Chapter 1239 - 1239 Shao Jing Gets Arrested
Chapter 1239 Shao Jing Gets Arrested
“Wh-what?” Shao Jing stammered.
Wen Xichi nodded. An official stepped forward, took an item from above, and waved it in front of Shao Jing. Looking at this silk-encrusted jade pendant, Shao Jing couldn’t react in time.
The jade pendant looked very ordinary and insignificant.
“This jade pendant belongs to you, right?” Wen Xichi asked.
Shao Jing subconsciously wanted to say no, but he saw the letter “Lan” and a small cl.u.s.ter of orchids at the corner of the jade pendant. He seemed to be frozen. He opened his mouth in shock, but couldn’t say a word, and his mind went blank.
“Orchids? Lan. Lady Lan? Lady Lan the once famous prost.i.tute?”
Wen Xichi said slowly from above, “This jade pendant contains the name of Lady Lan, a famous prost.i.tute in the capital. You gave it to this famous prost.i.tute. There is the symbol of Marquis Xing’s Mansion on the back of the jade pendant. You must have fallen in love with this woman at that time, so you custom-made it. Ningyuan Army General and Magistrate Qi got this jade pendant by accident. According to the symbol on the jade pendant, they guessed that it was yours. They have never seen you, but they have seen the old Duke!”
His voice was not light, but it got to Shao Jing hard, making him come to his senses for a moment. His memories back then suddenly came to his mind.
At that time, he did have an affair with a famous prost.i.tute named Lady Lan and was very obsessed with her. He custom-made a jade pendant and gave it to her. When he left the capital, he departed from Lady Lan’s place. Lady Lan covered him up. After returning to the capital, he also came out from there. Then, he talked to a businessman, paid a lot for Lady Lan’s freedom, and took her far away. She had left for more than ten years.
Although he didn’t tell Madam Jiang about his contact with the famous prost.i.tute at that time, a few of his close friends knew about it. He lived in Lady Lan’s place and specially told these friends in private, which was also the reason why he firmly believed that someone could testify.
He had contacts with a famous prost.i.tute and had lived in her place. Naturally, he had to hide it from Madam Jiang. In order to cover it up, he didn’t show up in public for a period, which was reasonable.
But why was this jade pendant here?
He remembered that he had given it to that prost.i.tute back then. Why was it lost at the border and picked up by Qin Huaiyong and Qi Ping? Because he didn’t remember that he had brought this jade pendant with him before, he didn’t find that he lost it after checking himself.
“I’m afraid you didn’t expect that you did have this jade pendant with you at that time. I heard that it was an engagement token you gave the famous prost.i.tute, Marquis Xing. Maybe she deliberately had it with you for fear that you would forget her when you were traveling!” Wen Xichi said.
Shao Jing suddenly thought of something. After returning to the capital city, he went to Lady Lan’s place first. She asked him if he had anything to give her at that time. He just said a few perfunctory words and then left for his mansion in a hurry, for fear of being discovered. At that time, Lady Lan looked very disappointed. Now that he thought about it, Lady Lan probably wanted to ask him for the jade pendant.
After that, he got her out of the capital and had never seen her again.
Shao Jing lost the jade pendant at the border by accident. His hands trembled and his face turned pale.
“I’m afraid this is not the only thing we’ve learned. In fact, your mistress has confessed. She sent you a letter at that time and asked you to go over.” Wen Xichi released a greater bombsh.e.l.l.
“E’niang also confessed? How could she do that?”
If it were just a matter of reputation, it would not be a major problem, and E’niang would not be tortured. But it was related to what had happened more than a decade ago, and in such a situation, how could the officials not have tortured her?
Shao Jing took a step back and sat heavily on the ground. Suddenly, he laughed. He had lost. He had thought that his niece had used some means to slander him. Even if she brought him a bad reputation or made a great scene, he didn’t care. As a man, he could not care less about it. Moreover, he was a senior. No matter how much trouble his niece made, it wouldn’t matter to him.
But now, he found that he was wrong. It was obvious that his niece was deliberately stalling for time, deliberately making him mistakenly think that it was a trivial matter and deliberately making him lose the initiative. He thought it was a trivial matter, so he didn’t take it seriously. However, it was like a thunderbolt. After other evidence was shown, the truth was actually very clear.
Those actions were confusing and ruthless and left others no room for retreat. Needless to say, it must be Prince Chen’s means. Shao Jing regretted what he had done at that time so much. If he had known this, he would not have given his niece a chance to marry into Prince Chen’s Mansion. Without the support of Prince Chen, no matter how powerful his niece was, it was impossible for her to get so much evidence and to make Qin Huaiyong agree to testify.
For so many years, Qin Huaiyong had never mentioned this jade pendant. He had always been weak in front of Shao Jing but sent it to Prince Chen’s Mansion. Shao Jing didn’t think it was accidental.
When his eldest brother left with Infanta Qinghua that year, it was his best chance, so he secretly planned to take action. Originally, he thought that they would go to the area south of the big river, where it was inconvenient for him to take action. Unexpectedly, they would go to the border area and hide their ident.i.ties. This was a great opportunity. Taking advantage of the chaos, he plotted against his eldest brother with his guards.
