Chapter 61 Counterattack

Jiang Yu felt that, in Pei Tinglan's eyes, the Duke of Chu might be a heartless man.

However, judging from the Duke of Chu himself and his household, the Duke's choices at the time were all in line with their own interests. When faced with a choice, people generally choose the option that is most beneficial to them.

The Duke of Chu also felt that his choice was not wrong. He said, "But after Pei Tinglan died, Pei Chengkun and his wife felt that I was one of the murderers who killed Pei Tinglan. When Pei Chengkun and I were officials in the same court, although we had no entanglement, we hardly ever interacted."

Jiang Yu pondered for a moment and then asked, "Who do you think is behind this? The Prime Minister or the Xie family?"

“Pei Chengkun and the Xie family are deeply entangled, no different.” The Duke of Chu said thoughtfully. “If they were also the masterminds behind the salt smuggling, then it doesn’t make sense. Neither Pei Chengkun nor the Xie family lacks money, so why would they do something that could lead to the extermination of their entire clan? If they wanted to rebel, how could they do it without an army?”

Jiang Yu: "They don't have an army, but they have people!"

"You mean the King of Lingnan?" the Duke of Chu asked.

Jiang Yu nodded. "That's my intuition. Besides, the salt was transported from Jiangzhou, which is very close to the Lingnan King's Nanling Prefecture."

The Duke of Chu frowned and pondered for a long time, "It is indeed very possible."

"You mean, is the Eighth Prince the son of the King of Lingnan?" Jiang Yu made a bold guess, as there were many such plots in the novels and TV dramas of her previous life.

But the Duke of Chu said, "Is it important?"

Jiang Yu was taken aback, and then heard the Duke of Chu continue, "If the King of Lingnan truly harbors rebellious intentions, it doesn't matter whether the Eighth Prince is his son or not. It doesn't matter to Consort Su and the Eighth Prince either; what they want is an alliance. What the King of Lingnan wants is the Eighth Prince's legitimate status, and what Consort Su and the others want is the King of Lingnan's army."

Jiang Yu felt that she had underestimated the power of rights. Many people are indeed capable of using any means necessary to obtain power.

"My father was framed for buying a ship to smuggle salt. The Marquis of Nanling is also involved in smuggling salt. Are there any other powerful figures in the capital who are also involved in smuggling salt?" Jiang Yu said with a heavy expression, "The people behind this are trying to erode the power and influence of the people in the capital!"

The Duke of Chu also looked very serious. He remained silent for a long time before saying, "The country belongs to the Qin family. Whoever rebels is not a problem for us to worry about for the time being. The key thing now is to resolve the issues within our own family."

Jiang Yu felt that the current Duke of Chu was more like his younger self—clear-headed and decisive. However, perhaps he had always been somewhat indecisive when dealing with family matters. Otherwise, Jiang Chengye and Jiang Jiarong wouldn't be the way they are now.

"To confirm whether our eldest and second brothers have truly been switched, we'll just need to interrogate our second brother and Aunt Zhao. They both have weaknesses, so interrogating them shouldn't be too difficult," Jiang Yu said.

The Duke of Chu nodded. "The key figures in Jiang Chengye's ship purchase have been brought under control, so there shouldn't be any major trouble. The key now is whether or not to retaliate."

Seeing Jiang Yu remain silent, the Duke of Chu said, "You decide on this matter."

Jiang Yu thought for a moment and said, "Counterattack."

The Duke of Chu looked at her intently. "Are you sure? Are you sure you want to show your strength again?"

Jiang Yu: "Regardless of whether the Xie family has anyone behind them or whether the Prime Minister's Mansion was involved in plotting against my father, since the Xie family has already done it, they are already on the opposite side of us."

Lan Mudan and Young Master Chen have been arrested, and the Xie family must already know; the scheme has been exposed. Our dealings with the Xie family are now open; if we back down now, they'll only take advantage of us further.”

The Duke of Chu nodded, then asked, "What do you plan to do?"

Jiang Yu: "What will the Xie family do at this time?"

The Duke of Chu pondered for a moment and said, "If they want to rebel, it is obviously not the right time yet. So what they should do now is to clean up their mess, just like us, so that no one can find any fault with them."

“They’re trying to clean up their mess, but we’re going to expose their tails to them,” Jiang Yu said.

The Duke of Chu narrowed his eyes. "How should we do it? We might accidentally implicate Jiang Chengye."

Jiang Yu pondered for a while before saying, "Didn't you say that the Sixth Prince might be investigating the smuggled salt business in secret?"

"You mean to give the Xie family's legacy to the Sixth Prince?" asked the Duke of Chu.

Jiang Yu nodded, "Tell the Sixth Prince what we know, of course, and exonerate Father."

"How should we tell him?" the Duke of Chu asked.

Jiang Yu: "Grandfather should have a way to get the news out without anyone noticing."

The Duke of Chu laughed heartily, “Alright, now it’s up to the Sixth Prince to deal with them.”

Jiang Yu also laughed, "The Xie family will guess that it was us, but they won't dare to mention Father's affair, after all, we have a key witness, Lan Mudan."

The Duke of Chu nodded, then summoned Li Zhong and gave him a few instructions, finally saying, "Have the secret guards do it."

Li Zhong responded and turned to leave. The Duke of Chu stood up and said, "Now it's time to settle family matters."

Jiang Yu also stood up, knowing that the Duke of Chu was going to interrogate Jiang Jiarong and Aunt Zhao.

The grandfather and grandson left the courtyard together and headed towards the dungeon. Upon arrival, they had Jiang Jiarong dragged out. After two days in prison, Jiang Jiarong's handsome appearance was gone; he looked like a wilted, rotten vegetable.

Kneeling before the Duke of Chu, he wept and said, "Grandfather, I know I was wrong. I will never do it again. Please forgive me this time. I will definitely behave myself from now on—no, I will study hard from now on. Grandfather... I really know I was wrong, sob sob..."

Looking at Jiang Jiarong kneeling on the ground, weeping like a rotten vegetable leaf, the Duke of Chu felt an indescribable sorrow. When Jiang Jiarong was young, he had held some hope for him. He had thought that even if his son was useless, raising his grandson to be successful would be just as good.

However, no matter how he taught him, Jiang Jiarong only knew how to use his petty cleverness, and no matter how he taught him, he couldn't change his bad habits. At that time, he clearly realized that some people are just born stupid and cunning.

Later, he simply stopped caring, but little did he know that he would become a scourge to the Duke of Chu's mansion.

He closed his eyes briefly, then looked at Jiang Yu and said, "You interrogate her."

Jiang Yu hummed in agreement, while Jiang Jiarong was stunned. He hadn't expected the Duke of Chu to have Jiang Yu interrogate him. He was the eldest son of the main branch of the Duke of Chu's family, and was destined to inherit the Duke's mansion. What did it mean to have his divorced sister interrogate him?

Is Grandfather really going to support Jiang Yu? To groom her as his successor?

Seeing his expression, the Duke of Chu let out a heavy snort, clearly indicating that Jiang Jiarong's earlier pleading was feigned. Jiang Jiarong then realized his scheme had been exposed and quickly lowered his head.

Just then, Jiang Yu said, "We already interrogated Aunt Zhao before we came here."

Jiang Jiarong lowered his head and remained silent. The Duke of Chu sneered again. Was he no longer willing to pretend, or was he simply unable to continue?

PS: My child had a fever and we went to the hospital today, so the update is a bit late.

I was originally planning to take her with me to the Tomato Year-End Conference tomorrow, and maybe even show her around Sanya. But she got sick today, so I can't go. She's still upset and won't talk to me.