Chapter 286: Chapter 287 - The Crown Princess’s Suspicion

Although Gu Shao mentioned the Empress Dowager to make Qiu Shuxia shut up, it was by no means insignificant that both the emperor and heir to the throne couldn’t deal with the state affairs, so the officials couldn’t stand by and do nothing. The imperial court was bustling with disputes like a market for half a day. At last, they decided to divide into two groups to respectively investigate the truth behind the matters that Emperor Xianjia was critically ill and the crown prince was poisoned.

Of course, they argued for a long time before deciding the people to investigate. Jin Suke, He Wenqiong and Huo Dan were in charge of investigating if Emperor Xianjia was harmed by somebody, while Qiu Shuxia, Wei Xi and Huang Jingting went to the Eastern Palace to share the crown prince’s worries.

Among the six people, Jin Suke was the minister in the Ministry of Personnel, and He Wenqiong was in charge of the Ministry of War, while Huo Dan was the head of the Ministry of Works, and Qiu Shuxia led the Ministry of Rituals for many years. Among the six ministries, in the Ministry of Punishments, after Liu Zhenxi had been impeached by Madam Liu and was degraded to the assistant minister seven years ago, the position of minister was vacant all the time till now. The minister in the Ministry of Revenue was the only one who remained neutral, so he didn’t join them.

Apart from the two ministries, all the others were involved in the fight for the title of heir to the throne, and the ministers joined it in person.

Wei Xi and Huang Jingting were not ministers of the six ministries, but Wei Xi was in charge of the Council of Censorate, as the imperial censor of the highest rank, while Huang Jingting was the chief of the supreme court and had power in the prison.

It was safe to say that all of them were paramount and powerful, responsible for the social stability.

Now all of them stepped forward, and obviously it meant that it was the fiercest time for the fight for the title of heir to the throne.

Seeing that, all people fell into silence, while the minister in the Ministry of Revenue who didn’t talk much at ordinary times couldn’t help but step forward and look at Gu Shao. “The common people want a stable country, and it’s better to finish the investigation as soon as possible.”

Gu Shao understood what he meant. Since Emperor Xianjia took the throne twenty-one years ago, he was good at selecting officials and had kept politics fair and clear, and there were many talented officials at the imperial court. Not to mention Gu Shao, in fact, the crown prince educated by the emperor personally was not bad at ruling a country, if they didn’t jockey for position.

So although the emperor started to rest quietly at the beginning of this year, and now there was bad news about him and the crown prince at the same time, the country and the imperial court were controlled well as usual in the past half a year, and it wasn’t affected greatly by Emperor Xianjia’s illness.

It meant that even if both the emperor and crown prince had an accident, the country wouldn’t be in a mess for now.

The problem was that the people at the imperial court knew this because they were close to the royal family, yet the common people didn’t know that.

It was said that without the emperor, a country wouldn’t exist. All people outside just knew that the emperor and crown prince were laid up, and even though the emperor’s first grandson was always said to be smart and respect the elders, with the charm of the emperor’s descendant, he was only eight years old.

If something bad happened to the emperor and crown prince, what could such a young grandson do?

Of course, Commandery Prince Zhongling had four uncles, but it was not a secret that Prince of Wei and Prince of Zhao tried to fight for the title of heir to the throne, and they joined hands to cope with the crown prince for the moment. However, once the crown prince passed away, how would the two princes not fall out at once? Who knew that how long they would fight before the victory was decided?

Although Great Rui was in a period of great prosperity now, and they destroyed Wuhuan, a country which refused to surrender to them last year, which intimidated the neighboring countries, the neighbors were obedient in the past, which didn’t mean that they would be obedient forever.

So, even though the neutral party such as the minister in the Ministry of Revenue didn’t plan to get involved in the fight for the title of heir to throne for now, they demanded that the key dispute of jockeying for position couldn’t be delayed.

If they delayed for longer, the common people would be more restless and could be incited more easily, while even an idiot knew what would happen if the common people were incited.

“It makes sense.” Gu Shao stroked his long beard and smiled faintly. “So please finish it within three days. I don’t think you will refuse my proposal, Minister Qiu and Minister Huo. After all, you don’t allow me to join your two parties because one person needs to be left at the imperial court to take charge. Hope that the six colleagues can pull together to work hard and be perspicacious to find the truth earlier. Then you can solve the problem for the imperial court and make the common people feel at ease.”

