Chapter 147 The Murderer (Two Chapters in One)
Emperor Yongjia was stunned. How could he have forgotten that Yan Xia never got married?
Yan Xia?
If Yan Xia and Zhao Yunnuan were to be married...
Emperor Yongjia quickly weighed the pros and cons of this matter in his mind. In recent days, the spies sent to Liangdi sent back news that after the death of the old King of Liang, Liangdi was indeed in chaos for a short period of time, but it was only a short period of time. Since Zhao Tinghan returned to Liangdi, Liangdi has become increasingly stable, and now it is thriving.
According to the information obtained by the spies, Zhao Tinghan had been living in Wangling. Even for his wedding, he did not return to Liangdu. The bride and groom were welcomed and sent off by his cousin Zhao Tingshi.
Three days after the wedding, the newly crowned Princess Meng of Liang was accompanied by the eldest princess Zhao Yunnuan on her return to her parents' home. After that, Meng traveled back and forth between the palace and the royal mausoleum, and her fatigue was obvious. Zhao Tinghan still lived in the royal mausoleum, and doctors were the ones coming in and out.
Emperor Yongjia knew that the current stability in Liang was due to Zhao Tinghan’s role in stabilizing the military morale, while it was the eldest princess Zhao Yunnuan who allowed Liang to continue to develop.
The importance of Zhao Yunnuan to Liangdi did not change with the return of Zhao Tinghan. On the contrary, the sickly Zhao Tinghan relied on Zhao Yunnuan far more than the young and strong King of Liang.
The spies also heard other news, that is, the status of Princess Nie of the old Prince Liang in the palace was worrying. Zhao Yunnuan claimed to the outside world that Nie was ill and refused to see her. He also openly placed people in Nie's bedroom to keep her under guard.
The fuse that caused the conflict between mother and daughter was the adopted daughter of King Liang.
The adopted daughter usually lived in the farm and seldom returned home. When she did return occasionally, she was beaten and scolded by Nie. In a fit of anger, the adopted daughter ran away from the house and returned to the farm.
Zhao Yunnuan loved her adopted sister very much. When she learned about this, she became furious. After a big quarrel with Nie, the mother and daughter completely turned against each other.
The old Prince Liang had an adopted daughter, and Emperor Yongjia had known about it for a long time. The old Prince Liang had submitted a memorial saying that the girl was somewhat similar to his own deceased young daughter. Moved by pity, he adopted the girl as his adopted daughter and requested the emperor to give her a surname.
Although she was just an adopted daughter, Emperor Yongjia approved her and gave the girl the surname Zhao.
Later, the spy sent back a message that the old King Liang had found a young girl to be the master of his adopted daughter and gave her a mountain connected to the farm. The master and disciple then moved out of the palace and lived on the mountain.
Emperor Yongjia did not care about this. Influenced by the retired emperor, the Yong Dynasty was proud of cultivating immortals, young and old, men and women. Princess Jiarou was an example. The teenage girl seldom returned to the palace and lived in Taoist temples most of the time.
Therefore, in the eyes of Emperor Yongjia, Zhao Shiqing, like Princess Jiarou, just went to the mountains to practice.
She was just a little Taoist nun, and an adopted daughter, so she wouldn't cause any big stir. If Zhao Yunnuan hadn't turned against the Nie family for her, Emperor Yongjia would have even forgotten that Prince Liang had an adopted daughter.
However, thinking about it would not change anything. In the mind of Emperor Yongjia, even if Zhao Shiqing had not become a monk, he was still a lay Buddhist like Princess Jiarou, and also a fan of cultivating immortality.
Of course, Emperor Yongjia didn't remember the name "Zhao Shiqing" at all. A royal family girl who didn't even have a title was not worthy of having a name in front of Emperor Yongjia.
The reason why Emperor Yongjia remembered her at this time was because of Zhao Yunnuan.
Zhao Yunnuan is too important to Liangdi.
Therefore, letting Zhao Yunnuan go to Beijing as a hostage in place of Zhao Tingxuan is no longer just an illogical plot by the women in the harem. It is an urgent matter that needs to be resolved!
However, there had never been a precedent in the Yong Dynasty of sending women to the capital as hostages, and Emperor Yongjia did not want to be the first to do so.
Fortunately, Zhao Yunnuan and Yunying are not married yet.
If you want Zhao Yunnuan to give up her power, the best way is to let her die.
But Zhao Yunnuan is not Zhao Tinghan. She is young and healthy. If she were to die suddenly like the old King Liang, it would certainly cause an uproar. So at least she cannot die before Zhao Yunnuan gets married.
Another way is to imprison her, accuse her of a crime and lock her up.
However, this is also difficult to implement. Zhao Yunnuan is not Zhu Yu, and it is extremely difficult to find any evidence against her.
But nothing is absolute. For example, the places where women are imprisoned are not only prisons, but also homes and courtyards!
