Lin Fan nodded before cupping his hands and saying, "Young master Mo, it really has been a long time."
Then both of them just sat there sipping their tea, but during this time, they also paid close attention to each other.
It was clear that they were currently sizing up the other side, trying to figure out what their intentions were.
It was clear why Lin Fan was sizing up the fourth prince, but as for the fourth prince…he was surprised that Lin Fan would actually meet him like this. He never expected Lin Fan to be this direct and just meet him all alone.
He was certain that there would be all kinds of excuses given to delay this meeting. Then he would come and meet him with plenty of other people to guard him because he would be suspicious of him.
But to his surprise, Lin Fan met with him without a single guard.
He didn't even put anyone in the vicinity just in case.
Was this confidence, or was this trust in the fourth prince?
This just made it harder for him to say what he needed to say since he started doubting these words that he had for Lin Fan, even if these words had come from his royal father who had never doubted before.
So there was a long silence that hung in the room before the fourth prince finally broke first by saying, "Young master Lin, I wonder if you've made any progress on the task that I gave you last time."
This was a sign of him taking a step back since he wasn't able to see through Lin Fan.
He didn't take a risk by asking anything that pushed too far, instead he asked something that was related to what they had discussed before. This gave him a reason to be here and to request a meeting with Lin Fan.
Lin Fan just had a calm look on his face when he heard this.
He pulled out a few pieces of paper from his Storage Ring that he placed on the table in between them.
Then he said, "Unfortunately, it was a fake. It was a decoy that was put there to attract attention from certain people. Moreover, the name that they seemed to use was Mu Bao Bao and not Mu Bao Hua."
The fourth prince knitted his brows when he heard this and he picked up the pieces of paper that had been placed on the table in front of him.
As he read these pieces of paper, he couldn't help knitting his brows.
That was because everything had been clearly written out on them and they even included irrefutable facts about these places that the fourth prince already knew. Even if he wanted to make a case against it, he knew that it was impossible.
But this wasn't what his information had told him…
He had been certain that it was Mu Bao Hua who had been in this area.
After a moment of silence, the fourth prince asked, "Who was it that was behind this?"
This was the only piece of information that was missing from the report that he was reading.
He assumed that Lin Fan had left it out because it was too important to put in a report like this.
Lin Fan calmly said, "It was the eighth and twelfth princes."
When the fourth prince heard this, he couldn't help knitting his brows.
That was because while he already knew that the eighth prince was involved, the twelfth prince being involved as well was definitely something that caught him off guard. He had no idea that the twelfth prince had also been involved in this matter.
If the twelfth prince was also involved, that meant that this matter went much deeper than he had thought.
He knew that it wouldn't just be two princes if it also involved the twelfth prince since the twelfth prince was a shrewd person who calculated his benefits. Unless it was big enough to create a lot of benefits for him, he wasn't someone that would take this kind of risk.
So just how deep did this run?
The more that he thought about it, the more the fourth prince knitted his brows and the more afraid he became.
He had never imagined that things had already gotten this bad between them…
But he also knew that it was all futile since their royal father had already made a decision on who would take over for him. This had been decided a long ago and if it wasn't for that incident, then he would have abdicated a long time ago instead of being in the state he was now.
That matter did happen in the end and everything they were doing now was to make up for it…
After these thoughts passed through his mind, the fourth prince couldn't help letting out a long sigh.
The ones around him misunderstood this as him being emotional over finding out that his brothers were involved in the plot. At the same time, it motivated them to serve the fourth prince even more than before since they knew that this was the kind of person he was.
The fourth prince was a kind and determined individual who wanted the best for their empire.
If it wasn't for the selfishness of the other princes…
Lin Fan just sat there with a calm look on his face, but he also felt that something was wrong with the fourth prince…
It was different from how he had expected him to react.
But he wasn't able to read him, so he just sat there in silence and waited for the fourth prince's reaction.
After a long silence, the fourth prince finally said, "Thank you for everything that you've done, this has been very insightful."
Lin Fan gave a slight nod without saying anything else.
Seeing that the fourth prince didn't seem like he was going to say anything, he decided to take a chance.
So without hesitation, Lin Fan stood up and cupped his hands to the fourth prince before saying, "Young master Mu, if there is nothing else, I will be leaving first."
Once again, without hesitation, he turned to head to the door.
But before he could leave, the fourth prince called out to him as he had expected.
"Young master Lin, there's actually another matter that I need to discuss with you."
Lin Fan revealed a trace of annoyance, but then he quickly turned back with a calm look.
However, the look in his eyes made it clear that he didn't want to waste time.
Lin Fan said, "Young master Mu, what is this other matter you want to discuss?"
After Lin Fan said this though, the fourth prince revealed a hesitant look. It was as if he had something to say, but he didn't know how to say it.
When Lin Fan saw this, he couldn't help feeling even more badly about this.
Something that would even make the fourth prince hesitate like this, there was no doubt that this was something very big. Something like this would surely get him caught up in something that would be too much for him.
So the only thought that he had now was to figure out a way to reject this.
After a long period of hesitation, the fourth prince finally said, "Young master Lin, it is like this…my royal father has a request for you."
When Lin Fan heard this, he immediately knitted his brows.
He had already expected the fourth prince to have something for him, but he never thought that it would be this serious.
After all, this was a matter that involved the emperor, the ruler of the nation.
This time, it seemed that it was far beyond anything that he had encountered before.
Seeing that Lin Fan had his brows deeply knit, the fourth prince could guess what he was thinking.
But of course, he was still hesitating on whether to speak or not.
Lin Fan had finished the task that he had been assigned and had even given him information that was very valuable, but here he was repaying his hard work with malice by giving him even more trouble.
He knew what kind of person Lin Fan was and what he wanted.
If it hadn't been for the urgent nature of this matter, he wouldn't have asked Lin Fan about the 'Mu Bao Hua' matter in the first place.
But this time, he was also helpless since this was an order from his royal father and he had no choice but to relay this message.
So after a long period of hesitation, the fourth prince still said, "My royal father has asked that you and that girl by your side come to meet him."
When Lin Fan heard this, he immediately deeply knitted his brows as he raised his guard right away.
It seemed like he had underestimated the fourth prince…no, the emperor. He had thought that he had already hidden all traces of this, but it seemed that the emperor knew more than he was putting on when he asked for 'that girl' to come as well.
Lin Fan could tell that the fourth prince didn't know a single thing about this matter with the look on his face and he was simply relaying the words that the emperor gave him.
But where had he made this mistake and exposed himself?
As far as he could remember, there wasn't a single thing that he had done that should have exposed this…
Seeing the look on Lin Fan's face, the fourth prince was a bit confused before taking out a piece of paper to hand to Lin Fan.
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