Chapter Fifty-One Comes to an End
Jiang had been keeping silent. Even when she was detained in the old Zhao residence in Fengxian, she had made a fuss and cried before, but when it was time to return to Beijing, she seemed to have resigned herself to her fate, staring blankly every day, hardly saying a word.
The imperial envoy was eager to know the situation of the murderer from her, and seeing that she was not cooperating, he was also somewhat annoyed. He hurried back to the capital at the fastest speed, making her dizzy and disoriented, and her whole person became gaunt. After arriving in the capital, she was quickly sent into the largest prison of the Supreme Court. As a woman of her status, being locked up in the worst cell with those female prisoners who had committed serious crimes was already an insult.
The latest development in the situation, the imperial envoy had already sent someone to send a letter back to Beijing ahead of time, so the Zhao family had known about An Qing's change for a long time. Upon learning of the death of Zhao Zhuo and his wife, initially because Jiang had malicious intentions, Zhao Yue didn't know whether to be happy or worried.
Luckily, Jiang was not a member of the Zhao family by blood. She had committed evil deeds and had no relation to the descendants of the Zhao family. If he divorced this wife, he could clear himself and his son from guilt, and it's possible that their title would be restored. Niu also thought so, if Zhao Jiong hadn't ordered someone to murder his mother and brother, his crime wouldn't have been established, and she would still be the respected Lady of Jian Nan Hou. She eagerly joined her son in seeking to overturn the case.
They both forgot the innocent servants and boatmen who died in the icy river water, just like Zhao Jiong. They also forgot that Zhao Jiong's wife would have died because of his refusal to save her, not because someone sent by Jiang's family had stabbed them with a knife. Their only thought was that as long as they sacrificed Jiang's family, their whole family could be saved, so they didn't care about Jiang's family in the big prison at all.
It wasn't Zhao Yue being too heartless to his first wife. He had found out about the death of his youngest son and its relation to his eldest son, and he had gotten angry before. But he never thought of sacrificing this child, after all, the status of the eldest son was not something a younger son could compare to. However, Jiang Shi had acknowledged this matter. It was equivalent to ruining the child's reputation and future, without leaving any room for turning back, what he resented his wife the most was that she had said such words, letting outsiders grasp the handle.
At this time, something strange happened. Zhao Yue called his eldest son Zhao Ze to ask him if he really killed his brother, but Zhao Ze knew nothing about it. After the death of his younger brother, he had a fever and forgot everything that had happened at the time. What was left in his mind were things that Jiang's family had instilled in him afterwards, so he replied to his father: "I wanted to see my brother, but who knew he wouldn't move at all? Grandfather's ghost stood beside him, it was so scary! I got scared and ran out."
Zhao Laojun Gong appeared in his hometown, punishing his unfilial and disobedient eldest son. This matter has already spread to the capital. Zhao Yue didn't actually believe it, but since even Guangping Wang said so, he could only shut up, though he was very skeptical in his heart. But now that he heard his son's words, his face changed color. Thinking back to after the death of his younger brother, there indeed were rumors in the Hou Mansion that the grandfather wanted to see his small grandson who he hadn't seen before and had taken the child away. He didn't believe it at the time, but now thinking about it, perhaps it wasn't just an empty rumor without cause. It turned out that Old Master had appeared so early on, and was ruthless enough to take action against his own sons and grandsons. No wonder he could watch as his father fell off his horse, in comparison. On the other hand, Xiaojie from the second branch of the family received protection from Old Master, are people's hearts really biased?
After venting her anger, Zhao Wei turned back to the matter of her son and thought that since her eldest son was only six years old, he couldn't possibly tell lies. Looking at his eyes, it seemed like he was telling the truth. It could be seen that the rumor about Zhao Ze killing his younger brother was baseless. Jiang Shi actually admitted that her son hadn't done anything wrong, which was really stupid! Maybe the child was killed by her, and she framed her son to escape punishment. This was truly a case of being cruel and ruthless! Zhao Wei's resentment towards her first wife deepened even more, and she wished she could get rid of her as soon as possible.
It turned out that the Jiang family had somehow received news early on, and Jiang's father and brothers rushed to the Zhao family to discuss this matter. They firmly refused to acknowledge that Jiang would do such an evil thing, and she must have been framed. The Jiang family had never had a daughter who was divorced, let alone one who had committed a crime and been sentenced. For the sake of the Jiang family's generations of official reputation, they absolutely could not accept their daughter being pushed out by the Zhao family to block arrows. Anyway, Zhao Huo had already been convicted, why should they sacrifice their daughter to appeal for him?
The Niu family and Zhao Yue wanted to protect Zhao Kuang, while the Jiang family wanted to protect Jiang Shi. The two sides were at a stalemate.
