Chapter 172 Old Case

Chapter 172 Old Case

Min Leyi asked Wu Shen eagerly, "Really?"

Wu Shen suppressed his feelings of helplessness and bitterness and made a reassuring gesture, "I, Wu Shen, always keep my word. Just wait patiently."

As Min Leyi, now reassured, boarded his carriage and left, Wu Shen finally rubbed his hair and let out a long sigh.

He mounted his prized horse and, instead of returning to his temporary residence in the capital, rode to the imperial estate outside the city.

Outside the capital, on thousands of acres of fertile land, the snow had completely melted. The unplanted soil lay bare, with hardy wild grass already showing hints of green.

The horse's large, steaming hooves kicked up clouds of dust as they trotted along the path.

Wu Shen dismounted in front of the imperial estate, handed his steed from the grasslands to the palace attendants, and quickly made his way to the main hall.

Because the Crown Prince was unwell, the hall was heated with intense charcoal fires. As soon as Wu Shen entered, he broke into a sweat and wiped his brow.

Jia Hongyuan sat behind a desk made from a single piece of ebony, dressed in everyday clothes with his jet-black hair tied back. Seeing Wu Shen, he smiled lightly and did not reprimand him for his lack of decorum.

"You came at the right time. I have some interesting information here."

Hearing that there was important business, Wu Shen set aside his personal concerns, walked to the desk and sat cross-legged on a cushion.

Jia Hongyuan tapped the desk twice and asked into the air, "Has Sixteen returned?"

A shadowy figure silently appeared. Even though he had seen it several times before, Wu Shen was still inwardly startled. The skills of the guards differed from those of military combat; they were slightly weaker in direct confrontation but were incredibly elusive and hard to guard against.

"I recall there is some pear blossom wine that my mother brewed in the palace. Go find it and ask Aunt Wu to make some Wu family pastries. Bring them over when they're ready."

Aunt Wu was a long-time servant of the late empress, having served her since her time in the Wu family. She was skilled at making pastries in the Wu family style, though she had done so less frequently in recent years.

Wu Shen rose to express his gratitude, but Jia Hongyuan pressed his hand to keep him down.

"There are countless ministers who kneel in gratitude, but you are the only cousin I can talk to," Jia Hongyuan sighed softly. "Uncle and aunt are suffering in Lingnan at their age."

Wu Shen remained silent and did not insist on standing up, feeling somewhat distressed.

Sixteen had already left to fulfill his orders. Wu Shen realized that the Crown Prince had deliberately sent Sixteen away, which made him even more curious about what was to come.

Given the Crown Prince's trust in Sixteen, there were few matters Sixteen wasn't privy to.

Jia Hongyuan did not keep Wu Shen waiting for long and directly asked, "Are you aware of the Fen King's rebellion?"

"Of course I am."

The Fen King was the late emperor's younger brother, making him the Yuanhua Emperor's uncle. The late emperor had doted on this full-blooded younger brother, not only granting him a title but also assigning him to lead a large army at the border to defend against enemies.

During the previous succession struggle, the Fen King had not clearly taken sides. After the Yuanhua Emperor killed his brothers and ascended the throne, considering the importance of the border and the weakened state of the country, he did not immediately move against him, planning to slowly strip him of his military power.

However, the Fen King, who had remained neutral during the succession, had long harbored treacherous intentions. Through falsifying military achievements and embezzling funds, he had secretly prepared large amounts of provisions and gold, planning to raise an army and seize the throne for himself.

But the Yuanhua Emperor was no fool. After ascending the throne, he systematically transferred mid-level officers from the Fen King's army to other regions, replacing them with southern generals to disrupt the Fen King's control over his forces, effectively planting spies.

This led to the Fen King's rebellion plan leaking before it could be fully implemented. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the Fen King, unwilling to accept defeat, in a fit of madness, ordered his army to withdraw from the border, allowing the enemy to march in unopposed, slaughtering three prefectures and twelve counties, leaving the ground littered with corpses and the land devoid of life.