Qiu Shuxia waved his notebook and stated, “Prime Minister Gu, rest assured. We will try our best to finish the job.”

On the red steps leading up to the imperial palace, two men dressed in purple robes raised their eyes at the same time and looked at each other. Their eyes suddenly became fierce and cold, making a showy display of themselves, like the unsheathed edges.

After a long time, in the Eastern Palace.

Upon hearing a young eunuch who rushed to report in advance, the crown princess frowned slightly and looked serious. “The victory will be decided within three days?”

“Time is too limited,” her trusted maid Shiwan who came with her when she got married expressed worriedly. “After all, His Majesty’s condition worsened all of a sudden, and we were not prepared. If you didn’t make a prompt decision, perhaps His Highness would be…”

“Time is not limited but too long.” The crown princess shook her head and sighed. “The greatest advantage of the crown prince is that he is the heir to the throne. The news of His Majesty’s illness has spread since two days ago, and who knows what will happen in three days? It’s not surprising if the deadline was mentioned by Qiu Shuxia or others. How would it be suggested by Prime Minister Gu?”

Even if an ordinary person was critically ill, the doctors didn’t dare to say anything randomly unless he was dying. Otherwise, they wanted to be beaten.

Moreover, the emperor was related to the country’s safety. If Emperor Xianjia’s health didn’t worsen to some extent, the imperial doctors wouldn’t and didn’t dare to say that he was critically ill, so the crown princess measured the time. The emperor had sustained himself for two days, and perhaps he was dying for the moment, so he specially discussed with Gu Shao and advised him to make things difficult for the officials at the imperial court and tell them to visit the emperor in the Palace of Xuanming anyway.

Otherwise, the empress was in charge of the Palace of Xuanming. Even though Jian Xubai was inside with the excuse that he should serve the emperor, he was alone. If Emperor Xianjia had passed away but he couldn’t send the message in time, wouldn’t the crown prince miss a great opportunity to take the throne?

Unexpectedly, Gu Shao agreed with her and did push the investigation, yet he set the deadline, in three days.

Even though the crown princess was always shrewd, she was annoyed now. “Does Gu Shao work for the crown prince? What has he done?”

She said that to vent her anger, while after she blurted out, she turned pale. “Gu Shao reached the highest rank of officials twenty years ago, yet it’s said that when he schemed against Xubai’s grandpa, Elder Duke of Yan, he was resourceful and his ability to act according to circumstances was shocking. In the end, he lost to Elder Duke of Yan because His Majesty was partial and the second son of Elder Duke of Yan divorced his first wife and married Aunt Jinguo. Such a talented man helped the crown prince all the time since he was reinstated, and it appeared that he cared about the crown prince in every possible way, but… Judging from the methods he showed in the past months, how could he dominate the imperial court those years?”

She quickly thought about all the measures Gu Shao made since he was reinstated and suddenly felt cold all over her body. The crown prince had been the heir to the throne for nearly twenty years and his political and military achievements were not too amazing but still remarkable, and Emperor Xianjia tried his best to be partial to him, yet Gu Shao made the Eastern Palace reduced to such a situation while he was a leading figure at the imperial court and was still famous even after he left office for twenty years.

If the crown princess hadn’t taken actions and kept the crown prince, perhaps he would have died in the Palace of Xuanming with a grievance.

Under the situation, if the crown princess still believed that Gu Shao sincerely helped the Eastern Palace, she thought that she’d better hang herself and Commandery Prince Zhongling to death, which could save face as the royal family members anyhow.

“I thought that Gu Shao must be reliable as he was assigned by His Majesty personally to help the Eastern Palace, but he is the chief criminal unexpectedly.” After confirming that Gu Shao was suspicious, the crown princess thought of what happened to the Eastern Palace in the past half a year and felt that she fell into an icehouse. “When Prince of Wei and Prince of Zhao started to show their ambitions, if he didn’t insistently persuade the crown prince to endure it and give in, ignoring them, how could the two princes be so powerful now? How would Aunt Daiguo be more unbridled?”

So it seemed that Gu Shao was not the pillar of the Eastern Palace but the voodoo to hasten the crown prince’s death.

Without this famous official’s “assistance”, maybe the Eastern Palace wouldn’t be in such a dilemma.

While thinking, the crown princess felt unwell, yet she couldn’t collapse for now.

