Chapter 64 Chapter 64 In the Imperial Study...
The imperial study was in a mess, with all kinds of broken bottles, jars and books lying on the floor. There was an overturned ink bottle on the table, and ink was splattered everywhere.
I guess it was because the King of Loulan got angry just now and acted like a desktop cleaning master, throwing everything on the table onto the ground.
The King of Loulan adhered to the principle of acting to the end. Even now, his face was still red, his eyes were wide open, and he was holding on to the table and gasping for breath.
Several eunuchs came in hunched over and cleaned the floor, then retreated without daring to breathe, fearing that his anger would affect innocent people.
Jiang Wan went in only after the eunuchs had gone far away.
The King of Loulan politely invited her to sit down and explained, "Your Excellency has misunderstood. How could I dare to deceive you with such a pretense? Yao Ji did this because I was negligent and allowed a vicious person to stay around, leading to disaster. I am deeply saddened by the Queen's death and will definitely punish Yao Ji severely. However, now that things have come to this, I am willing to personally write a letter to the Emperor of Great Zhou to apologize and hold a grand funeral for the Queen. I hope your Excellency can put in a good word for me."
Jiang Wan raised an eyebrow: "Is being confined to a pagoda and copying scriptures considered a severe punishment?"
The King of Loulan touched his nose awkwardly. "This... Yao Ji is the third prince's biological mother after all. A harsh punishment would be detrimental to the royal family. As you know, I recently planned to make the third prince the crown prince."
Jiang Wan remained silent, staring at the King of Loulan calmly. The imperial study was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The King of Loulan felt uneasy under this gaze.
"The Crown Prince's affairs are your country's internal affairs, so I'm not in a position to interfere. But to be honest, I don't want to speak well of Your Majesty," Jiang Wan said. "Princess Qingrong traveled thousands of miles to marry in Loulan, but you never treated her as your wife. You only gave her the honor of queen for the sake of the Great Zhou alliance. When the relationship between our two countries was stable, you favored your concubine over your wife, allowing Yao Ji to poison her. Now that the Great Zhou is seeking new allies, you regret it."
"Even if you don't love the princess, shouldn't you still fulfill your responsibilities as a husband? As a woman, I feel unfair for the princess."
After hearing these words, the King of Loulan looked ashamed and lowered his head in silence.
Jiang Wan changed the subject: "In fact, you are still unwilling to severely punish Yao Ji. It's nothing more than that the Emperor of the Great Zhou has ignored the princess in recent years. You are hoping that he will not care about the princess's death, right?"
"No, no," the King of Loulan subconsciously denied it after his thoughts were revealed, but he couldn't help but raise his head to observe Jiang Wan's reaction.
He hoped to find some evidence from her reaction that Princess Qingrong was not cared about.
But Jiang Wan's eyes were calm, without any clues to be seen.
"I wasn't even born when the princess got married. It's not for a mere envoy like me to ask about the relationship between the emperor and the princess," Jiang Wan said. "But there's one thing I must remind you of. The emperor is your brother, and he's also the king. Even if he doesn't care about the princess's death, he certainly doesn't care about the dignity of the Great Zhou royal family."
"If the princess had truly died of an illness caused by acclimatization, perhaps he wouldn't have pursued the matter. However, the princess was murdered by your concubine, which has damaged the dignity of the entire imperial family. The Great Zhou will never tolerate this."
Jiang Wan's words were full of emotion and logic, and every word was so insightful that the King of Loulan nodded repeatedly.
Only then did he sincerely regard her as an envoy of the Great Zhou, rather than a little girl traveling in the Western Regions.
He bowed deeply according to the etiquette of the Central Plains and said solemnly, "Your Excellency's words are like a ray of hope, and I am deeply grateful. So, in your opinion, what should I do to appease the wrath of your emperor?"
Unconsciously, he changed his self-proclaimed name from "Gu" to "I." After noticing the difference, it was time for Jiang Wan to make a request.
However, in order to ensure that Aigu had more opportunities, she decided to take a roundabout approach.
Jiang Wan held his forehead in his hand, as if thinking. "Now that things have come to this, it's indeed difficult to handle. Logically, Your Majesty must execute Yao Ji and present her head to the Great Zhou as a token of his sincerity. He must also revoke the Third Prince's right to inherit the throne."
"This..." The King of Loulan looked troubled. "I only have two princes, and Aigu is a useless child. If I cancel the third prince's inheritance rights, who can I pass the throne to?"
Jiang Wan: "Your Majesty is in the prime of life, so why not have another child? If all else fails, you can adopt a child of good character from a branch of the royal family, or pass the throne to your Majesty's brother."
That being said, looking at the graying hair on the Loulan King's temples, one could tell that the so-called "giving birth to another child" was just a polite remark. As for adopting a child, after all, that wasn't his own bloodline, and the same was true for passing the throne to a brother.
In the eyes of the old King of Loulan, he feels more at ease with his own son.
The King of Loulan asked carefully, "Your Excellency, is there no other way?"
Jiang Wan pretended to hesitate: "This... there is a way, but I'm afraid it might offend people if I tell you."
"It's okay, please speak." The King of Loulan completely trusted her at this time and asked anxiously.
