On this day, the three of them were preparing to return to the capital.
"The scented tea I dried for you isn't anything expensive." Old Mister Chen put two large bags of scented tea on Jiang Yun Zhu's carriage. He always remembered that time when Jiang Yun Zhu saw the flowers he planted and said that there would be scented tea to drink in the future.
Since then, he had made scented tea every year. This year he could finally give it to her.
"Just some of mine and your mother’s thoughts." Jiang Cheng gave Jiang Yun Zhu a set of gold ornaments for children, it included longevity locks, gold bracelets, and gold anklets. Legend had it that these could protect children from disaster and represent longevity.
"Elder Sister, when I pass the exam, I will come to the capital to find you." Jiang Lin said this with a guilty conscience. He felt that he wasn't material as a top scholar, but it would be good to pass the exam.
"Elder Sister, this is for you." Jiang Yun Xue handed a stack of manuscripts to Jiang Yun Zhu. She knew that she liked cooking and reading recipes. She copied these for her from the academy's library.
However, she had thought that the Shen Family might have these books and somewhat couldn't give them away.
Jiang Yun Zhu directly accepted. Even if the Shen Family was a major household, it was impossible to collect all the books in the world. Not to mention, these were her thoughts.
A smile appeared on Jiang Yun Xue's face. She could help her copy it in the future or even help her organize it into a book.
Seeing this, Jiang Wu scratched his head anxiously at the side.. He seemed to have nothing to give to Jiang Yun Zhu.
"You only need to listen to Father and Mother." Jiang Yun Zhu said to him. She heard that he was very naughty!
Jiang Wu's face burned and he quickly nodded in agreement.
Jiang Yun Zhu and the others got on the carriage. Mrs. Chen and others watched from their spot. It wasn't until their carriage disappeared that Mrs. Chen shed tears. After this separation, it was unknown when they would see each other again.
"If we miss them in the future, we will go to the capital to see them." Jiang Cheng said.
Mrs. Chen found it logical and then suppressed the sadness of parting.
It was already June. The weather was starting to get hot. It was time to wear new summer clothes and replace window screens with new. But Princess Danyang couldn't get excited at all.
Now her daily routine with Academician Shen was to ask Attendant Chang and Shen Fu, "Is Young Master back?"
Since Jiang Yun Zhu and the others left, the house had been cold and silent. The two of them were no longer in the mood to quarrel. Every day, they just count the days to see how many days Jiang Yun Zhu and the others have been away and whether it was time to come back. Then they wondered if Shen Heng had grown up a bit and could speak more words.
On this day, Academician Shen came back from outside and looked at Shen Fu as usual.
He thought it would be the same as before, Shen Fu shaking his head.
Who would have thought, "Master, Young Master and Young Madam are back. They are in the front hall!"
"Back?" Academician Shen asked. At this moment, his face no longer looked as stern as before.
"Back." Shen Fu glanced at Academician Shen and replied with a smile.
Academician Shen turned three steps to two. After passing the calligraphy corridor, he could already see the main hall. Shen Feng Ming, Jiang Yun Zhu and Shen Heng were all there!
He slowed down and then entered the living room.
Shen Heng was indeed able to speak more words and could call him "Grandmother" and "Grandfather". Princess Danyang and Academician Shen hugged him and were reluctant to let go.
The Shen Family became lively again.
On the last day of August, something big happened. Attendant Qi helped the Empress Dowager get up in the morning, but found that she had no breath. She died at some point during the night. She looked peaceful, as if she was asleep.
The saddest person about this was Princess Danyang, who had fainted from crying several times.
Emperor Qinglong was extremely sad. The Empress Dowager was indispensable to his ascension as the emperor.
The entire capital hung in white for a month of national mourning for the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager doted Shen Feng Ming dearly. Not to mention Shen Feng Ming, Jiang Yun Zhu was also greatly saddened with her sudden passing.
However, because of the incident from the year before last, everyone was somewhat prepared. This time, the Empress Dowager passed away peacefully and everyone felt a little more at ease.
People got to look forward. Winter had arrived in a blink of an eye. It snowed lightly every day. The snow particles were as scattered as fine salt.
On this day, a female corpse was found in a ruined temple in the northern suburbs of the capital.
The people from Jingzhao Manor immediately went to check and concluded that it was an old woman who had frozen to death there.
It wasn’t surprising since the weather was cold.
But two days later, someone sent a letter, saying that it was left by the old woman. She said that if she died one day, she would get someone to deliver this letter to the government office.
When the people from Jingzhao Manor opened the letter, they were so shocked that their blood ran cold. This old woman called herself Wu Min and she served the Crown Prince in the East Palace thirteen years ago. At that time, Concubine Wu asked her to put a black powder in the incense burner in the crown prince's room. When the powder burned, it was colorless and odorless and left no trace after it burned to ashes.
Eunuch Zhang said at the time that the powder would only make the Crown Prince depressed, but that night, the Crown Prince fell ill.
The old woman had been in the palace for a long time and knew that she had been deceived and would definitely be killed and silenced. So she bribed the palace people to escape from the palace.
For so many years, she had been on tenterhooks for fear of being found by Concubine Wu. She was very guilty of what happened back then, so she left this letter. If she died unexpectedly one day, it would be because of Concubine Wu.
She hoped that the truth would be revealed to the world; that justice would be returned for the crown prince and that the wicked people would be punished.
This letter was very simple, but the governor of Jingzhao felt as if he fell into an ice cellar. If what was written in this letter was true...it was truly shocking!
He threw the letter away, wishing he had never seen it.
