WFWC Chapter 107

The Whole Family Went Crazy After Reading My Mind Chapter 107: Facing the Emperor

Upon hearing the guard’s reply, Qin Wan’s face turned deathly pale. She hurriedly asked, “Yuan’er, has someone discovered something?”

Bei Hengyuan’s expression was somewhat solemn.

“You said that Eunuch De found out the rumors originated from Yuehua Palace?”

“Absolutely true. The one arrested was a young palace maid from Yuehua Palace named Xiaozhu. When Eunuch De caught her, she was preparing to escape. After two lashes from Eunuch De’s whip, she confessed that the rumors were spread by Your highness, with the aim of sowing discord between the emperor and his ministers. She also said the poison came from Your highness.”

“What? How could this be? Could it be that the palace maid overheard something?” Consort Qin’s eyes widened in disbelief upon hearing this.

She then said urgently, “Yuan’er, think of a way quickly, otherwise, the Crown Prince will suspect you. You endured six years of poisoning for that position. You can’t let this matter fail you.”

For the first time, a crack appeared on Bei Hengyuan’s usually composed face. Sure enough, as expected, all the plans concerning the Ji family ultimately went awry.

What kind of monsters are the Ji family? Why did everything else go smoothly, but things went wrong with them?

Suddenly, Bei Hengyuan thought of something: that booklet. It was the only booklet without any errors so far. Was it truly error-free, or had the booklet been exposed, or was it a fake?

“Any news from Wu Laosan?” Bei Hengyuan suddenly asked.

The guard replied, “No news yet.”

To prevent the booklet from being wrong, he had Wu Laosan start investigating from the most recent person. Some time had passed; news should have arrived by now.

Just then, Wu Laosan returned, travel-worn. Bei Hengyuan hurriedly asked, “Did you find anything?”

Wu Laosan shook his head, “Wrong, all the addresses in the booklet are wrong. There’s no such person. Master, we’ve been tricked by the Dark Pavilion. They took our money but gave us a fake booklet.”

The plan had failed again; Qin Wan didn’t dare to think about it anymore.

“Yuan’er, shall we rebel?” She didn’t want to stay in this godforsaken place for another second. Every day, besides eating chaff and wild vegetables, all she did was copy Buddhist scriptures.

A coup now would catch those people off guard.

This was the second time Qin Wan had said such a thing.

Bei Hengyuan’s brows furrowed with suppressed anger, but he forced himself to say, “Mother, I don’t want to hear such words again.”

Once Ji Xiaoshan was dead, the authenticity of the booklet wouldn’t matter. He simply couldn’t tolerate deception. Bei Hengyuan gave Wu Laosan a chilling look, and the latter understood and left.

“But, but Mother doesn’t want to stay here at all. Mother is going crazy.” Qin Wan looked at Bei Hengyuan pleadingly. Her plans had failed time and time again; she couldn’t wait any longer.

Bei Hengyuan squeezed her calloused hands, calloused from copying scriptures every day. He said, “Mother should remember these difficult days so that she can act more prudently in the future.”

Qin Wan knew that Bei Hengyuan was still blaming her for not handling the Jizhou matter properly.

After much deliberation, Qin Wan finally nodded, her eyes brimming with tears. “Alright, Mother, please bear with it a little longer.”

This time, Bei Hengyuan’s expression softened somewhat.

For the rest of the time, Bei Hengyuan continued playing chess with Qin Wan. Until Emperor Yu sent someone to fetch him. It was Eunuch De who sent him.

As soon as Eunuch De opened the door, he saw Bei Hengyuan spitting out blood, his face extremely pale.

“Oh dear, why is the Third Prince still spitting blood? Wasn’t it said he met a noble physician?” Because of the rumors, Emperor Yu was displeased, and even the servants in the palace were working in trepidation.

He wasn’t much better off. Later, they finally found a clue, and the evidence pointed directly at the Third Prince. Wasn’t this a blatant frame-up?

The Third Prince was pure of heart and suffering from a rare poison. How could he possibly do such a thing? This would bring him no benefit.

Despite his disbelief, the formalities had to be followed. After all, so many eyes were watching.

Qin Wan wiped away tears beside her. “Miss Qi rushed to the snowy mountain peak overnight to gather snow lotus for Yuan’er. After Miss Qi left, the poison, which had finally stabilized, seems to be showing signs of recurrence.”

