The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 168 The matter is settled, and we set off back to the capital.

Seeing the sly smugness in Daiyu's smile, Tu Chengyu knew that she was unprepared for what she said.

It's not that she was unprepared, nor that she deliberately didn't prepare anything; there must be other reasons involved.

Although Tu Chengyu couldn't immediately figure out the reason, she recalled that when they first started talking, the three of them had intentionally kept it from her.

Moreover, Daiyu's expression at that time was exactly like this now, so Tu Chengyu boldly speculated that the two events might be related.

Tu Chengyu then said, "You didn't prepare tea for me. Is it related to what you were hiding earlier?"

Tu Chengyu was speaking to Lin Daiyu, and as soon as he finished speaking, Lin Daiyu replied:
"Your Highness guessed correctly, but can Your Highness guess what the three of us are hiding?"

At this moment, Tan Chun also said, "Your Highness, would you like to guess?"

Tu Chengyu asked, puzzled, "Why are you so insistent on making me guess what you're hiding?"

Tan Chun said with a smile, "Because we made a bet, and we wanted to see if Your Highness could guess this matter."

Hearing that they still had such interest, Tu Chengyu also chimed in:
"So, who bets that I can guess it? And who bets that I can't guess it?"

Hearing this, Tan Chun said embarrassedly, "Sister Lin and Sister Xue bet that the Prince can guess correctly, but this servant bets that the Prince cannot."

Tu Chengyu said in surprise, "You have so little confidence in me?"

Tan Chun said in frustration, "Your Highness, it's not like that. I also wanted to guess that Your Highness would win, but Sister Lin chose that Your Highness could guess it first, so I had to choose that Your Highness couldn't guess it."

Hearing her say that, Tu Chengyu couldn't help but laugh, and the other two also laughed out loud.

Tan Chun didn't seem to care much about the laughter of Tu Chengyu and the other two, but urged them on, "Your Highness, please guess quickly."

Tu Chengyu said, "You've been hiding something without any clues. This makes me so suspicious. You should at least provide some leads."

Tan Chun chose the side that was unpredictable, so naturally she didn't want to provide too many clues.

However, the three of them must have discussed it beforehand, so when Lin Daiyu mentioned the clues, Tan Chun did not stop her.

Lin Daiyu: "Your Highness, this clue is that this matter concerns Sister Xue, Third Sister, and me, and may even concern Your Highness?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Tu Chengyu was dumbfounded. He couldn't glean any useful information from her words.

He said, "This is too vague. Are there any other clues?"

Lin Daiyu then provided a second clue: "Yangzhou and the capital."

After she finished speaking, she didn't say another word.

After hearing the second clue, Tu Chengyu was still unsure, but he had a general idea in mind.

This is mainly attributed to Yangzhou and the capital.

He remembered that in the TV series, Lin Daiyu seemed to have gone from Yangzhou to live with the Jia family in the capital after her mother passed away.

Moreover, she must have been very young, which matches the current age of Lin Daiyu.

In addition to the first clue, she said that the matter was related to herself.

Therefore, Tu Chengyu's guess is most likely true.

Moreover, this guess aligns with what was mentioned earlier.

After pondering for a long time, Tu Chengyu smiled, clearly having found his answer.

Tan Chun asked eagerly, "Your Highness, have you really guessed it?"

Tu Chengyu: "I do have some guesses, but I don't know if they are correct."

The other two also looked curious upon hearing this, wanting to know what Tu Chengyu was guessing.

Xue Baochai then said, "Please tell us what you have to say."

Then Tu Chengyu said smugly, "Is what you're hiding about Miss Lin's trip to the capital?"

As soon as Tu Chengyu finished speaking, they all looked incredulous, clearly indicating that Tu Chengyu's agreement was genuine.

Whether it was betting that Tu Chengyu would guess Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai, or not believing that Tu Chengyu would guess Tan Chun, they were all surprised.

Regardless of whether their surprise was feigned or not, Tu Chengyu was quite pleased with himself.

Tan Chun was overjoyed, as if she had won a bet, and asked, "Your Highness, how did you guess it?"

Tu Chengyu certainly couldn't say that he learned it from a TV series in his previous life, so he gave a casual explanation:

"I was just guessing randomly, but I didn't expect to be right."

Tu Chengyu's casual explanation made Tan Chun want to roll her eyes.

But before she could actually roll her eyes, Lin Daiyu said:

"Third girl, you lost this bet. Remember to treat me and Sister Xue to a meal when you come to the capital."

