"Make way, all of you! The Capital Prefecture is on duty, clear the path!"
Roughly seven or eight minutes later, the crowd of onlookers finally parted to form a narrow passage.
The Prefect of the Capital, drenched in sweat, came running through the center, his eyes immediately locking on the unscathed Yun Shu who stood composed at the gates of the Eldest Prince's residence.
Thank heavens. Her Highness the Crown Princess was unharmed.
Had she suffered even the slightest injury, his official hat would have been forfeit.
He had nearly blacked out upon receiving the initial report: the Crown Princess, the Eldest Prince, and the Third Prince had broken into a brawl. It was enough to make his vision go dark, and he almost thought he had glimpsed his late grandmother.
All the way here, he had been terrified. If anything had happened to His Majesty's most beloved daughter, no number of heads would have sufficed to appease the wrath to come.
Now, seeing Her Highness safe and sound, the weight pressing on his chest finally lifted—at least most of it.
As for the rest…
While wiping the sweat from his brow, the Capital Prefect turned his head and searched for the Eldest Prince and the Third Prince.
There, at the threshold of the residence, the two lay tangled together, sprawled across the steps, faces so bruised and swollen that their features were almost indistinguishable. Could these pitiful figures truly be…
The Prefect's knees nearly gave out.
"Your Highnesses! You must stop! If this continues, this humble servant will have no way to answer to His Majesty!"
…
After exchanging blows for so long with nothing but brute force, the two princes had both nearly exhausted their strength.
Their earlier skirmish of fists and kicks had degenerated into a pitiful struggle, each trying to pin the other down while gasping for breath at the door.
Watching the Capital Prefect tremble and bluster like a frightened rabbit, Yun Shu found herself speechless. She raised a hand casually and made a simple gesture.
The soldiers who had accompanied the Prefect stepped forward at once and, sure enough, separated the two princes with remarkable ease.
Given that the incident involved imperial heirs and the Crown Princess herself, a low-ranking Capital Prefect clearly had no authority to handle it.
As expected, Yun Shu and the others were promptly brought before His Majesty in the Imperial Study.
The last time Emperor Xuanwu had heard of his sons engaging in fisticuffs had been more than a decade ago.
…
What a delightful surprise.
His gaze swept over the Eldest and Third Princes, both beaten so badly their faces resembled overripe plums. Then his eyes shifted to Yun Shu—the only one who still looked remotely presentable.
His expression darkened.
"Crown Princess," Emperor Xuanwu said coldly, "you shall explain. What happened? Who struck first?"
"Replying to Father Emperor," Yun Shu said, face solemn and voice steady.
"It was Your Daughter who acted first."
Emperor Xuanwu blinked. "What?"
Who struck first?
He was completely caught off guard.
Moments ago, he had been peacefully reviewing memorials in the Imperial Study when Li Dehai suddenly rushed in, reporting that the Capital Prefect had arrived with the Crown Princess, the Eldest Prince, and the Third Prince in tow—and that the two princes looked as if they had just emerged from a brawl.
He had hurriedly summoned them inside.
Yet no one had told him that Yun Shu had joined the fight as well.
Frozen in disbelief for three full seconds, Emperor Xuanwu finally regained his composure and asked hesitantly, "You mean to say, you were the one who did this to them?"
"…Your Daughter only struck Eldest Brother once."
Yun Shu then laid out the entire series of events, from beginning to end.
When the Eldest Prince, now swollen like a boar's head, opened his mouth to object, Yun Shu calmly produced the envelope given to her earlier by the man in black. She offered it to Emperor Xuanwu.
"This is the evidence."
Evidence?
How could Yun Shu possibly have evidence?
The Eldest Prince immediately lost his composure. Although the bruises on his face made it hard to see any change in expression, Yun Shu clearly caught the flicker of panic that flashed through his eyes.
Without hesitation, she chose the path of mercy, veiled in cruelty.
"Funny, really. Eldest Brother's men went to great lengths to locate a 'reliable' figure from the martial world to distance him from this affair. They even ran background checks.
Unfortunately, perhaps because Eldest Brother holds such deep prejudice against This Princess, his subordinates clearly never read the Tiansheng Weekly I authored.
The so-called 'Mister Wuhen' they found—his name was taken from a character I wrote. The man merely liked the name and adopted it for himself.
And all the background information you discovered about this 'Mister Wuhen'… was drawn from a fictional persona I created for a martial arts tale."
"Thish... thish can't be...!!"
The Eldest Prince's face was too swollen to form proper words, yet his frustration and disbelief were unmistakable.
In that moment, he recalled what his advisor had once confidently told him:
"Mister Wuhen is a renowned name in the martial world. Many have heard of his exploits. He has never failed a mission and is known for his ironclad silence. Even when offered ten thousand taels of gold, he refused. With this man's help, Your Highness's plan will be foolproof."
At the time, it had all sounded so convincing.
But now, after hearing Yun Shu's account, the truth became clear.
The reason so many had heard of Mister Wuhen… was because Tian Sheng Weekly had an enormous readership. The entire story had been fictional.
He had lost everything over something so absurd.
"Eldest Brother, are you still thinking it was mere bad luck? That you happened to stumble upon a fake 'Mister Wuhen' and failed because of it?"
As though reading his mind, Yun Shu gave a cold laugh, then pulled out another stack of documents and placed them squarely on Emperor Xuanwu's desk.
"Father Emperor, these are additional pieces of evidence Your Daughter has gathered."
Thud.
The bundle landed with force, dense and damning.
Not only did it detail every step of the Eldest Prince's scheme in full, it also exposed previous misconduct—his collusion with corrupt merchants, his embezzlement of disaster relief funds, and even his secret training of a private militia in violation of imperial law.
The more Emperor Xuanwu read, the darker his expression grew. In the end, he hurled the entire stack of papers at the Eldest Prince, the pages slapping loudly against his bloated face.
"We knew your ambition was vast, but never imagined it had grown to such extremes. What is it you intend? To follow in the footsteps of that treacherous Yun Chucheng?"
Yun Chucheng. The deposed Crown Prince. That single name was enough.
Emperor Xuanwu's words were no different from accusing him of rebellion.
The Eldest Prince was terrified. He dropped to his knees at once, stammering and groveling.
"Your… Son… would never dare! Father Emperor, spare Your Son!"
His voice was slurred from swelling, and even a simple plea like "Your Son would never dare" came out a garbled mess, nearly incomprehensible.
Panicked beyond reason, the Eldest Prince could only kowtow repeatedly.
"Your Son… truly wronged…"
"Wronged?" Emperor Xuanwu's voice turned sharp and furious.
"Then tell Us, did you not seek out that child infected with smallpox, with the intention of tricking Yun Shu into exposure? Did you not embezzle funds? Did you not collude with corrupt merchants? Did you not raise private soldiers without sanction?"
"…"
The Eldest Prince could say nothing.