Wen Xu shook his head. "Before meeting her, I merely harbored doubts. But after seeing her tonight, unless she deliberately hid her true abilities before me, she absolutely could not have managed to leave no trace at all."
"Also, Academician Lu said that when I was secretly sent out of the palace, he entrusted a loyal servant of the Household to deliver me to a wealthy family in the borderlands. But clearly, I never appeared where he arranged for me to go. Why was that?"
Bian Chunchou understood at once. "There was a third hand pulling the strings!"
"Correct. And there are not many people capable of such all-encompassing power within the imperial palace."
Bian Chunchou: ...You could just say the emperor's name outright.
"Two people."
"There were actually two?" Bian Chunchou was stunned. "Besides the emperor, who else?"
"The Imperial Preceptor."
Clearly, the Lu father and daughter had still concealed a few "minor details." If his master had not told him about Destiny Patterns, Wen Xu would not have connected so many threads. But he happened to know, and that left him no choice but to think more deeply.
"True, but isn't the Imperial Preceptor very young? I heard he's only in his forties. Thirty years ago, he would have been barely more than a teenager. Why would he do such a thankless, exhausting thing for Empress Lu?"
Wen Xu shook his head. "Not the current Imperial Preceptor—the previous generation's old Imperial Preceptor. Back in Jade Isle Commandery, I heard the name of True Person Yutan. When he was alive, he was a pillar of the nation. Even the late emperor obeyed his every word."
"That impressive? But he's already dead. Doesn't that mean there's no proof left?"
"Then use elimination."
That made sense. Either the emperor or the