The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 260 Trampling the Manor but Achieving Nothing

Tu Chengyu continued to scold, "Don't you think about how noble the Empress's status is? She cannot be allowed to be casually associated with her."

Besides, I'm here today on official business; how can I bring up personal matters? If you truly care about the Empress, then stop spouting such nonsense.”

When Liu Shigui brought up the Empress, and Tu Chengyu remained unmoved, he knew that things were not going to end well.

So he wisely didn't retort, but instead turned and glanced at Kong Hezhen.

Upon seeing this, Kong Hezhen seemed to be activated and quickly took over the conversation.

"Your Highness, you keep saying that there are children of disaster victims hiding in this manor. What evidence do you have?"

Tu Chengyu looked at him and said with a smile:

"Of course I have evidence, otherwise I wouldn't be here to amuse myself with nothing better to do."

"Then please provide evidence, Your Highness. If you can prove that someone is indeed hiding in this manor, I will immediately help Your Highness find that person."

This guy is very clever with his words. He asked Tu Chengyu to produce evidence while simultaneously absolving himself of any responsibility.

It gives the impression that if there were indeed children of disaster victims hidden in the manor, it wasn't him who did it, and he would even help find them.

Tu Chengyu was too lazy to waste words with this slippery fellow and asked directly:

What is your relationship with this manor?

Although Tu Chengyu had already learned from the intelligence of his spies that the manor belonged to the person in front of him, he hadn't said it himself, so there was no room for him to deny it. Therefore, Tu Chengyu had to make him say it on his own initiative.

Kong Hezhen didn't know whether he had seen through Tu Chengyu's intentions or had other considerations. After hearing Tu Chengyu's question, he remained silent for a long time.

Just when Tu Chengyu was about to lose patience, he finally spoke.

"Your Highness, this manor now belongs to me."

"Oh, this is your manor?" Tu Chengyu asked, feigning surprise.

"Yes, my lord."

"What is your name? Who are you from?"

"Your Highness, I am Kong Hezhen, the Earl of Dongshan."

"The Kong family of Dongshanbo, huh? So you and Young Master Liu are related." Hearing him finally reveal his family background, Tu Chengyu looked enlightened.

"Yes, Your Highness, Young Master Liu is my cousin from my maternal uncle's family."

"No wonder he said he could help you out, turns out he's your cousin," Tu Chengyu said casually, then teased.
"Unfortunately, he wasn't brave enough to speak up when he heard he had to take responsibility."

When Liu Shigui heard Tu Chengyu casually teasing him like that, he rolled his eyes in anger, but unfortunately, there was nothing he could do but watch helplessly.

Kong Hezhen, however, was a sensible person, and he quickly said:
"It was I who begged my cousin from the Liu family to intercede on my behalf, so how can I let him take responsibility? If anyone should be held responsible, it should be me, the owner of the manor."

Tu Chengyu was genuinely surprised to hear him offer to take responsibility.

"So, you're saying you can take responsibility for hiding disaster victims' children?"

"Your Highness, the matter has not been investigated yet. How can you say that someone is hiding in the manor?"

"No need for further investigation. I am already very clear about the situation. Now, you only need to tell me whether you can bear this responsibility."

Kong Hezhen was naturally unwilling to be forced to make a public statement by Tu Chengyu.

He quickly defended himself, saying, "Although the manor belongs to me, I only come here occasionally. If there is anything illegal going on, I would never have done it."

When Kong Hezhen said those words to excuse himself that day, his momentum was already at a disadvantage.

Tu Chengyu glanced at him disdainfully, then said:

"Since you don't come here often and don't know anything about this place, then stand aside. Of course, I won't blame you after I find the person."

Having been made an outsider by Tu Chengyu's few words, Kong Hezhen was naturally unwilling to accept it.

The reason he colluded with Liu Shigui to deal with Tu Chengyu was to use their identities to make Tu Chengyu back down and not search the manor.

But if Tu Chengyu kicks the two of them out, then no one can stop Tu Chengyu from breaking into the manor to search.

So he said, "Your Highness, although I don't come to this manor often, I am still the owner of the manor, and I can still inquire about the affairs of the manor."

Tu Chengyu asked coldly, "How do you intend to intervene?"

