Real Empress from a noble family

Chapter 319 Choose the Right Side to Save Life in the Key Moment

Just when Empress Dowager's party finally had a win, Marquess Qin who was resting his eyes quietly said, "Everyone knows Western Army is an elite troop. You can't blame it all on the guards of the mausoleum!"

Cao Zizhong and others weren't so bright. Otherwise, they wouldn't be sent to guard the mausoleum. But when it came to their lives and their families, people would be brighter than usual. Hearing this, they immediately admitted, "Marquess Qin really knows better! The Western Army was indeed brave and strong. We're no match to its soldiers!"

After he said that, the whole room burst into an uproar.

Qiu Dian's face turned red. For a job like guarding the mausoleum, if they did well, they wouldn't get rewarded. But if accidents happened, like this one, they wouldn't end well. Therefore, anyone with some connections or backgrounds would try their best to avoid this job. Those who had to do this were without either backgrounds or abilities. Even if they had abilities, they surely offended those whom they shouldn't.

Since Cao Zizhong was in this position, he was easy to be bullied by Qiu Dian, an important member of Empress Dowager's party.

Qiu Dian needed to clear the name of the Kuang Family and use it against the Empress's party. He didn't care about sacrificing this insignificant person. Yet Marquess Qin took the chance and coaxed Cao Zizhong into his side with one sentence!

To survive, Cao Zizhong and others were heavily reliant upon Marquess Qin. Under the stimulus of the will to live, his ideas flowed like a river, "Marquess Qin is indeed brilliant! In fact, what I just said was not true. The truth is that last time when the Western Army escorted the Young Prince of Marquess Zhang to Jing City, they left some men behind to raid Emperor's mausoleum at night and dig the tomb of General of Warrior!"

Empress Dowager Gu wanted to walk down and choke him to death, "How dare you! Slandering Marquess beneath the gaze of so many eyes! I think you're bought off by the western savages to frame the Kuang Family and the Western Army so that you can sway soldiers fighting in the front lines! How crazy such a man is! Why couldn't we kill him to calm the anger of the public? Someone! Get him…"

"Why are you in such a hurry, mother?" Empress Jiang surely needed to appear to stop her. She laughed coldly and interrupted Empress Dowager Gu. She glanced around at the officials and spoke loudly, "I think Cao Zizhong is an honest man! He's the guard of the mausoleum and takes responsibility for it. There are still some days before the day of sacrifice. If he were a treacherous man, he could just hide this incident and secretly fix the tomb. After all, when Ruan Qingyan comes back, he surely won't open the tomb to check what's missing. Maybe he'll be grateful to see a new tomb!"

"But now he has noticed something wrong, he comes back to Jing City and confesses. He's clearly an honest man and he won't lie!"

Empress Dowager Gu stared at Empress Jiang with anger, "Then didn't he just say he had caught some thieves? How come they turned into soldiers of the Western Army raiding the tomb? He changed his story so willfully, but you should still say he's honest!" Empress Dowager Gu thought, "You're just shameless!"

Empress Jiang wasn't afraid, "We're fighting at the western border and Western Army is the main force there. Thinking about the bigger picture, Cao Zizhong had to cover up it for them, in case someone might use this to sway the army! Maybe he planned to report this when there were fewer people! Yet you wanted to execute him without getting the story straight. If anything happens to him and he's dragged down, he won't get the chance to tell the truth. This would be a huge disaster for our country! That's why he must tell us the truth! How can you say his speech is willful nonsense? This is surely to adapt to the changing circumstances!"

Since the Empress started this, the Empress's party naturally followed up. They had a lively discussion, praising the honesty and loyalty of Cao Zizhong while also slandering the Kuang Family again and again. It was clear that they wanted to pin this on the Kuang Family!

How would Empress Dowager Gu admit that? On the one hand, she accused Cao Zizhong of lying and Empress Jiang of not knowing what was going on. On the other hand, she tried to let Xue Chang help her with the war against the western savages. But after a long conversation, before the two parties were about to hit each other, Xue Chang finally stood out, "What we have heard all comes from Cao Zizhong alone. We can send someone to the Emperor's mausoleum to investigate. We need to understand what really happened before reaching a conclusion!"