Upon hearing this, Tan Chun remembered that she had lost the bet, and her face, which had been full of smiles just moments before, was now filled with worry.

Tu Chengyu didn't see Tan Chun's expression; his attention was focused on Lin Daiyu's words.

He asked, puzzled, "Is Miss Xue also going to the capital?"

His words puzzled the three girls even more, and Tan Chun even asked:

"Your Highness, since you were able to guess that Sister Lin was going to the capital, why didn't you guess that Sister Xue was going?"

Tu Chengyu's failure to guess that Xue Baochai would go to the capital was, of course, also due to the TV series.

He vaguely remembered that Xue Baochai went to the capital later than Lin Daiyu, and much later, so he didn't recall it at the moment.

However, Tu Chengyu couldn't tell them these things, so he had to find another way to explain.

He said, "The reason I was able to guess that Miss Lin would go to the capital is because on the way to Yangzhou, I overheard Jia Lian saying..."
The matriarch of the Jia family misses Miss Lin dearly and wants Jia Lian to take her to the capital. That's why I made this guess.

Tu Chengyu's explanation was barely passable.

However, this gave Tan Chun a chance to cheat.

She said, "Since Your Highness only guessed Sister Lin but not Sister Xue, then it cannot be considered that you guessed everything. In that case, it can only be considered a draw."

Although she was being unreasonable, her arguments were still quite logical and well-founded.

Lin Daiyu argued with her for a long time, but no one could win or lose, and in the end it could only be considered a draw.

After they finished arguing, Tu Chengyu asked.

"I didn't know you were also going to the capital, so I set the return date a bit early. I wonder if it's too rushed for you, leaving you no time to prepare?"

Lin Daiyu: "The preparation time was indeed a bit short, but with the preparations of the previous two days, it was enough."

Tu Chengyu then realized that their frantic shopping spree the past two days wasn't just for her; it also included gifts they had prepared for their trip to Beijing.

This shows that Lin Daiyu's decision to go to the capital must have been made long ago.

Otherwise, Tu Chengyu had just told Lin Ruhai the night before that he was going back to the capital, and the next day Lin Daiyu would have bought herself gifts for the trip.

Although Tu Chengyu felt that Lin Daiyu's decision to go to the capital was made long ago, he was still surprised when Lin Daiyu asked him earlier if he had set a specific date to return to the capital.

It seems we've discussed the issue of time constraints, and there wasn't enough time to prepare the gifts either.

So Tu Chengyu said, "If you feel that the time is too tight, I can postpone it for a few more days." Upon hearing this, Lin Daiyu said, "Your Highness, there is no need for that. We have already prepared the gifts that can be bought. As for those that are hard to buy, they cannot be obtained in just a few days, so delaying them by a day or two will not make any difference."

When Lin Daiyu said this, the other two nodded in agreement.

Since that was the case, Tu Chengyu stopped bringing it up.

Then the group changed the subject and started talking about other things.

We discussed the scenery we would encounter on our way back to Beijing and the places we would pass through along the way.

Tan Chun had the right to speak on this topic, so she spoke the most among them.

After chatting and laughing for a while, Xiao Xuanzi brought Xue Pan's roasted meat, which was ready.

When they brought out the barbecue, the pavilion was immediately filled with the aroma of roasted meat.

Everyone here has probably eaten barbecue before.

However, they had never tasted the secret-recipe roasted meat that Tu Chengyu brought from his previous life.

Various seasonings that are hard for ordinary people to come by in this world, plus the meat-grilling method taught by the royal chef.

The meat that Xiao Xuanzi grills has a deliciousness that is hard for others to match.

This delicious aroma not only whetted the appetite of Tu Chengyu, who had eaten countless barbecues, but also made several girls look like hungry cats.

The group's leisurely garden barbecue trip lasted only one morning.

In the afternoon, Tu Chengyu originally planned to go out with them and take a good look at Yangzhou City.

But to my surprise, Quan Wenwei returned from Zhenjiang right after lunch.

Tu Chengyu has been waiting for He Lizhang to finish handling several cases these past few days, and also for Quan Wenwei to return.

Now that he's back, it means Tu Chengyu has serious business to attend to again.

Therefore, he could only postpone talking about his trip to Yangzhou and first listen to Quan Wenwei's report.

The two talked in Tu Chengyu's room for an afternoon, during which Quan Wenwei gave a detailed report on He Lizhang's interrogation over the past few days.

