After rebirth, I made the princes cry

Jiang Tai was not in the ring, but he was also forced into the corner.

He was now feeling rather annoyed that he had underestimated the Left Deputy Envoy of Dong Yu!

Who says that these so-called ladies from wealthy families in Dongyu can only play the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting at most? They are born to be spoiled. Even the sons of noble families are all playboys and the so-called celebrities can only engage in idle discussions and study of metaphysics, not to mention those shallow and ignorant women!

At this moment, Jiang Tai wanted to suddenly kill someone.

But killing people is not difficult. The difficult thing is that killing people will only make the situation worse. If the Ran clan decides to transfer troops from its camp to attack the capital, he has no guarantee of victory. The Ran clan will never give up Jiang Mo. The reason why they are not moving their troops now is simply because he has the abdication edict written by Jiang Xiongying in his hand. Not only does he have the support of powerful officials such as Jiang Baiji, but even the witch officials have surrendered to him. The Ran clan is somewhat fearful and dare not go all out.

If he wants to get rid of the serious threat posed by the Ran clan, he still needs time and, even more importantly, the right opportunity.

Jiang Tai took a deep breath, calmed the anger in his heart, and looked at the Queen Mother: "Mother?"

After all, he was her own son. Queen Mother Yao knew that Jiang Tai had given up his original plan, but she still wanted to struggle. In a hurry, she had to make up another story on the spot: "I did arrange for people to stay at Jiantai, but I did so just in case. After all, the Spirit Tower caught fire, and even I only heard from Your Majesty today about the divine revelation that I knew about the underworld, which turned out to have nothing to do with the peace talks.

This palace suspected Dong Yu had ulterior motives because of the disaster. If that was the case, he would never send the real Lord of Shenyuan Palace as an envoy. This palace had conducted tests before and found out that Deputy Envoy Zuo had actually forged dozens of fat roses in advance, which made this palace more suspicious.

But I never told Mayi to exchange it for Zhigui. As for why this jade pendant appeared in Jiantai, I know nothing about it. If Your Majesty does not believe me, then follow the advice of Princess Zhenyuan and ask her to search the pleasure boat and bring Mayi to Jiantai."

Princess Ran didn't even wait for Jiang Tai's instructions and turned around to take action.

Yingshu knew that Queen Mother Yao would not be so willing to take the blame.

This jade pendant was not the one she gave to Queen Wu. From this point, she could tell the details. Although Queen Mother Yao was also on guard against the fact that the Palace Master would place the real Zhigui on the Jiantai today, she was not sure that the Palace Master would definitely go to the Jiantai again. Since she had forged more than one Zhigui, for the sake of safety, she should have told Mai to act as soon as possible and then act according to circumstances. Therefore, before today, Mai had already replaced it once, and used the fake Zhigui she gave to Queen Wu.

This evening, the Dianjun went up to the terrace again. It was impossible for Mai to follow him, so it was impossible for her to witness that although the Dianjun went up to the third floor, he did not touch the jade pendant in the silver basin at all. After the Dianjun left, Mai went upstairs and replaced it again. In fact, what she replaced was the fake fat rose that she had put in the silver basin.

Therefore, the fake Zhigui that Yingshu gave to Queen Wu is now on Maiyi, or hidden somewhere in the pleasure boat.

Princess Ran will definitely be able to find it.

However, since Mai is the Queen Mother's confidant, she will definitely fight to the end. How long it will take depends on the ability of Princess Ran.

It didn't take Princess Ran long to take Mai upstairs.

"The Queen Mother just said that she didn't tell the maid to replace the Zhigui, but I found two red jade pendants on her body, which were also made of jade tribute from the Kingdom of Kucha, and another red jade pendant... In addition, I directly borrowed your majesty's prestige to force the maid to take out the Zhigui from a secret compartment in the pleasure boat."

Princess Ran handed a rectangular black lacquered wooden box to the prince.

There was a gleam of evil in Queen Mother Yao's eyes. The Zhigui that she had already obtained had returned to the hands of the Lord of Shenyuan Palace!

Jiang Tai was also filled with regret, but after all, things had come to this point and it was useless to be jealous, so he had to make other plans.

"How is this possible?!" Queen Mother Yao had no idea that a gleam of evil was gleaming in her eyes, and she was still pretending: "Maiyi, I only told you to stay at Jiantai to be on guard against any eventuality. How could you have the red pendant made of Kucha tribute that belonged to the Great Emperor? And who asked you to steal the fat rose?!"

Mayi: ...

"You still haven't told me the truth!"

Mai fell to her knees with a thud, shaking like a sieve. After shaking for a while, she responded in a low voice: "Yes... yes... Your Majesty, please forgive me, it's Concubine Wen..."

The Queen Mother heaved a long sigh of relief: I have always thought Mai was smart, that is why I valued her so much. It turned out to be true. I only reminded her that the jade material belonged to the old man Jiang Xiongying, and she immediately thought of framing Wen. Although Zhigui did not succeed, this opportunity was enough to put the bitch Wen to death!

But how could Princess Ran allow the Queen Mother to throw dirty water on Jiang Mo's biological mother? !

