Transmigrating to the Qi Family - Chapter 209

In the evening, the two return to the Duke of Zhongguo’s Mansion. After sitting in the room for a while, Pei Che gets up and goes to the study. Jiang Miao chats with the two children for a bit before heading back to the room, only to find it empty. He then goes to the study to look for Pei Che.

“Why are you pulling everything out? What are you looking for?” Jiang Miao asks, noticing the table covered with scattered papers. These are all the testimonies and clues they have gathered during their lengthy investigation. Every sheet of paper contains information they have reviewed countless times, leaving almost no details unexamined.

Pei Che stares at the contents on the paper, never moving his eyes away. He replies, “I just feel something is off. I want to take another look at what they said back then.”

Jiang Miao observes him for a moment and then hesitantly asks, “Are you still thinking about what happened earlier today? You’re not seriously suspecting the Fourth Prince ordered someone to do it, right?”

Pei Che’s gaze shifts downward, lingering somewhere indeterminate. After a long silence, he finally says, “I’m not sure.”

The information they uncover today is utterly baffling, leaving him unsure how to process it. To dismiss it entirely seems insincere, yet to believe it outright doesn’t make sense either. After all, in terms of motive or other factors, the Fourth Prince has no reason to do such a thing.

“True,” Jiang Miao sighs. “I never thought all our investigations would lead to this result. But now that I think about it, everyone says your father was on good terms with the Fourth Prince. Logically, he should have been closely connected with the Duke’s residence, but I’ve never seen him, not even once. Uh… is he still alive?” Jiang Miao belatedly realizes that the Fourth Prince was on the losing side of the imperial succession struggle and suddenly feels a little embarrassed.

Pei Che, seeing Jiang Miao’s embarrassed expression, can’t help but smile. “Of course, he’s still alive. The Liang Dynasty’s royal family has a sparse lineage. Unless someone starts a coup during the succession or commits atrocities like patricide or fratricide, they’re usually titled as idle princes. They’re barred from court politics and confined to Liangjing for life. Aside from that, their treatment remains the same to showcase the emperor’s benevolence. For instance, the Fourth Prince is given the title of Prince An, symbolizing his obligation to stay ‘peaceful and compliant.'”

Tsk, Prince An—how ironic!

Jiang Miao thinks that for some defeated individuals, being eliminated outright might be preferable to being kept alive in such “comfort.”

“When my parents first met with the accident, he often visited our residence,” Pei Che says. “Later, as his influence was gradually dismantled by the current emperor, he stopped coming around. However, he once wrote a letter to my maternal grandfather, saying that he knows he had no chance of ascending the throne. To avoid arousing suspicion in the new emperor and implicating our family, he had no choice but to distance himself.”

Pei Che feels a bit moved at the time—no wonder his father is on such good terms with Prince An. However, Pei Che believes one should act openly and with integrity. After his mourning period, he personally visits Prince An, but each time, the prince hastily takes his leave. After a number of such visits, Pei Che understands the prince’s intentions and stops visiting.

Pei Che lets out a self-deprecating laugh. He realizes he has fallen into the trap of “suspecting his neighbor of stealing the axe.” With preconceived notions now firmly rooted, even past events seem to take on new and suspicious meanings.

Though his mind races, his hands don’t stop working. He continues sifting through the papers until he comes across the testimony of Zhu Tonghai—once known as Master Wuming. Pei Che pauses, pulls out the document, and examines it closely.

Jiang Miao, not understanding his intentions, leans in to look but finds nothing unusual. The paper contains no additional words; the content is exactly the same as before.

“Ah Miao, look at what he says here,” Pei Che points to a specific line on the paper and has Jiang Miao read it.

“The man in black scolded me for being foolish, saying it wasn’t poison but merely some powder to induce diarrhea when added to their food. What’s strange about this?” Jiang Miao reads the line aloud but can’t figure out why Pei Che wants him to focus on it.

“Now look at this part,” Pei Che says, pointing to another line.

Jiang Miao reads again, “I took the powder down the mountain to inquire, and the doctor at the clinic says it was croton powder. Uh… is there a problem with this?”

Pei Che then points to the final part. “And this,” he says.

Jiang Miao continues, “I asked the man in black if it would harm anyone’s life, and he said it would only cause a false alarm. From these three statements, what conclusion can you draw?”

Jiang Miao suddenly feels a chill and an odd sense of being questioned by a literature teacher. After thinking for a moment, he tentatively replies, “It seems like the man in black wasn’t trying to kill anyone—just trying to… scare them?”

Seeing Pei Che’s approving eyes, Jiang Miao breathes a sigh of relief. However, he adds, “Didn’t Wuming later said that he didn’t expect the man in black to deceive him?”

“Right. After learning about my father and the others’ deaths, Wuming concluded that the man in black lied to him. But why would the man in black deceive him?”

Jiang Miao responds, “Because he feared that if he told the truth, Wuming wouldn’t cooperate, so he lied.”

Pei Che shakes his head. “The first time, when the powder was used, you could argue he lied out of fear Wuming wouldn’t cooperate. But during the second incident, his plan no longer required Wuming. Why would he go to the trouble of lying again?”

Jiang Miao hesitates and says, “Maybe… he’s afraid Wuming might suddenly have a change of heart and report him?”

