They are all concubines, so of course they choose the future emperor.

Chapter 147 Confession

Nanny Qian nodded, took her hand and sat aside.

"Brother Fu's story... I've heard some of it occasionally. You've lived as a widow in this family for so many years, and you've taken care of his mother for many years. You've done him a great favor. There's no need to keep waiting for him."

Nanny Qian's test hit Madam Fu's sore spot.

She hugged Nanny Qian and started crying.

"Old sister, you don't know what kind of life I live!"

"I know, I know."

Nanny Qian patted her back to comfort her.

When Mrs. Fu had almost finished crying, she changed the subject.

"By the way, who are Brother Fu's friends with? Find someone to inform them! After all... ahem... a fight."

Madam Fu wiped her tears, resentment revealed in her eyes.

"It's all that bitch! If it weren't for him, how could my old Fu have died? He clearly said that he would adopt a child for me so that I would have someone to rely on in the future, but who knew that he would die suddenly... My life is so miserable!"

"The bitch you're talking about is..."

"It's that damn Liu Chang! He seduced my husband Fu out of the house every day and he doesn't even come home."

"Liu Chang?" Madam Qian repeated in a low voice, "I don't think there is a guard in the Eastern Palace with this name?"

"What kind of guard? He's higher in rank than Lao Fu, a lieutenant or something. He's this tall." Madam Fu gestured and wiped her tears again. "Lao Fu is not a bad person. Although he didn't get close to me in the past, he gave all the money he earned to his family and never went out to fool around. He, he just can't stand women touching him, but it's not the Rabbit God. It was that Liu Chang who led him astray!"

Madam Fu gritted her teeth, wishing she could bite Liu Chang to death.

Madam Qian took note of the name and asked, "So Brother Fu didn't come back last night?"

"Yes! He was not on duty yesterday and should have come back early, but before dinner he suddenly sent someone to say that he was going out for a drink and asked us not to wait for him for dinner. Mother was worried and urged me to go find him, so I went."

Madam Fu's eyes were dazed and her tone was much deeper.

"I thought Liu Chang must have tricked him into going, so I went to Liu's house to look for him. But the doorman said Liu Chang was not at home and would not let me in. I was so angry! I thought to myself, I must catch you in the act this time, so I waited not far from the entrance of Liu's house."

"It was dark and the moon was at its highest when Liu Chang came back. I didn't know where he went. He was soaked. He went home, changed his clothes and left again. I didn't see Lao Fu. It was late and I was worried about my mother being alone at home, so I came back first."

Having said this, she suddenly started crying again.

"I shouldn't have come back. If I had gone out to look for him, maybe I would have found him and he wouldn't have died."

She cried so hard that she was out of breath and almost fainted. It took Nanny Qian a long time to persuade her to calm down.

"I still have to go back and report to the master, so I won't stay for now. These two girls are very efficient, so let them stay and help. If there is anything, you can also ask them to pass on the message to me."

Nanny Qian gave some gentle instructions before leaving the Fu family and returning to the East Palace.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Wanyue stood up suddenly.

"Quick! Go to the front and find Eunuch Wang or Eunuch Liang and ask them if the captain of the left guard who rushed over yesterday was called Liu Chang?!"

Nanny Qian ran out like the wind.

Soon, a positive reply came back.

"I have asked, and it is true! I took the initiative to tell His Highness what Madam Fu said, and His Highness has already ordered people to arrest Liu Chang."

Jiang Wanyue let out a breath and sat back in her chair.

Li Ce also didn't expect that the captain who came with Fan Li yesterday was actually gay with Captain Fu!

If that were all, it would be fine, but from what Madam Fu said, it seems very likely that Captain Fu's death was caused by Captain Liu.

Although it was not known whether it was a murder of passion or for some other reason, he was the most likely suspect at the moment. Li Ce personally led the guards to the Imperial Guard Yamen and arrested Liu Chang.

After interrogation, Liu Chang confessed to what he had done.

Not long after, Liu Chang's confession was presented to Li Ce.

Li Ce looked at the eloquent words above and frowned slightly.

The assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice stood aside with his head bowed, observing the prince's expression and spoke cautiously.

"This Liu Chang said that he had a conflict with Fu Da, and because Fu Da wanted to break off relations with him, he killed him in a fit of rage. After killing him, he panicked and wanted to dump the body, but there were too many people in the city to talk, and there were eyes everywhere. He had to take turns on duty in the middle of the night, so he didn't have time to go out of the city, so he thought of throwing Fu Da's body into the Luo River."

"If they were just dumping bodies, why would they blow up the bridge?"

Li Ce said coldly, clearly showing his disbelief.

The assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice scratched the hair behind his ear and said, "I think they are worried that the body will float up and be discovered. If they blow up the bridge, they can claim that Fu Da was killed by rocks when the bridge broke."

Li Ce glanced at him, said nothing more, and stood up.

"I still have things to do, so I'll hand Liu Chang over to your Ministry of Justice. If anything goes wrong with him, I'll only hold you accountable!"

He strode out of the Ministry of Justice.

When he walked outside, Li Ce suddenly stopped and called two guards.

"Send someone to keep an eye on the Liu and Fu families. Report any unusual movements immediately."

The two guards took the order and left. Li Ce then mounted his horse and headed for the palace.

He didn't believe it would be that simple.

That confession was full of mistakes and omissions and was obviously false.

The Ministry of Justice is full of good-for-nothings, there is not a single useful person.

There have been cases of officials being killed in the past, and these cases have not been solved to this day. It is impossible for them to find the real culprit behind the scenes now.

Only on your own.

Riding on horseback, Li Ce rubbed his chin.

The strangest thing about this incident was that Liu Chang confessed before he was even tortured. He was a fifth-rank captain, but he actually admitted that he had a homosexual tendency and even killed someone for it. He was completely disgraced.

There is another one, that is Fu Da’s wife.

Her words were also strange.

Now, we have disturbed the grass and scared the snake. We just need to wait patiently for the person behind the scenes to reveal his true colors.

Li Ce felt at ease.

He went into the palace and told the emperor about it.

But the emperor didn’t care about the death of a captain of the guards, and he didn’t care about the broken stone bridge, as long as it didn’t affect his spring hunting.

The hunt is about to begin tomorrow, and the emperor is only concerned about whether preparations for the spring hunt are in place.

How else could Li Ce answer? He could only say that he was ready.

The emperor was satisfied.

When Li Ce walked out of the hall, he felt a little depressed.

As he was walking down the stairs, he ran into Prince An Li Zhu.

Li Zhu's face didn't look good.

The two men stopped at the same time and looked at each other, but Li Ce was standing on the steps, looking down, while Li Zhu was standing at the bottom of the steps, looking up.

No one spoke when they looked at each other.

Finally, Li Zhu was the first to look away and bowed to Li Ce.

"I've met the prince."

Li Ce laughed.

"I haven't seen you for a long time. I wonder what you've been busy with recently. It's rare for us brothers to get together. During this spring hunt, don't hide behind the guards like you did when you were little!"

Li Zhu's expression was stiff, with a hint of shame and ugliness in his eyes.

He replied firmly: "I will definitely not let the prince down."

After saying that, without caring whether Li Ce would reply or not, he walked straight past him and went up.

Li Ce looked back at him, expressionless.

Without him saying anything, Eunuch Liang, who had been following him, secretly signaled to his men to find out the purpose of Prince An's entry into the palace.

The palace ladies have their own connections.

Li Ce hadn't returned to the East Palace yet when the people who went to inquire about the news came back.

Eunuch Liang stepped forward to report.

"Your Highness, Prince An came to the palace to ask for leave on behalf of Princess An, saying that Princess An is ill and cannot go on the spring hunt tomorrow."

Li Ce raised his eyebrows.

"Would he be so kind? Didn't he say that he and the princess have a cold relationship?"

"Perhaps he is worried that the emperor will blame him? After all, the emperor attaches great importance to this spring hunt."

Li Ce didn't respond and continued walking forward.

In the Eastern Palace, after Nanny Qian passed on the news, Jiang Wanyue put the matter aside for the time being.

There are still many things waiting for her to decide when she goes out tomorrow!

After being busy for half a day, Jiang Wanyue was about to have lunch with her mother when she suddenly received an unexpected news.

"Princess An is ill? Why so suddenly?"

"I don't know. It is said that she suddenly caught rubella and cannot be exposed to the wind and cannot go out. For this reason, Prince An went to the palace to plead guilty on behalf of the princess!" said Mi'er.

Jiang Wanyue looked thoughtful.

"I remember that Princess An was not favored by Prince An. In the palace, concubines have always been more favored, right?"

Mier nodded: "Prince An's concubine gave birth to Prince An's only son. Last month, Prince An wanted to ask for him to be crowned as the Crown Prince, but was rejected, saying that he was not old enough."

After thinking for a while, Jiang Wanyue got up and went to find Aunt Sun.

After becoming the chief medical officer, Sun Da Niang lived a very leisurely life. There were many palace maids who were in charge of prescriptions. They all knew a little about identifying medicines, but they didn't know pharmacology. When she had time, she would teach these palace maids some superficial pharmacology and simple prescriptions.

Aunt Sun was very surprised that Jiang Wanyue came over at this time.

"What's wrong? Who's in trouble?"

