Chapter 140 Leaving the Capital (Twenty-Four) Why won't he invite me for a meal...?
After asking his question, Yu Qi casually glanced at Qin Ji, but his gaze held a hint of urgency. Qin Ji hesitated to answer, fearing that he might inadvertently arouse suspicion in Consort Chen's eyes. He then slightly averted his gaze, stroking his mustache with his thumb, pretending to be still deep in thought.
After a long silence, Zou Chang smiled and crossed his legs, continuing the conversation, "I once asked Eunuch Shen about this matter. I heard that last year during the New Year's festival, that young lady went to Cangwu Pavilion to deliver lanterns and candles. The Emperor saw her from afar and said that Cangwu Pavilion happened to be short of a palace maid, so he casually assigned her to the Imperial Concubine."
This is strange. The Emperor is so busy with state affairs, how could he have time to personally appoint palace servants? Jiu Li glanced at Yu Qi with a sidelong look, "The Consort is so favored? The Emperor even personally assigned palace servants to her? Even if the Emperor appointed them, if they don't do a good job, can't he just replace them?"
Zou Chang and Qin Ji remained silent for a while before Qin Ji said, "Who dares to speculate on the Emperor's intentions? Matters within the palace are even more inappropriate to comment on."
Jiu Li could only swallow his saliva, not daring to ask any further questions. Xu Bai, on the other hand, seemed to understand and smiled, "May I ask, gentlemen, is this Miss Shu Qiang somewhat beautiful?"
Seeing Qin and Zou both nod slightly, Jiuli suddenly understood. The Emperor was probably attracted by Shuqiang's beauty, so he noticed her. It just so happened that Cangwu Pavilion was short of people to serve, so he placed her there. In the future, he would often visit Cangwu Pavilion and see her from time to time. With this kind of care, even if Shuqiang did not do her job well, Consort Chen would not dare to easily replace her.
Hmph, it seems that whether commoners or emperors, they are all lustful! Thinking of this, Jiu Li couldn't help but turn her gaze down to Yu Qi's high nose bridge. His nose bridge blocked one of his eyes, which was slightly lowered, its gaze scattered on the ground, as if he was thinking about something. At this moment, he was as quiet as an ivory sculpture, as if he hadn't heard everyone's discussion.
Amidst the murmured conversation, he suddenly raised his head, glanced towards the door, and rose to bow to Zou and Qin. "It's getting late, and we dare not trouble you two any further. We will take our leave now. Could you please make a copy of the autopsy report so that we can take it back and study it carefully?"
This time, Qin Ji didn't say much. He called a clerk to transcribe a document on the spot and handed it to Yu Qi, giving him a casual reminder: "Doctor Yu, this place is not like Nanjing. You should think twice before you act."
Yu Qi thanked them with a smile and then led Jiu Li and the other two out of the Ministry of Justice. Suddenly, a cold wind swept by like a steel knife, and Jiu Li's nose tingled. She sneezed violently, and Yu Qi immediately turned to the side, pulled her cloak up, and fastened it again.
Sometime later, another snowfall began, covering the tire tracks and footprints on the street. Two carriages were waiting under the stone lions, their roofs covered with an inch of snow, which looked particularly sharp and bright in the dim sunlight.
As dinnertime approached, the streets became increasingly deserted. It was getting late to go to Prince Zhao's residence, so Xu Bai turned to the others and said, "It's getting late. Let's go back and have dinner first, and we can go to the residence tomorrow."
Just then, Jiu Li's stomach growled, and Yu Qi heard it. He nodded and walked down the stone steps first. Unexpectedly, Jiu Li slipped behind him and almost fell down the steps. Fortunately, he heard the noise, turned around, and caught her in his arms.
How could you be so careless?
"These shoes are a bit slippery," Jiuli complained. "I didn't know there was so much snow in the capital."
Xu Bai tried to pull her back, but he was too late. He could only watch as Jiu Li, her face slightly flushed, retreated from Yu Qi's embrace. Just then, a gust of cold wind swept through his heart, as if it had swept over him several times.
Yu Qi glanced at Jiu Li's feet. She was wearing a pair of soft satin white boots. Although they were made of double-layered satin, they were still too thin to withstand the harsh northern weather. Besides, the material would get soaked in the snow. He said, "Tomorrow, look for ready-made sheepskin boots on the street."
Xu Bai coughed, clearing his dry throat, and stepped forward to chime in, "Go back and ask Steward Yang. He knows the capital very well and knows exactly where to buy what."
Unexpectedly, Yu Qi and Jiu Li did not respond to any of the comments, and instead turned and walked gracefully toward the carriage in front.
Zhang Da felt that since they were currently staying at the Qi family's old residence, he was afraid of losing face, so he couldn't help but smile and make a few perfunctory remarks, "It started snowing as soon as we entered the capital. I don't know how long it will be cold. It seems that I will have to find a fur coat to wear tomorrow. Second Master Qi, please ask Steward Yang where he can buy an old fur coat."
As the carriage drove along the road, Jiuli turned her head and peeked out through the curtain. Outside, the world was white and cold. Suzhou didn't get as much snow as the capital, and the snow didn't accumulate to a thick layer. The wind wasn't as bleak as in the north. She had no memory of the capital at all; her hometown had become a foreign land, and she felt a kind of loneliness, as if she had been banished to the ends of the earth.
Fortunately, Yu Qi was sitting right next to her, and she rested her head on his shoulder. "Uncle, when you saw the Emperor this morning, did you think I looked like him in any way?"
Her hands clung to his arm. He glanced down at her, pulled one of her hands to his, and said, "Didn't you say that you came to the capital to find your biological father for the sake of the two of us? If that's the case, what's there to be sad about whether you recognize him or not?"
Jiuli pouted, "I'm not sad, I'm just not sure if he's really my dad."
“If it weren’t for that, an emperor wouldn’t have summoned us personally, and these officials wouldn’t have treated us this way.”
"Why didn't he invite me to have a meal when I saw him this morning?"
Yu Qi found the childish, everyday talk amusing. “He is the Emperor, not an ordinary man. We are not visiting the palace as guests. Even the Fourth Prince cannot easily dine at the same table with him. Look at how favored Consort Chen is; she has to kowtow and kneel before him. This is the Emperor. The Emperor is always supreme.”
She sighed, "That's kind of boring. Unlike our family, no matter how fierce or strict you are, Du Zhong, the old lady, and I still eat at the same table with you. Even though you don't say anything, we know that you will never kick us out of the Yu family again, let alone cut off our heads."
Yu Qi smiled slightly without replying, holding her hand tightly. The warmth of her hand made her drowsy, and she slowly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were back at the Qi residence.
After the four finished their dinner in Xu Bai's room, the steward Yang Qingnian personally brought over hot tea, asked them a few questions about their well-being, added some charcoal to the incense burner, and then, carrying the tea tray out, turned around and hid by the window to listen to their conversation.
Inside, Xu Bai asked, "Sir, you brought this case file back because you feel there's something strange about it that you need to carefully consider?"
Yu Qi ignored him, lowering his eyes to flip through the few pages of paper. "It's nothing, I just think the injuries on the deceased's body are a bit strange."
Jiuli was sitting on the round table in front of the couch, drinking tea. Upon hearing this, she hurriedly swallowed the hot tea, but her throat suddenly felt burning. She leaned forward and spat all the tea left in her mouth onto the ground. She opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue while fanning her mouth with her hand, her clothes getting wet and making her look very disheveled.
Xu Bai hurriedly fumbled for a handkerchief and handed it over. Immediately afterward, Yu Qi also slammed the lid of his bowl onto the teacup with a clatter, pulled a silk handkerchief from his sleeve and handed it to her, sighing, "What's the rush? Is it hot enough for you now?"
She glanced at the handkerchief in Xu Bai's hand, gave him a reproachful look, and took the handkerchief from his hand. "I was anxious to ask if there was anything strange about it."
Even though she didn't look at Xu Bai again, she could still sense his disappointment and embarrassment. She glanced at him and saw that he unconsciously clenched the handkerchief into a ball in his hand, but still pretended that nothing was wrong and picked up the teacup.
Zhang Da laughed and said, "Is there even a need to ask? Didn't you say yourself when you were in the Ministry of Justice that Shuqiang's injuries were both new and old, caused by women pinching and scratching her? Shuqiang is beautiful, and the Emperor personally assigned her to the Consort's palace. I think it's probably because Consort Chen was jealous, but she couldn't openly replace her, so she instructed the palace servants to make things difficult for and beat Shuqiang."
Jiuli chimed in, "I could tell from the way this Consort spoke this morning that she is indeed arrogant and domineering. No matter how much she is favored, she is already over thirty years old. Shuqiang is young and beautiful, and it's natural that she would feel jealous if the Emperor glanced at her a few times. But to kill someone over a little jealousy, especially in the palace, is really too much."
Xu Bai said in a deep voice from the couch, "If she wants to kill someone and frame the prince, then killing Shu Qiang would be killing two birds with one stone."
Zhang Dalian nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, Master Qi is right. Didn't you say that on the night of the incident, it was Yun'er, who served Consort Chen, who sent someone to the palace to ask Shuqiang to deliver something? It must have been premeditated. They must have already sent a guard to ambush in that camellia garden. Shuqiang was on her way to deliver something to Qingniao Pavilion, and she was just passing by there!"
