Chapter 162 Taking advantage of the situation
Chapter 162 Taking advantage of the situation
Xiao Xia only attended a few basic calligraphy classes at the Imperial College these past two days. To him, lectures by celebrities were too unreal; what he needed was the basics.
After returning from the restaurant, Xiao Xia sat at home and concentrated on practicing calligraphy.
The gift Princess Xiao gave him was a set of top-quality four treasures of the study and a scroll of running script calligraphy. The calligraphy was the Thousand Character Classic in regular and cursive script by Zen Master Zhiyong. Xiao Xia knew that Zen Master Zhiyong had written a total of 800 copies of this calligraphy scroll, and every temple in the Southern Dynasty collected one.
This copy of calligraphy was already a hot item among dignitaries during the Sui Dynasty. The Xiao family gave two copies to Princess Xiao as a dowry, and Yang Guang himself collected three copies. They gave one copy to each of their two sons, and Princess Xiao gave one copy to Xiao Xia, which was a disguised way of acknowledging that Xiao Xia was her husband's son.
Xiao Xia discovered that by breaking through the barriers, not only could his martial arts training advance by leaps and bounds, but his calligraphy training could also be twice as effective with half the effort. He could grasp the subtle details of the brushwork better, and he had only practiced for a few days when he vaguely found the feeling.
At this time, Ah Chu shouted crisply in the yard: "Young Master's brother is here."
Xiao Xia quickly put down his pen and said with a smile: "Please invite him in!"
Soon, Yang Zhao was led in by Ah Chu. Xiao Xia came out and asked with a smile, "Is there another difficult problem?"
"Hey! It's hard to explain. Let's go inside and talk!"
Yang Zhao entered his brother's study and saw the words on the table. He picked them up and looked at them. He was surprised and said, "What a great improvement! It's only been a few months, but it seems like others have practiced for several years."
Xiao Xia laughed and said, "Brother, can't you see that I was copying from a copybook? If you asked me to write without the copybook, I wouldn't be able to write so well."
"When you first start practicing calligraphy, you copy the calligraphy. Once you become proficient, you can put the calligraphy aside."
Yang Zhao sat down and Achu brought him hot tea. Xiao Xia asked Achu to go to the front yard, and only the two brothers were left in the entire backyard.
Yang Zhao took a sip of hot tea and said, "Chen Ye has confessed. Take a look at his confession."
Yang Zhao took out a copy of the confession from his bosom and handed it to Xiao Xia. Xiao Xia read it carefully and said with a smile, "You actually have a Hebei accent? And you live in the old city of Chang'an. What does this mean?"
Yang Zhao smiled bitterly and said, "This shows that the assassin is a remnant of the Northern Qi Dynasty. But the problem is, Chen Shubao was the deposed emperor of the Chen Dynasty. What does he have to do with the Northern Qi Dynasty? There is no connection at all. Why would the remnants of the Northern Qi Dynasty assassinate Chen Shubao? There is no motive, and it doesn't make sense."
"So, big brother thinks this is someone pretending to be the remnant of Hebei?"
Yang Zhao nodded. "It's like an assassin's sword is engraved with the name of a certain royal palace. This is the way a three-year-old child framed someone. If they were really the remnants of the Hebei people, I believe they would never use a Hebei accent. My first reaction was that this was an obvious frame-up, and my father thought so too."
"Since Big Brother has already made his decision, why are you looking for me?"
"Father asked me to come and get your opinion before he reports to the Imperial Grandfather."
Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and said, "The remnants of Northern Qi actually have a motive, which is to deliberately provoke a fight between the princes. Brother, don't you think this case is actually a hidden arrow shot at the prince?"
Yang Zhao nodded, "What you said does make sense. If we rule out the remnants of Northern Qi, then the crown prince is the most suspicious. He reported to his father that Zhang Guo had been killed, and the Jingzhao Prefecture deliberately sabotaged our efforts to solve the case. Even Jingzhao Shaoyin Cui Kai committed suicide by taking poison at noon today. This makes people suspect that the crown prince instructed Cui Kai to do this case, and then put the blame on the remnants of Northern Qi."
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "Let me give you a suggestion! Let Chen Ye commit suicide in the Dali Temple tonight. This way, the prince can't clear himself even if he jumps into the Yellow River."
"Why?" Yang Zhao asked puzzled.
