Chapter 36 The Willow Tree in the Breeze (Part Four) "Using a borrowed knife to kill."...
Yan Chao stood under the eaves, watching Xiao Jiu return from outside in the rain, completely soaked. She couldn't help but frown and asked, "The matter I asked you to do shouldn't have taken this long, why are you back so late? You didn't even bring an umbrella."
Xiao Jiu climbed the steps and stood four or five steps away from her, bowing respectfully under the eaves, afraid of bumping into her. He looked somewhat embarrassed and replied, "Your Highness, I did bring an umbrella with me when I went out, but I tripped and fell on the way, and the umbrella broke, so I didn't bring it back."
When Yan Chao asked about his injuries, he only said it was nothing serious, then gave a few more instructions and said no more.
After Xiao Jiu finished tidying up, he went back into the warm pavilion and found that Chen Wei was also there. He was slightly taken aback, unsure whether he should report it or not.
The two were sitting facing each other, playing chess, and had just begun their game.
Yan Chao looked up at Shen Wei, hesitated for a long time before finally not placing the chess piece in his hand, and then turned to Xiao Jiu and said, "You speak."
Xiao Jiu then disregarded all restraint, took two steps forward, and whispered, "Your Highness, the Prince of Chang Le broke into the Qianqing Palace that day, it was Lady Sun who secretly ordered it. After Your Highness and the Prince left, Lady Sun went to the Zhaoyang Palace to request an audience, but His Majesty did not see her."
After he finished speaking, he looked up and secretly observed Yan Chao's expression. After thinking for a moment, he tentatively added, "This servant suspects that it was Lady Sun who secretly instructed her."
Yan Chao remained noncommittal, while Shen Wei, opposite him, was focused solely on the game at hand. She paused for a moment, then instructed Xiao Jiu to leave.
The chess piece in her hand had been warmed by rubbing it, and she hesitated for a long time before reluctantly placing it.
Shen Wei remained motionless, his mind clearly no longer on the game. Yan Chao looked up at him without changing his expression and asked softly, "What's wrong?"
She clearly saw his eyes lower again, and without answering her question, she asked, "I'm wondering, why did Your Highness deliberately allow me to hear such secrets?"
Yan Chao smiled, straightened up, and said casually, "Since Tan Ze believes it to be a secret, why don't you share your opinion?"
Shen Wei's gaze immediately froze, realizing that she had inadvertently tricked him into revealing his words. Knowing that there was no chance to take it back after speaking, he could only think and say, "I am unaware of the cause and effect and dare not make any rash judgments. I only dare to speculate that Consort Sun of Zhaoyang Palace is using Prince Changle to get close to Your Highness."
Yan Chao's heart sank, and he nodded slightly: "And then?"
"As for the purpose, I truly do not know." Shen Wei stopped there and did not ask further.
Although he said that, Yan Chao could roughly sense that he was hiding something. However, there were indeed some things he knew in his heart, but couldn't openly say. She understood.
Yan Chao glanced down at the chessboard and saw that he had suffered a crushing defeat, clearly due to his earlier distraction. He sighed and decided to ignore it.
My eyes glanced up unintentionally and caught sight of a purse at his waist, embroidered with what looked like a weeping crabapple in spring. Delicate yellow stamens dotted the pale pink petals, just like the crabapple blossoms in the garden, the flowers as if cut from colorful silk, the branches as delicate as silk, so lifelike.
Seeing that she was lost in thought, Shen Wei followed her gaze and looked down, immediately feeling somewhat at a loss.
"She...she likes crabapple blossoms..." he stammered out.
Yan Chao slowly raised his eyes, and after a long while suddenly asked, "Are you willing to marry Cui Lanhui?"
Shen Wei was stunned. After a moment of thought, she still couldn't remember who she was talking about, but then she suddenly realized that it must be Cui Lanruo's sister.
He didn't know why Yan Chao suddenly asked, "Who is Your Highness referring to?"
Yan Chao retracted his words: "I was being presumptuous. Please don't take it to heart, Tan Ze."