Eunuch De’s brows furrowed with heartache. He thought: If he were to be told that a palace maid had accused him of spreading rumors, wouldn’t that be even more painful?

“What brings you here, Eunuch De?” Qin Wan asked the bewildered Eunuch De.

Eunuch De’s lips moved, but he ultimately lied. “Nothing serious, it’s just that His Majesty was thinking about the Third Prince, so he sent me to fetch him personally.”

Qin Wan nodded, looking as if she understood.

“Since Father is concerned, then go back. Mother, I will come to see you another day.” With that, Bei Hengyuan tightly grasped Qin Wan’s hand. Seeing a strand of hair fall behind her ear, he gently tucked it behind her ear.

Finally, he left reluctantly.

In front of Eunuch De, a scene of motherly affection unfolded.

Behind him, Qin Wan opened her mouth, but ultimately watched Bei Hengyuan leave. So be it, he’s already dead. What’s the point of telling him? It would only add to the grief.

On the way, under Bei Hengyuan’s repeated questioning, Eunuch De finally revealed the truth, telling him about the palace maid’s identification of him.

Just as Eunuch De had predicted, Bei Hengyuan, unable to bear the blow, coughed up blood again. “Does Eunuch De believe it?”

“This old servant absolutely does not believe it. Your Highness, please rest assured, His Majesty does not believe it either. But the poisoning of Marquis Ji is a matter of great importance. As long as Marquis Ji remains unconscious, the people will continue to believe it. Your Highness also knows that the Ji family holds a high position in the hearts of the people. If not handled properly, His Majesty will be branded as persecuting a loyal official.”

“Now, some people suspect that this matter is related to Your Highness. When you return, Your Highness should speak to His Majesty about it.”

Bei Hengyuan immediately guessed who this “someone” was.

Bei Hengyuan nodded, appearing completely innocent. He added, “This prince also wants to know who is behind that palace maid. I’ll trouble Eunuch De to investigate this matter thoroughly.”

“Your Highness, rest assured, His Majesty already has a suspect in mind.”

“Oh? Who is it?” Bei Hengyuan asked curiously.

Eunuch De smiled slightly and said, “Gu Fanmu, the Second Prince of the Northern Kingdom.”

Bei Hengyuan, who had thought the investigation would lead to the Crown Prince or the Empress, thought: upon reflection, only Gu Fanmu harbored such hatred for Ji Xiaoshan. Back then, Ji Xiaoshan led an army of 100,000 to storm the Northern Kingdom’s heartland. If the Northern Kingdom’s royal family hadn’t voluntarily submitted a letter of surrender and become a vassal state, Ji Xiaoshan wouldn’t have let them go.

Therefore, the Northern Kingdom’s royal family hated Ji Xiaoshan to the core.

It didn’t matter if the investigation didn’t lead to the Crown Prince or the Empress; Ji Xiaoshan was dead, wasn’t he?

The carriage hurried along, finally returning to the palace an hour later.

The spacious imperial study was quite crowded. There were the Empress, the Crown Prince, two imperial envoys investigating the poisoning of Marquis Ji, and three first-rank ministers. To the right were the two sons of the Ji family, their faces etched with grief, and Marquis Ji’s three protégés serving in the court.

Bei Hengyuan, having secretly scanned the room, flashed a barely perceptible strange light in his eyes. None of those present were his people. Was this unintentional or deliberate?

Bei Hengyuan was helped in by Eunuch De, and upon entering, he ignored Eunuch De’s attempts to stop him and knelt beside Xiao Zhu. The Emperor, still furious, didn’t say much.

The palace maid Xiao Zhu, aside from the initial two lashes, didn’t inflict any further punishment.

However, upon seeing Bei Hengyuan enter, she trembled uncontrollably, as if he were a ferocious beast.

Those around her looked at her with suspicion. Ji Linfeng muttered under his breath, “Why is this palace maid so afraid of the Third Prince? Could it be that the Third Prince really did this? You can never judge a book by its cover.”

Emperor Yu sat at the head of the table with a sullen face, completely unaware of Ji Linfeng’s mutterings, but those around him heard them clearly.

Bei Hengyuan’s eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly.