Zhao Cong stared intently at Jiang Su.
He was kneeling on the ground, his hair and face disheveled, and no expression could be seen on his face; only his shoulders twitched a couple of times.
But when he spoke again, his voice was noticeably hoarseer, "I'm sorry to her."
“But since she became my daughter and returned to the Jiang family, she was destined to suffer this fate.”
"Her surname is Jiang after all."
Zhao Cong's fists clenched so tightly they cracked; he wanted to kill Jiang Su with a single punch.
It's been a long time since I've felt this direct sense of killing.
“But she never enjoyed a single day of the Jiang family’s wealth and privilege,” he said.
Jiang Su: "That's her fate."
Zhao Cong felt the air around him thin as he thought of Lin Qingwan curled up in the corner waiting to die. "Prime Minister Jiang, you are not worthy of having children, not worthy of being a parent."
"It's no wonder the Jiang family was executed along with their entire clan; Jiang Zhenlin was the first to die."
Jiang Su was stunned. He suddenly raised his head, his face, covered in blood and wrinkles, staring at Zhao Cong like a demon. "No!"
Zhao Cong let out a cold laugh through his nose and turned to leave.
"Your Highness, please wait!"
Zhao Cong did not pause.
Jiang Su knelt and chased after them to the prison gate, gripping the iron bars tightly, his eyes bloodshot. "That letter from back then, has the Crown Prince never wondered why I didn't destroy it when I went back to rescue the Lady?"
"At that time I knew things were not going to work out, and leaving that letter was like planting a bomb for myself."
Zhao Cong turned his head, his gaze sharp. "Keeping that letter is obviously to control Consort Ning. You've worked for her for so many years; if you didn't have something on your hands, how could you have survived until today?"
Jiang Su said, "I can keep Consort Ning's letter. Why keep a forged letter? The former proves that I was forced to do things for her, while the latter is something that could bring my Jiang family to ruin."
Zhao Cong narrowed his eyes. "What are you trying to say?"
“Master Wuyuan is a member of the Xiongnu royal family. Logically speaking, it would be entirely beneficial for him to cooperate with Consort Ning.” Jiang Su’s eyes shone with a frightening light. “He can also eliminate you, the crown prince who terrifies the Xiongnu, while supporting Prince Jing’s ascension to the throne. He has no reason to harm Prince Jing.”
This is also something that Zhao Cong has never been able to understand.
But he was too eager to bring down Consort Ning to pay attention to these minor details.
Jiang Su met Zhao Cong's gaze without flinching, his entire being like a taut string about to snap.
Zhao Cong remained calm and composed, revealing nothing, but the slight rubbing of his fingers betrayed the turmoil within him.
After a moment of silence, he said, "Are you trying to say that you deliberately left that forged letter from back then so I could use it as evidence?"
"Was it your doing that Master Wuyuan poisoned Zhao Yan?"
Jiang Su's eyelashes trembled slightly. "That's why I didn't let Yan Wan marry Prince Jing. Qing Wan and her mother got close to Prince Jing out of spite, and I didn't stop them either."
"Because we knew that King Jing would not live long."
Zhao Cong clenched his fist, his eyes sharp and piercing. "Did you ever imagine that Lin Qingwan almost became fertilizer in the flowerbed?"
Jiang Su's eyes darkened for a moment. "Didn't the Crown Prince save her?"
Zhao Cong still wanted to hit someone!
Jiang Su, feeling guilty, added, "I didn't expect Prince Jing to go mad like that. Later, I asked Daoist Wuyuan to tell him that Xue Jianqing's soul was attached to Qingwan's body."
"King Jing believed it."
"Wouldn't it be better to let him make it up to Qingwan himself?"
Zhao Cong spat out a few words through gritted teeth, "You just want to use this to restrain Zhao Yan and prevent Consort Ning from harming the Jiang family."
Jiang Su was taken aback for a moment. “What the Crown Prince thinks is irrelevant. But your victory today is something I have to admit I let go.”
"It is not too much for me to beg for the lives of my wife and son."
Zhao Cong's expression was cold and stern, his thin lips pressed into a straight line. Suddenly, he smiled and said, "Chen Xu, open the cell door."
Seeing him walk towards him, Jiang Su silently exhaled the breath he had been holding in for days.
From the very beginning, he could tell that His Majesty had no intention of letting Prince Jing inherit the throne, but if he wanted to climb the ranks, he could only work for Consort Ning, helping her build connections and recruit soldiers.
He reminded Consort Ning more than once, but she wouldn't listen. She felt that His Majesty favored her and her son, that the late Empress couldn't defeat her, nor could the Crown Prince, and that the throne would ultimately belong to Prince Jing.
Jiang Su laughed at her foolishness, yet he had no choice but to use her foolishness to gain a foothold.
The Crown Prince has made great contributions on the frontier. How could he have held military power if he had not been favored by the Emperor?
While the emperor showered Consort Ning and her son with trivial sweets, he also helped the crown prince establish his own power base.
After careful consideration, Jiang Su left a way out for the Crown Prince—or, to be precise, a way out for himself.
He had calculated everything; apart from his wife and son, who hadn't become his pawns, he wanted to squeeze every last drop of value out of everyone else.
The prison door opened again, and Jiang Su was filled with hope.
Zhao Cong slowly walked in, stretched his wrists a couple of times, and his gaze suddenly turned cold.
Jiang Su realized the danger but it was too late to dodge. A heavy punch came down, instantly disorienting him.
The brutal beatings were even more terrifying than the whippings during interrogation; several times he seemed to hear the sound of his bones being cracked.
He could only vomit blood when he opened his mouth; he couldn't utter a single word.
"Your Highness, if you continue, you'll die," Shen Xu advised.
When Zhao Cong withdrew his fist, Jiang Su was no different from a dead dog, except that his abdomen could be seen to rise and fall slightly.
Zhao Cong instructed, "Tell him when he wakes up that Lin Shi and Jiang Zhenlin have no way out."
Shen Xu shivered. "Yes."
A small courtyard in the east of the city.
Mu Xue and Qiu Hong's eyes were red from staying up so long.
Physician Zhu had been busy all night, and when he came out, he could only stand by leaning against the door frame. Before he could catch his breath, he was surrounded by two people.
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