Meng Wan was anxious and urged him on urgently. Seeing this, Hua Jiuye knew the situation was urgent, so he didn't say anything more, accepted the order, and left quickly.
Meng Wan finally calmed down a bit. Hua Jiuye led people over and reminded Huangfu Mi again, who should be on guard. Then, the rest was up to her. She should investigate Fu Qingcheng to see if Huan Yan's death was related to her, and why Fu Qingcheng was so hostile towards her.
It seems that these two things are related!
--
In the following days, Meng Wan devoted herself to investigating Fu Qingcheng. With the information her elder brother had gathered earlier, she was able to handle the task with ease.
However, those matters seem to be unverifiable and therefore not very helpful. From what we've observed, Fu Qingcheng doesn't seem to care if Meng Wan investigates. Instead, she spends her days traveling around, appearing quite carefree.
This made Meng Wan even more suspicious. She had clearly been hinting and provoking him before, but now she was pretending to be fine. What exactly was Fu Qingcheng up to?
Confused, he continued his investigation, but at that moment, something happened at the Prime Minister's residence.
When the news arrived, Meng Wan was personally searching Fu Qingcheng's room while she was out of the mansion. Mu Ci rushed in, thinking it was Fu Qingcheng returning. Meng Wan wasn't in a hurry; if they met, they could confront each other. But Mu Ci incoherently said something that shocked Meng Wan even more.
"Miss... just now, the Third Madam sent someone to say that Master has been taken away by the Emperor. It is said that someone found letters between Master and Prince Huachao in the mansion, and therefore concluded that Master is a traitor!"
One sentence left Meng Wan stunned. One wave had barely subsided before another arose. Why would they search the Prime Minister's residence and find letters? Her father was a traitor! How could that be!
Thinking this, she hurriedly ordered the sedan chair to rush to the Prime Minister's residence. At this time, the residence was in complete chaos, obviously having been searched thoroughly by the search party.
When Meng Wan arrived, the Third Madam was still crying inside. Upon seeing Meng Wan, she immediately grabbed her hand, tears streaming down her face: "Wan'er, Wan'er, please save your father! Please save him! You know his character; how could he betray the country? He was devoted to the Celestial Empire and the Emperor!"
The desperate cries only added to the panic. Meng Wan barely suppressed her fear and tightly grasped the Third Madam's hand, saying, "Aunt, don't panic. Tell me the whole story in detail, and then we'll think of a solution!"
The third wife then wiped away her tears and told Meng Wan the whole story.
This must be what they mean by "misfortune strikes from the sky." No one even knew what happened; they only heard that someone had anonymously written to the emperor, saying that Prime Minister Meng had dealings with Hua Chao, so the emperor sent people to investigate.
Originally, Prime Minister Meng was not afraid, but unexpectedly, letters between him and Prince Hua Chao were found during the search. With conclusive evidence, the Emperor arrested Prime Minister Meng and brought him back for interrogation.
Meng Wan listened quietly, her brows furrowing more and more as she listened. She felt increasingly uneasy, as one thing after another recently seemed to point the finger at them. No, someone must be behind this!
The image that suddenly popped into her mind was Fu Qingcheng. She stood up abruptly, reassuring the Third Madam to calm down, and then left again without saying anything more.
Whether it was because she stood up too quickly or because she was exhausted from the past two days, her vision went black and she almost fell. Fortunately, she managed to steady herself by holding onto the door frame. After finally regaining her composure, she lifted her foot and walked out.
--
Fu Qingcheng seemed to have expected Meng Wan to come, and was not surprised at all. She bowed properly, and after standing up, she said, "I did not know that Your Highness would grace us with your presence. I am sorry for not welcoming you properly. Please forgive me."
She spoke in a flat voice, revealing no emotion, but the smile on her lips always carried a hint of mockery. Meng Wan frowned, and without beating around the bush, said directly, "You're the one who's behind the Meng family's affairs, aren't you? You killed Huan Yan, didn't you? And you, Fu Qingcheng, were you sent by the First Prince?"
