Chapter 1230 Implicated One by One
There was a lot of money left in that treasury, at least one-fourth of Chu Qing’s property. It had been managed by Wei Dahai’s madam before, and of course, Mo Qiuyi had been in charge. Unexpectedly, this treasury had been confiscated entirely. Chu Qing didn’t even know who did it.
After that, he secretly sent people to investigate, but they couldn’t find anything, so he could only let it go.
Consort Dowager Qing got angry. She had asked Wei Dahai to prepare some new funds to offset the loss this time. However, Wei Dahai was useless. He took a fancy to that store, which Princess Chen obtained in the end. Therefore, Consort Dowager Qing didn’t get any benefits. Every time she thought of this incident, she couldn’t help resenting Mo Qiuyi.
The gold bars, bracelets, and other gold bricks in the treasury were all solid. Originally, they were very useful for the revival of the mansion. Because of the loss of this treasury, Consort Dowager Qing was restrained a lot when she did things, and the money for activities was reduced a lot.
Consort Dowager Qing got angry at the thought of it. But when Mo Qiuyi came over, she always welcomed her with a smile since she still needed Mo Qiuyi, who was the help she got for her son.
Since Mo Qiuyi was a help, Consort Dowager Qing certainly did not hope that her son would really do anything to Mo Qiuyi.
“It’s up to you, Mother!” Chu Qing thought for a moment and decided to listen to Consort Dowager Qing. “What about Shao Jie’er? Shall I bring her back? She has been in Marquis Xing’s Mansion for many days!”
“It’s good that she doesn’t want to come back, so as not to let her know what happened in the mansion. Qing, you should know that Shao Jie’er married into the mansion reluctantly back then. This time such a thing happened, and she is the most suspicious one. If she comes back, you have to find a chance to get rid of her!” Consort Dowager Qing said unhappily. She despised her son acting emotionally the most.
How could Shao Jie’er, the daughter of a concubine, be worthy of her son?
“Mother, shall we leave her alone now?” Chu Qing asked, feeling a little reluctant to part with Shao Jie’er. After all, Shao Jie’er was adorable when she showed her feelings for him.
Also, she was more beautiful than Mo Qiuyi.
“Don’t worry about her. Put the blame on her as well. Didn’t she go back to Marquis Xing’s Mansion now? Aren’t we going to say that Prince Cheng wants to hurt you? Put the blame on Marquis Xing’s Mansion and indicate that she’s involved. Now after this happened, she has gone to Marquis Xing’s Mansion. Even if you go over to pick her up, she won’t dare to come back.”
Consort Dowager Qing sneered.
She had always been a smart woman. Otherwise, she would not have sneaked into the Palace and given birth to Chu Qing in the Yuhui Nunnery. How could she have done this without careful scheming?
If it weren’t for her bad luck, she would have taken down the queen of the deceased emperor and become the Empress by now, and her son would also be the Emperor’s legitimate son. Prince Yue and Prince Zhou wouldn’t be so powerful by now.
The day Madam Jiang was buried, it was still desolate. Only Shao Hua’an led a group of people to bury Madam Jiang in the ancestral land of the Shao Family. They didn’t pay their respects along the way. Many people didn’t even know that this group of people belonged to Marquis Xing’s Mansion. They looked like they were from an ordinary family carrying out a funeral procession.
Shao Jing didn’t show up. He secretly went to Prince Cheng and came to the Yuyun Temple where Prince Cheng lived. He was led to Prince Cheng. As soon as he entered the room, he saw Prince Cheng sitting there coldly with a furious face and gloomy eyes.
Standing next to him was Master Jieyan from the Yuyun Temple. After glancing at Shao Jing, he lowered his head speechlessly and said nothing.
The atmosphere in the room was very gloomy.
“Greetings, Your Highness.” Shao Jing tried his best to show a smile on his face. He took two steps forward and bowed to Prince Cheng.
Prince Cheng looked at him coldly and did not speak.
The man who led Shao Jing there left, and the atmosphere in the room became more and more gloomy.
Seeing that the man above didn’t speak, Shao Jing secretly looked up and saw Prince Cheng’s gloomy face. He couldn’t help being startled. He came at the wrong time today. Prince Cheng happened to be in a bad mood.
When Shao Jing came over previously, Prince Cheng had always looked great, especially after Shao Yanru left the Palace and was sent to Prince Cheng. Prince Cheng almost treated him kindly.
“Shao Jing, are you hiding something from me?”
With his heart pounding, Shao Jing hurriedly shook his hand and said, “Your Highness, how can I hide something from you? My daughter is now serving you. If I am not loyal to you, why would I send my best daughter to you?”
Moreover, Shao Yanru wasn’t married to Prince Cheng at present.
If Shao Jing had not been really forced to do this, he would not have given his innocent daughter to Prince Cheng in private.
Although Prince Cheng was noble, Shao Jing’s eldest legitimate daughter was not an ordinary person.
“Daughter? Don’t you have another daughter?” Prince Cheng sneered.
Shao Jing shook his hand and said, “The other one is just the daughter of a concubine. Now she merely lives in Commandery Prince Qing’s Mansion. Because she doesn’t do well there, she has returned to my mansion in the past few days. She is really not a noble lady.”
