Chapter 691 Xiao Yan’s “Weakness”
Feng Qiuli turned her head and said, "You always say, Madam Cui..."
Liang Guangyi pursed his lips and said "hmm", then he was filled with anger at the lack of resistance: "I have said it before, that Cui Qi is a fool."
The Cui family has been rotten to the core since Cui Lin. Only the eldest lady could see the situation clearly and have some means. However, ever since Cui Lin got into trouble, the Cui family has treated that woman harshly. I heard that even the gold that Xiao Yan used to "buy Cui Lin's life" was from the dowry of the eldest lady Cui.
Such an intelligent and friendly woman was separated from the Cui family.
Cui Lin and his son deserved to die!
After listening to what Liang Guangyi and the others said, the people from the other families all vaguely understood that Cui Lin and his son were actually defeated by a woman, and that Madam Cui wanted to take control of the Cui family.
"How dare she?!" Li Changwen was shocked.
Liang Guangyi scoffed, "Why would she be afraid? Do you still think today's aristocratic families are still the same as they used to be?"
The future is uncertain, life and death are hard to predict, their hands are stained with the blood of the late crown prince and the He family, and they don’t know how Xiao Yan will treat them after he ascends the throne. Now they can’t even take care of themselves, so who can have the leisure to seek justice from Madam Cui for two dead people?
What’s more, the one who poisoned him was the second son of the Cui family.
Madam Cui dared to tie up Cui An and send him to Jingzhao Prefecture, and also so brazenly pinned the blame on Cui An for the incident involving Cui Lin and his son. This meant that she had definitely cleaned up the mess, but Cui An's hands were probably not clean either. The second branch of the Cui family was gone, and Madam Cui was the eldest daughter-in-law of the first branch, and she had a son.
It was natural for her to take charge of the Cui family. Who could say anything?
Li Changwen was speechless for a moment after hearing Liang Guangyi's words.
The others also looked panicked. Thinking of their current situation, everyone was dejected.
Feng Qiuli glanced at everyone and looked up at Liang Guangyi: "Grand Master, the testimony of Cao Dejiang, Feng Lai and others, as well as what the deposed emperor confessed in court today, are enough to vindicate the former crown prince and the He family. The Empress Dowager has recognized Xiao Yan, and with the loyalty of Marquis Wenxin and Yin Bao and others, the new emperor is inevitable."
"We can't stop him from taking the throne now, but after the new emperor ascends the throne, the first thing he'll probably do is to thoroughly investigate the He family and the former crown prince, and redress those who died unjustly. We..."
He hadn't finished speaking, but everyone understood what he meant.
Li Changwen said anxiously, "What happened back then was a conspiracy between the Lu family and Xie Tianyong. They were the ones who harmed the late crown prince, and the late emperor secretly fanned the flames, leading to the tragic deaths of Xie Tianzhao and the He family. What does this have to do with us?!"
"Yes, we didn't attack the prince, let alone harm him!" People from the Fan family also spoke up.
When the other people heard this, they all echoed it.
"We knew nothing about the disaster relief and the troop deployment. We only found out today that Xie Tianyong and his men drugged the Crown Prince. We never harmed the Crown Prince. The new Emperor can't wrongly persecute us just because we're from an aristocratic family."
"That's right. Besides, the Lu family is gone, and Xie Tianyong deserves what he got. We gave him so much gold before, and he also promised not to pursue the matter. Is he going to go back on his word now?!"
"Yes, we gave gold!"
Feng Qiuli looked at the indignant crowd and said, "You may have forgotten that when the new emperor accepted the gold and agreed to end the relationship with us, it was the He family, not the former crown prince."
Everyone's face changed drastically.
Feng Qiuli's eyes darkened. "We didn't harm the late Crown Prince, nor did we directly attack him to kill him. But ask yourselves, when the Crown Prince was in trouble, didn't you ever doubt the truth? And afterward, didn't you follow the late Emperor and Xie Tianyong's wishes and fan the flames, sending the Crown Prince's lineage and the entire He family to their deaths?"
"After the incident with the late Crown Prince and the He family, Xie Tianyong and the Lu family benefited enormously, and our families also benefited greatly from it. We also provided a lot of assistance when investigating the Crown Prince's rebellion. Our families have all stained their hands with the blood of the late Crown Prince and the He family."
"If the new emperor is determined to pursue this, no one will be able to escape."
Feng Qiuli's words made everyone turn pale, and they wanted to refute but couldn't say anything.
They all knew exactly what had happened. They certainly hadn't plotted to murder the Crown Prince, but were they unaware of what the Lu family had done? They even resented the Crown Prince's desire to weaken the aristocratic families, and even aided the Lu family in some shameful acts. Afterward, after the Crown Prince's "rebellion," they reaped the benefits of the fall of the Crown Prince and the He family.
If it weren't for their help, how could the Lu family and Xie Tianyong alone have wiped out the former crown prince and the He family?
The head of the Fan family had a look of dismay on his face. He slammed the table and stood up: "What should we do? Are we just going to wait for death?!"
Li Changwen, who had always been timid, gnashed his teeth and said, "Xiao Yan may have restored his status and become the emperor, but we are not going to let him do whatever he wants. If he really wants to kill us all, then we will just fight him!"
"That's right. Let's fight him. With the combined strength of our families, I don't believe we can't defeat him. At worst, we can seek refuge with other vassal kings. The world doesn't belong to only the Xie family..." The head of the Chen family had a frosty face: "It's better than staying here and waiting to die!"
Feng Qiuli listened to their indignant and vicious words and silenced everyone with just one sentence.
"Can we leave the capital now?"
The few people who were fierce just now froze in an instant.
Feng Qiuli: "Several of our families have their businesses in the capital, and the wealth and influence we've built over the years is mostly in the capital. Although we've all kept a retreat route outside, and each of our clans has a backup plan in their ancestral homeland, almost all of the main branch members are in the capital."
"If we make a move, as you say, to join other princes and fight to the death with the new emperor, it would be like giving up everything in the capital and risking the lives of hundreds of direct descendants of each family just to get the solution you talk about. Have you really thought it through?"
The head of the Chen family, who had been shouting the most fiercely just now, had a stiff expression on his face, and Li Changwen looked pale.
The face of the head of the Fan family was as red as a dyeing factory. He clenched and unclenched his fists, and then clenched and unclenched them again. He didn't say a word for a long time.
Liang Guangyi sat at the head of the group, looking at the ferocious men who had just been there, looking like eggplants struck by frost. He took a deep breath and looked at Feng Qiuli: "What do you think we should do?"
Feng Qiuli pursed her lips and said, "Although I don't know what the new emperor is thinking, at least he won't attack us directly right now."
Seeing that everyone else in the hall looked up at him, Feng Qiuli said:
"The new emperor is different from both the previous crown prince and the previous emperor. He is ruthless, cunning, and cold-blooded, never swayed by others. However, he also has weaknesses. Like Emperor Taizu and the previous crown prince, he possesses a benevolent heart and cares about the people's livelihood and the great Wei empire..."
"Is he kind?" The head of the Fan family said in a strange tone.
"What else?"
Feng Qiuli looked at him and said, "If he didn't care about the stability of the country and the spread of war, he could have exposed the incident at the Mid-Autumn Palace Banquet and replaced Xie Tianyong, right?"
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