For a time, the fact that the northwest battlefield actually had no horses available for use, that the Three Borders Commissioner had been undermined and constrained, and even forced to accept ill-intentioned planted agents that Zhang Tianhe had forcefully imposed, shocked both the court and the public. What was most astonishing was still Cui Shaoting’s memorial impeaching the Northwest Governor-General for embezzling military funds and privately colluding with the Tartar Grand Preceptor. For a time, rumors wildly spread throughout the court and among the people that war in the northwest would break out again. Busybodies lingered daily in front of the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review, trying to gather news.

Under such enormous pressure, the three judicial offices moved with unusual speed this time, swiftly trying Wang Ying. Although Wang Ying hanged himself in the Ministry of Justice prison that very night, they still managed to search out quite a few letters from the Wang household—following the trail of these letters, they indeed found evidence of Wang Ying’s collusion with Northwest Governor-General Zhang Tianhe.

The evidence was irrefutable. Prince Consort Ye Jingkuan, far away in the northwest, also sent back a memorial at the opportune time, which clearly recorded how Zhang Tianhe was extravagantly wasteful, how he had tried to bribe him to join in wrongdoing, and how he had close relations with the Tartars.

Emperor Jianzhang immediately issued an order for Ye Jingkuan to confiscate Zhang Tianhe’s official seal and escort him back to the capital under guard.

Yet it seemed this city-wide storm could not splash into the Chen mansion gates. Old Master Chen sat expressionless in his huanghuali wood round-backed chair drinking tea, his eyes and brows revealing a bone-chilling coldness.

Even though Old Madam Chen had spent so many years with Old Master Chen, she was somewhat afraid of this expression of his. After thinking it over repeatedly, she couldn’t suppress the fear in her heart and spoke to him, “The matter has blown up so big, could it be…” Could it be that one day the old affair would be dragged out? And there was also that Zhang Tianhe. Although Minister of Justice Meng Jiming and Court of Judicial Review Minister Feng Yinglong had both received benefits from the Chen mansion and could be considered half of the Eastern Palace faction, who knew whether Zhang Tianhe would bite back to escape punishment? And would the Ministry of Justice and Court of Judicial Review denounce them to protect themselves?

Although they had already given Meng Jiming the forged correspondence between Wang Ying and Zhang Tianhe overnight, what if Zhang Tianhe’s side still had some kept there—although they had long ago agreed with Zhang Tianhe that any correspondence would be burned immediately after reading, how could these old foxes truly not keep a single trump card? For instance, Old Master Chen never burned them. If it weren’t for this incident happening, these letters would have remained sealed away forever.

Old Master Chen wasn’t too worried about these things. He gave a cold laugh, the corner of his mouth hooking up in a mocking smile. How could Meng Jiming and Feng Yinglong have such courage? If they dared to make this matter public, they themselves would also lose their heads—people who had already waded into muddy water and were covered in filth, how could they possibly escape completely unstained?

As long as Ye Jingkuan’s side didn’t obtain those letters from Zhang Tianhe’s possession—actually even if they did obtain them, it didn’t matter. Their correspondence had never included any forms of address, and the messengers delivering letters always first sent the letters to Fang Xiaoyu or his other disciples. Who would dare say that the owner of these letters was himself?

Moreover, Zhang Tianhe wasn’t that stupid. He must know that the capital side had already smoothed things over. If he said nothing, he might still keep an intact corpse or even possibly escape. But if he revealed even half a sentence, he fundamentally wouldn’t even make it back to the capital.

“Don’t frighten yourself with wild imaginations,” he said, looking at Old Madam Chen reassuringly. “What do these matters have to do with us? We don’t know anything about them.”

The people around Zhang Tianhe would tactfully destroy those letters. Even if there was no opportunity to destroy them, by that time these letters would inevitably fall into Meng Jiming and Feng Yinglong’s hands anyway, and the result would still be that they’d be reduced to ashes with no evidence to prove anything.

At this point, he should go find Crown Prince and Prince Dongping—to completely have Meng Jiming and Feng Yinglong firmly under control, he still needed their help.

He was an indispensable force for the Eastern Palace. If he met with misfortune, the Eastern Palace wouldn’t have an easy time either. He believed the Eastern Palace would understand this principle.

Old Madam Chen heaved a deep sigh. Disappointment and fear both surged in her heart. She both regretted that the Song and Cui families could actually fight with their backs to the wall and escape from desperate straits, and feared that her own family would be implicated.

It was a month later when Ye Jingkuan escorted Zhang Tianhe back to the capital. It was said that when the Ministry of Justice went to arrest him, the city gate was surrounded by three layers of onlookers inside and out. These indignant common people threw rotten eggs and spoiled vegetables all over Zhang Tianhe—their sons worked hard on the front lines defending the city and killing enemies, yet Zhang Tianhe embezzled their military funds and withheld their provisions. It was simply an unforgivable crime.

Yu Shi belatedly came to her senses. She was so frightened that tears and snot flowed all over her face. Although normally she had a bold and vigorous appearance, when encountering this kind of smokeless slaughter in the political arena, she couldn’t help but be scared half to death.

She grasped Madam Cui’s hand and sobbed fearfully for a long while before looking at Old Madam Song and crying out loud, “How could such a thing happen to us? If, if Shaoting had truly been moved by that beauty, right now the entire Cui clan would all be finished…”

Madam Cui put her arm around her shoulder to comfort her. “Didn’t Shaoting remain unmoved? Don’t you know his character? All these years, I haven’t even seen a female mosquito around him. Since he accepted that woman, he must have had his own plans. Moreover, if he hadn’t accepted her, who knows what trap would have been waiting ahead.”

After hearing from Song Yan about what happened at the city gate, Old Madam Song also nodded along with the conversation. “The Princess Consort is right. Others wanted to make their fortune, yet Shaoting happened to block their path to wealth. Being schemed against was inevitable. What’s rare is that his mind was clear to this degree. On our side, aside from helping him submit the memorial, we surprisingly didn’t need to help with anything extra.”

With this kind of strategic mind, no wonder he could clean up the mess left by the previous Fujian Governor-General so thoroughly when he was in Fujian, and beat back the Japanese pirates step by step.

Old Madam Song actually only learned of this matter later when the Imperial Guards raided houses. At that time, she was so frightened her legs went weak—this was truly killing without shedding blood. The Song and Cui families had very nearly traveled to the Yellow Springs together.

Thank goodness Old Master Song and Cui Yingshu planned so thoroughly, and thank goodness Cui Shaoting on that side understood immediately. Otherwise, with Ye Jingkuan serving as the connecting link, if Cui Shaoting had slightly believed the nonsense from Yang Xuan and that Yangzhou courtesan, all the subsequent plans would have been futile.

At this point, in the late summer of the capital with its atmosphere of anxiety and its bleak scenery, Old Madam Song instead felt somewhat more at ease—she increasingly celebrated that she had not indulged Li Shi back then, had not compromised with the Li family. Otherwise, the Song family wouldn’t have survived until today and would probably have already been dragged down to ruin by the Li family.