No matter how unwilling in his heart, the grey-robed youth still sat on Zheng Ruqian's carriage, and was sent by him to the medical hall in the city.
After all, it was a serious injury to the chest, and there could be no delay.
The rest of the people respectively took donkey carts, smelling the strong mutton stench, and returned to the second courtyard when the sky was completely dark.
It was supposed to be a rest stop, but lights were seen.
The honest-as-a-quail Zheng Ruqian sat on a stool, listening to his elder brother's lecture.
Fortunately, Little Four and Little Five were not there, otherwise he would have to face the sarcasm and two tearful big eyes.
Seeing Jiang Sheng with great difficulty, he almost flew over to check her up and down, making sure she was alive and kicking, before he breathed a long sigh of relief and said, "Eldest brother, I said that younger sister would be fine."
Xu Mo didn't speak, just strode forward to see for himself before letting go of his heart.
"You go deal with the sheep first." He waved his hand and looked at Jiang San, "What about the murderer?"
The flock of sheep was sent to the Bai Shui workshop, and the long-journey workmen were also arranged to rest. Even Wang Xiaosong was helped by his younger sister Wang Xiaozhu to go for a massage.
Jiang San finally brought over the attacker tied up like a dumpling, leaned over and sniffed, "Still alive, just asleep."
Xu Mo frowned thoughtfully.
Compared to Jiang Sheng, who instinctively felt that something was wrong, he was almost certain that there was a trick the first time.
It's just that this person is too cunning.
He first created an image of himself as honest and simple-minded, easily turning around to weaken Jiang Sheng's vigilance. Then he personally got injured to save the beauty and shatter Jiang Sheng's defenses. Moreover, he did not kill to silence, eliminating the last trace of suspicion.
Finally, he staggered along, using a ruse to make the young girl feel compassion.
At that time there was only one carriage left. As long as Jiang Sheng took him back to Fengjing, rumors would arise, and the Jiang family would marry their proper daughter to him for the sake of their reputation.
The biggest plot in this was that if it was Jiang Chengyu instead, with his father and mother's protection, and his elder brother desperately defending him, even if rumors came out, they might not necessarily become engaged.
In contrast, Jiang Sheng only had her grandmother nearby, as her father and brothers were not by her side, and her mother was silly and unclear.
If she didn't have several half-brothers, if she didn't have the vigilance honed from struggling, if she hadn't happened to meet Zheng Ruqian, she might really have fallen into that person's trap.
But no matter how meticulous his plans were, he never expected that Jiang Sheng's biggest backing was never the Jiang family, but her brothers.
"This person looks down on me as the new top scholar, looks down on my second brother doing business, and even looks down on my third brother on military campaigns and my fourth brother practicing medicine." Xu Mo murmured, "But he definitely can't find out that we have a fifth brother."
A fifth prince who rarely appears in public, now hidden in the inner palace, ready to take action at any time.
It was a pity that Zheng Ruqian had sent the person to the medical hall and did not realize he had slipped away secretly, and still did not figure out his identity.
"It's all my fault, I thought he really was just heroically saving the beauty, I didn't know he would run away." Second Young Master Zheng lowered his head and resumed his quail appearance.
It seemed he was scolded for this matter just now.
"It's fine, I don't blame you." Xu Mo shook his head. "It's too easy for someone so cunning to get away."
What's the point of not escaping when the plan had already failed? The biggest loss would be exposing his identity again.
"But you criticized me just now." Zheng Ruqian complained indignantly. Receiving his elder brother's cold stare, he wilted again.
Jiang San and Jiang Si laughed while covering their mouths on the side, unsurprisingly being glared to death by the second young master's eyes, immediately becoming solemn.
One thing subdues another, it is the truth of the world.
Only Jiang Sheng was not afraid of either, pacing with both hands behind her back, "Then let's interrogate the attacker, won't we know everything then?"
In theory it was feasible.
But would a person so deep in scheming that even heroically saving the beauty was meticulously planned really leave obvious flaws?
Xu Mo was skeptical.
He had Jiang San and Jiang Si interrogate the attacker, while he personally wrote a letter to be sent to the Dou Mansion the next day, to be passed on by Madam Dou when she went to visit the Old Grand Empress Dowager in the palace.
That attacker was quite stubborn, and still did not talk after whips, chili peppers, goose feathers tickling his feet, and sheep dung balls stuffed in his mouth were all used on him.
It wasn't until Wang Xiaosong pulled down his pants and was about to castrate him that the attacker finally reluctantly opened his mouth, "It was... it was the Fourth Prince."
This answer exceeded everyone's expectations. If Jiang Sheng had not personally seen the Fourth Prince himself in the imperial city, the false accusation would have become true.
Jiang San was furious. He brought over the pig castration scissors and heated an iron red hot, waving it back and forth at the attacker's crotch.
The attacker's scalp tingled, and he revealed again, "It was... it was the Second Prince..."
This time Jiang San learned to be smart and didn't change his expression, using one hand to rip open his pants again.
The attacker finally collapsed completely, wailing as he confessed, "Yes, it was the Eldest Prince..."
First it was the Fourth Prince, then it changed to the Second Prince, and now it became the Eldest Prince.
All three princes were implicated one after another, making it unclear who was right or wrong, real or false.
Even Xu Mo was puzzled, not knowing the truth.
Was it really the Eldest Prince, the Second Prince, or the Fourth Prince behind the Chu family's sons?
Only Zheng Ruqian was calm enough, calculating how to best sell the mutton while reassuring his elder brother, "Don't worry, didn't you send a message to Little Five? He will definitely find out who the mastermind behind it is."
Since external observation yielded nothing, then attack from the inside.
In fact, Chang Yan, upon receiving the letter, began probing right away.
First was the Fourth Prince.
The two brothers were close, and lived in the East and West Five Palaces, so a quick visit was enough to talk.
But the Fourth Prince seemed very gloomy about the Yao family's attitude, always hiding in his room without speaking, unwilling to even bask in the sun.
His whole demeanor was that of deep romantic injury.
With much coaxing from Chang Yan, the Fourth Prince was willing to take a walk with him in the imperial garden for a bit, and drank quite a bit of wine.
"Why doesn't Miss Yao like me, what's wrong with me? How can I, an imperial prince, not match her? Why hold a son-in-law selection?" The fifteen year old youth cried as he pulled on his younger brother's sleeve.
Chang Yan comforted him while probing, and learned that the Chu family did not have any suitable teenagers around seventeen or eighteen years old.
His smile faded slightly. After the Fourth Prince was drunk, he had his attendants send him back to the West Three Palaces.
Next was the Eldest Prince. Chang Yan made use of some connections to investigate, and found out that when the incident happened, the Eldest Prince was visiting at the Dou Mansion. Even after saying many nice things, the young lady of the Dou family still refused to even show her face, and in the end it was Dou Wei who accompanied him in a game of chess for half a day.
The timeline of the news may not have been accurate, but it was the kind of thing the Eldest Prince was capable of.
"Your Highness, what should we do now?" his personal attendant asked in a hushed voice. "Should we go probe the Second Prince?"
Chang Yan's eyes were cold. He clasped his hands tightly together for a long time before speaking. "No need."
He had already come.
As the words left his mouth, a grey-robed youth appeared at the imperial garden gates, looking simple and honest as he said, "Fifth younger imperial brother, I have found what you wanted."
