Chapter 29: Not A Single Innocent One
Wei Zhang muttered silently.
“Princess…”
Huo Yun choked up and burst into tears.
Yue Tang smiled and beckoned to him: “Alright, come inside with me. I have things to instruct you on.”
She led him into the room, followed by Hua Lin. Yue Tang asked first: “How is my condition?”
Hua Lin said: “No major issues. It’s just that I haven’t experienced intense activity for a long time, so my qi and blood surged chaotically for a moment. I’ll adjust the prescription for you; taking it for ten days or half a month will improve it.”
Yue Tang nodded, then looked at Wei Zhang and Lan Qin who had followed her in: “Xiao Huo must have told you everything about last night’s events.
“Zhang Shaode’s words confirmed my suspicions. The events of that night were not something the Du Family could have pulled off. But the Du Family kept their mouths shut from beginning to end, not showing even the slightest flaw in front of the He Family or Zhang Family, which shows how cautious the person behind them is.
“But the more cautious they are, the more it proves that conspiracy was not as simple as we saw on the surface.”
That night, there were twenty-two people traveling with her. Except for Wei Zhang, all twenty-one others died.
These twenty-one who died tragically in that disaster, along with her father, and the injuries all over her own body, had not even been listed yet.
If it weren’t for Huo Yun’s father Huo Xiao thinking of the river at the bottom of the cliff in that critical moment, then discussing with Wei Zhang to use A Xiu’s corpse to replace her, she would surely have become a lonely wild ghost in the woods by now.
The responsibility of revenge she bore was truly too heavy.
And if the truth could not be found, thoroughly uncovering the conspiracy, these heroic spirits who died for her would never receive solace.
The Du Family must be killed, but it was not convenient to act rashly right now. Killing Du Minghuan easily would sever the thread leading to the truth behind it.
“What the Princess says is absolutely right.” Wei Zhang nodded. “To lay out a murder of the Princess in one night, while also influencing the situation in the palace, is absolutely not something an ordinary person could do.”
On the night of the third day of the seventh month, not only did Princess Yongjia “die,” but the Former Emperor also passed away.
Even Prince Duan, who as usual stayed in the palace to accompany the Emperor, unexpectedly committed suicide in the palace.
Why did Prince Duan commit suicide?
After rescuing Yue Tang, the story Wei Zhang heard was that the Former Emperor, in anger at Prince Duan for proposing that the First Prince go out of the capital to welcome the Second Prince, ordered him to commit suicide.
After Empress Mu’s first pregnancy unfortunately ended in miscarriage, the son born to Consort An became the eldest imperial son in the line of succession.
But the Former Emperor respected Empress Mu. Even though the eldest imperial son was exceptionally talented, he still did not issue a decree to establish him as crown prince, insisting on waiting until the Second Prince, the legitimate son of the Empress, turned sixteen and returned to the capital before issuing a decree to select and establish one.
That year in the sixth month, just over a month before the Second Prince’s sixteenth birthday, the Former Emperor sent people ahead to select suitable candidates to welcome the Second Prince back to the capital.
He asked Prince Duan’s opinion, and Prince Duan recommended the First Prince. The reason was that the two brothers had been separated for a long time, and having the elder brother personally welcome his younger brother back would sufficiently show the Emperor’s importance, while also helping the two brothers build brotherly bonds.
Moreover, in the past years, during festivals, the gifts sent to the Mu Family had often been delivered personally by the First Prince.
The Former Emperor happily agreed and had the First Prince lead guards and imperial guards, as well as the specially made imperial carriage for the Second Prince, and set off together.
But halfway on their journey back to the capital, on the canal less than a hundred li from the Capital City, a sudden flood capsized the boats, and the two princes along with some guards and attendants encountered danger simultaneously.
With both princes’ lives uncertain at the same time, when the news reached the Capital City, the Former Emperor’s condition suddenly worsened.
Prince Duan rushed to the palace overnight to attend to him, and up to that point it was still normal. Yue Tang, who was outside the capital at the time, returned to Bie Ye with A Li at that moment, then received a message sent by someone dispatched by Prince Duan and hurriedly returned to the capital.
So after Yue Tang encountered disaster, the first thought upon waking was to contact the Prince’s Mansion as soon as possible. Only then did she learn that on the very night she was ambushed and killed, something had also happened in the palace.
It concerned two biological sons, including the quasi crown prince for succession, so no matter how deep the bond between the Emperor and Prince Duan, it was reasonable for him to vent his anger at this time.
But since what happened to Yue Tang was completely a conspiracy, Prince Duan’s death and the events in the palace that night could not ultimately be viewed separately.
“The Imperial Secretariat is headed by the Shen Family, and the person behind the Du Family is the Shen Family, making them the biggest suspects. Not to mention the Former Emperor left such an imperial decree to Empress Dowager Shen, and the Shen Family rose rapidly, which cannot be said to have not benefited from it.
“And on that day, the Du Family mobilized over a hundred people to kill me. The Du Family at the time could not assemble that scale, but the Shen Family, with four generations in office, could.
“Not only is their family large, but their foundations are also very solid. Let alone the tens of thousands of silver lent through the Du Family to the He Family and Zhang Family, even adding the share given to the Du Family would not be difficult.”
Yue Tang pinched a wax pill, her brows furrowing. “However, the Shen Family’s rapid rise needs serious consideration.
“If it really were the Shen Family, there would be no need to wait three years for us to seek revenge. Just the ever-watchful Mu Family, or the cunning Chu Family, would have long ago secretly grasped their handles and dragged them out.”
“But the timing of Empress Dowager Shen’s ascension is very intriguing, and it’s hard to say the Shen Family is innocent.” Wei Zhang voiced his concerns. “After Empress Mu passed away back then, the Former Emperor once said he would not establish another empress.
“Yet later he suddenly established the Shen woman who had entered the palace only three years prior, and that was while the Former Emperor was bedridden with illness.
“Three months later, when the Former Emperor was critically ill, he suddenly made a will entrusting the imperial seal to Empress Dowager Shen. All of this is very unusual.”
“The Shen Family is of course not innocent. However, our forces are too weak right now, and our only advantage is that no one yet knows we exist. So we can only follow the vine to find the melon and probe upwards.”
Yue Tang set down the wax pill and placed the blueprint brought back from Fei Yun Temple on the table: “The Du Family is the vine we can climb. Zhang Shaode has already drawn the positions of the sentry posts in the Du Family study for me. I’ve calculated it according to the five elements and eight trigrams, and it should be correct.
“But after last night, the Du Family must have strengthened their external defenses. Forcing our way in would be like sheep entering a tiger’s mouth.
“We can only seize another opportunity and avoid these eyes and ears to head to Du Minghuan’s study.”
Last night during the escape, Du Yu had already discovered Yue Tang and the others’ existence.
“Guilty conscience,” with a third party besides the Zhang Family and He Family knowing the Du Family’s secret, how could the Du Family father and son sleep?
Let alone after they laid a heaven-net, only to find someone had still escaped!
In this situation, the Du Family would of course immediately increase defenses and guards in the mansion.
“The news that Marquis of Guangling’s Mansion is about to hold a birthday banquet is already widespread. This subordinate can go to the street and perhaps scout an opportunity.”
“Send Xiao Huo,” Yue Tang looked toward Huo Yun, who had shrunk into a quail in the corner. “Your master just returned; let him rest. I’ll have another task for him later.”
