"He bought what I concocted," Jiang Ying Yue happily reported to Jiang Li on the following day when they finally reached their destinations. A few minutes ago, they had just been escorted by a servant of the first prince to their temporary courtyards.Jiang Li was supposed to accompany the three imperial brothers since he too, at least in t.i.tle, was a prince, but he declined the invitation. While it was true he was no longer in the neutral camp, in the eyes of the world, he was. So even though it was supposed to be an official meeting, he managed to reject it using the excuse that it could be taken as him getting into anybody"s faction.
Jiang Li and the villainess were together because as usual, Jiang Li jumped over roofs and walls to see the girl. Of course, they were not doing anything unusual, just talking. Since she was an unmarried maiden with a reputation to maintain, the girl had her maid stay to deter him from doing anything wolfish.
The two were in the main hall. The man was busy scrutinizing the few pieces of paper laid on the table before him, admiring the drawings and the poetic verses. Only when he heard what she said did he raise his head, a corner of his mouth lifted.
He met her gleaming eyes and asked in curiosity, "May I know what will happen to those who will take that?"
She shook her head, "No."
"Why?" He placed down the painting he had picked up a while ago. "Is it a surprise?"
"Yes!" Her answer was accompanied by laughter. "I"m sure Your Highness will be amused once you learn what it can do."
"... Who taught her to be like this?"
Jiang Li arched his brow at her for some time, but when she did not give in, he shrugged and laughed too. "Well, I"ll just hope it deserves the suspense and wait."
To his response, the girl only replied with a confident smile. "I"m sure it will. It"s not something that will usually cross people"s minds." She went back to her merry laughing and him who became puzzled as heck went back to shaking his head helplessly.
This time, he really had no clue what she had done. At least not with that potion.
"I know she"s taking advantage of the war of princes. After all, no matter who manages to successfully call down the rain, it spells bad news to Rui w.a.n.g. Even though that guy seems unconcerned about the compet.i.tion due to being favored, in the end, not even he will be able to ignore the rain calling matter. He won"t be able to do anything once the people publicly recognized Hai w.a.n.g or Duan w.a.n.g as the next blessed son of heaven. Well, not unless he does something or offered something as miraculous."
Jiang Li looked at the girl. He thought if it was an item from a sacred land such as Soul Temple and could truly extend one"s life or clear of all ailments in the body, then the Emperor would probably be too moved. He would truly pa.s.s down the throne at him while he enjoyed life and roamed the land carefreely with his favorite concubine.
However, the villainess said the concoction was something storing some surprise in it. There was no way she would be kind to somebody who not only broke her heart and shamed her in public but also helped Jiang Rou Li arranged those d.a.m.n traffickers. She was almost sold her to some mountain bandits!
Just what did she do with that item? And how did she get that bottle with that mysterious temple"s genuine logo?
When no answer came to mind, Jiang Li stared outside the window, eyes darkened as he annoyingly thought, "It seems her guards are too relaxed these days. Even just the last question, none of them reported about it. I think I must put them into another drill with me."Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
If the guard knew of what their boss was thinking, they would surely cry for justice. It was not truly their fault, and they had no way to know that the villainess found the bottle in the old witch"s home.
...
Time flew fast. In a blink of an eye, the next day already arrived.
Duan w.a.n.g"s surprise turned into a joke, just as expected. It was because when he tried to do the ceremony, even though the drumming at the place had been the loudest Jiang Li had ever heard, and there were many people to witness it done at the highest mountain peak in the region, the first prince"s praying for the rain was not heard by the heaven. He was not its true darling so why would it?
As a result, no rain fell down from the thick clouds gathering above them. In short, his ceremony failed.
It was quite heartbreaking to see the common people who were holding so much hope sporting tearful reactions upon seeing this result. The ones crying and begging the loudest were those from the easternmost part of the region, where drought had started to haunt the land. Seeing this, blames started to get thrown at the imperial family, but the reason for all of this, Duan w.a.n.g, was busy scolding the Qin Tian official, the said astrologer from the Soul Temple, who a.s.sisted him.
It was in the middle of people"s riot that somebody from the crowd timely said that he remembered hearing rumors that tomorrow, Hai w.a.n.g would be attempting the ceremony.
Rui w.a.n.g"s side was initially rejoicing at the first prince"s blunder, but when they heard the people were discussing whether the second prince should to try the ceremony tomorrow, they began an argument with Hai w.a.n.g"s supporters. The covert exchange of words between the two parties in a form of pleasantries was quite entertaining to watch for those on the neutral side.
But because the words of mouth had already been set up days ago, Hai w.a.n.g still won the popular opinion.
"It"s not fair. For something as important as this, we should first be consulting His Majesty!"
One local minister supporting the third prince angrily huffed to the side as he and his companions watched the citizens tearfully say words of encouragement to the second prince., or beg him to help them ask the heavens for blessings and mercy. This person only said that because if they were to do that, then there would be definitely no contest between Hai w.a.n.g and Rui w.a.n.g. The Emperor would definitely select the latter, his most favorite son.
General Tao snorted, "Old Guo, there"s no need to fuss. Even if the second prince is chosen by the people, it doesn"t mean he will be heard by the heavens. Most likely he, too, would become like the first prince."
Rui w.a.n.g saw that a few supporters of the first prince had turned to them with cold expressions on their faces, but he didn"t stop the conversations of those from his camp. After grinning at the red-faced Duan w.a.n.g, he went back to talking to Sheng Lingxin even though this female lead, and fiancee of the guy currently smiling and comforting the ma.s.ses, was busy stealing glances at the quiet prince-general by the villainess" side.