Chapter 63 Chapter 63 [VIP]
Chapter 63
As soon as the identities of Prince Song and Master Shen were restored, any wealthy businessman with a bit of status in Yangzhou sent invitations before the prefect's invitation letter was sent out, hoping to visit Prince Song and take the initiative to ask the court to go and conduct a thorough investigation and reprimand.
The Park family can no longer turn a deaf ear and dumb.
On the second day after the third lady was arrested, the second master of the Park family who was stationed at the salt field arrived and personally brought a letter to the door, requesting to meet the prince and apologize to him in person for the matter of the third lady.
Song Yunzhi didn't meet any of them and rejected them one by one.
Today was the third time the second master of the Pu family had come to visit. Finally, there was a turning point. Wang Zhao handed him the invitation and asked, "The Crown Prince will gather the wealthy merchants of Yangzhou tonight for a discussion. We would appreciate if someone from the Pu family could come and have a say."
The second master of the Pu family sensed the threat in his words.
What he meant was that the current Prince Song of the Yong'an Marquisate was not sure which of the masters of the Pu family was worthy of meeting him.
The implication is that his identity as the second master of the Pu family may not be enough.
The second master of the Pu family immediately knelt at the prefect's door and made the Pu family's stance clear. "The head of the family had already sent a letter upon learning that the Crown Prince was visiting Yangzhou. He is stationed across the strait and cannot return for the time being. He urged the entire Pu family to not neglect the Crown Prince. As for the Third Madam's actions, the head of the family has made it clear that the Crown Prince must understand. The Pu family is utterly loyal to the court. If the Third Madam has truly committed treason and offended the Crown Prince, the Park family will show no mercy and will allow the Crown Prince to punish her."
His words were flawless and beautiful. He was going to cut off the tail and abandon the third wife.
Wang Zhao also heard that the head of the Park family would not come to Yangzhou.
If the head of the family doesn't come, then it's just him, Second Master Park? The power of the third branch of the Park family is concentrated in the hands of the first branch. Only the head of the Park family has the final say. If the Park family sends the crown prince away, isn't that a bit too perfunctory?
Master Park saw the doubt on Wang Zhao's face and said hurriedly, "The headmaster's wife has already left for Haizhou and is on her way. She will definitely be able to keep the appointment with the Crown Prince tonight and apologize to him in person."
——
The eldest lady arrived at the port of Yangzhou in the evening of that day. She had been sitting in the carriage for a long time and was vomiting and fainting. She had no choice but to take the water route, but the water route was roundabout and it took more than three days to reach Yangzhou.
Also returning with them was the third son, Park Seung-ji.
The boat docked, and the third young master helped the eldest lady out of the cabin.
Looking at the familiar port in front of her, Mrs. Park couldn't help feeling emotional. After two years, she set foot on the land of Yangzhou again.
Two years ago, in order to cut off the eldest son's infatuation, she moved to Haizhou with him, deliberately avoiding the Qian family's Seventh Lady, and ordered the Park family not to tell the Seventh Lady the whereabouts of the eldest son.
Two years have passed and Yangzhou has changed a lot.
Only two of the four major families remained, and the Qian family became the only survivor among the three major families.
The last time the Third Lady rushed to Haizhou, she told her that the Seventh Lady of the Qian Family was no longer the naive girl who clamored to see the eldest son and eloped with him. This lady was very capable and had defeated two big families one after another. Once she was used by the court, she would probably become a strong rival of the Park Family and even replace the Park Family.
Therefore, the third lady suggested using the eldest son's marriage as bait to let the seventh lady of the Qian family assassinate Prince Song.
Regardless of success or failure, the Park family will be the beneficiary.
She agreed, and just like she had forced them to separate, she also forced them to reconcile.
But the result was not as they wished. Now Qian Qi Niang is not dead, and Prince Song is alive and well, but the Third Lady herself was implicated.
A few days ago, the news that the second son was wanted by Zhang Wen of the court came back. The first lady even asked the third lady what was going on. Before leaving, the third lady promised her that she would bring the second son out safely.
The second young master was not brought out, and then another piece of bad news came.
