Chapter 103 The Heart of an Emperor is Most Averse to Imbalance
At Cui Shiliang's residence, after hearing from his foolish son that the people he had arranged had been arrested, Lord Liu immediately came to discuss countermeasures with Prime Minister Cui.
"This is all my son's fault for being so stupid! I clearly instructed him to find a reliable person from outside to do it, to ensure it was done cleanly and thoroughly, leaving no trace whatsoever. But instead, he directly entrusted the task to a servant in the manor, and that servant was even more foolish, turning around and handing it over to a relative. Now that the person has been arrested, if the Princess investigates, she will definitely find me. What are we going to do?"
Upon hearing this, Cui Shiliang merely glanced at him indifferently, "What's there to be afraid of? Would Li Yuanzhao dare to report this matter to the Emperor?"
"During this period, she first established a special imperial examination for women, and then made a name for herself in the matter of Tibet seeking peace, winning over the hearts of the people and cultivating her power, leaving us old ministers with no room to fight back. You should think carefully about what His Majesty would think if she took the initiative to complain to the Emperor, saying that the people shouted 'Long live the Princess' in the crowd?"
A cold glint flashed in Cui Shiliang's eyes.
The person who murdered Liu Jinzhang has not yet been found.
Li Yuanzhao also ruined the marriage alliance with Tibet.
Moreover, Pei Guyan and Lu Yuandao had both run into trouble recently. Although no direct evidence was found to prove that Li Yuanzhao did it, he is not stupid.
Since there's nothing we can do about her right now, we might as well go with the flow, temporarily avoid her sharp edge, and let her "stand out" a bit more.
The heart of an emperor is most susceptible to imbalance; if one side becomes too powerful, it will inevitably arouse suspicion.
When the time comes, you won't need to lift a finger; His Majesty will take care of her himself.
Lord Liu listened, his expression softening slightly, but he still had concerns: "But those words 'Long live the Princess' are undeniably presumptuous. If they are reported to the Emperor and it is confirmed that I arranged it, I will lose my official hat..."
Cui Shiliang sneered and interrupted him, "You just need to deny it to the death. What solid evidence can Li Yuanzhao produce? The one who was arrested is just a street ruffian. Can his confession be taken seriously? When the time comes, you can turn around and accuse her of deliberately framing him, using this incident to suppress dissidents and eliminate political enemies. His Majesty might even worry that her power is too great and will side with you instead."
Lord Liu opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but Cui Shiliang stopped him by raising his hand.
"Alright. Speaking of the Wang Li matter I asked you to investigate last time, how's the investigation going?"
Wang Li had helped Li Yuanzhao impeach the Second Prince in court and opposed them several times. As a result, news spread a few days later that he had "drowned in the river while drunk."
This led many court officials to believe that he was the one who orchestrated it.
What's even more bizarre is that less than three days after Wang Li's death, the minor official surnamed Du, who had been drinking with him, "accidentally" broke his leg.
There aren't that many coincidences in this world.
Lord Liu lowered his voice and replied, "I have found that someone saw Wang Li at the Princess's residence on the day of his incident."
"It really is related to her." Cui Shiliang's eyes darkened.
But he really couldn't understand it. Wasn't Wang Li one of her people?
Why would she turn against her own people when they were helping her fight on the front lines in the court?
After a moment of silence, Cui Shiliang said, "Send someone to ask that..."
"Du Cong?" Lord Liu quickly added, "We sent people to inquire about him long ago, but we couldn't get any information out of him. He just insisted that it was an accident. He said that after hearing the news of Wang Li's death, he felt guilty and didn't see clearly while walking, which is why he broke his leg."
"An accident?" Cui Shiliang frowned.
He always felt that there was something more sinister behind Wang Li's death and Du Cong's broken leg.
After a moment of silence, Cui Shiliang said in a deep voice, "Continue to keep an eye on Du Cong. We need to find out his every move. Also, investigate whether any other officials, besides Wang Li, visited the Princess during her illness."
Although it is customary for officials to visit her in the hospital, if the emperor knew that so many officials were rushing to curry favor with her, he would inevitably suspect that she was forming cliques for personal gain.
Lord Liu readily agreed.
After discussing official business, Cui Shiliang invited Lord Liu to have dinner at his residence.
Lord Liu's daughter, Liu Liniang, was married to Cui Shiliang's eldest son, Cui Dalang. The two families were related by marriage, so it was only natural that he invited her to stay for a meal.
But as soon as the two stepped into the dining room side by side, they saw Cui Dalang raise his hand and slap Liniang. The crisp sound echoed in the hall, particularly jarring.
The maids and guards around him kept their heads down, as if they were already used to it, and didn't even lift their eyelids.
This sudden turn of events left both Cui Shiliang and Lord Liu frozen in place, an awkward silence instantly filling the air.
Cui Shiliang's face darkened slightly, and he rebuked, "Why did you have to resort to violence out of the blue?"
He wasn't really afraid of embarrassing his in-law, Lord Liu; it was just that Cui Jiulang had recently caused the death of a concubine due to abuse, which had also implicated the Second Prince, leading to his wrongful conviction.
Now that something like this has happened again in the manor, he must outwardly adopt a disciplinary stance to avoid giving others grounds for criticism.
Unexpectedly, Lord Liu stepped forward quickly, his face plastered with a fawning smile, trying to smooth things over.
"It's alright, it's alright, Prime Minister Cui, please don't be angry. It's all because of Liniang. She was spoiled by us when she was at her parents' home. She has no manners at all. She must have done something to displease the eldest young master. It's only natural for a husband to discipline his wife. It's only right!"
Cui Dalang, however, was unmoved. He glanced at Liniang and spoke with obvious disgust.
"Father-in-law, you should really keep a close eye on your daughter! She's been married for three years and hasn't even given birth to an egg. Now she's always thinking about running away and can't stay put! What, you heard that the Su family is holding a poetry gathering and you want to go too?"
Seeing Liu Liniang's nonchalant demeanor, Cui Dalang's tone became even more sarcastic.
"Do you really think you're still the famous Liu Liniang from the capital? Don't you even look in the mirror and see what you look like now? You still dare to go out and embarrass yourself!"
Liu Liniang stood to the side expressionlessly, not uttering a single word in her defense.
Cui Shiliang hadn't paid much attention to his son's complaints, but when he heard that "Prime Minister Su's residence is going to hold a poetry gathering," his brows furrowed slightly.
"The Su family? Wasn't his wife mistakenly sent to the estate a few days ago? Now that there's no mistress in the house, who organized the poetry gathering?"
Liu Liniang then slowly raised her head to explain, her tone revealing no resentment.
"It's Su Qingci, the eldest daughter of the Su family, who is hosting a chrysanthemum appreciation banquet, scheduled for three days from now. All the ladies and young women of any standing in the capital have received invitations, and this afternoon, the Su family also sent over a copy."
Upon hearing this, Cui Shiliang immediately realized why his son was angry.
When the Second Prince got into trouble, Su Jingzhi stood by and did nothing, which had already brought the relationship between the Cui and Su families to a freezing point.
It seems that when Cui Dalang saw the invitation from the Su family, his resentment towards the Su family was rekindled, and he vented his anger on his daughter-in-law.
Cui Dalang chimed in, "I wonder what the Su family is up to? They don't care if other families go or not, our family is not allowed to go."
Liu Liniang lowered her head, her voice still calm: "Yes, I will listen to my husband and not go."
To everyone's surprise, Cui Shiliang then said, "Go, why not go?"
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