sbdcsierra Chapter 805 A Gamble
Chapter 805 A Gamble
Lu Jibai wandered into Qinghe Village on his way to exile and was rescued by the villagers.
He later married and had children in Qinghe Village, and even participated in the imperial examinations. Then, he sent a letter of divorce, abandoned his wife and children, and disappeared without a trace.
The fate left to Lu Wei and his mother was that the mother harbored resentment for the rest of her life, while Lu Wei, despite his best efforts to rise above others, was caught in the vortex of his origins, walking on thin ice.
Even if Lu Jibai had some great reason for his predicament, Lu Wei could not understand it.
He would rather his father were just a simple Chen Shimei who abandoned his wife and children than someone who would continue to harm him after becoming a Chen Shimei.
If he were the only one to suffer these terrible consequences, he could at least laugh at himself for being unlucky. But the villagers of Qinghe Village, those who had nothing to do with this matter, were almost implicated because of it. How could he not be angry?
Lu Yangyang understood Lu Wei; looking at him, she knew what he cared about.
If those people succeed in their scheme and Qinghe Village is massacred as a result, Lu Wei will never be able to get over it in his life.
Lu Yangyang pondered Lu Wei's words, "If Lu Jibai was just afraid of dying and ran away, then the Lu family would no longer exist. Why would Duke Xiao send people to Qinghe Village to silence them? Is he afraid that the people in Qinghe Village who saw Lu Jibai would know something?"
After a brief moment of distraction, Lu Wei quickly regained his senses. He got up to get the paper pieces he had already cut, tidied the table, and quickly wrote the names of the relevant personnel on each piece of paper.
As he wrote, Lu Yangyang carefully placed the slip of paper with his name written on it on the table.
Crown Prince Chongwen, Lu Jibai, Duke Xiao, He Jingze, the Lu family, Qinghe Village, Lu Wei, the Emperor.
All the people involved in this case are here.
“We can remove He Jingze first. He Jingze is just someone who follows orders. The key is Duke Xiao behind him.”
Next is Qinghe Village, which took in Lu Jibai, but knew nothing about his background or life story, so it's placed at the bottom.
The Lu family and Lu Jibai can be considered as one entity for the time being.
Lu Yangyang rearranged the pieces of paper on the table.
"Now we need to re-examine the relationships between these people."
The Lu family wants to use Crown Prince Chongwen's return to the court to send Lu Jibai to Crown Prince Chongwen's side and make him a confidant.
Crown Prince Chongwen went north, but Lu Jibai stayed behind. Lu Jibai's motives are questionable.
Lu Wei had already stopped writing and continued, "If Lu Jibai was simply afraid of death, Duke Xiao would not have needed to deliberately order the extermination of Qinghe Village, which had taken in Lu Jibai, more than 20 years later. So either Lu Jibai left something behind, or Lu Jibai is hiding some secret that is so important that it must not be known to anyone."
"This secret is related to the fact that Crown Prince Chongwen went north as a hostage."
Lu Wei looked at Lu Yangyang, and as they stared at each other, their expressions grew increasingly serious.
To unravel this mystery, we need to know what secrets lie behind the Crown Prince Chongwen's journey north as a hostage, or what kind of driving force was behind it.
This is no longer a problem that the two of them can analyze here.
Lu Yangyang let out a deep breath, gathered up the pieces of paper on the table, lit them in front of the candle, and threw them into the brazier at her feet.
Watching the paper slowly turn to ashes, Lu Yangyang finally spoke, "The key to this problem lies with Duke Xiao. The key to the Chenzhou case also lies with Duke Xiao, so to find out the whole truth, we still need to pry open Duke Xiao's mouth."
"Now that many people probably know about your background, it's actually a good thing. Lu Jibai is no longer here. He was a former member of the Crown Prince Chongwen's Eastern Palace. The Crown Prince Chongwen was righteous and devoted to the country. Logically speaking, the descendants of his former palace members should also be treated well. So, by keeping it out in the open, you are actually safe. This is probably why His Majesty still values you."
"Zong Que wants to reopen the Chenzhou case. Moreover, the court has been unstable in recent years since the Crown Prince was deposed, and the princes are fighting each other to the death. Under these circumstances, giving you important positions is actually a move to appease the court."
Lu Wei already knew what she was talking about. "Don't worry, I'm not that easy to kill. I was the one who spread the news myself. If you want to save your life, you have to put yourself under the nose of the highest authority and take a gamble."
Lu Yangyang knew that this guy was very cunning, and sure enough, he was right.
"But you, how did you end up taking on the Tenth Prince's case?" Lu Wei was genuinely startled when he saw her today. He had considered every possibility, but he never imagined meeting her in the morgue of the Dali Temple.
It really scared him quite a bit.
Lu Yangyang then recounted her deal with Xue Wanyue.
Lu Wei clicked his tongue lightly, "You have quite a wide circle of friends. You haven't wasted those years in the capital."
"Stop with this nonsense," Lu Yangyang rolled her eyes at him. "You've been investigating for so long, what clues have you found? There are some things I can't ask Ying Xun. What do you think of this case?"
Given Lu Wei's current awkward background, if he wants to live a long life, he has to live under the emperor's watchful eye. Therefore, the Dali Temple is the best place for him right now. The reason he was able to go to the Dali Temple to assist in the investigation was not because the emperor had a bright eye and discovered him, but because he secretly pulled some strings and had someone recommend him.
"Before you find out the cause of the Tenth Prince's death today, we have taken control of the palace staff from both sides involved in the case: Consort Duan's Guanju Palace and the Tenth Prince's Heming Palace. There are a total of twenty-three palace staff in Heming Palace and sixty-five in Guanju Palace. All of them have been interrogated, and their testimonies are basically consistent. After the Mid-Autumn Festival palace banquet, the Tenth Prince took his personal eunuch to Guanju Palace to visit the young prince. It is said that the young prince had caught a cold a few days ago and was unable to attend the palace banquet. The Tenth Prince was worried about his younger brother, so he did not return to his own Heming Palace after the banquet but went to Guanju Palace instead."
"After the late Empress passed away, His Majesty never summoned any concubines on the Mid-Autumn Festival until Consort Duan entered the palace. After the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, His Majesty would summon Consort Duan to keep him company, but according to past custom, he would not keep her overnight. It is said that this is because the Mid-Autumn Festival is the true anniversary of the late Empress's death. Therefore, the palace servants speculate that His Majesty kept Consort Duan on this day because he missed the late Empress. It was precisely because Consort Duan did not return so quickly that night that the Tenth Prince went to Consort Duan's palace at night. Otherwise, it would be impossible for a prince who is about to come of age to go to the palace of a concubine at night."
"Si Xi, the Tenth Prince's personal eunuch, said that the Tenth Prince had a headache at the banquet, but still insisted on going to see the young prince before going back to rest. The incident happened when the Tenth Prince was playing with the young prince. The young prince had just learned to walk, and the Tenth Prince was playing with him in the main hall as usual. After drinking some wine and running around for a while, the Tenth Prince suddenly had an unbearable headache, and then went crazy and started smashing things without recognizing his own family. He almost strangled the young prince to death and injured two palace servants who came forward to pull him away. Not long after, he collapsed and died convulsing, without even waiting for the imperial physician to arrive."