Since she got married, her mother-in-law has always loved her very much. Her mother-in-law's first child was a daughter, but unfortunately she died before the age of three. After giving birth to Jiang Mo, she never got pregnant again. Therefore, her mother-in-law loved her like her own daughter. Her mother also died early. Although her stepmother was never mean to her, there was always a gap between them. She never enjoyed maternal love, and it was her mother-in-law's love for her that made up for the loss in her heart. She also regarded her mother-in-law as her biological mother.

Jiang Tai usurped the throne and placed his mother-in-law under house arrest. She tried to stop him, but her mother-in-law persuaded her not to do so.

"The Grand Master is indeed weak. I will not feel at ease if I am not by his side to take care of him. Now that things have come to this, my safety is not important. What is important is that you and Mo'er. Your family must be protected. It is not the right time for the Ran clan to start a rebellion. We must mediate with Jiang Tai and make long-term plans. We cannot have a conflict with him over such a small matter."

Princess Ran knew that Queen Mother Yao had been looking for an opportunity to kill her mother-in-law, and she couldn't let her succeed.

"You said it was the Concubine Dowager who ordered you to steal the Zhigui?" Princess Ran sneered, "The Concubine Dowager is now in Rongsui Palace to take care of the sick and has not left the palace. How could she possibly order you to steal the Zhigui?!"

"I, I, I have always obeyed the orders of the Concubine Dowager... Queen Dowager, please forgive me, I have no choice but to do so. My parents and family have been controlled by the Concubine Dowager for a long time. On the day of the Heavenly Wine Festival, the Concubine Dowager attended and met with me in secret. I reported what happened during this period to the Concubine Dowager, and she ordered me to steal the fat rose so that she could put the blame on the Queen Dowager."

The Queen Mother raised her brows and said, "No wonder, no wonder you instigated me to arrange for you to stay at Jiantai."

Princess Ran was filled with grief and indignation when she heard the master and servant singing the same tune. She was about to scold them, but Ying Shu said, "Don't worry, Princess. I have evidence to prove that this palace maid is slandering you."

"Deputy Envoy Left, you have repeatedly interfered in my internal affairs. Could it be that you have colluded with Concubine Wen and intended to frame me?!" Queen Mother Yao was also filled with grief and indignation.

This witch, it's fine that she took Zhigui from me, but she even thought about exonerating Wen! Your Majesty should not have believed the sweet words of Jiang Gaofan, the Han traitor. Dongyu is nothing. As long as we send troops to seize Yizhou first, it will be easy to take Jiangzhou. With Jiangzhou in hand, are we afraid that the Daqiang cavalry can't cross the so-called natural barrier? !

"The person who intended to steal the Zhigui was definitely not Concubine Wen. Since there are people with ulterior motives who intend to slander our dynasty and violate the etiquette of diplomatic relations, foreign ministers should ask the King of Northern Han to thoroughly investigate the truth and give an explanation. How can this be considered interfering in your country's internal affairs?"

Yingshu really didn't care about Concubine Wen's safety, but Princess Ran was her temporary ally. Although she was not a firm ally, since Princess Ran wanted to protect Concubine Wen, she certainly would not stand idly by.

"Your Majesty, there is no need to waste your words. Why don't you first listen to what evidence I have?"

Jiang Tai didn't take Wen seriously at all. What made him even more anxious was that the original plan had been thwarted and failed. What else could he do to make up for it? Now that his side was in the wrong, the Queen Mother still refused to give up and kept biting the envoy of Dongyu. Jiang Tai was also quite impatient: "Deputy Envoy Zuo, what evidence do you have?"

"Your Majesty, aren't you curious about why three jade pendants were found on this palace maid named Mayi? Two of them have provenances, made as tributes from the Kingdom of Kucha, but where did the other one come from?" Ying Shu did not force Jiang Tai to respond, and continued, "In fact, that jade pendant was one of the dozens of fat jades forged by foreign officials. That is, the so-called fat jade that the prince placed on the Jiantai three days ago. Although it is also made of red jade, a palace maid cannot tell the quality of the jade, but Princess Ran has just seen that it is completely different from the best rouge jade."

Yingshu didn't even need to look closely. She picked out a jade pendant and leaned forward to push it in front of Jiang Tai.

Jiang Tai couldn't help but pick up the jade pendant and examine it carefully.

He couldn't see any difference.

“Although this red jade pendant is gorgeous and translucent, it has some spots on it,” Princess Ran explained coldly.

"But what does this prove?" Jiang Tai put down the jade pendant. "Since the Left Deputy Envoy had been suspicious for a long time and waited until this evening to let the Palace Master place the real Zhigui on the stage, Maiyi had at most been replaced once before today. Such evidence is not enough to prove that Maiyi did not follow the instructions of Concubine Wen, right?"

"Your Majesty, I have already taken precautions and laid the bait. If so, I will of course inform you of the plan in advance. Besides the different materials, this jade pendant has more obvious differences. I'd like you to explain this to your Majesty in person."

