bullyxtreme Chapter 540 Joy of Life 96
Chapter 540 Joy of Life 96
But... how is that possible?
From the moment Chen Pingping suspected that Emperor Qing had plotted to kill Ye Qingmei, he quietly began a revenge plan that would last for more than ten years.
He deliberately stirred up trouble between Li Chengze and Li Chengqian, and even dragged Li Yunrui into it.
Li Yunrui lived up to expectations, even exceeding expectations, not only successfully messing up the relationship between the two princes, but also creating a major royal scandal with the crown prince.
According to Chen Pingping's prediction, Emperor Qing should have already completely broken with the Crown Prince and Li Yunrui by this time.
With the downfall of these two, the Second Prince Li Chengze, as the Crown Prince's "sharpening stone," will naturally lose his value.
Finally, Emperor Qing completely broke ties with these three people, and he could secretly fan the flames, quietly handing them a few "knives" so that the father and son, the brother and sister would kill each other, ultimately making Emperor Qing taste the bitterness of being betrayed and abandoned by everyone.
But things didn't go as he expected.
The second prince inexplicably fell ill several times, unexpectedly escaping his scheme and becoming a fugitive in his revenge plan.
Even more unexpectedly, after the Crown Prince and Li Yunrui lost power, this Second Prince was not suppressed by Emperor Qing. Instead, after recovering from his illness, he changed his previous cautiousness and began to expand his power recklessly.
What exactly does the Second Prince want to do?
Why did Emperor Qing simply ignore the matter after issuing a few perfunctory reprimands?
What exactly happened between these two people?
"Is it possible that the Emperor is trying to kill the Second Prince by praising him too much?" Shadow's deep voice came from under the mask. The words were light, but they were like pebbles thrown into a lake, creating ripples.
Chen Pingping's heart skipped a beat. She glanced at him sideways, remained silent for a moment, and then shook her head uncertainly: "Even if it's a case of praising someone to death, there should be a limit. How could His Majesty allow the Second Prince's power to expand to such an extent? Besides, in the current situation, there's absolutely no need for it."
A surge of unease welled up in Chen Pingping's heart, as if the whole matter was gradually slipping out of his control.
"How is the evidence against the Second Prince being gathered?" he asked in a deep voice, his tone revealing a hint of urgency.
Shadow hesitated for a moment before saying, "One place is under investigation, but so far there has been no news."
Before she finished speaking, Chen Pingping's fingers, which were resting on the armrests of her wheelchair, suddenly tightened, her knuckles turning white from the force.
He looked at the shadow with disbelief, his voice filled with doubt and shock: "How is this possible? Even if the Second Prince has been less active recently due to illness, how could his previous collusion with enemy countries, secret profits, bribery of officials, and forming cliques have left no trace? How is it possible that we can't find any evidence at all?"
Back then, Chen Pingping saw that Li Chengze had narrowly escaped his plans due to several strange illnesses, and worried that Emperor Qing would soften his heart towards this son later. Therefore, he specially ordered an investigation team to do everything possible to find evidence of Li Chengze's crimes.
Logically speaking, the First Division of the Censorate is responsible for supervising all officials, and the Second Prince should naturally be within its monitoring scope, so this task should be completed easily.
Then, he used the evidence he found to persuade Emperor Qing to take action against Li Chengze, thus pulling the second prince back into his carefully crafted revenge plan.
However, to his utter surprise, despite spending so much time and effort, he couldn't find even a single piece of solid evidence.
Those crimes that were once thought to be undeniable have now been completely erased from all traces, as if they never happened.
“Everything done leaves a trace, and where there's a trace, it can be found. Those were things the Second Prince actually did; how could we not find out? Besides…”
Chen Pingping's voice was icy and piercing, but it sounded somewhat sharp because he spoke too quickly: "Moreover, there were some reports about the Second Prince that were submitted to me before. Have those records disappeared now?"
He stared intently at the shadow, trying to get a clear confirmation from the other party's answer.
However, the shadow's silence struck his heart like a heavy hammer.
Silently tell him: all of this is true, and indeed no evidence of the Second Prince's crimes could be found anywhere.
In an instant, Chen Pingping felt that it was utterly absurd.
But then, a chill rose from the bottom of his heart and quickly spread throughout his body, mixed with an unspeakable fear.
From the moment he decided to embark on his revenge plan, he was prepared to deal with all sorts of unforeseen circumstances.
