Xia Zhaoshun flicked his folding fan and the corner of his mouth curved up slightly—it was an opportunity for him.
Once back at the mansion, Xia Zhaoshun relayed the news to Prince Jin.
"How, how is this possible!" Prince Jin couldn’t believe that the Emperor would do such a thing.
Xia Zhaoshun sneered, "True or not, I need to turn it into truth. This is our chance. Just wait for the right moment, and when such rumors spread, will his royal seat still be secure?"
Seeing his ambitious son, Prince Jin didn’t know what to say, but things had reached this point, and he could only stand by his son’s side.
"When do you plan to make your move?" Prince Jin asked.
Xia Zhaoshun snapped the folding fan closed and gently tapped it against his forehead as he said, "Someone is more anxious than us. Let’s wait and see, watching the tigers fight from across the mountain. When they are both wounded, that’s when we’ll take them down."
Although Prince Jin was no longer at court, he still had a good grasp of the happenings there. He knew about the Empress being deposed and that Ming Feng had been conferred as Empress.
That development elevated the Fifth Prince, changing his status overnight. The once-favored Second Prince, however, had suddenly fallen.
The one more anxious than them would definitely be the Second Prince, as his current situation was quite unfavorable.
As Prince Jin and his son had predicted, Pei Chengye brought the Jade Pendant to the temple, where Abbot Yuan Hui, with trembling hands, took the familiar object.
"How did you come by this Jade Pendant?"
"It was given by my mother. She told me to find you with the Jade Pendant and said you could help me," Pei Chengye was aware of the abbot’s esteemed reputation, even his father the Emperor held him in high regard.
If he were willing to protect him, there might still be room to maneuver, but sadly, Pei Chengye’s ambitions did not end there.
"I need your help to eliminate Pei Huaian and Shao He. I want to use their children to sacrifice to heaven; I want to make them suffer immensely!" Pei Chengye said, his eyes growing increasingly venomous.
Thinking of his mother now locked up in the Cold Palace, and that Pei Huaian’s dead mother had been posthumously conferred the title of Empress, his anger soared to the heavens.
"Since you are the son of an old acquaintance, I will do everything in my power to help you, but..."
"Abbot, rest assured, as long as you handle this matter, the benefits for you will naturally not be insignificant." Pei Chengye wasn’t ignorant of what he wanted—nothing more than wealth and riches.
What mattered if one were a monk? He was still greedy for money.
"Rest assured, Second Prince, what you wish for will surely come true," Abbot Yuan Hui vowed solemnly.
"Good," Pei Chengye said with a dark smile.
Shao He was sprawled out on the table, stirring her fingers idly out of sheer boredom.
In recent days, Pei Huaian had been busy, leaving early and coming home late.
On the contrary, she found herself gradually having lots of idle time, but idle days were difficult to bear.
"Miss, Miss..." Qingxia rushed over breathlessly.
Seeing her flustered look, Shao He asked, "What happened?"
"There’s been an incident."
Shao He sprang up, "What kind of incident?"
"Abbot Yuan Hui suddenly appeared, claiming there was a great catastrophe in the Capital City and that someone would usurp another’s nest, severing the Great Yao Kingdom’s lineage."
Shao He felt a vague unease upon hearing this, sensing the words seemed to hint at something more.
"Did he say anything else?" Shao He was starting to doubt the Abbot’s reputed miraculous powers.
He might have just happened to encounter those disasters or learned the news through some channel and thus contrived the identity of someone whose prophecies come true.
"He also said a woman emerged from the Mass Burial Mound holding a child, both steeped in fierce energies, which could lead them to usurp the nest and doom the Great Yao Kingdom." Qingxia felt these words seemed to be implicating the Miss.
If she remembered correctly, the Miss did indeed emerge alive from the Mass Burial Mound, holding the young master in her arms.
"Hmm, turns out he’s but a sham abbot," Shao He scoffed coldly.
It seemed he chose the identity of an abbot to conveniently accumulate wealth; it looked like they needed to thoroughly investigate this abbot’s identity.
But someone had already taken a step ahead of them, Pei Huaian, after hearing the rumors in the Capital City, immediately started investigating Abbot Yuan Hui’s identity.
"Shao He." Pei Huaian came hurrying back, covered in dust without even a chance to change out of his official uniform.
"You also heard about the rumors in the Capital City?" Shao He saw his frantic state and knew that he must have rushed over in haste after hearing the rumors.
Pei Huaian took her hand and swore solemnly, "Don’t worry, I will not let you or the child come to any harm. As for that damn abbot, I’ve already sent someone to investigate him."
"All this talk about predicting the future, avoiding calamities, it’s utter nonsense—just some petty tricks," he said.
Pei Huaian didn’t care about these things, but if someone dared to plot against him, then they couldn’t blame him for not being polite.
"Since you know this, why get so upset? Take the opportunity to find out who instructed him to do this," Shao He suspected it might be related to Pei Chengye.
Now that the Empress had been confined to the Cold Palace, and the Emperor still refused to appoint him as the Crown Prince, it wouldn’t be impossible for a desperate dog to leap over the wall and do such a thing.
Pei Huaian nodded, finding her words logical; Abbot Yuan Hui was extremely clever and would not have suddenly made a declaration about the Royal Family without someone’s instigation.