After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 818 Confrontation
Haijiao was obviously very dissatisfied with the emperor's actions.

When he met Jin Jiashu, he learned what had happened in the palace and comforted him.

However, Jin Jiashu was calm about this. He had already discussed this matter with his "aunt" Concubine Xu Xianfei, and advised her to find an opportunity to get rid of the troublesome Concubine Hu. Concubine Zhang Gong might not be happy to take on this hot potato, but wasn't there still Concubine Lu in the palace?
Lu Zhaoyi is the biological mother of Prince Ji. Prince Ji’s hope of returning to the royal family to compete for the throne is now very slim, but at least he can still keep the Sun family hanging and coax them to continue to work for him. But if Concubine Hu gave birth to a newborn prince, the Sun family would probably rather pick a blank slate and easy-to-manipulate baby than continue to be hypocritical with him, right? By then, if he wants to return to the clan and establish the crown prince, there will be even less hope. Lu Zhaoyi is looking forward to her son’s rapid rise, so how could she like Concubine Hu’s child? If Concubine Hu gave birth to the child smoothly, she would not have a good life under her; if the child could not be born smoothly, Lu Zhaoyi would be a ready-made scapegoat. If anything happened to her, it would directly implicate her son, Prince Ji, and then the latter would have no chance of returning to the clan.

Even if the prince of Ji Wang had no hope of returning to the clan, and he could smoothly inherit the title of Ji Wang and become a prince of the clan in the future, with a biological mother who committed a serious crime, he would not have the confidence to use his title of king to dictate to the new king.

Haitang felt more at ease when she saw that Jin Jiashu knew what was going on and provided Concubine Xu with a solution.

Jin Jiashu is a smart man. Even if he really encounters some difficulties in the capital, he doesn't have to ask others for help to get out of the predicament.

However, she had taught him the knowledge of detoxification and identification of poisons in the hope that he could avoid being poisoned, but she did not expect that it would bring him an unexpected surprise. Fortunately, Jin Jiashu still remembered the knowledge she taught him and discovered the truth about Concubine Xu's poisoning in time. The Seventh and Eighth Princes were also willing to listen to his inference and found the detoxification method in the palace library in time. Otherwise, once Concubine Xu was killed, the Eighth Prince would lose the protection of his mother.

Although he still had the support of the elder Queen Mother Zhou, and the Seventh Prince was a good brother who always cared for him, the Queen Mother Zhou was old and the Seventh Prince was frail and sickly, and it was unknown how many years they could live. If they died before he grew up, he would not even have a relative in the palace who he could trust and rely on. Even if he successfully ascended the throne, he did not know how he would live.

As for Jin Jiashu, Concubine Xu's "nephew", he was completely marginalized.

Haitang sighed again and again, and couldn't help but feel lucky. Fortunately, she had been so nosy and taught Jin Jiashu a few more things. She was very lucky to have the result she has now.

Haijiao's letter was very long. After writing about what happened after Concubine Xu was poisoned, he finally began to talk about the "cause" of her poisoning.

After Concubine Xu began to receive detoxification treatment, Jin Jiashu was questioned by the emperor, the empress dowager, the princes, several important cabinet ministers, the six ministers, and the royal family, and confronted Jin Wu, the witness provided by Lord Sun.

Jin Wu probably didn't expect that he could escape the assassination of the Sun family. When he saw him, he was surprised and hateful, as if he regarded him as the enemy who killed his relatives. However, he directly denied Jin Jiashu's identity in front of everyone, saying that his uncle Jin Sen, who was a juren, had been killed in the capital long ago, and his uncle's son was also killed. Jin Jiashu was a fake who came from nowhere, and it was very likely that he was an accomplice of the murderer, trying to pretend to be his cousin to fish in troubled waters, and so on.

