Chapter 299 - Yuwen Zhis Scheme (1/2)

At the mention of Yuwen Zhi’s name, Yuwen Tong’s face darkened somewhat. Ling Zhang inwardly heaved a sigh. If truth be told, he was really baffled as to what Yuwen Zhi was thinking exactly.

“Fortunately you and he have gone your separate ways. Given his relations with the King Duan, some day he’ll get himself into some serious trouble,” observed Ling Zhang.

At the same time he was also a trifle bemused. A man as patronizing as Yuwen Zhi had actually deigned to do the King Duan’s bidding?

“What on earth does he see in the King Duan?”

“It’s definitely about the reward he’d get after helping the King Duan take the throne, but he has some other ulterior motives which I can’t be certain about for the moment.”

The reward he’d get after helping the King Duan take the throne? Was Yuwen Zhi really so sure that the King Duan would be able to ascend the throne? It was only too obvious that the emperor held the Crown Prince in high regard. If the King Duan was to accede to the throne, the Crown Prince would be the first rival he had to confound. What made Yuwen Zhi think the King Duan was able to take the Crown Prince’s place? The Crown Prince had as much as, if not more than, what the King Duan had at his disposal. The Gu family alone was an obstacle daunting enough, not to mention the Crown Prince was the rightful heir to the throne and also valued very much by the emperor. There were a great number of officials, both inside and outside the imperial court, that were on the Crown Prince’s side. Once Yuwen Zhi aligned himself with the King Duan, he would have to get through all these hurdles.

Ling Zhang was also inclined to believe that Yuwen Tong was right, that Yuwen Zhi had some ulterior motives.

“Do you know something about it, by any chance?” Ling Zhang inquired of him.

Yuwen Tong slightly shook his head. “I’m still waiting for the result of my men’s investigation. When it comes out, the whole thing will come to light.”

…

That very night, Yao Yi brought back a message from a contact in the imperial palace.

Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong had already turned in. In the normal run of things, Yao Yi wouldn’t disturb them if it wasn’t about something important. As a result, when Yuwen Tong got up, Ling Zhang also sat up and asked worriedly, “Did anything happen?”

Seeing his drowsy eyes, Yuwen Tong replied, “You may go back to sleep. I’ll go and see.”

Ling Zhang shook his head, crawled out of bed, carelessly put on his overgarment and fastened it. “I want to hear it as well.”

Yuwen Tong reached out his hand to help him adjust his clothes, unfastened his carelessly fastened overgarment to refasten it properly, and then took him out of the bedroom.Visit website ReadNovelFull.com

Yuwen Tong glanced at Yao Yi. “What is it?”

“Marshal, there’s a message from the palace. That imperial concubine is indeed up to something big. She has a son.”

A son?! Yuwen Tong who was sitting down paused to look at him. “Are you sure that’s her son?”

“Our contact in the palace was also afraid to make a mistake, so he checked it several times and is positive that that boy is indeed her son. He also found a window of opportunity, sneaked in and felt that boy’s bones to verify his bone age. He was born in the same year that imperial concubine was sent to the cold palace. Currently, the only thing remaining to be ascertained is whether that boy is an illegitimate child or an accidentally conceived prince.”

At first Ling Zhang couldn’t quite understand, but after hearing this, he fathomed out half of it – there was an imperial concubine in the cold palace who had a son that was either an illegitimate child or a prince, but he was confused as to why Yuwen Tong was having his men look into this matter.

“She was still in the emperor’s good graces shortly before being sentenced to imprisonment in the cold palace, and there was no news of her pregnancy at that time, but it’s almost impossible for an imperial concubine to give birth to a child in the cold palace without being found out by anybody, so the emperor probably knows about it. If the boy is not his son, he would’ve long since had the concubine and the boy executed. Therefore, the greatest probability is that the boy is a prince who is imprisoned in the cold palace along with his mother by the emperor.

And this corresponds with the information that our contact in the palace acquired after some inquiries. It’s said that that imperial concubine’s house in the cold palace has been haunted from the first day she moved into it. n.o.body dares approach it except for a palacemaid serving her. On top of that, that house is the most isolated spot in the cold palace from where ghostly wails emanate every once in a while at night, so hardly anybody dares get close to that area, and almost everybody in the cold palace knows that place is haunted. It’s been so many years and people there have started to call that imperial concubine ‘Banshee’, which makes her even scarier.”

“The ghostly wail is just a smokescreen. Barely anybody in the cold palace has knowledge that there’s a boy in that house, I suppose?” said Ling Zhang.

Yao Yi nodded. “Indeed, which is why n.o.body thought of this possibility in the beginning. Our contact in the palace had also heard of the haunted house before, but as there were stories about ghosts in the cold palace in all previous dynasties, he’d never gone there to verify it, which was why today’s investigation took some doing.”

Yuwen Tong instructed, “Tell our contact there to keep close watch on her and be careful not to blow his cover.”

“Yes, Marshal.”

“Now that we know whom he’s been in contact with, our next step should be to figure out a way to find out what he’s been up to. Try to get that old servant talking. Given that this person has been delivering messages for Yuwen Zhi for such a long time, he definitely has some inside information. Let Xie s.h.i.+ handle it. Tell him to take it easy and not to kill that servant lest Yuwen Zhi be alarmed.”

“Yes, Marshal.”

“Go. I’ll give this matter some more thought.”

Yao Yi gave a nod and left the room.

Of course Ling Zhang had come to understand the whole thing after hearing all this. Yuwen Zhi had been secretly contacting an imperial concubine imprisoned in the cold palace. Although she was in the cold palace, the circ.u.mstances were still very suspicious.

“Is that imperial concubine an old acquaintance of Yuwen Zhi’s?” asked Ling Zhang.

He asked this question because he knew for sure that since this matter had come to Yuwen Tong’s knowledge, he would undoubtedly look into the relations between the concubine and Yuwen Zhi.

Predictably, Yuwen Tong replied, “The imperial concubine had no dealings with him before being thrown into the cold palace, and neither was there any old friends.h.i.+p between the two families. I’ve already sent some men to find out what Yuwen Zhi and his contacts have done in the imperial palace. Given that he’s got connected with that imperial concubine in the cold palace, he definitely has offered her some help, no matter what his intentions are.”

Ling Zhang inclined his head, looking bewildered. “If they’re not old acquaintances, then who are they to each other?”