Chapter 121: Everyone is Waiting Outside the Demon Suppression Tower
“Well… since His Majesty has handed this matter over to Lord Ying, I still have faith in Lord Ying’s capability. The fact that Prince Bei hasn’t been captured yet must mean there’s a reason behind it.”
The Ninth Prince didn’t want to take charge of this issue; after all, he had a decent impression of Qin Bei. Although he didn’t know much about him before, he was more familiar with him now that Qin Bei had made a name for himself.
He had heard that Qin Bei was quite the charming prince, and he had long wanted to hang out with him. It would be nice to have a companion for his future escapades, unlike the other royal family members who seemed to spend every day either training or vying for power. Few of them genuinely enjoyed fun and games.
“Uncle, this matter should have fallen under your jurisdiction, yet my father has handed it over to Lord Ying. If I hadn’t shown up, you wouldn’t even know about this situation by now.”
“And I’ve heard that Lord Ying intends to take Qin Xuan as his disciple. Now, Qin Xuan is Qin Bei’s younger brother, and Lord Ying’s actions clearly show a preference for Qin Bei. Otherwise, why hasn’t he arrested him yet? So I urge you to lead the royal family law enforcement team and apprehend Qin Bei for some serious punishment!”
Qin Xiu said, bubbling with indignation.
He was also scheming a bit; knowing how the Ninth Prince and Emperor Xia often clashed over family matters, he decided to stoke the flames.
He wanted the Ninth Prince to think that Emperor Xia’s decision to let Lord Ying handle Qin Bei’s case was an attempt to weaken the Ninth Prince’s power, which would surely make him angry.
As long as the Ninth Prince was willing to oppose Ying, even if Ying had Emperor Xia backing him, he still had a chance to put up a fight in this royal family drama.
Then, even if Ying wanted to show favoritism toward Qin Bei, he wouldn’t be able to pull it off.
As soon as Qin Xiu finished, the originally amiable Ninth Prince squinted his eyes at him.
Qin Xiu still didn’t grasp the depth of the situation with the Ninth Prince.
He knew that the Ninth Prince and Emperor Xia often argued, but he had no clue why.
The constant arguments between the Ninth Prince and Emperor Xia stemmed from the Ninth Prince’s apparent bias toward the royal family members.
Take the issue of distributing spirit stones for instance. The last time, after Emperor Xia punished several princes and princesses because of Qin Bei’s actions, the Ninth Prince was the first one to voice his discontent.
He went to the Nurturing Residence and started making a racket, acting less like a prince and more like some rural bumpkin without even a modicum of reason.
At that time, the Ninth Prince insisted that with Great Xia’s abundant resources, what was the harm in the princes and princesses wasting a little? If the princesses loved beauty, what was wrong with buying luxury goods?
If the princes liked beautiful women, what was the harm in visiting brothels and spending time with courtesans?
Could the royal family not support such frivolity? Just throw some money around!
Emperor Xia was so furious then that he nearly blew a gasket. Had he not been the Ninth Prince’s brother, he’d likely have physically thrown him out.
The Ninth Prince looked at Emperor Xia, thinking he was just a stiff ruler, utterly unaware of what matters really are.
Meanwhile, Emperor Xia looked at the Ninth Prince, believing him to be a waste of space who only knew how to indulge himself… The two were at odds, yet they were powerless against one another, leading to their incessant squabbles.
It was a far cry from a power struggle as Qin Xiu imagined, since the Ninth Prince simply didn’t care about power.
The old-timers were the ones who pushed him into such responsibilities.
So after Qin Xiu’s words, the Ninth Prince’s face turned sour.
Though he didn’t crave power, he was still a prince. He just didn’t want to play the game of thrones, not that he couldn’t.
The Ninth Prince could see right through Qin Xiu’s obvious attempt at instigation.
However, he didn’t call him out on it, for he understood this issue was looking far more complicated than it seemed.