He also reminded, "General of Warrior was buried with the Emperor. If something happened to his tomb, what about the Emperor's mausoleum?"

"What Prime Minister Xue has said makes great sense!" Empress Dowager Gu kept a straight face and immediately asked to send someone to Emperor's mausoleum. Empress Jiang surely didn't agree to just send one person out. The key point was that people sent out couldn't belong to Empress Dowager's party only! And then after another long argument, they each picked two people. Xue Chang said that since he was the Premier, he couldn't just stand by and do nothing about such a big matter, so he recommended Cheng Jin from Hanlin Academy to go with them!

After they finally decided on the people who went to investigate, it was alright midnight. But when the Empress's party went back to the study of Marquess Qin, they were still very energetic. Jiang Tianqi and Jiang Tiancan who had weaker willpower almost burst into laughter. Xue Chang was a great help! Once the Jiang Family received the news that General Ruan's tomb was dug, they would send someone out to set it up.

It was even before the servants from the Palace came to call them in!

Empress Dowager Gu received the news roughly the same time as the Jiang Family, but the Jiang Family didn't think Empress Dowager Gu could win them on this because Cao Zizhong was on their side!

"Send enough men to protect him!" Marquess Qin ordered, "Empress Dowager will never admit that the soldiers from Western Army have entered Emperor's mausoleum to dig the tomb. We can rely on him then!"

Jiang Tianao reassured him with a smile, "I had someone on that before we entered the Mansion!"

Jiang Tianqi loved to put a damper on him, so he immediately continued, "You need to teach him what to say as well. Our stories need to match!"

"Yes, of course. But he could take the chance that our second uncle gave him. He surely has a quick wit." Speaking of intelligence or plotting, Jiang Tianao was at the same level as Tang Zimo. They were both beneath Xue Chang, but Jiang Tianao was smarter than his cousin Jiang Tianqi. Jiang Tianao said calmly at this moment, "This is about his family's lives and future. He'll care about it more than us! Please rest assured. There won't be a problem!"

"I hope so!" Jiang Tianqi failed to pick on him and actually gave him a chance to show how considerate he was. Unhappily, he turned his head away.

Sir Jibei glanced at Marquess Qin helplessly. The latter frowned and changed his expression back to normal presently as if he didn't hear their dispute. He said slowly, "Alright, back to business. Did you guys dig up the tomb of General of Warrior?"

Upon hearing his question, everyone in the study looked at each other, speechlessly for a moment. And then they all shook their head, "Absolutely not!"

"This is such a heinous move. We're all above that."

"Right. We also start out as a family of martial arts. Even though we didn't really know General Ruan, we never had any grudges. Last year, we became relatives by marriage. Qiu Jinglan is still using the name of Ruan Qingyan and fighting in Shazhou. How would we disturb the peace of his elders?!"

The Empress's party was arrogant, but digging up someone's tomb was not just a simple matter. They would become enemies for generations! Besides, it was the tomb of their ally. Even if it was a ruse, no one would go that crazy. This would mean becoming enemies of the three younger generations of the Ruan Family!

There were only three young people in the Ruan Family. Ruan Ciyi could be ignored to some extent. But those siblings who were actually the Qiu Family's blood were ferocious. Not to mention the brother, not only did the Jiang Family value him more than their own children, but his teacher Xue Chang was also his great support! Besides, with his talent and shrewdness, as long as he survived, he would be a powerful official who would be of great importance!

The sister was a woman, yet she could force her uncle's mother who took the title of Princess to death and didn't bury her in the family cemetery. Even her uncle and aunt had been ashamed for several days. Could she be seen as a normal woman?

Let alone how well she was married, she was the wife of the grandson that Marquess Qin liked and valued most! She would be the lady of the house for the Northern Army! And no one didn't know that Jiang Yashuang adored her so much that he didn't even have a mistress-maid?

