Before the truth came out, Ningzhu disappeared out of thin air, and the queen was in the most embarrassing position. Even the entire royal family in the court became delicate.
On the left of this case is Empress Dowager Xu, on the right is Queen Wang, and in front is the Emperor. It is a hot potato for either side. The Dali Temple is divided into two factions, one is afraid to avoid it, and the other is eager to try, wanting to take a risk and take the opportunity to climb up the ladder. Who would have thought that the Empress Dowager would finally speak up and order the Court Justice Sima Lin to preside over the investigation. Sima Lin was a military officer stationed in the Western Regions in the previous dynasty. Later, he was shot in the back during the war to suppress the Western Regions mutiny and could no longer go to the battlefield, so he was transferred back to the capital. Sima Lin was fair, strict, and unyielding. He repeatedly advised the Empress Dowager not to monopolize power. He was always disliked by the Empress Dowager, and the position of the Court Justice was almost vacant. People said that he would not be able to hold the position for a few days. But Empress Dowager Xu did not expect that she would only like him in this case.
Sima Lin did not miss any clues in the few days after receiving the order. After detailed questioning, he found that all the doubts were focused on Ningzhu.
Zhao Ningzhu has been in the palace for seven or eight years. He has a clean background and has been by the Queen's side since entering the palace. He is considered one of the Queen's own. Even his brother Zhao Ren has found a job in the Wang family.
But the next day after Ningzhu disappeared, Zhao Ren also disappeared.
Sima Lin sent people to investigate his brother's daily life and found that Zhao Ren was upright and did not drink, seduce or gamble. He had no faults at all. If there was anything unusual, it was that he was 40 years old but had not married or had children. However, one of Zhao Ren's colleagues suddenly went to the Dali Temple to report that he had kept a woman outside. Now the woman also disappeared. Sima Lin asked around about the woman's background and found that she was actually the singer of the Xu family a few years ago.
Following the clues, it was found that this case of treason actually involved both the Xu and Wang families. If it were someone else, they would probably not know what to do, but Sima Lin showed no signs of stopping.
When you get the news, go to Qiantai Palace to report.
After listening to the progress of the case, Shang Rui smiled and said, "You should continue to send people to look for Zhao Ren's whereabouts, and you should also find out how the poison got into Jinde Palace and how Zhao Ningzhu disappeared from prison."
"Reporting to your majesty, this Zhao Ningzhu did not disappear out of thin air, but was taken away by someone with a handwritten order."
"Whose order is it?" Shang Rui asked again.
Even Sima Lin felt a pain in his liver at this question, so he answered with a stiff upper lip: "It is the emperor... your handwritten order."
"I?" Shang Rui couldn't help but burst out laughing, "My imperial edict?"
"That's what the jailer said in his confession."
"Then let me see the thing."
Sima Lin wiped his sweat and replied, "It has disappeared without a trace."
Shang Rui waved his hands and said, "Forget it. Since the Queen Mother and I have entrusted this matter to you, it is inconvenient to ask more questions."
Sima Lin was about to kowtow and leave, but he heard Shang Rui say, "I remember when I was still a prince, the Prince of Huai wanted to build a garden on a piece of land in the capital, but the owner refused to sell it to him, but he insisted on buying it. Everyone else turned a blind eye, but you reported him directly, making him lose face in public and creating a grudge. Later, before the late emperor fell ill, he bestowed the two characters of 'loyalty' on you, so I'm sure you won't easily insult him. If there is anyone in this court who is most worthy of my family's trust, then you, Sima Lin, must be that person."
Although some of the poison had been removed, Shang Rui's body had not yet recovered. He looked pale and powerless. After saying those long words, he looked exhausted.
Sima Lin saw this, and his heart was filled with emotion. He kowtowed and choked up, saying, "Your Majesty, please rest assured. I will do my best to investigate the real culprit, even if it means death."
After Sima Lin left, Helan Xun and Tian Yuan, who were originally in the hall, also took their leave.
On the broad white marble platform outside the Qiantai Hall, the oncoming spring breeze makes the five-clawed dragon carvings on the stone pillars, which symbolize the highest status, come alive.
"Brother Helan, what do you think about this?"
"Are you referring to the person who poisoned you?" Helan Xun narrowed his eyes.
