Chapter Forty-Five: Cracks Everywhere

  The old woman was dressed in simple attire and her appearance was also quite unremarkable, with a distinct Fengxian accent when speaking. The Zhao family's old mansion, being the residence of a noble family, generally had servants who spoke Mandarin, even in the old mansion this was no exception, those who could attend to their masters were all able to speak fluent Mandarin. This old woman still spoke her local dialect in front of the imperial envoy, clearly she was one of the lowest-ranking and most unremarkable coarse servant women in the mansion.

  Jiang thought to herself, why would such a woman, who had never been taken seriously by her before, become the biggest obstacle to her plan's success?

  The old woman had already told everything she saw on the night three days ago. Gao Cheng, led by Da Nainai's servant girl, quietly entered Da Nainai's courtyard and stayed for more than an hour before coming out. Before that, he fell ill and temporarily returned to his residence to rest, and it was also Da Nainai's people who prepared medicine for him to drink. The servants who knew about this matter were all secretly discussing why Da Nainai didn't summon him during the day, but instead had him stay so late at night without even leaving someone to guard the courtyard gate - could there be some private affair?

  Jiang's face had turned as white as paper, she knew she had to explain things clearly, it was no longer a matter of whether the plan could proceed smoothly or not. If she didn't come up with a convincing explanation, she would immediately be taken away by her clansmen on charges of adultery and thrown into the river! Her children would be looked down upon for the rest of their lives, and her natal family wouldn't even speak up for her.

  "She said in a hoarse voice: 'I called Gao Cheng to come, wanting to ask about the health of the emperor and what he lacked. Because I asked many things, it took a bit longer. If I had summoned him during the day, the imperial envoy would have known and might have suspected that I wanted to secretly send something in, so I used this roundabout method, fearing that someone would see. Who would have thought that someone still saw and fabricated such an absurd rumor?'"

  This explanation sounds somewhat credible, but unfortunately, since she returned to the old house, she has only come to visit her father-in-law once and doesn't seem to care about him very much. She can't even be bothered with superficial courtesy, so this kind of talk can only deceive people who don't know the situation. If she really cared about her father-in-law's health, why couldn't she have called Gao Cheng over at any time?

  The imperial envoy remained expressionless, but he must have already had some ideas in his mind. Zhang asked Wang Si Ping directly: "Since Gao Cheng returned to his residence to rest three days ago, what did he eat? What did he drink? Which doctor was invited to diagnose and treat him? And who went to his house?"

  Wang Siping called the servant of Gao Cheng's neighboring house to ask, and although the person didn't say clearly what Gao Cheng had eaten or drunk, he also confirmed that he hadn't invited any doctors, but a maid had sent him medicine, food, and clothing. The things were all good, with wine, dishes, fish, and meat all complete. Because Gao Cheng was "ill" and had no appetite, he even gave several items to the neighbors to eat. The master of the house was in mourning, and the person in charge of the house was Zhang Shi, so the servants followed suit and endured a few months of plain soup and sparse water, leaving a deep impression on this unexpected delicious meal.

  。

  He asked if he could recognize the servant who delivered the goods. The man directly pointed out a third-rate servant brought by Jiang's southern expedition.

  The suspicion on Jiang's body has increased again.

  She gritted her teeth and splashed the dirty water back onto Zhang's head, "Gao Cheng is a person by my husband's side, why would I harm him for no reason? He's not young anymore and he's ugly, it's ridiculous to say that I have an affair with him! What we should be investigating now is not just a servant's whereabouts three days ago, but who poisoned the porridge! Someone wants to harm my husband, this is the most urgent matter!"

  The imperial envoy looked at her with a serious face and asked his subordinates in a slow and steady tone, "You all went to the kitchen, what did you find?"

  They found quite a few things, apart from the wife who claimed that Zhang's maid had conflicts with Gao Cheng. They also found out that when Gao Cheng was cooking, he was alone in the kitchen, and others were at least several feet away from him. But precisely because they were far away, no one knew if someone had secretly contacted him at that time. If someone really did contact him, it must not have been anyone from Zhang's household. Because she was cautious, only trusted old servants who came with her from the capital, and there were very few of them, all of whom were discreet and would turn around and leave as soon as they knew Gao Cheng was in the kitchen, and would never take the initiative to get close to him.

  So, the woman eventually confessed under pressure from the soldiers that she had intentionally lied, and it was her husband who made her do so. Her husband accepted money from someone else to make his wife give false testimony. As for the person who made them do this, he was tall and imposing, with a mysterious face covered every time they met, and he was quite skilled in martial arts.

  Under the help of a careless remark from one of Chiang's servants, they found out that all the ingredients used by Gao Cheng to cook were specially delivered. The person who delivered the goods was originally fixed, but today a little girl took a leave of absence due to her mother's illness, and none of the people who delivered the dishes were missing. They felt something was wrong, so they caught the little girl and asked her, it turned out that her mother's illness was fake, she also received money from someone, went home and hid for half a day, when asked who gave her the money, it was also a tall and big man with his face covered.

  Who is this man after all?

  Jiang saw that one of the important "evidences" had been invalidated, and was afraid that if they continued to investigate, it would lead to himself, so he hastily gave Hong Ying a signal.

  Hong Niang suddenly pretended to remember and loudly said to her: "Niang, this person must know the servants in our house, either from our own family or from a familiar family who often comes and goes. He loves to cover his face, probably because he's afraid of being recognized? But there are only a few male servants in our household who are tall and skilled in martial arts! Only Ruru's brother, Mr. Lu, has some resemblance."

