Chapter 90 We need to find out who wants to use this knife.
Lady Jiangling was already suffering from a headache, and the noise outside made it worse. She said to the person outside, "Why aren't you going to see who's making such a racket and showing no manners?"
No sooner had she finished speaking than her eldest son, Zhang Qihong, rushed in, panting and shouting, "Father, Mother, the Embroidered Uniform Guard! The Embroidered Uniform Guard!"
Marquis Jiangling, who had just broken out in a cold sweat from his speculations, collapsed to the ground upon hearing about the Embroidered Uniform Guard. His wife, however, hadn't grasped the gravity of the situation. Looking bewildered, she asked, "What Embroidered Uniform Guard? Is it Prince An visiting? Go and greet him!"
"Mother!" Zhang Qihong shouted, "The truth has been revealed."
"What...what happened..." Lady Jiangling wanted to say that her secret had been exposed, but when she thought of the Jiangling Marquis and his son's smuggling of salt, she couldn't say anything more. She was trembling uncontrollably.
She always thought that the Jiangling Marquis and his son's salt smuggling was just a temporary measure to solve the Marquis's family's financial difficulties. Once they made money and alleviated the family's problems, they would stop, and no one would know anything about it, and nothing would happen.
"Did you tell the Duke of Chu?" Marquis Jiangling stood up, leaning on the table, and asked Zhang Xiangling.
At first, Zhang Xiangling didn't understand what he meant. But when she remembered what the Lady of Jiangling had told her about the Jiangling Marquis and his son's smuggling of salt, she realized that the Jiangling Marquis was questioning her.
She suddenly felt incredibly wronged. Her husband had suddenly become an illegitimate son and died, and now her father and brothers had been discovered smuggling salt, while her biological father was questioning her about revealing the secret. Why did all the bad things have to happen to her?
But she didn't consider why she hadn't stopped the Marquis of Jiangling and his son from smuggling salt when she first learned of it. If she had stopped them immediately, cleaned up the mess, and covered it up, the Duke of Chu's mansion wouldn't have been so ruthless towards them, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard wouldn't have come knocking on their door.
It can only be said that she lacks a sense of the big picture. When two things happened at the same time, she could only see her own gains and losses and ignored the bigger picture.
"I didn't, I didn't tell anyone," Zhang Xiangling said, tears streaming down her face.
"You didn't say why the Duke of Chu treated us this way, or why the Marquis of Anyuan's mansion took their daughter away so quickly?" Marquis Jiangling roared at Zhang Xiangling.
Zhang Xiangling was heartbroken, tears streaming down her face. "Father, am I stupid? How could I tell someone such a confidential matter?"
"If it wasn't you, then who else could it be?" Marquis Jiangling glared at Zhang Xiangling, as if he wanted to devour her.
That's how cowardly and incompetent people are; they always like to blame others for their own mistakes, as if that would absolve them of responsibility.
"The truth will out eventually. Father committed the crime of beheading and exterminating the clan. Now he wants to blame it on his daughter?" Zhang Xiangling has always been outspoken, and she chose to retort to her own father.
"Smack!"
Marquis Jiangling slapped Zhang Xiangling across the face, pointing at her with bloodshot eyes and saying, "I am your father. Now that you've returned home, you're entitled to be beheading or exile."
"Hahaha..." Zhang Xiangling suddenly laughed, feeling like she was a joke. She had returned home from the Duke of Chu's mansion for the sake of face, but now that she was about to lose her life, what did face matter?
"It's quite lively."
A male voice came from behind, and the Jiangling Marquis and his men all looked in the direction of the voice. They saw Prince An, Qin Jingwei, walk in, followed by more than a dozen Imperial Guards.
"Your Highness... Your Highness Prince An." Marquis Jiangling knelt down with a thud, sweat pouring down his face like a waterfall.
Zhang Qihong and Zhang Xiangling immediately knelt down, while Lady Jiangling fell off the bed.
When Prince An saw this group of people, he thought to himself, "No wonder the Marquis of Jiangling's mansion has fallen so low that they have to resort to smuggling salt. There isn't a single person with any sense of responsibility."
He looked down at Marquis Jiangling and asked, "Marquis Jiangling, do you know why I have come?"
Marquis Jiangling braced himself with his hands on the ground, head bowed, sweat dripping down his face, and stammered, "I...I don't know."
"Hehe, you're going to take it head-on!" Prince An's voice was mocking, but full of danger. Marquis Jiangling collapsed to the ground.
Prince An snorted again, then said, "Take him away."
"yes."
A group of Imperial Guards rushed in, restrained the men, and led them away. Prince An stood at the door, watching the Marquis of Jiangling and his family being taken away, and narrowed his eyes.
The eldest daughter of the Marquis of Jiangling, and the former granddaughter-in-law of the Duke of Chu, returned home only a few days before the Marquis of Jiangling's deeds were discovered. Isn't that too much of a coincidence?
The Duke of Chu's mansion was once a family of military generals, so they definitely had secret guards, and the guards were quite skilled.
This is interesting!
He strode towards the front courtyard, and as soon as he stopped, a member of the Imperial Guard came to report, "Your Highness, the Jiangling Marquis's residence has a total of forty-two masters and two hundred and twenty-three servants, all of whom have been taken into custody."
Prince An hummed in agreement, and then, seeing that the Imperial Guard seemed hesitant to speak, said, "Speak."
"The wife of the sixth son of the Marquis of Jiangling is not here. I asked around and she said that the day before yesterday, that wife and the wife of the Marquis of Jiangling had a quarrel over a trivial matter. The wife of the Marquis of Jiangling threatened to make this young master Liu divorce his wife, but someone from the Marquis of Anyuan's mansion came and said that there was no reason for their daughter to be divorced, and then... they divorced. The young lady from the Marquis of Anyuan's mansion went home."
Prince An stood there in silence for a while, then said, "I understand. Now that you've divorced and returned home, you have nothing to do with the Marquis of Jiangling's residence."
"Yes." The Imperial Guard withdrew, and Prince An chuckled. He was certain that the Duke of Chu knew beforehand.
It seems I'll have to make a trip to the Duke of Chu's mansion when I have some free time. He made a knife for someone, so I need to find out who wants to use it.
"Your Highness." Another Imperial Guard ran over, bowed, and said, "The property of the Marquis of Jiangling has been confiscated."
"How is it?" Prince An asked.
The Imperial Guard said with a somewhat complicated expression, "Why don't you come and take a look with me?"
Prince An glanced at him and strode forward.
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