Chapter 168 The Deep Waters of the Capital
After reaching an agreement with Ye Jing, the eldest prince led his men back to his fiefdom at full speed.
Upon receiving the news, Wei Ningyan immediately sent a message to the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince received messages from both Pei Yanchi and Wei Ningyan at the same time.
Pei Yanchi: [Things are proceeding as planned and are going very smoothly.]
Ye Jing feigned allegiance to the eldest prince.
The Duke of Xing made no unusual move and was under surveillance.
Furthermore, the eldest prince revealed that the Wan family was a spy in the northern border, a fact that the Duke of Xing seemed unaware of.
There seems to be some rift between the Crown Prince and the Northern Border; he's said the Northern Border will cease to exist in the future, but the meaning of this is unclear.
Wei Ningyan: [The Crown Prince is already on his way back to his fiefdom. He will definitely contact the Northern Border upon his return.]
Upon receiving the news, the Crown Prince immediately arranged for personnel to follow.
However, the investigation into spies in the capital was proving extremely difficult.
The Crown Prince brought out the list of students from Nanshan Academy who had studied the zither under Master Fu, but two pages were torn out.
Xiao Ling then turned his attention to investigating the hibiscus cakes at the Changping Marquis's residence.
The final conclusion was that two tutors came to the palace during that period to teach Feng Ling Shuang etiquette.
The two nannies loved to eat hibiscus cake.
The Crown Prince sent people to investigate the two nannies in detail, and it turned out that after teaching Feng Ling Shuang, the two of them left the palace to retire.
The crown prince then sent people to investigate the whereabouts of the two men.
As for Headmaster Fu of Nanshan Academy, Xiao Ling decided to go there in person to ask if he still remembered.
At the Dali Temple, Wan's attempt to commit suicide failed, and Du Zhengming arranged for her to be imprisoned and watched by men for twelve hours a day.
They even sent an imperial physician to treat her, to ensure she wouldn't die.
Du Zhengming has been feeling uneasy lately, dreaming about Princess Yongning every night.
This caused him to not sleep well at night and not be in good spirits during the day.
Things progressed somewhat slowly.
He interrogated Wan's two children.
But the children are still young, and they know almost nothing about what the adults are doing.
Du Zhengming then turned his gaze to Wan Huaixing.
Wan Huaixing knew that the Wan family could not escape this calamity, so he spoke up.
"My sister is a fool, sigh... her mind is full of love and romance, it's really outrageous."
Before she got married, my parents tried everything – beating her, scolding her – but she wouldn't listen, and we couldn't do anything about it.
Speaking of the Wan family, Wan Huaixing sighed repeatedly.
"So, you condoned your sister killing Princess Lanling?" Du Zhengming said.
Upon hearing this, Wan Huaixing was so frightened that he waved his hands repeatedly:
"No...no, no, I know nothing about this."
After saying that, he looked at Du Zhengming and asked in a terrified tone:
"Is Princess Lanling's death related to my sister?"
"Du Shaoqing, this is no joke. Do you have any evidence?"
Du Zhengming looked at Wan Huaixing and nodded seriously: "She has already admitted it in front of the Grand Princess."
Upon hearing this, Wan Huaixing instantly collapsed to the ground, trembling violently, utterly terrified.
"Oh my god... oh my god... this... this... this is a capital offense..."
Du Zhengming remained silent for a long time after observing Wan Huaixing's reaction.
After waiting a while, Wan Huaixing calmed down, and Du Zhengming continued the interrogation.
"Tell me in detail what else you know about the Wan family."
Wan Huaixing thought for a while, organized his thoughts, and began to speak:
"At that time, my younger sister was still unmarried and waiting to be married. One day, she went to Xishan Temple with her mother to worship Buddha."
After returning, he was completely distracted.
After my mother asked him in detail, she learned that he had met a young man at Xishan Temple and had fallen in love with him at first sight.
They even sent people out to inquire, and they found out that the man was His Highness Prince Rui.
