Chapter 374: The Truth Revealed
Someone with sharp eyes noticed the huge denomination of the banknote, and immediately exclaimed, rushing to grab the banknote regardless of anything.
"Thank you, Madam Wen!"
Those who had grabbed the banknotes expressed their gratitude excitedly, and when they saw the denominations, they were even more excited and danced with joy. Where was the calmness that servants of wealthy families had been trained to have?
It’s not that they are bad, but Wen Wan gave them too much.
The maids in the pavilion did not expect that Wen Wan would be so generous, and what surprised them even more was Wen Wan's identity.
Isn’t she your childhood sweetheart in the countryside?
She's just a girl from the countryside, yet she's the owner of the Wen family business?
Everyone was shocked by Wen Wan's identity and did not notice that at the end of the corridor not far away, an old man who was bending over with a broom to sweep the fallen leaves was watching this scene inconspicuously.
While everyone was still scrambling for the banknotes, the old man calmly put the broom aside, turned around and quietly left the yard.
*
After a busy morning, Wen Wan, who had eaten and drunk her fill, finally got rid of the shadow of yesterday and had a good nap.
However, when she opened her eyes, she saw a dark figure sitting beside the bed.
Fortunately, after years of experience, her mental strength has become very strong. She was surprised and recognized the person at a glance.
Shen Yu was still wearing the mask of "Mr. Wen", his eyes filled with the mockery she was familiar with.
"I tried so hard to sneak into the Meng Mansion, but I was afraid that I would be too late and someone would have to suffer fear for a moment longer. It seems that I was overthinking it."
He reached out and touched her round belly, "How much does it take to make it so round?"
Wen Wan slapped his paw away and angrily said, "What do you care? I only ate a little bit more to reassure everyone."
"Oh, just a little bit." Shen Yu sneered, not exposing her stubbornness.
He brought up the serious matter, "By the way, the prince ascended the throne today."
Hearing this, Wen Wan's expression darkened, "So, Queen He Qingqing is now the Empress Dowager?"
"Yeah." Shen Yu responded with a heavy face.
Wen Wan couldn't smile when He Qingqing was mentioned. She frowned and muttered, "He Qingqing is so lucky. When she was stabbed by me, the imperial physician said that it would be difficult for her to have children in this lifetime. But unexpectedly, she still gave birth to the prince."
She paused, raised her eyes and looked at Chen Yu, "Have you investigated the identity of the prince? Is he really born by He Qingqing?"
Shen Yu's expression was solemn, and he said in a deep voice: "I did ask someone to investigate, and I also verified the blood relationship between He Qingqing and the prince."
Wen Wan twitched the corner of her mouth, "Wait, you're not using a blood test to test your paternity, are you?"
This scam has been circulating for many years and looks impressive, but it actually has no scientific basis at all.
Shen Yu glanced at her and flicked her forehead. "Do you think I'm stupid? The blood test of kinship has long been refuted by the mixing of cattle and sheep blood. Nowadays, except for the rural people, they will be deceived. Basically, no one in the city will believe it."
Wen Wan finally breathed a sigh of relief, rubbed her forehead which was hurt by his flick, and asked angrily:
"Then how did you verify it? Tell me about it."
In an era without DNA testing, she was curious about how they determined blood relationships.
Shen Yu raised an eyebrow, "Have you heard of the Miaojiang Gu worm?"
"I've heard a little bit."
Shen Yu said, "There's a kind of poisonous insect in Miaojiang. Once the mother insect drinks a person's blood, its offspring will only drink the blood of people who are related to it. It won't drink the blood of anyone else, even if it starves to death."
Although it was the first time that Wen Wan heard of this kind of poisonous insect, since this method came from Shen Yu's mouth, it was still very credible.
"So, what was the result of the test using the Gu insect?"
Shen Yu sighed regretfully, "The prince is indeed related to He Qingqing by blood."
It was also because of this that although the capital was in turmoil after the emperor's death, the prince did not encounter any obstacles in ascending the throne.
So it was natural for He Qingqing to become the Empress Dowager.
What does a two or three-year-old child understand when he is most dependent on his mother?
It’s still He Qingqing who has the final say.
The method of using the emperor to control the princes is not uncommon in the long history, but Wen Wan still underestimated He Qingqing.
After Shen Yu finished speaking, his eyes were filled with anger and murderous intent.
Wen Wan was stunned and instantly understood what he was angry about.
In Fengcheng, Prince Anding was murdered by Master Xuantong. Thinking back, she first knew about Master Xuantong when he was recommended by the Queen to exorcise evil spirits at the Meng Mansion.
It was at that exorcism banquet that Wen Wan had a quick wit and turned the tables on the Queen, stabbing her and nearly killing her.
Although this happened a few years ago, it was so memorable that when Wen Wan recalled it, the context was still clear.
This means that the Queen has been familiar with Master Xuantong for a long time.
Prince Anding went to Fuyun Temple alone to restore the emperor because he received the imperial edict. If the person behind the scenes was He Qingqing, he could indeed whisper in the emperor's ear and make him issue such an edict.
Then, He Qingqing asked Master Xuantong to murder King Anding, and asked Meng Jin to fabricate false evidence that King Anding was collaborating with the enemy and selling out the country, thus bringing down the Shen family.
Putting everything together, the truth of the whole matter becomes clear.
The only thing Wen Wan didn't understand was...
The once powerful Wei family has fallen, the highly respected King Anding has died, and even He Qingqing's family, the He family, is now in ruins.
If He Qingqing was the mastermind behind this, why would she just bring down the Wei and Shen families, but why would she want to bring down the He family as well?
Shouldn’t the He family be her greatest support?
"If He Qingqing wanted to support her son's ascension to the throne, then eliminating dissidents is understandable, but how do you explain the matter between General He and He Qing?"
"General He's death was suspicious, even though all the evidence pointed to the late Empress Dowager's family, the Wei family."
"But I always feel that the Wei family's incident is unusual. If the Wei family is really so capable as to assassinate General He, they wouldn't have waited until now."
The strong are used to guarding against external threats, so over the years, even though so many people wished that General He would die soon, he was still alive and well.
Those powerful people who fell often did not die from external attacks, but from internal collapse.
For someone like General He, who would have the ability to kill him so easily, unless it was someone close to him?
"And He Qing. He was sent to Fengcheng to investigate the death of Prince Anding. We followed him all the way there, and judging by his behavior, he didn't seem to know the truth of the matter."
"He Qing's leg was injured in the valley. Although the injury was serious, it wasn't severe enough to render him disabled. His condition seems to have worsened since returning to Fengcheng."
"And the ones who escorted He Qing back to Fengcheng were the He family, led by He Miao."
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