After all, the crown prince was “not detoxified” and still in a coma. Consort Cui was also laid up in the Xifu Palace. There was no powerful official in the Cui Family, and they didn’t qualify to speak on special occasions. Their first son Zhongling was still young. If even the crown princess couldn’t make decisions, the Eastern Palace would be really at the mercy of others.

“Be quick!” The crown princess endured the dizzy feeling from her brain and grabbed Shiwan’s hand, ordering harshly, “Change the original plan now. Remove the prepared witnesses and evidence, and replace them with…”

Shiwan didn’t know that the crown princess had conjectures like violent waves in a flash. She asked in surprise, “Now? But Minister Qiu and the others must be on the way to the Eastern Palace now. If we change the excuse now, how can we have time to coordinate the confession with Counsellor Wei later? And Prime Minister Gu…”

The crown princess had affirmed that Gu Shao was their enemy. How would she dare to use the previous excuse? Who knew if Qiu Shuxia and Huang Jingting had been reminded by Gu Shao in advance and waited for her to submit the evidence against themselves so the Eastern Palace would be doomed eternally?

Even her biological father Wei Xi might be unreliable. The Wei Family had shown that they were hesitant.

So before Shiwan finished her words, the crown princess ordered above suspicion, “Shut up! Go now. Otherwise, I won’t spare you.”

Shiwan was scared by the crown princess’s sudden fierceness and didn’t dare to retort. She bowed and replied, “Yes.” Then she lifted her dress, running out to send the message.

“It’s still not enough!” The crown princess bit her lower lip and pondered quickly. “We were not alert to Gu Shao in the past and didn’t hide anything in the Eastern Palace from him. At the moment, even if I change the plan at the last minute, we can delay it for a moment at most, but the old man Gu Shao gave them three days. With the power of Prince of Wei and Prince of Zhao, they can have any evidence as they like in three days. But…even Gu Shao is not reliable, and will He Wenqiong and the others be loyal? I am only a woman, and Zhongling is too young. What should we do now?”

She suddenly thought of Jian Xubai and regretted it a lot. “If I had considered that Gu Shao is suspicious, I shouldn’t have let Xubai go to the Palace of Xuanming. Thinking of so many followers of the crown prince, Xubai is the only one that I can trust.”

After all, because of Jian Xubai’s conflict with his grandpa Jian Pingyu, he would never follow Prince of Zhao as his elder sister married Jian Yiyou. And compared with Prince of Wei, Prince of Zhao had a greater chance of taking the throne anyway, so Jian Xubai would be loyal to the crown prince considering gains and losses even if he ignored the personal feelings.

However, the crown princess had personally sent the only reliable man who could be used to the Palace of Xuanming. On top of that, Jian Xubai must not know Gu Shao’s evil intentions. If Gu Shao made use of this point and started with Jian Xubai, aiming at the Eastern Palace, then…

When the crown princess was burning with anxiety, in the Palace of Xuanming, Empress Su and Grand Princess Daiguo were not at ease, either.

“Xubai follows Prince of Zhao wherever he goes?” Grand Princess Daiguo frowned deeply. “Obviously he guards against us and intentionally follows Prince of Zhao as a pretense. Your Majesty, hurry up and tell Prince of Zhao to get rid of him and not to ruin our plan.”

Empress Su looked pale. “Don’t you think I want to? It’s just…that Prince of Zhao is young and ignorant. It’s not convenient for me to tell him directly about something like this.”

Her son was open and aboveboard under the education. When the crown prince was slandered last time, if Duke of Ji and Qiu Shuxia hadn’t confused right and wrong with a silver tongue, he would have defended the crown prince till the end, not to mention harming his father.

The empress considered for her son wholeheartedly but didn’t dare to tell him about the plans, in case that it caused complications.

However, Grand Princess Daiguo sneered. “Gu Shao mentioned the deadline, yet who knows if the Eastern Palace has the last card? The crown princess is young, while her methods are out of the common run. Not to mention that nobody of the three generations in the Wei Family can compare with her, even you, the empress, can do nothing to her probably if you fight against her. It’s said that undue delay may bring trouble, but you are overcautious and indecisive at the critical time. If things go on like this, can we stay alive, let alone gain wealth?”

Empress Su stayed silent for a moment and stated at last, “Later, I will try to persuade Prince of Zhao to stay away from Xubai, so you can make arrangements.”

Grand Princess Daiguo finally got happy after being displeased. “Don’t wait. Just go now. After it comes to a close, we can be relieved earlier, right?”