Chapter 340 Rest in Peace

Administrative assistant Gu inserted the silver needle into the “Fen Zhuanglou” in front of everyone. In an instant, the shiny silver needle became black and dull!

“It is known to all that Yongfu gives the chopsticks to His Majesty as a gift! Will my daughter be so stupid to poison with her father in public?” Empress Jiang wouldn’t let this opportunity go that it could clear her daughter’s name, so she said loudly, “Luckily, Ning Yi is clever and realizes the detail of Fen Zhuanglou, otherwise, Yongfu would have been wronged in this life!”

“Fen Zhuanglou was brought over here by your people.” When the evidence was clear, Empress Dowager Gu couldn’t maintain her calmness. She couldn’t help but shout, “Who knows?”

Since the Empress’ party had got the reason, they didn’t bother to continue talking with Empress Dowager Gu. Empress Jiang gave a wink and the little servant understood instantly. He rushed to the hall and knelt down with a kowtow, saying that it was Empress Dowager Gu who asked him to poison Emperor on the Fen Zhuanglou!

This little servant took the lead. People who served in Fu Ning Palace knew clearly that if Emperor was killed, they had to be buried with him according to the rules. Their family members might be implicated. The only way to survive was to stand in the right party. If they couldn’t live, their families might get some benefits.

These servants in Fu Ning Palace strived to be the first one to expose that Empress Dowager Gu was frenzied and wanted to kill her son, which made the entire hall silent. Even Tang Zimo looked up at Empress Dowager Gu in amazement!

In this case, Empress Dowager Gu finally used her trump card!

She collapsed on the upper seat, tremblingly pointing at the people in the Palace. She gritted her teeth and said, “How dare you! Do you think that if you work together to slander my family, you can confuse right and wrong? When my son got poisoned, I knew that all of you wouldn’t admit your crime. Thus, I wrote the blood edict in advance and sent it out of the Palace. If you are not afraid that all the people in the world condemn you, why should I be afraid of death?”

Qiu Yelan looked at Empress Dowager Gu with astonishment, “Is this her trump card?”

She wanted to lead to the destruction of both the good and the bad.

As mentioned before, the most powerful military forces of Dari Country were the Northern Army and the Western Army. These two armies were supreme as they had undergone tests by foreign races for many years. But it was impossible for Dari Country to have only two armies. Besides Emperor’s Imperial Army, there were other regular armies in some cities.

These regular armies wouldn’t be the opponents of the Northern Army and the Western Army.

But there was a problem. Could the Northern Army and the Western Army leave the border easily?

No! If they left the border and came to the interior, all the foreign races would invade in minutes!

As soon as the blood edict written by the Empress Dowager Gu was sent out, the ambitious people of Dari could raise and rebel. They got the righteous name called helping instead of rebellion. They would claim that they revenged for Emperor who was about to die!

“This is chaos instead of a prosperous world. It even might have a new dynasty!” Qiu Yelan was speechless and looked at Xue Chang, who was not far away. He was always calm, and this was the first time Qiu Yelan saw him become angry!

The prosperous age of this dynasty began from Tao Yinsong. After Tao Yinsong’s death, Xue Chang took over, and so it could be said that the prosperity was created by these two great men. They worked hard and managed a prosperity. However, in order to fight for power and money, Empress Dowager Gu ruined everything with the blood edict. Xue Chang would like to rush to kill this selfish old woman for both Xue Nongying and himself!

“His Majesty has died and Empress Dowager was overwhelmed with grief. Her body is not good. She needs to have a rest and should not be overworked. May I ask Your Majesty to serve at Palace of Ganquan? Don’t disturb her without Her Majesty’s decree.” After a brief silence and commotion, Marquess Qin said coldly,” Her Majesty could have a quick recovery from illness and get well soon!”

After that, he didn’t look at Empress Dowager Gu, who was laughing crazily. Looking at Xue Chang, Tang Zimo, and others, he said, “As for the blood edict…”

It needed to be solved with everyone’s efforts!

