Chapter 174: Deserted by Friends
Prince Yu took a quick glance, saw the contents of the letter, sat up straight, and read it again.
"The daughter of the King of Zhenbei..."
Prince Yu read it once, with surprise flashing in his eyes.
Is Shen Qingtan actually the daughter of King Zhenbei?
Quite interesting.
Prince Yu picked up the information on the small table, which contained detailed information about the Gu family.
He read page by page and found out that Gu Zongci's sister was actually the Princess of Zhenbei.
His subordinates found out about Liangzhou because they discovered during their investigation of Gu Zongci that he had no daughters, only sons. He did have a younger sister who grew up in Liangzhou and married there.
Recently, after he had close contacts with Shen Qingtan, he sent a letter to Liangzhou and the northern border respectively.
His subordinates tracked down the case to Liangzhou and only then found out this secret information.
When the Princess of Zhenbei gave birth to a daughter, the King of Zhenbei was overjoyed to have his daughter and specially held a grand banquet.
The people of Liangzhou not only knew that the King of Zhenbei had a daughter, but also knew that he loved her very much.
However, this daughter was lost during the war in Liangzhou fourteen years ago.
When all the clues are put together, the truth comes to light.
Prince Yu put down the information in his hand. This news was truly a pleasant surprise for him.
Shen Qingtan and Gu Zongci met in private. No matter how cautious they were, they were in public after all and could not hide the eyes watching them in secret, which exposed their unusual relationship.
Of course, if Marquis Cheng'en had not revealed Shen Qingtan's origins to him, he would not have been able to connect Shen Qingtan with Gu Zongci.
His people would not follow the clues to find out Shen Qingtan's background.
At this time, the voice of the guard came from outside the door: "Your Highness, the wife of the Marquis of Cheng'en requests to see you."
"Take her to the front hall."
Prince Yu was in a good mood. He sorted out the documents, put them in the drawer, and went to the front hall.
Madam Shen was sitting anxiously in the front hall waiting for Prince Yu. When she saw him walking towards her leisurely, she quickly stood up to greet him and bowed.
"Your Highness, are you really not going to give my Lord a chance?" Madam Shen clutched the handkerchief tightly in both hands and asked tremblingly, "I went to the prison to find him, and he asked me to ask you why you changed your plan and exposed him."
Prince Yu laughed softly as if he had heard a joke.
Madam Shen felt uncomfortable because Prince Yu laughed at her, because she could not hide her thoughts from Prince Yu's eyes at all.
"Everyone in the Marquis Cheng'en Mansion is so interesting." Prince Yu mercilessly tore off Madam Shen's veil and said sarcastically, "You have already abandoned Marquis Cheng'en by handing over all the evidence he has in his hands to me. Why do you still have to put on a hypocritical face and care about his life or death?"
Madam Shen's face changed. When Marquis Cheng'en was plotting to drag the Gu family and Shen Qingtan into the water, Prince Yu came to her.
"Shen Qingtan knew about Qingzhou's false reporting of the disaster and the bribery of official positions. However, she hadn't exposed the matter because she didn't have the evidence."
Prince Yu spoke directly, "The Qingzhou incident has caused a huge mess, far more serious than the Guanzhou incident. Although I have provided advice to Marquis Cheng'en, I cannot guarantee that it will be foolproof. If there are any mistakes, no one will be able to escape."
Her face changed drastically. She knew very well that once the Qingzhou incident was exposed, the entire Shen family would be executed.
"I am the son of the emperor. As long as I don't commit the crime of treason, my father will not punish me severely." Prince Yu threw out a bait: "As for whether Shen Shaohuai lives or dies, it depends on your choice."
She vaguely knew Prince Yu's purpose. He wanted to get the evidence back from Marquis Cheng'en, so he came to her to make a deal.
She could refuse, or even use evidence to threaten Prince Yu, asking him to save Shen Shaohuai's life if the truth ever came to light.
She didn't dare.
