Chapter 18 Pretend to be sick before checking the details
"Your Highness," He Zhilin looked at Jiang Xue and said, "I guess you are suspicious of——"
"This woman and her child have a close relationship with Gu Lintan."
Jiang Xue nodded solemnly with a serious expression.
Jiang Yu said: "What if it is true as he said, that she is the mistress of his cousin from his hometown?"
“Not likely.”
He Zhilin spoke decisively, "I was taken to the woman's residence by Huang Fu this morning to see the child. Huang Fu was very respectful to her."
"And there are actually five or six servants in that small courtyard."
"When she saw Huang Fu, she called him 'Uncle Huang' without thinking. The two seemed to be very familiar with each other."
"I didn't pay much attention to it at first. I was just busy treating the child. After I finished the examination, I came out with the woman. Huang Fu was instructing the servants there. When he saw the woman, he bowed to her."
"The prescription I wrote was also taken by Huang Fu to get the medicine. It did not pass through the hands of ordinary servants. It can be seen that he is very nervous about the child."
"If she was just a concubine of a brother in the clan, why would the housekeeper of the Gu Mansion be so respectful? Why would she be served by so many servants?"
Jiang Yu was surprised and asked: "Could it be..."
"That child..." Jiang Xue spoke slowly.
"That child looks about 70% similar to Gu Lintan." He Zhilin said.
He Zhilin looked at Jiang Xue and said firmly, "Is your guess consistent with mine?"
Jiang Xue nodded.
"Could that woman be Gu Lintan's own mistress?" Jiang Yu's anger grew, and he asked, "He just got married to Xue'er, and he dared to keep a mistress secretly?"
"Mistress?" Jiang Xue snorted coldly.
"I don't think he has a concubine. The child looks about three or four years old." He Zhilin said, "Three or four years ago, he was just an ordinary scholar in Jiaodong, and he was unmarried. If he found a woman he liked, he could just marry her. Why would he keep a concubine?"
"I'm afraid that woman is his original wife." Jiang Xue said coldly.
Jiang Yu's expression became increasingly gloomy.
Jiang Xue was always paying attention to Jiang Yu's expression.
She was reluctant to tell this to her brother at first, for she was worried that given Jiang Yu's temper, he might explode immediately.
If he gets angry, it will only alert the enemy.
Fortunately, Jiang Yu just looked gloomy and was not very excited.
He Zhilin said: "That is to say, our prince consort is most likely trying to deceive the princess into getting a marriage contract and deceiving the emperor."
"It's more than that." Jiang Yu said in a deep voice.
"If he is greedy for wealth and fame, he can just abandon his original wife in Jiaodong. If he is more cruel, he can just find someone to deal with it."
"Why did he bring her and her son to the capital and raise them by his side?"
"It seems that he wants both the title of a royal consort and his wife."
The more Jiang Yu spoke, the colder his words became.
"And Xue'er, I'm afraid he's using her as a tool to ascend to the top, a ladder to heaven."
After he finished speaking, he looked at Jiang Xue and asked:
"What are your plans for this matter?"
"Brother, don't you plan to report this to our father directly?" Jiang Xue joked.
"We haven't caught the person yet. If there is no witness, it will be difficult to prove his crime of deceiving the emperor. Instead, he may bite back and accuse you of being disrespectful to women and jealous by nature." Jiang Yu said.
He said seriously: "Not only that."
"Even if I can get the person, I don't plan to get him at the moment."
"How did Gu Lintan hide the fact from the local students from the various examinations, including the provincial examination, the imperial examination, and even the palace examination, and did not let anyone find out that he already had a wife until he won the first place?"
"Unless he had plans for Princess Shang from the beginning."
"But from what Zhilin said, he must have deep feelings for his first wife. Otherwise, why would he be willing to take the risk and bring her to the capital to take care of her?"
"With such a woman in his heart, how could he have planned to marry another princess from the moment he embarked on the path of the imperial examination?"
As soon as Jiang Yu finished speaking, Jiang Xue continued;
"As my brother said, I also thought about it last night."
"When you think about these things, they are always contradictory. If there are contradictions, you can know that——"
"He probably has other intentions."
She looked at He Zhilin: "So I originally wanted to borrow your clues to find out the whereabouts of the mother and son."
"Only if I find him can I investigate layer by layer to find out how he was able to get through so many connections that he could even deceive the royal family."
He Zhilin said: "Your Highnesses, don't forget the one hundred taels of silver he gave me."
"Yes," Jiang Xue said.
"He was so generous today, not only because he wanted to shut up Brother He, but also because—"
"He doesn't need money at all!"
"This is totally inconsistent with the situation of students reported by the Ministry of Rites."
"You must know that the cost of his marriage to me is countless."
"The Ministry of Rites reported that he had a poor family background since he was young. He only had an old mother at home, and they relied on a few acres of thin land to support him to study and take the imperial examinations. It was not easy."
Therefore, many matters were handled by the palace, and Gu Lintan was not responsible for them. Because the emperor valued talent and loved his daughter, he paid for all expenses and also gave him a mansion.
After a discussion among them, they felt that there might be a deeper story behind this.
Jiang Xue said:
"Brother, he is definitely not here for fame and fortune."
Jiang Yu said: "I understand, this person has a lot to explore."
Jiang Xue asked, "Who is the one that the Ministry of Rites is in charge of examining for the palace examination candidates?"
Jiang Yu replied: "The family background, native place, and background of the students who are eligible for the palace examination, as well as their parents' three generations, will be carefully examined by local officials and compiled into a student register, which will be reported to the Ministry of Rites and reviewed by the Minister of Rites."
"Do you suspect that there is something wrong with the officials who reviewed these registers?"
Jiang Xue said: "Yes, I have this suspicion."
"No," Jiang Yu shook his head. "Although the register is reviewed by the Ministry of Rites, each place needs to provide an official as a 'guarantor'. Only after the Minister of Rites and these guarantors have verified that everything is correct can the students be given the qualification to be considered."
"If you're talking about bribing local officials, it's possible. But if you're talking about bribing a third-rank official in the imperial court? If Gu Lintan is so well-connected, how could he be so unknown and unnamed in the State of Ji?"
Jiang Xue thought about it carefully and said, "The only solution now is to make my brother suffer for a little longer."
She said slowly, "He is not interested in me, but in the court. Now the emperor is increasingly interested in supporting him. If you return to the North, the emperor will have to rely on grandfather for government affairs."
"He became my grandfather's student. Now he not only has a seat in the Hanlin Academy, but is also increasingly involved in the affairs of the Shangshutai."
"I understand," Jiang Yu nodded, and said, "Although I have been away from the capital for three years, I am still the most respected person under my father in matters in the capital."
"I will report to my father tomorrow, asking for permission to stay in the capital to relieve his worries."
"I will pay more attention to his interactions in the court in the future, and I will find an appropriate time to remind my father."
Jiang Xue nodded and knelt down gently to greet Jiang Yu.
"As for me, if he has any personal connections with others, he will definitely have to go to the Gu Mansion."
She said, "I will instruct some of the people I brought here to keep a close eye on the Gu Mansion."
"Besides, I have to find out about that mother and son."
She looked at He Zhilin.
At this moment, Xiaochun gently knocked on the door.
"Your Highness, Huang Fu is here and we are asking him to wait in the courtyard."
Jiang Xue frowned and said, "I see. Just invite him in."
At this moment, He Zhilin suddenly stepped forward and whispered:
"Your Highness, when you see Huang Fu later, and even during dinner, please pretend to have a headache."
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