Zhou Weizhao nodded: “Qing Zhuo and Han Feng have already gone to search. There should be results soon. Mother Consort, don’t worry. Even if we can’t catch those two, this matter will have a resolution.”
Crown Princess Lu’s heart stirred. She looked at Zhou Weizhao: “The incident happened at the imperial mausoleum, so it’s definitely connected to Prince Gong one way or another. But how to capture this group of people colluding with Prince Gong, and exactly how many people are colluding with Prince Gong—that’s difficult to determine. You say this, so you already have a plan in mind?”
Song Chuyi softly picked up the thread: “Mother Consort must know about Chief Minister Chang deploying Imperial Guards to guard the Earl’s residence. It’s precisely because we knew Prince Gong would definitely not let this golden opportunity pass—he went to such great lengths to stir up this public opinion storm, so it couldn’t just be for the sake of empty talk. Grandfather and I both feel that Prince Gong is like Xiang Zhuang performing a sword dance with intentions toward Pei Gong. He’s not actually trying to deal with me. Just like last time, he probably wants to use my marriage to the Grand Prince to create an even bigger disturbance, then take advantage of the chaos to—” She paused, her face showing a mocking smile: “He probably wants to emulate the Founding Emperor and Grand Ancestor.”
Crown Princess Lu couldn’t help but be shocked. She naturally understood what Song Chuyi’s words meant. Although she had long known that Prince Gong’s daring escape from the imperial mausoleum meant he had certainly thrown caution to the wind, when his actions came this quickly, it still caught people off guard.
This was already a situation of fight to the death. Crown Princess Lu’s shock and doubt lasted only a moment before she immediately reacted: “He’s far away in Wu’an fleeing for his life, yet he can still seduce people around you. And how did he know he could definitely persuade Qing Luo and Han Yan? What does he have to rely on?”
Unless he still had people in the capital, and at least someone with connections no less extensive than the Du family. She wore a cold smile, looking thoughtful: “The Du family?”
Song Chuyi shook her head: “It won’t be the Du family.”
Elder Du had already submitted his resignation petition and exposed so many of Prince Gong’s people in the capital. He was already the primary suspect right now. If he still dared to help Prince Gong do anything, the first to suffer misfortune would be him. His whole family, young and old, were still in the capital, his son still serving as an official in the court. Unless he had lost his mind, he couldn’t possibly do something to offend the Song family at this time. Moreover, this wasn’t just offending the Song family—anyone with eyes could see Prince Gong’s plan. If he dared to support Prince Gong, it would be plotting rebellion, something that would result in the execution of nine generations of kin.
Since it wouldn’t be the Du family, then there must be someone else. But who exactly could it be? Just thinking about it made Crown Princess Lu feel a chill: “But aside from these rumors in the capital, nothing else has happened recently. Your wedding was completed smoothly and successfully—”
Actually, it wasn’t completed smoothly, but rather they had taken preventive measures in advance and made preparations early.
Song Chuyi looked at Crown Princess Lu with a smile, gently shaking her head: “Although our Earl’s residence has been extremely careful, with layers of Imperial Guards standing watch, something still happened the night before I left for the wedding.”
Crown Princess Lu immediately pricked up her ears.
“An old woman on night duty at the residence ate something bad and had to return home to the back alley that very night. When she came back, the gatekeeper woman had already been replaced by someone else.” Song Chuyi spoke lightly: “Fortunately, the stewards at the residence had all been repeatedly warned to be extremely careful. With a person changed, the steward was unusually vigilant and specifically checked her duties. This revealed something wrong. She was specifically in charge of watching over cups, plates, and bowls. Going further to check those cups, plates, and bowls that had actually already been boiled in hot water, they discovered someone had tampered with them.”
Crown Princess Lu laughed coldly. Tampering with eating utensils—if something went wrong, then all the guests at the entire banquet would have problems. Those coming to the Earl of Changning’s residence for the feast were either wealthy or noble. Many ministers and members of the imperial clan would continue to the palace for a banquet in the evening. If something really happened, it would further confirm Song Chuyi’s reputation as a jinx bringing calamity, and make that so-called heavenly warning stone tablet seem even more authentic.
“Was the person caught? Have they been interrogated?” Crown Princess Lu now couldn’t care about anything else, only feeling her head throb: “If he really uses this as a gimmick, you and Weizhao will bear the brunt of it.”
She could already imagine what excuse Prince Gong would use when he raised his banner of rebellion.
Song Chuyi nodded: “They should have been interrogated. Someone will come to deliver news shortly.”
Indeed, just as she predicted, having just finished lunch at Qingning Palace and returned to Yong’an Palace, Qing Zhuo brought news.
Zhou Weizhao was sitting with her, watching her organize her dowry list. Hearing that Qing Zhuo had returned, they went together to the study in the front courtyard.
“Can’t get much out of them.” Qing Zhuo caught his breath, looking exhausted: “The one who was switched in—no matter how much we tortured her back and forth, it was useless. It was only when Ma San came that we managed to extract some words from her mouth. We heard that poison was put in the boiling water used to sterilize these utensils, though it wasn’t any powerful poison—it was croton seeds.”
Creating fatalities would be too ominous, and the target would be too obvious. They only needed a pretext for attack. Using croton powder was just right—not too light, not too heavy, and could be explained away with the jinx label.
Qing Zhuo’s expression wasn’t good: “Also, Young Master Song and our people all sent messages to inquire. Qing Luo and Han Yan—those two disappeared after leaving the city. Commander Wei of the Yulin Guard had someone send letters back to Your Highness and Young Master Song, but the messenger never returned at all.”
Qing Luo and Han Yan were people Qing Zhuo had specifically told the Yulin Guard about, asking them to send them back to Longhu Mountain together with Zhou Weizhao’s token of remembrance. With the people missing, it was quite normal for them to send someone back with a message.
No wonder they hadn’t received any letter. It seemed someone with ulterior motives had intercepted it midway.
Qing Zhuo put away his former playful demeanor, his heart feeling somewhat heavy. He keenly realized that an overwhelming net was now closing in on them, planning to catch them all in one sweep.
And now, they had no idea where this net was, and could only bump into it here and there.
This was like boiling a frog in warm water. By the time they gradually became numb and powerless, it would already be time to be skinned and have their tendons pulled out. Qing Zhuo fell silent for a moment, then raised his head to look at Zhou Weizhao and Song Chuyi: “Your Highness, we still need to think of a way. We can’t just sit here waiting for death. They’ve already raised their blade, and we still don’t know where the blade is. This is truly terrifying.”
Zhou Weizhao shook the bamboo tube hanging on his brush rack. He reached out to take it in hand and pulled out the stopper. The ink monkey nimbly emerged from inside, climbed up his sleeve in a few movements to reach the desk, and began grinding ink for him.
He quickly finished writing the letter and handed it to Qing Zhuo, his expression calm: “Take this to Ma San. He’ll know what to do.”