The Prime Minister's Darling
Chapter 1689: 822 Driving Away the Tiger to Swallow the Wolf (Third Watch)

Chapter 1689: 822 Driving Away the Tiger to Swallow the Wolf (Third Watch)

Little Jingkong was a polite child, especially towards the father of his little classmate.

He sensed the old father’s awkwardness and thought to himself, should I give him a hug?

“Hello, Xiaoxue’s daddy.”

In the end, he chose to shake the little hand very seriously.

He could only hug Jiaojiao!

The uncomforted Lord Yun Shan: “…”

The Little Princess introduced her father to Gu Jiao, and then introduced her little friend and teacher to her father.

Only then did Lord Yun Shan realize that this little girl was actually his daughter’s teacher.

“What does she teach you?”

Killing people?

He had seen her in the palace taking down the Han Family’s confidants one by one, like a god of death, shooting them with arrows!

This girl was simply a born divine archer!

“Horse riding!” The Little Princess said in her childish voice, “Young Master Xiao is my equestrian teacher!”

Lord Yun Shan let out a sigh of relief, horse riding, thank goodness.

Gu Jiao patted her little head: “Next time, I’ll teach you archery.”

Lord Yun Shan’s body shook!

Images of his beloved daughter drawing a bow and shooting arrows through enemy heads flashed through his mind. His little lady shouldn’t turn into that!

The two little kids ran off to happily play again.

The little lady didn’t seem to have any intention of sticking to her father.

Lord Yun Shan felt a deep sense of helplessness. He had only gone out for a bit, how did his daughter seem to become not his anymore?

Gu Jiao glanced at Lord Yun Shan and walked back to her room.

When she passed by Lord Yun Shan, she puffed out her chest.

With a look signaling, the status is now equal.

Shangguan Yun also straightened his back and walked past him.

Hmph, the status has surpassed!

This is what it means to single-handedly elevate the family’s status.

The black-faced Lord Yun Shan: “…”

Gu Jiao first went to see Long Yi to check on his injuries. She remembered instructing Long Yi not to move before she left, and was not sure if he had obeyed. If the bandages and gauze moved, the wound could easily get infected.

But just as she stepped into the room, her mouth twitched uncontrollably.

She saw Long Yi maintaining the same posture she saw before she left—his body half-twisted, one hand across the front, the other raised high above his head, frozen as if about to strike a volleyball.

“Long Yi, what are you doing?”

She walked over and asked.

Long Yi’s body still didn’t move, only his eyeballs rolled slightly.

As if saying, look, I didn’t move.

Gu Jiao: “…”

Gu Jiao covered her eyebrows with her hand. Is this what I meant?

You used to be so disobedient, how did you only take this one instruction to heart?

Gu Jiao vaguely felt that Long Yi was waiting for her to praise him.

So strange, how could I read that from his eyes?

Gu Jiao looked at the bandages wrapped around his arm and waist and decided to praise him: “Long Yi, good job… very obedient, okay, you can move now.”

Standing like that for too long without worrying about muscle stiffness or cramps—

She hadn’t even finished her thought when Long Yi instantly dropped the pose and swiftly took out a box of charcoal pens.

—Obedient Long Yi should get a reward, now, it’s Long Yi’s drawing time!

Gu Jiao: “…”

Why do I feel like I’ve been tricked?

…

The Crown Prince and the Han Family were handed over to the Dali Temple, with the Dali Temple Minister personally handling the false monarch case.

The mother and son were imprisoned in different punishment rooms. At first, both were very stubborn, but if the Dali Temple Minister didn’t have a few tricks up his sleeve, he wouldn’t be in his position.

The Crown Prince was a tough nut to crack, but he had a weak spot— his two-year-old daughter at the mansion.

To force a confession, the Dali Temple Minister had no qualms about bringing his little daughter over, letting him catch a glimpse through the door, and then taking her to the next room.

The heart-wrenching cries of his terrified daughter came from the next room, and the Crown Prince panicked instantly: “Stop! Stop! She is a Dayan Princess! You can’t do this to her!”

The Dali Temple Minister said coldly: “After committing such heinous crimes, do you think you can still be a prince? Your offense is far more severe than Shangguan Yun’s case back then. You are less favored than her; your entire family will be demoted to commoners!”

“Father— Waaa— I’m scared— Father— I’m scared—”

Next door, the cries of the little girl were heart-wrenching, completely breaking the Crown Prince’s will.

He gripped his sleeves tightly, his eyes red, and said through gritted teeth, “Don’t hurt her… I’ll tell you… I’ll tell you everything!”

Next door, Gu Chengfeng rubbed his throat, which was almost smoking.