The head of the family transferred the third wife to Yangzhou because he liked her efficiency, strong personality and ability to control the second young master. Who would have thought that one after another, they would fall into the hands of the court.
The eldest lady still doesn't understand what happened.
Only the confidants around the Third Madam knew about the assassination arranged by her in Pearl Harbor, but now those confidants are either dead or imprisoned in the prefectural government with her.
The person who reported the news could not explain it clearly, but only said that Prince Song had found out the truth behind the Lu family's massacre, arrested several thugs who were ordered by the Second Young Master to beat up Second Master Qian, and after torture, they gave up the Second Young Master.
Such evidence is not enough to close the case.
However, Prince Song did not hesitate to post a notice, openly wanted the Second Young Master. In addition, the Third Lady could not find any trace of the Second Young Master, so she suspected that he was imprisoned in the Prefectural Mansion. She was worried and gathered people to go to the Prefectural Mansion to break out of the prison five days ago. She was caught red-handed by the Young Master of the Shen Family. She escaped from his hands, but was captured by Song Yunzhi on the spot.
All is lost.
Not only did he lose the wife, but he also lost his army.
The eldest lady hadn't rested well during the three days she spent on the boat. When she disembarked, she looked haggard and in a bad mood. When she saw the servants from the Park family coming to meet her, she scolded them, "The two masters of the Park family are in prison, but you are free."
The servants lowered their heads and dared not speak.
The eldest lady had no time to deal with household affairs, so she took the girl with her and walked halfway.
She wore a moon-white plain jacket with narrow sleeves and a plain belt. Under the afterglow of the setting sun, her hair was adorned with a brilliant golden hue. She smiled at the Madam and saluted, saying, "I once said that when the Madam returns to Yangzhou,
The person who came was the seventh lady of the Qian family.
It's her, and she is also the person I want to see the most. The last time they parted in Haizhou, they showed their true feelings and they have a harmonious relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
.
Since she is not dead, Haizhou's promise cannot be erased.
It was such a huge irony that when the eldest lady saw her, she suddenly felt ashamed that all the hard work she had put in to move to Haizhou was in vain.
She really wished she would die sooner.
The Third Lady's plan was flawless. Why was it that she was imprisoned in the end, while the Seventh Lady of the Qian Family was still safe and sound? At that time, the only person who knew the inside story was the Seventh Lady Qian. The First Lady suppressed her inner disgust and smiled at her, "Seventh Lady is thoughtful."
"Aunt, there's no need to be so formal. We're all family." Qian Tong glanced at the Third Young Master beside her, as if he truly considered himself a member of the Park family. He greeted him warmly, "Ji Bai is back too?"
The Third Young Master smiled when he saw her, and when she greeted him, he returned the greeting and said with a smile, "Greetings, Seventh Lady."
"I haven't seen you in years. You've grown quite a bit taller." Qian Tong asked about him and praised him, "You're becoming more and more handsome. You're quite like your brother back then."
When the eldest lady heard her mention the eldest son without any reservation, her expression changed slightly. She was really not shy.
The Third Young Master was already sixteen years old this year. Following the First Madam's side, he dealt with the relationships between the Imperial Court and the Prince's Palace, and had seen a lot of the world. He was just as gentle, but he lacked the First Young Master's calmness, and was more rigidly polite. He smiled and said, "It's been years since I last saw Sister Tong. Sister Tong is becoming more and more radiant."
"Okay." The eldest lady interrupted: "Get in the car first."
Qian Tong gave way to the carriage behind him and explained, "Today, the Song prince has invited a dozen or so merchants from Yangzhou to a banquet for a meeting, including both the Pu and Qian families. On the way, I ran into Mr. Pu, and learned that the eldest lady would be arriving at the port today. I thought it wouldn't be too late to pick her up and then go to the appointment together. Mr. Pu has already arrived at the prefectural government, and he asked me to tell her to hurry and invite her to take my carriage."
Mrs. Park was stunned.
She came back from Haizhou just to meet Prince Song.
At that time, the Song prince invited all the major merchants, which must be related to his Pu family. The eldest lady couldn't miss it. She happened to have something to ask Qian Tong, so she turned to the third young master beside her and said, "You take the carriage at the back. I will talk to Qian Qi Niang."
