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“Are you trying to say that you’re heartless?” Jiang Ning retorted.

“One must learn to weigh the pros and cons.”

“I know that.” Jiang Ning fell silent for a moment, “But I’m unwilling to do so. You have your principles, and I have my bottom line. Let’s just stop trying to persuade each other.”

“Alright.”

Li Hongyuan stood with his hands behind his back, “Go home and rest. Get ready to welcome the envoy from the Silla Kingdom tomorrow.”

“You mean to welcome Li You, right?” Jiang Ning cast a sideways glance at him, “Li Hongyuan, do you know what I would do if I were in your shoes?”

“You’re not me,” Li Hongyuan replied indifferently, “I also want to kill Mu Jian, to avenge my Queen Mother and eliminate future trouble. But Mu Jian is not the real culprit. If we kill him, how are we going to bring down the actual culprit?”

“Ridiculous.”

“What do you want to say?”

“The culprit is the Empress, and both of us know it. To confront her, do we really need Mu Jian to identify her before the Emperor?”

“We do. She’s the Empress, no one can touch her without proof.”

“Admit it, you spared Mu Jian’s life not to identify the Empress. You did it to trade him for Li You and maintain your image as a good son and virtuous Crown Prince in the eyes of the Emperor and officials.”

Li Hongyuan spoke calmly: “You’re not me, how can you possibly know what I’m thinking?”

“It’s a guess based on the facts.”

“Oh?” Li Hongyuan looked up at her, “Do tell.”

“At present, you, Li Hongyuan, the Crown Prince and Regent, have a steadily strengthening position in court. The remaining princes are either incapacitated or too young to compete with you. Once you claim that position, do you still need anyone’s accusation to deal with your past enemies?”

“She is the Empress, and in the future, she will be the legitimate Empress Dowager, not just some random person.”

“With Your Highness’s wisdom, you can certainly handle it.”

Li Hongyuan laughed.

Jiang Ning said, “Before I leave, let me give you a sincere piece of advice: kill Mu Jian. Why leave yourself a risk for the sake of getting a good name? Not being able to get Li You back is a good thing for you. No matter how angry the Emperor gets, can he kill you?”

“The Emperor won’t kill me, but he can dethrone me. Jiang Ning, I think you have a disdain for imperial authority,” Li Hongyuan said calmly, “In your eyes, is the Emperor merely a kind-hearted father?”

In effect, Jiang Ning did scorn the imperial authority; she didn’t regard the Emperor or the Princes as important.

However, it had nothing to do with how she saw the Emperor.

She knew that the Emperor was far from a harmless old man.

It was just that she was a modern person who had traveled through time, and it was impossible for her at the core to truly submit to anyone or consider herself a servant.

Jiang Ning thought she concealed her feelings well, but she hadn’t expected that Li Hongyuan had noticed them.

She managed to regain her composure and smiled gently, “Your Highness is being overly cautious, I’m just worried. After all, the Jiang family, old and young, can’t bear the tumult. Since you have used the Jiang family to get what you wanted, you should consider their interests.”

“You’re overthinking. I didn’t use the Jiang Family. Everything was planned by you and Prime Minister Jiang. I remember asking you to return Mu Jian, but you refused. Do you still remember?” Li Hongyuan asked softly.

Jiang Ning laughed coldly, irritated, “On one hand, you ordered me to let Mu Jian go, while on the other, you sneaked into Mu Jian’s house in the dark to search for evidence, claiming that the Jiang Family conspired with Mu Jian. Doesn’t your behavior actually force the Jiang family to prove their innocence?”