Zhao Haochen left the Inner Hall, hurried through the Front Courtyard, then plunged straight into the Dry Latrine.
Once inside, he endured the stench, hastily took out the Black Spy Board, and lowered his head in thought.
Honestly, the fact that the Huang Family Aunt and Nephew really were traitors had shaken his young heart and introduced many unforeseen developments into his earlier plans. For instance, he had not known they were working with the Storyteller, so he had misjudged their strength and sent Jiuhan alone to quietly bring them under control...
But now, the Storyteller had clearly met up with them. Jiuhan alone would probably struggle to control the situation.
Still, the sudden transformation of the framed Huang Family Aunt and Nephew into the "real culprits" was not entirely without benefits.
Zhao Haochen had worried that his secret framing of them might later be exposed or questioned, prompting the other great families to demand accountability and join forces against him. Now, those concerns were entirely gone. Since they really were traitors, he had a hundred ways to destroy them, provided he kept his head and quietly adjusted his plans.
Heh, I still have room to maneuver...
At that thought, numerous countermeasures had already surfaced in Zhao Haochen's mind.
First, he certainly did not want the Clan Hall to capture the blind man. Once caught, the man could no longer be handed over to the Patrol Hall. Instead, the Three Great Halls would intervene together, verify his crimes, and finally execute him according to the law.
But that would make it difficult for Zhao Haochen to seize the blind man's astonishing inheritance undetected. He might end up doing all this work without gaining a damn thing.
That was certainly unacceptable to Zhao Haochen.
After thinking it over, he still felt