After the two of them got into the carriage, Madam Park asked directly, "What's going on with the Third Madam?"
Qian Tong didn't answer immediately, but handed her a cup of tea. "I remember my aunt suffers from motion sickness, so I specially prepared some tea to help alleviate the symptoms."
When she first arrived in Haizhou, she didn't dare drink her tea. At that time, the eldest lady also didn't dare drink her things, and replied perfunctorily, "It's been a long time."
"That's great." Qian Tong ignored her awkward look and insisted on getting closer to her. "Auntie is in good health, so I'm relieved."
Mrs. Park was not used to her approach, but had to endure it. She wanted to say that since she did not fulfill the conditions proposed by the Park family, the marriage would not count.
But the identity of the prince has been exposed. Questioning her again would be equivalent to telling her that the Park family had known about the identity of the prince Song for a long time and wanted to use her to kill people.
Now that things have come to this, the eldest lady can only suffer in silence.
She didn't want to listen to her useless nonsense and asked her again: "Why did the Third Madam fall into the hands of Prince Song?" She didn't believe that with the way the Third Madam handled things, she would do such a stupid thing as jailbreaking.
After the first lady finished asking, she saw Qian Tong pursed his lips, with a look of resentment on his face, "I also want to ask the third lady about this matter, what exactly does she want to do."
"She urged me to kill the Seventh Uncle quickly so that he could be engaged to the eldest son. I agreed and planned to lure him to the sea and get rid of him without anyone noticing. But instead of luring him, we alerted the court. And guess what? The Seventh Uncle we wanted to kill has transformed into the current official, Prince Song."
Qian Tong said aggrievedly, "I had no prior knowledge of the situation and was suddenly surrounded by the imperial court. I had no way to retreat. Not to mention killing anyone, I was stabbed on the spot by the Song prince. If I hadn't carried the herbs that the eldest son gave me, I'm afraid the eldest lady would never see me again. She would be heartbroken."
When the eldest lady listened to her speak, she always felt that it was difficult to take a deep breath.
How could she not know Song Yunzhi's identity? Why is she pretending here?
Qian Tong continued, "I hadn't figured out what was going on when we were ambushed by a wave of assassins hiding in the shadows. I barely escaped to the boat, barely hanging on for dear life. Watching the scene from afar, my heart sank. They were using bows, crossbows, and gunpowder, and they didn't intend to leave anyone alive. Aunt, who else in Yangzhou could be as capable as you?" The grievance in her eyes grew thicker, tears welling up in her eyes. She bit her lip and said, "Besides the Third Madam, I really can't think of anyone else."
Mrs. Park said nothing.
I finally understood what was going on.
The Third Lady wanted to kill two birds with one stone and get rid of both the Prince and her Qian Qi Niang at the same time.
But why did it fail?
Qian Tong continued, "I understood afterwards. The Third Madam was planning to secretly kill Prince Song in order to avenge the Second Young Master. If that were the case, she should have explained it to me earlier. This would have prevented her from being caught red-handed by both the village and the court."
The eldest lady's eyelids jumped. "What village?"
Qian Tong said, "Madam, you've been in Haizhou these past two years. You don't know how arrogant those thieves from the Duan family are. Just because I robbed his account book, he's been seeking revenge ever since. Whenever my Qian family's cargo fleet shows up, he'll rob it. In just two months, I've lost more than a dozen carts of salt. Not long ago, a batch of swords and guns that I was shipping to form a guard team were also robbed by him. He took a boomerang and used them all on us that night. I was blocked at sea by the people from the village, and I lost my warship and a shipload of food that was originally intended for the eldest young master."
The eldest lady held her breath when she heard this.
"The Third Madam suffered even greater losses. The Crown Prince found a few survivors and brought them back to the Prefectural Government. I knew the Third Madam was impetuous, so I ignored my injuries and went to persuade her not to act rashly. But she wouldn't listen. She said she had already lost the Second Young Master and had such a powerful handle on him that she couldn't explain it to the Patriarch and his wife. Even if she died, she would still go to the Prefectural Government."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
