novelraw Chapter 416: To Meet Someone
Chapter 416: To Meet Someone
The location is secured, the people to carry out the tasks are in place; the success is already halfway achieved.
Even though it was just half a day’s time, Xia Wenjin noticed that Ding Jingxian had indeed changed a lot.
She was no longer like the blank slate of Jing Xian when she was first driven out of the temple; she was intelligent and sharp, savvy and smart, with a knack for business and the decisiveness of a Ding family heir.
Ding Jingxian wanted to return the ten thousand silver notes to Xia Wenjin, but Xia Wenjin declined and instead provided another ten thousand for her to use in the construction of Guiyi Hall.
Xia Wenjin expressed that if Ding Jingxian wished to return to the Ding family at any time, she could send her own people to take over. For now, everything could be entrusted to Ding Jingxian to manage.
Ding Jingxian was very happy.
This was not only the wish of the old temple leader but also Xia Wenjin’s idea—it could help so many people, giving life some real meaning and not living in vain!
For the establishment of Guiyi Hall, Xia Wenjin stayed in Jiazhou for three days.
Once matters there were settled, she hurried to the Capital City.
Fortunately, the location was already closer to the Capital City.
Xia Wenjin was still worried.
Her father had his own persistence and ideas, and it was uncertain if he could be persuaded. Huangfu Yuxuan was a person who would exploit every opportunity; if he pinpointed her father’s weakness and entrapped him, it would require considerable effort to resolve.
Moreover, Huangfu Yuxuan was someone who discarded others once they were no longer useful; what good outcome could the uncles and elders of Haotian Village have by siding with him?
During this time, Huangfu Jingchen had already been in the Capital City for several months. The Cheng Prince Mansion in the Capital was not as grand as the Yunzhou Cheng Prince Mansion. Here, initially, it was just him alone; the Emperor sent over two people from the palace to assist him, but whether it was truly to assist or to monitor, Huangfu Jingchen understood well.
Fortunately, after his peace-assuring letter reached Yunzhou, Concubine Cheng selected a few capable individuals and sent them over. Among them were a steward, three managers, and five family members of the Cheng Prince Mansion.
The people chosen by Concubine Cheng were shrewd and capable, meticulously handling the affairs of the mansion, making the Cheng Prince Mansion presentable now.
Of course, Huangfu Jingchen himself was not a fool either.
The experience from Jianghu had taught him that familial relations between father, son, and brothers were not as harmonious as they seemed in the Yunzhou Cheng Prince Mansion.
The kindest thing in this world is the human heart, but so is the most malicious!
Not to mention, he was now in the Capital City.
During his stay at the Cheng Prince Mansion, he had already faced two assassination attempts and the mansion had undergone two purges.
When the Cheng Prince Mansion was newly established, manpower was essential, so many were hired through brokers. However, various forces saw this as an opportunity and slipped their own people in by first delivering them to the brokers and then letting the brokers send them to the Cheng Prince Mansion.
Afterward, they would have these people relay messages, turning the entire mansion into a chaotic mess.
Yet, after two purges, those individuals were already weeded out.
People now knew that within the Cheng Prince Mansion, it was only the prince’s heir present, as Prince Cheng and Concubine Cheng remained in Yunzhou’s vassal land. Even after arriving in the Capital, the prince’s heir did not indulge in festivities and networking to establish connections like other princely heirs.
It was evident that this prince’s heir was just like Prince Cheng, a wooden-headed individual.
In the past, Prince Cheng had turned against the Emperor for a woman and was banished to the remote area of Yunzhou, akin to exile. Over the years, Prince Cheng hadn’t even considered saying some flattering words to coax the Emperor into changing his servitude land.
He was expelled by the Emperor in anger, and if he had been willing to relent, the Emperor might have let bygones be bygones for the sake of their father-son relationship.
Yet Prince Cheng seemed comfortable in Yunzhou and seldom returned to the Capital without a decree.
Even though a vassal king isn’t supposed to return to the Capital without a decree, which vassal king doesn’t use every trick, exploit every method to establish connections, and maneuver so the Emperor summons him to the Capital periodically? Five years of absence from the Capital, can he still consider himself an imperial grandson or a person of the Capital?
This stubbornness only fueled the Emperor’s annoyance, and thus fewer decrees were issued.
He had returned to the Capital only three times in twenty years; if he were to return again, perhaps the Emperor would no longer recognize him as his son.
Allegedly, among the princely heirs summoned to the Capital, only the prince’s heir had no mansion; the Emperor seemed to have awarded a house for the sake of his grandson, but compared to other prince’s abodes, it was only a third of the size.
The prince’s heir wasn’t picky; he moved in immediately, possibly wise enough to realize that Prince Cheng had angered the Emperor, making it unlikely for him to gain the Emperor’s favor, so he behaved obediently.
However, this was only in others’ eyes.
In the Crown Prince’s eyes, it was a different matter.
Since listening to Gongyang Puyu’s "forecast" that Huangfu Jingchen possessed a heavenly fate, the Crown Prince couldn’t let that be. But his previously sent assassins had returned empty-handed; two batches of assassins, years of painstaking efforts.
Now, not only was the target still alive, but he had even openly moved into the Capital City.
However, moving into the Capital City was part of his plan.
His assassination squads had failed, and he couldn’t just leave this man with heavenly fate outside unchecked; sending people felt like throwing mud into the sea, only to have gone unrewarded. The best solution, of course, was to bring him into the Capital.
His suggestion to the Emperor was accepted without hesitation.
This made him realize his standing in the Emperor’s eyes.
His frustration stemmed from not being the first Crown Prince, having lived so long in the vassal land that his foundation in the Capital wasn’t deep, missing out twenty years of development. Thankfully, his predecessor was a fool and failed to recognize the golden opportunity; now as the Prince Liang, he was shunned by everyone, including his own son who sought affiliation with Prince Li.
The Crown Prince, after all, is the Crown Prince, the heir apparent, and the Emperor would still show face.
Huangfu Yuxuan and Prince Li colluded, and surely the Emperor was aware of it—it was the Emperor standing by him.
Yet, even with the Emperor’s backing, the man with heavenly fate must be eliminated. Fortunately, now that he’s in the Capital, opportunities abound.
However, he cannot underestimate the now small Cheng Prince Mansion either; it’s said that Concubine Cheng dispatched protection upon learning the Emperor’s decree for princely heirs to temporarily reside in the Capital. Cheng Prince’s heir had been in the Capital only two days when people from the Prince Mansion arrived.
Unexpectedly, it was that woman Lu Qianxue who thwarted it.
But Lu Qianxue wasn’t even present; could the few people she sent really accomplish anything?
Prince Zhuang impatiently made a move, but despite two attempts, even as mere tests, not a single ripple was produced before it went silent.
This left Prince Zhuang in extreme distress.
He had his men watching Huangfu Jingchen, yet Huangfu Jingchen barely left the Cheng Prince Mansion, making his depths and character difficult to discern; none of his own people were planted inside the mansion, so he could only wait for the right opportunity.
No, he couldn’t just wait for the right opportunity; Huangfu Hanyu was never one to wait—just like when he seized the position of Crown Prince, if he had waited back then, the one occupying it now would still be Prince Liang or even Prince Li.
He needed to meet someone.