"Mo Ran..."
"Call me Lord Mo." Mo Ran said coldly.
"You..." Xue Li was so angry he gnashed his teeth.
Mo Ran pushed Xue Li away and walked towards Xue Zining, saying faintly, "Miss Feng, please."
"Miss, if you are unwilling, your servant will..."
"Since Lord Mo has invited me, how dare I refuse?" Xue Zining said, looking at Mo Ran.
Mo Ran's gaze paused slightly. He hadn't expected the young girl to agree so quickly. He thought this seemingly small girl, favored by the Crown Prince, would take the opportunity to make things difficult.
Well, that saved him the trouble of arguing.
"Mo Ran, do you believe His Highness will come to find you?"
"Coincidentally, I also wish to have a long talk with His Highness the Crown Prince overnight."
Xue Li twitched the corner of his mouth, turned, and left.
He believed that with Mo Ran's intelligence, he would know what Miss Feng meant to His Highness. Thus, he was no longer in a hurry and prepared to return to the palace to report to the Crown Prince and let him make the decision.
Upon arriving at the Capital Prefecture, Mo Ran did not lock Xue Zining in the dungeon but placed her under house arrest in a room.
"Miss Feng, until the truth is revealed, I'm afraid you'll have to stay here for a while." Mo Ran said with a faint gaze.
"Thank you for your trouble, Lord Mo."
The door was closed. Xue Yan asked in confusion, "You mean..."
"Xue Yan, do you think the palace is more heavily guarded, or this place?"
Xue Yan was stunned and suddenly realized, "Your intention is not the wine, but the person."
Xue Zining looked out through the window and said slowly, "Yun Jin can't wait any longer. I must act quickly."
However, she hadn't expected someone to use this opportunity to take Sun Yuezhu's life.
Xue Yan also thought of this and said, "But Miss Sun..."
"Time will reveal the culprit."
Capital Prefecture
Study
Mo Ran looked at the Crown Prince in black, clicking his tongue twice. "I'm used to seeing your radiant and elegant demeanor. It's quite unaccustomed to see you return to your former self."
The Crown Prince's dark eyes beneath his silver mask were as dark as an abyss, his voice exceptionally cold, "Have you found any clues?"
Mo Ran smiled, "Aren't you going to care about your little darling first?"
"Speak properly." The Crown Prince's voice was stern.
Mo Ran clicked his tongue twice and pushed the paper packet in his hand towards the Crown Prince.
"What is this?" the Crown Prince asked.
Mo Ran said, "The poison that caused Miss Sun's death."
The Crown Prince glanced at it, opened the paper packet, and his gaze instantly turned cold. The air around them grew thin.
Mo Ran couldn't help but shiver and said, "That person has appeared again."
The Crown Prince retracted his gaze, re-wrapped the paper packet, and pushed it back to Mo Ran. "What are your thoughts?"
Mo Ran leaned back, raised his head, and said, "This person is likely also after the same target."
"The Divine Temple," the Crown Prince blurted out.
Mo Ran nodded, "Precisely."
"You must find this person."
Mo Ran heard this and rubbed his forehead, looking troubled. "Your Highness, please be a good person. I've been investigating for five or six years without any leads. Now you're asking me to investigate again? It's better to just dismiss me from my official post. I don't want to deal with the Sun family coming to cause trouble tomorrow."
"I will handle the Sun family's matters for you," the Crown Prince said slowly.
"Then... alright. But I have a prior agreement: no deadlines."
"One month."
Looking at the departing back, Mo Ran stomped his feet in anger. He knew why this old fox would suddenly show kindness and help him.
Xue Yan felt Xue Zining sit up on the bed and couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, what's wrong?"
"There's someone outside," Xue Zining said.
Xue Yan was startled and quickly got out of bed, opening the door. It was pitch black outside, with no one in sight.
She turned and said, "There's no one here. You must have seen wrong."
Xue Zining blinked her eyes. There had indeed been someone outside just now.
As Mo Ran had predicted, the Sun family indeed arrived at the Capital Prefecture the next day, beating drums to declare injustice.
Mo Ran gritted his teeth in annoyance. Didn't he promise to handle it for him?
Where was he?
The Sun family was the maternal grandfather's family of the current Empress. Mo Ran dared not neglect them and welcomed the Sun family patriarch into his residence.
"Lord Mo, you must give me an explanation today, or I will absolutely not let this matter rest."
Mo Ran twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "Patriarch Sun, please rest assured. This official will uphold justice, apprehend the true culprit, and punish them severely."
"Apprehend the true culprit? Isn't the true culprit that wild girl brought back by His Highness the Crown Prince from outside? What else is there to investigate?" Patriarch Sun asked with a furious expression.
Mo Ran said, "Patriarch Sun, Miss Feng is currently only a suspect and cannot be definitively identified as the murderer."
"Lord Mo, I never knew that you, as the dignified Capital Prefecture Governor, could twist black into white..."
"Patriarch Sun, please speak cautiously!" Mo Ran was becoming displeased.
His face darkened.
"Speak cautiously? I lost a granddaughter, how can I remain calm? Lord Mo, you must convict that wild girl today, or I will go to the palace to make a scene!" Patriarch Sun said angrily.
Mo Ran rubbed his temples and said earnestly, "Patriarch Sun, even if you go to the palace, this official must uphold justice."
"Good, good..." Patriarch Sun said "good" several times.
Mo Ran twitched the corner of his mouth, inwardly cursing the Crown Prince countless times for not keeping his word.
Just then, a servant hurried in from outside and went straight to Patriarch Sun, whispering a few words in his ear. Patriarch Sun cast a cold glance at Mo Ran and turned to leave.
Mo Ran breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't that he couldn't deal with Patriarch Sun, but given that Patriarch Sun was the father of the current Empress and the maternal grandfather of the Crown Prince, he had some reservations.
Feng Luan Palace
The Empress looked at the man standing below, feeling an indescribable anger. What a good son she had raised, to have learned to deal with her.
"Crown Prince, your actions will chill the Sun family's hearts." The Empress said coldly.
The Crown Prince raised his head upon hearing this, his eyes beneath the silver mask dark and deep, "To enjoy the glory of royalty, one must also bear the unruliness and grievances that come with it."
"You..."
"Empress, I hope you remember that you are first the Empress of Xue, and then a daughter of the Sun family."
"Get out..."
The Empress was so angry that she grabbed a teacup beside her and hurled it fiercely at the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince did not dodge and was splashed with tea.
"Empress, take care of yourself!" the Crown Prince said, then turned and left.
"Is this my good son? Is he here to take revenge on me?" The Empress trembled with anger.
"Your Highness, please do not quarrel with His Highness the Crown Prince. It is all that untraceable wild girl. If she were gone, everything would be over." Aunt Liu said slowly, a glint of cunning in her eyes.