Chapter 1323 - 11: Killing Intent_3
The Third Prince looked at the man in the portrait, his mouth twitching repeatedly.
Is this the female thief?
Are you sure they’re not playing him?
The Third Prince pondered for a moment; the focus of this conversation might not be finding the person, but rather the ten thousand silver notes.
He had Little Fu bring ten thousand silver notes over.
Shen Junshan actually accepted them.
After tucking the silver notes into his chest, Shen Junshan took his leave, saying, "Then, Third Prince, take care and rest well. I won’t disturb your recovery."
The little eunuch was dumbfounded.
He knew the Second Young Master of Jibei Marquis Mansion was bold enough to break a few fingers of Young Master Zhou, the cousin of Second Young Master of Duke Chong, but he didn’t expect such audacity.
Isn’t this overtly seeking a reward for gratitude?
Little Fu thought the Third Prince would surely be angry, but the Third Prince was actually in a pretty good mood.
Little Fu didn’t understand, "Third Prince, aren’t you angry?"
"This is a good thing," the Third Prince said with a smile.
Little Fu was utterly confused.
How come he didn’t see it as a good thing?
After thinking for a long while, Little Fu finally understood.
The Second Young Master of Jibei Marquis Mansion took the money and no longer pursued the fact that the Third Prince involved Jibei Marquis Mansion in the Crown Prince’s contention.
Doesn’t that imply that Jibei Marquis Mansion is siding with the Third Prince?
If he could gain the support of Jibei Marquis Mansion, the Third Prince’s chances of winning would be even greater.
Shen Junshan took the ten thousand silver notes from the Third Prince and, upon returning to the Imperial Study, pleaded guilty to the Emperor.
Although the Emperor was saddened by the Crown Prince’s worsening illness, if it hadn’t been for Shen Junshan’s rescue yesterday, the Third Prince might have been doomed.
Shen Junshan saved the Third Prince, and the Emperor praised him a few times, rewarding him handsomely.
Although it wasn’t ten thousand silver notes, those rewards were worth three thousand.
However, the rewards were brocade or stationery, none of which Shen Junshan liked.
After bringing them back to the mansion, he distributed them among everyone.
When the Eldest Young Master Shen returned to the mansion, he was gifted a Duan Inkstone by Shen Junshan. He then eagerly taught Shen Junshan all the ways he learned from his fiancée Nian Niang to make girls happy.
Shen Junshan listened as the corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.
Because none of those methods applied to him.
Perhaps he hadn’t clarified that he was trying to stop the female thief’s tears, leading people to mistakenly think he was trying to woo his beloved with love letters, jewelry, sweet words...
Is it possible for him to speak sweet words to a female thief?
And the most important thing—
Apologizing?
Him apologize to the female thief?
Apologize for bathing where she passed by, placing the brocade robe on a rock, tempting her to steal it?
"Second brother, do you understand?" The Eldest Young Master Shen asked.
"...Understood."
"Elder brother, I have some matters to attend to, I’ll leave now."
With that, Shen Junshan quickly ran off.
The Eldest Young Master Shen could tell at a glance that his younger brother hadn’t listened to a word he said.
However, he had benefited greatly today.
Shen Junshan went to the streets not for any other reason but to continue searching, even though he had entrusted this task to the Third Prince, he really didn’t hold much hope.
He couldn’t even protect himself, nearly losing his life; could he rely on him to find someone?
But after searching from one end of the street to the other, he found no news at all.
On the contrary, because he lingered on the street for a long time, he caught the eye of some troublemakers looking for a fight with him.
This person was none other than the Second Young Master of Duke Chong’s Mansion and the Sixth Prince (future Prince Qi).
The Crown Prince’s illness worsened, beyond medical help, and the struggle among the Princes grew increasingly fierce alongside it.
Among these Princes, besides the Sixth Prince, the most promising was the Third Prince.
Even...the Third Prince had slightly better prospects.
It’s a long story.
The current Empress was not the Emperor’s original formal wife but was enshrined after the late Empress’s death.
The late Empress bore the Second Prince, but due to premature birth, he was frail and died before the age of six.
Grieving the loss of her beloved son, the late Empress was heartbroken, so the Emperor let her raise the Third Prince.
Back then, the Eldest Prince and the Second Prince vied for the position of Crown Prince; the Second Prince was the legitimate prince, but frail and sickly, while the Eldest Prince was born of a concubine but was the firstborn son.
In this contention, the Eldest Prince won.
And the Third Prince once registered himself under the late Empress, thus making him legitimate with no elder brothers above him; that made him the eldest son.
The Sixth Prince held great power, but couldn’t surpass that the Third Prince was born a year earlier.
To ensure foolproof success, the Empress worried about the Crown Prince’s illness and had to guard against the Third Prince.
Shen Junshan beat Young Master Zhou earlier and rescued the Third Prince later; old grudges were unresolved, adding new ones, so these two found Shen Junshan irksome.
They were determined to stir trouble, and Shen Junshan was quick-tempered.
This led to a scuffle at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion.
Last time, Shen Junshan held back, but this time, the Second Young Master of Duke Chong’s Mansion bore murderous intent; if Shen Junshan backed down again, he wouldn’t be Shen Junshan.
The two exchanged blows, and the Drunken Immortal Pavilion suffered, being battered into chaos.
Coincidentally, the Heir of Duke Chong rode past and, learning about the fight between Shangguan Tong and Shen Junshan, entered the Drunken Immortal Pavilion.
At that moment, both Shangguan Tong and Shen Junshan were bruised and battered.
The Heir of Duke Chong took a leap, pulling apart the two combatants who were locked in a fierce struggle.
Shangguan Tong grumbled, "Big brother is busy building the Flying Tiger Army, why bother me?!"
"Anything can be discussed calmly; fighting only escalates the situation," said the Heir of Duke Chong.
Shangguan Tong disliked being lectured by his brother.
Especially since his brother had established the Flying Tiger Army, their father now paid him even less attention!
Shangguan Tong avoided the Heir of Duke Chong and launched an attack at Shen Junshan.
The Sixth Prince, who had been observing for fun, came over to "mediate" and "accidentally" took a punch from Shen Junshan.
Hmm.
To publicly strike a Prince, even if unintended, the offense was hard to escape.
Especially when this scene was witnessed by the Dali Temple Constable who had arrived.
Then—
Shen Junshan was taken into custody at the Ministry of Justice.