"Is he in a hurry?" Rong Ning asked. "If he's not in a hurry, let's move to another place first."
Aying was taken aback, and replied uncertainly, "It must be quite urgent, otherwise the Crown Prince wouldn't have sent people to intercept you in advance."
"Alright then!"
Rong Ning turned back in frustration.
Fortunately, the Crown Prince arrived quickly and didn't keep her waiting for long. The Crown Prince must have been in a real hurry, because as soon as he arrived, he cleared everyone out and spoke to Rong Ning alone.
"There's news about the mistress and her son!" the crown prince said.
Rong Ning instantly perked up, "Where is it?"
The crown prince's expression was somewhat grave. "That mistress is dead!"
"Dead?"
"Well... after the Zhu family's incident, the Prime Minister's faction should have assured the Prefect that they would send his mistress and her son out of the city and settle them properly. The Prime Minister did indeed intend to preserve the only bloodline of the Zhu family. However, the Prime Minister's eldest son was two-faced and actually sent someone to assassinate them on their way out of the city."
We found the body of the concubine at the foot of a cliff outside the city, but we haven't found any trace of the concubine's husband yet.
No wonder when Rong Ning entered the Prime Minister's residence, she said that the eldest son had been punished by the Prime Minister with family discipline and was so badly injured that he was bedridden. It was probably because of this incident.
Rong Ning fell silent for a moment, wondering what to do next.
"Too much time has passed; the body in the outer chamber is already beyond recognition, and we haven't found direct evidence yet that Xie's eldest son was responsible... so..."
The prince stopped speaking there.
He looked at Rong Ning apologetically. After investigating for so long, he had finally made some progress, but the result was neither good nor bad, which was frustrating.
Rong Ning was also annoyed!
There is no direct evidence!
what to do?
Do we really have to wait until we have evidence before taking action?
But can they really find any evidence?
Even if we find it, will it be too late by then?
Rong Ning closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and said in a deep voice, "Brother, take the body of that mistress to the Ministry of Justice prison and show it to Prefect Zhu and the Seventh Young Master. I'm going to the Prime Minister's residence."
"what are you up to?"
"What else can we do but kidnap Xie's eldest son and interrogate him face-to-face?"
The Crown Prince disagreed, saying, "That's too risky!"
"It doesn't matter, as long as there's a result!" Rong Ning's tone left no room for argument. "Even if there are any problems later, I'll take responsibility. But you should send Aheng to the palace to speak with Father Emperor. Tell him that I'm going to take action against the Prime Minister's residence. My brother and I have really messed things up, so let Father Emperor take the fall!"
Her father wanted her to make a knife, so she couldn't blame the knife for being too fast and sharp, and she also had to clean up the mess.
Moreover, a large number of people have changed in the court during this period, and they are not very related to the Prime Minister. The power of the Prime Minister's Mansion has been greatly reduced. If we take action against the Prime Minister's Mansion at this time, even if the result is bad, it will still be within a controllable range.
Rong Ning was extremely efficient. While those fools in the Ministry of Justice were running around in the courtyard shouting orders, exhausted like dead dogs, she ordered Luo Chuan to lead two hundred imperial guards to surround the Prime Minister's residence.
The people from the Ministry of Justice were all running laps, so no one tipped them off. Rong Ning led her men straight into the Prime Minister's residence without any hindrance.
Without saying a word, she went straight to the main house's courtyard and took Xie's eldest son away.
The Prime Minister was in the palace at the moment. The Emperor knew that she was going to take action against the Prime Minister's residence, so he colluded with her from the inside and detained the Prime Minister. The incident happened so suddenly that the residence seemed to have lost its backbone. No one dared to stop Rong Ning, and no one dared to speak. Xie Chong rushed out and asked: Why did you arrest his father?
Rong Ning didn't answer his question, but only gave him a deep look and said, "Young Master Xie, don't let the people in the manor run around, and don't try to do anything. If the Prime Minister's manor is innocent and your father is upright, then everything will settle down."
Xie Chong froze upon hearing this!
He knew very well that the Prime Minister's family was not innocent, and his father was no good person either.
At first, Xie Jia Dalang started shouting, which annoyed Rong Ning, so she ordered someone to stuff a handkerchief into his mouth. Although Xie Jia Dalang was not a good person, he was a man of principle. When had he ever been treated like this? He felt humiliated but could not make a sound, so he choked up and his face turned red, even turning liver-colored!
When they took him to the Ministry of Justice's prison, he felt like he was about to suffocate!
Rong Ning, being kind-hearted, pulled out her handkerchief. "Lord Xie, please say what you want to say. I'm listening."
Xie Dalang looked around and saw that this was a prison. The Crown Prince sat at the head of the table with a cold expression. Below him knelt the Zhu family father and son, whose eyes seemed to be filled with poison. He then looked at the corpse covered with a white cloth next to him and his body shuddered.
He seems to know why he made such a big fuss today.
He dared not speak, shrinking into a ball, trying to make himself less noticeable, but Luo Chuan didn't give him the chance. He grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to the side of the corpse, lifted the white sheet, and demanded, "Do you recognize this body?"
The person had been dead for a long time, and the weather was hot, so the body was already rotten beyond recognition. When the white cloth was lifted, the strong incense could not cover up the stench. Xie's eldest son took a breath without any warning and immediately vomited.
He was vomiting so hard he could barely breathe.
Luo Chuan frowned, looking utterly disgusted. He pulled him away and threatened him sharply, "Speak! Do you recognize this corpse?"
Xie Dalang caught his breath and regained some of his composure. He immediately wailed and kowtowed repeatedly to the Crown Prince and Rong Ning, "Your Highness, please understand! This humble subject has not left the manor for a month. How could I possibly recognize this corpse?"
"Yeah?"
Rong Ning lost her patience and ordered Luo Chuan, "Stop talking nonsense, hang him on the rack, and put him on every kind of torture device in the prison!"
"Your humble servant obeys!"
Without wasting any time, Luo Chuan put the man on the rack, and a long row of torture instruments were laid out in front of Xie's eldest son.
The scene was terrifying.
Rong Ning walked over, picked up a pair of spiky tongs, and slowly heated them in the crackling embers. She said calmly, "Eldest son of the Xie family, I think you should understand one thing first. Your father, Prime Minister Xie, wields immense power and cannot be easily harmed. But the fact that I dared to storm into the Prime Minister's residence to arrest you means I already have evidence. Placing you here is merely to give the Zhu family father and son an explanation, and also..."
The tongs were already scalding hot. Rong Ning picked them up and quickly and accurately stuck them to Xie Jia Dalang's arm, saying, "And... I'll let you suffer some physical pain!"
The scalding hot tongs burned through his clothes and stuck to his skin. He had never experienced such fear before. Xie's eldest son instinctively screamed, "Your Highness! Your Highness!! I'll talk!! I'll talk!!"
"Um?"
Rong Ning tossed the fire tongs back into the brazier and said casually, "Then speak, tell the truth. You'd better finish before I burn these tongs red-hot, otherwise, it won't be as simple as just scalding my arm..."
Rong Ning stretched out her finger and poked his shoulder blade. "I'll stick the fire tongs in here and make you wish you were dead, in unbearable pain!"
As Xie Jiadalang imagined the scene in his mind, his face grew increasingly grim, and he could no longer keep his mouth shut, blurting everything out like beans spilling from a bamboo tube.
The Zhu father and son listened from the side, their expressions initially turning grim, but later returning to calm.
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