She recounted the events that unfolded in the palace that day, and added that she had secretly instructed someone to deliver a letter to the Cui family, urging her third uncle to keep a close eye on Cui Lanhui's marriage. She warned that if things truly became entangled with the palace, trouble would ensue.
Shen Wei remained silent after hearing this, then suddenly asked, "Does Your Highness intend for me to marry Cui Lanhui to help you out of this predicament?"
"Never mind, it wasn't just Cui Lanhui's problem after all. If he wasn't there, there would be other women. I was wrong."
Shen Wei watched her quietly.
He paused for a moment, then changed the subject, sighing, "...Back then, the Imperial Observatory almost severed the Empress's lineage based on celestial phenomena; the situation was extremely perilous. Although Your Highness is now using the divination slips to refuse the marriage, if it is exploited by those with ulterior motives, wouldn't you be repeating the mistakes of that time?"
Although the emperor no longer mentions choosing a concubine for her, from another perspective, it may also show that the emperor still cares about it after all.
Yan Chao lowered her eyes and sipped her tea, the warm, refreshing taste lingering in her throat. She made up her mind, shook her head, and said softly, "Times have changed; it won't be as tragic as it was back then."
Her tone was calm, but Shenwei could still detect a faint trace of sorrow in it.
Shen Wei reached out and collected the chess pieces one by one. When he was halfway through, he noticed Yan Chao's gaze on his hand. He paused, then asked without looking up, "Would Your Highness like to play another game?"
Yan Chao shook her head: "No." She was silent for a moment, then suddenly brought up another matter: "Meng Tingke is dead."
Shen Wei's face stiffened instantly, and after a long while, he said in a trembling voice, "Wasn't he sentenced to exile and military service? He has committed numerous crimes, and it's already difficult enough that he wasn't sentenced to death..."
Yan Chao countered, "Do you think the Cao family would let him live?"
"Can……"
"They say he died of illness on the way south, but it's only been a few days. Do you believe that?" She glanced at him, her voice slightly low. "I visited him in prison. He didn't regret taking action against Cao Fu, but he was unwilling to spend his life in this harsh land. Besides, he still had a chance to make a comeback. He's only been away from the capital for a month. I don't believe he died of illness."
Seeing Shen Wei lower her head in silence, she changed the subject: "Tan Ze, guess what he said to me?"
When he looked up, he met Yan Chao's deep eyes, which seemed to see right through him. Chen Wei took a deep breath, feeling a chill creep into his bones. He knew she probably knew something, but hesitated to speak.
Do you really want me to spell it out?
She had said she didn't want to investigate her, but now her words were almost interrogative: "Then let me ask you first, what were you doing at Juehui Temple the night before the Ministry of Justice's joint trial?"
That night, shortly after Xiao Song was arrested, a figure appeared in the distance, only to vanish again in a moment. Yan Chao happened to notice that the figure was extremely familiar.
At first, she only had suspicions, but when she later discovered a piece of robe left behind by the figure as he fled in a hurry, the image of the blue robe he often wore instantly came to mind.
“Yes, Cao Fu’s death is indeed related to me,” Shen Wei pursed his lips, nodded in acknowledgment, then stood up and knelt down again. “If Your Highness wishes to punish me, please hand me over directly to the Dali Temple, so as not to implicate Your Highness.”
Yan Chao angrily said, "If I really wanted to hand you over, I wouldn't have waited until now to ask you."
She turned her head away from him, her face extremely cold, and after a long while, she stiffly uttered two words: "The reason."
Deng Xun had been on guard from the beginning, but time was of the essence. If they had investigated thoroughly, they might have found him. Furthermore, both the difficulty of dealing with the person behind the scenes and the emperor's attitude provided excellent cover for him.
"What grudge do you have with the Cao family? I don't think it could be Meng Huai."
Shen Wei closed his eyes briefly, knowing he couldn't hide it any longer. He clenched his fist and finally spoke.
