"So..."
The long-silent great hall once again rang with a voice—it was Tushere. Yet even she, after saying those two words, did not dare continue. Panic surfaced in everyone’s eyes, mingled with a look of disbelief.
Because none of them could believe that anyone would dare kill soone in Qianqiu Palace!
So, Jian Chun could only have been killed near Chengqing Gate, which was why she tore off a clump of pine branch in her dying monts.
But if that was the case—
No one dared say anything. Several pairs of eyes turned to Shang Ruyi in unison, as if waiting for her judgnt, though the outco that ought to be had long since settled in their hearts. Instead, it was Shang Ruyi who kept her brows knitted. After a long silence, she lifted her head to look at Wo Xue and said gravely, "You were gone for so long just now; you must have found out more than that."
At her words, Tushere and Chang Wan also looked at Wo Xue.
Sure enough, a hint of conflicted struggle appeared on Wo Xue’s delicate face. But she did not stay silent for long; she only bit her lower lip and said, "This maid just went specifically to Chengqing Gate and asked a few patrolling guards. Because Chengqing Gate falls under Chengqing Hall’s jurisdiction, the ones patrolling and guarding there are n of the Right Palace Gatekeeper. Which ans..."
"...!"
Shang Ruyi instantly drew in a deep breath.
The Right Palace Gatekeeper was the Crown Prince’s Right Gatekeeper.
This post had already been settled before Yu Wenqian’s great victory in Taiyuan and his return to Chang An to be invested as Crown Prince. Clearly, it was at that ti that Yu Wenquan had already decided on the candidate for the Crown Prince, and the Right Palace Gatekeeper guarding the Eastern Palace for the Crown Prince was none other than Shang Ruyi’s elder brother, Shang Shoufei!
In other words—
This ti, even Chang Wan could not help herself; gritting her teeth, she muttered, "Damn it."
Shang Ruyi glanced at her, then at Wo Xue, who was frowning and had obviously gone through quite a struggle in her heart before returning to Qianqiu Palace. Shang Ruyi fell silent.
The matter was sowhat complicated, but not hard to sort out—Jian Chun had grabbed a clump of pine branch before dying, which ant she had either died in Qianqiu Palace or at Chengqing Gate. If she died in Qianqiu Palace, then the bla would fall on herself and even on Yu Wenye; if she died at Chengqing Gate, that area was under the jurisdiction of the East Palace Gatekeeper, and regardless of who did the deed, the responsibility would land on Shang Shoufei.
And Shang Shoufei—no matter how unwilling Shang Ruyi was to be entangled with him—they were still siblings of the sa blood!
Moreover, the dead palace maid Jian Chun was tied to the matter of Princess Qin being poisoned by Prince Qin’s Concubine from Jinyu Garden.
In other words, however one calculated it, the source of this affair would all fall back on Princess Qin!
Chang Wan’s "damn it" was putting it lightly.
Tushere pondered for a long ti. She truly could not swallow this, and she truly did not want to watch them walk into a dead end before her eyes. She could not help but say softly, "Though Chengqing Gate is under the Right Palace Gatekeeper, that area is also within the domain of Chengqian Hall. Then—"
Chang Wan frowned and said in a low voice, "Then all the more it cannot be touched."
Chengqing Gate implicated Shang Shoufei. If things blew up and reached the Emperor’s ears, Yu Wenquan could at worst disregard Shang Ruyi’s face and have Shang Shoufei killed—even, that might already be the best possible solution at present.
But Chengqian Hall implicated the Crown Prince.
In other words, the Crown Prince was connected to that palace maid nad Jian Chun, and Jian Chun had taken part in poisoning Princess Qin.
Setting aside the rights and wrongs of the case itself, this alone was sothing the Emperor would absolutely not permit, nor allow to be made public, because it was not rely jealousy and underhandedness between two won, but touched on harmony among the Princes—on a palace scandal of brothers at one another’s throats.
Thus, whoever dragged the Crown Prince into this would be piling cri upon cri!
At this mont, Wo Xue spoke softly again. "Aside from that, this maid also found out one more thing."
Shang Ruyi lifted her head to look at her and said as evenly as she could, "What else?"
Wo Xue said, "The ones who discovered Jian Chun’s corpse were two palace maids working at Bai Fu Hall. They’re responsible for clearing away unwanted fruit rinds and leftovers after banquets. I heard they were lazy and secretly dumped those things into that dry well—once every two days."
"Once every two days?"
Hearing this, Shang Ruyi furrowed her brows again.
Yet from the mont she discovered sothing amiss with the hawthorn cakes sent by Chu Ruoyan, to their going to Jinyu Garden and failing to find Jian Chun, to today, four days had already passed. If Jian Chun had been killed and silenced on the very day of the incident, then the people dumping refuse into the dry well should have found her corpse the next day!
Shang Ruyi said, "You an—"
Wo Xue said, "From what this maid could see, that Jian Chun absolutely did not die in the last two days. She should have been killed earlier, and her body hidden sowhere inconspicuous. Only yesterday, or today, was she thrown into that dry well and then imdiately discovered."
Shang Ruyi pondered for a mont and said, "In other words, the person who instructed her and then killed her deliberately left a two-day blank, in order to observe this palace’s reaction?"