When the news reached the capital, the court was in turmoil. The Yuanhua Emperor was furious and ordered General Wu Dingshan to lead an army to suppress the rebellion, with his elder brother, Prince Pingxian, acting as an imperial envoy to investigate the traitors and pacify the people.

Later, Prince Pingxian uncovered dozens of individuals deeply involved in the Fen King's rebellion. All of them were sentenced to the execution of their entire clans, and thousands of heads fell in the execution grounds.

Moreover, countless people were sentenced to harsh penalties, dragging their families into the ordeal, with the mildest punishment being property confiscation and exile. Once noble young masters and ladies, now reduced to government slaves and palace servants, wept as they stood in an endless queue.

During the Yuanhua era, when confiscation and exile were commonplace, the rebellion of Prince Fen stood out as one of the most notorious cases. For various reasons, the details and records of this case were intentionally hidden. However, Wu Shen, being Wu Dingshan's only son, had learned about this case from his father early on.

Back then, he was just an idealistic and fervent youth. After hearing his father's account, he was filled with righteous anger and burning passion, wishing he had been born twenty years earlier to personally take up arms against Prince Fen. Now, with time's passage and a fresh look at the causes and effects, he began to sense something was off.

"Due to Prince Fen's rebellion, the Emperor has tightly controlled the border troops, and the border generals know this is a strict boundary."

"Yet now, incidents of embezzling military funds and falsifying achievements have surfaced at the border, and they emerged after you entered the capital to present captives," Jia Hongyuan said with a slight smile. "How intriguing."

Wu Shen wasn't particularly skilled in strategy, but he had a natural, sharp intuition. "Did someone set this up on purpose? The second prince?"

"What would he gain from this? My military is tightly controlled, and many of my father's old subordinates are still there. Even if I'm not at the border, trying to frame me with this is a pipe dream."

Jia Hongyuan gestured for Wu Shen to calm down. "I too was pondering this question, and together with Yun Se, we considered many possibilities. It wasn't until I received some secret reports about Prince Pingxian that I could confirm it."

Jia Hongyuan's eyes narrowed slightly as countless subtle clues spanning decades fell into place in his mind.

"The second prince and Prince Pingxian orchestrated this scheme with two main goals."

"First, after this incident, before the investigation results are in, you cannot return to avoid suspicion, thus keeping you stuck in the capital."

"Second, Prince Pingxian was in charge of investigating Prince Fen's rebellion over twenty years ago. With a similar incident now, it's only natural for him to request to lead the investigation. This way, he can leave the capital with imperial orders and head to the military."

Wu Shen's heart raced, and he suddenly looked up, "Could he dare—"

Wu Shen's voice abruptly stopped, his lips forming the unspoken word—rebellion.

"Why are they in such a hurry? We originally only intended to force Prince Jin to act," Wu Shen felt as if he had missed a step in the reasoning.

"Because Prince Jin's eldest son has recovered from his illness."

"What?"

Jia Hongyuan slowly explained, "The person who poisoned me must have hidden the corresponding antidote long ago and thought he had disposed of all clues. But what he didn't expect was that, although my body has been very weak over the years, I have not died as he wished."

"Over time, he became less confident and began to suspect whether I really had the antidote. So he poisoned Prince Jin's eldest son, both to strike at Prince Jin and to test me."

"I saved Prince Jin's eldest son and released many mixed messages, making the mastermind panic, constantly guessing how I obtained the antidote, whether I had grasped his core secrets, whether I had already planned a trap for him—"

Wu Shen silently added, "Suspicion kills, stirring the grass to scare the snake."

Jia Hongyuan slammed the scroll in his hand down, "Exactly, this disgusting old snake can no longer restrain itself and has emerged from the grass. He thinks he is executing a foolproof plan he has been plotting for years, but in fact, his mind is already in chaos."

Jia Hongyuan chuckled softly, "The person who poisoned my mother turned out to be my eldest brother, whom my father trusted very much. Back then, my father had not yet ascended the throne, and this scheme had already begun..."

Wu Shen was silent for a moment, "The Emperor must have started suspecting Prince Pingxian later."

