"What?" Ruan Jiu immediately exclaimed.
At this moment, she didn't even care about continuing her breakfast.
She had been counting on Chi Wei to spill some details about Gu Kexing.
Unexpectedly, he was dead!
After Xie Jingchu sat down, his brows furrowed tightly. "Not only that, there was a fire in Chi Wei's mansion last night, and the study was completely burned down."
"Did Gu Kexing do it?" Ruan Jiu gritted her teeth.
Only Gu Kexing was probably bold enough to do such a thing right under the Emperor's nose.
Xie Jingchu continued, "When the Court of Judicial Review went to the prison to question Chi Wei this morning, they found that he had committed suicide out of guilt. He only left a letter confessing to the crime of privately minting copper coins and taking all the blame on himself."
What a good move to kill the witness!
"What about Gu Kexing? After all, Chi Wei was his man," Ruan Jiu said anxiously.
Even if he didn't die, he should at least be severely punished to relieve her hatred.
"After Gu Kexing learned that Chi Wei was in prison, he went to the palace overnight to plead his case to the Emperor. He said that he had already divorced Chi Wei's eldest daughter, and now he had nothing to do with the Minister's Mansion. He also claimed that he knew nothing about what Chi Wei had done."
Hearing this, Ruan Jiu couldn't help clenching her fists.
She never thought that the incident of her catching the fifth concubine of the Prime Minister's Mansion having an affair would inadvertently help Gu Kexing.
She felt as if she had to swallow her anger, and her heart was blocked.
"What about the Emperor?"
"Now that Chi Wei is dead and the Minister's Mansion has been burned down, there is no evidence to prove that Gu Kexing was involved. So, the Emperor only punished Gu Kexing for his oversight and ordered him to reflect in his mansion."
Ruan Jiu let out a long sigh. "I didn't expect Gu Kexing to escape this. He is really capable."
Xie Jingchu said, "There must be the Queen's intervention behind this. However, getting rid of Chi Wei is not a complete failure."
Ruan Jiu nodded.
It seemed that she had to be more careful in the future when it came to clearing the Huo family's name.
And there was also that mysterious person.
Whoever could be so well - informed about the Prime Minister's Mansion's movements must be someone from the mansion.
But why did this person help them deal with Gu Kexing?
And who on earth was this mysterious person?
Just then, Chun Tao stumbled in.
"Something terrible has happened!" Chun Tao shouted.
Hearing this, Ruan Jiu, who was already feeling憋屈, became even more annoyed.
Frowning, she asked, "What's happened now?"
"A man died at the Drunken Moon Tower!"
Hearing this, Ruan Jiu was stunned.
She stood up abruptly, grabbed Chun Tao's shoulders, and asked anxiously, "What did you say?"
Chun Tao immediately replied, "I just heard them say that a guest was having breakfast at the Drunken Moon Tower this morning and unexpectedly died of poisoning!
Coincidentally, Young Master Shen was also at the Drunken Moon Tower. Now the government has sealed off the Drunken Moon Tower, and Young Master Shen has been taken away.
After Mrs. Shen heard this news, she fainted."
Ruan Jiu paused, her brows furrowed tightly.
How could this happen?
"What about my father?"
"Lord Shen has rushed to the government office, but they said that the Drunken Moon Tower is a property of the Shen family. It's estimated that Lord Shen can't get away from this either."
Hearing this, Ruan Jiu's legs went weak.
Her head buzzed, and her thoughts were in a complete mess.
Fortunately, Xie Jingchu was by her side.
Then Xie Jingchu immediately said, "There must be something fishy going on. How could there be poison in the dishes of the Drunken Moon Tower for no reason?"
Xie Jingchu's words woke Ruan Jiu up.
That's right. This must be someone's deliberate frame - up!
Ruan Jiu exclaimed, "It must be Gu Kexing who did this! I'm going to go and ask him for an explanation right now!"
After saying that, as if she had lost her mind, she immediately wanted to run to the Prime Minister's Mansion.