  In the Zhao family's old residence, there is indeed one person who matches this description and is unfamiliar to the servants. That is Mr. Xi Shi Ru, invited by Mrs. Zhang to teach martial arts to her grandson, Zhao Wei. Coincidentally, Mr. Ru left the Zhao family's old residence this morning. According to the gatekeeper, he went out for a walk and no one knows his whereabouts. He has not returned yet, and there is no way to prove that he did not bribe the kitchen maid or the little girl who delivered vegetables.

  The imperial envoy immediately vetoed this suspicious candidate. Others might suspect that Mr. Lu had a problem, but he was someone from the palace and naturally knew that Lu Yunpeng was a personal guard of the Guangping King, who stayed behind to protect the Zhao family's ancestors. When they left in the morning, they even said goodbye to him - he wasn't wandering around outside, but went to Songjiang Prefecture to "visit friends". Since he wasn't in Fengxian, how could he have bribed someone to provide false evidence?

  The imperial envoy suspected that Jiang and Hong Niang were intentionally letting them suspect Lu Yunpeng, rather than continuing to investigate who was the one who had actually gone to meet with his daughter-in-law and Xiaoyu.

  If he really believed them, and didn't know Ruyun Peng's identity or whereabouts, wouldn't he just think that Zhang Shi's son's martial arts master had bribed Xiaoyu to put poison in the food ingredients, intending to poison Zhao Jiong?

  But if this person really followed Zhang's orders to buy off Xiaoyi, pretending to be a food delivery person to poison her, how could he also buy off the kitchen staff to testify against Zhang? This is clearly self-contradictory and simply a glaring loophole.

  He somewhat rudely glanced at Hong Niang a few times, then took a glance at Jiang Shi, and smiled gloomily: "Don't worry, Zhao Dà Niáng, under the bright sky and in broad daylight, whoever has done something wrong will not be able to hide it from others. We will definitely find out who is behind this poisoning plot and give an explanation to Old Madame!"

  He ordered the soldiers who followed him to search Zhao's old house and nearby streets, inns, and residences immediately. He also made a phone call to the Zhao family clan, asking them to cooperate and make sure to find this suspicious person. The bribed wife and husband, as well as the little girl, were all taken along to identify people. When searching for people, special attention should be paid to the male and female servants brought by Jiang.

  Jiang was startled and forced a smile: "What does the imperial envoy mean by these words?"

  "Don't get me wrong, we just think that the person who wants to harm Zhao Jiong wouldn't have acted so early or so late, but rather waited until you arrived at the old mansion to make a move. Perhaps it was under the guise of being one of the Zhao family's servants on their way south." The imperial envoy gave her a light glance, his eyes filled with a hint of disdain, causing Jiang Shi's anger to surge, but she couldn't vent it out.

  "Zhang saw that she still didn't understand what she did wrong, and couldn't help but sigh: "'Little Peach Red' is a rare poison, and it just so happens to appear in one place. The person who poisoned Gao Cheng must be the same person who wanted to harm your husband. You can't explain why you called Gao Cheng to your courtyard for two consecutive nights three days ago, making you the most suspicious person of poisoning him. Stop pretending to be innocent and think about how to clear yourself!"

  "Sun's daughter-in-law is innocent! How can the old lady slander me like this?! Why would I want to poison my own father-in-law? Why would I want to poison a lowly servant? This is completely unreasonable!" He said, and then began to cry unjustly.

  "Is it to silence him?" A soft and gentle voice sounded at the gate, and everyone was startled, turning their heads to look, but it was Autumn Leaf with one hand holding Zhao ? and the other hand holding Zhao Wei. Zhang's eyebrows furrowed: "Nonsense! What are you doing here?!"

  Just now, that was Zhao who spoke. She hastily said: "Grandmother, brother and I are afraid you will be bullied, so we came to help you!" She signaled to Autumn Leaf to put her down on the ground, ran steadily to Zhang's face, pulled the other's hand and said: "Grandma, isn't this Gao Cheng the confidant of Eldest Sister-in-law? You told us before."

  Zhang glared at her and raised his head to say to the imperial envoy, "I did indeed say that. Gao Chengyuan was a trusted person of Zhao's wife, from being a small attendant to becoming an official, all were promoted by Zhao's wife. Before heading south, he was suddenly transferred to Zhao Heng's side, and I was also surprised to hear that along the way, it was all him who was slandering to Zhao Heng, causing Zhao Heng to lay poisonous hands on the young child."

  The imperial envoy suddenly realized, looking at Zhao with some curiosity, a few smiles in his eyes: "Miss Zhao's meaning is that your eldest sister-in-law instructed Gao Cheng to speak ill of you in front of your uncle, and was afraid that he would reveal the secret, so she wanted to silence him?" How did such a young child think of these things?

  Zhao? nodded vigorously and ran to the front of Jiang's family, looking up at her: "Why do you have to kill us? In the capital, you were still trying to curry favor with my grandmother and parents. You knelt in front of them, asking them not to reveal the matter of your son killing his younger brother. My grandmother agreed, and you were grateful at the time, saying that you would speak well of us in front of our uncle and aunt, so they wouldn't bully us anymore. Why did you later send people to harm us?"

  Jiang didn't expect that the biggest secret in his heart would be exposed by a child on the spot, and he was caught off guard, looking at the imperial envoy in shock.