The sky in the capital has been sunny for more than half a month without any sign of rain. Seeing that several places near the outskirts of Beijing caught fire due to being too dry, many people's hearts are as hot and dry as the weather.
The Xu family's case was not forgotten as time went by. Instead, it became more and more serious because of another incident - the Xu family's collusion with the Japanese was not a one-day thing, but had been going on for more than ten years.
The reason why they were frantically hunting down Su Mingqing this time was because Su Mingqing had discovered the secret that they had colluded with the Japanese pirates and bribed the Japanese ronin to assassinate the prince.
The Ministry of Justice has been very busy recently. People from Gaoping to other departments are all so anxious that their mouths are full of blisters.
But no one dared to slack off - with the approach of Empress Xiaoci's anniversary, Emperor Yuanfeng's temper became more and more violent, with faint signs of his crazy purge of the inner palace after Empress Xiaoci's death.
For a moment, everyone was in danger. Even Concubine Li was scolded by Emperor Yuanfeng for wearing too gorgeous clothes. She was accused of being disrespectful to the late empress and being frivolous.
Anyone with a little bit of common sense would know why Emperor Yuanfeng was angry.
The former crown prince almost had a chance to return to defend himself, but he died inexplicably in Shandong. How unfair and absurd it was.
Back then, Emperor Yuanfeng almost killed the second and third princes for this matter, and forced their mothers to death. Although he did not really take the lives of the second and third princes, he demoted them to commoners, which shows his anger. Now the old matter is brought up again, and it involves secrets. It is hard to imagine how devastating Emperor Yuanfeng's anger would be if the real culprit was found out at this time.
The sun was shining brightly in the sky, and there was not even a trace of wind. Everyone was sweating profusely, and there were few people on the street. Except for the beggars who huddled in the shade to keep cool, Zhuque Street was empty.
It is always easy to feel drowsy in the afternoon like this. The beggars were dozing with their eyes closed, but suddenly they heard a steady sound of horse hooves coming closer and closer in the distance. Their sense of smell has always been the strongest, and they subconsciously realized the danger, and hurriedly straightened their necks to look towards the source of the sound.
A group of people and horses came from far away, galloping from the archway. The sound of whips cracking in the air echoed in the street, full of murderous intent. The beggars subconsciously opened their eyes wide and watched the group of people and horses disappear around the corner of the street silently. They stared at each other for a while before someone shouted in horror: "Oh my God, what happened? Just now... was there a corpse on the horse's back?"
Blood dripped silently onto the stone pavement of Zhuque Street, the bloodstains gleaming bright red in the sunlight.
At the same time, Princess Chun'an was desperately knocking on her door, pleading with Prince Fenyang in tears: "Father, I beg you, I beg you to save Wenxun!"
Princess Chun'an, who had just lamented the misfortune of the Xu family, did not expect that misfortune would soon befall her - just a few days after she returned from the villa, Shao Wenxun said he was going to his friend's house to congratulate him, and never returned since then.
Over the years, Shao Wenxun has always been an extremely gentle husband. No matter what the circumstances, he has never stayed out overnight without saying hello. When he didn't come back that day, Princess Chun'an became panicked and sent someone to ask Shao Wenxun's good friend about the situation.
But the people who were sent came back empty-handed, saying that Shao Wenxun had never been there.
This kind of situation has not occurred in all these years. Princess Chun'an was in disbelief for a moment, and then she subconsciously thought that something had happened to Shao Wenxun. But she never thought that Shao Wenxun would be related to the Su family's case.
People from the Ministry of Justice came to her house to arrest Shao Wenxun. She was shocked, scared and angry. It was only at that moment that she realized that everything the Xu family had done was related to Shao Wenxun.
She didn't want to believe it, but the evidence Gao Ping brought all confirmed what he said.
Although Shao Wenxun is a county horse, his salary is limited. However, Shao Wenxun can farm the fields in his hometown. Even his father's land hoarding, which was previously exposed because of the Qin family's affairs, was just the tip of the iceberg.
Among the evidence brought by the Ministry of Justice, the deeds to the farms, gambling houses and restaurants owned by Shao Wenxun were so numerous that even Princess Chun'an would be shocked.
Even if Shao Wenxun had been a prince for ten lifetimes, it would be impossible for him to save up all these things.
She opened her mouth, unable to imagine that the person beside her could do so many things without telling her.
The criminal department's official document was quickly sent out, and it was only at that moment that she realized that Shao Wenxun had not gone to congratulate her, he had clearly escaped.
No matter whether the Fenyang Palace would be implicated in the evil deeds he had done, no matter whether she and the children would be ruined because of this incident.
He abandoned them and ran away.
But the time of gnashing her teeth was only a few short days. Princess Chun'an went from being furious, angry and disappointed to sad and painful, and in the end, worry prevailed.
After hearing today that Shao Wenxun had been captured by the people from the Beijing camp, she was finally forced to make up her mind - she couldn't just watch Shao Wenxun die.
The daughter's cry was heartbreaking, but Prince Fenyang was unmoved. He stood in the corridor and said expressionlessly: "Silly child, who can I save now? The death of the former prince has always been a knot in the heart of the emperor. If the truth had been buried, it would be fine. But now the truth can't be hidden. More than ten years ago, the Xu family and the Cheng family framed the Yongding Earl's Mansion and killed Yongding Earl. They also colluded with the Japanese pirates and even killed the prince in Dengzhou..."
These were all revealed by the Ministry of Justice from the Xu father and son, and the Xu family also revealed that the accomplice was Shao Wenxun.
Hearing the Princess Chun'an's crying gradually stop, Prince Fenyang sighed again: "Shao Wenxun escaped without saying a word, which shows that the information obtained by the Ministry of Justice is indeed reliable. Under such circumstances, do you still expect me to plead for him and help him escape? It is still unclear whether our palace can protect itself!"
An indescribable panic rose in Princess Chun'an's heart. With tears on her face, she slid down the door and sat on the ground. She no longer cared about the elegance that she had always been proud of, and cried like a child.
So Shao Wenxun and the Xu family really killed Su Mingqing because Su Mingqing found evidence that they had colluded with the Japanese pirates many years ago
But... ...
Princess Chun'an felt painful and angry at the same time, and she inevitably even began to resent the Su family.
Why is there so much trouble in the Su family
Why did the Su family want to offend the Xu family, and why did Su Mingqing want to find out what the Xu family had done in the past
If the Su family had disappeared from the beginning, then what happened today would not have happened, and Shao Wenxun would not have fallen from being a county lord to a prisoner with his life and death uncertain.
As the night fell, her gaze became as dark as the night.