Chapter 58 Negotiation

As soon as she entered the study, Wang Ruoti hesitated for a moment. It was too dark inside, like a huge abyss that was about to swallow her.

Just as he was about to ask the housekeeper for a candle, a voice suddenly came from inside: "It's not your first time here, you should be familiar with it."

Hearing this, Wang Ruoti's hair stood on end, but he still walked in despite the scrutinizing gaze in the dark.

The door closed with a sound, and Wang Ruoti had a hunch that it was not a good thing.

Cui Junji didn't beat around the bush and simply said, "I thought you were a smart man, but you told the Wang family everything you knew. Do you have any bargaining chips left?"

"What?" Wang Ruoti frowned in confusion.

"Stop pretending. Wen Youqing was poisoned today. It was the Wang family's doing. No matter how stupid they are, they won't be stupid enough to kill someone who openly opposes them. Unless you tell them." In secret, Cui Junji took out the poison, a strange poison that kills instantly upon contact with blood and will not leave any signs of poisoning.

"I didn't!" Wang Ruoti immediately defended himself. "If I told them, how would I protect myself and my mother?"

"But in the end, they already knew. No matter whether you told them or not, your bargaining chip is useless." Pour the poison into the cup, shake it well, and feed it to them.

"Wait! If I told you, the Wang family wouldn't target Wen Youqing, and it would be Shen Laixi who would be in trouble today!"

Like thunder, it exploded beside his ears. Cui Junji ignored the poison. He appeared before Wang Ruoti like a ghost from the darkness and grabbed her neck. Unlike last time, this time he left her ample room for maneuver, simply pressing his thumb against Wang Ruoti's throat, ready to crush it if it didn't go her way.

"How did you know that? Huh?"

"It was just a guess before, but now I know." Wang Ruoti smiled, "Anyway, I wrote it in the letter a long time ago, but I didn't expect it to be true. I didn't expect that a person like Madam Shen would also be so unruly..."

"Shut up! She doesn't know about this yet. If you dare to say a word, I will hang you and your mother on the city wall. I will feed you one piece of meat a day. I will feed her meat to you and your meat to the wolves." Cui Junji warned viciously like a ferocious beast.

She knew very well that he could really do it, but seeing him like this, she suddenly burst out laughing, and tears came out of her eyes: "So there is someone that Lord Cui can't get, hahahaha, so that's how it is, hahahaha."

After laughing enough, Wang Ruoti leaned against the wall, as if she hadn't just lost her composure. "My dear, your secret is my secret. I will protect it for you. The Wang family's side is not important."

After a moment's contemplation, Cui Junji made a decision. He sat back down, called the guards outside, and said, "Go to the palace immediately and tell them that my mother is seriously ill and needs the Tianshan Snow Lotus to save her life. I am willing to exchange it for what Lord Wang desires most. If Lord Wang is reluctant, I will present this wonderful gift to the Emperor at the court tomorrow morning."

—

The capital city was already a bit chilly in early winter, and the night was as dark as ink, swallowing up the eaves and corners of the royal mansion in darkness.

Xuelian was delivered, but the armors and other scattered occupied farmland "burned" from Wang's house were directly written by Cui Junji in two copies, one was sent to Wang's house, and the other was presented to the emperor.

Before the morning court session, the Wang family had received the news, and Wang Rong was pushed out. He looked at his uncle, whose body had been burned to a state of being neither human nor ghost, and sighed: "My nephew can use these ten years of military merit to at least secure a commoner status for the family."

Wang Ding'an sneered, "This bastard is untrustworthy. Does he think that by presenting this thing to the emperor, he can bring down our Wang family? Would the emperor dare to do that?"

Secretly storing armor is tantamount to treason. What's there to argue about? Wang Rong was just impatient. He had fled to the frontier because he didn't like wielding power and telling lies with his eyes open. Now he had to clean up the mess and deal with this stubborn uncle. He calmly drank the last mouthful of porridge, had the servants remove the breakfast in front of Wang Ding'an, and then said: "I know my uncle can't eat it either, but there is no excuse for secretly storing armor..."

"Is there no point in arguing? The noble families supported the deposed prince just to get a piece of the pie. But the deposed prince, together with several other families, conspired against Empress Hehe behind our backs. You know, if we hadn't made some preparations, we would have been the ones to die! Fortunately, he was not ambitious enough and was overthrown by a small Shen family. The Cui family would also change with the wind, otherwise how could Cui Junji be where he is today!" Wang Dingan became more and more angry as he spoke, his red eyes drooping and trembling with his movements.

