Chapter 206 Big Gossip
"Xie Lei... is dead."
Jiang Yu had people follow Xie Lei, who was trying to escape, so news of Xie Lei's situation was quickly relayed.
"How did you die?" Jiang Yu asked.
Li Zhong: "The carriage fell into the ditch, and the back of his head hit a rock."
"What an unexpected turn of events!" Jiang Yu murmured, thinking that Xie Yun would kill Xie Lei.
But upon further reflection, he was, after all, his own grandson whom he had raised for many years. Even if Xie Yun were ruthless and heartless, he wouldn't kill him with his own hands. However, if Xie Lei and Lan Mudan left together, Xie Yun would definitely take his life.
This was her original plan: to send Xie Lei and Lan Mudan away so that Xie Yun could kill them. But now Xie Lei is dead, while Lan Mudan is still alive.
She thought for a moment and then said, "Tell Lan Mudan that Xie Lei is dead."
After hearing this, Li Zhong hesitated for a moment and asked, "Don't you want to take her life?"
Jiang Yu: "Let's wait and see."
Li Zhong left, and Jiang Yu stroked the jade pendant in her hand, lost in thought. Xie Lei's escape must have been arranged by Xie Ning'an. It seems that Xie Ning'an and Xie Yun may have differing opinions on some matters.
So, what will Xie Ning'an do next?
If he were to put her in a life-or-death situation, how should she respond?
Ultimately, this matter depends on the Emperor's will; there's no point in her thinking about it further now. With that in mind, she sent messengers to the Prince of An's residence and the Marquis of Jinyang's residence, inviting them for tea. No matter what Xie Ning'an does next, they are determined to investigate this case thoroughly.
Not long after, Prince An and Marquis Jinyang replied, saying they would arrive as promised. Jiang Yu got up to change into something suitable for going out and went to the teahouse. She had only been in the private room for a short while when Prince An arrived.
Jiang Yu poured a cup of tea and placed it in front of him. Prince An picked it up, took a sip, and said, "I heard that Xie Lei from the Xie family is dead."
The Embroidered Uniform Guards had been keeping a close eye on the Xie family, so they were very clear about what was happening there.
“Yes,” Jiang Yu said, looking at Prince An, “everything the Xie family is doing now is a desperate struggle.”
Prince An thought so too, but he said, "However, we should still be cautious. I'm afraid the people who go to Jiangzhou will come up empty-handed."
Xie Yun is a cunning old fox, and with Xie Ning'an also involved, even though the Xie family is currently a trapped beast, it won't be easy to completely subdue them.
At this moment, the door to the private room was pushed open, and the Marquis of Jinyang and his son entered. After Li Zhengze sat down, he said to Jiang Yu, "Xie Lei is dead."
Jiang Yu nodded, indicating that she understood. Li Zheng sighed, "Back then, Xie Lei was quite a figure in the elite circles of the capital. I never expected him to die like this."
"Hmph!" Marquis Jinyang snorted heavily upon hearing his words. Li Zhengze awkwardly touched his nose and said, "I'm just trying to reform myself."
Marquis Jinyang glared at him but said nothing more. Li Zheng leaned closer to Jiang Yu and said, "We've found out about that Shi Shun'an, the transport commissioner of Xinjiang Prefecture."
Jiang Yu looked at the Marquis of Jinyang, and seeing him nod, she turned to Li Zhengze and asked, "What's his situation?"
Li Zheng chuckled and then said, "There's a big problem in Jiangzhou. Shi Shun'an, as the transport commissioner of Jiangzhou, is obviously involved. He married the daughter of a collateral branch of the Changping Earl's family. The position of transport commissioner of Jiangzhou was also arranged by the Changping Earl. Didn't you suspect that the Changping Earl might also be involved in the case?"
Jiang Yu nodded, and then heard Li Zhengze chuckle and ask, "Guess what we found out?"
Jiang Yu smiled and said, "Go ahead and tell me."
Li Zhengze chuckled darkly, “After the old Earl of Changping died, the Changping family was divided. Shi Shunan married the granddaughter of the old Earl of Changping’s brother, who was the daughter of the third branch of the Changping family that was separated.”
Jiang Yu nodded. There are many such collateral branches in large families. The third branch of the Changping Marquis's Mansion is considered a relatively close collateral branch.
At this moment, Li Zhengze's face turned somewhat lewd, and he chuckled twice, saying, "Do you know why the Earl of Changping is so concerned about the marriage of a daughter from a collateral branch of the family?"
Jiang Yu realized there might be some big gossip involved, so she tactfully asked, "Why?"
Li Zhengze: "Hehe, the Earl of Changping has an affair with the eldest daughter-in-law of the third branch of the family. The one who married Shi Shunan might be the Earl of Changping's own daughter."
Jiang Yu gasped in shock, "So, Uncle Changping and his niece-in-law..."
Li Zheng nodded emphatically, "Isn't that amazing?"
Jiang Yu nodded, "How did you find out?"
The two were completely absorbed in gossip, oblivious to the expressions on the faces of Marquis Jinyang and Prince An. At that moment, Marquis Jinyang wanted nothing more than to punch Li Zhengze; his lewd and gossipy expression was utterly shameful. However, seeing Jiang Yu listening attentively, he held back.
Prince An's lips were always upturned; it was the first time he had seen Jiang Yu so "vibrant."
“I didn’t originally look up the Earl of Changping,” Li Zhengze said. “A few days ago, I was drinking with some friends, and one of them got drunk and didn’t want to go home, so he asked me to take him to his villa. When I came out after taking him there, I saw a figure enter the courtyard next to my friend’s villa. The person looked very much like the Earl of Changping.”
That night I didn't go home, but stayed at a friend's villa, leaving my servant to keep an eye on that courtyard. It turned out that the next day, the Earl of Changping emerged from that courtyard, and a little over fifteen minutes later, the eldest daughter-in-law of the third branch of the Earl of Changping's household also came out of the same courtyard.
Li Zhengze's eyes sparkled. "I discovered something so interesting, no, I discovered such important information, of course I had to keep investigating. And guess what? Every three days, the Earl of Changping and that young mistress would have a gathering in that courtyard."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yu paused for a moment and asked, "How old is that young mistress?"
Judging from Shi Shun'an's age, that young mistress must be at least 40 years old.
Li Zheng chuckled again, "She's over forty, but still retains her charm..."
"Ahem!" Marquis Jinyang coughed twice, interrupting Li Zhengze's next words. Li Zhengze glanced at his father, sat up straight, and said seriously, "I think this information is quite important."
"Brother Li, you've worked hard," Jiang Yu replied earnestly.
Marquis of Jinyang: "..."
Prince An: "..."
“In that case, it makes sense that the Marquis of Jinyang helped Shi Shun’an,” Jiang Yu said. “As for whether the Earl of Changping was involved in the case, we still need to investigate further.”
That being said, Jiang Yu felt that things might very well develop in a direction they didn't expect.
The group then discussed their progress. They now possessed just one crucial piece of evidence to definitively prove the Xie family's innocence: the location in Jiangzhou where the Xie family had illegally minted official silver. If they found evidence there, the case would essentially be closed. The next step would be for the Xie family to demonstrate their power to the emperor.
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