Chapter 55 Guessing that you actually died at A Qing's hands every time
He Yuan's side had been monitoring the situation for a long time but hadn't found any unusual connections between Wang Zhao and any special people. Furthermore, the summons of Shen Yan by the Dali Temple hadn't actually happened, so they couldn't arrest and interrogate Wang Zhao for that. Even if they did arrest him, Wang Zhao wouldn't be able to provide any explanation for something that hadn't even occurred.
Shen Yan understood the reasoning behind it. After pondering for a moment, she said, "Since that temple official is such a shrewd and worldly person, he obviously wouldn't be easily swayed by a few words from his colleagues to become a scapegoat. The one who can command him and make him willingly step forward is probably his superior."
“Those in the Dali Temple who are of similar or lower social standing than him can be put aside for now and investigated later. Start by investigating his superiors. If there is nothing unusual about his superiors, then investigate those who have had dealings with him and who are of very high status.”
"For example... several princes. Especially those who are around your age, have real power in the court, or have the support of their maternal families."
This was the first time Shen Yan had so clearly pointed to someone in her words. Qi Jingxuan was taken aback: "Aci, have you remembered something?"
Otherwise, why would he suddenly point the finger at his brothers?
Although Qi Jingxuan had also suspected them, in his eyes, his brothers and several high-ranking officials in the court who disliked him were equally suspicious, without any difference in their suspicions.
Shen Yan shook her head: "I didn't remember anything, I just thought about this matter carefully from beginning to end just now."
"According to the prince, I have died eight times. But in my own memory, I have only died once, but the prince has no recollection of that time. So, if you count it that way, I have actually died nine times in total, and the same goes for the prince."
"If we set aside the evidence and only consider these nine experiences, one fact is obvious: the person behind it all... succeeded every single time. Even though you told His Majesty about your rebirth, and even Imperial Censor Lin believed you and was on guard, he still succeeded."
"As far as I know, the most powerful people in the court now are none other than Imperial Censor Lin and Grand Secretary Li, as well as the Crown Prince's faction and the Tang family, the maternal family of the Imperial Concubine."
As she spoke, she flipped one of the teacups that was upside down on the table and placed it in front of her: "Imperial Censor Lin is an upright man, and in one of his past lives he stopped Wang Zhao from sending me to the Dali Temple. So it seems that he is not the one who wants to harm you and me."
"Although I don't know Grand Secretary Li personally, I've heard that he has a good reputation as an official. Moreover, I am acquainted with A-Zhi, who is his granddaughter. I can also see his family's values from A-Zhi. He shouldn't be the kind of person who would implicate innocent people for his own selfish gain."
As he spoke, he turned another teacup over.
"As for the Crown Prince's faction and the Tang family... I really don't know. I've heard they have mixed reputations in court. What does Your Highness think of them?"
She asked, holding the third teacup.
Qi Jingxuan pursed his lips: "So be it. As for the Crown Prince, needless to say, he is already the heir apparent, and there are naturally quite a few people who support him, including all sorts of people, neither good nor bad."
"The Tang family pretends to be honest on the surface, but they are actually determined to step down the crown prince and put the fourth prince on the throne. Do they think no one can see through them?"
"However, if any of the concubines in the palace have children, and their maternal families are powerful, they all have this kind of thought to some extent. For example, the sixth prince is clearly so useless, even worse than me, but the He family has always been secretly supporting him."
Shen Yan had heard about the power struggle among the princes in the court, but she neither knew nor cared about the details. Logically, Qi Jingxuan had already withdrawn from the succession struggle, so it shouldn't involve them, but…
She left the third teacup upside down on the other side and picked up the fourth teacup: "Besides the forces mentioned earlier, there are other powerful people in the court. But most of them rely on forming factions to consolidate their positions, and their individual abilities are limited."
"These people have to put a lot of effort into consolidating their power. Unless they gang up on you, it's unlikely they can get rid of you without leaving a trace. So, these people can basically be ruled out."
She put the teacup she had picked up back down, leaving only two cups facing up and one cup facing down in front of her.
Qi Jingxuan looked at the three teacups, somewhat surprised: "You mean... it was the Crown Prince or the Fourth Prince who harmed me?"
Shen Yan shook her head: "Without evidence, I can't say that. I'm just making some simple inferences based on what has already happened. We used to do this when we encountered some unsolvable cases in Yingzhou. It was a last resort, but it did come in handy."
us
Qi Jingxuan was stunned for a moment before realizing that the "they" referred to Gao Zheng, and he felt annoyed.
Shen Yan, oblivious to his emotions, continued, "Although you are a prince with no real power, you are still a prince and are favored by His Majesty. It is easy to get rid of you, but it is difficult to leave no trace. That is why the person behind the scenes went to great lengths to drive you out of the capital first before taking action."
"But it is precisely this action that illustrates some problems."
“That person is a master strategist, very knowledgeable about you, about the people and events in the capital, and even about things outside the capital.”
“Your fiefdom of Jinzhou is a thousand miles away from the capital, yet he managed to send men to hunt you down and succeed. This is something no ordinary person could do.”
"So... if we disregard the evidence and only work backward from the result, then the higher the status and the more powerful a person is in the capital, the more likely they are to be the real culprit, and such a person..."
As she spoke, she reached out and gently tapped the upside-down teacup: "There really aren't many."
Even among high-ranking officials, who could extend their reach so far? Who could allow those assassins to travel unimpeded from the capital to Jinzhou?
"After much thought, I believe that the princes are indeed more suspicious than the officials in the court. Among them, the Crown Prince and the Prince of Ning are the most suspicious. Your Highness, what is your relationship with them?"
Shen Yan's sudden question caught Qi Jingxuan off guard. He scratched his head and said, "I have a pretty good relationship with both of them. Among all my brothers, they are the closest to me."
"...But I clearly heard you say before that you fought with the Crown Prince and didn't get along with Prince Ning..."
“Yes, but this is already very good.” Qi Jingxuan said, “Fighting with the Crown Prince was something that happened when I was a child. I haven’t fought with him since I grew up. Although I don’t get along with the Fourth Prince, I don’t have any grudges against him. He has always been kind to people and doesn’t pick on me, so I find him more agreeable.”
“Others are different. For example, that sixth brother, he always has to say something sarcastic to me. When I get together with him, we're either fighting or arguing, there's never a moment of peace.”
He didn't think there was anything wrong with what he said, but after he finished, he saw that Shen Yan's face was full of confusion and speechlessness, and then he realized that something was wrong.
But he felt really wronged and muttered, "I... I didn't want it to be like this either. They always bullied me! The more I swallowed my anger, the more they went too far. Later, I simply stopped enduring it. Whoever hit me, I would hit them back. Whoever cursed me, I would curse them back on the spot, never waiting until the next day. I beat them all into submission and cursed them until they dared not bully me anymore."
Qi Jingxuan was pampered from a young age. Being young and lacking self-restraint, he would always happily share any good things he had with everyone. Gradually, others noticed that he always had good things and was treated even better than the Crown Prince.
A prince of lower status enjoyed things beyond his station, which aroused resentment among the other children. In addition, the emperor favored Consort Shu, and the other concubines were already dissatisfied with her, but with the emperor's protection, they dared not do anything to Consort Shu. So they instigated their children to bully Qi Jingxuan.
The concubines insulted Consort Shu, and the Emperor could punish them by sending them back. But when his children are fighting, and they are all his own flesh and blood, can he really bring himself to punish them severely?
For this reason, Qi Jingxuan was beaten almost every day for a while, and his body was always covered in bruises.
In the first few years after Consort Shu entered the palace, she was very accommodating and never got into any disputes with anyone. It was from that time that she was forced to show her sharpness and even acted quite erratically at one point.
Once, the Sixth Prince pushed Qi Jingxuan into the lotus pond. After Qi Jingxuan was rescued, she pushed the Sixth Prince in in front of Consort Hui, pressed his head down so that he choked on several mouthfuls of water, and declared that Qi Jingxuan should not tolerate anyone in the future. He would retaliate against anyone who hit him, and it didn't matter if they were beaten to death. At worst, he and his mother would die together in the palace.
That incident caused quite a stir at the time. Consort Hui cried and made a scene for a long time, demanding severe punishment for Consort Shu. People from the previous court also submitted memorials requesting the stripping of Consort Shu's title and severe punishment for her. Among them, the He family, Consort Hui's maternal family, was particularly prominent.
However, the emperor, citing the fact that the sixth prince had injured someone first, said that if Consort Shu was to be punished, Consort Hui and the sixth prince should be punished first, and the He family then gave up.
From that time on, Qi Jingxuan developed a stubborn and unyielding nature; whoever made him unhappy, he would make them even more unhappy.
The imperial family is inherently ruthless. He was favored but lacked a solid foundation, and his personality was unpleasant, so naturally he didn't get along well with anyone. Therefore, it was already quite good that the Crown Prince and Prince Ning were able to maintain peaceful relations with him.
Shen Yan knew nothing about palace affairs, nor did she know what Qi Jingxuan had experienced in his childhood. But she knew that Qi Jingxuan would never lie, so if he said so, it must be true.
But this presented her with another problem...
She originally thought the Crown Prince and Prince Ning were the most suspicious, but now Qi Jingxuan said that he had the best relationship with these two.
So... besides them, who else is more suspicious?
Shen Yan rested her chin on her hand, lost in confusion again. Qi Jingxuan then said, "Aci, what you said earlier was all correct, except for one thing..."
"What"
Shen Yan looked up and asked.
Qi Jingxuan puffed out his cheeks and said, "The one who chased me all the way to my fiefdom to assassinate me was A Qing."
He had brought three thousand soldiers with him and was very cautious throughout the journey. Even after arriving at his fiefdom, he didn't dare to leave the house and remained inside for half a month. Later, when he felt safe, he tried to go out, but not long after, he was shot through the throat by an arrow.
Shen Yan was taken aback, and after a long silence, she said, "To be honest... you always died at A Qing's hands."
However, Aqing was not with those assassins; she was merely using their influence.
Qi Jingxuan got angry just thinking about it, and remembering how Aqing had caused a scene at their wedding, he became even more upset. He simply said, "Why don't we call him over and ask him? He's still in the capital, after all. He's tried to assassinate me so many times; maybe he remembers those people, or saw some marks on them?"
Shen Yan frowned, feeling that the chances were slim.
Since those people were ordered to assassinate Qi Jingxuan, they must have made thorough preparations. Why would they leave any special marks on their bodies that would be discovered? Besides, A Qing obviously only has memories of one lifetime. In his memory, he only had a brief encounter with those assassins once. What could he possibly remember?
But since there were no other clues at the moment, this was still a possible line of thought. Shen Yan nodded and sent someone to fetch A Qing.
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