Chapter 341: The Case Is Solved
When the news reached the Seventh Princes Mansion.
The Seventh Prince was stunned for quite a while, looking both shocked and embarrassed.
The Fifth Prince had left his place, only to be found dead the very next morning.
Jiang Yuluan was also somewhat surprised.
She had been with her husband last night; although he had taken a concubine, he hadn’t even entered the concubine’s room.
He had spent the whole night coaxing her with kind words, and she had basically been persuaded.
She knew her husband had no choice in the matter.
One cannot simply refuse someone bestowed by the Emperor.
Yet, this kind of incident happened the very next day.
The concubine, Song He, got up early and, acting as if nothing had happened, continued managing affairs and working.
When she heard that the Fifth Prince had died, she paused slightly before continuing her work.
She discovered that there was a formidable woman in the Seventh Princes Mansion; it wasn’t the Princess, but the Princess’s niece, who had been recovering from injuries for the past two days, yet all she heard were praises for her.
Song He didn’t think much of it. She had no desire to fight for power or profit; her thoughts were actually very simple: she just wanted to survive. Only if she lived could her family live well.
As for what she might suddenly be asked to do, she couldn’t predict it, but she was prepared to die at any moment.
Every day she managed to survive, she treated as her last, which was why she remained so calm and diligent.
She was calm in temperament, diligent in her work, and extremely meticulous.
After coaxing the Princess, the Seventh Prince returned to his own quarters. Seeing Song He serving there, he offered no explanation and did not try to coax her.
He got tired too, and besides, in his eyes, Song He was just a subordinate; he wasn’t responsible for a subordinate’s mental state.
After finishing his morning meal, he sat in his study. He kept a bird with tender yellow feathers that was very beautiful. When he was deep in thought, he liked to feed the bird millet, watching it peck at the grains.
Bit by bit.
The death of the Fifth Prince gave the Sixth Prince a fright.
Although the Fifth Prince had a pile of faults and a sharp tongue.
He did not deserve to die.
He remembered that when they were young, the Fifth Prince was actually quite kind, always fond of giving him things—even if it was just a blade of grass dug up from the Imperial Garden, he would eagerly bring it to him.
When they studied together in the Imperial Study, he would sometimes feel annoyed because small items unrelated to their studies would inexplicably appear on his desk.
He knew without asking that it was from the Fifth Prince.
He had thought the Fifth Prince was trying to frame him, to make the Emperor think he was neglecting his duties.
So, whenever he saw those messy things, he would immediately have someone throw them away.
However, it was only after growing up that the Sixth Prince realized he had misunderstood the Fifth Prince.
The Fifth Prince had a strange hobby: he liked to place things near the people he liked. That was why leaves, grass, sticks, and snacks always appeared on his desk back then. It wasn’t that the Fifth Prince wanted to frame him; he simply liked him.
But later on, the Fifth Prince stopped placing those random things on his desk.
They started living separately.
Moreover, the Fifth Prince had become nagging and stingy.
There was no way to speak words of apology.
The past is like smoke; once blown away, it dissipates.
The Sixth Prince hurriedly summoned his advisors to analyze the situation.
There hadn’t been any news from the Fifth Prince’s mansion. He had gone to the Seventh Prince’s house yesterday to attend the banquet for the Seventh Prince’s new concubine, and then died. Could it be poison?
Was the food at the Seventh Prince’s house tainted?
They would not be that bold, surely.
Besides, they were still fine.
But thinking about it, he felt a lingering fear; he could not go to his brothers’ houses to eat in the future.
He had to be careful, extremely careful.
He still had childhood memories of the Fifth Prince, but regarding the Seventh Prince, who was next in line, the Sixth Prince simply could not recall any past stories.
It was as if the Seventh Prince had always been invisible.
It was only later, when the Seventh Prince got married to the daughter of the Crown Prince’s tutor, that he entered everyone’s view.
The Sixth Prince brought his advisors together to discuss what to do.
Seeing his own kind suffer, as a fellow prince, the death of his brother had come too quickly. It felt like participating in a trial; for one, he was worried that he might be next.
He was afraid.
Secondly, he wanted to ask what was going on and what he should do next.
As for sadness, there was some, but not much.
Because this was not the only brother who had died.
After so many deaths, one gets used to it.
It was just that remembering how he used to misunderstand the Fifth Prince, thinking he was playing tricks to make him look bad in front of the Emperor when, in reality, the Fifth Prince just liked him, made him feel a bit wistful.
The Sixth Prince at the same time felt a bit guilty.
Because the Fifth Prince’s concubine was his person.
It was also because of this that he knew about the Fifth Prince’s strange habit of placing random things near the people he liked.
However, regarding this sudden death, he certainly had not ordered anything.
In fact, a long time ago, he had managed to successfully arrange for his person to become the Fifth Prince’s concubine, and he had been quite smug about it.
But after receiving a few reports, he had basically stopped paying attention to that line.
Because the Fifth Prince was truly too inept and did not seem like someone who could compete for the throne.
He had not expected to suddenly receive such news, which caught him off guard.
The Sixth Prince was discussing with his advisors what to do next and what changes might occur.
The advisors suggested that it was better to remain still than to move; doing nothing at the moment was the best policy.
The Sixth Prince indicated he understood.
Yet, the very next day.
The Ministry of Justice surrounded the Sixth Prince’s Mansion.
The evidence was conclusive.
It had already been submitted to the Emperor for confirmation, and the culprit had confessed.
The Sixth Prince had instructed the Fifth Prince’s concubine to kill the Fifth Prince.
The concubine said she had been feeding the Fifth Prince medicine all along. Yesterday, perhaps because he had been drinking, combined with the medicine she had fed him, the Fifth Prince suddenly died.
The medicine fed to him was not fatal; it just made one dim-witted, stupid, forgetful, and prone to weight gain. Moreover, it required large amounts, so it needed a long-term process of drugging.
(The fat officials in the imperial court shuddered upon hearing about this medicine, seriously suspecting if they had been drugged, always feeling that they should have been smarter and more dashing…)
The Sixth Prince was dumbfounded, shouting that he was being framed.
Although the concubine was his person, he truly had not expected the Fifth Prince to take a fancy to that woman, bring her back, and insist on making her a concubine. Once she was named a concubine and held a high position, the Sixth Prince felt that instructing her further would be against human nature—high positions breed ambition—so he had basically given up on that.
He had never ordered anyone to be drugged, let alone with medicine that made people stupid.
The Fifth Prince was already stupid enough. Ever since he realized that the Fifth Prince sending him random things was because he liked him, he had actually stopped treating the Fifth Prince as an enemy.
How could he have done such a thing?
But now the evidence was conclusive.
The Sixth Prince, a dignified prince, was thrown into prison.
He cried his heart out.
Looking at the prison cell, he found it familiar.
He had come here before to visit his older brother, the Crown Prince.
He suddenly understood why his older brother, the Crown Prince, had remained silent and had not cried out his innocence back then.
He felt so wronged, so wronged, but no matter how he shouted, no one paid him any mind.
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