Later, when Duke Xing’s Mansion found out the news about the Heir of Duke Xing, he was dead and Infanta Qinghua was brought back because of a mental disorder. No one cared about anything else. Even if Shao Jing knew that his eldest brother had a daughter left, he didn’t care since she was just a little girl. The girl was with her father when E’niang was with Infanta Qinghua and then disappeared. In the war, even an adult could die. So how could a little girl survive?
Shao Jing made a small mistake, but in the end, it became a disaster for him.
“What? Marquis Xing has been arrested? Maybe it’s because of the former Heir of Duke Xing. Is he involved in his death?” Chu Qing was shocked.
There was also a woman in pink sitting in the room. If Shao Wanru were here, she would definitely recognize that this woman was Mo Qiuyi, who had been in the Yuhui Nunnery.
When she was in the Yuhui Nunnery, Mo Qiuyi was just a poor orphan girl. But now, her momentum was different from before. She was leisurely fanning herself with a round fan in her hand, and her face was covered with light makeup. She was much better than when she was in Yuhui Nunnery. She looked more exquisite. Her brows were slightly curved, which made her appear more charming.
“My uncle said that Marquis Xing’s Mansion is doomed. He said that Your Highness should be careful!” Mo Qiuyi came here especially for this matter.
“This is so sudden! Didn’t they say that he had a bad personal virtue before?” Chu Qing asked. He was also annoyed that Shao Jing was involved in what had happened before. Now that Shao Jing was in trouble, he was afraid that he would be involved again. If he had known this, he wouldn’t have let Shao Jie’er marry into Commandery Prince Qing’s Mansion.
“But it’s not true. Prince Chen has taken action!” Mo Qiuyi reminded him.
Chu Qing lowered his head and took a deep breath. “Do you all think that I’m not as good as him and keep reminding me?”
“Of course not, Your Highness. We have to be careful of him!” Mo Qiuyi hurriedly explained.
“Be careful of him. Stop telling me to be careful of him. I don’t want to hear anything about him.” Chu Qing was very annoyed. He stood up and walked around in the pavilion a few times before he calmed down. “I know. I won’t intervene in the affairs of Marquis Xing’s Mansion. Doesn’t he have something to do with Prince Cheng’s Mansion? Let Prince Cheng’s Mansion intervene.”
Speaking of Prince Cheng’s Mansion, he was full of anger. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that he might have fallen into the trap of Prince Cheng’s Mansion.
“That’s wonderful. Shao Jie’er is just the daughter of a concubine, and Shao Jing won’t take her seriously. Your Highness, you can have all kinds of beautiful women in the future, so you don’t have to worry about a daughter of a concubine. What’s more, anyone who wants to build a relations.h.i.+p with Marquis Xing’s Mansion now will get into trouble!” Mo Qiuyi said with a smile, covering her mouth with the round fan.
She was indeed in a good mood. Compared with what had happened to Marquis Xing’s Mansion, she was more glad to hear that Shao Jie’er was in trouble. “This woman pestered the Commandery Prince before I married into the mansion. She is just a concubine, but she entered the mansion before me. It was all because she has the support of Marquis Xing’s Mansion. Now that she has lost this powerful backer, I’ll torture her hard.”
“Well, you can go back after seeing my mother. You should be more careful at this time!” Although Mo Qiuyi tried to hide her complacency, Chu Qing still saw it and couldn’t help showing a trace of displeasure. “Women are like this. She is still jealous at this time. As expected, she can’t achieve important things.”
Mo Qiuyi also knew that it was not the right time to stay. She stood up and said with a smile, “Then I’ll go back now!” Knowing that Marquis Xing’s Mansion was in trouble, she still couldn’t calm down. She just felt happy.
Chu Qing waved his hand. After Mo Qiuyi left, he returned to his chair and sat down. After thinking for a while, he suddenly relaxed. This might be his chance, an opportunity to s.h.i.+ft the blame onto Prince Cheng. He was not completely innocent in terms of what had happened before. Since Prince Cheng was involved, he would make him get involved more.
After making up his mind, he picked up the writing brush. After thinking for a while, he immediately wrote something. Then, he put down the writing brush, dried it a little, put the letter into the envelope, and asked a servant to deliver it. Taking advantage of the matter of Marquis Xing’s Mansion, he intended to get Prince Cheng’s Mansion involved.
At this time, Prince Cheng also got the news from the letter Shao Jing had written before. Looking at the letter in his hand, where Shao Jing asked for help, Prince Cheng frowned tightly. What Shao Jing wrote in the letter was very ordinary and did not seem to be a serious deal. He merely asked for a small favor from Prince Cheng, but he could figure out the meaning behind it.
“Shao Jing is in trouble!” Prince Cheng handed the letter to Master Jieyan who then began to read three lines at a time. The more he read, the more dignified his expression became. After he finished reading the letter, he put it on the table and said with a gloomy face, “Your Highness, you can’t get involved in this matter. I’m afraid that something serious will happen!”
“What do you mean?” Prince Cheng reached out to rub his forehead. Recently, nothing went smoothly, and he was greatly troubled.
“Marquis Xing may go down because of a small mistake,” Jieyan said. He had just read Shao Jing’s letter, and it didn’t seem to be a big deal. Merely judging from what he said, Shao Jing could’ve settled this matter without asking for the Prince’s help. However, he had pleaded with the Prince, which was really not a good sign.