Therefore, he kept a close eye on the movements of the princes, especially Li Chengze and Li Chengqian.
After all, these two were key figures in his plan, and some of the things they did in the past were even instigated and carefully arranged by him.
He disposed of all the evidence in a safe place, just in case.
But now the shadow tells him that not only can no evidence of the Second Prince's crimes be found, but even the evidence that was originally stored in the Censorate has disappeared.
How can this be?
How could such irrefutable evidence simply vanish into thin air?
Could it be that there's a spy in the Control Yuan?
The thought flashed through Chen Pingping's mind and gave her a jolt.
Having been in charge of the Censorate for so many years, he had long since made it an impenetrable entity, so much so that even Emperor Qing would find it difficult to interfere, let alone the Second Prince.
But now the facts are right in front of him, leaving him no choice but to believe them.
All evidence of the Second Prince's crimes was quietly erased without his knowledge.
Chen Pingping's mind was in complete chaos, with all sorts of thoughts surging forth like a tide.
How exactly did the Second Prince manage to do it? And with whose help did he achieve it?
Has the other party already discovered his plan? Has he secretly taken any action against the Control Yuan? Has he left any hidden dangers within the Control Yuan that shouldn't exist?
These questions were like sharp blades, piercing Chen Pingping's nerves.
"check!"
Chen Pingping slammed his hand on the armrest of his wheelchair, a chilling glint in his eyes, and decisively ordered a thorough investigation of the Control Yuan.
The Censorate is the greatest support he can rely on right now, and it will be left to Fan Xian in the future. He must find the traitor hiding in the shadows and completely eliminate the hidden dangers of the Censorate.
The shadow nodded in response and silently withdrew from the secret room.
With a single order from Dean Chen, the entire Supervisory Council instantly went on high alert, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.
All departments quickly entered a state of emergency and launched a comprehensive internal investigation, working busily and orderly like ants whose nest had been disturbed.
This internal investigation was unlike the previous one, which was conducted gently and only briefly.
The shadowy figure led a group to conduct a thorough investigation of the Control Yuan.
From one location to eight, every room and every corner was carefully searched, leaving no clue unchecked.
Even the old case files and small items in the storeroom were meticulously searched, leaving nothing out.
After several days of searching, Shadow finally found a recipe in one of the three corners.
After the incident on Niulan Street, only the organizer Fei Jie and a few people who stayed behind to guard the gate remained at the three locations.
Even though Fei Jie was willing to rebuild the Third Division, such talents could not be trained in a short time, so the Third Division was practically just for show. No one expected that Shadow could find something in the Third Division.
The recipe was quickly delivered to Chen Pingping. When Chen Pingping saw the ingredients listed on it, he was suddenly filled with surprise and disbelief.
He eagerly picked up the prescription, examined it carefully, read it repeatedly, and then focused on checking the experimental data at the bottom of the sheet. He finally confirmed that this was indeed the gunpowder formula and its experimental records, and was overjoyed.
"These were found in three different locations?" Chen Pingping couldn't help but ask, her voice filled with barely concealed anticipation.
Shadow nodded and replied, "That's right! These days I've led people to search through the entire Censorate, and there's only one case where this list hasn't been filed yet, or even entered into the case file."
Chen Pingping tried to suppress her inner elation, took a deep breath, and attempted to calm her excited emotions. Somewhat uncertainly, she asked again, "Can you confirm that this order was indeed made by the Third Bureau?"
"The handwriting on the list, the paper and ink used, and even the seal and watermark, are definitely from three different places," Shadow replied with certainty.
Upon hearing this, Chen Pingping breathed a sigh of relief, and a smile finally appeared on his face: "This should have been researched by the Third Bureau before they went to rescue Fan Xian, but they just happened to be caught up in the Niulan Street assassination and hadn't had time to report it. Those who knew about it all died in that battle."
He spoke softly, his tone a mixture of regret and relief.
In this world, it wasn't just Emperor Qing who was secretly researching gunpowder; Chen Pingping was doing the same thing in secret.
Fei Jie was in charge of the Third Division, whose main task was to develop drugs and various unorthodox weapons. So Chen Pingping assigned this task to the Third Division, but unfortunately, they had made no progress over the years.
Later, in an attempt to rescue Fan Xian, almost all three departments were wiped out, leaving only Fei Jie and a few gatekeepers. As a result, the research was forced to stop.
