sbdcsierra Chapter 341 Thinking of One Person
Chapter 341 Thinking of One Person
Upon hearing the emperor's words, Consort Yang's face turned deathly pale, and she immediately knelt down.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I truly know nothing about this matter, and it has absolutely nothing to do with Xu'er. I will have my father come to the palace immediately, and we will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly. Your Majesty, please calm down. If Chengfeng has truly acted so recklessly, the Yang family will certainly not protect him!"
Although the Fifth Prince was still unaware of what was going on, seeing his mother kneel down, he quickly knelt down as well and cried out, "Father, I am innocent! I really don't know anything!"
"Injustice?" The emperor sneered. "Whether it's injustice or not, the Dali Temple will investigate. I also want to know how your Yang family became so wealthy that you could afford such extravagance! Get back here. From this moment on, you are not allowed to see anyone without my order. Do you understand?"
Before Consort Yang could speak, the Fifth Prince couldn't help but interject, "Father, but I..."
Consort Yang hurriedly pulled the Fifth Prince aside: "Your Majesty, I understand. After returning to the manor today, Xu'er will not step out once."
The emperor waved his hand impatiently.
The Fifth Prince wanted to say something more, but Consort Yang pulled him away.
After the two left, the emperor angrily threw the memorials on the table all over the floor: "The Yang family is really something else!"
Seeing that the emperor was in a bad mood, Eunuch Feng hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, please calm down. It's been very hot lately, and your appetite isn't very good either. Why don't you find some time to go to the Summer Palace to relax?"
The emperor frowned, staring at the entrance of the hall. After a long while, he suddenly asked, "How accurate do you think the news is? Is A-Que... really dead?"
With his head bowed, the muscles in his face twitched slightly, and a layer of cold sweat instantly appeared between his brows. He carefully replied, "Lord Feng should be back soon. Lord Feng has always been upright and incorruptible, and he would certainly not deceive His Majesty."
The emperor said calmly, "But He Cong is dead. I know A Que. Whether he is alive or dead, he will never let He Cong go. He did it on purpose, deliberately provoking me."
Supervisor Feng stood frozen, not daring to utter a single word.
……
The Fifth Prince followed Consort Yang out and asked her with dissatisfaction, "Mother, why didn't you let me speak just now? Why did Father imprison us for no reason? What does it have to do with us what my cousin is doing in Jiangnan?"
For no reason at all, before he'd even said a word, they were going to put him under house arrest.
"Shut up!" Consort Yang snapped, glancing at the imperial guards who were following her from a short distance behind. "You stay quietly in the mansion and don't cause any trouble. No matter what they ask you, you say you don't know. Do you understand?"
The Fifth Prince frowned: "I didn't know that in the first place!"
Consort Yang had a terrible headache. Sometimes she really didn't know whether having such a dim-witted son was a good thing or a bad thing. She lowered her voice and said, "Don't let anyone know about the money. Your daily expenses will only be the money allocated to you by the Imperial Household Department and the little personal allowance I give you. There's nothing else. Especially the Yang family. Apart from festival gifts, they haven't given you any money. Do you understand?"
The Fifth Prince was stunned for a moment, then remembered what his father had just said and suddenly understood. His eyes widened, and he asked her nervously, "Mother, is there a problem with the money?"
Consort Yang said coldly, "No problem, have you remembered?"
Although the Fifth Prince was sometimes a bit slow on the uptake, he was generally obedient, so he nodded decisively, "I understand."
Consort Yang breathed a sigh of relief and left with a heavy heart.
……
A few days later, Feng Su, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, and Song, the Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guards, returned to the capital to report. The deposed Crown Prince was assassinated during his exile, and his body sank into the Mi River. It has not been retrieved to this day. The deposed Crown Prince's wife, Lady Lu, has disappeared, and Commander He has also died at the hands of assassins.
The emperor ordered the interrogation of all the imperial guards who had accompanied him, as well as Vice Minister Feng and Deputy General Song who had returned to the capital to report. The information they received was all based on their own eyesight: the deposed crown prince was dead, a fact confirmed by Commander He, the commander of the imperial guards.
If someone else had said this, perhaps there was something fishy about it, but Commander He had personally confirmed it, and all the Imperial Guards had given the same answer, so it didn't seem like an accident. Therefore, it was almost certain that the deposed crown prince had died at the hands of an assassin.
Even though the emperor didn't believe it, he couldn't find any flaws. Commander He was his confidant, and while anyone else might lie about the matter of deposing the crown prince, Commander He was the only one who couldn't possibly lie. But then, Commander He himself died at the hands of an assassin, shrouding the whole affair in mystery.
After several unsuccessful interrogations, the emperor seemed to finally accept the fact that the deposed crown prince was dead. He shed tears in the court and released Vice Minister Feng and Deputy General Song, who had been detained for several days.
At the same time, news of the deposed crown prince's death during his exile quickly spread throughout the capital.
Upon hearing the news of the deposed crown prince's death, countless students and ordinary people donned white robes and spontaneously mourned him. In an instant, the entire city was covered in white, and in the sweltering heat of July, the capital city seemed as if it had been blanketed in snow.
Lu Yangyang, being in Jiangnan, naturally heard the news of the deposed crown prince's death.
She used the excuse of studying a prescription to lock herself in her room for a day, and the next day she was completely back to normal, to the point that even Jiang Xun wondered if she was really the deposed Crown Princess Lu.
During this time, Governor Jiang sent people to search for his daughter throughout the entire Jiangnan Prefecture, turning up almost the entire Mijiang River section within the prefecture, but they still couldn't find the "body" the Imperial Guards were looking for, nor could they find the deposed Crown Princess Lu.
The remaining imperial guards had no choice but to return to the capital to report back.
Upon hearing of this, the emperor ordered the remaining imperial guards to return to the capital, dispatched secret agents to continue the search, and also issued a secret order to Governor Jiang, instructing him to continue the search for the deposed crown prince's body in secret.
With the Imperial Guards gone, Governor Jiang finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Jiang Xun couldn't help but ask, "Father, is Miss Lu safe now?"
Governor Jiang tapped the secret letter on the table: "His Majesty has not given up searching for the deposed crown prince's body, but he's not doing it openly anymore. I've heard that the deposed crown princess has been wearing a mask because of her appearance, so the guards probably haven't seen her true face. As long as we're careful, we don't need to worry about her being exposed. You can leak this information to her; since she doesn't intend to reveal her identity, we can just pretend we don't know. Also, make arrangements to wrap up the Yang family's affairs."
Jiang Xun's eyes lit up, and he quickly replied, "Yes."
In the side courtyard, Jiang Zhiyi, who had fully recovered, was playing chess with Lu Yangyang. Lu Yangyang had learned chess at the academy, but she wasn't particularly interested in it, so she only learned the basics. Perhaps the person she played chess with the most was Xue Wanyue, who had lived with her at the academy. Xue Wanyue never interacted with the other people at the academy, spending most of her time alone in her dormitory playing chess. Sometimes, when Lu Yangyang wanted to rest, she would play a couple of games with her.
Jiang Zhiyi noticed that Lu Yangyang had been holding a chess piece for a long time without moving, and her gaze was not on the chessboard. "What is Yangyang thinking about?"
Lu Yangyang placed the chess piece down, "I thought of someone."