"Because it is impossible for the remnants of Hebei to sneak into the Dali Temple and kill Chen Ye, then we can rule out the remnants of Hebei, and it becomes that someone pretended to be the remnants of Hebei to assassinate Chen Shubao. Because Cui Kai committed suicide, everyone knew that it was the prince who did it."
Xiao Xia paused and laughed again, "You can also say that the prince did a very stupid thing. He interfered with his father's case and got himself involved. It's like he put the blame on himself."
"But Chen Shubao is not an important figure. He is just a deposed emperor. He won't have much influence on the crown prince!"
Xiao Xia said calmly, "The assassination of Chen Shubao itself will not have much impact on the prince, but don't forget Concubine Chen. She will remember the revenge of killing her brother. With her blowing his pillow wind at the critical moment, the prince's position will be a little unstable." Yang Zhao completely understood what his brother meant. He stood up and said, "I understand. I will report to father and tell him my third brother's suggestion. Let father make the decision."
Xiao Xia reminded him again: "Brother, if Chen Ye committed suicide at night, the jailer must suddenly disappear, so that the entire evidence loop can be closed. The disappearance of this jailer must be done by a confidant. In the struggle for imperial power, we must not be merciful and soft-handed, and we must not leave any hidden dangers."
Yang Zhao nodded, "I understand!"
Yang Zhao rushed back to the Prince of Jin's Mansion and found his father Yang Guang. Yang Guang was still waiting for news from Yang Zhao in the official residence. He had already seen the investigation report and was very satisfied with his son's swift and decisive actions, as he had managed to find out the culprit in just one day.
The role played by the third brother Xiao Xia in the case made Yang Guang look at him with new eyes. It seems that there is a reason why his father values the third brother so much.
Yang Guang asked Yang Zhao to talk to Xiao Xia about how to deal with the case.
Yang Zhao bowed and said, "Father, I am back."
"Thank you for your hard work. What does your third brother say?"
Yang Zhao then repeated his third brother's conversation and suggestions to his father.
Yang Guang paced back and forth in the hall, considering the advice given to him by his third son. He had to admit that this was a clever move. His eldest brother would definitely explain to his father again and again that it was not him who did it. Even if his father believed it, Concubine Chen would never believe that it was done by the remnants of the Northern Qi Dynasty. She would definitely think that it was done by his eldest brother, and the hatred between his eldest brother and Concubine Chen for killing his brother would be settled.
Yang Guang decided to adopt his third son's suggestion and kill Chen Ye in the middle of the night, but he didn't need to commit suicide. Poisoning him directly would be more effective.
Yang Guang whispered a few words to Yang Zhao, who nodded repeatedly and decided to take charge of the matter personally.
"Let the third brother help you. He is highly skilled in martial arts. With him around, everything will be safe."
At the first watch, the jailer on duty, Wang Bingqian, was asked to come back as someone was looking for him. He went out for a while and came back soon.
The Chen family gave him fifty taels of silver and asked him to deliver some good wine and food to Chen Ye, who was imprisoned in the death row, at night.
It was said that Chen Shubao was to be buried in the middle of the night, and according to the custom in his hometown, Chen Ye was required to drink and see him off.
Wang Bingqian was willing to help with this small favor for the sake of the money. The key point was that he prepared the wine and food himself and did not bring them in from outside, so there should be no problem.
At three o'clock in the morning, he took advantage of the other two jailers sleeping, and quietly entered Death Cell No. 7 with a pot of wine and some delicious dishes stolen from the kitchen and delivered them to Chen Ye.
Although Chen Ye was salivating over the food and wine, he didn't believe that food and wine could be delivered in the middle of the night.
However, when the host is buried, we do have to drink a farewell glass of wine. This is a custom in the south.
Chen Ye coldly watched Wang Bingqian drink a glass of wine and take a bite of food. Only then did he believe it and immediately finished all the food and wine.
Wang Bingqian walked away with the plate.
After having a good meal and a few drinks, Chen Ye lay down on the broken bed and fell asleep. He didn't know how long he had slept when he suddenly felt someone approaching him. He opened his eyes and saw a tall black shadow in front of him. Chen Ye couldn't move at all and couldn't shout. His mouth was pried open and a small bottle of wine was poured into his mouth.
Suddenly, everything went dark before his eyes and he knew nothing.
(End of this chapter)