Chapter 452 - 299: Instant Kill! The Crown Prince Is Moved!

"Let’s go take a look at the stone factory and the cloth shop."

The Seventh Prince handed over the supervision of the Mei’an Mountain Stone Factory and Jiping Cloth Shop to him, and it seemed like he hadn’t visited even once yet.

Upon leaving the city, he wanted to see if he could draw out the few members of the Blood Evil Sect hiding outside the mansion, as well as those three disciplined individuals.

Putting on the Snow Qilin Cloak, Chu Ming walked out of the house.

"Su Xin, prepare the carriage."

"Where is the lord heading?"

Su Xin, seeing Chu Ming come out, immediately greeted him with joy.

"To Mei’an Mountain Stone Factory."

"It’s snowing so heavily, should the lord wait..."

"No need, just prepare the carriage."

"Yes."

"..."

Before long, the carriage left the Chu Mansion.

The snow was heavy; only the main roads were cleared, so the carriage could only travel on the main roads.

Outside the mansion, from afar.

"With such heavy snow, where is that kid going?" The members of the Blood Evil Sect, seeing the carriage, immediately became suspicious.

"Wait, I’ll go ask."

One person dashed into Chu Mansion and quickly returned.

"That kid is heading out of the city to Mei’an Mountain Stone Factory!"

"Damn it, he’s courting death!"

"Quickly notify Blood Envoy!"

"Understood!"

"..."

Further from the Chu Mansion.

Two expressionless individuals lay in ambush under the snow.

Suddenly, a figure approached, stepping on the snow, causing the snow to rustle and fall.

"Sir, it’s been investigated. The Attendant Reader Chu is going to Mei’an Mountain Stone Factory."

"The Mei’an Mountain Stone Factory belongs to Your Seventh Highness, and Attendant Reader Chu is sent to oversee it on his behalf."

"It’s heard that the stone factory has sheltered over two thousand homeless people from the shantytown."

"Before getting in the carriage, Attendant Reader Chu had a lot of food and warm clothes loaded, seems like he’s going for relief work."

"Oh?" The person beside was a bit surprised, "So, this Attendant Reader is actually a benevolent official."

"A good official?" The leading figure, burly, stood up slowly, brushed off the snow, and laughed coldly, "Only those loyal to the Crown Prince are good officials!"

"Sir, should we report to His Highness, the Crown Prince?"

"Just send a message to Lord Lu."

"..."

...

On the main road.

While sitting in the carriage, Chu Ming’s expression changed slightly.

"The Crown Prince?"

He had long suspected that the three might be from the Huang Forbidden Army, just didn’t expect that they were stationed here under orders from the Crown Prince.

Chu Ming’s eyes narrowed slightly, recalling all the incidents at Wenyuan Pavilion.

"So, on that day, was it the Crown Prince who informed Tang Bai about Tang Xuan’s matter, and then passed on the news of my going to the Wenyuan Pavilion to Prime Minister Zuo Yuan?"

At Wenyuan Pavilion, he had two suspects, one being the Fifth Prince, and the other the Crown Prince.

It now seemed that the Crown Prince, who led him to Wenyuan Pavilion, was the one passing the messages.

But why was the Crown Prince targeting him?

"Ancient Shell Script? Sea Scripture?"

"Xiao Family?"

"Or maybe..." Chu Ming paused, frowning slightly, "Did the Crown Prince discover something else?"

For instance, the Martial Artist status of the personal attendant of the Tiger Armor Army, Xiang Yue’s disciple?

Various thoughts flashed through Chu Ming’s mind.

"It’s a bit troublesome..."

Grumble...

The carriage rolled over the ice and snow, traveling continuously until it reached the city gate.

"My lord, the snow outside the city is severe; though some cleaning has been done, the ice is thick, making it slippery and difficult to proceed..." the guard responsible for driving the carriage reported, cupping his hands.

This guard, named Gu Jin, had the strength around the middle stage of the Upper Meridian Unlocking Realm, specifically arranged by the Seventh Prince to guard Chu Ming.

"Proceed, it’s fine."

A young voice came from inside the carriage.

"Yes."

The guard was somewhat helpless and could only continue to steer the carriage out of the city.

Outside the city was a blanket of white, and the once-busy official road was now only crowded with freight carriages, all transporting materials for the Celestial Longevity Platform.

Thick ice and snow were crushed into two snowy tracks by carriages, and the carriage had to carefully and slowly drive along these tracks.

Some people were pushing a carriage, their bodies covered in snow, with their exposed faces and fingers cracking from the cold, yet the brutal wind and snow still mercilessly lashed at them.

The winter for the poor held no dignity.

The carriage Chu Ming was in wasn’t particularly exquisite, but these workers could still instantly recognize that an important person was riding in it.

"Quick, make way! Make way!"

"Hey yo! Hey yo!"

The people hurriedly and chaotically pushed the freight carriage to the roadside. Even if it slipped, even if it couldn’t move, each one still exerted every effort to push it.

They knew that if they blocked the road and displeased the lord, they might lose their lives.

"Gu Jin, go to the right, clear a new path!" Chu Ming lifted the curtain to glance out and said.

"Yes."

Gu Jin immediately led the men to the front of the carriage to clear the way, avoiding the route of the workers’ freight carriages.

With the support of three Martial Artists in the Refining Organ Realm, clearing the path wasn’t too troublesome, although it did require some time.

"Thank you, lord... thank you, lord..."

The workers pushing the carts immediately knelt in the snow and kowtowed.

As the carriage traveled far, the workers resumed pushing their carts, discussing in low voices.

"Who is that lord, going out of the city in such cold weather?"

"It’s rare. Ever since the heavy snow, I haven’t seen any lord carriages from the city."

"Hush, keep your voice down, I know that lord."

"Who is it?"

"The lord of our stone factory."

"Huh? You mean that Lord Chu who arranged for us at the stone factory?"

"Yes!"

"..."

...

The carriage moved slowly; the farther it got from the capital, the thicker the snow on the official road became.

Even though there were previous car tracks, the ongoing heavy snow quickly covered them up.

The few in front, clearing the way, had somber expressions, clearly somewhat displeased at being ordered to do such a degrading task.

Among them, the weakest were in the Refining Organ Realm, not affluent nor prestigious in Qin Capital, but certainly people of status—never before doing such menial tasks.

However, with the status of a Palace Attendant, Chu Ming was there, so they could only harbor silent complaints and not openly express too much discontent.