But when he turned his head, Wang Rong, who was sitting diagonally opposite him, had disappeared.

Walking out of the door, Wang Rong exhaled a breath of foul air. The white mist was very light. The weather here was much better than that at the border, but he still felt stuffy.

In the court today, Cui Junji was already standing in the second row of civil officials. The first row was filled with Cui Taifu, Li Ge Lao, and the vacant position of Wang Shoufu.

The document had already been reviewed by all the major families. The old emperor's voice came from the hall, "My Lord, do you have anything to say?"

Wang Rong stepped forward, knelt, and said, "I am unaware of what has happened at home, but no matter the outcome, I am willing to accept the punishment on behalf of my family. I only hope that Your Majesty will forgive them for my hard work defending the border."

Everyone held their breath, waiting for the decision.

The emperor suddenly stood up, stepped down from his high seat, and personally helped Wang Rong to his feet. He said, "Shen Wen's arson caused countless casualties in your family. This was a premeditated arson, and yet there's no scapegoat. Someone must have been behind it. Those unmarked pieces of armor might also be the work of someone behind the scenes. My dear Lord Wang, this case can't be easily decided. We need a thorough investigation."

After hearing this, Wang Rong hesitated to speak, but in the end he said nothing. He could only kneel down to thank the emperor for his grace.

The emperor continued, "Shen Wenshi is a scapegoat. If we pry her open, we'll know everything. Since the Dali Temple can't pry her open, we'll hand the case over to the Ministry of Justice. We must get a result within ten days!" The emperor, who had been a coward his entire life, suddenly became tough. He turned his head, his cloudy eyes now shining with a sharp light, and looked at Cui Junji. "Minister Cui, Shen Wenshi is also an official. You recommended her back then. It's within your responsibility to work with the Ministry of Justice to handle this."

What a trick! Cui Junji sneered inwardly. The old emperor expected that he would definitely cut off all ties with Wen Youqing and would definitely deal with Wen Youqing personally.

"I obey your order." Cui Junji responded calmly.

For a time, the situation in the court was changing rapidly.

As soon as they arrived at Cui's house and closed the study door, Grand Tutor Cui turned around and slapped Cui Junji. He stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at Cui Junji with an imposing manner: "You tell me yourself."

"The Wang family has been oppressing us for too long. Bianjiang, the crown prince, and every member of the Cui family want to marry a daughter of the Wang family. I just want to overthrow the Wang family. I forgot to count the emperor. Please punish me, grandpa." Cui Junji knelt down and admitted his mistake.

"Is that all? What happened to Shen Wenshi?"

"She is just a pawn of my grandson, using her hatred to deal with the Wang family." Cui Junji said.

"Okay," Cui Taifu finally sat down and took a sip of tea. "Since it's a chess piece and useless, just throw it away."

"This person is still very useful. Back then, Chen Zijie gave her many handles on the noble families. As long as we can dig deeper, the other noble families will definitely surrender." Cui Junji spoke nonsense as if it were true.

"Are the aristocratic families fighting to the death for land? You attract attention because you are a big tree. Today's Wang Ding'an will be you tomorrow!" Imperial Tutor Cui did not give Cui Junji any room for negotiation. Finally, he glanced at Cui Junji indifferently and directly made a fatal move. "If you are reluctant, I, an old man, will help you!"

"Grandfather!" Cui Jun knelt before Grand Tutor Cui, changing his usual aloof demeanor and trying to awaken Grand Tutor Cui's love for his child. "Grandfather, I have been entrusted by Brother Shen to ask you to find a way to save them."

Silence filled the study for a long time. Grand Tutor Cui pinched Cui Junji's chin with his old fingers and said, "Cui Junji, look at yourself now. Did the Cui family train you to make you kneel down? Or kneel down for a woman?"

"If you like her so much, why did you cancel the engagement? If you don't want something, even if you like it, you should destroy it and not let it fall into the hands of others." The old man is still cunning. Even though he was tricked by the old emperor, he only felt angry. The moment his face was pushed away, the chill spread from his knees to his whole body.

He just felt that he could not protect Wen Youqing.

Suddenly, Cui Junji stood up and slapped himself with such force that a red mark immediately appeared on his face. "Grandson has lost his mind. Grandpa is teaching me a lesson. I will do it immediately."

After everyone left, Imperial Tutor Cui called his confidant and whispered, "If the young master is reluctant to do it, please help him."