“Not so,” Pei Che says. “By this point, Wuming was already tied to him, both on the same rope. Wuming’s question was merely a way to escape the guilt he felt in his heart. Do you think the man in black said those words to comfort him?”

“How could the man in black be that kind-hearted?” Jiang Miao shakes his head. “So, in that case, the man in black didn’t lie. But if that’s true, why did your parents still end up dead?”

Sadness fills Pei Che’s eyes as he slowly replies, “I suspect… it’s an accident.”

“Are you sick? We’ve been investigating for so long and are so close to identifying the culprit, and now you’re saying it was an accident?” Jiang Miao thinks to himself: Could Pei Che be unwilling to continue the investigation because he can’t bear the idea that the culprit might be Prince An, someone who once had close ties with his father? But then again, when they suspected the emperor, Pei Che didn’t hesitate to dig deeper.

Pei Che looks at Jiang Miao, his expression resolute. “Yes, it was an accident. But not a natural disaster—this was man-made.”

“Stop, stop, stop!” Jiang Miao presses his hand to his forehead. “I’m lost here. First, you say it was a natural disaster, then you say it was man-made, and now you’re calling it an accident. What on earth are you talking about?”

Pei Che pulls him over to sit down, pours him a cup of warm tea, and says, “Have some tea first. Let me explain slowly.”

“The events of that year likely involved two groups. One group was sent by the imperial consort, Xian Fei, to negotiate, and if that failed, to silence them and sever one of the Fourth Prince’s key allies. The other group was sent by the Fourth Prince himself—not to kill, but to frame someone.”

Jiang Miao’s eyes widen, and a sudden thought flashes through his mind, but he doesn’t have time to fully process it. He just urges, “Go on.”

“From Wuming’s testimony, it was clear that the man in black didn’t aim to silence anyone. His goal was to cause trouble for my father and his group, creating misunderstandings between them and certain individuals. I believe that if my father and the others had been affected by the laxative powder the first time, their investigation would have led them to believe it was someone from Consort Fei’s faction. That would have made my father think that the Third Prince was targeting them, which would have forced him to align with the Fourth Prince for self-preservation.”

“They want to ‘catch the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind’—to manipulate misunderstandings and reap the benefits from the shadows?” Jiang Miao suddenly understands. “Because the Fourth Prince knew your father wanted to stay out of court politics, he devised this method to tie them together. Your father was well-respected, favored by the late emperor, and backed by the Duke of Zhongguo’s residence and the Feng family. If he supported the Fourth Prince, it would be a tremendous boost to the Fourth Prince’s fight for the throne.”

“Exactly. That was their plan. But because of the heavy rain that day, the tree they cut down happened to knock the carriage down the mountain, resulting in that tragedy. I think their original intention was to cut down the tree to block the path, then stage an attack posing as the Third Prince’s men, pretending to be overwhelmed and flee. This would have made my father more vigilant as he continued toward Shuibo County. If they encountered assassins sent by Consort Xian, they would have tried to capture them alive and extract information about their mastermind.”

“A clever plan to kill two birds with one stone. But what you’re saying is just speculation. While it sounds plausible, it might not necessarily be the case, right?” Jiang Miao is somewhat convinced but feels uneasy without solid proof.

“You’re right,” Pei Che says. “Still, there’s one question I’ve never been able to figure out.”

“What question?”

“The tree that fell back then.”

“The tree?”

“Yes, that tree,” Pei Che explains. “If someone truly wanted to knock the carriage off the road, why go to the trouble of cutting down a tree? They could have used rolling stones, set traps along the way—there were plenty of easier methods. Why go through the painstaking effort of chopping down a tree? And not just one tree—there were knife marks on other nearby trees as well. These marks were so conspicuous it’s as if they were left intentionally to be noticed.”

“But didn’t they find nothing at the time?”

“At the time, the incident happened so suddenly. When the guards discovered the carriage had fallen off the cliff, their first reaction was to locate the carriage. No one thought to investigate the area above. And since there was no ambush after the fall, they assumed it was an accident and didn’t consider foul play. As for the Duke’s household, my grandfather fell ill as soon as he heard the news, and my grandmother was overwhelmed with grief. I was still a child, too young to think about such things. By the time my maternal grandfather sent someone to investigate, a long time had passed. Even if someone happened to notice the marks on the tree, they likely assumed it was the work of a local woodcutter and did not suspect foul play.”

Jiang Miao lets out a deep sigh. “When you put it that way, it does make sense.”

“As you said earlier, it’s all just my speculation. We’ll only know the truth tomorrow.”

“You plan to confront Prince An directly, don’t you?” Jiang Miao immediately understands what Pei Che means.

Pei Che doesn’t deny it. “Regardless of the outcome, I must see this through. Cheng Kaihua is one of his men—that much is certain.”

“I’ll go with you tomorrow. We should bring more people, just in case someone becomes desperate and resorts to violence. His family still has two children, and if things go wrong, they’ll be the ones who suffer the most.”

“Ah Miao, just wait at home for news,” Pei Che says. He doesn’t want Jiang Miao to go. If things turn violent, swords and knives won’t discriminate, and injuries will be hard to avoid.

“Are you treating me like an outsider? If I don’t go, then neither will you.” Jiang Miao is furious.

Pei Che has no choice but to agree to let Jiang Miao accompany him the next day.