What Bad Intentions can the Yandere Crown Prince have?-Chapter 293 - 289: By Order of Prince Jin

He was kissed on the face by her, and he had also kissed her face.

He always knew it wasn’t enough.

When the girl’s trembling eyelashes came so close, Li Mu couldn’t help but hold his breath.

His nose brushed past her rosy cheek, once again disrupting his breathing.

She felt the same.

It still wasn’t enough.

Li Mu cupped her face, full of infinite joy and anticipation, ready to take another step forward.

Suddenly, the lights flickered, and there was another person beside him.

Li Mu quickly pulled the girl into his arms.

At this moment, Mo Huan, who had barged in, was even more shocked and turned his back in fright, his heart pounding.

He was so young, how could he encounter such a thing?!

"What is it?"

The voice was cold, so cold that Mo Huan shivered and hurriedly said, "It’s Wang Jian! He saw An Renjian!"

Tang Xiaobai raised her head from Li Mu’s embrace in astonishment.

Wang Jian, so he came for this?

...

After the court officials arrived, An Renjian had always been a key detention subject by Li Mu, never intended for Wang Jian to see.

But Wang Jian still saw him.

He saw the Minister of Rites who should have been negotiating with the Turkic people, anyone could guess what happened.

The surroundings were strictly guarded in layers when Tang Xiaobai followed Li Mu into Wang Jian’s tent.

Inside, there was only Wang Jian, even his attendants had been taken away.

Just him, sitting upright and calm, with a composed and cool expression.

Only when he saw Tang Xiaobai enter together did a trace of surprise appear in his eyes: "Second Miss Tang?"

Tang Xiaobai nodded to him and glanced at the small red clay stove by his side.

The aroma of tea lingered, elegant and composed.

Wang Jian was making tea.

Tea is usually brewed in the morning, and now it was already dark.

Brewing tea at this time implied staying up late to talk by candlelight.

What could be worth discussing?

Tang Xiaobai was intrigued, stepped forward half a step, and solemnly saluted: "Thanks to Imperial Censor Wang’s care during last year’s journey to Liangzhou, I have yet to thank you in person!"

Wang Jian looked at her for a moment, stood up in return, paused for a moment, and asked, "How is the peace negotiation currently?"

"The Kaghan Yatai under Yin Mountain has been broken, Ashina Duoduo has fled to the Northern Desert, and the Heir of Prince Changshan is leading elite cavalry in pursuit." Tang Xiaobai said frankly.

Wang Jian chuckled faintly, "Had I known earlier that Second Miss was here, I wouldn’t have needed to come."

Tang Xiaobai raised an eyebrow in surprise.

...

Staying up late to talk was truly unnecessary.

Half an hour later, Tang Xiaobai and Li Mu left.

Upon leaving Wang Jian’s tent, seeing Li Mu not withdrawing the surrounding guards, Tang Xiaobai asked, "Don’t you trust what he said?"

Half an hour of conversation yielded three conclusions.

First, Wang Jian claimed to be a pro-war faction, opposing peace negotiations;

Second, he came of his own volition, not to build a city, but to sabotage the peace negotiations;

Third, someone deliberately led him to meet An Renjian.

"Whether Wang Jian is truly pro-war, no one can prove," Li Mu finished speaking and then asked, "What about you? Do you trust him?"

Tang Xiaobai thought for a moment, nodded: "I trust him a little, but not the latter part of what he said—"

"He said that if he knew I was here, he wouldn’t have needed to come. If I’m here, does that necessarily mean I would sabotage the peace negotiations?"

Li Mu nodded.

She would.

But Tang Xiaobai shook her head with a smile: "Not necessarily, he doesn’t know me as well as you do, what he can be sure of is that if I’m here, I certainly won’t let my sister come for a political marriage!"

Perhaps she couldn’t resist being sentimental; she always felt Wang Jian wasn’t here to sabotage the peace negotiations, but more like he intended to sabotage the political marriage.

So his actions were even a bit reckless.

Li Mu smiled faintly and said, "To be safe, it’s better to keep an eye on Wang Jian, and when March comes with all the materials and labor ready, let him do as he pleases, whether pro-war or pro-peace—"

...

