Chapter 330
Who would have thought that this matter was not only disrupted by Lu Yuanpeng, but Lin Xinan was also beaten and angered, so he extorted a sum of silver from Prime Minister Lu’s residence? But on April 2nd at noon, someone silently broke into their home and smothered Lin Xinan using the “tiaga jiaoguan” method.
That person promised her a large sum of silver and taught her to pretend to be illiterate. She was to first find students from the Imperial College to write a complaint, then report Prime Minister Lu’s family to the official government. Subsequently, she was to cry before the students of the Imperial College, claiming officials were protecting each other and incite them to beat the drum at Wude Gate.
Taking the opportunity to bring up that Lin Xinan was reprimanding the Princess of Zhen for her atrocity of burning and killing captives at Fanque Tower, only then did Lu Yuanpeng kill Lin Xinan. The root cause of this crime was the Princess of Zhen’s atrocity of burning and killing captives, which was intolerable to heaven and undeserving of the title of princess.
If Lin Xinan’s mother did not comply, it would be a dead end for her.
Her son was already dead; she did not want to die, so she agreed, just to grasp at a chance to survive.
When the Eldest Princess and Bai Qingyan analyzed this matter in detail, she told the Eldest Princess about the wife of Wen Zhenkang, the chief examiner of this imperial examination, staying in the Left Prime Minister’s residence for a long time.
This matter was well known in Dadu City. The Eldest Princess naturally knew: “Now there are rampant rumors in Dadu City, all saying that Wen Zhenkang’s wife had an affair with Left Prime Minister Li Mao. Wen Zhenkang’s wife was known for her fiery temper, but she kept her cool and did not curse the rumor-spreaders. Either the reason she went to see Left Prime Minister Li Mao cannot be made public, or this matter is true…”
She looked at the Eldest Princess sitting under the glass lamp, fiddling with the Buddha beads, and asked, “Grandmother, what do you think?”
The Eldest Princess did not stop fiddling with the Buddha beads. Wrinkles at the corners of her eyes showed a smile: “Is Kid playing dumb with Grandmother?”
“Nanny Jiang, bring the items over.”
The Eldest Princess spoke to Nanny Jiang, who was standing outside the screen. She placed the agarwood Buddha beads on the small table and took a small sip of tea.
Soon, Nanny Jiang came in holding a black lacquer box and handed it to Bai Qingyan with a smile.
Only then did the Eldest Princess put down her tea cup with one hand, picked up the Buddha beads, and said slowly, “Wen Zhenkang’s wife was indeed divorced and remarried, but few people knew that her previous husband was the brother-in-law of the counselor in the Second Prince’s residence.”
Bai Qingyan reached out to take the black lacquer box and asked before opening it, “So Wen Zhenkang’s wife holds Li Mao’s weakness, which is related to the Second Prince?”
The Eldest Princess never doubted this granddaughter’s intelligence. She nodded: “I believe Wen Zhenkang’s wife is holding the missing letter from this box.”
The Eldest Princess’s gaze fell on the hundred birds facing the phoenix embroidery on the screen. Under the warm golden light, the phoenix’s eyes, embroidered with silver thread, shone brightly. She squinted: “If Wen Zhenkang’s wife is smart, she would hand this letter to Li Mao and tell him… she only asks to protect her husband’s life, otherwise, someone will hand over the rest of the letters to the Court of Judicial Review.”
Listening to her grandmother’s unhurried voice, she opened the box. Inside were letters exchanged between Li Mao and the Second Prince.
She sat quietly under the lamp, glanced through the letters quickly, and her pupils slightly contracted. The Second Prince’s rebellion was actually aided by Li Mao’s handiwork.
Li Mao was supposed to be a hero who protected the emperor…
The Eldest Princess’s voice continued: “When the Second Prince’s rebellion initially failed, he was trapped inside Wude Gate. Li Mao sensed something was wrong and, fearing it might implicate him, immediately went to the Commandant’s Office, staking the lives of his entire clan to request the Commandant to dispatch the imperial guard to rescue the emperor. During the battle between the imperial guard and the soldiers led by the Second Prince, he quietly led a team to besiege the Second Prince’s residence.”
“That night, the Second Prince’s pregnant wife hanged herself. At dawn, not a single person was left alive in the Second Prince’s residence. According to Li Mao, everyone in the Second Prince’s household fought to the death and, in the end, he had no choice but to unleash a volley of arrows to quell the rebellion. He then handed over the confidential letters found in the Second Prince’s residence, implicating nearly half of the court officials.” The Eldest Princess paused her fiddling with the Buddha beads and brought her distant gaze back. “Afterward, Li Mao’s status soared, and no one in the Capital dared to mention the Second Prince again.”
Bai Qingyan did not finish reading the letters before closing the black lacquer box. She lowered her gaze and lightly tapped her fingers on the black lacquer box.
If so, then in the previous life, Li Mao turned out to be the biggest winner.
To incite the Second Prince to rebel and then, after the Second Prince’s failure, not only did he not get implicated but his status also skyrocketed.
Later, he joined hands with King Liang, taking control over the entire court, secretly instigating King Liang to rebel.
This Li Mao was indeed interesting…
Even though he was already the Left Prime Minister, he was still unsatisfied. What was he plotting?
Since Li Mao’s significant weakness was in the hands of the Bai family, then… let Li Mao stay in the position of Left Prime Minister for a bit longer. Having someone with a critical weakness in that position was better than replacing him with an unknown one.
At the same time, Lu Jin was also kneeling under the lamp, organizing the case of examination fraud and Lin Xinan’s death on the small table. freēwēbnovel.com
As Lu Jin sorted through the files, he suddenly took out a blank piece of paper, listing the time and reason for Lin Xinan’s conflict with Lu Yuanpeng at Fanque Tower, the time of Lin Xinan’s death, Lin Xinan’s mother beating the drum at Wude Gate, and everything she said.
He specifically circled the statements Lin Xinan made at Fanque Tower and the words used by the person who instructed Lin Xinan’s mother to beat the drum, condemning the Princess of Zhen for her cruelty.
Remembering that Lin Xinan’s mother beat the drum on the same day examinee Xue Renyi beat the drum because of examination fraud, he listed the time of the drum beating related to the examination fraud case as well.
In a flash of inspiration, a bold idea formed in Lu Jin’s mind.
He picked up his pen and connected Lin Xinan’s death with the examination fraud case.
Once Lin Xinan’s case was closed, it looked like it targeted the Princess of Zhen. But why didn’t the person behind Lin Xinan make a fuss immediately after Lu Yuanpeng beat Lin Xinan?
Instead, they waited until Xue Renyi beat the drum for the examination fraud case to occur together? Too coincidental…
Before the examination fraud case, raising the issue of Prime Minister Lu’s grandson committing murder would draw attention from both the court and the public!
But if it coincided with the examination fraud case, the attention on the murder case would naturally decrease, which seemed irrational.
The only explanation was that the person behind these schemes aimed for two birds with one stone—reducing the attention on the examination fraud case while tarnishing the reputation of the Princess of Zhen and preferably stripping her of the princess title.
Looking at the whole Capital, who would harbor such hatred for the Princess of Zhen and desperately want to cover up the examination fraud case?
Lu Jin squinted, recalling that his wife and daughter mentioned after returning from a polo match on April 6th that they heard gossip about the chief examiner Wen Zhenkang’s wife staying for a long time at the Left Prime Minister’s residence.