Chapter 936: Wasted chess?

The fraud case came to light within five days, and the clues were cut off in Jiangnan.

Tang Ning flipped through the things Wu Kui had sent him. After he finished reading, he frowned and said, "So, Zhu Xiyan was targeted while he was at Fengqin Academy?"

"Not only that, it must have caught the attention of certain people when I went to study in Southern Qi."

Wu Kui said in a deep voice, "Zhu Xiyan has been intelligent since childhood and has shown his talent very early on. The Zhu family is well-off and wealthy. Most importantly, one of their elders is the Chief Clerk of the Huaiyang Provincial Governor's Office."

"His wife's family has a daughter who married into the capital. Although she is only a branch of one of the Eight Great Aristocratic Families, if the aristocratic families were in power when the deposed emperor was still in power and the system had not been reformed, Zhu Xiyan would definitely be able to enter the court as long as he reached the age and had a reputation for literature."

Tang Ning's eyes flashed when he heard this, and he understood what Wu Kui meant.

When the aristocratic families were in power, they almost monopolized the selection of officials in the court, and chose those recommended by their superiors. However, the people they selected were not necessarily all from their own family. If the aristocratic families wanted to be strong, they had to constantly enrich themselves and win over powerful people.

They would also select those who had outstanding abilities and bright futures, and either marry them into the family or help them get promoted and help them enter the court through the support of aristocratic families. Zhu Xiyan was obviously the kind of person who could catch the eyes of the aristocratic families.

Wu Kui said, "Zhu Xiyan has been targeted for a long time. Two years ago, he already had a literary reputation in Jiangnan. At that time, someone from the capital had already come south to contact him. Logically, he should have come to Beijing at that time, but suddenly a case of grain embezzlement broke out. When His Majesty led the Privy Council to Jiangnan to conduct a thorough investigation, a large number of merchants in Jiangnan were implicated, and the Zhu family was one of them."

"At the time, the grain tax case was a huge uproar, with many deaths. Although it was later discovered that Zhu Xiyan's family had no involvement, the court was immediately in turmoil as factions feuded, the princes seized power, and His Majesty battled with the deposed emperor. To avoid the spotlight, Zhu Xiyan entered seclusion in Fengqinshu under the guise of pursuing his studies. It wasn't until the court announced the major exam that he hurriedly left Jiangnan and rushed to Lucheng."

Tang Ning seemed to be thinking about something. "You mean, Zhu Xiyan was originally a useless chess piece, but he won the first place in the first test, and by chance he saved Mr. Huo, so he caught the attention of the people who originally plotted against him, and that's why what happened later happened."

Wu Kui nodded: "Yes."

Tang Ning thought for a moment and whispered, "If that's the case, it's no surprise that the cheating was done so crudely."

The people who had planned this before probably wanted to use Zhu Xiyan to infiltrate the aristocratic family and the court, but then the aristocratic family suddenly encountered trouble, and Zhu Xiyan stayed indoors. This chess piece was naturally useless, so they would not continue to spend energy on it, and might only leave one or two people to keep watching.

But two years later, Zhu Xiyan had the opportunity to enter the court again. It was naturally hasty to re-activate the abandoned pawn, and it was difficult to take care of everything in a short period of time. It was normal to have some flaws in this situation.

After Wu Kui informed Tang Ning of all the information he had obtained from the investigation, he took his leave.

Yue Jian helped Tang Ning sit on the couch and couldn't help but ask in a low voice: "My Lady, do you think Nan Qi really did this?"

Tang Ning said, "What do you think?"

Yue Jian shook her head. "I don't know. From what I can see right now, Southern Qi is the most suspicious. They're setting the net so early for such a big scheme, and they're targeting the Wei court. This isn't something an ordinary person would do, but there's no guarantee it could be someone else."

After she finished speaking, she felt that what she said was like nonsense and sighed.

"It's a pity that we didn't catch him alive. Those mute slaves were just temporary recruits. We don't know the identity of the person behind the scenes, and those who know are all dead."

As long as we can catch him alive, we can find a way to pry open his mouth.

Yue Jian seemed to recall something and said, "I heard that the pair of pearl-beaked birds were bought by the Huo family's youngest son after he was tricked and given to the imposter. Even the place where Zhu Xiyan was imprisoned before was in the Huo family's courtyard."

"Over the past two days, people in the court have been impeaching the Huo family, implicating them in the fraud. When Mr. Huo learned about this, he was furious. He was already ill, and now he's even sicker."

Tang Ning frowned: "Are they too idle?"

It's obvious that the Huo family was harmed by someone. Impeaching the Huo family is just a waste of time.

Yue Jian curled her lips and said, "It's because Old Master Huo is in charge of the Censorate, and the descendants of the Huo family are also quite favored by the Empress, so they want to take him down as soon as they see the opportunity."

Tang Ning's eyes darkened when she heard that. There were many things going on in the court recently, and most people were too busy to do anything. She had taught those restless court officials a lesson several times before, and later she used the example of killing a chicken to scare the monkeys. They had been quiet for a while, but now seeing that Beiling had won a great victory and Xiao Yan was about to return, they actually became interested again.

Tang Ning slammed the thing in his hand onto the table. "Find something for the people who impeached the Huo family to do. Shi Chang'an just sent a message saying that Beiling County is short of people for work. Pick out the two most enthusiastic ones and send them over to plow the fields in Beiling County."

"Also, Mr. Huo is a man of integrity. He must be upset about being taken advantage of this time. Go pick out two tonics from the warehouse. Have Pan Xi bring Imperial Physician Jiang to the Huo family to reassure them."

Otherwise the old man will really get angry to death.

Yue Jian: "Yes, I will go there soon."

Tang Ning is getting older, her belly is bulging, her calves are swollen, and her previous shoes can no longer be worn.

Yue Jian sat on the embroidered cushion and massaged her legs, using her internal force to carefully knead the swollen areas with her fingers.

Tang Ning asked, "By the way, how is Zhu Xiyan's injury? Has Madam Qin checked on him?"

Yue Jian shook her head: "Madam Qin is not in the capital."

Tang Ning was surprised: "She left the city?"

Yue Jian said, "Yes, I was also puzzled. Madam Qin was busy organizing medical books at the academy before. Later, she said she saw a prescription for a rare disease in an ancient book and was looking for people to test it. But she was in the city the whole time. She said she was worried about your health and was afraid that something might happen to you and she wouldn't be able to make it back. But this time, I don't know why she suddenly left the city in a hurry."

"The people who followed Madam Qin said that she left after receiving a letter. Before she left, she said she was going to see her junior fellow apprentice. It seemed that there was something going on with their sect. However, she said that she would return before Madam Qin gave birth and would not delay the important matters."

Tang Ning had heard from Xiao Yan that Madam Qin had learned from the Shu School of Medicine. She had also spoken of her fellow disciples in her sect during casual conversations with Madam Qin. Hearing that she had gone to deal with matters related to her sect, Tang Ning didn't ask further questions. He simply asked, "Did you send anyone to protect her?"

Yue Jian: "Don't worry, Madam, there are people following us, and Madam Qin doesn't need anyone to protect her."

Medicine and poison are inseparable. Madam Qin looks kind, but if anyone provokes her, they are seeking death. She is much more powerful than those who only know martial arts.

Tang Ning laughed when he heard this: "That's right, I was worrying too much. Since Madam Qin hasn't returned, let the people from the Imperial Medical Bureau treat Zhu Xiyan well and try to preserve his voice."

Yue Jian: "Don't worry, Madam, I will pass it on."