Chen Pingping thought there was no hope left, but to his surprise, the Third Division had already developed gunpowder.
"That's great!" Chen Pingping thought to himself with secret joy.
With this powerful weapon, his plan to avenge Ye Qingmei will undoubtedly be much smoother.
At this moment, Chen Pingping felt that all her waiting and sacrifices over the years had been worthwhile.
Unfortunately, with the Da Dong Shan sacrificial ceremony imminent, there wasn't much time to prepare.
"Immediately have someone make gunpowder according to the records on the list, and then take people to a secluded place to conduct experiments to confirm the authenticity of this formula." Chen Pingping instructed in a deep voice, "This matter is of great importance and there must be no mistakes. It must be kept strictly confidential and not a word of it must be leaked."
Shadow knew the seriousness of the matter and immediately nodded solemnly. His figure quickly disappeared without a trace at the door.
As the door closed, only Chen Pingping remained in the secret room. He tried his best to calm the turmoil in his heart, looked down at the armrest of his wheelchair, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.
However, the smile did not last long and soon disappeared, and his expression became serious again.
"The gunpowder formula is certainly welcome, but the evidence against the Second Prince, who disappeared without a trace, remains elusive. Was it the Second Prince who did it, or... did His Majesty intervene?" Chen Pingping's gaze was deep.
If it is the former, it means that the Second Prince's strength is now unfathomable, and all previous plans against him will probably have to be overturned and started over.
If it is the latter, it means that Emperor Qing has completely lost trust in him and is indeed willing to support the Second Prince as the Crown Prince, which is why he cleared the Second Prince of his crimes.
Thinking of this, a sinister glint appeared in Chen Pingping's dark eyes.
But when his thin, bony hands touched the armrests of the wheelchair, his restless heart seemed to find some kind of support and gradually returned to calm.
"It's alright!" Chen Pingping gripped the armrests of her wheelchair tightly, her tone resolute: "The worst outcome is nothing more than mutual destruction, a mutual annihilation."
……
Li Chengze stood on the rooftop again after a long absence, taking in the surrounding scenery.
It was late autumn, and winter was approaching. The flowers, grass, and trees were all tinged with a withered yellow.
But the sky above was a clear, deep blue, with light clouds and gentle breezes, which was refreshing.
Xie Bi'an, who had already advanced to the ninth rank of a master, hurried downstairs and saw Li Chengze standing on the roof. He quickly clasped his sword and bowed, his voice steady and respectful: "Your Highness!"
Li Chengze looked in the direction of the voice, recognized Xie Bi'an, and gently waved him over to speak.
Seeing this, Xie Bi'an did not hesitate for long. He flashed and landed lightly next to Li Chengze. He lowered his voice and said, "Your Highness, Deputy Commander Gong left the palace early this morning and took his men to the west."
"Well done!" Li Chengze's eyes flickered slightly, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
The gunpowder formula for the Control Yuan was naturally his doing.
In fact, he had already quietly sent the prescription to the Control Yuan after the Niulan Street explosion.
His plan was simple: as soon as Chen Pingping started manufacturing gunpowder, he would immediately find a way to expose the matter to Emperor Qing and use the emperor to eliminate the Censorate.
Who knew that Chen Pingping hadn't discovered it for so long? If he hadn't deliberately left a loophole, the prescription would probably still be buried in some corner of the three places, unnoticed by anyone.
However, the timing isn't bad.
With the trip to Mount Dadong imminent, the plans of both Emperor Qing and Chen Pingping have entered a critical stage.
Before this, to avoid arousing Emperor Qing's suspicion, even if Chen Pingping had obtained the gunpowder formula, he probably wouldn't have taken any action easily.
The two explosions on Niulan Street were the biggest hidden danger for Li Chengze.
If he doesn't want to reveal his identity as a time traveler, he has to get rid of this information.
Chen Pingping was the perfect scapegoat.
Besides, Chen Pingping had schemed against him quite a bit in the past, so it was time for him to retaliate.
Xie Bi'an poured a cup of tea and presented it to his prince: "Your Highness, Chen Pingping is now very likely to suspect you and realize that you were faking your illness. Should we make some preparations in advance?"
Li Chengze took the teacup, took a small sip, and a nonchalant smile appeared on his lips: "He'll soon be too busy taking care of himself to deal with us."