"I think there are three suspects." He and Helan Xun were both close friends of Shang Rui, and they were good friends, so they spoke without reservation.
"Oh? I'd like to hear more about it."
"The first one should be Queen Wang, but it is unlikely. The Queen has no children, and the current Highness Ran Jun is only temporarily raised by her. It will not be good for her if the Emperor is ill."
Helan Xun said: "Perhaps, she has some secrets in her heart that we don't know, and this stupidest poisoning method is actually the most effective and the most puzzling. She understands the emperor."
Tian Yuan added: "The second is the Xu family, no need to say more about this. The third may be the Prince of Huai. You know his recent movements. If something happened in the palace and the situation was in chaos, he would naturally find a good opportunity."
Helan Xun did not refute him, but twisted his beard and smiled: "What Brother Tian said makes sense, but I think there may be one person left that you have overlooked..."
"There's another one?" Tian Yuan was completely confused.
Helan Xun smiled slightly.
three
Among the three ministers of the time, Taiwei Xu Huiyong was the father of Empress Dowager Xu and controlled half of the military power in the world. When the young emperor ascended the throne in the first year of Yong'an, Prime Minister Wang Ji married Xiaoxiang, the only legitimate daughter he had in his middle age, into Jinde Palace. Although it was a marriage with the royal family, it was a signal that the Xu and Wang families secretly joined forces to control the government.
During the ten years, Xu Huiyong passed away, and the emperor's uncle Xu Jingye inherited his father's position as Taiwei, while Wang Ji remained in power, but it became a delicate relationship.
What is ridiculous is that the whole thing ended in a very strange way. On the second day of March, Empress Dowager Xu celebrated her fiftieth birthday, and a general amnesty was declared. At Shang Rui's suggestion, even the charge of poisoning and regicide was not pursued.
The intermittent friction on the border between the Western Regions and the Wusun Kingdom did not seem to disrupt the wedding banquet. The Jialan Temple in Jianzhou, which was specially built to celebrate the Queen Mother's birthday, was finally completed.
The princes from all over the country followed the Queen Mother's order to return to the capital and all arrived as scheduled with rich gifts, except for Huai Wang Shangren. The one who came to celebrate the birthday on behalf of her father was Huai Wang's daughter, Jingtan.
When he got the news, Shang Rui's mouth curled up slightly. The old fox had evil thoughts in mind and didn't dare to go out, so he sent his daughter.
Jingtan is the only daughter of Huai Wang's wife Xu, who was the empress dowager's cousin when she was in her natal family. Back then, one of them entered the palace to become the emperor's concubine, and the other became the second prince's principal wife. From sisters to mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, the royal family of Wei Dynasty was not surprised. When Shang Rui ascended the throne, the second prince Huai Wang was the first to kowtow and return to his fiefdom, so he was the most valued by the empress dowager. Now, if Huai Wang can't come due to illness, Jingtan's coming is the most appropriate.
When Jingtan first arrived in the imperial capital, she went to Chengfu Palace to pay her respects to the empress dowager, and then went to the emperor's Qiantai Palace. When she passed by the peach forest in the central garden, she saw a man in the nearby pavilion.
The man stood with his hands behind his back, happily watching the palace maids tossing snack crumbs to tease the carp in the pond. From behind, he was wearing a narrow-sleeved casual dress, which was extremely simple in style and without any fancy features, in sharp contrast to the pretty and colorful spring clothes of the palace maids around him. Even when he lowered his head to look at the fish, his back was still straight and his waist was thin. His skin color was not as white as the emperor's nobles who came in and out of the palace, but a color that was tanned by the sun.
The man seemed to notice the gaze behind him, turned around, and stared for a moment with a smile still in his eyes: "Jingtan?"
At that time, Jingtan called out sweetly, "Uncle Jiu—" Her tone was filled with uncontrollable excitement. She ran towards Shang Rui in two steps at a time, walked a few feet and covered her mouth, then stopped with a "ah".
She stopped three steps away from Shang Rui, adjusted her hair and clothes, cleared her throat, knelt down and kowtowed, saying: "Princess Yanqing of Huai Wang pays respects to the emperor and wishes His Majesty a long life."
Shang Rui held back his laughter and helped her up: "No thanks. Why don't you see the queen?"
