The woman’s neck was so bruised from being choked that she could barely breathe.
He Benquan released her.
The woman collapsed to the ground, coughing incessantly, trying to drag that thread of life back from the edge of death into her chest.
"You think I don’t know you’re a person of the Third Prince?"
He Benquan, with his hands clasped behind his back, spoke with a cold face, "The Third Prince has been placing his pieces beside so officials these past years, to watch or to assassinate... So officials are fools, but sadly, so are not."
He Benquan looked down and stared intently at the woman,
"All these years, I’ve deliberately engaged in corruption and accepted bribes, and even played the fool when my own concubine cuckolded . In the eyes of that Third Prince, I’m just trash, aren’t I? You thought I’d be easy to control?"
Yan’er looked horrified.
The greedy, cowardly, and spineless husband of the past had beco so unfamiliar at this mont.
As one of the Third Prince’s faction, so dirty tasks need to be handed down to subordinates, such as this forr Magistrate, but Zhou Yin could not fully trust them, so he would place spies close by to watch over them.
She was the piece placed close to He Benquan.
He Benquan, as the Third Prince’s "dog," had done a lot of dirty work for him and knew so secrets not known to the public.
Especially when the position of Crown Prince was not yet stable, there was even more dirty work to be done.
The struggle for the Crown Prince’s position was inherently brutal. Even if the Emperor already had a preferred candidate in mind, he could change his choice due to various unforeseen events, and the struggle among the Princes would never cease in the shadows.
And placing spies in each other’s camps seed all too normal.
In short, as long as one is not on the throne, as long as there are competitors, even becoming Crown Prince would not allow one to sleep peacefully.
The forr Crown Prince Zhou Wei was the best example.
"The reason I originally helped the Third Prince was because I had a feud with the eldest Prince Zhou Wei. But more importantly, I once believed that the Third Prince could be a good Emperor; for that, I was willing to do the dirty work for him,"
He Benquan squatted down, grabbed the woman’s chin, and said coldly, "But the Third Prince disappointed , and even planned to eliminate ?"
No longer pretending, Yan’er spoke tremblingly, "My lord, you’ve heard that the Crown Prince wanted to save you, but we didn’t expect Qu Hongling to appear suddenly..."
"Why would Qu Hongling want to kill ?"
"I... I don’t know either, but my lord, you believe the Crown Prince, he really..."
"Slap!"
The woman was struck to the ground with a slap.
"Do you take for a three-year-old?" He Benquan grabbed the woman’s hair and said in a chilling voice, "If it weren’t for that wench’s report which lead to my arrest and imprisonnt, you would have taken action against much earlier, right?"
Yan’er pressed her lips together, which were bleeding, and said nothing.
Indeed, it was just as he said.
At that ti, she had received orders from the Third Prince to eliminate He Benquan after he completed his mission in Qingzhou, but one of He Benquan’s concubines turned him in for a philanderer, causing He Benquan to beco the focus of attention.
He was ultimately sent to prison and heavily guarded.
Among those guarding him were n of the Emperor and of the then Crown Prince Zhou Wei... making it impossible for the Third Prince to kill this threat.
Then the assassination attempt by Qu Hongling happened.
Frankly, Yan’er did not know why Qu Hongling went to assassinate, nor could she ascertain whether it was the Third Prince’s doing, but He Benquan’s death did alleviate the crisis for the Third Prince.
But now the man who should have died had reappeared, full of life.
He Benquan said lightly, "What? Do you really want to know who saved ? Don’t you know that I have a cousin who’s a Noble Consort? Did you really think our kinship was fake? Did you really think Noble Consort Lin had completely turned to your side?"
Yan’er shuddered, her eyes filled with disbelief.
The man before her, once treated by the Third Prince as nothing but a lapdog, had been a venomous snake in the grass, watching his master all along.
He Benquan’s voice was as indifferent as ice, "Why would a man of the Third Prince’s cold nature let the Peony enchantress off the hook those years ago and pine for her afterward? The reason lies in the fact that the Peony had impersonated Consort Wan back then.
Now that my distant cousin resembles Consort Wan so closely and also has the status of a Noble Consort, what do you think about the Third Prince..."
He Benquan didn’t finish his sentence, but Yan’er was already sweating coldly.
Because she knew... there was actually a secret affair between the Noble Consort Lin in the palace and the Third Prince.
In light of this, it was no surprise that He Benquan was rescued and learned the truth ahead of ti. With Noble Consort Lin tipping him off, the Third Prince would always be one step behind in his plots to kill him.
He Benquan sighed, "I didn’t want to be a bad person or a corrupt official, but such is the nature of officialdom. If you don’t have so tricks up your sleeve and dirty yourself a little, you can’t really be an official.
I’ve always wanted to serve a wise ruler, to go to the Capital and beco a more prominent official, to use my talents to benefit the people, so I’ve been enduring. But the Third Prince ultimately disappointed .
My cousin has arranged for to flee to Fengcheng and live under a false identity, but I couldn’t swallow my pride!
Suddenly, I rembered when the massacre occurred in Anhe Village, the Third Prince sent to Qingzhou and arranged for to do a certain task... Now that the Third Prince has co to Qingzhou, does it not indicate that the Azure Dragon is about to hatch into the world?"
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