Kong Hezhen said firmly, "Please, Your Highness, provide the evidence."

"Are you sure you want me to produce evidence?"

"determine."

"Very well, I can produce evidence then, and you won't be able to escape unscathed."

Faced with the blatant threat, Kong Hezhen did not back down, because during the half-day struggle, he felt that Tu Chengyu had no evidence and that everything was a bluff.

Therefore, he said firmly, "If Your Highness can produce evidence, I will definitely give Your Highness an explanation."

Seeing that he had made himself clear, Tu Chengyu decided not to beat around the bush anymore.

He was about to unleash his move when Quan Wenwei, who had been following him all the way, finally arrived in front of Tu Chengyu.

He quickly stopped Tu Chengyu, then leaned closer and said:
"Didn't Your Highness say that you were going to keep Zhang Cong's confession a secret? Why are you bringing it up now?"

Tu Chengyu only learned about the manor from Zhang Cong's confession, so Quan Wenwei thought Tu Chengyu was going to play this card.

Unexpectedly, Tu Chengyu smiled and said, "Mr. Quan, there's no need to worry. I have other ways and I won't reveal Zhang Cong's name."

"Does Your Highness have any solutions?"

"Mr. Quan, just wait and see."

"The students are eagerly awaiting the outcome."

After the two finished whispering to each other, Tu Chengyu sat up straight and said to Kong Hezhen:
“I have people here who witnessed the children of the disaster victims being brought to this manor.”

"Please summon this man, Your Highness, for a face-to-face confrontation."

The guy's tone made it sound as if there really wasn't anyone hiding in his manor.

Since Tu Chengyu couldn't reveal Zhang Cong's name, he naturally had to resort to some tricks.

He sat on his horse, turned his head and looked around. When he saw Wang Gen not far away, he pointed at him and said:

"Did you tell me that you personally witnessed someone bringing children of disaster victims to this manor?"

The way Tu Chengyu was turning his head to look for someone just now really made it seem like he was looking for a witness at the last minute.

Therefore, both sides were somewhat stunned after hearing Tu Chengyu's words.

Fortunately, Wang Gen was quick-witted and reacted quickly.

Then he quickly said, "Yes, Your Highness, it was I who saw it with my own eyes."

This impromptu act of finding witnesses almost broke Liu Shigui and Kong Hezhen's composure.

Kong Hezhen, in particular, said angrily:
"Your Highness, how can anyone believe the nonsense uttered by a mere disaster victim?" Tu Chengyu didn't refute his words, but instead said:

"Since one witness isn't enough, let's find a few more." He then turned to Wang Gen and his group and asked loudly:
"Has anyone else seen it?"

The people around Wang Gen were either his fellow villagers or his associates.

In addition, they all knew that Tu Chengyu was doing this to help Wang Gen find his son, so they were all very willing to help.

So as soon as Tu Chengyu finished speaking, more than a dozen voices immediately responded:
"This humble citizen has seen it."

"I saw it too."

“We all saw it; the child was brought in here.”

Upon hearing these sounds, Tu Chengyu chuckled and said to Kong Hezhen:

"Now we have enough witnesses, right?"

Seeing Tu Chengyu blatantly cheating in front of him, Kong Hezhen's face turned pale with anger.

He took a few deep breaths to suppress his anger before speaking:

“Your Highness, those disaster victims were originally together, and as far as I know, the person who answered first was a disaster victim who lost his child. How can we easily believe what they say?”

Tu Chengyu said slowly, "Precisely because he is the father of the lost child, his words can naturally be trusted. Besides, with so many people testifying, how can I not believe him?"

"It's unfair that Your Highness would rather believe the words of a few disaster victims than ours."

Tu Chengyu said, "What? So what the disaster victims say isn't true? Why can't we believe them? If you want to prove that the disaster victims are lying, then let me lead my men in and search them."

"What if Your Highness doesn't find it?"

"That proves that the disaster victims were indeed lying, and I will punish them then."

Kong Hezhen could tell that Tu Chengyu's so-called punishment of the disaster victims was probably just talk.

However, given Tu Chengyu's status, when a prince of the current dynasty starts acting like a rogue, there's really nothing an ordinary person can do.