Fu Qingcheng was taken aback, then smiled and looked at Meng Wan's anxious expression, saying, "What is Your Highness saying? I don't understand. What Meng family matters, what Huanyan, I know nothing about. Your Highness can't make false accusations!"
"Stop pretending to be confused!" Meng Wan snapped angrily.
Fu Qingcheng laughed instead: "What does it matter whether you pretend to be confused or not? Since the princess has no evidence, then this matter has nothing to do with me. Instead of wasting time questioning me like this, you should think about how to save your Meng family. You should know that this is now a serious crime of treason. Even if your father is the prime minister, the emperor will not let it go easily."
"You..." Meng Wan was speechless with anger, but she truly had no evidence to speak of. At this moment, all she could do was push her away forcefully to vent her anger. Then, staring at Fu Qingcheng, she coldly said, "I don't care why you did this, I will definitely find the evidence. You just wait!"
After saying that, she turned and left. Behind her, Fu Qingcheng's smile deepened. Looking at Meng Wan's back, she called out, "If you want to find the truth, Your Highness, you'd better hurry. Otherwise, if the Meng family is punished, you might suffer as well. I might even have to visit you in prison!"
Meng Wan paused noticeably, then lifted her head again and rushed out without looking back.
--
He was extremely agitated, caught between worrying about how the Meng family's affairs would develop and wondering about Fu Qingcheng's attitude.
If it really was her doing, Meng Wan was even more confused.
Where did her hatred for herself come from, and why did she frame the Meng family? Even if, as she had previously investigated, Fu Qingcheng was the Crown Prince's person, and the Crown Prince wanted to get rid of Huangfu Mi to reduce the number of people vying for the throne, he shouldn't have targeted Prime Minister Meng!
Thinking this, she became so focused that she didn't even see the person coming from the opposite direction until she collided head-on with someone and fell to the ground, at which point she suddenly came to her senses.
The person who also fell was a maid who was carrying a large bundle and seemed to be heading somewhere. When she saw Meng Wan fall, she hurriedly knelt down and said, "This servant deserves to die!"
Meng Wanfang looked up, saw her panicked expression, and waved her hand: "It was my fault for not paying attention, it's not your fault, go on with your work!"
The girl quickly got up, curtsied to Meng Wan, picked up her bundle, and hurried out.
Watching her departing figure, Meng Wan came back to her senses, propped herself up with her hands on the ground, but her gaze was drawn to a small object in the grass.
It was a small, pinkish-white object, about the size of a soybean. Because it was hidden in the grass, it was not very clear. Meng Wan took a step forward and waited. After seeing what it was, she froze.
Chinese knot buttons!
She could never be wrong; the Chinese knot was exactly the same as the one Huan Yan had clutched tightly in her hand before she died!
She looked sharply in the direction the girl had left, but she could no longer find her. She hurried after her, but still couldn't find her. At this moment, she wished she could slap herself twice!
She finally made a discovery, only to ruin it all like this. How could she be so spineless? Does fate really not want her to find the murderer?
Still feeling annoyed, he immediately instructed Mu Ci to prepare a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and drew the outline of the person he had just seen. He then ordered that the person be found in the mansion immediately.
Mu Ci immediately set about it. Meng Wan had a feeling that this time they would be able to find the murderer by following the clues. For a while, she ordered people to go to the palace to wait for news of her father, and at the same time, she waited to find the girl, full of hope.
--
As evening approached, it suddenly started to rain. It was a light drizzle, but it wouldn't stop and continued from dusk until night. Meng Wan sat by the window the whole time, waiting for Mu Ci to find the girl and for news from the palace.
She originally wanted to go to the palace to see the emperor as soon as possible, but she knew that the emperor would be troubled by her father's matter at this time, so she decided to stay at home and wait for news.
At three quarters past Xu hour, the courtyard gate was suddenly pushed open, and Mu Ci walked in, soaked to the bone, but with a look of joy on his face.
"Miss...