News from the palace was always the most direct indicator. Even His Majesty and the Empress, who had always treated her extremely well, were now unwilling to see her. Princess Duanhui visibly withered with alarming speed, living in constant anxiety every day as she waited for news from Yu Shi’s side.
Fortunately, Princess Rongcheng still made time to visit her. Upon seeing her, she first patted her hand, and after they were seated according to host and guest propriety, she looked at her and said, “I went to the palace today. Mother Empress specially bestowed some old ginseng and tribute honey oranges from the south, asking me to bring them to you.”
At this moment, Princess Duanhui had no mind for such rewards. Looking at Princess Rongcheng, she let out a heavy sigh. “Aunt still refuses to see me?”
Princess Rongcheng averted her gaze, and after a long while, slowly sighed. “Judging from Mother Empress’s tone, Father Emperor must be very angry this time.” These past few years, Emperor Jianzhang had finally almost finished investigating all the corruption left over from the previous dynasty. He was deeply frightened by the harm caused by the previous dynasty’s parasites. Now, the court had only just been quiet for a few days. The matter of Elder Chen’s embezzlement, bribery, and selling of examination papers had only just been settled, and now someone was defying the wind to commit crimes again—and it had caused so many deaths. Not just one or two lives, but a full several thousand lives! It was said that after the flood, countless common people resorted to eating their own children, with corpses of those who starved to death everywhere along the roads. When Emperor Jianzhang received the evidence, he couldn’t help but tremble with rage—among the evidence presented by the Cabinet, Cui Yingshu’s seal was clearly present on property deeds.
Even though this person was Chief Minister Chang’s student and Princess Duanhui’s husband, the fury in his heart could not be calmed. He privately said to the Empress, “Even if Duanhui herself comes to plead, I cannot let down the people of Jiangxi.”
The Empress also instructed Princess Rongcheng accordingly, “Tell Duanhui to accept reality. The Prince Consort has committed such a grave error that she truly cannot intervene. Even if His Majesty dotes on her, he cannot disappoint all the people under heaven for the sake of their marriage.”
Princess Duanhui heard the implication in Princess Rongcheng’s words, and her face instantly turned deathly pale. Even His Majesty and the Empress had determined that Cui Yingshu must be the chief culprit of the Jiujiang flood, having practically convicted Cui Yingshu already. Recalling how before Cui Yingshu set out for Jiujiang, both Old Master Song and Song Chuyi felt this trip was rather inappropriate, Princess Duanhui’s mood grew even worse. She anxiously defended him, saying, “The Prince Consort is not that kind of person. You know his character too. How could he do something so foolish?”
But words alone were useless. The Emperor and Empress didn’t believe it, the court officials didn’t believe it, and the common people of the realm believed it even less. Princess Rongcheng sighed deeply and asked her, “Didn’t you already send someone with a letter to the Prince Consort? Has the Prince Consort replied?”
Princess Duanhui shook her head, quite restless and uneasy.
Ye Jingkuan also found the news incomprehensible. He received the court gazette at the same time as Princess Duanhui’s letter to Yu Shi. After reading it, he said to Zhou Weizhao, “This is too coincidental.”
Zhou Weizhao felt the same way—first, Cui Huaying in Jinling encountered the Wang family’s bizarrely inexplicable incident, and then immediately after, Cui Yingshu was impeached for corruption. This was far too coincidental. It was as if someone was targeting the Cui family.
Ye Jingkuan frowned as he carefully read through the court gazette on the table and the letter sent by Princess Duanhui, his expression grave as he looked toward Zhou Weizhao. “According to the information revealed in the letter and the gazette, they all say the evidence of Cui Yingshu’s corruption is conclusive. He even had his trusted subordinates accompany an escort agency to transport silver back to Jinzhong. It’s described with such vivid detail… If Cui Yingshu hasn’t lost his mind and gone insane, suddenly becoming confused, then the other party is simply too formidable and has set a trap intending for Cui Yingshu to die.”
This wasn’t just wanting Cui Yingshu dead—it was clearly intended to bring down the entire Cui family. Perhaps not just the Cui family either. Looking at this trajectory, it was obviously one link after another. First was Cui Huaying’s incident in Jinling, then Cui Yingshu, so what would come next? Would even Cui Shaoting at the border be implicated as well?
Zhou Weizhao frowned, feeling even more uneasy about the bizarre nature of the Jinling incident. It was probably a trap all along, but he still couldn’t determine where exactly this trap was set.
“Send someone to Jiujiang to inquire.” Zhou Weizhao stood before the window with his hands clasped behind his back, his brow furrowed. “I’m afraid this matter is not as simple as it seems. Uncle-in-law is not a rash person. He’s always been cautious and self-disciplined throughout his years in office. Now even people at his side have come forward to accuse him, saying he received silver and had people escort the silver back to Jinzhong…”
Ye Jingkuan understood Zhou Weizhao’s meaning and felt goosebumps rise all over his body. If someone was truly so calculating in wanting the Cui family’s downfall… but who could it be? Right now the Cui family was at the height of its power. After Cui Shaoting’s incident, how could anyone still target the Cui family? Ye Jingkuan couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard he thought. After pondering, he felt a chill in his heart. “Could it be His Highness making a move?”
Prince Dongping had indeed had a hand in this. He looked excitedly at Qian Ying before him, his hands braced on the desk. “Just as you said, if Huangjue Temple and the Chen family are willing to risk their lives to act, even if they don’t die, they’ll still have a layer of skin stripped off. Now Imperial Grandfather is extremely disappointed in Cui Yingshu, and the evidence the Cabinet received has left Chief Minister Chang not daring to say a single good word…”
As the saying goes, even a wrecked ship has three pounds of nails. Although Old Master Chen had lost power overnight, a starving camel is still bigger than a horse. His network hadn’t all suffered misfortune, and joining forces with the people from Huangjue Temple, setting up this scheme wasn’t difficult.
But Qian Ying wasn’t complacent. He cautiously shook his head. “It’s still too early to draw conclusions. Once the Prince Consort is escorted back to the capital, he’ll surely be sent to either the Court of Judicial Review or the Imperial Guard for further trial. Commander Lai of the Imperial Guard is His Majesty’s confidant and may not be willing to convict him according to our wishes. I fear he might discover something amiss. But if he’s sent to the Court of Judicial Review instead, that wouldn’t be so difficult. Feng Yinglong is an old acquaintance of ours.”
Yes, Feng Yinglong was their old acquaintance. Prince Dongping’s eyes revealed some excitement. Previously, he had felt uneasy because Qian Ying required him to agree to Old Master Chen’s demands, but now he was deeply grateful for that decision. Now that things were developing so smoothly, once Zhou Weizhao was dead and the Cui family had fallen into misfortune, only the Song family would remain. The Song family would also have problems. By then, the Eastern Palace would have only him as a son. What would there be to fear? He would fear nothing.
He didn’t hear Qian Ying say that conclusions still couldn’t be drawn. He pressed his lips together and looked at Qian Ying. “Counting the days now, Old Master Chen should have arrived in Jinling, right?”
Old Master Chen had arrived in Jinling, so that Song family boy should be stirring up trouble soon. Once he stirred up trouble, he would be finished. When the commotion started, the Song and Cui families would have to rush around dealing with Cui Shaoting’s matter on one hand while handling the Wang family’s vexing affair on the other, unable to attend to both ends at once. And Zhou Weizhao on the road would have it even worse—the people from Huangjue Temple would vent all their accumulated fury on him.