At this time, news came again that Zhao Kuang had been drowned to death.
Niu was dealt a heavy blow, her husband had died, meaning that even if she were to clear his name, she would never be able to regain her former prestigious status. Zhao Yue also wavered, his father had already passed away, did he really want to sacrifice another wife? The Jiang family had just proposed many favorable conditions, and Tian Shangshu was helping to speak on their behalf - the Jiang family's vast network of relatives and connections had been taken notice of by King Ying - as long as there were benefits to be gained, he could also tolerate Jiang for a few more years, at most waiting for the storm to pass before letting her "die from illness"...
In the end, Zhao Jia's small house insisted on its original statement. The one who harmed people was Zhao Kuang, and Jiang Shi was not aware of it. What she said in Fengxian was completely because she had lost her mind, or else she was designed to be trapped by Zhang Shi. At that time, the officials present at the scene were all deceived by Zhang Shi.
Jiang and Hong Ying, however, changed their statements completely after just one night in the capital. They implied that they were actually innocent and had been framed by the imperial envoy and Zhang, who had conspired against them. Someone even accused the imperial envoy of accepting a large sum of money with unclear origins, and there was both human and material evidence to support this claim. As for Qing Cai and others who had confessed to the truth, people from Xia Chang's household collected a pile of so-called "evidence" that proved they had motives to resent their master, including testimony from their relatives. This directly led to them being labeled as criminals who had "falsely accused their master out of personal grievances". After just one night, most people could no longer hold on and changed their statements.
This made the Temple of Dali very passive. The murderous guards have not been caught until now, and they want to convict Jiang's family largely relying on the testimony of these slaves. They all turned over their confessions, so how can they be tried? Although afterwards they found that Jiang's cousin was an official in the Temple of Dali, it is very likely that he privately arranged for Jiang's family members to meet with Jiang and Hong Yun, and they colluded with each other. Unfortunately, there is no evidence to prove this point. Apart from demoting Jiang's cousin from the Temple of Dali, they have no way to deal with Jiang's family.
The imperial envoy who was sent to investigate the case has been demoted due to corruption, and the Jiang family has several sons who are well-versed in law. They somehow managed to get the Jiangs off scot-free. At this time, the head of the Supreme Court unexpectedly fell off his horse and injured his leg, requiring him to rest for several months, with a junior official temporarily taking over his duties. It is unknown what method the Jiang family used to win over this person, but he actually reported to the emperor that the Jiangs were innocent, not because they were framed by Zhang, but because they were harmed by an evil slave and had gone mad. The reason was that Zhao Yue said that the death of the youngest son was due to the negligence of the nanny and had nothing to do with the eldest son, so the Jiangs had no motive to kill anyone. The so-called "murderer" who protected the house had never appeared in public, and the Zhao family had no impression of him at all. In fact, he was a non-existent person, and the knife wounds on the corpse were just a coincidence that proved nothing. On the contrary, Zhao Jiong's dislike for his stepmother and younger brother was well-known throughout the family, and it was he who suggested going south to mourn. After the boat capsized, he refused to rescue them, and later sent someone to silence them, which was also witnessed by all the servants present, with conclusive evidence. There was no miscarriage of justice.
They thought they could shift all the blame onto the deceased Zhao Kuang, but things wouldn't go as they wished.
The emperor had intercepted the letters that Zhang had sent to several generals in the capital, but the guards and attendants who had accompanied the King of Guangping southward still leaked out Zhao Jiong's actions. The commander-in-chief of Zhenjiang received Zhang's letter and also sent someone to Fengxian to gather information. After confirming that what she said in her letter was true, he quickly sent letters to several old comrades-in-arms, so the former subordinates of Zhao Laojun Gong gradually learned about the truth of Zhao Jiong killing his brother. Now they see that the Zhao family is pushing all the blame onto the deceased Zhao Jiong just to protect Jiangshi. They feel very indignant. Even if Zhao Jiong was guilty, his wife and children couldn't do such a thing. When they didn't know the truth before, they had spoken well of the Zhao family, but now they have changed their minds and don't even want to reason with them, let alone plead for them.
Among them, someone with ulterior motives tentatively said to his comrades: "Is it really the flesh and blood of the Duke's family? Can't bear to see them lose their title?" Everyone didn't have a hint of approval: "The Duke still has a grandson, won't be extinct. Let these disloyal and unfilial things die, also avoid dirtying the Duke's family gate!" The man feared that if he persuaded again, it would arouse suspicion, so he just laughed and stopped mentioning the matter.
King Ying's persistence in the Zhao family's small general house was to control these county public masters' old departments through the Zhao family's small general house, thereby grasping military power. Now the county public masters' old departments sneer at Zhao Jiong and his family, the Zhao family's small general house has become useless, and continuing to entangle will only expose themselves, so they quietly abandoned it.
