him at the air behind him.
As Xu Yin spoke, not a single word escaped the Crown Prince’s ears, and as he listened, the information gathered by the guards simultaneously surfaced in his mind.
He said that Princess Rong’s situation in the Prince Manor had become passive, requiring her to enlist Xu Yin; this was true. He also mentioned that Princess Rong initiated her plan after Prince Rong left the manor; this was also true. Additionally, he stated that the incident occurred in the ancestral hall, claiming that he had entered the Prince Manor at night to find Princess Rong; the guards had indeed reported that he had hastily entered, immediately asking where Princess Rong was.
Finally, the guards observed in the ancestral hall and indeed found traces of blood beneath the threshold.
Everything matched perfectly!
He couldn’t not believe it!
"Have you truly never seen that fan?"
"I swear, if I have seen it, let me die under the Crown Prince’s sword!"
The Crown Prince asked again, "Did Princess Rong really never tell you what kind of fan it was?!"
"Not a single word!" Xu Yin’s gaze was as resolute as the daylight streaming in from outside, "She never spoke a single word about the origin of the fan, nor why it was in Prince Rong’s possession! I only knew that a phoenix was engraved on the fan!
"In fact, as to why Prince Rong secretly kept this fan, even to the extent of killing his own wife, I have no knowledge whatsoever!"
"Then why are you telling me all this?!" The Crown Prince lowered his voice, his eyes blazing with intense light, "Why did you go to such lengths to set up this ruse of self-sacrifice and come to see me?!"
"Because Princess Rong is Yongping’s biological mother!" Xu Yin blurted out, "I did all this just to seek justice for the wrongfully dead Princess Rong! Now, I’m the only one who knows the cause of her death! Yongping, kneeling before her spirit, still doesn’t know that his mother was killed by her own father’s hand!
"As her daughter, even if she knew, she couldn’t demand her biological father’s life! But she is my wife, and I must stand up for her!"
"Is that your reason?"
"Not entirely." Under his gaze, Xu Yin lowered his head, "To be honest with Your Highness, besides that, I’m also doing this to save my own life.
"With Your Highness’s wisdom, it’s not hard to guess why Prince Rong broke into the Xu family that night? Indeed, he intended to silence me.
"If I didn’t have the title of Assistant Minister of Rites, I would have already fallen to his sword. Even though he hasn’t taken action due to this reason, he is a noble Prince, a respected cousin of the Emperor. If he wants to eliminate me, how could he not find the chance? ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝓷𝓮𝓽
"Therefore, after days of tossing and turning, I resorted to this as the last option to seek protection from Your Highness. At least until Prince Rong’s wrongdoing is exposed and Princess Rong’s death is brought to light."
Saying this, the dignified official of the third rank knelt down with a sweep of his robe.
The Crown Prince looked at him on the ground for a long time before shifting his gaze to the sunlight scattered across the ground outside the window.