Although the interrogation is not yet completely over, the final result is already determined.

Therefore, Quan Wenwei felt at ease handing over the prisoners and evidence to He Lizhang, and then ran back with Quan Xu.

After listening to Quan Wenwei's report, Tu Chengyu understood He Lizhang's thoughts.

Firstly, He Lizhang pinned all the blame on Yin Weixing and his son, including the arson case and the salt workers' rebellion.

And within just a few days, they managed to get the father and son to admit their crimes, and they have already confessed.

Ultimately, He Lizhang sentenced the father and son to death and exile, respectively.

To Tu Chengyu's surprise, He Lizhang caught the Yin family father and son, but did not go any further to expose Hu Guangjin, who was instigating the incident.

Not only were they not identified, but they were also not mentioned in any of the testimonies.

Tu Chengyu didn't know why he did this, but Hu Guangjin alone couldn't affect the overall situation, so Tu Chengyu didn't pay much attention to it.

Besides the Yin family father and son, the second person dealt with was Wu Youwei.

As the person in charge of carrying out several tasks, Wu Youwei was a very key figure.

Unfortunately, this guy remained silent when Tu Chengyu was in Zhenjiang, preventing Tu Chengyu from finding out more about the law.

However, after He Lizhang took over the interrogation, Wu Youwei, contrary to his previous uncooperative behavior, cooperated and confessed everything.

This is also why He Lizhang was able to get the results of the interrogation in just a few days.

Wu Youwei confessed to all the problems, and his crimes were naturally more serious.

However, given this guy's previous fearless nature, no matter how many crimes he committed, it seems to have little impact on him.

Therefore, He Lizhang's interrogation of Wu Youwei resulted in a death sentence, which was submitted to the imperial court for approval.

Given the Grand Secretary's influence in the court, this approval should be granted quickly.

Thirdly, the outcome that satisfied Tu Chengyu the most was that He Lizhang found out all the people who committed the arson.

Even the innkeeper who tipped off the investigators and monitored them was not spared.

They were all brought to justice without exception, and all were sentenced according to their crimes. Those who directly committed arson were all sentenced to death, and those who helped them commit arson were also severely punished.

Besides those people in the public eye, the Grand Secretary, who was also involved in the behind-the-scenes matters, has also been dealt with.

In exchange, He Lizhang presented both explicit and implicit information about the Grand Secretary in all the cases.

The publicly released interrogation results contained not a single piece of information about the prime minister.

However, the dossier given to Tu Chengyu clearly listed the relationship between the Grand Secretary and these individuals without any concealment.

It also listed how these people used their position as prime minister to do these things.

Tu Chengyu was quite satisfied with all the outcomes.

Moreover, with the final result in hand, Tu Chengyu could return to the capital with peace of mind.

Now that Quan Wenwei has arrived, Tu Chengyu's return to Beijing is finally confirmed.

After discussing with everyone, the date for returning to Beijing has been finalized for the day after tomorrow.

Although Tu Chengyu felt it was a rare opportunity to visit Jiangnan, he really wanted to stroll around Yangzhou.

However, as Quan Wenwei reminded us, the entire Jiangnan region may not be very peaceful these days because of the arrest of Yin Weixing and some other people involved in the case.

So Tu Chengyu gave up on the idea of ​​going shopping.

After a quiet day of rest at the Lin residence, on another early morning, before dawn had fully broken,...

Tu Chengyu was woken up from his bed.

With Xiao Xing'er's help, he got dressed, washed up, and ate breakfast.

Afterwards, Tu Chengyu met up with Lin Daiyu, who had made all the preparations, Xue Baochai and her brother who were traveling with them, and of course Lin Ruhai and the Xue family who came to see them off.

The group set off in a grand procession toward the dock outside Yangzhou.

Upon arriving at the dock, Tu Chengyu saw that Quan Wenwei, who had arrived early the day before, was already prepared for departure.

At this moment, he was standing on the dock with Quan Xu, waiting for Tu Chengyu to arrive.

After Tu Chengyu arrived, he exchanged a few words with Lin Ruhai and Xue Xu, and then boarded his own boat.

Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai were left behind, tearfully bidding farewell to their families.

Among those saying goodbye, one person was rather special.

That was Xue Pan before he became the domineering tyrant. He seemed quite happy to be able to leave his parents' side.

There was no sadness at parting; on the contrary, he followed Tu Chengyu with great enthusiasm, full of longing for the future.

(End of this chapter)