Whereabouts of the benefactor's son
With the Crown Prince's involvement, the investigation progressed rapidly. The Eastern Palace's secret guards were extremely efficient, quickly piecing together a chilling truth from various clues in the capital before and after the imperial examinations three years prior.
That day, the Crown Prince summoned Zhao Jingyi and Qin Yuti to the Eastern Palace. The Crown Prince's expression was somewhat solemn. He gestured for the eunuchs to leave, leaving only the three of them in the study.
"Sixth brother, sixth sister-in-law, there's news about Shi Lei's whereabouts." The Crown Prince got straight to the point, his voice low.
Qin Yuti's heart tightened suddenly, a sense of foreboding washing over her. Zhao Jingyi also put away his usual playful demeanor and said seriously, "Brother, please speak freely."
The Crown Prince sighed and slowly said, "According to the clues we found, Shi Lei did not leave on his own after failing the imperial examination, nor did he encounter a common accident. His disappearance is related to the Duke of Anguo's mansion."
"The Duke of Anguo's Mansion?" Zhao Jingyi and Qin Yuti were both surprised. Su Wanqing's family?
"It is Su Tianhao, the heir of the Duke of Anguo's mansion and Su Wanqing's elder brother," the Crown Prince continued. "Three years ago, on the eve of the imperial examination results being released, Su Tianhao hosted a banquet at a restaurant to invite some promising scholars from humble backgrounds, including Shi Lei. During the banquet, Su Tianhao seemed to admire Shi Lei quite a bit and made several attempts to recruit him. However, Shi Lei was straightforward and honest, and he may have argued with Su Tianhao during the banquet due to a disagreement."
The details are difficult to reconstruct completely, but based on the vague recollections of other students present and clues found by the Crown Prince's secret guards, the general situation is as follows: Su Tianhao, arrogant and proud, felt greatly humiliated and enraged when a student from a poor family publicly contradicted him. After the banquet, Shi Lei "disappeared" on his way back to his residence.
“Su Tianhao has some shady dealings,” the Crown Prince’s voice grew colder. “He handled the aftermath very cleanly. We found a wicked servant from the Su family who was involved in the incident back then. He confessed that he was acting on the orders of the Crown Prince to sink Shi Lei… into the moat outside the capital.”
The study was deathly silent.
Qin Yuti's face turned deathly pale, her hands trembling slightly. She recalled Granny Shi's expectant yet tearful eyes, and Old Man Shi's silent worry, and a pang of anguish shot through her heart. Their son, whom they had longed for day and night, on the eve of his promising academic success and the impending change of his destiny, had been so cruelly and disrespectfully taken from him by the sons of the powerful and wealthy due to an unjust tragedy!
Zhao Jingyi slammed his fist on the table in anger and stood up abruptly: "Su Tianhao! That bastard! He's utterly lawless! Just because of a single argument, he dares to kill someone?! Does he even respect the law?!"
He was trembling with rage, not only because Shi Lei was the son of his savior, but also because this heinous act of treating human life as worthless had completely trampled on his bottom line.
The Crown Prince gestured for him to calm down and said in a deep voice, "Three years have passed since this incident, and the chain of evidence is incomplete. It is difficult to completely bring down the heir of the Duke of Anguo based solely on the testimony of a wicked servant. Moreover, the Duke of Anguo has deep-rooted influence in the army and the court. If we rashly expose this, it may cause turmoil."
"Are we just going to let this go?!" Zhao Jingyi roared. "What about Old Man Shi and his wife? They're just waiting for their son to come home!"
Qin Yuti took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. She looked at the Crown Prince, her voice soft but firm: "Your Majesty, could this matter... be kept from Uncle Shi and Granny Shi for the time being? They are old and may not be able to bear the blow of white-haired people burying their black-haired children."
The Crown Prince nodded approvingly: "That's what I thought too. The truth is cruel, so it's better to let them have a glimmer of hope."
"What about Su Tianhao?" Zhao Jingyi asked unwillingly, "Are we just letting him get away with it?"
A sharp glint flashed in the Crown Prince's eyes: "Of course not. He can't be charged with murder, but I have ample evidence of his embezzlement of military funds and his tolerance of his subordinates' bullying and monopolistic practices over the years. Bringing him down is just a matter of time. When that time comes, we'll settle both the old and new scores together!"
On the way back to the Prince's residence from the East Palace, Zhao Jingyi and Qin Yuti remained silent. The atmosphere in the carriage was oppressive.
Zhao Jingyi reached out and tightly grasped Qin Yuti's cold hand, whispering, "Don't be too sad. We'll remember this grudge. One day, I'll make Su Tianhao pay the price!"
Qin Yuti leaned on his shoulder, closing her eyes wearily. For the first time, she felt so clearly the darkness and cruelty beneath the struggle for imperial power. The life of a poor scholar was so insignificant in the eyes of the powerful.
She thought of Su Wanqing, the woman who seemed glamorous in the Prince Rui's mansion but was equally powerless. What would she think if she knew about her brother's crimes? It seemed that the fate of the Duke of Anguo's mansion was destined for ruin from the very beginning.
Shi Lei's grievances were temporarily buried.
But the seeds of hatred have already been sown.
This truth, like a boulder, weighed heavily on Zhao Jingyi and Qin Yuti's hearts, making them more cautious and hesitant on their future path.
How to deal with Old Man Shi and his wife, and how to wait for the right moment to bring down Su Tianhao without alerting them, became the problems they needed to face. Beneath the seemingly carefree life of Prince Yi and his wife, they began to be drawn into a deeper and more treacherous situation.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