You can't take a woman to the capital as a hostage, but you can let her marry there, then imprison her in the harem, let her get bogged down in the trivialities of the harem, unable to break free, grind her spirit, drain her vitality, let her collapse, let her wither, let her become a lonely soul in the harem...
A barely perceptible smile appeared on the corner of Emperor Yongjia's mouth. Yan Xia and the Duke of Weiguo's Mansion behind him were absolutely loyal, but they could also really cause trouble.
Emperor Yongjia shook his head and said he needed to think about it carefully.
At the same time, the Yan Xia who was mentioned by Emperor Yongjia was not brought to trial for Zhu Yu.
He locked Zhu Yu in the same cell as last time. Yes, that gorgeous and comfortable cell, but the one that made Zhu Yu shudder. It was Zhu Yu's nightmare, the terror in the dark night, the teeth of rats, and the place where he would be without any descendants.
Zhu Yu roared like a wild beast: "Let me out, I don't want to be here, let me out quickly!"
The guard guarding Zhu Yu was the same guard from last time. Like last time, he moved a chair and sat outside, leaning against the door, eating peanuts.
All the people in the prison of the Ministry of Justice were affected by that incident. Everyone was fined three months' salary. Although Liu Qi was not fined, he did not stay in the prison of the Ministry of Justice. Instead, he was sent to another prison outside the city. Although it was far from his home, it was said that he was given an extra half tael of silver every month.
The guard was fined three months' salary and was very sad at first. Unexpectedly, on his way home from work that day, he saw a fat old man fall to the ground and unable to stand up for a long time. The guard couldn't bear it and helped him up. The fat old man said he wanted to go find his precious granddaughter. The guard was worried that he would fall again, so he kindly sent him to the teahouse where he had an appointment with his granddaughter.
The fat old man's beloved granddaughter looked somewhat familiar, but the guard couldn't remember where he had seen her before. Of course, he didn't dare to look at her for long.
The grandfather and grandson thanked him for his help and gave him a gold ingot. He couldn't refuse, so he accepted it.
That ingot of gold weighed ten taels, which was equivalent to his salary for ten years.
With this money, he was able to take good care of his pregnant wife and the lives of the whole family were improved.
So the guard is in a good mood now. Even if he is transferred to look after the madman Zhu Yu, he is still calm.
He even took out two cotton balls to plug his ears. He asked his wife to make these cotton balls based on the ones Liu Qi gave him. The effect was very good and now all the guards in the prison were using them.
Zhu Yu shouted for a while until his voice became hoarse, but still no one paid any attention to him.
Although it was afternoon, there was a chilly wind in the cell. Zhu Yu's injuries had not healed yet. Since entering the cell, he had started to feel pain between his legs. The pain made him sweat coldly and he could not sit still.
But no matter how loud he shouted, no one paid any attention to him.
Zhu Yu was very scared. It was getting dark and there was no light in the cell. In the dim shadows, everything looked like a mouse to Zhu Yu.
Even his feet are like mice.
Zhu Yu quickly pulled his feet into his robe and hid them so that no one could find them.
But the next moment, his hand also turned into a mouse. Zhu Yu hurriedly hid his hands behind his back, but when he lowered his head, he saw that the chair under him had also turned into a mouse, staring at him with bloodshot eyes.
Zhu Yu was startled and rushed to the iron fence, shouting, "Rat, there's a rat! Come and catch the rat! Someone, come quickly!"
......
Zhu Yu stayed in this cell for a whole night. The next morning, Yan Xia came to interrogate the prisoner and was shocked to see Zhu Yu lying naked on the ground. When he saw Yan Xia, Zhu Yu grinned and revealed an ugly smile.
"I caught the mouse. I've done a great job. Are you going to give me a new room?"
Yan Xia: "I have a few cases here that require you to plead guilty and sign a contract. If you want to change houses, you must plead guilty first."
Zhu Yu shook her head: "No, you lied to me! I won't admit any of this case! Please change my room and wait for the imperial decree granting the marriage to arrive. Then I will leave. I will treat you to the wedding banquet later."
Zhu Yu was born into a noble family. He was skilled in martial arts. Although he lived a life of drunkenness and dreams, he had a very strong body.
But now Zhu Yu has been hiding in the house all day, lying in bed, recovering from his injuries, and has never seen the sun. Now when he takes off his clothes, he looks like a white pig.
Yan Xia's brows knitted into a "川" shape. Looking at the white fat, he shouted outside, "Someone, wrap him up."
A few people came in and couldn't help but twitching their lips when they saw the scene in front of them. This damn eunuch is really a pervert. He takes off his clothes when he has nothing to do.
Zhu Yu naturally refused, but two fists were no match for four hands, and he soon could not struggle anymore.
Worried that he would continue to take off his clothes, Yan Xia had someone wrap him in a torn quilt and added a rope around the outside of the quilt. This way, even if Zhu Yu wanted to take off his clothes, there would be nothing he could do.
