The sky was just beginning to lighten.
Shen Xu entered with a solemn expression. "Madam, Vice Minister Tang has ordered men to guard outside the East Palace."
Lin Qingwan's heart tightened. "Did the Crown Princess inform you?"
Shen Xu shook his head. "The people in the side hall haven't gone out."
"Minister Tang heard from someone that you poisoned the Crown Princess's cat, and under the pretext of a deadly poison appearing in the Eastern Palace, he mobilized troops to guard it. He claimed it was out of concern for the safety of the Lady and the Crown Princess, but he mobilized troops without orders and even surrounded the Eastern Palace..."
Shen Xu was very uneasy. "Minister Tang's decision to take this step must mean he has abandoned the proper etiquette between ruler and subject."
Even if the Crown Prince returns now, Minister Tang can still use either Lin Qingwan or the young prince to threaten him.
Lin Qingwan felt cold in her limbs and forced herself to calm down.
Her voice was cool and unhurried, somewhat like Zhao Cong's, but unfortunately she lacked Zhao Cong's reassuring aura.
"As far as I know, Vice Minister Tang has no great ambitions. Even if he wants to threaten the Crown Prince, his only goal is to kill me and make Tang Yun the Crown Prince's favorite."
"He only wanted to be the emperor's father-in-law, not to lead his entire family to their deaths."
Shen Xu's expression hardened slightly. "Since Minister Tang is loyal to His Majesty, it is destined that the Crown Prince will not give him an important position. Even without you, Madam, the Crown Prince would not favor Miss Tang."
Lin Qingwan: "It's no use for you and me to understand, but Minister Tang doesn't."
"Then... what do we do now?"
Lin Qingwan rubbed her temples. "Let's wait a little longer. Minister Tang can't sit still. Let's wait until he reveals his intentions before we talk about it."
"Where is the Crown Prince?"
Shen Xu had not received any news for two days, and could only guess that "he should be arriving in the capital in the next two days."
Lin Qingwan's heart skipped a beat. Minister Tang had surrounded the East Palace, and Shopkeeper Tao couldn't get in either.
She then asked, "What about those two palace maids..."
Shen Xu's face lit up. "One of the palace maids, Changxia, had met Cui'er from Youlan Palace."
"Changxia was introduced to the palace by Cui'er, who has been in the Eastern Palace for eight years. But after checking their hometowns, I found out that they are from the same place."
"They are all from Qin County, Hezhou."
Lin Qingwan frowned. Hezhou?
"That place is located at the border, and once the war starts, it becomes a no-man's land with a very mixed population."
"That's right. They must have come to the capital with the refugees."
Shen Xu also realized the problem at this point: the palace's selection process for maids was extremely strict, and refugees could not possibly enter the palace. So who recommended Cui'er?
"Please have Guard Shen keep a close eye on them. We'll wait until Physician Zhu has determined what poison the cat has been given before taking any action," Lin Qingwan instructed.
"yes."
"Guard Shen," Lin Qingwan called out after thinking for a while, "Could you find a way to get Manager Tao to come see me without attracting attention?"
Seeing her furrowed brows, Shen Xu assumed it was something serious.
"This is simple, Madam, just wait patiently."
Lin Qingwan felt relieved; thankfully, the Crown Prince had left Shen Xu to her.
Side hall.
When Madam Tang saw her daughter sitting blankly by the window, her hair and makeup unkempt and her knees untreated, with no medicine for the bruises, her eyes were empty and vacant.
Tears instantly streamed down her face. "Yun'er! My Yun'er..."
"You've been wronged."
The last time I saw her, I only felt that my daughter's arrogance had weakened, and I thought she had become more sensible. But now, I didn't realize that there was no light in her eyes.
Madam Tang remembered what Tang Yun had told her last time, "Mother, I want to go home."
She also advised her daughter not to be willful.
If we had let her go back and stay for two days back then, things might not have turned out this way.
"Mother, my cat is dead."
"Maybe I'll be the one to die next."
