Chapter 54: Time to Clean House First

Zhu Jihuang stood aside, secretly sizing up Chen Kan and Li Jinglong.

He could not understand a single word of their conversation.

However, his intuition told him that whatever Li Jinglong held in his hands was very likely the key to whether he could become the Prince of Jin.

Therefore, without the slightest hesitation, he dropped to his knees beside Li Jinglong, threw his arms around Li Jinglong's thigh, and cried out, "Cousin, let me take a look. Just let me take a look."

Li Jinglong and Chen Kan froze simultaneously.

Was this Zhu Jihuang out of his mind?

"Fuck off."

Li Jinglong cast a look of utter disgust at Zhu Jihuang.

His tone held not a shred of respect for this imperial prince.

One must understand that there were tiers even among good-for-nothing scions.

Someone like Li Jinglong, whose roots ran deep in illustrious founding merits and who had inherited the title of a Duke, had always looked down upon illegitimate, wild-seeded upstarts like Zhu Jihuang.

Even though Zhu Jihuang shared the surname Zhu, while he bore the surname Li.

"Get lost right now, and stop interrupting my serious business."

Li Jinglong's brows knitted tightly together. He simply could not fathom how a person could be such a complete fool to this degree.

Yet Zhu Jihuang clung stubbornly to Li Jinglong's leg, refusing to let go, remaining entirely deaf to whatever curses Li Jinglong hurled at him.

Chen Kan watched the scene with considerable amusement. One good-for-nothing scion was actually looking down upon another good-for-nothing scion—how novel and absurd, something no one would ever believe if told.

"Hah..."

Li Jinglong drew a deep breath.

Then, looking at Chen Kan, he slowly said, "I'm simply here to tell you that in just a few days, you'll be able to walk out of this ghost place. Now that I've said my piece, I'm going outside to clean house first."

Chen Kan nodded. "Please do as you wish, my Lord."

Dragging Zhu Jihuang, who seemed to have taken root around his leg, Li Jinglong limped out of the imperial prison. Moments later, ear-piercing shrieks like a slaughtered pig echoed from outside the door.

Chen Kan paid no heed to Zhu Jihuang's miserable screams, though a trace of emotional stirring brushed through his mind.

Zhu Di was truly ruthless; he showed not the slightest mercy even when dealing with his own flesh and blood.

Of course, the person Chen Kan was thinking of was not Zhu Yunwen, but Zhu Jixi.

Initially, Chen Kan had only intended to have Huang Gou'er bring Zhu Jihuang to the capital, frame Zhu Jixi right before his eyes in front of Zhu Di, and then use Fang Xiaoru's hand to strip Zhu Jixi of his royal status and reduce him to a commoner, before figuring out a way to have him killed.

But now that Zhu Di had made his move, even the Shanxi Administration Commissionerate had been dragged into it.

It would be difficult for Zhu Jixi not to die now.

After a brief sigh, Chen Kan only regretted that he could not witness with his own eyes this scene destined to be recorded in history.

After all, this was the impending downfall of his very first enemy, and being unable to witness it personally filled him with profound regret.

...

Time slipped away unawares until the next day. Inside the resplendent, gold-and-jade imperial audience hall, Zhu Jixi was passionately and eloquently stating the reasons why he must return to his fiefdom—claiming things like his garrison troops could not go a single day without a commander, and his subjects in the fiefdom were crying out for sustenance.

Yet after he finished speaking at great length until his mouth was dry, the expected word of approval ("Granted") was conspicuously delayed.

Unable to help himself, Zhu Jixi raised his head to secretly gauge Zhu Di's expression.

He saw that Zhu Di was also lowering his head and looking right back at him with an expressionless face.

For some inexplicable reason, a wave of unease suddenly surged within Zhu Jixi's heart.

"Your Majesty, this subject Li Jinglong, Commander of the Brocade Guard, has a memorial to present."

Right at that moment, Li Jinglong stepped forward.

Before Zhu Di could speak, Li Jinglong looked straight at Zhu Jixi and declared, "This subject has received an impeachment report stating that His Highness the Prince of Jin has been privately stockpiling weapons and recruiting soldiers within his fiefdom with the intent to rebel!"

"What?"

"How could that be?"