After doing all this, Zhu Yu was still shouting: "The imperial decree granting marriage is about to be delivered, I want to receive it, you guys quickly let me go, I want to receive it."
Hearing Zhu Yu mention the arranged marriage again, Yan Xia became interested and asked, "Do you want to get married? Who?"
Zhu Yu and Old Madam Wei spoke in low voices that day, and Yan Xia only heard a few words. He was confused and had no idea what they were talking about. Therefore, when Zhu Yu said she wanted to grant them a marriage, Yan Xia was quite curious.
Zhu Yu puffed out his chest and said, "With whom? Of course it's with Zhao Yunnuan. Hurry up and move me to another room. Then I'll reward you with a wedding banquet."
Yan Xia was startled. Zhao Yunnuan? The name sounded familiar. Oh, yes, he remembered. This was the eldest princess of the Liang Palace, Zhao Tinghan's twin sister and Zhao Tingxuan's elder sister.
Yan Xia couldn't believe his ears. Wasn't Zhu Yu a eunuch? How could he have the nerve to marry the Princess of Liang?
But Zhu Yu swore solemnly and kept talking about the imperial decree granting the marriage, which did not seem to be false.
Would the emperor really do this?
To marry the eldest princess of Prince Liang's Mansion to the eunuch Zhu Yu?
The conflict between Yan Xia and Prince Liang's Mansion was limited to the two study companions. It couldn't be said that he disliked them, but he didn't like them much either.
Although the Yan family and the Liang Wang Mansion are distant relatives, their exchanges are limited to festivals and festivals.
These days, in order to investigate those bodies, Yan Xia investigated Zhu Yu carefully.
Zhu Yu had never met Zhao Yunnuan. His only connection with the Prince of Liang's Mansion was that he killed Master Nie Er, a relative of the Prince of Liang's Mansion, and extorted 10,000 taels of silver from Zhao Tingxuan.
But now, Zhu Yu spoke with certainty, as if there really was such an imperial edict, and Zhao Yunnuan was his designated wife.
Yan Xia suddenly felt sorry for Zhao Yunnuan, whom he had never met before.
How unlucky is this princess to be coveted by a eunuch?
Yan Xia said, "Carry him to the torture chamber."
The torture room, as the name suggests, is a place for torture. Under normal circumstances, Zhu Yu would never go there even if he was beaten to death, but today he was so happy that he almost jumped out of the quilt.
But he soon stopped laughing.
Yan Xia made him sit on a bloody bench. Although Zhu Yu had killed many young girls, even children.
However, all the people he killed were people he knew. They were afraid of him when they were alive, and they were still afraid of him after they died and became ghosts.
But now the blood and flesh on the bench are not ghosts, but they are scarier than ghosts.
Zhu Yu screamed loudly, even though Yan Xia did not torture Zhu Yu, he still screamed loudly.
His spirit completely collapsed. When Yan Xia interrogated him, he only struggled emotionally for a while before confessing everything.
The first body dug out in the courtyard of the villa was Cousin Yan. He kidnapped her and Cousin Yan wanted to escape but failed. She then said that she was a cousin from the Duke of Weiguo's mansion and that if the people from the Duke of Weiguo's mansion found out that she was not there, they would definitely not let her go.
Zhu Yu went home and asked Madam Wei. Madam Wei became anxious when she heard the news and immediately sent Nanny Niu to the farm to kill the manor to silence him.
As for the other six corpses, they were all bought by Zhu Yu.
Some of them were sold by their relatives, and some were snatched away by Zhu Yu.
They had tried to escape and called for help before they died, but in the end, they all turned into corpses.
Yan Xia continued the interrogation until midnight, and others advised him to re-interrogate the case the next day. If he had encountered such a situation before, Yan Xia would indeed re-interrogate the case the next day.
But today is different. There is a villain in Yan Xia's heart urging him. Perhaps, if he convicts Zhu Yu, the emperor will not arrange a marriage between him and Zhao Yunnuan.
Yan Xia had heard from others that the eldest princess of Liangdi was in charge of the personal guards and had her own position in the army.
Such an outstanding person, it is an insult to hear her name spoken by Zhu Yu.
Yan Xia just wants to convict Zhu Yu as soon as possible.
The next day, Yan Xia and Lord Xu were both present at the court meeting. They told the emperor an important news: the names, hometowns and causes of death of the seven bodies found recently had been found.
The murderer is Zhu Yu. Zhu Yu is a habitual killer. The evidence is conclusive, and Zhu Yu has already admitted it.
Yan Xia presented the case file, and Emperor Yongjia took a quick look at it and became furious. All the evidence pointed to Zhu Yu!
Emperor Yongjia did not hesitate and immediately issued an edict to abolish Zhu Yu's title of crown prince.
Zhu Yu became a commoner!
When the news reached the Baoqing Marquis' Mansion, Madam Wei burst into tears on the spot.
Her Yu'er has nothing left.
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