Xiang Shi hurried home with her daughter. No sooner had the carriage stopped than she leaped off before the servants could even come to assist, dashing into the mansion as if flying.
Jiang Yiyi was left behind by her mother. Seeing how frantic her mother was, and thinking of her second brother's situation, tears welled up anxiously in her eyes. When she descended from the carriage, her legs were trembling uncontrollably.
By the time Jiang Yiyi struggled to reach the main courtyard, before she even entered the room, she could hear her mother crying.
"What on earth is going on?" Xiang Shi's anxiety was not born of concern for Jiang Chengliang's safety—a concubine-born son meant little to her. What terrified her was the possibility that Jiang Chengliang's affair might drag the entire Jiang family into trouble.
Jiang Huaxuan, as the head of the household, retained his usual authority. He shot Xiang Shi a glare. "What are you shouting about? Sit down at once." He then turned to his eldest legitimate son and said with a frown, "Yuanliang, you explain."
Jiang Yuanliang had handsome, refined features, resembling his father Jiang Huaxuan. "The mines in Jizhou were originally under the jurisdiction of Liu Yude, and he is one of our people. Over the years, the Jiang family has been able to continuously expand its network of connections, largely thanks to the wealth flowing in from Jizhou. But when the Emperor suddenly dismissed Liu Yude and placed Jizhou under the management of the Crown Prince, we've been keeping a close watch on Jizhou ever since."
He paused and sighed, then said with frustration, "The mining disaster was supposed to be arranged flawlessly. Who could have imagined that today the Censor-in-Chief would suddenly submit a memorial, presenting two letters exchanged between the Jiang family and Liu Yude? Though they bore no signatures, they were stamped with the Jiang family's private seal—one urging Liu Yude to send the silver, the other asking which mine in Jizhou posed the greatest hidden danger. Such letters should have been burned immediately after reading, but Liu Yude happened to keep two of them. The Emperor flew into a rage on the spot. With no other choice, Father had to push Second Brother forward to take the blame."
Sacrificing a concubine-born son to secure the safety of the entire family—that was the only strategy Jiang Huaxuan could think of at the time. By shifting the blame onto one person, Jiang Huaxuan pretended to know nothing, beating his son publicly on the spot to preserve his own innocence.
But the Emperor was clearly not so easily fooled. A concubine-born son could hardly have the power to command the Prefect of Jizhou. In his fury, he suspended both father and son from their posts, dispatched an Imperial Inspector to investigate the case in Jizhou, and ordered Pei Que to assist from the side.
The Jiang family was not one of the established aristocratic houses of the capital. They had followed the Emperor from his fiefdom to the capital after his ascension to the throne. Over the past decade or more, the Jiang family's status had risen along with the Empress Dowager's, to the point where they seemed poised to overshadow all the great families of the capital—until this incident suddenly struck.
If only an Imperial Inspector had been sent to investigate, the Jiang father and son wouldn't have been so worried. Having controlled Jizhou for years, they could manage appearances well enough. But the Emperor's decision to have Grand Secretary Pei participate in the investigation was another matter entirely. Grand Secretary Pei was the man Jiang Huaxuan least dared to offend—deep and calculating, the most formidable figure among the aristocratic houses. And now that Grand Secretary Pei's daughter was betrothed to the Crown Prince, they were all in the same boat. Wouldn't that mean Jizhou would be turned upside down in the investigation?
The moment Jiang Yuanliang finished speaking, Xiang Shi nearly fainted, gripping the armrest of her chair for dear life, her carefully applied makeup looking utterly haggard.
The betrothal decree had only arrived yesterday, and today they were suspended from office. If the Jiang family couldn't extricate themselves from the mining disaster case, let alone the marriage alliance with Prince Shou—the entire Jiang family would be destroyed along with it.
"Then… then what are we to do?" Jiang Yiyi understood the gravity of the situation and asked, barely holding back her tears.
Jiang Yuanliang looked at his sister, who was as skittish as a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring, and said with heartache, "Sister, don't worry too much. What happened today came suddenly, and who knows who might be scheming against us. The Jiang family has been in the capital for over a decade, and we're not to be trifled with. Besides, Prince Shou and the Empress won't just abandon the Jiang family."
Both Prince Shou and the Empress Dowager relied on the Jiang family to carry out their tasks—the Jiangs were their hands and eyes in the court. With such a major incident befalling the Jiang family, Prince Shou was extremely anxious and had already arrived at Kunning Palace.
