Chapter 52: Clash of Arms
After listening to Jiang Chenghan say that the child he brought back was privately entrusted to him by Kou Shijun to be settled discreetly, and that they must avoid letting people know, the Dowager Lady Yan felt that the matter was probably not as simple as Jiang Chenghan had described.
After all, Kou Shijun held significant military power and occupied a high position. Given his authority, not only was he unable to protect his so-called family friends, but he also had to carefully hide and discreetly settle a lone survivor. This sufficiently indicated that the survivor was not of ordinary origins, and the disaster that befell their family was certainly no ordinary misfortune.
The Dowager Lady Yan had not been in Ningcheng for long and had hardly ever left the Jiang residence. Yet, she found the child, whom she was meeting for the first time, remarkably familiar. Later, while having breakfast together, she noticed that the child's tastes were quite similar to theirs, who had come from the capital. Although the child was young, his manners and behavior during the meal were very well-educated and proper. She speculated that this child might have come from an official family in the capital.
The matter concerned Yan Jingshu and her precious great-grandson, so the Dowager Lady Yan did not dare neglect it in the slightest. She immediately sent a letter to the capital to inquire. To clarify the matter as quickly as possible, she specifically sent two people to deliver the letter.
Those two knew their mistress was anxious and sped on horseback the entire way. In just one month, they returned from the capital, bringing with them a reply from the Duke of Anguo to the Dowager Lady Yan.
After receiving the reply, the Dowager Lady Yan opened it immediately. However, the more she read, the heavier her heart became.
According to the reply from the Duke of Anguo, shortly after she left the capital early in the year, a major upheaval had suddenly occurred in the capital.
First, the emperor fell seriously ill and ordered the crown prince to supervise the state and handle court affairs. Then, less than half a month later, rumors spread through the palace that the crown prince had plotted against the emperor and usurped the throne.
The Duke of Anguo initially found it hard to believe. But the next day during court, when he did not see the crown prince, who was supposed to be supervising the state, but instead saw the emperor, who looked somewhat haggard but showed no signs of illness, and personally heard the emperor publicly read the edict deposing the crown prince, he had no choice but to believe it all.
However, the matter did not end there. The crown prince was deposed on charges of treason. His wife, children, and officials of the Eastern Palace were all punished accordingly.
The crown prince's maternal family, who held the title of Earl of Cheng'en, along with any other families who were on friendly terms with the crown prince or this maternal family, and additionally, the many court officials who spoke in the crown prince's defense, were all implicated and punished.
Those lightly punished were reprimanded, placed under house arrest, demoted, or dismissed from their posts. Those severely punished had their families confiscated, were exiled, beheaded, or had their clans exterminated. The heads chopped off at the execution ground could almost form a small mountain. For a time, the entire capital, whether noble officials or common people, was filled with fear and panic, everyone fearing for their own safety.
The initial plan was to keep the Dowager Lady Yan unaware of the capital's turmoil. Because Ningcheng was so distant from the capital, the political unrest was unlikely to affect her there. To prevent her from worrying needlessly, the Duke of Anguo deliberately omitted any mention of these events in his letters.
However, this plan changed when the Dowager Lady herself sent a letter asking specific questions about the capital's affairs. Surprised by her direct inquiry, the Duke of Anguo realized he could no longer keep the situation from her and felt compelled to tell her the entire truth.
The Dowager Lady Yan had not expected such major events to occur in the capital. Involved in a struggle over the throne and imperial power, even she could not help but feel some apprehension.
Although the child looked familiar to her, she could not immediately recall exactly where she had seen him. But calculating the time, from when the incident occurred in the capital to when the child appeared in Ningcheng, the difference was just enough to cover the journey from the capital to Ningcheng.
Although she could not be one hundred percent certain, the Dowager Lady Yan was confident enough that the child must have come from the capital.
The matter concerned the entire family, so the Dowager Lady Yan did not hide it. On the same day she received the letter, after Jiang Chenghan returned from the Governor's residence in the evening, she also called Xie Huan over. Then, she explained how the child seemed familiar to her, her suspicions, her letter to the Duke's residence in the capital, and the contents of the reply from the Duke of Anguo.
After hearing this, everyone's expressions changed differently. Yan Jingshu was the most surprised because he had not noticed anything unusual about the child at all. He only grew worried about the Duke's residence when the Dowager Lady Yan mentioned the turmoil in the capital.
The Dowager Lady Yan comforted him, saying that the Duke's residence had never engaged in factionalism or selfish agendas, and the Duke of Anguo was an extremely cautious person. Therefore, the Duke's residence had not been implicated in the crown prince's affair, and Yan Jingshu need not worry.
Xie Huan had not expected that a child he had finally taken a liking to would have such a troublesome background. He frowned slightly but said nothing. How to handle this matter ultimately depended on the Dowager Lady Yan and Jiang Chenghan's decision, he would simply follow their lead.
Jiang Chenghan had previously guessed that the child's background might not be simple, but he had not expected it to be related to affairs in the capital.
He also understood the Dowager Lady Yan's concerns. After all, if the child's family had indeed been convicted for involvement in the deposed crown prince's treason case, then their act of hiding him would be equivalent to treason.
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