He really didn’t like Shao Jie’er. He had always thought that this daughter of his concubine was useless. She had such a shameful experience when she first married into Commandery Prince Qing’s Mansion.
“Not noble?” Prince Cheng said with an increasingly cold smile. He picked up a memorial at hand and suddenly threw it at Shao Jing. “Your ignoble daughter even caused a lawsuit against me. Shao Jing, you are really capable!”
Shao Jing was knocked back two steps and almost fell. He subconsciously reached out to take the memorial, but he didn’t catch it. The memorial fell to the ground, and his face was burning with pain. He was hit hard on the face just now, and the corner of his mouth might be bleeding.
“Your, Your Highness, what is this?”
Shao Jing stammered. Prince Cheng had never treated him like this before. He couldn’t help panicking and inexplicably feeling guilty, but then he became angry. He wondered if Shao Jie’er had caused some trouble again.
“Read it yourself,” Prince Cheng said sternly, pointing at the memorial at the feet of Shao Jing.
Shao Jing picked it up in a panic and read it rapidly. The more he read, the more flustered and shocked he became. After reading it, he hurriedly looked up at Prince Cheng and said, “How… how could this be… how could this be…”
He held the memorial with trembling fingers, and his face was pale.
“Yeah. I also want to know why things turned out like this. You wanted to kill Madam Jiang, and I sent my men to help you. But now, someone said that the junior official worked for me and it was also my men who tried to assassinate that good-for-nothing, Chu Qing. In the end, I made the junior official die in Commandery Prince Qing’s Mansion, where a supervisor also died. As for your good daughter, it’s said that she secretly helped you, so the junior official of the Ministry of Justice died in Commandery Prince Qing’s Mansion.”
Prince Cheng gnashed his teeth in anger. This matter actually involved him. Originally, it really had nothing to do with him, but now it seemed that he brought trouble to himself.
Shao Jie’er had been ready to marry into Prince Cheng’s Mansion at that time, but now she had become the evidence of others impeaching Prince Cheng, which proved that it was indeed possible that he was related.
Whether it was because of love or hatred, or for other reasons, or for a secret purpose, it was possible for him to make this happen.
Thinking of his brother’s previous rebuke, Prince Cheng was very angry. It was not only Shao Jing who was hit by the memorial but also him. Now he still felt a dull pain in the back of his head. What made him angrier was that his forces had really been wiped out last night.
He thought that it was all caused by Shao Jing.
“Your Highness, this… this…” Shao Jing was so startled that he couldn’t even finish his words. Originally, he wanted to ask Prince Cheng for help. It was best to deal with Prince Chen in order to control Shao Wanru.
“What else can you say now?” Prince Cheng said harshly.
Shao Jing gritted his teeth, calmed down, and said, “Your Highness, I… I don’t think the officials of the Ministry of Justice will find anything. They won’t find out that Madam Jiang was killed by the junior official.”
He had to hold on no matter what.
“They won’t find out?” Prince Cheng said coldly, ” Shao Jing, you are just too confident, aren’t you? You don’t know how many people want to report you now, do you? Well, you can’t even go to court now, so you naturally don’t know how others will report you.”
Shao Jing blushed. He was indeed not qualified to go to court at the moment. He used to be an important official in the court, but because of several accidents, he could only idle in his mansion now.
If he couldn’t even face the Emperor, how could he get the Emperor’s favor, let alone read the memorials others used to report him?
Thinking that he had originally been valued by the Emperor, but now he had fallen into such a situation, Shao Jing was also very angry and couldn’t help saying angrily, “Everything in my mansion is a private matter. Even if there is something wrong with my personal morality, it has nothing to do with anyone else. Madam Jiang died in the Ministry of Justice. If the Ministry of Justice can’t find out the truth and shift the blame onto me, I won’t take it so easily. I will get a few good friends to appeal against the decision together. I’m very sad that my wife is dead, and my mansion is in chaos. These people just want to see me suffer.”
He always felt that he had inexplicably run into bad luck. He didn’t know what he did wrong. He had almost got everything wrong, and now it was difficult for him to advance.
Duke Xing’s Mansion used to be so prosperous, and now Marquis Xing’s Mansion was doing so terribly. Thinking of this, Shao Jing felt wronged and angry.
“Shao Jing, it’s not up to you to decide now. If you don’t have the courage, the entire Marquis Xing’s Mansion will be destroyed. I heard that you took your mistress to your mansion last night. Are you going to have the elders put her name into the family tree today?” said Prince Cheng with a sarcastic smile.
“Your Highness, I’m doing this for your sake. I can’t have others think that your woman is Ru’er.” Shao Jing panicked and his anger immediately subsided. He looked at Prince Cheng and curried favor with him in a hurry.
Prince Cheng did not answer him but said meaningfully, “I heard that the new woman in your mansion has high status and has won the favor of Madam Wen. You should go to ask Madam Wen for help. As long as Prime Minister Wen says that this is your mansion’s private affair and that Madam Jiang’s death has nothing to do with you, you will be safe. When I ascend to the throne, you will naturally get your benefits!”