Chapter 545 The Emperor's Heart is Unfathomable
The next morning.
As soon as it was light, Gu Jingxi woke up. His wife was still fast asleep beside him, and it was obvious that she was exhausted from the night before. He lowered his head and kissed her forehead, then got up to wash, dress, and eat some breakfast before heading out towards the palace.
Today there is a court assembly, and all the civil and military officials arrived at the Golden Palace early to await the Emperor's arrival.
When Minister of Justice Yu saw that Gu Jingxi had arrived, he moved to Gu Jingxi's side and asked in a low voice, "Minister Gu, in your opinion, what should be done about this matter?"
Without hesitation, Gu Jingxi replied, "After court, I will go to the Imperial Study with Lord Yu to meet the Emperor."
Upon hearing this, Lord Yu nodded slightly. He had actually thought so too. It was better to speak to the Emperor in private than in front of all the civil and military officials. This was the Emperor's family matter, and the Emperor needed to think carefully about how to decide.
Nothing major has happened recently, and the ministers don't know what to report, so they bring up trivial matters until the emperor gets impatient and the long court session ends.
After the court session ended, Gu Jingxi and Lord Yu walked together in perfect unison and headed to the Imperial Study.
Emperor Jingwen looked at the two ministers and asked, "Minister Yu, Minister Gu, what is it that is so mysterious that you want me to dismiss everyone else?"
Lord Yu replied, "Your Majesty, Lord Gu and I have investigated the matter of Crown Prince Huizhao's assassination and have come to report to Your Majesty."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Jingwen sat up abruptly. His eldest son had been assassinated, and he and the Empress had yet to truly recover. Now, finally, there was a resolution. A ruthless glint flashed in his eyes as he asked in a deep voice, "Who exactly was it?"
Lord Yu lowered his head slightly, not seeing the expression on the face of the person in charge, and truthfully replied, "It is His Highness the Second Prince."
Emperor Jingwen was stunned, then shouted, "Outrageous! What does this have to do with the Second Prince? Does Minister Yu have any evidence to support his claim?"
Upon hearing Emperor Jingwen's furious voice, Lord Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, they hadn't spoken in front of the civil and military officials during the court assembly. He quickly took out the letter and confession from his robes, stepped forward, and presented them: "Your Majesty, I did not slander His Highness the Second Prince with mere words. This is the evidence that Lord Gu and I have found. The witnesses are still in custody. If Your Majesty wishes to see them, you may bring them over at any time."
Emperor Jingwen took the letters and confessions and read them carefully. They were correspondence between the Second Prince and his uncle, Lord Xiao, which mentioned eliminating the Crown Prince. Another confession also confirmed that the Second Prince and Lord Xiao were the masterminds behind the scenes.
Emperor Jingwen looked at these things with a terribly gloomy expression. He slammed the confession onto the imperial desk with a "bang" and remained silent for a long time, probably because he was too angry or because he could not accept the fact for the time being.
It was common for princes to fight each other and for brothers to kill each other. Even emperors ascended the throne through fratricide. Every emperor hoped that his children would not suffer such a fate, nor did he want to see it happen to them.
His second son killed his eldest son, and to avenge his eldest son, he had to kill his second son himself.
Both sons are equally precious to him. His eldest son is the child he cherishes most, and he also values his second son highly. His eldest son is dead, and the murderer must pay the price. However, to severely punish the murderer who killed his second son, as a father, he is torn between killing the murderer or not. He is struggling to make a decision, after all, he has already lost one of his children.
Gu Jingxi and Lord Yu lowered their heads slightly, not daring to utter a sound that would provoke the emperor, who was on the verge of exploding in rage.
Soon, Emperor Jingwen thought of another question. He narrowed his eyes slightly, looked at the two ministers with half-closed eyes, and asked in a deep voice, "Minister Yu, Minister Gu, how did you obtain the letters between the Second Prince and Minister Xiao?"
That's a good question. These kinds of letters are usually destroyed after being read, or they are kept as evidence. If one of them suffers a misfortune one day, this can be used as leverage to blackmail the other. The other person will definitely do their best to help them for their own sake, which can play a role in mutual restraint.
Even if such letters were kept, they wouldn't be accessible to ordinary people. The Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review wouldn't be able to search the Second Prince's and Lord Xiao's belongings when investigating cases.
Lord Yu replied truthfully, “Your Majesty, it was during my day off a few days ago when a little beggar delivered a letter. The letter contained clues about the assassination attempt on Crown Prince Huizhao. The little beggar knocked on the door early that morning to deliver the letter. As for who sent the little beggar, I do not know.”
Gu Jingxi then spoke up, “Your Majesty, when Lord Yu received the letter, he came to me to discuss it. Lord Yu and I both believed that it was better to believe it than not to believe it. So we went to the broken city outside the city to investigate, as the letter said. We found the witness lying on the ground. The witness had been given medicine and was weak all over. He didn’t even have the strength to commit suicide. Next to the witness were the letters between His Highness the Second Prince and Lord Xiao.”
Emperor Jingwen frowned even more: "So the case wasn't discovered by you, but by someone else who found out the truth and then directed you to collect the evidence?"
Gu Jingxi replied, "That's exactly right."
Emperor Jingwen lowered his eyes, his gaze dark and brooding as he looked at the letters and confessions before him. It was true that his second son had killed his eldest son, but behind this case, there were bystanders who knew the truth and calmly watched things escalate to an irreversible point, watching his eldest son being assassinated. Now that his eldest son was dead, that person had produced evidence that his second son had committed the crime.
In this way, he killed two birds with one stone, directly losing two sons. What a vicious scheme! Who was watching all of this?
After a long silence, Emperor Jingwen asked again, "Where is that little beggar now?"
Lord Yu shook his head: "Your Majesty and I secretly searched for beggars in the capital, but we couldn't find that little beggar."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Jingwen's expression grew even more grave. If they couldn't find the person, how could it not be a real beggar who was just using an excuse to deliver a message? Or perhaps he really was a beggar who had died after delivering the message.
The case of Crown Prince Huizhao's assassination has been solved, but it is still shrouded in mystery.
After a long silence, Emperor Jingwen took a deep breath and said, "My two ministers have worked hard. You may leave now."
Lord Yu was slightly taken aback, but quickly recovered and, together with Gu Jingxi, bowed and took their leave.
After leaving the Imperial Study, Lord Yu was still a little confused. The Emperor knew about the murderers who had killed the Crown Prince, but he didn't say how to punish them. He just sent them away like that. He asked in a low voice, "Lord Gu, what do you think the Emperor meant by this?"
Gu Jingxi replied, "The Emperor's mind is unfathomable. How could we possibly guess what the Emperor is thinking?"
Lord Yu frowned slightly. He and Gu Jingxi hadn't really contributed much to solving this case, since the evidence had been handed to them by others. They weren't asking for any reward, only hoping that the Emperor wouldn't hold them, the people who knew the truth, against them. Then he asked, "So, the Second Prince and Lord Xiao conspired to murder the Crown Prince, and that's it?"
Gu Jingxi did not answer the question, but only said, "The envoy from Anguo will be arriving soon."
Lord Yu was taken aback for a moment, but quickly understood. With the envoy from Anguo visiting, and at such a crucial moment, the royal family of Zhao had committed such a disgraceful act. It was highly disgraceful. He estimated that the emperor would wait until the envoy from Anguo left before dealing with the second prince and the Xiao family. As for whether the second prince lived or died, that would depend on the emperor's decision.
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