After Shang Rui reminded him, Jingtan discovered the young woman in the pavilion. The woman's face was not very outstanding. The golden phoenix hairpin swayed slightly with her lotus steps, like a phoenix about to spread its wings, just like the smile below, which was neither plain nor extravagant, neither strong nor weak. At this moment, she just clasped her hands slightly in front of her body, standing tall and graceful, like the graceful and elegant mother of the country.
"Jingtan meets the Queen."
"Princess, please don't be polite." Xiaoxiang bent down and supported Jingtan, and just when his hand was about to touch hers, he gently withdrew it. His face was still pleasant, but in this support and retraction, he restrained the two people with proper etiquette.
The queen bowed to Shang Rui and said, "Since the princess is here, I will go back to the palace to rest."
As soon as Jingtan and the queen disappeared, she threw herself into Shang Rui's arms and said, "I haven't seen you for so many years. Uncle Jiu, do you miss Jingtan?"
Her action shocked those who had accompanied her from the Southern Region. Just as they were about to speak out to stop her, Shang Rui waved his hand to stop them.
Shang Rui has loved her since she was a child. Because of the relationship between their mothers, the two have always been close. Besides, the age difference between uncle and niece is not big, so there is no formality.
“I thought about it before, but I didn’t think about it later.”
"Why?" Jingtan frowned.
"Because I still remember how you looked when you were missing your front teeth and you even spoke in a lisp. Later, I thought that your teeth should have grown in a long time ago, but I didn't know what you would look like as a grown-up girl, so I just stopped thinking about it."
She pouted: "Then how did Uncle Jiu recognize Jingtan at the first sight?"
Shang Rui tilted his head and thought for a moment, then said with a smile, "I heard that you entered the palace today, and suddenly a beautiful girl I didn't recognize appeared in front of me, so I guessed it was you."
Jingtan was delighted and smiled: "Does Uncle Jiu really think Jingtan has become more beautiful?"
Shang Rui nodded, his mind already flying thousands of miles away. Facing such a pure smile, how could he tell her that he was plotting against her father, guessing the reason why this old fox let his biological daughter come to the capital, so when she appeared, he couldn't help but blurt out the word "Jingtan".
Walking along the winding corridors by the lake, Jingtan chattered non-stop. She had a good memory and could recall every corner and every tree in the imperial garden when she was a child. Some of them were about Shang Rui, and some were about other people. When she was excited, she couldn't help but grab Shang Rui's arm and shake it intimately. Shang Rui responded while patting the back of her hand.
"Uncle Jiu, do you still remember that on New Year's Day that year, Brother Yu slipped into the pond from this place, and you were the one who fished him out?"
Shang Rui was slightly stunned: "Who are you talking about?"
"Brother Yu, it's just..." The words stopped abruptly.
She spoke out of turn and forgot the taboos that had been in place for many years in the palace.
Shang Rui looked at the place where Jingtan pointed. It was originally a gravel path around the lake. At the corner, there was a gap on the shore of Liubo Lake. If a child ran, it would be easy to slip. Now that place has been built up with stones.
After a moment of silence, Shang Rui asked, "How did he fall?"
"The adults were all in Qiantai Palace paying their respects. I don't know which brother brought the dog and put it in the imperial garden, letting the beast run wild. As soon as it saw him... as soon as it saw him, it started barking. He seemed to be scared, so he passed by here and pulled over to let the beast go. He accidentally slipped into Liubo Lake. It was just him and I at the time, and the eunuchs and palace maids were not there. I was so scared that I cried. You heard the noise, ran over, and jumped in without blinking."
Jingtan's narration evoked some memories in Shangrui's heart that he had deliberately sealed away.
That child... He sighed in his heart. It turned out that their lives did intersect.
Jingtan didn't tell him what happened later, but he still remembered it.
In the freezing cold water of the first month of the lunar year, he lifted the child out of the water. The child opened his dark eyes in fear and gasped for breath, while tightly grasping his shoulders for fear of losing his life.
At this moment, Shang Rui suddenly remembered what he said to the child at the critical moment of life and death. Now it seems that this sentence has become a great irony. Shang Rui laughed at himself and then led Jingtan to another place.
At that time, he said to the child: "I am here, everything will be fine."
Four
Suddenly it was April in the capital, late spring with a pleasant climate.