Xie Jingchu quickly stopped her. "A Jiu! Calm down first!"
Ruan Jiu frowned, her hands tightly clutching her head.
Her small face was twisted, as if she could squeeze out water.
"I want to calm down, but I just can't!"
The short - term acquaintance had already tied her closely to the Shen family.
She couldn't help but worry about their safety.
She was even more afraid that they were suffering this because of her.
Xie Jingchu gently took Ruan Jiu's hands in his own and comforted her, "Don't panic. The Shen family is still useful to Gu Kexing. He has no reason to frame the Shen family for now."
These words calmed Ruan Jiu down.
Yes, now that Shen Yu had married Zhou Zhaodi, Gu Kexing was still counting on pulling the Shen family over to his side.
Maybe this wasn't done by Gu Kexing.
"But then, who would want to harm the Shen family?" Ruan Jiu frowned deeply.
The Shen family hadn't offended anyone on a normal day.
"The most important thing now is to figure out what happened at the Drunken Moon Tower today."
After hearing Xie Jingchu's words, Ruan Jiu immediately said, "I'm going to the government office to ask my brother for clarification right now!"
"I'll go with you!" Xie Jingchu chimed in.
Ruan Jiu shook her head. "Your legs are not convenient. You should stay in the mansion to take care of my mother for me. Moreover, it's not convenient for you to show up in the capital too much now."
Xie Jingchu frowned. After weighing the pros and cons, he had no choice but to agree. "Then I'll send Qin Yuan with you."
He immediately admonished her, "Remember, don't be impulsive. If there's anything, come back and discuss it with me first."
Ruan Jiu nodded.
Then she took Qin Yuan and rushed to the government office together.
-
When she got to the government office, she learned that Shen Wenshan was also implicated and had been thrown into prison.
People always said that father and son fought side by side on the battlefield. But for them, father and son were both in prison.
After Ruan Jiu bribed the jailer, she was allowed to visit them in prison for just a moment.
"Why are you here?" Shen Yu immediately exclaimed when he saw Ruan Jiu.
Ruan Jiu looked around, but she didn't see Shen Wenshan's figure. She asked anxiously, "Where's father?"
Shen Yu replied, "The Magistrate of the Capital just summoned father for questioning."
Ruan Jiu let out a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, he wasn't being tortured.
"Brother, what exactly happened at the Drunken Moon Tower today?" Ruan Jiu immediately asked.
Shen Yu frowned and then told her exactly what had happened at the Drunken Moon Tower today.
Early this morning, Chen Wu was having breakfast at the Drunken Moon Tower. Chen Wu was the man who died of poisoning.
Before long, he started shouting that the food was unpalatable, which attracted a lot of onlookers.
Coincidentally, Shen Yu was also at the Drunken Moon Tower that day, so he stepped forward to inquire.
Unexpectedly, Chen Wu was unreasonable and had a big argument with Shen Yu. He even smashed the wine cup. Angry, Shen Yu rolled up his sleeves and was about to kick the man out.
But before Shen Yu could get close, Chen Wu covered his throat and shouted, "There's poison in the food!"
As soon as he said that, Chen Wu fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth.
By the time Shen Yu stepped forward to check, Chen Wu was already dead.
"Then the people from the government office came and directly took me to prison," Shen Yu said helplessly with a look in his eyes.
"Did you tell the Magistrate of the Capital exactly what happened?" Ruan Jiu frowned.
Shen Yu nodded. "I've been telling the Magistrate of the Capital that I'm innocent, and the Drunken Moon Tower would never do something like poisoning, which would damage its own reputation.
The Magistrate of the Capital originally believed me, but later, they really found red mercury oxide in the dishes at the Drunken Moon Tower!"
Hearing this.
Ruan Jiu immediately exclaimed, "What did you say? The poison the man was poisoned with was red mercury oxide?"
Her brows immediately knitted together, and her eyes were full of astonishment.