Jiang Wanyue shook her head, took Aunt Sun's hand and walked to the corner.

"Can godmother treat rubella?"

Aunt Sun nodded, her expression somewhat serious: "This disease is very contagious. Although it is not fatal, it is difficult to recover. Who has the rubella? Which palace maid? They must be quarantined immediately and no one should come into contact with them."

"It's not from our East Palace."

Jiang Wanyue's words made Aunt Sun feel relieved.

If rubella breaks out in the Eastern Palace, it will be no small matter.

"It's Princess An." Jiang Wanyue said again, "I would like to ask my godmother to go visit her on my behalf and bring some medicinal herbs."

Aunt Sun's eyes moved and she looked at her twice more.

"You want me to go and see if she really has rubella?"

Jiang Wanyue nodded slightly.

"I just find it a little strange. How could I get such a disease just before leaving? It's not anything else but rubella. This disease is not serious, but I can't see outsiders."

Aunt Sun frowned: "What are you doubting?"

Jiang Wanyue pursed her lips.

"I can't explain it, I just feel something is wrong."

"Okay! I'll go there and ask Xiuchun to come with me. This is such a rare opportunity, let her try the face-to-face consultation as well."

Jiang Wanyue naturally would not refuse.

So, Aunt Sun packed up some medicinal herbs and took Xiuchun out of the East Palace.

On this day, the East Palace was very busy with people coming in and out.

Jiang Wanyue accompanied her mother for lunch and coaxed Xu'er to take a nap. In the afternoon, she took people to various halls, gave a few instructions, watched Li Chengyu copy Buddhist scriptures, played with Li Chengyin for a while, and finally went to Yiqiu Palace to visit Zhu Yan.

When I returned to Yichun Palace, I had just drunk two cups of tea when Xiuchun and Aunt Sun came back.

When Aunt Sun came in, her face was gloomy.

"Princess An's condition looked quite serious. She had rashes on her face, hands, and neck, and she looked very haggard. The maids and servants around her were very fierce and did not allow us to feel her pulse. We talked for a long time but it didn't work, so I left some medicine and came back."

"Thank you for your hard work, godmother."

Jiang Wanyue handed over a cup of tea.

Aunt Sun drank it all in one gulp, waved her hand, and refused the second cup.

"The girls in the pharmacy are still waiting for me! I'm going to go back first. You can ask Xiuchun for other questions."

After saying that, she left in a hurry.

Jiang Wanyue looked at Xiuchun, but found that there was something wrong with Xiuchun's expression.

"Xiuchun, what did you find?"

Xiuchun frowned.

"I'm not sure either. I feel like Princess An's personality has changed drastically and she's a little weird. I've met Princess An a few times before and I remember that she wasn't very good at dealing with people and was a little aloof, but she was still very kind to people. I don't know what happened this time. She was very rude. My godmother and I wanted to chase us away as soon as we entered."

"Godmother said she knows medicine. She can treat rashes that are not convenient for the imperial physician to see. But Princess An's face changed drastically. She scolded Godmother as a lowly female doctor who was not worthy of seeing her. After we left, I asked someone to hide in the dark and keep an eye on us. But I found that Princess An had people throw all the medicinal materials out of the gate."

Mi'er, who had been listening, was extremely angry.

"This is too much! How could this be possible! Princess An is so ungrateful that the master specially asked Chief Doctor Sun to see her. So many good herbs were wasted! Did Sister Xiuchun have someone pick up those herbs?"

"We picked them all up to prevent them from being used by others." Xiuchun replied.

Jiang Wanyue whispered to herself.

"No wonder my godmother looked unhappy just now. She drank a cup of tea and left. Oh, it's my fault this time. I made her feel wronged."

She thought about apologizing to her godmother later.

Then, I pulled my thoughts back.

"Since Princess An doesn't need these herbs, put them back in the warehouse!"

Xiuchun replied "yes" and turned to leave.

Soon, it was dinner time and Li Ce walked in under the red light of the sunset.

As soon as he sat down, Jiang Wanyue came behind him and massaged his shoulders.

"Your Highness, are you tired? Rest for a while. I will have someone serve the meal."

Li Ce turned around and hugged her waist, took a deep breath, and felt his heart filled with fragrance, and his spirits were lifted.

"Liu Chang confessed, but his confession is full of loopholes. There must be someone else behind it. But we are going to set off for the spring hunt tomorrow, and my father can't wait and won't postpone it. This matter can only be discussed after we return from the spring hunt."

Jiang Wanyue tilted her head and looked at him.

"Your Highness, I think you have made sufficient preparations. Are you setting out for the spring hunt just a feint to make people think that you have let this matter go?"

Li Ce laughed heartily.

"Wan'er still understands me."