The person bursting through the door was none other than Yu Shi. She clutched a thin sheet of letter paper in her hands, her entire body trembling like a leaf in the wind. The panic on her face was impossible to hide as she looked at Song Chuyi and said, “Xiaoyi, a letter has come from the capital. It says… it says your uncle has been imprisoned and is being escorted to the capital by the Imperial Guard from the Jiangxi garrison.”
Yu Shi was so flustered that her words came out unclear, but Song Chuyi and Cui Hualuan exchanged a glance and both understood that Yu Shi wasn’t referring to Cui Shaoting—Cui Shaoting was stationed at Xuanfu. The one who had gone to Jiangxi, aside from the Vice Minister of Works Cui Yingshu who went to repair those government offices, who else could it be?!
But given Cui Yingshu’s cautious nature and his position, how could he have been imprisoned for no good reason? Even someone as quick-witted as Song Chuyi couldn’t react immediately. She shot up straight, unhesitatingly took the letter, and began reading it rapidly.
The letter was from Princess Duanhui. The wording used was extremely grave, stating that this time the Emperor was furiously enraged and had personally issued an edict ordering the Imperial Guard to first escort the Vice Minister of Works and Junior Minister of the Court of Imperial Regalia, Cui Yingshu, to the capital to await trial. The charges were embezzlement, accepting bribes, and using inferior materials, which led to great chaos along the Yangtze River, flooding disasters at Poyang Lake, and left the people in utter destitution.
After reading the letter, Cui Hualuan’s entire body went soft. Although she lived in the inner quarters, just as Madam Qin had said, she had studied alongside her brothers since childhood and could clearly distinguish the severity of the situation—her father was the current Prince Consort. For someone with the status of Prince Consort to still be entrusted with important responsibilities, never having made a single mistake in all these years, and who knew when to withdraw strategically to preserve his strength at critical moments, how could he possibly engage in embezzlement and bribery? And cause such trouble in Jiujiang, resulting in countless deaths and injuries?
Moreover, given her mother’s relationship with His Majesty and the Empress in the palace, if there were still room for negotiation or if the matter wasn’t that serious, there would be no need to write such a letter. Her mother had never written in such a tone before!
Yu Shi quickly grabbed hold of her and said softly, “Hualuan, don’t be too anxious. The Princess is just writing to inform us first… she wants Xiaoyi to have the Prince Consort send someone from the capital to Jiujiang to see what exactly happened. Old Master Song and the others are still in the capital—they won’t just stand by and do nothing.”
How could she not be anxious? This wasn’t some minor squabble. Cui Hualuan was frightened pale, pressing her lips together, feeling her head ache even more.
Yu Shi then turned to ask Song Chuyi, “Xiaoyi, what do you think? Should we go find the Prince Consort first…?”
Princess Duanhui was no ordinary woman—she was a titled princess with many people at her disposal. Besides, Cui Yingshu had left his trusted subordinates with her, and in the capital she had good relations with both the Song and Ye families. Yet she chose to seek help from afar rather than nearby, not looking for help in the capital but instead sending a letter out to Ye Jingkuan.
Could it be that someone in the capital was able to restrict Princess Duanhui, or at least make her feel threatened?
Princess Duanhui had indeed discovered something was wrong. She had been sitting contentedly at home waiting for her daughter and niece to return to the capital together, her heart full of joy. In her free time, she would visit Princess Rongcheng or go to the palace to tell the Empress some amusing stories. Her days passed smoothly and peacefully—there should have been nothing to worry about. But calamity struck from the blue. She had only been home for a few days when she suddenly heard about the major disaster of the Yangtze River breaching its banks at Jiujiang. The flood season had already begun, and Jiujiang suffered floods every year anyway. It was precisely because of this that Cui Yingshu had volunteered to stay longer in Jiujiang until the embankments were properly repaired and flood prevention measures were in place. But who would have thought that what they feared most would come to pass—something had indeed gone wrong with the Yangtze.
The Jiujiang embankment failed, and Jiujiang City became a vast expanse of water—truly a flooded land. Countless common people died. The local reports alone listed three to four thousand deaths, showing how severe the disaster was.
Originally, even a severe disaster shouldn’t have been Cui Yingshu’s responsibility. He was merely a Vice Minister of Works who had gone to repair embankments and rebuild government offices and ancestral halls. But somehow, accusations of embezzlement emerged from below. The Jiangxi Investigating Censor submitted a memorial impeaching Cui Yingshu for cutting corners, skimping on materials, resulting in substandard quality of the Jiujiang embankments, causing the Yangtze flood to overflow and numerous deaths and injuries among the surrounding populace.
To say that Cui Yingshu would be foolish enough to skim money this way—Princess Duanhui could never believe it. The Cui family was already a prestigious clan going back a hundred years, and the wealth accumulated over so many years could be described as massive. Combined with the Cui family’s skillful management and capable clan members, they had developed to be even more prosperous than in the previous dynasty. This was precisely why Chief Minister Chang dared to have Cui Yingshu serve as both Junior Minister of the Court of Imperial Regalia and Vice Minister of Works—because Cui Yingshu was completely reliable and would never engage in corruption or abuse of law. Moreover, Cui Yingshu himself was no fool and would never do such a thing.
But she was shocked to discover that things were far from as simple as she had thought. Following the Jiangxi Investigating Censor’s memorial impeaching Cui Yingshu, the Jiujiang Prefect also closely followed with his own memorial accusing Cui Yingshu of having people solicit bribes from him and forcibly purchasing large amounts of land in Jiujiang to construct buildings.
She had written several letters to Jiujiang, but they all sank without a trace. Even Cui Yingshu’s monthly letters home had completely disappeared. The situation then spiraled further out of control. Even the Empress worriedly asked her, “In the past, the Prince Consort seemed like no fool. How could he do something so foolish? This concerns the people of an entire city. For him to exploit and oppress them like this…”
At first, Princess Duanhui could still see the Empress, but later she couldn’t even get an audience with her. This was unprecedented. Emperor Jianzhang and the Empress had always been fond of her, treating her no differently from Princess Rongcheng. Yet now they had this attitude. Even a fool would know something was going on behind the scenes. She considered seeking help from the Song or Ye families but feared they would be implicated. After much hesitation, she decided to try anything in desperation, writing a letter to Yu Shi, who was on her way to the capital, hoping she would tell Song Chuyi and Ye Jingkuan about the situation to see if they could help.
While Yu Shi and Cui Hualuan were badly frightened, Princess Duanhui at the Princess’s Mansion was even more terrified than they were. Previously, no matter how many people impeached Cui Yingshu, it had been all thunder and no rain with no concrete action taken. But just in these past few days, His Majesty had issued an edict agreeing with the Cabinet’s recommendation to have the Imperial Guard from the Jiangxi garrison escort Cui Yingshu to the capital for trial.
The Imperial Guard! Since Princess Duanhui was certain that Cui Yingshu had not accepted bribes, she naturally wasn’t afraid of him returning for trial. What she feared was that Cui Yingshu might not make it back alive. Cui Yingshu had been framed, but who exactly was the mastermind behind it all?