Therefore, when Tu Chengyu presented the so-called witnesses, Kong Hezhen had no way to deal with them.

He, Liu Shigui, and Bai Jian, the manor's steward, exchanged glances but couldn't find the words to respond.

Tu Chengyu ignored what they were planning and asked one last time:
"Are you going to hand over the person, or let me go in and find them myself?"

Kong Hezhen didn't know what to say, so he could only stubbornly say:

"Your Highness has wronged me. There is no one hiding in the manor at all."

Seeing that he still maintained this attitude, Tu Chengyu stopped arguing with him.

He spoke directly to Quan Xu, who was standing guard behind him:

"General Quan, send men to keep these guys under control, then take your men and come with me to find someone."

"It's the prince."

After receiving the order, Quan Xu sent several of his men to keep an eye on Liu Shigui and all the servants in the garden.

Regardless of Kong Hezhen's anxious protests, Tu Chengyu rode his horse and tried to be the first to enter the manor.

But before he could take two steps, he heard Wang Gen shouting loudly from the side.

"Your Highness, Your Highness, please allow this humble subject to go in and search for the person."

Seeing Wang Gen almost jump up, Tu Chengyu thought for a moment and agreed to his request.

"Alright, bring a few people with you."

After saying that, Tu Chengyu ignored everything else and rode his horse straight into the manor.

After he went inside, Quan Xu followed him in with a group of soldiers.

As for Quan Wenwei, he led the remaining soldiers and refugees to continue surrounding the manor to prevent them from taking the opportunity to send people away.

The task of searching for people naturally didn't require Tu Chengyu to do it personally.

So, after entering the manor, he went straight to the most famous little pavilion on the hill.

Fortunately, the pavilion in the manor was high enough to be seen from anywhere in the manor, so Tu Chengyu quickly found it after judging the direction.

Tu Chengyu came to the pavilion for two reasons. First, it was high enough to observe all parts of the manor and the situation outside, allowing him to keep abreast of the situation from here.

Secondly, Tu Chengyu was curious about the pavilion and wanted to take the opportunity to visit it.

However, when he arrived at the mountain pavilion, he found that it was different from what he had imagined.

In Tu Chengyu's imagination, there must be such a large mountain in the flat manor. It must be a real mountain. When the manor was built, the original small hill was not leveled. Instead, the terrain was used to create the garden landscape.

However, when Tu Chengyu saw it with his own eyes, he discovered that there was a real mountain, but only a part of it; the other part was actually made up of artificial mountains constructed from rocks.

Although the artificial mountain is beautifully designed, it doesn't look as natural and grand as a real mountain.

However, the mountain that Tu Chengyu remembered for so long must have something unique about it, namely its height.

This small hill, on the basis of the original real hill, has some artificial hills added, and the overall height looks like it is more than ten meters, almost twenty meters.

In addition, the tall pavilion on the mountaintop stands out like a crane among chickens in this mostly flat area on the outskirts of Beijing.

I walked around the small hill and looked at the garden built around it.

Then Tu Chengyu pressed down on the stone steps and slowly climbed up to the pavilion on the top of the hill.

Upon arriving at the pavilion, Tu Chengyu immediately sensed its unique character.

Because the pavilion stands high on the mountaintop with nothing to block the wind, the wind speed is relatively strong, making it cooler.

But that's not all; what's most amazing is the view from this pavilion.

Standing here, you can not only see all the places in the manor, but also the situation outside the manor.

With Tu Chengyu's extraordinary eyesight, he was able to see people a mile or two away from where he was standing.

If one had a telescope at that moment, it would surely be easy to see people four or five miles away.

After Tu Chengyu had looked around, he couldn't help but sigh that this was truly a great place for observation.

In the event of war, this would be the best watchtower.

The only drawback was that Tu Chengyu didn't have a telescope, so he couldn't see the scenery further away.

Tu Chengyu thought that once he finished dealing with the current matters, he should consider building a telescope.

Just as Tu Chengyu was admiring the scenery, Quan Xu hurriedly ran down to the base of the pavilion.

At the same time, he also brought news that made Tu Chengyu frown.

"Your Highness, I led men to search the area, but we didn't find a single child."

(End of this chapter)