Qiu Yelan left the Palace with worries and she met Jiang Yashuang in front of the palace gate.

“Why didn’t you go in?” Qiu Yelan asked casually.

Everybody knew that Marquess Qin and Empress Jiang thought highly of Jiang Yashuang. They arranged everything for him. Today so many people from the Jiang family were called into Fu Ning Palace, but Jiang Yashuang was not there. Qiu Yelan was involved in the matter in Fu Ning Palace, otherwise, she would ask others about it.

Now she saw Jiang Yashuang, so she wanted to ask her husband.

However, Jiang Yashuang’s words shocked Qiu Yelan, “My grandfather asked me to take men to track down the person who went out of the Palace today. Only then did I catch a few servants and finally found out the blood edict.”

“Wait!” Qiu Yelan covered her mouth in surprise, pulled Jiang Yashuang into the carriage, and asked in a low voice, “Is it the blood edict that Empress Dowager Gu mentioned? How could your grandfather know? Does he have spies?” Did Marquess Qin deliberately get Qiu Yelan involved? Why did he do this? Couldn’t he tell her in advance?

Fortunately, Jiang Yashuang shook his head, “My grandfather is alert. He had told us earlier that if something wrong happened in the Palace, he and other elders would enter the Palace to discuss matters. When it happens, my brothers and I would be responsible for arresting people outside the Palace!”

Qiu Yelan looked at him speechlessly. “I thought it was a big trouble!” She couldn’t help but admire Marquess Qin very much, “He is so wise! Otherwise, this time it will be a big trouble!”

Jiang Yashuang seemingly wanted to say something, but he just smiled and asked with concern, “This time you got involved. How are you? Are you alright?”

“Grandfather has arranged everything. How can I be frightened?” Qiu Yelan stretched her hands and replied, “We have such a big advantage and Empress Jiang also supports us there. How could I be afraid of Empress Dowager Gu?”

At this point she felt a little strange and asked, “Just now grandfather asked Xue Chang and Tang Zimo to have a discussion. Why did he ask Tang Zimo?”

“Firstly, Tang Zimo is talented enough to be a minister. Secondly, they might think about a good end for Empress Dowager Gu,” Although Jiang Yashuang didn’t enter the Palace, someone notified him of what happened in Fu Ning Palace. At this moment he smiled indifferently, “After all, he is a relative of Empress Dowager Gu. Although the blood edict was taken back, it was hard to guarantee that no words were spread out. Therefore, Xue Xiang and Tang Zimo explained together, which would be better than our family.”

This was the exact follow-up. After Marquess Qin and Xue Chang promised that they wouldn’t vent the anger on his family, Tang Zimo happily handed over the name list of Empress Dowager’s party, especially those who planned to receive the blood edict.

A few days after Emperor’s death, Empress Dowager Gu hanged herself in the Hall of Taishi.

There were a lot of speculations about whether Empress Dowager Gu really hanged herself. Before Empress Dowager Gu’s funeral, the Prince’s Mansion of Guangyang was impeached for dozens of serious crimes. Especially, Gu Yan had committed numerous crimes. Even many servants were sent into prison for investigation.

When the Prince’s Mansion of Guangyang lost power, the news that Emperor, who was the former Emperor now, was killed by Empress Dowager Gu was spread out secretly, making all people in Dari shocked!

Therefore, Qiu Yelan believed that Empress Dowager Gu didn’t hang herself, “If Her Majesty were alive, who would punish her as her identity is so special? The crown prince is her grandson. This kind of matter about filial piety couldn’t be judged! It couldn’t be handled by a minister. Why bothered to kill her and get a bad name? It was better to kill her secretly and give her the name of committing suicide with fear of crime!”

However, Qiu Yelan didn’t care about whether Empress Dowager Gu committed suicide or was killed.

She was currently concerned about two issues. The first one was Qiu Jinglan’s current situation and the second one was Qiu Nie’s situation.

“A few days before His Majesty’s death, Gu Yan invited Qiu Nie out in a carriage, but only Gu Yan was back. Is Qiu Nie alive?” Qiu Yelan frowned and asked Su He, “What did Gu Yan say?”