"Since you are unwilling to severely punish Yao Ji, you can only give the princess sufficient compensation to show your respect for the Great Zhou. Although the princess has passed away, her only bloodline still exists." Jiang Wan said slowly, "Why not give the princess a grand funeral and appoint the second prince as crown prince?"
If Jiang Wan had made this request without the foreshadowing, she would have been kicked out of the Imperial Study. Therefore, while changing her clothes, she gathered her thoughts and chose the method that would best impress the King of Loulan.
After all, she had experienced countless business negotiations in her previous life, so she was very good at fooling people.
As expected, the King of Loulan was shaken: "Your Excellency's idea is indeed good, but my second son is uneducated and unskilled. If he becomes the crown prince, I am afraid it will be difficult to convince the people."
Jiang Wan took a sip from his teacup. "This is just a temporary appointment as Crown Prince, a stopgap measure. If in a year or two Your Majesty really doesn't like the Second Prince, then just depose him."
This sentence completely dispelled the King of Loulan's suspicion that Jiang Wan was interfering in the succession of the crown prince. He immediately agreed to her suggestion and sent her to the best palace to rest with many thanks.
Jiang Wan declined the king's kindness and hurried out of the palace to check on the factory's handling situation.
When she left the palace, she looked back, feeling overwhelmed with emotion.
She did her best to fight for Aigu. The road of palace fighting is long, I hope he can hold on.
It was already daybreak when they arrived at the factory. Jiang Wan, resisting the urge to sleep, inquired about the situation.
Fang Hong and Li, the guards, were highly efficient. The fire in the factory was extinguished, nearby residents were rehoused, the injured were sent to the hospital, and no one died. Porcelain production was suspended, security was tightened around the factory, and additional sand and soil were added.
This was a blessing in disguise. With Yao Ji confined to reflect on her mistakes and Aigu being crowned the crown prince, the Third Prince must have been too overwhelmed to bother inciting the people.
As long as we explain the compensation properly tomorrow, we should be able to maintain our reputation.
Jiang Wan felt relieved and briefly explained the palace affairs. She also brought a message to Guard Li on behalf of Aigu, explaining that he could not go to Wudang Mountain. Although Guard Li felt sorry, he also understood.
Jiang Wan explained the compensation matters several times, returned to the house, and fell asleep.
A white dove flew close to the roof, flew to Lin'an City, and landed in a plain house.
A fair, scholarly hand took the letter and unfolded it. After a moment, the owner of the hand chuckled softly:
"Jiang Wan? Interesting. I never found her so interesting before."
When Jiang Wan woke up, it was already dusk. She was very hungry, so she went out with Fang Hong to find some food, and while they ate, she listened to her talk about the day's events.
As she expected, after explaining the situation and providing compensation, Jiang's reputation remained intact. They even gained some favor due to their good handling of the aftermath.
The decree to establish the crown prince came down at noon, and Princess Qingrong's funeral was also held in a grand manner, with white sails hoisted throughout.
After finishing her story, Fang Hong slurped a mouthful of noodles and said, "Until you get your shop license, I plan to stay here and continue selling porcelain. Firstly, we've worked so hard to build a good reputation, we can't just give up. Secondly, after the princess passed away, we became the Crown Prince's family. I can help out a little bit by staying here, and I can also send you a message if anything happens."
Jiang Wan looked at the other person's serious expression and knew that she had made up her mind.
She nodded and said nothing.
"Please give my regards to the Lady of the County. We grew up together, and I'm afraid she'll worry." Fang Hong said again.
For many days, apart from porcelain, almost nothing else could arouse her emotions. But when she mentioned her childhood friend, a rare touch of nostalgia flashed in her eyes.
Jiang Wan promised: "Don't worry."
On the morning of March 24, Jiang Wan's convoy set off to return to Xiaofangpan City, one day later than expected.
After her reputation was restored, the system returned fifty points to her. As Loulan's return route was safer, she didn't store the remaining silver bushes in her personal space, but instead bought some ice to preserve them.
After deducting space usage points, her points returned to 132 points.
As the convoy left the city, Aigu sent a message thanking her for helping him secure the crown prince position. He was busy and couldn't see Jiang Wan off, so he hoped she would forgive him.
He also said that when she got the license and opened the new store in the future, he would dig out Yao Ji's heart blood as a celebration.
Jiang Wan started laughing as she listened. Her tone wasn't at all like the Aigu she knew, but rather a bit like her past life self.
She nodded to indicate that she had received it, and then went to count the number of people in the convoy.
Twenty-four Wusun chariot drivers and guards, plus guard Li, the female guide and myself, a total of twenty-seven people.
Jiang Wan suddenly said to the female guide, "Sister Liu, when we set out from Xiaofangpan City, there were nine of us, right?"
"Yes," the female guide sighed, "only three of the original crew are left. But that's not surprising. It's not uncommon for a caravan to lose half its crew after two months of traveling in the desert. Besides, the hardships and dangers of Boss Jiang's journey are unprecedented."
Jiang Wan suppressed his inner disappointment and said with a smile, "Then I'll have to give you more money."
"I wouldn't dare pay more. Just what I saw and heard on this trip is enough for me to brag about for the rest of my life." The female guide also laughed.
The early morning sun shone on the road ahead, and the tip of his nose was filled with the scent of dew. Jiang Wan said goodbye to those who had seen him off and set out on the road home.
She had never wanted to go home so badly.
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