Chapter 385

Mu Mingtang pinched her palm hard. Feeling that she had calmed down a little, she then remembered today's incidents from the beginning. Undoubtedly, it was not an accident at all that the little servant lady was hit just now and it was also a deliberate 'coincidence' that Xie Xuanchen was spilled with wine. She knew something was up when the Emperor asked about Xie Xuanchen's condition in the beginning, but she couldn't place a finger on it. It turned out that His Majesty had planned this right from the start.

First, he created an accident and transferred Xie Xuanchen away alone. The Emperor didn't need to do anything— he just had to light a pot of incense mixed with Wu Yufei(1) where Xie Xuanchen was changing his clothes and the result would be him losing control of himself. Xie Xuanchen had just returned to the stage and was now deemed worthy a candidate to the throne. If he lost control at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet in front of all the civil and military officials, even going so far as to initiate a killing spree, then he would be completely ruined.

(T/N: A substance found in a certain type of cacti. Upon intake, humans would start to see hallucinations and it can cause a person to become aggressive, occasionally leading to physical destruction)

The people of the world would never remember that he was actually the original heir to the throne. History books would only mention him with disgust and fear that he was nothing but a madman, a war maniac and an insane killer.

As for the Emperor, he would completely disappear from history as a tyrant and from then on, he would appear in front of the world as a wise and benevolent monarch.

Mu Mingtang was very fortunate that this time, Xie Xuanchen had already begun to detoxify himself from the drug, so at least he was not unprepared to be pitted against by the Emperor. If it was reversed from the Emperor's point of view, he wanted everyone to see the scene of Xie Xuanchen's out-of-control murder spree, which would require the army to stop him.

Mu Mingtang searched for the surrounding side halls according to this idea. She was considered lucky that after two empty courtyards, she found a third that had a few people crowding in front of the door. They acted timidly, looking as if they wanted to go in, but not daring to approach.

Mu Mingtang made up her mind almost immediately. Without saying a word, she ran towards that courtyard with her skirt in hand. These eunuchs were ordered to keep an eye on the situation, so they weren't brave enough to go in and look, but they also did not dare to leave. Therefore, they could only hide as far away as possible, poking their heads around to listen to aunty movements coming from inside.

It seemed a little too quiet inside, which was why the eunuchs were arguing over who should go in to see Prince An's condition when they suddenly heard footsteps approaching from behind. Everyone was taken aback as they hurriedly turned around and were even more surprised when they saw Mu Mingtang.

How did she locate them? Who leaked the news about this?

Several eunuchs were startled and suspicious, but one of them immediately came forward with a flattering smile and said, "Princess An, please stay here. This is the room where men change their attires, so I'm afraid it's not appropriate for Your Highness to go any further."