After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 718 New Lies
After Ma Shangyi finished reading the secret letter written by Jin Jiashu and then read the original letter that he used as a draft, she understood why he was so confident that she could go to Beijing to see the emperor.

She looked at him with mixed feelings: "Shu'er, you have to understand that you hold Madam Xu's big secret in your hand. If Madam Xu hadn't been thinking about you all the time and the emperor was concerned about Madam Xu's feelings, the palace might have already taken you and the rest of the Jin family away... You are in Chang'an now, the palace is far away, and it is inconvenient to act. The emperor will not do anything to you. But if you enter the capital and see the emperor... life or death will be a matter of a word from the emperor!"

If that was the case, the emperor could have silenced Jin Jiashu with a simple "improper conduct in front of the emperor", or he could have made him sick instead of killing him directly, which would have been a simple matter. Neither Concubine Xu nor the Eighth Prince would have said anything.

Empress Dowager Zhou and Consort Xu let Jin Jiashu live in Chang'an not only to protect him from the Sun family. The emperor... is actually a very dangerous person!

But Jin Jiashu was very calm: "I want to get what I want, how can I not take any risks? If I go to the capital, it will only be beneficial to the emperor and relieve his worries. He has no reason to put me to death. Besides, if he really accepts the proposal in my letter, once this hurdle is passed, it will be over from now on. He will no longer have to worry about my aunt's identity being exposed, which will affect the eighth prince's succession, and he can also punish the Sun family with ill intentions. Even if he still doesn't want to punish the Sun family, he won't be threatened by the Sun family anymore. What's wrong with that?"

He looked at Ma Shangyi and said, "Madam, just send the letter. If Jin Wu hadn't exposed Liu Dainiang's affairs, then there would be no need for me to go to Beijing to be a witness. If Jin Wu had really exposed this, I'm afraid that the Sun family would only find an empty coffin if they wanted to dig up the grave, and you wouldn't be able to explain the whole story by then, right? This lie I made up just happens to explain everything clearly, and no one will be able to find fault with it. What's wrong with it? It's better than you trying every possible means to make up some unconvincing statements, or agreeing to the conditions proposed by Elder Sun in order to prevent him from making the matter public. That would really cause endless trouble!"

Ma Shangyi pursed her lips, knowing that Jin Jiashu's words were not groundless, so she could only shut up and look at the letter in her hand again, weighing the pros and cons of this matter.

Jin Jiashu remade a story in this letter, which was 80% true and 20% false. Many details in it really happened and could withstand anyone's test. As for the 20% false part, it is difficult to prove that there is a problem, because the people who experienced it at that time were either dead or disappeared without a trace. Even if a huge amount of manpower and material resources were spent to find them, it would not be done in a year or two. When the matter was delayed until the eighth prince's position was decided, the emperor passed away, the new emperor succeeded to the throne, and then Sun Ge Lao was kicked out of the ranks of ministers, and Tao Yue presided over the cabinet... all these hidden dangers would no longer exist. Even if rumors were flying all over the capital in the future, who could run to the new emperor's biological mother and make trouble?
In the letter, Jin Jiashu recounted the story of how Jin Xu entered the palace to be a wet nurse. These were all words that Concubine Xu had told him in person in front of Empress Dowager Zhou. There were also many details that Jin Jiashu had heard from his wet nurse, father, or even people from the second branch of the Jin family since he was a child.

It is said that Empress Wu was worried that the midwife and wet nurse hired by the palace would be bribed by Concubine Sun and would do something to her during childbirth or her newborn baby, so she asked her family to find reliable people on their own. All those who were selected would receive a settlement allowance of 100 taels of silver. The midwife only needed to enter the palace for one month, and the wet nurse had to stay in the palace for three years. During this period, she could not leave the palace, but could send gifts to her family. After three years, Empress Wu would return them with a large sum of money.

This was a lucrative job. Even though the selected wet nurse would have to be separated from her family for three years, the one hundred taels of silver for settling in and the rewards received during these three years were enough to make the family well-off. Therefore, many people took the initiative to come forward to apply for the position, and many of them were young wives from families living near the Wu Mansion.

