pdf-ebookys Chapter 218: Feeling suspicious
Chapter 218: Feeling suspicious
Chapter 218 Dissension
"This must not have been done by the Queen. I will send someone to investigate."
Whether it was Shen Tianjiao as the former mistress of the harem, or Shen Tianjiao as the decision-maker of the previous dynasty, her character and virtues were highly recognized.
The current ruler of Yunli Country, apart from other things, is open and honest in her actions and does not play dirty. Neither her supporters nor her opponents can criticize her for this.
Shen Tianjiao's personality is very similar to that of the Marquis of Zhenbei, strong yet gentle, and gentle yet strong.
If she really wanted to make an enemy and draw her sword, she would declare war on her enemy openly and honestly.
This can be seen from the way she dealt with people like Li Hong, Ling Hai, and Yuan You.
As the eldest daughter of the Zhenbei Marquisate, her upbringing and pride would not allow her to do such a dirty thing as exposing other people's privacy and making it public.
"Oh!" Li Zhaohui raised an eyebrow in dissatisfaction and looked at Wang Yunzhi and said, "Prime Minister Wang, are you so sure that Shen Tianjiao didn't do this?"
Normally, Li Chaohui would never call Wang Yunzhi by his official title. She would either call him Yunzhi or his courtesy name Chuyang.
Now she directly called out Wang Yunzhi's official title, which showed that she was very angry.
But at this time, Wang Yunzhi was no longer like before, worried and anxious at the slightest disturbance in front of Li Chaohui.
This may be because the state of mind has changed, and people naturally change accordingly.
"The Queen was born in the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion, and the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion has been famous for its strict family education since its establishment."
"If she really wanted to become your enemy, she would definitely choose to fight you openly and honestly. She would never use such despicable and shameless behavior to spread such things everywhere."
Wang Yunzhi didn't say it explicitly, but he had already expressed his dissatisfaction with Li Chaohui for spreading the news that the Marquis of Zhenbei was poisoned.
Li Chaohui, who was criticized by Wang Yunzhi, felt a pain in his heart. Wang Yunzhi had indeed changed and was no longer the same Wang Yunzhi as before.
When the news came that Wang Yunzhi's son Wang Wei was entrusted with an important task by Shen Tianjiao, Li Chaohui still didn't believe those people who said that Wang Yunzhi had been bribed by Shen Tianjiao a long time ago.
But today it seems that what those people said was indeed true. Wang Yunzhi is now in Cao's camp but his heart is with Han. His heart has changed long ago.
"Since Prime Minister Wang is so confident, let's wait and see. After the investigation is completed and the results are out, we will see the outcome."
Li Chaohui's tone was unfriendly. She was now trying her best to endure it. Her head, which was already aching terribly due to the headache, hurt even more now.
But at this moment, Li Chaohui had no time to care about her headache, as she had more important things to do.
"No matter who did this, it won't benefit anyone if it continues to spread. You need to find a way to put an end to this matter. It can't be spread any further."
Thinking about the rumors outside, Li Chaohui became anxious and could not find peace for a moment.
The things she had been trying so hard to hide were now easily exposed and made public. How could she feel?
Because of the Anguo Temple incident, she has already become the target of public criticism and a thorn in the eyes of others. Now with this incident, the number of people who are dissatisfied with her will probably increase again.
The image of the once stunning and charming eldest princess was about to collapse without a trace.
Once she loses her former fame, she will soon be forgotten by people, and it will be impossible for her to achieve hegemony by relying on her former fame.
What's more, her daughter has not been found yet, and no one knows where she is. If she loses her power and her supporters at this moment, she and her daughter may never have the chance to see each other again in this life.
Wang Yunzhi sighed. He was so speechless that he didn't know what to say.
These rumors have now spread everywhere in Shangjing City. There are only two ways to stop these rumors.
One is that the emperor issued an edict prohibiting the people from spreading and discussing the matter among each other, and those who violated the edict would be severely punished.
The second is to use the power of the army to arrest those who talked about this matter in the capital city, in order to intimidate people so that they dare not discuss it again.
At present, these two methods are definitely not feasible. Li Chaohui first slandered the Marquis of Zhenbei today, and then there were rumors that he had a child out of wedlock.