This was no longer a simple matter between a prince and a concubine; it might even stem from competition amongst the princes.
So he, as the head of the clan, had to engage in this situation.
“Fine, I will gather the law enforcement team and take someone to capture Qin Bei,” the Ninth Prince announced, rising to his feet.
“Uncle, I want to go too,” Qin Xiu requested.
The Ninth Prince was well aware of Qin Xiu’s intentions; he just wanted to catch Qin Bei so he could deal with him posthaste.
“Alright, you can tag along.”
Even though he knew Qin Xiu’s motives, the Ninth Prince didn’t refuse. With his presence, nobody would dare to stir up trouble.
The Law Enforcement Hall of the Imperial Clan quickly mobilized personnel to head towards the Demon Suppression Tower to capture Qin Bei.
Meanwhile, on the flip side, Ying had promptly gathered the details and was also en route to the Demon Suppression Tower.
……
And this matter was hastily suppressed by Ying once again. Currently, only a handful of concubines in the harem closely surrounding the Shufei Palace Garden were in the loop. Of course, the Imperial Guards were also aware.
The outside world was completely oblivious to what had transpired.
As a result, during the morning court the following day, Emperor Xia attended as usual, and not a single person dared to bring up Qin Bei.
Even the Minister of Revenue, who had close ties with Prince Xiu, had received no word on the situation.
This in itself showcased just how formidable Ying’s shadow guards were in the capital; they could completely shut down such a serious issue in the blink of an eye.
It could only be described as downright terrifying.
……
Outside the Demon Suppression Tower.
The princes were perplexed; they were surprisingly denied entry today. Qin Chen had arrived bright and early only to be told to return in three days.
Not only that, the princes and princesses noticed the most daunting members of the Royal Family Law Enforcement Hall along with the Ninth Prince.
Of course, they also spotted the shadow guards who had arrived there much earlier.
“Hiss~ What is this lineup? Which royal brother caused a ruckus? It’s quite surprising that both Lord Ying and the Ninth Prince are mobilized together.”
“This royal brother is quite sharp. He knows to hide in the Demon Suppression Tower. However, if he gets caught, the punishment will definitely be way worse. Given this commotion, he wouldn’t be directly expelled from the capital, would he?”
“Very likely. The last time this happened, that royal brother was booted out of the capital to fend off invaders. This time, things might be even graver.”
……
The surrounding princes and princesses chattered among themselves. They had witnessed law enforcement mobilization many times before.
Whenever such a situation arose, it meant that a prince had made a mistake, with punishment being an inevitable consequence.
However, the scale of this mobilization was quite unprecedented, making everyone wait outside, eager to discover which prince had the audacity to hide in the Demon Suppression Tower after alarming both the shadow guards and the royal family.
“Lord Ying, you’re here quite early,” the Ninth Prince remarked upon spotting Ying at his arrival.
Ying glanced at Qin Xiu following closely behind the Ninth Prince, realizing that Qin Xiu was leveraging the royal family to challenge him.
“The Ninth Prince hasn’t arrived late,” Ying replied blandly, continuing, “But does it matter if one arrives early or late? We can only wait.”
“True, we can only wait~~ This kid’s not too dull, but it’s futile. Problems that need resolution must be dealt with, and wrong decisions mean facing consequences,” the Ninth Prince said with a grin.
“Is it too hasty for the Ninth Prince to assume there’s a mistake without knowing the context?”
“It seems Qin Xiu wasn’t wrong; you indeed have a bias in favor of Qin Bei,” the Ninth Prince noted, a tad surprised.
To him, Ying was essentially Emperor Xia’s proxy; bluntly speaking, he was rather old-fashioned, even more so than Emperor Xia. It was quite peculiar for him to display favoritism this time around.
Simultaneously, the Ninth Prince mused, “It appears our thoughts align; we both tend to favor a prince. We must cooperate well this time and stop throwing sidelong glances at each other.”
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
