Prince Gong, Yun Chi, is the son of the Empress. Although His Majesty's attitude towards him is lukewarm, he has quite a few supporters in the court, both openly and secretly. Therefore, there is no need for him to take such a risky and despicable step.
After reviewing them one by one, the most suspicious one was Prince An, Yun Huan.
Although he was favored by His Majesty, he did not have a powerful and well-established force to fully protect him. Therefore, before the struggle for the throne came to a head, he could only crush the potential rivals he was most confident in eliminating, in order to reduce the possibility of being attacked from both sides in the "final battle".
****
After staring thoughtfully out the window for a moment, Luo Cuiwei took a deep breath and said softly, "In your speculation, that Northern Di person today is related to Prince An?"
After learning the whole story from Xiahou Ling, she thought about it all afternoon, piecing together the events. She learned everything she should and shouldn't know.
Hearing Yun Lie's words now, it was hard for her not to connect the Northern Di people with Yun Huan.
Otherwise, there's no way to explain why the Northern Di people attacked her so suddenly and accurately.
Yun Lie closed his eyes and slumped his shoulders in resignation.
The fact that she asked that question suggests she knows that Yun Huan had someone calculate her destiny.
Yun Lie said in a low, suppressed voice, "There's no way to confirm whether he's connected to Yun Huan."
“What a fine Prince An,” Luo Cuiwei laughed in fury, “the diviner and the Northern Di people are all dead and have no way to testify. It’s true that no one can touch him in the slightest.”
After taking several deep breaths, she spat out through gritted teeth, "Can I hire someone to kill him?"
Yun Lie looked at her helplessly, pursing his lips in self-reproach.
According to the unwritten consensus among the people today, the birth chart is the greatest secret in a person's life, and even parents have no right to peek at it on their own.
Yun Huan's actions were already a great offense to Luo Cuiwei, and now he was planning to eliminate her because of the matter of the destiny chart; not to mention Luo Cuiwei was furious, Yun Lie also wanted to grind him to dust.
However, Yun Huan is, after all, a prince with a title and a fief. Without solid evidence, no one can successfully confront him on this matter. Not only will they fail to get justice, but they might even be falsely accused by him.
Even Luo Huai, who loved his eldest daughter dearly, only sent Xiahou Ling to protect Luo Cuiwei. Apart from that, he did not take any other counterattacks. This was because he understood the crux of the matter and knew that even if the Luo family used all its strength, it would not be able to get justice for his beloved daughter. He could only swallow his anger and take a defensive stance for the time being.
Yun Lie and Xiahou Ling chose to keep this from Luo Cuiwei for the same reason.
After all, letting her know about this now would only make her angry, and would serve no other purpose.
Luo Cuiwei understood this, of course. Without concrete evidence, no one could do anything to Yun Huan. The so-called "hiring someone to kill him" was nothing more than meaningless verbal venting.
I understand the logic, but it's just hard to swallow this anger.
The frustration of being powerless and at the mercy of others caused her to lose control of her anger, shattering the facade of calm and composure she had been putting on.
Her face flushed with anger. She gritted her teeth, stood up abruptly, put one hand on her hip, paced back and forth a couple of times, and then, unable to bear it any longer, reached out and flipped the small abacus on the table over.
The abacus beads rubbed against the table, making a clattering sound.
Yun Lie could no longer care about anything else and hurriedly got up and went over to hug her tightly.
"The matter is quite clear, isn't it? Prince An secretly divined my destiny chart and learned that I was destined to assist you. He then concluded that everything you have now is due to the assistance of my destiny chart! Since he couldn't find a weakness in you, he planned to eliminate me first, thinking that this would clip your wings! In order not to get himself involved, he even went so far as to collude with the enemy!"
The reason why Xiang Rong, a Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion, wrote a lengthy petition to ban the practice of fortune-telling for others was because there had been too many similar cases.
The person involved originally had a peaceful life with countless possibilities, but once the mark was made on the cinnabar and yellow paper and became known to others, it easily attracted all sorts of malicious schemes from those with ulterior motives, shattering the person's perfectly good life.
Clearly, after learning that Luo Cuiwei's name was "Xiang" and that it was auspicious for her, Yun Huan attributed everything Yun Lie had gained in the past year to this fate.
He didn't want the destiny chart to help Yun Lie grow stronger, and he couldn't find an opportunity to directly attack Yun Lie, so he set Luo Cuiwei as the first target to be eliminated.
Today's events are likely just the beginning. If Yun Huan continues to view Yun Lie as a potential obstacle in the struggle for the crown prince position, then Luo Cuiwei's life will not be peaceful until the crown prince position is settled.
Luo Cuiwei angrily raised her hand to push Yun Lie away, but she couldn't budge him no matter what she did. So she closed her eyes in frustration, trying to hide the tears welling up in her eyes.
"But he is a prince with a noble title and a fief. Without solid evidence, no one can do anything to him. I can only suffer this loss and live in constant fear, always on guard against every stranger who comes near me, or hide like a mouse in a place where even the sun cannot shine, for my safety."
"The reason I decided to keep it from you before was because this matter is currently a dead end, and it can only make you angry," Yun Lie said with a heavy heart. He hugged her tightly, feeling guilty and remorseful. "Don't worry, I will definitely protect you and will never let you live in fear or hide."
Luo Cuiwei rested her forehead against his shoulder, silently adjusting her breathing, "How can we protect him?"
“Weiwei, trust me,” Yun Lie raised his hand and gently stroked the back of her head, his voice deep, gentle, yet powerful, “From now on, Xiahou and I will always be within ten steps of you, and there will be a whole team of guards protecting you at all times. Everything else will remain the same as before, you can do whatever you want.”
He was able to protect Linchuan from major chaos for nearly ten years, and he could also protect his wife's lifelong peace.
"As for Yun Huan, he'll eventually run into trouble if he walks in the dark too often. As long as he makes a move, he can't always be without flaws. Once the time is right, we'll get back at you tenfold for the injustice you suffered."
After calming down, Luo Cuiwei realized that Yun Lie was right.
No amount of temper can solve the current predicament. Protect her and patiently wait for Yun Huan to reveal a weakness.
"Then, make sure the guards don't easily detect me, otherwise I'll feel uneasy."
She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes haphazardly on his shoulder and decisively made her request.
Yun Lie nodded hastily: "If anyone is so blind that you notice them, break their legs and deduct their monthly salary."
“Furthermore,” Luo Cui smiled slightly, then paused before raising her head, her face serious, “once Prince An reveals a weakness…”
"I will definitely get justice for you," Yun Lie nodded solemnly before she could finish speaking, "I will pin him to the ground and chop him into mincemeat. I will not show any mercy just because he is my brother."
“Alright, then it’s settled,” Luo Cuiwei took two steps back, her reddened eyes glaring fiercely at him, “but there are some things between Your Highness that we may need to reach a consensus on.”
Although she understood that he meant well by hiding it from her, she still wanted to settle the score.
****
"Hey, no, how can you turn on me so suddenly?" Yun Lie frowned, feeling wronged, and reached out to grab her sleeve. "Don't be silly. If you're still angry that I kept it from you, you can hit me, scold me, or punish me, I'll accept it."