Thus, Wang Jian was put under surveillance.

The two officials from the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War weren’t the meddlesome types, quietly doing their own work.

Wang Jian’s job was to oversee for the court, his absence was inconsequential.

Only Pei Kuan inquired a couple of times, but was later personally blocked by Li Mu.

As for Wang Jian, he quietly stayed in his tent, brewing tea and reading books each day, leisurely passing a month.

By March, while spring was ending in Jiangnan, the peach blossoms along the northern bank of the Yellow River were in full bloom.

With spring plowing finished, materials for building the city were gradually transported from nearby state mansions by laborers.

Finally, construction of the city on the northern bank of the Yellow River began.

Meanwhile, a thousand miles away in Fangzhou’s Ren Zhi Palace, the peach and apricot blossoms were also blooming, full of springy vitality.

However, the blossoming flowers couldn’t dispel the cold desolation within.

Ren Zhi Palace was originally built for the emperor’s pleasure, with vast halls and wide structures, capable of hosting the entire harem and officials to escape the summer heat.

Now, it housed only a Crown Prince and a Princess, occupying just two palaces, with limited attendants, making it inevitably cold and lonely.

When Li Yao excused herself from the Crown Prince’s peach blossom banquet, slightly tipsy, she almost bumped into the threshold.

"Be careful, sister." The young Crown Prince said with a smile, although he had grown in age, his voice still carried an inherent softness.

Li Yao inadvertently looked up, seeing his eyes ripple with allure, also very soft and bewitching.

He really didn’t seem like a Crown Prince.

She thought to herself but dared not voice it, only bowed and exited the pavilion.

In the dim twilight, Li Yao walked slowly along the long, desolate palace path.

Perhaps Ren Zhi Palace was too desolate, she even felt reluctant to part with the Crown Prince.

Two years.

She, who once loved hustling and bustling, had stayed in the mountains for two years.

In those two years, only the Crown Prince kept her company.

Sometimes they enjoyed flowers and wine together, sometimes they read and wrote side by side.

When bored, they even read scriptures together.

Ren Zhi Palace was a summer retreat palace, unsuitable for residence once summer passed.

In the first autumn, she received a letter from Tang Jiaojiao urging her to return to the capital, bluntly stating "Ren Zhi Palace’s winter is no place for people," yet they spent two winters there.

She didn’t know if the Crown Prince also received letters urging his return privately, but what was certain was that her father, the Crown Prince’s uncle, didn’t have such intentions.

The emperor had no such intention, so they couldn’t return.

As a sickly Crown Prince, he could only be left in the cold retreat palace, abandoned for two years, seemingly fragile and easy to bully.

Yet somehow, it was not quite so.

In Ren Zhi Palace, he didn’t seem abandoned or imprisoned, but rather in control of the place and everyone in it, including her.

She couldn’t return to the capital, not only due to lack of imperial decree but also because he wouldn’t allow it.

Outside her palace, people were always stationed, seemingly watching her and those around her every hour of the day.

When she stepped into her Ren Zhi Palace bedroom, night had fallen, palace lanterns glowing like fireflies.

A palace maid came to assist her in removing her cloak, and when she turned toward the outside, she saw through the screen a blurry shadow standing in the usual spot outside the palace doors.

That was someone the Crown Prince placed to monitor her.

After more than a year, she had even grown accustomed to it.

Just as she was about to look away, the shadow on the screen shifted.

Like ink dripping into water, she blinked and the person vanished.

In an instant, Li Yao was chilled to the bone, standing there, not daring to move an inch.

Outside the palace, faint and strange noises kept coming, but they didn’t last long.

Perhaps less than a quarter of an hour later, another shadow appeared on the screen.

A stranger’s shadow.

"I am here on Prince Jin’s orders—"

(I know, you guys are going to say the author is not doing a good job again, not having them kiss. Isn’t this quite normal? Except for those who focus on explicit content, generally, romance authors never quite deliver properly! Just joking~ It’s coming soon! It’s coming! There will be both kisses and revelations this week!)