When my mother heard that the other party was His Highness Prince Rui, she immediately told my younger sister to give up on the idea.
Because the late emperor was already bedridden at the time, the situation in the court was extremely treacherous.
The conflict between Prince Rui and His Majesty at the time had almost reached a boiling point.
My family does not want to get involved in this battle for succession.
So my mother immediately had my younger sister locked in the house and prevented her from going out.
For the next month, my younger sister stayed at home quietly and didn't go out to see anyone.
We all assumed that she had listened to her family's advice and understood the seriousness of the matter, so we lowered our guard against her.
More than a month later, she went to Xishan Temple with my mother again, and this time she met Prince Rui again.
This time, none of our family knew about it. My mother only discovered the clues after they had been secretly seeing each other for a while.
Later, they sent people to keep a closer eye on her.
Soon after, the late emperor passed away, His Majesty ascended the throne, and Prince Rui went to the northern border.
During that time, my younger sister looked extremely haggard and stayed at home all day, never leaving the house.
It took another six months for her to gradually recover.
In the spring of the second year after the late emperor ascended the throne, her family was afraid that she would get bored staying at home all day, so they often took her out to attend banquets.
Later, she met Princess Lanling at a banquet, and the two became very close afterwards.
As she approached marriageable age, her family recommended many promising young men, but she was not satisfied with any of them.
She wasted two years, by which time she was already seventeen.
The family was extremely worried.
One day he suddenly came back and said that she was going to marry the Duke of Xing as his second wife.
The family was very surprised.
My mother said that Princess Lanling and she were good friends. The princess has just died and her body is not even cold yet, and you are already thinking about her husband. Aren't you afraid of being despised?
But my younger sister said that these were Princess Lanling's last words.
My parents stopped talking after hearing that.
Sure enough, Duke Xing came to propose marriage soon after. When the news spread, everyone in the capital said that she and Duke Xing were having an affair.
But now that things have come to this, even if we explain to everyone, no one will believe us.
Later, they got married and had two children.
Life has been relatively peaceful.
However, she was reprimanded by the Empress Dowager for the matter of the Duke of Xing establishing an heir that year.
My father had already passed away by then.
When my mother heard about it, she sent someone to call her back and ask her why.
I don't know what she said to my mother, but my mother was so angry that she fainted.
He later fell ill and never recovered.
My mother is seriously ill, and our household has no time to concern itself with the affairs of the Duke of Xing's family.
After we settled my mother, the Duke of Xing had already gone to the border.
My mother had someone call her back again and gave her a long lecture, telling her to live a good life and win over the Duke of Xing's heart.
This time, fearing she might upset my mother again, I sent my wife to be by her side. She seemed to behave herself.
After she went back, my mother continued to sigh and lament every day.
Six months later, my mother passed away.
Before leaving, he called me to his bedside and instructed me to take good care of my younger sister.
She's confused, her mind is clouded by love, and she's lost her reason.
I was shocked. After thinking carefully, I asked my mother if it was still Prince Rui.
My mother nodded, and then she passed away.
At this point, Wan Huaixing couldn't help but wipe away his tears.
"After my mother died, I went to find her and asked her why."
She only admitted to still having contact with Prince Rui, and said nothing else.
She was a married woman, yet she didn't uphold traditional virtues and had an ambiguous relationship with another man.
That person was still Prince Rui, His Majesty's... vassal king.
I finally understand how agonizing those six months before my mother died were.
I also suffered for a long time.
Finally, my wife noticed something amiss and asked me about it. I only told her about her infidelity and didn't mention that the man was Prince Rui.
But my wife guessed it too.
After discussing it, we decided to pretend we knew nothing about it and to stay out of the affairs of the Duke of Xing's mansion.
Over the years, things have been relatively peaceful.
Wan Huaixing finished speaking here, then looked up at Du Zhengming and said:
"Du Shaoqing, that's all I know."
Upon hearing this, Du Zhengming realized that this person had completely shirked responsibility and claimed to know nothing about the matter.
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