Chapter 361 Who is plotting this game?

"Princess Yiyang, what do you mean by this?"

"Yes, wasn't it the Princess who did what happened tonight? Everyone in the Princess's Mansion has confessed."

Everyone in the hall was confused by Tang Ning's words.

Princess Ji said in a deep voice, "Song Tangning, what on earth are you trying to say? If you have something to say, just say it clearly!"

"Of course I'm going to say it."

Tang Ning looked at Princess Ji for a moment before turning to the others. "The Princess set up a trap tonight. If the Buddhist temple in the back mountain was for me, then why were Sun Yi and the Fourth Prince's wife there? When Liu Zhi led me there, I clearly didn't fall for the trap, but why did something go wrong in the temple?"

The Fourth Prince felt uneasy and said with a forced expression, "My Lady, you're worrying too much. Perhaps it's just a coincidence..."

“It’s not a coincidence.”

Tang Ning said in a deep voice, "The Fourth Prince's wife has countless maids and servants around her, and it's impossible for Sun Yi to go to the Buddhist temple for no reason. According to common sense, if the people in the Buddhist temple saw that I didn't show up, the eldest princess's plan would not succeed. However, something still happened, alarming the monks in the temple. Moreover, it's such a coincidence that the eldest princess's son is also deeply involved. Who do you think is responsible for this?"

Everyone in the hall was silent. Qian Qingran stood aside, his brows slightly furrowed. "If you follow common sense, you would think that the county lady is taking revenge on the princess and is using her own trick against her."

Qian Qiyue suddenly became anxious: "Brother, what nonsense are you talking about?!"

Fu Laiqing seemed to be thinking about something: "Brother Qian is right, what happened tonight is too coincidental."

"The Princess wouldn't be so careless in setting up a trap. If they sensed something was amiss, the eunuch and the others would have probably withdrawn in advance to avoid being noticed. But now the County Lady is fine, while Sun Yi and the Princess's Mansion have ended up like this. If it were me, I would probably also guess that the County Lady got the news early and is using it to deal with the Princess."

"It's not just the County Princess." Old Madam Fu narrowed her eyes and said in a deep voice, "Everyone in the capital knows that the County Princess is on good terms with Governor Xiao. The Black Armor Guards and Commander Cang only obey Governor Xiao. How could a woman like the County Princess have the means to plot against the Princess's Mansion? But if it was Governor Xiao who took action..."

Everyone was shocked when they heard this. If it was Xiao Yan, he would indeed be able to plot against everyone without anyone knowing.

Tang Ning looked up: "But neither my brother nor I knew anything about what the princess did before we went to Lingyun Temple!"

Someone in the crowd who was more perceptive had already come to their senses. "The county lady is saying that someone behind the scenes knew about the eldest princess's actions and seemed to be using this to plot against the Fourth Prince's wife and Sun Yi, but in reality, they wanted to use this incident to wrongfully harm Governor Xiao?"

Tang Ning looked at the person who had spoken: "You all should know that my brother was seriously injured while saving the emperor and has been bedridden ever since. I had someone keep the incident of him falling into the water on Qixi Festival a secret from him. I originally wanted to investigate the matter after the Yulan Festival. I never thought that the princess would be so vicious."

"My brother has always been straightforward. If he knew what the princess had done, he would have sent someone to the mansion long ago. I am on good terms with the Fourth Prince's wife, and she even gave me Buddhist beads to keep me safe. Even if I really resent the princess for plotting against Sun Yi, I would never harm the Fourth Prince's wife."

Most of the people present were powerful people in the capital, so they naturally knew Xiao Yan's temperament.

The original Prince Cheng's Mansion, the later Lu family, and the royal relatives and court officials before that, whoever offended him and was caught by him would be directly arrested by him by breaking into the mansion with his men. Why did he need to be so hypocritical and calculating, and even involve the Fourth Prince for no reason?

As for the Princess of Yiyang, everyone witnessed her close relationship with the Fourth Prince's wife during the evening ceremony.

When the river lanterns suddenly went out and the situation became awkward, she was the one who made excuses to save face for the Fourth Prince's wife. Later, when Princess Ji and Princess Leyang mocked her, she also stood up for the Fourth Prince's wife and scolded them back without any hesitation, almost causing a falling out.

If the relationship between the two was bad, why would Princess Yi Yang do this?

What's more, she treasured the Buddhist beads given to her by the Fourth Prince's wife and always wore them on her wrist. Who would do this unless they were good friends?

Tang Ning touched the Buddhist beads on her wrist, her eyes stern as she pursed her lips. "Fourth Prince, this matter cannot be let go. The person in the dark is using the eldest princess to ruin the reputation of the Fourth Prince's wife and implicate you, Your Highness. He also wants to kill me and my brother. No matter what, we must find this evil villain!"

The fourth prince's eyes trembled slightly: "County Princess..."

"Your Highness is unwilling?"

"Of course not!"

The Fourth Prince blurted out, how could he say he didn't want to, and how could he dare to say he didn't want to?

He had previously suspected that Song Tangning and Xiao Yan had known something in advance and that was why things had turned out like this, but Song Tangning was clearly unaware of it. Even Rong Yue, who was always impulsive, was shocked and angry. He felt guilty and secretly resented who had interfered.

He gritted his teeth and said, "Of course I also want to find out who harmed Yinxuan, but there are so many people here, I can't interrogate them one by one..."

Tang Ning's expression softened slightly upon hearing this. "I knew Your Highness was deeply in love with the Fourth Prince's Consort. No wonder she keeps praising Your Highness to me. Your Highness, don't worry. Since this incident was caused by the eldest princess, the person who secretly plotted this must have known about it in advance."

Canglang understood what was going on. He had the things ripped out of Princess Leyang's and Madam Pu's mouths and asked them, "Apart from you, who else knew about what happened tonight?"

Princess Leyang's face was pale, and Matron Pu fell beside her, supporting her without saying a word.

Tang Ning looked at the two of them and said, "You can't escape this after tonight's incident. If you can honestly tell us what you know and help us find the culprit, you won't be sentenced to death. Otherwise, all the problems in the Buddhist temple will fall on the eldest princess."

Princess Leyang shuddered all over, and Matron Pu quickly crawled forward.

"The Princess did harbor the intention to harm the County Lady, but she never intended to harm the Fourth Prince's wife, let alone involve the young master."

Tang Ning looked at her: "Who knows about this?"

Matron Pu said in a trembling voice, "There are only a few trusted people in the mansion, namely Qiuqin and the others, and one of my nephews. He was the one who redeemed Tan Yan. And tonight... tonight, he and his men were the ones who led the county lady there and drugged you."

"Once he has finished his work, he will come outside the courtyard and make three bird calls to let this servant know that the task is completed. He will then find someone to lead the monks over. He will then secretly leave Lingyun Temple with his men to avoid being identified by the county mistress later..."

Just as Aunt Pu finished speaking, someone came hurriedly from outside.

"Commander Cang, several bodies were just found in the back mountain."

Canglang frowned: "Carry it over here."

Several bodies were carried in. Aunt Pu recognized one of them at a glance, and her eyes were full of horror.