At this moment, Yu Qi pushed the case file to the edge of the kang table, pointing at the paper with his finger. "If he only wanted to kill and frame someone, why did he also rape her? Everyone in the court knows that Prince Zhao is not a womanizer. He raped a palace maid after drinking, and then killed her to cover it up for fear of being exposed. The motive for every single thing he did cannot stand up to scrutiny. Consort Chen has been in the palace for many years. If she considered Prince Zhao as a rival of the Fourth Prince, she must know his character very well. How could she have come up with such a stupid method of raping, murdering, and framing someone?"
Xu Bai lowered his head and murmured, "Perhaps she knew very well that the Emperor had long wanted to deal with Prince Zhao, but just lacked a pretext."
Yu Qi shook his head. “But since the case broke, the Emperor has ignored the advice of the Chen faction and delayed the appointment of the Crown Prince. He has also repeatedly ordered a thorough investigation of the case. It is clear that the Emperor’s attitude toward Prince Zhao is not so bad.”
Zhang Da spread his hands on the couch and said, "Ah, maybe she doesn't understand the Emperor's intentions. She might think that since Prince Zhao is not the Emperor's biological son, the Emperor won't take him seriously at all."
Yu Qi still shook his head. "That's right. Prince Zhao is not the Emperor's biological son. According to common sense, it will be a natural thing for the Fourth Prince to be appointed as the Crown Prince in the future. It's just that she has to be patient and wait for a few years. Is she really so impatient that she can't even wait and is willing to take such a great risk?"
Even if Consort Chen was politically naive, the two Chens, having been immersed in court politics for many years, could not possibly be unaware of this principle. Unless, recently, the Emperor's attitude towards Prince Zhao and the Chen family has changed, causing unease among the Chen family and Consort Chen.
Thinking of this, he returned to Shuqiang. Why would an emperor suddenly notice a mere palace maid? There are plenty of beautiful women in the world. To treat a palace maid differently would be beneath the dignity of an emperor. Besides, this emperor had never even been interested in a woman as beautiful as Quan Shanheng.
It's clear that Shuqiang's actions were deliberately staged for Consort Chen's benefit. The Chen family had already accumulated too much resentment in the court, and as the Emperor, even if he didn't punish them, he should at least give them a warning. Thus, with a single, seemingly innocuous sentence, an innocent palace maid was dragged into the court's turmoil.
Seeing that he couldn't argue with him, Zhang Da took advantage of the moment when the man was lost in thought and said, "I think it must have been the guards who committed the murder. In the palace, there are only women and eunuchs, and only those guards are real men."
Jiuli pondered for a long time and also began to doubt this statement. "But Lords Zou and Qin questioned the guards on duty in the palace that night and found nothing unusual."
"That makes it even easier to explain; the guards were covering for each other!"
"You're wrong about that. I think the possibility of cover-up is extremely small. I heard from Eunuch Shen that the guards patrolling the inner palace are in teams of seven. To avoid suspicion, they are not allowed to be alone. It's impossible for several people to lie and cover up for one person at the same time, right?"
As Jiuli spoke, she glanced at the three of them. “Palace guards are not like soldiers and runners patrolling the streets and alleys. The slightest disturbance could bring about the extermination of their entire families. Given their position, how could they all dare to show favoritism and cover up for each other? Who would dare to select such a person to enter the palace as a guard? Wouldn’t the palace be in great chaos?”
Zhang Da felt that everything he said made sense, so he could only lower his head and think about it.
In the silence, Yu Qi tapped the teacup with the lid, making it clatter. "There's another crucial point: if the murderer was a guard, how did that guard obtain Prince Zhao's dagger? According to Lord Zou's account this afternoon, Prince Zhao often traveled incognito, and perhaps some skilled petty thief, unaware of his identity, stole it. But that explanation is too far-fetched. I've seen Prince Zhao; he always wore several ornaments on his waist, some of which were quite valuable. How could it be such a coincidence that the petty thief stole this dagger?"
Xu Bai was somewhat familiar with King Zhao's daily habits. He often saw a golden unicorn hanging from his waist. If it were an ordinary thief, he would have stolen that item first. However, this also showed that the thief specifically stole the dagger, intending to use it as a murder weapon.
He leaned closer to the kang table and said, "We'll ask the prince carefully tomorrow. If he can remember where it was lost, perhaps half the mystery can be solved."
Yu Qi was nodding when suddenly the head steward Yang Qingnian ran in excitedly and said, "Second Master, Eunuch Shen has sent someone with a lot of things, saying they are for Miss Jiuli!"
-----------------------
Author's note: Thank you for reading.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