"Your Highness, I once told you that Cui Lanruo was my fiancée. After the Cui family left the capital, I happened to travel south with my father and stayed at the Cui family's residence for nearly a year. During that time, Miss Cui and I fell in love, and our families had a verbal engagement. Later, I went to the capital to take the imperial examination and promised my wife to Aunt Cui and Lanruo, promising to propose marriage when I passed the exam. However, two years later, news came that Cao Fu, who was then serving as the governor of Suzhou and Hangzhou, had taken a liking to Lanruo and insisted on marrying her. Unable to force her into marriage, Lanruo ultimately committed suicide."
"The Cui family filed a lawsuit, but Cao Ying and Cao Fu, father and son, secretly plotted against them. The yamen made a mess of things, saying that Lan Ruo had not followed proper conduct and was having an affair with a man outside the family. Because of the Cao family's overt and covert coercion and enticement, the Cui family had no choice but to give up, whether for Lan Ruo's reputation or for the future of their younger generation."
Shen Wei looked up at her, his eyes slightly red: "But I can't. Although I didn't know Lan Ruo had left home, she was in trouble because of me. She is also my fiancée, so I must avenge her no matter what. I can't touch the Cao family, so I can only try every means to start directly with Cao Fu."
The Cao family was powerful. Cao Ying was a high-ranking official in the capital, while his son Cao Fu, a fifth-rank official, was already able to serve as governor of Suzhou and Hangzhou.
Her gaze was deep: "So you secretly instigated Meng Tingke, using his selfish desire to avenge his father, to kill someone with a borrowed knife."
"yes."
"You've been plotting against Cao Fu for more than just a day or two. Of the people who impeached Cao Fu, you were the most vehement. But Cao Ying interfered, and it was Cao Hong who was caught."
Shen Wei nodded again: "Yes. But it is still like an ant trying to shake a tree. I am powerless to do so, so I have resorted to this inferior strategy."
Hearing him admit everything, some things that had previously puzzled Yan Chao suddenly became clear. She paused for a moment, then asked calmly, "What did you say to Cao Hong before he died?"
Shen Wei looked up in disbelief, wondering how she knew so much. After regaining her senses, she suppressed her shock and replied, "I asked him some questions about Cao Fu and told him that if he did not die, Grand Secretary Cao and Cao Fu would not let his parents go."
That's quite true. Even if Shen Wei didn't say it, Cao Hong could probably have figured it out.
"What about Meng Huai?" She finally became suspicious and stared intently at him, wanting the final answer.
Shen Wei was greatly shocked. His face turned pale instantly, his lips trembled, his mind went blank, and his limbs were so cold that he couldn't utter a single word for a long time. This journey, which had been so meticulously planned yet ended in repeated defeats, was his biggest mistake.
"I……"
"Is the man's death related to Cui Lanruo? Tanze, what did you do in it?"
Shen Wei lowered his head even further, bit his lip, and finally confessed everything: "At first, I was indeed targeting Cao Fu, but in the end, I couldn't do anything to him. So even though I already knew that Cao Fu had been misbehaving during his tenure in Suzhou Prefecture, I didn't dare to risk speaking out myself, and had to use someone else to expose him..."
Yan Chao looked up at the window. The setting sun was slowly descending, and the sky was ablaze with soft gold, reflecting off the clouds and making the eaves of the palace gleam with dazzling light.
She didn't turn to look at him, but said softly and firmly, "You borrowed Lan Huaien's hand."
No wonder Lan Huaien learned about the events in Jiangnan so quickly. However, by the time Lan Huaien reported this matter to the emperor, the situation had already changed. The emperor was eager to stabilize the Meng Huai affair, so he did not pursue Cao Fu's case.
Shen Wei was surprised that she knew so much, and after a moment of hesitation, she nodded in acknowledgment: "Yes."
He then explained, "I went to the Xu family intentionally to attract Lan Huaien's attention and get close to him before unintentionally revealing the information to him."
Yan Chao was somewhat taken aback. Approaching Lan Huaien in this way, while avoiding suspicion due to its flamboyance, required extreme caution at every step, and the outcome was not necessarily satisfactory.
"How do you know he will definitely report Cao Fu's matter to His Majesty, instead of turning against you?"
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