Jin Jiashu had the title of a scholar, and his household registration was transferred to Chang'an through official channels. His identity could be found in official documents, so it was impossible for him to be an imposter. But Jin Wu insisted that he was a fake, and Sun Yongping, the son of Sun Ge Lao, even swore that the murderer who killed Jin Wu's parents had a powerful backer behind him who could forge documents in the government and turn the fake into the real thing. This made Jin Jiashu unable to defend himself.

He could only say that he could go back to his hometown to find someone to testify. Although he had been away from home for five years, his appearance had not changed much. His neighbors, relatives and friends in his hometown in Zunhua Prefecture still remembered him! For example, the Hu brothers and sisters who had just returned to their hometown four years ago knew clearly who he was and who Jin Wu was. Sun Yongping refuted him on the spot: "Do you know what kind of nobles all of you are in this hall?! Who has the time to spend several months with you to find a few country people to make false testimonies?!"

Lord Sun did not comment on his son's words and actions, but they clearly wanted to shirk responsibility for this matter.

If it had happened when the Sun family was in its heyday, Jin Jiashu would have been helpless. Even if others knew that he was wronged, they would have turned a blind eye and allowed the Sun family to cover up the truth and confuse right and wrong.

But now, the Sun family is on the decline, and the emperor's attitude is also very clear. Not only will people who dislike the Sun family stop them, but even those who used to agree with them will jump out to refute them for their own interests.

At that time, some people refuted Sun Yongping's words, and thought that he was not qualified to speak in front of the emperor. The emperor hadn't spoken yet, so why would he jump out and say anything?
Lord Sun then pretended to scold his son and asked him to leave, but he himself advised the emperor that his health was not good and there was no need to waste his energy on such a farce, and he should return to the palace to rest as soon as possible, and so on.

The emperor had long been dissatisfied with him, and only said: "Lord Sun is old, and he has no intention of returning home to rest. I am not worse than him." He was dissatisfied with Lord Sun for rejecting his suggestion and not taking the initiative to write a letter to retire. The emperor wanted to give Lord Sun a decent gift, but Lord Sun refused to appreciate it and insisted on making things worse, as if he had forgotten that he had planned to give in. This made the emperor feel slapped in the face, and naturally he was unwilling to indulge the Sun family.

Since the emperor was able to call Jin Jiashu all the way to Beijing and gathered so many people for interrogation, he must have been prepared in advance.

He ordered people to bring up witnesses, including the Hu brothers and sisters, Jin Wu's aunt Jin Ergu and her husband, and several neighbors of the second branch of the Jin family, etc. These people also proved the identities of Jin Wu and Jin Jiashu, refuted the former's lies, and confirmed that Jin Juren died in Chang'an, and the cause of death was related to the Sun family and the second branch of the Jin family.

Guard Lin, who escorted Jin Jiashu to Beijing, brought official documents about the murder of Jin Juren's family, which clearly described the murderer's background and identity. Although the Sun family lived far away, they suppressed the matter in Beijing and did not let anyone know that their family had sent people to assassinate the husband and son of Concubine Xu's sister, but now that there are witnesses and documents, this matter is no longer a secret.

Before everyone could discuss whether the Sun family was responsible for the death of Jin Juren's family, Sun Ge Lao took the initiative to put all the blame on Sun Yongbai. After all, the latter was already a death row prisoner and had nothing to do with the incident. The emperor was too lazy to argue with the Sun family and simply focused on the fact that Concubine Xu was being smeared.

Now that Jin Wu's lies had been exposed, his words could no longer be taken seriously. He had dared to commit the crime of deceiving the emperor, and now that his crime had been exposed, the emperor would no longer tolerate him. The other princes and ministers present had no objection, so he directly ordered his men to drag Jin Wu away and punish him.

Jin Wu knew that he could not escape death, so he made up his mind: "It's unfair! I am innocent! I lied about other things, but the most important thing is that I told the truth! Concubine Xu didn't have any sister at all! She is the aunt my uncle married, Jin Jiashu's biological mother! She is the one who committed the crime of deceiving the emperor!"

(End of this chapter)