In the main hall, only the Empress Dowager's two trusted maids remained; everyone else had been dismissed.
Seated on the gilded phoenix throne, the Empress Dowager's expression was far from pleasant. "Stop pacing back and forth. Your uncle's matter won't be solved by just walking in circles."
"But I can't sit still!" Li Changjian's thin lips were tightly pressed, and his thick brows had been furrowed since he entered. "Mother, Uncle has always been meticulous in handling affairs. How could he have left behind such evidence? Do you think someone deliberately set this up?"
The Empress Dowager lowered her head in thought, then shook it. "It all happened too suddenly. The Emperor refuses to see me, and not a single piece of news has leaked from the Hall of Benevolent Governance. No one knows where those two letters came from."
"In my opinion, that Liu Yude deserves to die. Keeping such letters means he was planning to hold leverage over the Jiang family." A shadow of malice flickered across Li Changjian's eyes as he spoke. He took a deep breath and continued, "Since Uncle has pushed Second Cousin forward to take the blame, it must be done cleanly—not a single trace left for Pei Que and the others to find."
The Empress Dowager looked at her son's still-young face and thought to herself that it would not be easy. Pei Que was the first person in history to be exiled and then return to the capital to ascend to the position of Grand Secretary. With such ability, if he truly investigated thoroughly, it would be difficult to stop him. Unless Pei Que simply chose not to dig deeper.
"Changjian, do you think today's matter might have been discovered by your imperial brother?" the Empress Dowager asked hesitantly.
Li Changjian immediately shook his head in denial. "Imperial Brother wouldn't have such deep schemes. If he could have uncovered this, then why is it that his people in Jizhou can't even get a letter to him?"
The Empress Dowager felt her son was right, yet she still could not figure out the root cause of the matter.
In fact, Li Chang'an was equally perplexed.
He had been kept awake for several nights by the mining disaster in Jizhou. Although he suspected it might be connected to the Jiang family, he had neither the people nor the authority to investigate matters so far away in Jizhou. Today's Censor-in-Chief, however, could be said to have delivered him a great gift.
Behind a wooden window in the study stretched a grove of green bamboo, its leaves rustling in the wind. When Fuzi entered, he saw his master standing by the window, deep in thought. "Your Highness, news has arrived."
"Do we know who made the move?" Li Chang'an's thick brows slowly relaxed.
Fuzi stepped behind his master and lowered his voice. "That Censor-in-Chief is the nephew of Grand Secretary Pei's schoolmate. After that schoolmate passed away, Grand Secretary Pei provided financial support to the Censor-in-Chief. If I'm not mistaken, it was Grand Secretary Pei who pushed the Jiang family into the open. Is he trying to help you?" After all, with his master betrothed to the daughter of the Pei family, others saw the Eastern Palace and the Pei family as grasshoppers tied to the same rope.
Li Chang'an's face, which had just relaxed, turned grave once more. He suddenly let out a cold snort. "He's not helping me. Don't you know that in his youth, Pei Que was famously vindictive, repaying every grievance tenfold?"
"If he's not helping you, then why would Grand Secretary Pei do this?" Fuzi was puzzled.
Li Chang'an quickly understood the situation. "Prince Shou schemed against Pei Yue a couple of days ago, so Pei Que is getting back at him on his daughter's behalf. As for his relationship with the Censor-in-Chief, he probably deliberately let me know about it—otherwise, no one in the court would know, yet the Eastern Palace could uncover it. It seems Pei Que is also warning me not to think about bullying his daughter, or he won't let anyone off."
Pei Que had never had a good reputation in the capital since childhood. Everyone knew that you could provoke a dog but not Pei Que, because sooner or later, he would repay you twofold.
Fuzi's brows jumped as he listened. "Your Highness, Grand Secretary Pei is this formidable—what are you going to do?"
"Me?" Li Chang'an, now that he had figured things out, looked relaxed. "Pei Que's willingness to strike at the Jiang family is good news for me. Even if it's not for my sake, the Jiang family has already lost a concubine-born son, and who knows, they might lose even more. Although Father won't destroy the Jiang family, seeing them take a hit once still pleases me."
He paused, then turned around, a rare hint of amusement in his cool eyes. "Go to the treasury and pick out some treasures to send to the Pei family. Say they're gifts for Pei Yue from me."
Fuzi nodded quickly, thinking to himself that it would be wonderful if His Highness could grow closer to the Pei family. Grand Secretary Pei made the Jiang family suffer with a single move—if he were willing to support His Highness, why would His Highness have to struggle alone?