The governor of Jingzhao was a typical wallflower. He bowed to the crown prince's people and greeted the sixth prince's people with a smile. His biggest wish was to survive the three-year term and be transferred to another place. Who would have thought that when the third year was about to end, something like this would happen.
What to do? What to do? His first thought was to destroy the letter and pretend it never happened. But he felt it was inappropriate. Who knew if the old woman had someone deliver the letter elsewhere? If she did and if they were traced later, he wouldn't be able to escape unscathed.
What to do? Report it?
After sitting there for an hour, he finally thought of a method that he thought was fairly safe.
He called all the officials of Jingzhao Manor to the hall and showed them this letter.
Among these people were people from the Sixth Prince and some from the Crown Prince. When everyone saw this letter, they felt huge waves in their hearts, but no one showed it.
Xie Chen stood among them. In the past three years, Emperor Qinglong had indeed intended to promote their batch of candidates. Coupled with his ability and efficiency, he was now one of the two young lieutenants in Jingzhao manor.
He saw the letter and quickly understood the governor of Jingzhao's plan. It was almost what they expected.
After everyone read the letter, they talked a lot but didn't come to any conclusion.
When everyone left the hall, the news spread throughout the capital as if it had wings.
The next day, Jingzhao Manor reported the matter to Emperor Qinglong and asked Emperor Qinglong to make a decision. He was determined not to offend anyone.
After Emperor Qinglong saw the letter, he could hardly believe his eyes. In fact, he used to be very optimistic about the crown prince, otherwise he wouldn't have made him the crown prince. It was only later that he became seriously ill, escaped death, and became more and more obese, that he began to dislike him and doted on the sixth prince.
Now someone told him that the Crown Prince was harmed by someone and he doted on the culprit's son?
Before he could recover, the ministers in the court had already launched into a fierce battle.
Crown Prince’s fraction naturally refused to let go of this opportunity. Concubine Wu was treasonous, plotting to kill the prince. They request the Emperor Qinglong to arrest Concubine Wu immediately and give justice to the prince, so that the people of the world could feel at ease.
The Sixth Prince and his party insisted that someone spread rumors to stir up trouble. There was indeed an attendant named Wu Min in the Crown Prince at that time, but after the Crown Prince fell ill, she slipped and fell into the well and drowned. The court of judicial review found that there was no error. .
If Attendant Wu was dead, then who was this old woman?
Moreover, her letter said that she bribed the palace people to escape from the palace. At that time, the Crown Prince suddenly fell seriously ill. Emperor Qinglong had ordered people to strictly investigate the people in the East Palace. Who dared to let her out of the palace at that time? Her escaping the palace was basically nonsense.
They request the emperor to investigate this matter carefully and not to unjustly accuse a good person.
Emperor Qinglong was originally furious, but when he saw this scene, he felt a little sad in his heart. Look, these were his courtiers. No one wanted to share their worries for him, they were all busy eliminating and purging those who were politically opposed to oneself or disagree with oneself.
"That's enough!" He shouted angrily, looking at everyone.
Those bearing his gaze lowered their heads. That was until it landed on a young man. The young man wore a fifth-grade official robe and looked upright and confident.
He remembered this young man, Gu Yan Zhou, the new top scorer from three years ago.
His eyes stayed on him for a moment before going to the side.
Emperor Qinglong told the three divisions to investigate the matter together and wanted to see the results within ten days.
The three departments were the Criminal Department, Court of Judicial Review, and the Censorate; most of the Criminal Department was from the crown prince’s faction, most of the Censorate was from the sixth prince’s side, and the Court of Judicial Review had infiltration from every faction. If these three groups came together, what could they find out?
Emperor Qinglong didn't expect much from them. After returning to the palace, he immediately called Shen Feng Ming and ordered him to investigate the matter. He didn't trust anyone now, only him.
The Third Division and the Qilin Guards were investigating the case together. The Third Division was in the light, while the Qilin Guards were in the dark. For a time, the whole capital was in turmoil and everyone was on edge.
On this day, Lin Ting An met a mysterious man in a temple on the outskirts of the capital.
"Fifth Prince, what about Attendant Wu?" Lin Ting An asked the mysterious person.
The mysterious man took off the cloak on his head. He was the fifth prince of the Great Xia Dynasty.
The fifth prince's biological mother was Concubine Xian. Concubine Xian was a member of the Concubine Wu’s faction and was her right-hand man in the palace. Though the fifth prince looked very majestic, he wasn't good at literature or the military. Nor was he very eye-catching among the other princes. So people rarely paid attention to him in the past.
The ministers in the court were right. It was impossible for Attendant Wu, an ordinary attendant, to escape from the palace in that situation. But what if someone helped? And that person was someone Concubine Wu trusted.
Concubine Xian didn't know what Concubine Wu asked Attendant Wu to do at the time, but she intuitively felt that there was something going on. So she secretly took attendant Wu out of the palace and then faked the scene of slipping and falling into a well.
When she learned about what Concubine Wu had done from Attendant Wu, she immediately realized that this would be an opportunity to pull Concubine Wu down and kept Attendant Wu imprisoned in a secret place.
From then on, Concubine Xian began to have other thoughts.
"Attendant Wu is still in the villa." The fifth prince’s words were astonishing.
"The one in the ruined temple?" Lin Ting An was a little confused.
"Maybe someone wanted to frame Concubine Wu. Maybe..." The fifth prince stared into the distance. Last year, it seemed that someone was investigating something related to Attendant Wu. Did that person find out something?
"Throw away a brick in order to get a gem?" Lin Ting An said immediately. Get a fake Attendant Wu out and force them to hand over the real Attendant Wu!
The fifth prince said nothing.
The two of them were silent for a long time. Who did it and what was the aim could be investigated later. The top priority was what they should do now.
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