Pretending to be a child’s voice is really too difficult—

In fact, it wasn’t that similar.

But separated by a wall, and coincidentally, with the Crown Prince’s concern causing him confusion, the Crown Prince didn’t quite notice.

The Crown Prince confessed his crimes. This palace coup had little to do with him, he didn’t know Han Family’s plan in advance. His biggest fault was refusing to believe that the ruler in the palace was a fake, but he hadn’t caused any substantial harm yet.

He also didn’t know about Han Family leading troops to besiege the true ruler.

His main sin was framing the real heir, Xiao Hen.

The head of Dali Temple recorded everything while waves of shock surged in his heart. Who could have thought that the real heir had such a backstory?

“Where is the real heir? And what is the true identity of Shangguan Qing?” the head of Dali Temple asked.

The Crown Prince responded flatly, “These, you’ll have to ask Shangguan Yun, I don’t know.”

How could he waste energy on a fake heir? As for Xiao Hen, that kid suddenly disappeared from Shengdu, he couldn’t be found even with a lantern!

The head of Dali Temple continued to question, “Who did you instruct to do it? Was it the Han Family?”

The Crown Prince clenched his fists, “…The Nangong Family.”

…

At the Duke Residence.

Gu Jiao, whose hand was sore from holding the pen, lay sideways on the table, breathing in despair.

Long Yi was taking a break.

He went to find a new charcoal pen.

Xiao Hen walked into the room with a plate of freshly cut fruit, saw Gu Jiao lying on the table, her cheeks squished, and went over to pinch her face, “Tired?”

Gu Jiao said, “Mm, no.”

It’s just that her hand was sore.

“Have some food,” Xiao Hen said, “It’s not too cold, the sweetness is just right.”

Gu Jiao sat up straight, speared a piece of melon with her stick, but didn’t eat it immediately, pausing for a moment.

Xiao Hen asked, “What’s wrong?”

Gu Jiao said, “I was thinking about a dream I had a while ago.”

Xiao Hen asked curiously, “Oh? What did you dream about?”

Gu Jiao thought for a moment and decided not to hide it from him, “I dreamt that the Han Family incited internal chaos through the hands of a fake ruler, the ten great families slaughtered each other, and the Han Family and the Nangong Family, who originally belonged to the Crown Prince’s faction, also fought each other.”

Xiao Hen looked deeply at her, realizing she had seen future events in her dream again.

No wonder she knew the ruler had been replaced.

Xiao Hen pondered for a moment and said, “The Crown Prince needs the Han Family and the Nangong Family; he hopes to balance their relationship, but the Han Family wants to dominate. From this perspective, the Han Family and the Nangong Family have opposing stances.”

Gu Jiao nodded, “So it’s not surprising that they would fight.”

“Who won in the end?” Xiao Hen asked.

Gu Jiao shook her head, “No one won.”

In that civil war, there was no real winner. The Han Family believed they could control everything, but they didn’t realize the major families’ backlash was way beyond their imagination.

All families suffered heavy losses, and the Han Family and the Nangong Family, the two biggest military families, fought the fiercest, while Jin and Liang took advantage of the situation.

Gu Jiao looked at the two largest pieces of melon on the plate, “But now, the situation might change.”

The Han Family and the Nangong Family are both going to be held accountable; with a common enemy, they have no energy for internal conflict, so they might temporarily unite and face the outside together.

Gu Jiao’s speculation was confirmed at midnight.

Manager Zheng, who had been gathering information outside, reported that the Han Family refused to hand over the military tokens and led an elite force out of the west city gate.

Half an hour later, the Nangong Family also led their troops out of Shengdu.

Over the years, each major family had infiltrated the military camps with their loyal followers, so a considerable portion of those forces were loyal to the families themselves.

After the two major families broke out of Shengdu, they gathered the military forces stationed outside of Shengdu, and marched towards the border pass overnight.

They had stationed considerable forces at the border pass as well.

Whether the Crown Prince and Han Family were caught by the ruler no longer mattered. For the Han Family to survive, the worst-case scenario was rebellion. What the Xuanyuan Family failed to achieve back then, now the Han Family would accomplish!

Coincidentally, the Nangong Family had the same thought.

Gu Jiao looked at the twinkling stars on the horizon, “Is a civil war still unavoidable?”

As for the invasion by Jin and Liang—

In the dream, the eleven great families fought each other, but now, the nine great families will unite by the ruler’s decree to campaign against the Han Family and the Nangong Family.

Gu Jiao murmured to herself, “With nowhere else to turn, what will the Nangong Family and the Han Family do?”

Xiao Hen looked up at the endless night sky, “They will open the border pass gates, driving the tiger to swallow the wolf.”