The Lord of Shenyuan Palace was watching the show with great gusto, and almost forgot that he had a part to play. Suddenly, he was about to go on stage, trying hard to replicate Yingshu's thunderous expression with a gloomy face: "The hanging rope knot is different. The hanging rope knot of this red jade pendant was made by me. The gold thread is only single-stranded, not double-stranded."

"Therefore, the jade pendant placed on the Jiantai three days ago has been replaced. Your Majesty can tell it clearly at a glance. Since you know that there is a 'thief' hiding in the Jiantai as I expected, would you still place the real Zhigui on the Jiantai? In this regard, do you think what I said is reasonable?"

Jiang Tai nodded.

"After Your Majesty discovered that the jade pendant had been tampered with, there was no need to leave the real Zhigui on Jiantai, let alone to exchange it for a fake one. This is what I have concluded. Do you agree, Your Majesty?"

Jiang Tai had no choice but to continue nodding.

Queen Mother Yao was the first to react and said in a lost voice, "Wang Yingshu, are you saying that the fat rose in the box is also fake?"

"Yes, this is the jade pendant that Mai herself placed in the silver basin. Logically, it should be a tribute from the Kingdom of Qiuci, but it is not. So where did this jade pendant come from?"

Yingshu opened the wooden box and took out the teardrop-shaped jade pendant from the box.

It is crystal clear and rich red, just like the tribute from the Kingdom of Kucha, and the knot on the hanging rope is made of double-strand gold thread.

"How is this different from the tribute from the Kingdom of Kucha?" The person who seemed to be asking the question subconsciously was Princess Ran.

She really didn't see the difference.

"Maiyi, where did the jade pendant that you exchanged for the jade pendant in the silver basin for the first time come from, and who gave it to you?" Yingshu asked in a soft voice.

Mai was still shocked by the jade pendant, which was not Zhigui at all, but the object she had placed in the silver basin with her own hands. Her mind was buzzing with frustration, anxiety, and all kinds of emotions, like magma erupting and then rapidly cooling down, blocking her brain and causing her tendons and veins to swell and ache sharply. How could she realize that the soft-spoken question was actually a fatal trap.

"It was given to me by Concubine Wen."

"It is impossible for Concubine Wen to give this to you." Ying Shu showed an increasingly amiable smile, "Because this is the fat rose I gave to Queen Wu. You first exchanged it for the jade pendant in the silver basin, and then you exchanged it for the tribute from Kucha, and put it in a black lacquered wooden box as the fat rose, and hid it in the secret compartment of the pleasure boat."

Empress Dowager Yao's anxiety, anger, and astonishment, all expressions froze on her face in an instant.

"No matter what, there is no way that Queen Wu could collude with Concubine Wen to frame the Queen Mother together, right?" Ying Shu looked at Jiang Tai.

"Wang Yingshu, the Zhigui that you gave to the Queen to look after has clearly been returned to you by the Queen! How dare you still attempt to..."

"This thing is actually not a jade pendant at all." Ying Shu smiled: "From the beginning, what I gave to the queen was not a jade pendant, but something I made myself. If the queen mother doesn't believe it, you can pour some of this stuff on the brocade or silk handkerchief you carry with you."

Yingshu took out a long and thin porcelain bottle from her sleeve as if performing a magic trick: "Wet the brocade handkerchief and wipe the jade pendant. After a while, the so-called jade pendant will reveal its true appearance."

The Queen Mother did not give up, holding on to a glimmer of hope, firmly believing that Ying Shu was playing tricks, and actually verified it with her own hands. She gritted her teeth and wiped the jade pendant in her hand, thinking to herself: The witch despised me too much. If I really couldn't even tell whether it was a jade pendant or not, how could I be willing to carve that rare piece of jade into a jade pendant! Isn't it just because I'm worried that if the jade quality is not up to standard, it will be discovered!

But as she was wiping, the Queen Mother threw the jade pendant on the table in shock.

Half of the jade pendant had turned white, like the pale sky revealed after the morning glow dissipated.

"This is made of fish brain jelly. There is a set of tea sets made of fish brain jelly in Baoguang Palace. I wonder if it is one of the princess's old things?" Yingshu actually started chatting with Princess Ran.

Princess Ran was now completely relieved: "It is indeed my old stuff. I have many sets of tea sets made of fish brain jelly. I probably didn't take time to pack them up and left them in Baoguang Palace. Could it be that Deputy Envoy Zuo dyed the fish brain jelly into the so-called fat rose?"

"That's right. Although the dyeing process is extremely complicated and not well known to the world, I have been fond of reading miscellaneous books since I was young. I learned how to dye jade from a book on magic. If the princess is curious, I will tell her the method in detail someday and she can give it a try."

Queen Mother Yao turned a deaf ear to the idle chatter and kept muttering, "It must be this monster. It can make any jade fade."

While muttering to herself, she grabbed the Kucha jade pendant and rubbed it vigorously with a silk handkerchief.

"Queen Mother, this is not a demon. It is similar to strong liquor, not just ordinary strong, so strong that it cannot be drunk at all. Strong liquor can only fade the color. Natural red jade will not fade no matter how hard you wipe it, even for thousands or hundreds of years."

Yingshu kindly reminded Empress Dowager Yao that she didn't need to waste her energy and should be careful not to hurt her hands.