Zhou Wang’s expression was unpleasant, and he grew somewhat impatient. “Exactly what explanation does this prince need to give?”
He had never imagined that his daughter could cause such a huge and serious disaster!
How could a person be so absurd?
Such a major incident had just occurred; she had been caught with evidence, demoted to a County Lady, why didn’t she know what it meant to learn from a setback?
When others suffer losses, they know to recuperate and lie low. But she, she couldn’t rein in the reins at all and charged straight toward having the family confiscated!
Extermination of the clan was impossible; after all, their family was part of the imperial clan. But confiscation of property and confinement, that was something that could truly be imposed!
For a moment, Zhou Wang felt his stomach ache.
But Feng Ze coughed lightly and said, “Your Highness, a survivor has also been captured. After interrogation, they confessed they were household slaves of Zhou Wang’s Manor. They had received orders to storm the Eldest Princess’s villa, kill everyone inside, and then disguise it as bandits roaming and committing crimes.”
Zhou Wang nearly fainted.
He had enjoyed glory for so many years and safely passed through the change of imperial succession. Never in his dreams had he imagined that in the end he would still suffer like this.
Dragged down by his wife and daughter to such a state.
He could only frown and take a deep breath. “It was not ordered by this prince. I knew nothing about this matter!”
Feng Ze nodded lightly. “Then it was County Lady Luochuan acting on her own.”
As he spoke, he glanced at Magistrate Wang.
Magistrate Wang coughed lightly from the side. “By the way, Your Highness, there is another person. We don’t know whether you recognize him.”
Zhou Wang truly did not want to hear anything more about this matter, but there was no avoiding it. He suppressed his anger and watched as they carried in a stretcher.
Someone then lifted the white cloth covering it.
A corpse appeared before Zhou Wang.
Zhou Wang stepped forward and raised his brows in slight surprise before asking, “Who is he?”
Feng Ze and Magistrate Wang exchanged a glance, and both asked, “Isn’t this a eunuch from your manor?”
Zhou Wang immediately sensed something strange. He called in the steward at once and said solemnly, “All the eunuchs in our manor were bestowed by the Emperor. Bring the roster and conduct a roll call so the two officials can see whether anyone is missing.”
The steward quickly agreed. In front of Feng Ze and Magistrate Wang, he gathered all the eunuchs and called their names one by one.
After the roll call, indeed no one was missing; the roster and the people matched perfectly.
Then this truly was not a eunuch from Zhou Wang’s Manor.
Feng Ze frowned, momentarily losing direction.
But Magistrate Wang’s heart stirred.
He remembered that it was Qi Yuan who had asked him to bring this eunuch over, there must be a reason for it.
He slowly asked, “Does anyone in your manor recognize this young eunuch?”
Many eunuchs bestowed by the palace had previously served inside the palace.
If they had not left long ago, they might recognize one another.
After all, each year the palace would gift some eunuchs to the imperial princes for service.
This time Zhou Wang was very cooperative.
He also sensed something was wrong. Since this eunuch was not from his manor, why had he died together with County Lady Luochuan at that villa?
Thinking of how County Lady Luochuan had silently stolen his token and gone to gather manpower,
Zhou Wang’s gaze immediately darkened.
Someone had been manipulating things behind the scenes!
He immediately ordered, “Help identify him quickly. Whoever recognizes him will be heavily rewarded!”
If all of this had truly been done by County Lady Luochuan, how could he, as her father, remain uninvolved?
Even if he talked himself hoarse saying the matter had nothing to do with him, who would believe it?
At that time he would inevitably still be implicated.
But if it could be discovered that someone else had been involved with County Lady Luochuan, then the situation would be different.
He suddenly felt nervous and could not help taking a deep breath, anxiously watching those eunuchs step forward to identify the body.
More than a dozen eunuchs went forward in succession, yet not a single one recognized the young eunuch. Zhou Wang immediately became anxious.
After an unknown amount of time, one eunuch suddenly exclaimed softly.
Zhou Wang immediately pressed, “What? Do you recognize him?”
He was even more agitated than Feng Ze and Magistrate Wang beside him.
Magistrate Wang glanced at him before asking, “You recognize him?”
The eunuch stood beside the corpse and hesitated before saying, “This… seems to be… someone who once served together with me in the Eastern Palace, Little Pingzi.”
The Eastern Palace?
Everyone’s hearts jolted violently.
Especially Magistrate Wang, whose heart skipped a beat.
But he quickly calmed down.
Xiao Yunting was in Jiangxi!
How could this matter possibly be related to him?
The Eastern Palace…
He already had an idea.
Zhou Wang also felt a sense of relief.
At the same time, his mood became somewhat complicated.
It was actually someone from the Eastern Palace?
Who was it?!
He thought this for only a moment before immediately realizing he was deceiving himself.
If it was the Eastern Palace, who else could it be?
Among those implicated this time, the one with the most miserable outcome, wasn’t it Song Chang?
Song Chang was the biological father of a favored concubine of the Eastern Palace, and also the maternal uncle of County Prince Nanan.
After the tension passed, anger followed immediately.
So that was it.
Unable to win, having suffered losses, yet not daring to take revenge directly, so they used such a dirty trick, killing with a borrowed knife.
And the knife they borrowed was their Prince’s Manor!
Only a fool like Luochuan would fall for it so easily and become someone else’s weapon!
Feng Ze asked the eunuch, “Are you certain?”
The eunuch looked again for quite a while before nodding firmly. “This servant is certain. It’s Little Pingzi, who served together with me in the palace back then.”
Little Pingzi…
Feng Ze gave a soft acknowledgment, then cupped his hands toward Zhou Wang. “Thank you for your cooperation, Your Highness. Would it be possible for you to go to the yamen to record a statement?”
Zhou Wang narrowed his eyes.
Did he even have the choice to refuse?
If it were another matter, he might have swallowed the grievance and avoided offending County Prince Nanan.
After all, offending County Prince Nanan was essentially the same as offending the Crown Prince.
As long as the Crown Prince was not deposed, he would eventually ascend the throne.
Who would compete against the Crown Prince?
But now, this concerned the life and death of himself and the rest of his family. Even if he did not want to offend anyone, he had no choice.
Thinking of this, he slowly raised his brows and nodded.
Feng Ze immediately stepped aside and led him out.
At this moment, it was not only Zhou Wang who had received the news.
The Eldest Princess had also learned about what happened at the villa.
She exchanged a glance with Lu Mingan, both finding it unbelievable.
Bandits storming the Eldest Princess’s villa, was this like hanging oneself on the birthday star’s rope, thinking one’s life was too long?
Never had they heard of bandits not robbing wealthy common households, but instead targeting imperial relatives!
The Eldest Princess immediately frowned. “No, they were targeting Yuan Jie’er!”
Lu Mingan nodded as well. “Yes, they were targeting Yuan Jie’er.”
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