"You and I are both fish on the chopping block. You are a delicacy served upon an exquisite plate, while I... am the cold scraps left behind after the flesh has been picked clean. How could I possibly hate you?" Wen Xu even looked somewhat puzzled. "Do you know who sent people to assassinate me?"
"Who... was it?"
"Her Majesty the Empress." Wen Xu's voice rang out flatly.
Impossible. The Crown Prince's first reaction was disbelief. "How can you be certain?"
"Very simple. She told me herself. Every single word—I heard them with perfect clarity. I may be unable to see, but I am not deaf." Wen Xu pointed to his ears. "So, in return for her courtesy, I broke her fingers. All ten fingers, snapped inch by inch. So long as she lives, she will suffer the pain of broken fingers."
"It was you—" So it had not been Father Emperor. But why would Mother... Once the Crown Prince realized this, he understood. The young man before him, smiling as he spoke of breaking Mother's ten fingers, was absolutely his blood brother.
The Crown Prince's heart suddenly plunged into an ice cellar.
Public Opinion
Bian Chunchou had not really played with public opinion before, but even if he had never eaten pork, he had at least seen pigs run. As a former college student who had loved surfing the internet, he still possessed that bit of "online instinct."
First of all, Sincerity Tower, where they were staying, was indeed the largest luxury hotel in Shengjing City. But precisely because it was too luxurious, those who came and went were either free-spending wealthy merchants or noble officials from Aristocratic Clans. This sort of high-end clientele naturally lacked any sense of identification with matters like Provincial Graduates being humiliated and assassinated.