If the Emperor knew about this, he would have been kind enough not to punish her for disrespect. How could he have ordered a ban on the spread of rumors? It was simply that the Empress was merciful and didn't bother with her.
As for mobilizing the military, that was out of the question. Without the Queen's approval and the Marquis of Zhenbei's consent, who could mobilize a single soldier in the capital?
Even if they could mobilize the army now, under the leadership of Marquis Zhenbei, the soldiers of Yunli Kingdom have already vowed to never point their swords and guns at the people of Yunli or their compatriots.
In such a situation, what can they use to fight against the Marquis of Zhenbei?
"Grand Princess, please be patient for a while. Those rumors will naturally disappear without a trace after a while."
Although Li Chaohui's title of Grand Princess had been stripped, Wang Yunzhi still called her Grand Princess as a sign of respect.
"While you wait, please cultivate your character here. Some things cannot be rushed; the more you rush, the more chaos will arise."
"You've waited for more than 20 years, do you still care about waiting a little longer?"
"The Empress is not the Emperor. She is not indecisive, nor is she so easy to talk to."
"Prince Qing was beheaded in Zhenghe Hall, and Prince Cheng lost all his power in an instant."
"Aren't these warnings to everyone to stay within their proper boundaries and not cross the line that shouldn't be crossed?"
Wang Yunzhi's words completely irritated Li Zhaohui. Li Zhaohui stared at Wang Yunzhi and asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"Do you want me to be like a dead person, spending the rest of my life sitting around eating and waiting for death, doing nothing?"
The feeling of being betrayed was like a sharp sword, piercing through Li Zhaohui's heart and her pride, shattering it to the point where she could hardly bear it.
What went wrong that made Wang Yunzhi, the person she had trusted the most for so many years, talk to her like this and cause things to turn out like this?
"The Grand Princess has always accomplished great things, and that was achieved through a hundredfold patience."
"Your current strength is not enough to compete with the Empress. One cannot fight a battle unprepared. Without strength, relying solely on reputation will not accomplish anything great."
Wang Yunzhi said these words with good intentions, wanting Li Chaohui to calm down and think carefully about the future path.
But these words sounded different to Li Chaohui, becoming a betrayal and disgust towards her.
"You go back first. I'm a little tired today and want to rest."
Although Li Chaohui was almost mad at herself, she forced herself not to vent her anger. Now she still had to rely on Wang Yunzhi for many things. If she offended Wang Yunzhi now, her life would not be easy.
"Then please rest early, Princess."
Even without Li Chaohui asking him to leave, Wang Yunzhi felt that there was no need for him to stay any longer.
You can never wake up a person who is immersed in his own dream and unwilling to wake up and face reality.
Li Chaohui is such a person. It’s not that she doesn’t understand or that she is not clear-headed. She just doesn’t want to wake up from her sweet dream and face reality.
After Wang Yunzhi left, Li Chaohui suddenly collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted.
It was not until Chunniang came in and discovered her that she was helped onto the bed.
Wang Yunzhi left Li Zhaohui's residence and got on his own carriage.
"Sir, what should we do with the tail behind?" Wang Yunzhi's confidant asked after seeing Wang Yunzhi get on the carriage.
"Don't pay attention to him. Go to the palace. I want to see the Queen."
Wang Yunzhi knew that what he had just said had offended Li Chaohui, and given Li Chaohui's suspicious nature, any explanation from him would be unnecessary.
The more he explained, the more Li Chaohui became suspicious of his motives.
Since there is no more basic trust between the two people, he doesn't need to worry about anything anymore.
At a time like this, it is better to be open and honest than to hide things.
Shen Tianjiao stared at her in Yuxiu Palace. Doctor Zhang, who had returned to report the news, asked, "Are you sure she's been poisoned and is beyond help?"
"My Lord, I am certain that she has been poisoned, and the poison has already penetrated her lungs. There is no cure."
When the diagnosis was first made, Doctor Zhang couldn't believe it. He diagnosed the disease repeatedly many times before he finally made a correct diagnosis.
Shen Tianjiao didn't expect that she would hear today that Li Chaohui was poisoned and had reached the point where there was no cure.