As soon as Li Jinglong uttered these words, it was like a bomb dropped into calm water, instantly sending the imperial court into an uproar.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jixi felt a sudden wave of dizziness wash over his vision; his footing faltered, and he nearly collapsed onto the floor.

In a fraction of a second, his face had turned deathly pale, drained of all blood.

"How could this happen? How could this happen? Who on earth leaked the news?"

Zhu Jixi could not understand. His scheme should have been utterly flawless.

To ensure this, he had not hesitated to use himself as bait, traveling alone to the capital solely to draw everyone's attention.

Li Jinglong had no reason to know. Could it be them? Impossible; they should hate Zhu Di even more than he did.

"Prince of Jin? Prince of Jin?"

Zhu Jixi was in a state of absolute panic, failing to hear Zhu Di call his name several times.

Zhu Jixi's absent-minded, panicked appearance instantly aroused Zhu Di's suspicion.

Could it be that Zhu Jixi was truly up to some unspeakable treachery?

"Prince of Jin, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Zhu Di raised his voice.

Hearing this, Zhu Jixi felt his knees go weak, and he collapsed heavily to the ground.

"Your Majesty, this subject has been wronged!"

"This is a frame-up! Yes, it's them—the Brocade Guard is framing this subject!"

Sweat pouring down his back, Zhu Jixi pointed a trembling finger at Li Jinglong and shrieked loudly, "It's all fake! You dare to frame a Prince of the Blood! Your Majesty, this subject wishes to impeach the Brocade Guard and the Shanxi Administration Commissionerate; their framing of an imperial prince is tantamount to treason."

Li Jinglong cast a look of pitying disdain at Zhu Jixi, then stepped forward, cupping his hands toward Zhu Di. "Your Majesty, this subject is not framing him. The human witness who reported His Highness the Prince of Jin's treason is right outside the hall. Whether this is true or false, please summon him inside for questioning. Furthermore, in this subject's hands is a joint impeachment memorial submitted by Zhou Jing and Zhang Chun, the Left and Right Administration Commissioners of Shanxi. Please examine it, Your Majesty."

At this, the courtiers began to whisper among themselves in murmurs.

Their gazes toward Zhu Jixi were filled with utter astonishment.

How could His Highness the Prince of Jin, who had enjoyed a reputation for virtue ever since the Jianwen reign, possibly commit treason?

An attendant received the memorial from Li Jinglong's hands and presented it to Zhu Di. After a casual glance through its contents, Zhu Di's expression darkened instantly.

Having finished reading, he handed the memorial back to the attendant and said coldly, "Pass it among the ministers for review."

The eunuch did not dare to delay, holding the memorial aloft as he walked up to Fang Xiaoru.

With Fang Xiaoru currently serving as the Minister of Personnel, and the Ming Dynasty lacking a Grand Secretary, he stood as the head of all civil officials.

Having read the memorial, Fang Xiaoru nodded and said, "It is indeed a report submitted by the Shanxi Administration Commissionerate."

He then passed the memorial to Ru Chang, the Minister of War, and remained silent thereafter.

Once all the civil and military officials had finished reading the memorial, Zhu Di turned his gaze back to Li Jinglong. "Didn't you say there is a witness? Bring him in."

"Summon His Highness the Prince Zhaode, Zhu Jihuang, to an audience!"

The moment he heard the name Zhu Jihuang, Zhu Jixi fell into utter despair.

He had calculated every single variable, but he had never imagined that his own good-for-nothing, useless younger brother would stab him in the back.

Yet this good-for-nothing younger brother of his spent his days eating, drinking, whoring, or stirring up trouble; there was no reason he should have known about his scheme either!

Sitting upon the dragon throne, Zhu Di caught Zhu Jixi's expression of absolute despair, and a deeper sense of doubt stirred within his mind.

As the saying goes, the person framing you knows far better than you do just how wronged you actually are.

While the courtiers were kept in the dark, Zhu Di knew full well that the scene before them was merely an elaborate play orchestrated jointly by Chen Kan and himself.

Yet looking at Zhu Jixi's reaction, why did he truly look like someone with a guilty conscience?

Could it be that this eldest nephew of his really had been plotting something unspeakable behind his back?