Su He felt awkward and said, “He made a lot of conditions. I think master Qiu wouldn’t agree to it.”

“He’s really stupid!” Qiu Yelan pounded the table and stood up, “He is in jail and the Empress Dowager’s party is over. He dares to make a request! Who is he? He isn’t Tang Zimo! Does he have any value? What do the prison guards do? Why does he have the energy to make conditions?”

The prison guards didn’t dare to deny Qiu Yelan’s words, but they didn’t torture Gu Yan for a reason. “Gu Yan led a voluptuous life. For many years his body has been in bad health and was nourished by tonic. Now after being in prison, he is immediately ill. If we severely tortured him, he might die.”

“What’s the matter? How many years have you been doing this job? Aren’t you capable to do this?” Qiu Yelan wouldn’t be coaxed by these words, “If you can’t do it, I’ll go to Dalisi to borrow some professors for you, okay?”

“Excuse me!” The prison guard tried to make things a little more difficult, so he could ask for more rewards. He asked for leaving with embarrassment.

With some torture, the result came within two or three days, but this result made Qiu Yelan frowned again, “Qiu Nie was arranged to take away Deng Yi’s mother and him. Would Gu Yan be so kind?”

When the Prince’s Mansion of Guangyang was confiscated, Deng Yi and his mother were not there. Qiu Yelan knew about it.

However, they weren’t important, so Qiu Yelan didn’t pay attention to them.

Now hearing that Qiu Nie’s disappearance was related to Deng Yi, she was completely speechless. “If Gu Yan really cared about Deng Yi, why did he make trouble for him at first?” She thought, “He knew his family would fail, so he gave his cousin a way out. Ahh!”

Qiu Yelan made efforts to trace Qiu Nie because she wanted to give Mrs. Li an explanation. Although she couldn’t find Qiu Nie now, there was a clue. She called Mrs. Li and Mrs. Zhou who cared about Qiu Nie, “Qiu Nie should be alive. But it’s hard to say where he is. Fortunately, Mei Xue and Qiu Qian are here, so I can bring them over to ask. We will decide the heir when my brother comes back!”

Mrs. Li, Mrs. Zhou, and others heard that Qiu Nie couldn’t be found yet and they were very disappointed. But they were happy when they knew he was alive, so they nodded together, “We hope he will return safely soon!”

Jing City was in peace and the matter of Shazhou was coming to an end.

At dusk, it was in a snowstorm.

Qiu Jinglan, who wore mourning clothes, plucked out the heart and liver of Kuang Shihan, served them at the memorial table, poured wine three times, and feasted on the ancestors.

Kuang Qingwu, who was tied up, was kneeling behind him. Actually, it wouldn’t matter if Qiu Jinglan didn’t tie him at this time. Since knowing the true identity of Ren Ziyong, Kuang Qingwu, the husband of Princess Changping and the son of Marquess Zhang, looked as dull as a puppet. He was at the mercy of others. Even if Qiu Jinglan clearly told him the reason for keeping him alive, he would remain indifferent. He knew that they sent him to Jing City to be the scapegoat.

“The dew on the grass fell after morning. Every day it is the same. What a pity it is! Isn’t it the same as a man’s life, which is easy to lose!”

As the old ministries, Han Jishan and Zhao Bin led their soldiers to wear mourning clothes. They knelt down on the stage. The soldiers who were good at singing the elegy “Xie Lu”, which had been passed down since ancient times, were mourning the death in this place for ten years, like Qiu Zhongyan and the Ruan family.

“Father! Mother! I finally killed Kuang Shihan and Xing Kang. I have avenged for you!” On the high platform, the wind blew his plain clothes, he prayed silently. “Uncles, brothers, please rest in peace. Empress Dowager Gu is dead! Next is the battle for the Western Army. For the sake of my sister, I must win! Hope you can shelter us.”

On the high platform, the incense was burned out and a period of grievances ended.

Under the high platform, spring grasses grew quietly and something new came.