Doctor Zhang is the palace physician of the Marquis of Zhenbei. Because of his superb medical skills, when Shen Tianjiao entered the palace, the Marquis of Zhenbei sent him to the palace to become the palace physician, so that he could take good care of Shen Tianjiao's health.
He has been doing his job diligently over the years. If it weren't for him, her original body might have been killed many years ago, and it would not have been her turn to be reborn.
Xia He was considered his half-apprentice. She had studied medicinal food for many years and also learned some simple pharmacological knowledge.
So Shen Tianjiao believed what Doctor Zhang said.
What she doubts and doesn't understand now is who exactly wants to kill Li Zhaohui?
Judging from the current situation, it should be the person closest to her who poisoned her.
But whose instructions did that person follow to poison her?
"Master, master." Seeing that Shen Tianjiao didn't speak for a long time, Doctor Zhang called out twice in a low voice.
"Oh, oh, I see. Thank you for your hard work. I will send someone else to her place. You can stay in the palace and rest for a while."
Shen Tianjiao made such arrangements because she was afraid that something might happen to Doctor Zhang. After all, if Li Chaohui had been poisoned, he would be in danger of dying from the poison at any time.
At that time, those people will definitely falsely accuse the imperial physician she sent of poisoning Zhang, and they may even kill Imperial Physician Zhang to protect themselves.
Doctor Zhang has been by her side for many years and is loyal to her. She will not let him risk his life at this time.
Doctor Zhang shook his head and said, "No, I'll go."
"If I can diagnose her poisoning, then others can definitely diagnose it as well, so it's safest for me to go."
"Although her poison is incurable, she won't die for a while. The person who poisoned her was very careful and cautious, and the amount of poison they used was very minimal each time."
Doctor Zhang naturally knew that Shen Tianjiao didn't let him go because she was worried about him.
Although he was just an imperial physician who only studied medical theories and did not care much about state affairs, he also knew that Li Chaohui's matter was of great importance.
He doesn't trust others to do it.
Shen Tianjiao looked up at Doctor Zhang, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Okay, then go ahead. I'll arrange for a secret guard to go with you. Remember, no matter what happens, saving your own life is more important than anything else."
"I've made note of this, old minister."
After saying this, Doctor Zhang was about to leave, but unexpectedly Shen Tianjiao called him back.
"Doctor Zhang, how long has she been poisoned?"
"Judging from her pulse, it must have been at least ten years. Otherwise, the tiny amount of poison injected each time would not have caused such great damage to her body."
Doctor Zhang admired the patience of the man who poisoned Li Chaohui. He had been poisoning him every day for more than ten years, using only a tiny amount each time.
Poisoning in this way will not be noticed in daily life, nor will it arouse suspicion from others. By the time it is discovered, the person is already beyond cure and is doomed to die.
"It's been more than ten years." Shen Tianjiao nodded, looked at Doctor Zhang and said, "Okay, I understand. You can go down and rest first."
After sending Doctor Zhang away, Shen Tianjiao called over a secret guard and ordered, "Go and investigate all the people around Li Zhaohui. Check them thoroughly. I want to know their identities and backgrounds, and when they came to Li Zhaohui's side."
The secret guard nodded and retreated to do what Shen Tianjiao had instructed him to do.
The sudden discovery that Li Chaohui was poisoned and incurable disrupted Shen Tianjiao's original plan, and now she had to make a new one.
She had to force Li Chaohui to rebel before he died of poisoning, so that she and her accomplices could be wiped out in one fell swoop.
In order to avoid Li Chaohui's death, she would leave behind disasters. Her loyal and crazy followers are like gunpowder that can be detonated at any time. If they are not cleared out, no one knows when they will explode.
Once these gunpowder explodes, many people will be killed and injured, which will bring an unimaginable disaster to Yun Li. This is something Shen Tianjiao absolutely cannot tolerate.
What Shen Tianjiao wanted to leave for her son Li Muyang was a peaceful and prosperous Yunli, rather than a Yunli that was riddled with holes and needed to be constantly repaired, rebuilt, and restored.
Therefore, the fate of Li Chaohui and all her accomplices and supporters was actually already doomed and could not be changed.