odessanovel Chapter 414
Chapter 414
Unexpectedly, after so many days, they still hadn’t escaped. The emperor hadn’t let them go—he had only lulled them into a false sense of security before uprooting everyone involved.One had to admit that the emperor and those officials were truly skilled in their methods. Who would have thought they would strike during the national examination?
No wonder those family heads, after Old Man Song was arrested and the plan to rig the imperial exams fell through, insisted on poisoning the spring examination grounds. They must have long anticipated that the emperor wouldn’t let them off. Even if they were to die, they would drag the two prominent figures down with them!
The master glanced at the water clock again. According to the plan, the man should be showing signs of poisoning by now. He wondered if anyone had noticed and had him carried away for treatment.
Chen Zhong had no idea his master’s mind was already on the examination hall. He continued, “I hear the Grand Court and the Ministry of Justice are jointly investigating. They’ve discovered that those collateral branches and in-laws are sheltering direct-line descendants. Now, all three families in the capital have been thrown into prison.”
He cautiously peered outside before adding, “Before I came back, I saw several teams of imperial guards riding out of the city at full speed.”
So it seemed that even those who had fled outside the city wouldn’t escape.
Chen Zhong looked at his master. Was their Chen family truly going to follow those people down a dead-end road? Could the Chen family possibly stand against the royal family and that powerful figure?
If his master were to report the matter now and distance himself, perhaps he could still save his own skin.
Just as Chen Zhong was debating whether to urge his master to reconsider, the door pushed open, and in walked the strategist the Chen master had hired, a man known as Mr. Bai.
Chen Zhong stopped talking and sighed inwardly. With this man around, the master had already passed the point of no return.
Mr. Bai entered, and Chen Zhong tactfully stood up and excused himself.
As he closed the door, Chen Zhong could faintly hear Mr. Bai’s slightly raspy voice say, “The seed has already bloomed…”
Chen Zhong wiped the tears that had unknowingly fallen from the corner of his eyes and shook his head. People like themselves were destined to become mere fertilizer for someone else’s ambition. It was a pity for his own children and grandchildren back home, and for the young master who had studied so hard in the mansion.
“Mr. Bai, are you certain this won’t implicate us?” Chen master asked, still uneasy. After all, his own son was among the examinees. If the court investigated, he would be considered a victim.
But he couldn’t help fearing the worst. That Junior Preceptor Yue was notoriously unpredictable—over the past two years, almost every plot involving her had failed.
“Rest assured, master. You are the victim. Who would suspect you?” Mr. Bai said. Sacrificing a son who was not favored was a small price to pay for a fortune.
“Mr. Bai, I… I have a whole family behind me. I’m truly terrified!” The Chen master, who had appeared calm in front of Chen Zhong, now put on a pitiful face before Mr. Bai, hoping to squeeze out a little more advantage.
As expected, seeing the Chen master still looking unsettled, Mr. Bai feared he might reveal something later and continued to reassure him. “Once the plan succeeds, all of the Wang family’s hidden assets on the west side of Lotus Mountain on the outskirts of the capital will be yours!”
Facing the emperor’s relentless pressure and encroachment, the aristocratic families wouldn’t fail to prepare a contingency plan for a comeback. Hiding away some wealth was easy for them, as long as it was done secretly enough not to be discovered by the authorities.
Chen master felt a surge of joy but kept a grateful expression on his face. His words, however, said something else entirely: “I am deeply grateful for Mr. Bai’s generosity! It’s a pity about my son. If he somehow survives, he would have made a fine local magistrate someday.”
He quickly glanced at Mr. Bai’s expression before continuing, “But for the greater cause, sacrificing one man is worth it.”
The man called Mr. Bai, dressed in a white silk robe, appeared to be in his thirties. His features were ordinary, but he carried the air of a scholar.
Hearing Chen master’s words, his hand, which had been stroking his beard, paused slightly. A flicker of mockery and contempt passed through his eyes before he picked up his teacup and took a light sip.
“Master Chen is magnanimous. His Highness and that certain figure will not forget your family’s contributions,” he said.
Setting down the cup, he chuckled lightly. “The results of your eldest son’s assignment will come soon. As long as the person inside…” He made a cutting motion toward his own throat, “…all involved will be greatly rewarded. Better days are ahead for you and me.”
This time, using the aristocratic families as cover, if they could take down both Yue Fuguang and Xie Zhiyan in one fell swoop, it would be worth sacrificing even the last remnants of the ancient clans.
Consider it their burial offering!
Yue Fuguang: Should I say thank you?
Xie Zhiyan: I’m doing quite well, thank you. I don’t plan on dying just yet!
Xie Zhiyan, who was doing quite well indeed, was now shocked by what Yue Fuguang had just said to him. He stumbled back half a step, nearly losing his balance.
Minister Ji, already in his forties and approaching fifty, had fallen into a chair in utter shock. He tried several times to stand up, but his legs were too weak to support him.
“Little Aunt, what do we do now? If the virus spreads as you say… we… and all the examinees, even the entire capital, will be doomed!”
Yue Fuguang pulled out another white jade bottle and handed it to him. “Relax. With me here, what you fear won’t happen.”
“Everyone who has come into contact with Zhou Bo must take this antidote pill.”
With that, she walked over to the unconscious man lying on a wooden board. In her mind, the system’s data on Zhou Bo quickly surfaced, along with a freshly triggered quest.
Zhou Bo, age twenty-five, from Pingliang County under Xingzhou’s Jinyi Prefecture. He had a wife, Madam Chen, a son, and a daughter. He was the third child in his family, with both parents and siblings still alive.
A man with family, a career, and prospects would never willingly poison himself just to take down her and the Crown Prince.
The system’s quest was simple: Stop the spread of the “White Flower Blight.” The poison, or virus, that Zhou Bo was infected with was precisely this vile White Flower Blight.
It was so vicious because anyone poisoned by it would initially fall into a coma. Once the “flowers” began to bloom on their body, they would wake up. At that point, the “flowers” would float into the air like countless seeds, spreading to others.
These “flowers” were nearly invisible to the naked eye.
Anyone poisoned by it would die within three days, their flesh blooming like flowers before reducing them to bare bones.
[System, are you sure you didn’t offend the task-issuing core system? Besides the long-term and main quests, almost all our side quests this past year have been this type of emergency.
If I didn’t have my points and methods, who else could complete a quest with a ninety-nine percent mortality rate, ninety-nine percent transmissibility, and the potential to wipe out ninety-nine percent of the population once it spreads?]
Even if their unconventional approach to completing quests had altered history too much and caused most side quests to change or even vanish entirely, shouldn’t new quests be triggered sooner than this last-minute panic?
The system transformed into a shimmering bead and slid into Yue Fuguang’s palm, rolling around and acting cute. [Host, absolutely not! How could a unit-friendly system like me possibly offend the Jammed… I mean, the auxiliary system!]
The system spun in her hand, nearly slipping up and blurting out the nickname it had secretly given the auxiliary system.
“Little Aunt, if only the people here take the antidote, what about everyone else?”