Jin Liu, the second wife of the Jin family, wanted to apply for the selection, but she could not be a wet nurse or a midwife. She wanted to recommend her younger sister Liu Dainiang. However, Liu Dainiang had just given birth, but she was severely injured by her husband and could not even walk. She also had no milk and could not apply for the selection. Jin Liu then set her sights on Jin Xu and instigated her mother-in-law, the second old lady Jin, to persuade Jin Juren to send his wife to the Wu Mansion for the selection in order to supplement the family income.

Jin Juren was too proud to let anyone know that his wife had been a wet nurse, but he knew that he didn't have enough money and urgently needed to make money to supplement the family income. He also always respected his second wife's aunt, and after she said it several times, she finally gave in. But in order to prevent other scholars from gossiping about him, saying that he sent his first wife to be a wet nurse in order to curry favor with relatives and high officials, he deliberately kept it secret. Except for the people in Wu Mansion and several old neighbors who sent their wives to the selection at the same time, basically no one knew that Jin Xu was also selected by Wu Mansion. Kunning Palace and Wu Mansion were destroyed by fire one after another, and the Jin family thought that Jin Xu died in the palace. The families of the other wet nurses and midwives went to the government to inquire about what happened. They wanted to take the remains of their family members back home for burial, but they were arrested and scolded by the Sun family. They were so angry that they didn't care to give up Jin Juren for the time being. Jin Juren himself was scared to death. Someone came to ask if his wife had also gone to Wu Mansion to be selected, and he stammered and couldn't answer.

At this time, it was Old Lady Jin II who came forward to explain to the man that Jin Xu was originally going to go for the selection, but she suddenly fell ill and was unable to enter the palace, so she escaped a disaster.

Regardless of whether the man believed it or not, the matter was covered up. After sending the man away, Mrs. Jin Er persuaded Mr. Jin to confirm this statement. No matter who came, they would say that Jin Xu had not entered the palace and was still recuperating at home! Then they moved Liu Dainiang to the main house and pretended to be Jin Xu, firmly denying that their family had any relationship with the Wu family!
Liu Dainiang was already very ill at this time. Because the housekeeper, Mrs. Jin Er, refused to spend money to buy her good medicine, her injuries did not heal. For the safety of the whole family, Jin Liu simply cut off her sister's medicine and watched her die. Then she bought a coffin, white cloth, ingots and candles, and set up the mourning hall, announcing to the public that Jin Juren's wife had died of illness. Jin Juren thought that his wife had died in the palace a long time ago, and tacitly agreed to the second wife's behavior, holding the child in the mourning hall and crying.

Up to this point, all the details provided by Jin Jiashu are true and are what actually happened in the Jin family that year, but lies will be added next.

At this time, Jin Xu was secretly escorted out of the palace by Xu Gong Ren and returned home on her own. However, she was intercepted by the minions sent by the Sun family on the street not far from her home. The other party asked her who she was, and she told the truth that she was the wife of Jin Juren. However, the news that Jin Juren's wife had just died had spread throughout the street, so where did another Juren's wife come from?

The minions of the Sun family found the door of the Jin family and happened to meet Jin Dagu and Jin Liushi. Jin Dagu hurriedly turned to the mourning hall to inform Jin Juren, but Jin Liushi told the visitor that her sister-in-law had died and that the Jin Liushi who came was a fake. She also recognized that the latter was the maid who used to serve in the room of the old lady of the Wu family. Maybe she heard the news after getting married and came to mourn her old master?

As a result, Jin Liu was taken away by the minions of the Sun family as a remnant of the Wu family. From then on, no one knew whether she was alive or dead, and her whereabouts were unknown. Jin Dagu wanted to explain the truth to Jin Juren, but Jin Liu threatened her that if she wanted to continue living in her natal family, she should shut up and not say a word that she shouldn't say. Jin Dagu didn't dare to say anything more and had to give in.

Afterwards, Jin Liu and her husband's mother-in-law worked together to persuade Jin Juren to flee the capital city under the pretext of attending Jin Liu's funeral.

(End of this chapter)