Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2528 Reconciliation 70.0

After confirmation by Jin Miaomiao, Ke Chenyi did commit suicide. Apart from the fatal wound on his neck, there were no other scars and no signs of poisoning.

Ke Chenyi was a famous figure known throughout Daxia. He died in Jiapingguancheng. As the garrison commanders, the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion and the Marquis of Wuding's Mansion needed to give an explanation.

Shen Cha discussed with Shen Haolin and Xue Ruitian, and announced his death, the role he played in the theater dispute and his confession to the public in the name of the Duke of Zhenguo and the Marquis of Wuding. He also wrote a secret letter with an express journey of 800 miles and sent it to the capital to Song Jue by a shadow with fast foot. The content of the letter involved many secrets that could not be made public.

Bai Meng sat in the flower hall, watching the shadow leaving, then turned around to look at Shen Haolin, Shen Cha and Xue Ruitian, and shook his head helplessly.

"Sure enough, you guys have the most things going on here."

"There's nothing I can do!" Xue Ruitian spread his hands. "Who could have imagined that just listening to a play could lead to such a big trouble? Who could have imagined that the owner and the mainstay of this opera troupe that is popular throughout Daxia are both former royal relatives? These two people, one in the open and the other in the dark, if we talk about shrewdness, Mian Bai is better. It's not an exaggeration to describe the nephew of the Empress Dowager as very smart."

"She is such a smart person, but she actually has such a greedy, stupid, and money-loving nephew." Bai Meng shook her head gently, "It's really hard to imagine. I agree with what Second Grandpa said. If we could find him earlier, it would save us a lot of trouble."

"Yeah, unfortunately, it's too late to say anything now. The person is already dead."

Xue Ruitian looked at Shen Cha and sighed when he saw her and Shen Haolin looking at the evidence collected by Concubine Hui.

"I've been watching it for several days. How is it?"

"Empress Dowager Hui is indeed smart. We roughly know why she was the only one among so many female officials who stayed in the palace and was granted a title of concubine, and had a good relationship with the people in the harem." Shen Cha shook the note in her hand, "She has a list of the Grand Empress Dowager's followers. Most of them have been pulled out by us, and there are a very small number that we don't know about at all. These people," she sighed softly, "are very well hidden, and they have been working for the Grand Empress Dowager before she entered the palace."

"Ah? Before entering the palace?" Xue Ruitian and Bai Meng looked at each other. "Then she was still a girl waiting to be married. How come..."

"Although her family is not a big imperial merchant like the Qin family, they also do business with the royal family. Not only that, they also opened several charity halls to specifically support scholars." Shen Cha sighed, "Daxia has an imperial examination for selecting scholars, and only poor families can take the imperial examination, and aristocratic families cannot become officials. Those who come from high-ranking families can only take the path of patronage and be recommended to become officials, which means they cannot take the imperial examination quota for children from poor families. Although children from poor families have such a way to become officials, they also have their difficulties. Many children from poor families are not that rich, and are even very poor."

She took out a copied list from the desk and waved to Merlin, asking her to hand the list to Xue Ruitian and Bai Meng.

"This is..." Bai Meng looked at the list, "I have some impression of the people on it. Although some of them have retired, they all held high positions. So, they are all the people of the Grand Empress Dowager?"

"Yes!" Shen Haolin nodded. "To be precise, they are all poor students who have received financial support from the Grand Empress Dowager. The Grand Empress Dowager proposed to open a charity hall, which provided these poor students with a place to study and hired famous teachers for them. The charity hall also provided them with daily necessities such as pens, ink, paper and inkstones."

"This means casting a wide net. We don't ask for everyone to pass the exam. It's enough if one or two people pass each subject." Xue Ruitian understood it all at once. "As expected, they are imperial merchants. They won't do anything without profit." He looked at the list and pointed to a few names. "These are the ones who ranked among the top three that year. The rest are also Jinshi on the list, and most of them have even been in the Hanlin Academy. These people are not from the same subject. The imperial examination is held every three years, and if three or two people can pass each time, it's already a lot after so many years." "The Empress Dowager is so calculating!" Bai Meng sighed. "She treats everyone as her pawns and makes them work for the Qinglian Sect for her. Why is that? Did Master Falian save her life?"

"It really is!" Shen Haolin looked at the note in his hand, then looked at the other people in the room, and said, "Guess who is the lame man that Mian Bai is talking about, dressed in black from head to toe, with only two eyes showing?"

"Could it be that Master Falian?"

"Yeah!" Shen Cha nodded towards Xue Ruitian. "I heard before that he was in poor health when he was young and his legs and feet were not very convenient. I didn't expect that despite such inconvenience, he would still come to see the Empress Dowager from time to time. It can be seen..."

"The feelings between two people are indeed different." Shen Haolin nodded, "Speaking of which, if they really have feelings for each other, should we..."

"Use this to lure him over?"

"Yeah!" Shen Haolin nodded. "Here's what I think. He should be more concerned about things related to the Grand Empress Dowager. Maybe we can take advantage of this, right?"

"That's right, brother." Shen Cha looked at Bai Meng and Xue Ruitian, "What do you two brothers think?"

"Yes, but we need to think long and hard. That guy is an old fox. We must use both truth and lies to deceive him and make him take the trouble to come here. But now is not the right time. We need to wait until we finish this battle before we can talk about it."

"Brother Xiaotian is right." Shen Cha took it very seriously. Seeing Shen Haolin nod, he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I do have a suggestion."

"You want to tell others that Ke Chenyi is the nephew of the Grand Empress Dowager?" Seeing Shen Chade acting like a little fox, Shen Haolin smiled helplessly, "That's a good idea, but I don't know if the Grand Empress Dowager has told him about this. If she has, it would be unnecessary for us to do this, and it would actually cause trouble."

"No hurry, let's finish reading these notes and see if there is any interesting news in them. If the note clearly states that the Empress Dowager might have met Master Falian at that time, and might have told him about the recognition of her relatives, then we don't need to say anything more, just spread the news of his death directly."

"Is this why you want to build a tomb for him?" Xue Ruitian raised his eyebrows. "You want to lure him to appear in front of this tomb, right?"

"Yes!" Shen Cha took a sip of tea, "But it depends on how good their relationship is. Is it good enough for him to go through so much trouble and take the risk to come visit the Empress Dowager, her lost nephew who has now been found."