Until Hua Fei"s arrival together with an infant Ping Yang, Lin Mubai was still completely devastated by the queen"s sudden departure. Ping Yang then awakened him from his depression and gave him the optimism to rule again, bringing life back to the Great Xia Dynasty.

The Dynasty prospered because of that queen.

But it fell with her departure as well.

Even their revival was due to her new-born child.

She was a person who could control the fate of the Great Xia Dynasty. She also strikes fear into the hearts of every courtier.

"Ping Yang has indeed grown up…" Lin Mubai did not answer Ping Yang"s question. He merely said an abrupt sentence and changed the topic.

"Of course!" Ping Yang stood up straight and put on an arrogant expression. Her clear blue eyes then flashed with brilliance as she said, "Yes! Didn"t father say that Ping Yang will be able to meet mother when I grow up? When can Ping Yang see her?"

"Your mother?" Emperor Lin Mubai was stunned for a moment as a bitter smile emerged on his face. He then quickly turned that into a gentle smile and said, "Don"t worry, you will be able to see her!"

"But when will that be?" Ping Yang pouted expectantly.

"Soon… very soon!" Lin Mubai caressed Ping Yang"s soft and supple hair as his eyes gleamed with a decade-long regret.

"Is that so? After seeing my mother, I will definitely challenge her in front of all the officials!" Ping Yang seemed extremely excited when she mentioned this point.

"Challenge your mother? Why?" Lin Mubai was slightly shocked.

"Didn"t father said that mother is extremely powerful and no one can stop her? If Ping Yang can stop her, then I will be able to stop her from leaving the palace. Am I right?" Ping Yang said.

"Stop her from leaving the palace? This… Ping Yang is right. As long as we can defeat her, she will not be able to leave…" Lin Mubai replied mechanically and nodded his head.

The entire courtiers then exchanged glances after listening to Ping Yang"s speech before shaking their heads in unison.

Defeating that woman?

As time pa.s.sed, the royal guards and the guards from the Crown Prince Residence returned with the reports of their investigation. There was still no information regarding the a.s.sa.s.sin that conducted the arson.

Such a result would undoubtedly be surprising to the courtiers present.

However, how far could that a.s.sa.s.sin have gone in such a short time? One should know that the moment Lin Mubai was informed, the Crown Prince Residence was already surrounded by guards.

But…

The moment the courtiers remembered that the a.s.sa.s.sin was someone strong enough to fight three Rebirth State individuals, they were able to accept the results better. After all, for a person of such caliber to escape the Crown Prince Residence under the eyes of the guards was not something too difficult.

The remaining things were simple. They simply had to clean up the burnt study room and clean up the blood stains around the area. These menial ch.o.r.es naturally fell into the hands of the maids and guards in the residence.

However, Fang Zhengzhi seemed to show interest in it, circling the study room and the area. This attracted Ping Yang, Yan Xiu, Nangong Mu and Wen Dabao to circle the room as well.

Lin Tianrong naturally witnessed such a situation.

His face suddenly turned serious. It was clear that Fang Zhengzhi was using this action to poke fun at him.

"Back to the palace!" Lin Mubai could care less for these tactics. He then stared at the sky then at the Crown Prince who had just gotten up from his kneeling position. Feeling helpless, he shook his head before saying, "The Emperor returns to the palace!"

"The Emperor returns to the palace!"

As the Majesty Lin Mubai spoke, many voices echoed his words.

Seeing that the Emperor Lin Mubai and all the courtiers were leaving while Fang Zhengzhi was still hanging around the study room, the Crown Prince could not hold it in anymore.

"Fang Zhengzhi, you are still not leaving?" Crown Prince Lin Tianrong sn.i.g.g.e.red.

"Oh, I"ll leave now!" Fang Zhengzhi nodded his head. He seemed to not take offense at Lin Tianrong"s tone.

Lin Tianrong also heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing those words.

It would be impossible if the study room had completely no evidence. However, the Crown Prince Lin Tianrong was extremely cautious in the way he did things.

He could not have placed the most important things in the study room.

In fact, he had hidden it in the secret chamber!

The location of the secret chamber was right below the study room. In order words, even if the study room was burnt to a crisp, the secret chamber below would not suffer any damages.

Furthermore, even his secret chamber contained no information regarding the battle of Southern Mountain Range.

Why the h.e.l.l would he keep that sort of thing?

He had destroyed all forms of evidence and letters a long time ago.

This was also the exact reason why he allowed Fang Zhengzhi to circle around the study room for such a long time.

Of course, this was partly due to the fact that Fang Zhengzhi did not enter the study room, but merely circled its perimeter. As for what he was thinking, Lin Tianrong was well aware.

He was finding clues regarding the battle of Southern Mountain Range!

However…

There was an ancient saying that goes, the innocent will stay innocent while the guilty will become guilty himself. This was the exact state Lin Tianrong was in. Fang Zhengzhi seemed to be bent on searching for clues in the study room.