The afternoon sun shines through the gaps between the branches and leaves and falls on the ground. Looking from another angle, there is an indescribable sense of laziness and comfort.
"Beijing is still better! It rains all the time in the spring in southern Xinjiang, and we can't even fly kites. Besides..." Jingtan glanced at Shang Rui with her dark eyes like glass, and said playfully, "Besides, there is Uncle Jiu in Beijing. This is something that cannot be compared anywhere else. I really don't want to go back."
When the queen heard this, she and the maids behind her couldn't help laughing. How could anyone not like such a lovely girl
Shang Rui, however, was staring off into the distance, contrary to his usual behavior. No one knew if he had heard Jing Tan's words or what he was thinking about. He usually loved to talk and joke around, but on the rare occasions when he was sullen and didn't smile, his expression would naturally reveal a kind of coldness.
"emperor?"
He turned around only after hearing Xiaoxiang's reminder.
The Queen said, "The Princess is saying that the Imperial Capital is great and she doesn't want to go back."
Shang Rui said, "Since Tan'er likes it, I will let you stay in the palace for a few more days. Let them tidy up Pinglan Pavilion and give it to you."
Jingtan's face lit up: "Uncle Jiu still remembers that I like the small pond in Pinglan Pavilion the most." But then she pouted again, "But when I was leaving, my father told me that it would be better for me to go back early so that my mother wouldn't miss me."
Shang Rui raised his thick black eyebrows slightly, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "I will ask your father for mercy on your behalf, how about you stay a few more days?"
The female official behind Jingtan paused for a moment, then reminded: "Princess, please thank His Majesty."
"Oh." Jingtan suddenly realized and bowed happily, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for not driving me away and giving me such a good place."
Wang Xiaoxiang on the side had a calm face, and even smiled and nodded, but she was extremely shocked in her heart. With Jingtan's thanks, this became an irreversible decree. "Stay a few more days", such a vague five words, if Shang Rui hadn't spoken again, it would have become a constraint that could imprison this girl.
Her husband might want to use Princess Yanqing as a bargaining chip at some critical moment.
She originally thought that he loved Jingtan from the bottom of his heart.
Perhaps, everything is just a chess piece in his mind, just like their marriage back then.
While his thoughts were wandering, he didn't know what Jingtan said again, which made Shang Rui laugh heartily.
Jingtan looked at Shangrui's smiling face infatuatedly, and said happily: "Uncle Jiu, can you agree to one of Jingtan's requests?"
Shang Rui picked up a cherry and put it in his mouth comfortably: "What's the matter?"
"Uncle Jiu, please agree first."
Shang Rui raised his eyebrows slightly and said teasingly, "You all know that a king never jokes. If I promise you first, and if you want me to use my head as a shuttlecock for you to kick, then I will have no choice but to accept it."
Jingtan hurriedly said, "No! No!" His face suddenly turned red with anxiety and he waved his hands to explain.
Shang Rui saw this and laughed out loud.
The Queen advised: "Your Majesty is the ruler of the world, you can't joke like this."
Shang Rui was not annoyed. He smiled calmly and said to Jingtan: "Tell me. If you want a mountain of gold, I will give it to you." His eyes were full of doting.
"Jingtan, can you please not call the emperor "Uncle Jiu"? " Jingtan hesitated.
"Then what do you want to call yourself?" Shang Rui was a little confused for a moment.
Jingtan glanced at the people around her, and swallowed what she wanted to say. The queen understood and said, "I feel the wind outside is a bit cold, please allow me to leave." After that, she bowed deeply and prepared to get up and leave. As a woman, how could she not understand the princess's thoughts.
Shang Rui was curious about Jing Tan's request: "Tan'er, tell me, the Queen is not an outsider." Then he gently grabbed the Queen's hand. The Queen's face suddenly turned red.
Even in her own Jinde Palace, she rarely behaved so intimately with Shang Rui in front of others, let alone now in the busy Imperial Garden. Unfortunately, she couldn't go against the emperor's wishes in front of everyone, so she was in a dilemma.
Looking at Shang Rui's leisurely and contented expression, he was sure of Xiaoxiang's mentality.
In fact, he had his own reasons. Ever since he was poisoned, Xiaoxiang had been avoiding him. If she hadn't used the excuse of meeting Jingtan today, she probably wouldn't have come.