Chapter 65: The Pharmacist at the Abandoned Prince's Mansion
After Jiang Cheng returned home, he did not go to the study to handle government affairs as usual, but went straight to find Zhang.
After coming over, Jiang Cheng asked the servants in the room to leave first, and then his face suddenly became gloomy. He stared at Zhang with a terrifying look, which made Zhang shudder.
"Master, what happened?" Zhang forced a smile.
Jiang Cheng asked, "Where are the Tan Xiang people?"
Zhang was so frightened that her face turned pale. She didn't dare to look up at Jiang Cheng. She said with a guilty look on her face, "I asked the doctor to see her this morning. He said she needed to rest, so I let her go home first."
"You still don't tell the truth!" Jiang Cheng slammed the table in anger. Zhang was so frightened that her whole body trembled and her voice was a little trembling, but she continued to play dumb and said, "Master, what are you talking about? What's the truth? Tan Xiang really went home."
Seeing that Zhang was still quibbling and refusing to repent, Jiang Cheng was so angry that his face turned blue. He stopped talking to her and told her directly that the person had been taken to the Marquis' Mansion. Zhang was still pretending to be confused with a glimmer of hope, so Jiang Cheng simply laid things out to her and told her that Tan Xiang had confessed everything.
"I always thought you were really good to Lan'er, but I didn't expect you to order someone to secretly drug Lan'er. No wonder Lan'er has been so weak all these years. It turns out it was all your fault. How could you be so vicious? You are such a vicious person!" Jiang Cheng became more and more angry as he spoke, his hands shaking with anger. "Even though Lan'er is not your biological daughter, she has called you mother all these years. How could you do such a heartless thing? I shouldn't have married you in the first place!"
Seeing that the truth had been revealed, Zhang was still thinking of using her previous tactics of crying, making a scene, and even threatening to hang herself. However, after hearing Jiang Cheng's last words, her heart instantly turned cold. She sneered, "You regret marrying me now. Why didn't you regret marrying me when you were cheating on your first wife with me?"
Jiang Cheng was so angry that his face turned green and his lips trembled, as if he had been hit in the back of his head. He was in his most embarrassing state, and he disregarded his usual decency and completely broke off relations with Zhang. "If you hadn't tricked me into getting pregnant, and your father hadn't threatened me with his career and reputation, I would have married a slut like you. Forget it!"
Zhang's heart sank when she heard the word "slut". She sneered, "I am a slut, and you, sir, are an adulterer. We are the same, neither of us is cleaner."
Jiang Cheng was so angry that he slapped her in the face. Zhang was dazed and took a while to recover. Then she rushed over and pounced on Jiang Cheng, beating and biting him, wanting to die together with this unfaithful man.
When the housekeeper rushed in and pulled Zhang away, Jiang Cheng had been bitten several times on the shoulder. He was so angry that he cursed her as a shrew. Zhang collapsed on the ground, her face ashen. She was indifferent to Jiang Cheng's scolding and had become numb.
After calming down, Jiang Cheng asked the housekeeper to go down first. He glanced coldly at Zhang, who was slumped on the ground, and said, "Do you know who prepared the medicine?"
Zhang's face was numb and she didn't react at all.
Jiang Cheng snorted coldly, "That man used to be the pharmacist in the abandoned prince's mansion." After hearing this, Zhang Shi finally reacted slightly. Jiang Cheng questioned, "Do you want your entire family to be confiscated and exterminated? Even if you don't care about Shen'er and Lan'er, Yao'er and Rui'er are your biological children. Do you want them to die with you?"
After hearing the last two sentences, Zhang suddenly came back to her senses. She was frightened again and her voice became weak. "How do I know he is the pharmacist of the deposed prince's mansion? I have never been to the prince's mansion, so how can I know who is the pharmacist..."
Jiang Cheng snorted coldly, "Save these words for Marquis Jin'an."
Zhang thought for a moment and directed the blame to Jiang Lan, saying that the relationship between the two was not simple. Maybe Jiang Lan had said something to Qi Wuhan in private, so he had Tan Xiang arrested and tortured into confessing. He also wanted to put such a serious crime on the Shangshu Mansion. He said that the man was the pharmacist of the deposed prince's mansion. Who knows whether it is true or not?
"Master, don't you think that girl has become a completely different person since the Duke's Mansion broke off the engagement? Who knows what she's thinking now? Maybe she's been possessed by some evil spirit and wants to bring disaster to everyone in the mansion. Only then will she feel happy~"
The more Jiang Cheng listened, the more outrageous it seemed. He was so angry that he called Zhang a fool and didn't want to say anything more to her. After coming out, he instructed the housekeeper to keep a close eye on Zhang and the servants in the yard and not to let any news leak out.
After arriving at the study, Jiang Cheng sat quietly inside for a while, then stood up and wandered around for a while, and then asked someone to call Jiang Lan over.
After Jiang Lan came over, Jiang Cheng first asked about her recent health condition with concern. Jiang Lan replied that she was much better than before. Jiang Cheng saw that her complexion was indeed much better than before. After thinking for a while, he tentatively asked, "Do you know why your father came back so late today?"
Jiang Lan naturally knew the reason. Qi Wuhan told her everything in the note that Yuanbao sent to her, but she still shook her head and pretended not to know.
Jiang Cheng tried again, "After the court session today, Marquis Jin'an invited my father over."
Jiang Lan looked surprised, "The Marquis invited my father over?"
Jiang Cheng nodded, and seeing that she really knew nothing, he thought for a while and told her that Tan Xiang was captured by the Black Armor Guards.
Jiang Lan covered her mouth in surprise and asked what happened?
Jiang Cheng said that Tan Xiang had committed a serious crime and was related to the pharmacist in the mansion of the deposed prince of the previous dynasty. Now she was being held in the marquis' mansion for interrogation. If she spoke nonsense, the entire mansion might be implicated and punished.
Thinking about how he had worked diligently for more than twenty years to get his current position as Shangshu, and that Jiang Shen would also be on the list of successful candidates in the next spring examination, his future was limitless. If this incident ruined the future of his entire family, how could he face his ancestors? Thinking of this, Jiang Cheng felt more and more sad and depressed, and his whole body became desolate and miserable.
Jiang Lan comforted him by saying, "Father has always been diligent and has never slacked off. The Marquis is not blind either, so I don't think he will wrongly accuse the innocent."
"I hope so." Jiang Cheng sighed again, "You are young, and you don't know how many people were implicated in the case of the deposed crown prince. At that time, anyone who was found to have any connection with the deposed crown prince was imprisoned." At this point, he looked up at Jiang Lan, hesitant to speak, and after a moment's deliberation, he said, "You said before that the Marquis helped you..."
Jiang Lan also heard some hidden meanings and said bluntly, "If I go to the Marquis to plead for mercy now, people will suspect that I am guilty and am here to gather information. Father, please be patient. Since the Marquis invited you to come over after arresting the person, he must know that given your character, you would not have any connection with those people, so he asked you to go over and ask in private first."
After listening to Jiang Lan's logical analysis, Jiang Cheng had some idea in his mind. He felt that Jiang Lan had really grown a lot. If she were a man, she would be able to take on the responsibility of the family.
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