Disguised as a man, she became the biggest villain in the book.

Chapter 184 1 stone 3 birds

Consort Jiang has already made arrangements. On the day of the banquet, Vice Minister Zhang will clear the way for Wen Nanwan, avoiding Ye Churan's gaze.

Whether Wen Nanwan can succeed depends on herself.

Wen Nanwan made preparations well in advance. On the day of the banquet, she knocked out the palace maid guarding the gate, changed her clothes, and arrived at the banquet without any hindrance.

Before arriving at the banquet, they encountered a palace maid delivering wine. The maid was running around in a panic, repeatedly saying, "Oh no! Oh no! The Imperial Concubine's wine! We almost missed the appointed time!"

The words the palace maid was muttering were overheard by Wen Nanwan, who happened to be passing by. A brilliant idea flashed through her mind, and she realized that everything had come to her effortlessly. Then, Wen Nanwan ambushed the palace maid and snatched the wine that was being delivered to Chen Xianlin.

Wen Nanwan took off the palace maid's clothes and changed into them herself.

Then Wen Nanwan put rat poison in the wine and served it to Chen Xianlin. After watching Chen Xianlin drink it, she spat out a mouthful of blood, then took out a dagger hidden under her sleeve and stabbed Xue Huaiyu in the abdomen.

After seeing the miserable state of Chen Xianlin and Xue Huaiyu, Wen Nanwan felt extremely happy, as if she had finally gotten her revenge.

Wen Nanwan was unaware that all of this was being manipulated by someone behind the scenes.

All of this meticulous planning was arranged in advance by Zheng Yuxiang, who intended to kill three birds with one stone: first, to eliminate the last member of the Wen family; second, to eliminate the Jiang family; and third, to teach Ye Churan a good lesson.

As for Jiang Caiwei's death, Consort Jiang had other plans; the day of the banquet was Jiang Caiwei's death day.

............

Let's go back to today.

The palace is now in complete chaos.

Although Chen Xianlin drank poison, it wasn't much, so she didn't die and woke up quickly. The first thing Chen Xianlin said after waking up was to ask about Wen Nanwan.

Upon learning that Wen Nanwan had been imprisoned, Chen Xianlin breathed a sigh of relief and then asked Ye Churan to spare Wen Nanwan's life, as she had some questions she wanted to ask Wen Nanwan herself.

Xue Huaiyu's situation was different. He was stabbed by Wen Nanwan, but the wound wasn't fatal. The imperial physician examined him and said that he only needed to rest well and would wake up soon.

Following the clues, Ye Churan found the two palace maids who had been knocked unconscious by Wen Nanwan. When questioned, both of them shook their heads, indicating that they did not know anything.

Ye Churan also sent people to investigate where the poison Wen Nanwan brought came from, but they found no clues. In addition, Wen Nanwan had always been under the watchful eye of Chen Xianlin, so there were very few places to investigate. It was either that a palace maid had betrayed Chen Xianlin.

However, Ye Churan had already questioned all the palace maids in Chen Xianlin's palace, but she hadn't gotten any information from them. They all said they didn't know anything at all.

Ye Churan tried to get something out of Wen Nanwan, but Wen Nanwan always had a mocking face and said to Ye Churan, "What? Feeling sorry for the Imperial Concubine? You actually dare to covet the Emperor's woman, what? Are you going to rebel? Hahahahahaha!"

Ye Churan felt that the conversation was going nowhere, so she ordered her men to torture Wen Nanwan. Wen Nanwan was very stubborn and even though she was half-dead, she was still shouting that Chen Xianlin and Xue Huaiyu should die.

Zheng Luoqi went to clean up the scene immediately after the banquet to cut off any clues.

Those palace maids who knew about the plan have already been secretly executed by Zheng Luoqi's men. Since these people could betray their master, it's hard to guarantee they won't confess under severe torture, so it's best to kill them.

As for Ye Churan's attempt to investigate the source of the poison, that's laughable; she can't find out anything because Zheng Luoqi has completely cut off all leads.