If Princess Qin had been poisoned, or, even if she had not, if she’d noticed sothing and torn into Lady Chu, then where and how Jian Chun’s body was discovered would no longer matter.
But after waiting two days, with no movent from either Qianqiu Palace or Jinyu Garden, the other side confird their first step had failed. Only then did they bring out Jian Chun’s corpse, and deliberately place it sowhere that seed hidden yet was bound to be discovered at once. This way, those "clues" on her body would naturally be found.
And just now, what Aunt Hui deliberately said in front of Wo Xue—that she would rule Jian Chun’s death as rely an accidental fall into the well—was precisely to provoke Wo Xue, to force her into so reaction, or to make her rush back in a panic to report to Shang Ruyi, so that Shang Ruyi would make so move. That way, the matter could be blown up, and in the end, everything would be traced back to Qianqiu Palace, really letting Yu Wenye take the bla for "failing to keep proper order in his household"!
The person behind this has a ticulous mind and a far‑reaching reach!
Although Aunt Hui herself is also extrely shrewd, judging from the thods she used before, she clearly has not yet reached this level of viciousness.
For now, the person capable of orchestrating all this—
Shang Ruyi’s expression instantly darkened.
Tushere asked anxiously, "Princess, then how should we respond next?"
"..."
Shang Ruyi was silent for a long ti, then said, "There are still so things I need to think through before I speak. She’er, keep a closer watch outside. If there’s any movent on Aunt Hui’s side, report to at once."
"Yes."
"Wo Xue, Chang Wan, you two may withdraw for now."
"Yes."
After sending the three of them away, Shang Ruyi said nothing more. She only sat quietly alone on the couch, listening to the wind outside brushing past the pine branches from ti to ti, making a rustling sound. As the waves of wind in the pines dragged on longer and longer, ti itself seed to stretch out as well.
In that long wait, she finally heard a familiar tread of footsteps.
Shang Ruyi looked up and at last saw Yu Wenye. His face was grave as he ca in from outside, and as soon as he stepped into the main hall he said in a low voice, "I heard that over at Bai Fu Hall they’ve found Jian Chun’s body?"
It seed that on his side as well, there were people constantly reporting the situation in the palace.
Shang Ruyi nodded, pulled him down to sit, and then recounted to him in full detail everything that had happened during the day.
Perhaps when he first heard that Jian Chun’s body had been found, Yu Wenye had already sketched out several possibilities in his mind, so his expression did not show much shock. But when he truly heard Shang Ruyi speak of the clues Wo Xue had found, his brows still knit slightly.
After listening, he almost imdiately said, "It has nothing to do with the Crown Prince."
Shang Ruyi glanced at him.
The certainty in his tone was just like when he had previously asserted that the poisoning could not have been Chu Ruoyan’s doing; as if he did not even need to think or judge, he could directly reach a conclusion. Only, in the matter of Chu Ruoyan, Shang Ruyi herself had so asure of confidence, but the Crown Prince...
Shang Ruyi said, "The Crown Prince, he—"
Yu Wenye gave her a complicated look. She did not know if it was her imagination, but in the depths of his eyes there seed to flash a faint trace of anger, gone in an instant: "He wouldn’t use this kind of thod on you—on us."
"..."
Shang Ruyi was silent for a mont, then only nodded quietly.
Although in this recent Taiyuan campaign Yu Wenqian had won a great victory, revealing the decisive, ruthless side of this Crown Prince who had once "worn a monk’s robe as battle armor," no matter how ruthless he was in war, no matter how far the open and hidden struggle between him and Yu Wenye had gone, aside from those despicable tricks used by Yu Mingyue, he himself seed never to have stooped to such low thods.
During the Fufeng campaign, he had not only sent them sachets in advance to ward off plague, he had even personally delivered those specially made face veils to Shang Ruyi.
A person like that truly was unlikely to use this sort of thod against a pregnant woman.
At this mont, after Yu Wenye had been silent for a long ti, he murmured, "Right Palace Gatekeeper..."
Shang Ruyi said, "You think there’s sothing wrong with Shang Shoufei, don’t you?"
In fact, during the ti she waited for Yu Wenye’s return, this question had been circling in her mind. Earlier she had been too preoccupied, but now that Jian Chun had very likely died near Chengqing Gate, it was impossible not to think of Shang Shoufei. One must know, the Right Palace Gatekeeper is the Crown Prince’s Right Gatekeeper, who is guarding the Eastern Palace. By accepting this post, he had effectively aligned himself with the Crown Prince’s side.
Yet his surna is Shang; he is Princess Qin Shang Ruyi’s elder brother!
To accept this position—in military terms, to put it bluntly—was to defect to the enemy!
And now, the matter was entangled with him again—
Yu Wenye pondered for a while, then finally said, "In fact, these past days I have been looking into one thing. Only after I went to the Ministry of Personnel today did I get it clear."
The Ministry of Personnel?
Hearing this, Shang Ruyi was sowhat surprised and looked at him. "What did you go to the Ministry of Personnel to investigate?"
Yu Wenye drew in a deep breath and said heavily, "Although Shang Shoufei t with the Emperor in the capacity of your elder brother, the one who recomnded him for the post of Right Palace Gatekeeper was Duke Wushan."
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