He would allow him to do so. IN fact, he had hoped he did it with more gusto.

It would help to prove his innocence in front of all the courtiers as well.

Just as he was having this thought, Fang Zhengzhi seemed to have found a treasure in the ruins. He then screamed loudly.

"Hey, there seemed to be a few letters that have not been fully burnt!"

"Letters?" Lin Tianrong was startled and stared at Fang Zhengzhi in disgust before saying, "How can that be? It was such a huge fire, any letters would have been burnt by now. Furthermore, you are outside the study room, how can you find any letters?"

He did not believe it.

However, the moment Fang Zhengzhi held up a few half-burnt letters, Crown Prince Lin Tianrong"s eyes widened immediately.

"How can that be?" Lin Tianrong could not believe his eyes. Were these letters carried into the residence by the wind?

He regained his composure after having these thoughts.

Even if there were a few letters that were carried here by the wind, it was no big deal. The letters in the study room were mostly ordinary letters, there should not be any secretive messages written on them.

Crown Prince Lin Tianrong was not worried at all.

At this moment, Fang Zhengzhi had also walked forward, bringing Ping Yang and the others with him. He also held the charred letters in his hand.

"Crown Prince, I have found a few letters for you. Shouldn"t you thank me? You can reward me with 80000 silvers or something, I won"t mind." Fang Zhengzhi spoke as he walked.

"I will definitely thank Sir Fang properly for helping me to clean up this mess!" Crown Prince Lin Tianrong answered with a gloomy face.

"Hey, this letter seemed to be written by the Southern Region n.o.blelite?" Fang Zhengzhi stopped halfway and shouted quizzically.

"What? A letter from the Southern Region n.o.blelite?"

"Is it a letter from Shan Ling?"

"How can such a thing appear in the Crown Prince Residence?"

The courtiers who were already prepared to leave all froze in their tracks and looked at the charred letter in Fang Zhengzhi"s hand, their faces overwhelmed with shock.

The Crown Prince Residence had a letter from the Southern Region n.o.blelite Shan Ling? It was something that could never have happened.

Not only the courtiers stopped in their tracks.

Even the Emperor Lin Mubai, who had already traveled at least 300 feet, turned back to look at Fang Zhengzhi, specifically, the letters in his hand in shock.

"A letter from the Southern Region n.o.blelite?" Lin Mubai frowned as he said.

As for Crown Prince Lin Tianrong…

He was slightly fl.u.s.tered.

A letter from the Southern Region n.o.blelite? Shan Ling? How can such a thing appear in his study room? Those things should have already been destroyed when he was in the Southern Region.

"Fang Zhengzhi, how dare you wrong me! When did I establish connections with the Southern Region n.o.blelite?" The Crown Prince Lin Tianrong replied without hesitation.

He would never admit to something he did not have.

Furthermore, letters with conversations between him and the Southern Region n.o.blelite Shan Ling was clearly a thing that did not belong in his study room.

"Oh? The Crown Prince did not establish any contact with the Southern Region n.o.blelite? Then it seems like these letters do not belong to the Crown Prince then." Fang Zhengzhi nodded as he heard Lin Tianrong"s speech.

Following which, he then tore open the letters in his hand and read them brazenly. He did not have any respect for the person"s privacy.

"What do you mean? Something that did not belong to me…" The Crown Prince Lin Tianrong was horrified when he saw Fang Zhengzhi tearing the letter apart.

In an instant, he seemed to have understood!

Fang Zhengzhi did not have the authority to tear open any letter within the Crown Prince Residence.

In other words, even if Fang Zhengzhi had found a letter, he had to hand it over without doing anything to it. However, since the Crown Prince himself had denied any relation to the letter, he had also indirectly claimed that the letters do not belong to the residence.

Fang Zhengzhi"s actions all made sense now.

His intentions were displayed right in front of the Crown Prince.

Fang Zhengzhi tore open the letter immediately.

Furthermore, he did it in front of all the courtiers, the Emperor Lin Mubai, and lastly the Crown Prince himself. He openly tore open the letter that found its way to the Crown Prince"s study.

"What is this person trying to do? If he is just trying to frame me, can he not make it so fake?" The Crown Prince Lin Tianrong still could not figure out Fang Zhengzhi"s true intentions.

Framing?

On normal circ.u.mstances, Fang Zhengzhi"s actions truly render such suspicions.

However, he simply circled the study room briefly and somehow managed to find an important "evidence". No matter how one looked at it, this framing technique was way too fake and immature.

Who would believe him?

All the courtiers? Or the Majesty Lin Mubai?

The Crown Prince Lin Tianrong did not believe that the courtiers and his father would believe Fang Zhengzhi unconditionally. After all, this technique seemed way too r.e.t.a.r.ded.

He should have come up with something smarter.

For example, he could try creating a deceitful act or to include his ploy into a conversation they were having. He could even use a decoy for his plans or use a playful little trick up his sleeves. Basically, anything else would be better than this.