The Xiao Chang House has been able to hold on until now, in fact, it's all thanks to the support of Ying Wang and the Jiang family behind the scenes. Once Ying Wang withdraws his hand, the Jiang family will be unable to bear the burden alone, they have put all their energy into rescuing their daughter. The Emperor sensed the movement of his brothers, although he was somewhat unwilling, but still accepted the fact that the arrangement for the Xiao Chang House had already lost its effect, and he quickly made a decision regarding the Xiao Chang House.
The case against Jiang's family had no clear evidence, so it was difficult to convict her. The Jiang family also intentionally implicated Zhang's family in the matter. The emperor disliked their actions and decided that he would never reuse the Jiang family's descendants again. Even the position of Jiang's second uncle as a servant was removed for some reason. As for whether there will be internal divisions within the Jiang family, it is not his concern. Anyway, as long as the case is not closed, Jiang will stay in prison forever.
As for the title of Zhao Jia's small general house, it was completely lost. The emperor cut off their possibility of inheriting the title in his decree and ordered them to move out of the marquis' mansion within ten days. Zhao Yue lost all his official duties, the imperial edict to his wife was revoked, and the land, houses, and servants that originally belonged to the Marquis of Jianan were temporarily sealed off. They could only take away the private property of the small general house and the dowry of Niu Shi and Jiang Shi. On the day they moved out of the marquis' mansion, Niu Shi took a few grandchildren with her, Zhao Yue had no horse to ride and had to walk on his two legs, and the whole family left their original luxurious residence in a sad and miserable state, without even a relative coming to see them off.
The Jiang family exhausted all their efforts and sacrificed the official positions of several young men in the clan, but still couldn't get Madame Chiang out of prison. Fortunately, she was not convicted for a single day, so she could not be considered a criminal, and the Jiang family could deceive themselves once more. However, her father and brothers were already exhausted from suppressing the dissatisfaction within the family and really couldn't do anything else. Zhao Yue refused to rescue his wife again, and even abandoned their children Zhao Ze and Zhao Xiang, leaving them in the care of their grandmother Niu Shi. They rented a small house in the capital and lived there, while Zhao Yue went around visiting relatives and scattering money everywhere, trying to secure an official position.
The remains of Zhao Kuang, who was sent to the capital, were finally hastily buried in a remote place behind the mountain of the Zhao family temple in the suburbs. Zhao Yue's energy was all focused on finding a job, and he didn't pay much attention to his late father's affairs, not even sending someone to sweep the tomb during the New Year. Relatives and friends couldn't bear to look at it anymore, no matter how serious the crime Zhao Kuang committed, after all, he was still Zhao Yue's biological father, how could Zhao Yue be so confused that he didn't even care about filial piety?
There's also Niu Shi, who back then was willing to sacrifice everything to marry Zhao Kuang. She didn't even care about her reputation. Now she can just abandon him like that? Even if Zhao Kuang is useless, he hasn't wronged her in any way. The rumors say it's because of her slander that he would resort to poisoning his stepmother and younger brother. As soon as something happens, she clears herself of all blame. A woman this cruel and ruthless is rarely seen, no wonder she raised a disobedient son like Zhao Yue.
Fewer and fewer people were willing to help Xiao Changfang, but there was an old subordinate of Zhao Laogong's who, for some reason, got Zhao Yue a ninth-rank inspector position in a county near Jinzhou. This kind of small-time official, even on the border, was just a cannon fodder, something that Zhao Yue would have looked down on before, but he was now packing his bags with joy, preparing to set off.
The emperor's side has quickly targeted the old subordinate of the county lord.
Zhang listened to Lu Yunpeng's account of the case development and fell silent for a long time.
The emperor did not issue an edict allowing Zhao Wei to inherit the title, but the King of Guangping said that when Zhao Wei was a few years older, the edict would be issued. However, Zhang Shi no longer cared about this matter, and the young master had made the whole family like this for the sake of the viscount's title, which showed that it was a source of disaster.
She said, "Wei Ge is still young, the matter of his title is not urgent, we will follow the emperor's orders, thank you, Prince Guangping, please don't worry about this matter anymore. The three of us, my grandson and I, are now living a quiet life, which is quite comfortable."
Lu Yunpeng was stunned for a moment, then respectfully responded and retreated.
"Alright, the case is temporarily settled. The outcome of Xiaochang's house is also a kind of retribution. From now on, we don't need to pay attention to that side anymore, just take care of our own lives."
Zhao Xuan blinked and revealed a brilliant smile. Zhao Wei asked loudly, "Grandma, Lu Xiao'er told me that on the nineteenth day after tomorrow, Taolin will have a temple fair. Shall we go see it?"