"He began to suspect after my mother died of illness and the poison in me erupted, when the imperial physician said, 'It's poison, not illness,'" Jia Hongyuan gently asked, "Was it a bit late?"

"He always delays what he promises to do. This time, I don't intend to let him delay anymore. If my mother's spirit is in heaven, she must have been waiting for a long time."

Jia Hongyuan slightly raised his chin, his voice calm but with a hint of ruthlessness, "Cousin, will you help me?"

Wu Shen understood what Jia Hongyuan was about to say to him. He opened his mouth but no sound came out for a long time, "My father taught me to... be loyal to the monarch and love the people."

A soft knock came from outside the hall; it was sixteen returning.

He brought the pear blossom wine personally brewed by the late empress and the Wu-style pastries made by Grandma Wu.

Jia Hongyuan didn’t order or manipulate Wu Shen, but instead smiled and invited him to taste the wine and pastries.

The wine was not an unparalleled vintage, and the pastries had simple, home-style flavors. Yet after taking a bite, Wu Shen's eyes welled up instantly—it was the taste of home in his memory.

Wu Shen ate a plate of pastries quickly and finished a pot of clear wine, swallowing the dry, spicy taste bit by bit.

He wanted to speak but couldn’t find the right words, so he just spoke directly under the slight influence of alcohol.

“I never met the late... Empress... Auntie.” He paused. “I was a late-born child, and by the time I could remember, my father had already been quietly demoted to the south as a general with little responsibility.”

“But I really liked Auntie. I remember that during festivals and my birthdays, she would send gifts from afar. Eunuchs read the edicts, followed by boxes filled with things I liked. My father and mother would lead me in expressing gratitude.”

“I learned to call her Empress from the adults, but in private, my father told me that she would prefer me to call her Auntie.”

“Auntie and my father were cousins, but her parents passed away early, and she was raised in our family since childhood, as close as siblings. Once my father drank too much, he would start missing his sister and pull me aside to tell stories.”

“He would talk about how Auntie asked the cook repeatedly to improve the pastries, how they learned to brew together as children, how Auntie could ride a horse and draw a ten-stone bow, hitting a target a hundred meters away…”

“Sometimes he would even talk about how he once competed with His Majesty when he was still a prince, winning overwhelmingly and making His Majesty promise to treat Auntie well for a lifetime.”

“Every time he got to this point, he would stop talking and tell me to quickly forget what he had said.”

“Looking back now, my father must have been regretting it…”

Jia Hongyuan played with the jade wine cup with ice-crack patterns in his hand, his gaze obscure. “Yes, being the Empress was regrettable.”

Wu Shen smiled. “Anyway, I grew up listening to stories about Auntie and Your Highness. I knew that in the grandest and most prosperous palace in the capital lived my skilled, kind, and beautiful Auntie, and my frail yet talented cousin.”

“My greatest wish as a child was to meet you, but before I could visit the capital, Auntie passed away. I followed my parents to the capital for the funeral and saw Your Highness for the first time in the Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace. Your Highness was both like and unlike what I had imagined. Before we could say much, you coughed up blood and passed out, scaring me into thinking that after losing Auntie, I would also lose my cousin. For a long time after that, the first thing I would ask upon seeing Your Highness was about your health…”

Wu Shen patted his head, trying to drive away the deepening drunkenness brought by his memories. “I’m rambling on and on without any coherence, what am I even saying?”

He laughed at himself, and after a while, he composed himself.

“My parents are nearing their sixties, and we haven’t seen each other for three years. The time I can spend caring for them is getting fewer.”

Wu Shen did not look at Jia Hongyuan, his gaze downward at his pale hands.

“My father has believed in loyalty to the ruler and love for the people all his life, and I naturally hold it as a creed. But does this 'ruler' have to remain the same?”

Wu Shen felt his heartbeat quicken, and as the last word came out, his heart sank heavily.

He looked up, solemnly gazing at Jia Hongyuan. “Cousin, I think it’s unfair to you, Auntie, and the Wu family. To put it bluntly, I don’t want to help the 'Crown Prince,' I want to help you.”