There's also the story of Jiang Caiwei falling into the water and dying; people are spreading rumors that Pei Wenxuan pushed Jiang Caiwei into the water.

As for whether Pei Wenxuan did it, that needs to be investigated further, because only Pei Wenxuan and Jiang Caiwei were present at the scene of the incident.

Pei Wenxuan can't escape the involvement no matter what.

After waking up, Chen Xianlin rested for a few days before going to the prison to see Wen Nanwan. She had so many questions and so much to ask Wen Nanwan.

When Chen Xianlin saw Wen Nanwan, who had been tortured beyond recognition in prison, she no longer felt sorry for her as before; at this moment, Chen Xianlin felt nothing.

Chen Xianlin looked at Wen Nanwan and asked expressionlessly, "Why?"

Then, a contemptuous laugh came from Wen Nanwan inside the cell.

……

Not long after Chen Xianlin woke up, Xue Huaiyu also woke up. Five days had passed since the events at the banquet.

The first thing Xue Huaiyu did upon waking up was to execute Wen Nanwan by extreme torture. Then he punished Ye Churan and Zhang Shilang, fining them two years' worth of salary and dragging them away to receive thirty strokes of the cane each.

Ye Churan is, after all, one of Xue Huaiyu's own people, so he wouldn't be punished too harshly. As for Vice Minister Zhang, he is the Prime Minister's man, and with the Prime Minister and Zheng Luoqi pleading for him, Xue Huaiyu wouldn't dare to punish him too severely.

As for the Jiang family

Not long after Jiang Caiwei died, Jiang Xuanzheng was impeached by Zheng Luoqi for embezzlement and bribery.

According to Zheng Luoqi's investigation, Jiang Xuanzheng received many lavish gifts from officials during his tenure as Imperial Diarist.

Jiang Xuanzheng also regarded Xue Huaiyu's daily actions and words as a tool for him to consolidate power and position, and then sold this intelligence to others.

This behavior was undoubtedly a great desecration and betrayal of imperial power.

Xue Huaiyu initially thought this was a scheme by Zheng Luoqi to eliminate her political enemies, and even summoned Consort Jiang for questioning.

Upon hearing this, Consort Jiang knelt down without saying a word and cried out, "It's my fault! It's my fault for being my father's daughter. After learning about this, I tried many times to stop my father from bribing him, but to no avail."

"Your Majesty, I deserve to die a thousand deaths. I beg Your Majesty to consider that I have served you for so long and allow the Jiang family to be left with a complete corpse!"

When Xue Huaiyu heard that Consort Jiang did not deny the matter, then it was undoubtedly true, and he immediately ordered the Jiang family's property to be confiscated.

However, Consort Jiang's life was spared by Xue Huaiyu, but she had already been demoted to a low-ranking concubine and imprisoned in the Cold Palace.

Chen Xianlin was also punished in this incident, because ultimately, it was Chen Xianlin who pleaded for Wen Nanwan, and Xue Huaiyu only kept her on the run because of her.

If Wen Nanwan hadn't been kept behind, this wouldn't have happened.

Chen Xianlin not only failed to keep a close eye on people, but also allowed Wen Nanwan to carry out an assassination attempt. Xue Huaiyu punished Chen Xianlin for mismanagement, but considering that Chen Xianlin was also injured, he only punished her with a three-month house arrest.

Ye Churan was given thirty lashes, and she probably won't be able to get out of bed for the next two weeks.

As for whether Pei Wenxuan pushed Jiang Caiwei, Xue Huaiyu didn't care at all. Anyway, the entire Jiang family was dead, so there was no point in investigating further.

After learning that all her goals had been achieved, Zheng Luoqi felt extremely relieved. When she was playing chess with Zheng Yuxiang in the study, Zheng Yuxiang could clearly sense that Zheng Luoqi was in a very good mood.

Seeing that Zheng Luoqi was in such a good mood, Zheng Yuxiang casually asked, "This time you've dealt a heavy blow to the imperial faction. What about the Northern Rong people? What are your plans?"

"Father, rest assured, I have already made arrangements!" Zheng Luoqi replied.