Chapter 688 The Storm Is Brewing
Ever since Li Sanqi took away the evidence from the Qiao residence that the deposed crown prince had poisoned the former crown princess, Qiao Qinghe had been keeping a close eye on the situation in the capital.
Sure enough, not long after, because of the death of the former Crown Princess, the old master of the Wu family, who had long since retired from the position of Minister of the Court of Judicial Review and was now holding a sinecure in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, was brought back into the spotlight.
First, someone impeached the Wu family for abusing their power and extorting money in their earlier years. Then, someone else impeached him for corruption and abuse of power during his tenure as Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and for disregarding human life.
Suddenly, Mr. Wu became the target of public criticism.
Qiao Qinghe could tell at a glance that the Wu family's current predicament was the work of the Yongchang Marquis's mansion.
Sure enough, a few days later, Old Master Wu took the evidence to the Dali Temple to accuse the deposed crown prince of poisoning his first wife and demanded that the deposed crown prince pay for the death of his former crown princess.
Those who were unaware of the situation thought the Wu family was trying to divert attention.
Those in the know are aware that the Wu family was forced to do this.
In addition to the evidence that Li Sanqi took from the Qiao residence, the Wu family also submitted some witness testimonies and statements.
For example, the maids who served the former Crown Princess and their testimonies.
After the Crown Princess died in childbirth, the Crown Prince disposed of all her maids.
This maidservant escaped disaster because she was ordered to deliver a message to the Wu family.
She provided information about the Crown Princess's physical condition during her pregnancy, along with the imperial physician's diagnosis, all of which proved that the Crown Princess was in good health and showed no signs of a difficult labor.
She also mentioned that starting half a month before the Crown Princess went into labor, the Crown Prince would personally serve her nourishing medicine every day.
They also said the tonic was very strange, colorless and odorless, and no imperial physician had prescribed it. Most importantly, the Crown Princess was about to give birth, so what kind of tonic was she drinking?
But the Crown Prince not only coaxed the Crown Princess to drink it, he also watched her drink it every day until she was done.
The maid had a reasonable suspicion that the tonic was poisoned by the Crown Prince to the Crown Princess.
In addition, the evidence provided by the Wu family also included the source of the poison used on the Crown Prince.
This incident also brought to light an old case.
It is said that the old lady of the former Minister of Works' mansion poisoned Madam Zheng of the Duke of Jin's mansion, causing Madam Zheng to be embarrassed in public and almost commit suicide. The source of the poison for Madam Sun and the source of the poison for the Crown Prince were both from the Lu family, or more specifically, from Lu Ming, the top scholar of that year.
As for where Lu Ming obtained those strange and unusual poisons, that remains unknown.
In short, the evidence provided by the Wu family was very detailed. The Dali Temple quickly accepted the case.
Just when everyone was watching the drama unfold and thought the matter would soon be resolved, a shocking piece of news suddenly broke in the capital.
Reports indicate that Emperor Xiaozhao had privately mentioned deposing the crown prince more than once, seemingly intending to reinstate him as crown prince.
The news caused an uproar throughout the capital.
It was only at this moment that everyone realized why the Wu family would suddenly jump out and put the deposed crown prince to death.
It's no wonder that the Wu family, which had been marginalized and long since insignificant, suddenly found itself in trouble and had to resort to suing the deposed crown prince to divert attention.
It was only at this moment that everyone realized that all of this was deliberately orchestrated by someone behind the scenes.
As for who is behind it all, it's almost obvious without even guessing—it's none other than someone who supports the King of Chu.
There is currently only one and a half voices in the court: one voice supports the King of Chu's ascension to the throne, and the other half is a neutral voice loyal to the imperial authority.
Neutral people wouldn't do such a thing; what's left are those who support the King of Chu?
Because of this suspicion, the King of Chu went so far as to exterminate the deposed crown prince, and his reputation for cruelty towards his own brother spread.
This made matters worse for the King of Chu, whose reputation was already tarnished by constant turmoil in his household.
Many who had hesitated to follow the trend and side with the King of Chu because they saw the general trend was unstoppable now backed down.
Due to the sudden turn of events, the case of the deposed crown prince poisoning his wife was abruptly put on hold.
When Madam Wen heard that the seemingly certain plan had been ruined, she angrily smashed her teacup.
She had planned everything perfectly, having the Wu family file a lawsuit against the deposed crown prince, while the Yongchang Marquis's mansion and the Prince of Chu could remain completely hidden without anyone noticing.
Who knew that things would take an unexpected turn at the last minute?
"Who exactly leaked the news that His Majesty intends to reinstate the deposed Crown Prince?"
Madam Wen looked at the people in the room.
Princess Wenxi of Chu, Marquis Yongchang, Lady Yongchang, and Wenjue.
Marquis Yongchang was the first to speak: "This matter is of great importance, and I naturally know its significance. How could I possibly tell others about it?"
Lady Yongchang echoed, "Mother knows me; I'm not one to gossip. Besides, I've barely left the house these days. I didn't spread the news."
Wen Jue calmly asked, "Mother won't suspect it was me, will she?"
Madam Wen glanced at Wen Jue. She did have some doubts at first, but then she thought that it wouldn't do him any good to say it out loud. Moreover, seeing his calm expression, she immediately sighed and said, "I naturally believe that this matter was not done by you."
"But how exactly did the news leak out?"
Madam Wen was completely baffled.
Wen Jue spoke up, "Besides the few of us here, who else knows about this? Could it be that someone else leaked the news?"
Lady Wen quickly looked at Wenxi, "I remember Princess Huaiyang told you about this. Could it be..."
Before Madam Wen could finish speaking, Wenxi preemptively denied it, saying, "It couldn't be Huaiyang. If she wanted to cause trouble, she wouldn't have told me about it in the first place."
"Besides, she's been busy cleaning up the mess left by the prince consort's family lately, so she doesn't have the time or energy to deal with these things."
Recently, besides the Wu family's lawsuit against the deposed crown prince, the most attention-grabbing thing in the capital is the trouble caused by the Fu family.
To be honest, this family's possessions are really nothing to brag about.
Because he was inexperienced and had never seen the world, he often made fools of himself.
When I first arrived in Beijing, I was laughed at because I was unfamiliar with the place and the people. I was too scared to argue back and could only swallow my anger.
But gradually, when they discovered that while they were afraid of others, others were also wary of them because of their status as relatives of the imperial son-in-law, their inner inferiority complex drove them to run wildly down the path of arrogance and unbridled behavior.
Soon, the Fu family became a powerful force in the capital.
In the cloth shop, you had to fight with others for fabric; in the theater, you had to fight with others for actors; and when traveling by carriage, you had to compete with other people's horse-drawn carriages for priority...
The Fu family, relying on their status as the imperial son-in-law's relatives, were arrogant and unrestrained, thinking they could do whatever they wanted in the capital.
But they just had bad luck!
While trying to steal some fabric, he bumped into the Zhou family, a concubine of the Prince of Chu.
His visit to the theater angered the people from the Minister's mansion again.
The carriage was vying for road space with people, and even managed to cut in front of the princess.
...
Anyway, it's hard to say whether the Fu family was just unlucky or Li Sanqi deserved his misfortune.
Every time, Li Sanqi had to personally clean up the mess for the Fu family.
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