As long as the Empress's party hadn't all gone crazy, they wouldn't think about touching the tomb of General Ruan! They would rather have their own fathers target the sedans or carriages of Empress Dowager's party to cause small accidents than offend the tomb of General Ruan!

Marquess Qin knew that these people wouldn't go that far. But the question was that if not them, who? It couldn't really be the thieves who craved the treasures buried with General Ruan. Firstly, these people wouldn't dare to go to Emperor's mausoleum. Secondly, that person who was killed by the guards was actually the bodyguard of Marquess Zhang's Mansion!

The person liked to gamble. Because Kuang Shihan and his son weren't in Jing City and the Kuang Family's wives and Princess Changping all had their own mansions. There was no master in Marquess Zhang's Mansion, so the rule was quite lax among servants. It was said that this person often went out to gamble for days and then came back to his duty.

Thus, when this incident happened, Marquess Zhang's Mansion didn't know anything. They just thought he went somewhere to gamble again!

So this definitely had something to do with the Kuang Family. It was clear that the Kuang Family was targeted!

Marquess Qin frowned. He left this topic aside and made some arrangements about this sudden incident. Afterward, he sent everyone out except for Jiang Yashuang. He asked Jiang Yashuang seriously, "Did you do this?"

Jiang Yashuang almost puked blood, "Grandpa, I know we can't be too soft. But I do know…"

"Then did your wife do it?" Marquess Qin calmly followed up, not in a mood to listen up.

"How's that possible?!" Jiang Yashuang felt unbelievable, "When my father-in-law died, Ningyi was still a baby! Then her brother faked his death and left. It was my mother-in-law and her grandfather who took care of her. Even if she wanted to release the burden of her brother, she wouldn't be so disrespectful to her grandfather!"

In fact, Marquess Qin also felt that this was not very likely. But according to the universal rule, Qiu Yelan was the most suspicious, "The thief that was killed by the guard was indeed the bodyguard of Marquess Zhang's Mansion. This is clearly a set-up for the Kuang Family! Besides us, it is your wife and her brother who hold the biggest grudge against the Kuang Family. You have seen it just now. None of our people admitted to doing this. I do believe that! After all, we hold grudges against the Kuang Family because of serious business. We wouldn't go so far! But your wife and her brother have more personal grudges, which can't be easily resolved. Now that Qiu Jinglan is not in Jing City and he can barely cope with what's happening in Shazhou, it won't be him. The young lady of the Ruan Family is a normal woman. She can't do something like this, so she's been ruled out! Then, it's only your wife!"

Jiang Yashuang frowned, "Your speculation seems possible, but did you forget that Qiu Jinglan has Tianya, yet Ningyi was not involved? Even if Ningyi was involved privately, now Tianya is no longer doing business. Focusing all power in Shazhou, how could they get enough men for Ningyi to do this? Besides, with the relationship between Ningyi and her grandfather, do you think anyone in Tianya will take this order? Even if they are taking Ningyi's order temporarily, they are basically loyal to Qiu Jinglan. How dare they do such a treacherous thing without his permission? How could Ningyi get so many people to do this? No matter how weak the guards in the mausoleum are, they are an imperial army. She couldn't just find some random men to do this!"

Marquess Qin fell silent for a while and said, "Right. Your wife seems possible to do so, but actually she can't. Yet the reality is that the tomb is opened and one person died!"

"Could it be some old followers of the Ruan Family?" Jiang Yashuang thought for a while and said, "General Ruan did run a tight ship in the army, but he also was merciful and grateful. Because of Empress Dowager Gu, no one talked about General Ruan after Kuang Shihan took the position. However, there may still be people missing him. Now seeing Qiu Jinglan in Shazhou, they are worried that something might happen to him, so they made a desperate move."

Marquess Qin thought for a long time and nodded, "If they don't mean any harm to us, then we'll just leave it at that. But…" He paused for a while, "Go home and explain this to your wife properly! We don't know who did this. We can't let our guard down!"

Jiang Yashuang said respectfully, "Yes!"

But when he came back home, he didn't find his wife. Qiu Yelan wasn't even at home. After she received the news, she went to the Li Family to check on Ruan Ciyi!