Tang Yun's face remained expressionless, and his tone was as calm as if he were talking about an everyday matter: "If I die, I will be free."
"Yun'er! You're tearing my heart out!" Madam Tang cried out in anguish. "Don't be afraid. Your father knows you've been wronged, and he knows the Crown Prince has gone too far in bullying us. Now he's surrounded the Eastern Palace, and no one will dare to bully you anymore."
Tang Yun's eyelashes trembled, unable to believe what she had just heard.
Have they surrounded the Eastern Palace?
She looked at her mother in surprise, "What do you want to do?"
"They're willing to risk the lives of hundreds of members of the Tang family?"
Madam Tang wiped away her tears. "Don't be afraid. Yesterday, His Majesty woke up for a quarter of an hour, and your father obtained an imperial edict from Nuanxin Pavilion, ordering the Crown Prince to depose Consort Wan and treat you well from now on."
Tang Yun's body trembled slightly.
"That Lady Wan tried to poison you while the Crown Prince was away, but poor cat died first." Lady Tang's eyes were sinister. "Yun'er, you won't suffer in vain for the grievances you suffered in the past."
Tang Yun grabbed her mother's hand, "She is the Crown Prince's darling. Even His Majesty cannot change the Crown Prince's decision. Aren't you afraid of angering him and harming the Tang family by forcing him like this!"
Madam Tang replied, "Your father and I only have you as our daughter. How can we be at ease if you can't live a happy life?"
Tang Yun sneered, "Don't use me as an example."
“My father wanted to become the emperor’s father-in-law and make the Tang family the second Ning family, the head of all aristocratic families. He plotted to have the crown prince marry me, but he never expected that Lady Wan would appear in the middle of it all.”
"Now that they see I'm at odds with the Crown Prince, they want to use this incident to get rid of Lady Wan. If I'm not mistaken, the next step is to have the young prince placed under my care, right?"
Madam Tang's eyes lit up. "My Yun'er has finally come to her senses."
"Your father and I will never watch you be unhappy for the rest of your life."
Despair spread through Tang Yun's entire body. She forced a bitter smile, "If you really cared about me, you wouldn't have let me continue down this dark path!"
Madam Tang avoided her daughter's gaze, saying, "Your father and I would never harm you."
Main house.
Shopkeeper Tao and the guards under Shen Xu changed their clothes and successfully met Lin Qingwan.
Upon seeing the results found by Manager Tang, Lin Qingwan was shocked and immediately wrote a letter for Shen Xu to deliver to Zhao Cong.
Shen Xu said, "Madam, it's too late."
Lin Qingwan didn't understand what he meant.
"Minister Tang obtained an imperial decree from Nuanxin Pavilion, saying that you failed to poison the Crown Princess and instead killed her cat. Now, they want to arrest you to clean house for the Crown Prince."
Before entering, Shen Xu had already ambushed all his elite troops in the main house, preparing for a desperate battle.
Lin Qingwan stiffened. "How could His Majesty agree to let the Tang family touch me at this critical juncture? This completely goes against his original intention."
"His Majesty initially agreed to the Crown Prince's request to make me his secondary wife, precisely to leave a way out for himself and the insane Prince of Jin. His unusual and full support for the Crown Prince's war effort was also for the same purpose."
"Now that His Majesty is nearing his end, only Prince Jin remains alive. A madman cannot take care of himself. At this time, if he displeases the Crown Prince, how can Prince Jin possibly be at peace?"
Lin Qingwan couldn't understand it.
Shen Xu said, "Regardless of His Majesty's thoughts, your safety is the most important thing now. The charges have been laid, and the Tang family has a reason to besiege the Eastern Palace. The next step..."
He dared not say anything more.
Lin Qingwan crumpled up the letter she had written to the Crown Prince, pondered for a moment, and said, "Tie up Cui'er and Changxia."
She glanced at Shopkeeper Tao and said, "Changxia has a younger brother outside the palace. Let's use him as a breakthrough point and make sure he confesses about how Cui'er and Consort Su harmed the Crown Princess!"
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