Marquis Cheng'en had worked with Prince Yu for many years, and she had learned something about Prince Yu's character from him. If she dared to threaten Prince Yu, she would probably be courting death.
After hesitating for a moment and weighing the pros and cons, she agreed to make a deal with Prince Yu.
When the news of the shipwreck reached the Marquis's mansion, she advised Marquis Cheng'en to destroy the evidence, but was perfunctorily brushed off by him.
After all, they had been married for half their lives, and she knew Marquis Cheng'en very well, and found evidence in the secret compartment of the study.
She didn't dare to be smart and leave some of the evidence behind, so she handed it all over to Prince Yu's men.
Now that Marquis Cheng'en no longer had evidence in his hands, Prince Yu was no longer constrained by Marquis Cheng'en.
Mrs. Shen’s face turned slightly pale as she recalled what she had done.
The moment she handed over the evidence, she had already anticipated the consequences, but she still gave the thing to Prince Yu without hesitation.
She personally cut off Marquis Cheng'en's life, and it was indeed ridiculous to ask Prince Yu whether he was willing to give Marquis Cheng'en a chance to live.
"Your Highness, I am... doing this to protect Huai'er and leave a bloodline for the Shen family." Madam Shen dug her fingers deeply into her palm, as if trying to convince herself: "The Marquis will understand me. I am doing this all for the Shen family."
Prince Yu sneered. These hypocritical faces were really funny.
Madam Shen's face felt like it was being pricked by needles. She suppressed the shame that surged in her heart and asked again, "The Marquis said that there is still room for improvement in the Qingzhou incident. You don't need to cut off your arm to survive. He wants the truth."
Because of the previous experience of Marquis Cheng'en, she did not dare to pin all her hopes on Prince Yu. To be on the safe side, she had to get Princess Yizhen's relics to save Shen Shaohuai's life.
"Marquis Cheng'en failed to do his job well, and Qingzhou's 'grain' was shipped onto the Hongyun ship." Prince Yu said frankly, "Hongyun Shipping is part of the Ling Mansion."
Just with this sentence, Mrs. Shen suddenly understood.
This matter involves the Ling family, so it's no wonder that Prince Yu would personally expose Marquis Cheng'en instead of waiting until the truth could no longer be hidden and then shifting the blame to Marquis Cheng'en.
It turned out that the purpose was to protect Ling Zhongshi.
When Prince Yu came to her and took back the evidence from Marquis Cheng'en, she had already guessed that Prince Yu wanted to use Marquis Cheng'en as a scapegoat.
It's just early.
Mrs. Shen said palely: “I know.”
She chose Shen Shaohuai between Cheng'en Hou and Shen Shaohuai, but she felt a little uncomfortable after being married to Cheng'en Hou for decades.
Prince Yu saw Madam Shen’s sad look and turned his head away in disgust.
He had already made plans to abandon Marquis Cheng'en, because after the Guanzhou incident, Emperor Jing'an had become suspicious of Marquis Cheng'en.
He also promoted Marquis Cheng'en to the commander-in-chief of the grain transport system, and sooner or later he would be used as a target.
For now, we will not touch Marquis Cheng'en for the time being. One reason is that there is no evidence, and the other is to catch the big fish behind Marquis Cheng'en.
The survival of Marquis Cheng'en was a hidden danger to him.
Giving advice to Marquis Cheng'en was actually to better shift the blame onto him.
It would be great if Marquis Cheng'en could take advantage of the situation to drag Gu Zongci and Shen Qingtan into the water.
He could then embezzle the Gu family's property.
At the last moment, Ling Zhongshi showed up and ruined his plan. He had to abandon Marquis Cheng'en in advance, and all subsequent arrangements had to be terminated.
This caused him a lot of trouble.
Maybe this fire has already burned his head.
Otherwise, Emperor Jing'an would not have suddenly summoned him to the palace.
Prince Yu glanced at Madam Shen, and thought of a document in the study. He slowly raised the corners of his lips and said with a hint of amusement, "This prince has something to tell you."
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