Cold Blooded Wife

82 The Scroll (9)

General Tang was one of the late Prime Minister Gu's former subordinates. He grew up serving Prime Minister Gu, the man who suggested he join the army.

Prime Minister Gu saw potential in him and knew he was loyal to his nation so he would make a fine soldier one day.

General Tang wasn't sure at first, but he trained hard each and every day, won many battles until he finally became general.

Prime Minister Gu was extremely proud of him so General Tang felt pleased to have listened to the man. Sadly, while he was stationed in the north, Prime Minister Gu passed away. The murderer still hadn't been caught which angered him to the point where he wanted to rush back and force the emperor to interrogate everyone in court.

While grieving his death, a group of people visited him in the north. They seemed like ordinary citizens at first, but were actually well-trained fighters. General Tang was confused as to why they wanted to see him but they told him it was Madam Gu who sent them.
They weren't lying as they had her family's crest tattooed on their body.

They informed him him that the murderer had been identified but they lacked evidence to prove that the person killed Prime Minister Gu.

After learning of this, he demanded to know the name of who killed Prime Minister Gu, but the people told him not to be rash. The person was not someone they could just accuse without concrete evidence. What they had to do was expose his other various crimes while at the same time search for evidence on Prime Minister Gu's death.

Thus, he was given the task to investigate illegal drugs, which was one of the murderer's secret businesses. General Tang was a righteous man so he couldn't refuse the important task given to him by Madam Gu.

Once he and his men successfully ambushed the men smuggling drugs, General Tang interrogated them, but the men committed suicide rather than expose who they were working under. Until this day, he had no idea who was behind the smuggling of drugs until Wu Xingxie gave him the scroll.

It wasn't a normal scroll but one used to convey secret messages. A normal person who opened it would see it as a blank scroll, but General Tang was a cultivator, so he decoded the message easily.

The only thing that confused him was why General Wu's daughter handed him the scroll.

According to the scroll, Wu Dingxiang was the mastermind behind the illegal drugs along with a few court officials, so why did she rat him out?

Was she not afraid General Wu's reputation would be ruined?

He didn't want to believe the scroll but turns out, it was written by the late Prime Minister Gu himself. General Tang was certain because of the seal on the scroll. Even the date was before his death, so that meant Prime Minister Gu planned to submit this to the emperor.

It made General Tang connect everything together. Perhaps, General Wu assassinated Prime Minister Gu because the man knew about his crimes. He wanted to silence Prime Minister Gu so that his reputation remained clean.

Only one question remained, how did Wu Xingxie get a hold of the scroll?

***
General Tang's men filed into the hall, one by one like the trained soldiers they were. In their hands were small wooden boxes, where the antidotes were kept in.

General Tang instructed the soldiers to pass out the antidote to those who were being held down first to alleviate their addiction and then to those who were still alright. The soldiers opened the boxes and passed them out according to instructions.

The antidote was a blue color inside a small bottle. It looked no different from medicine but had a very weird taste. It wasn't bitter but sour, so when the guests put it it in their mouths, their faces puckered up.

General Tang personally handed the antidote to General Wu with an expressionless gaze.

Although his eyes showed no emotions, his heart burned with fire. He wanted to shred the man into pieces and feed him to the wild beasts.

General Wu didn't sense the malicious intent from him so he accepted it but deep down, he was curious as to how General Tang got a hold of the antidote. Not even his men knew there was an antidote so how did he have it?!

Little did he know, during the past month, Wu Xingxie managed to dig up his dirty businesses. She personally found the ingredients for the antidote without letting him suspect anything.

There was no way he would suspect her because he thought she wouldn't betray him.

Wu Xingxie gave the antidote to Madam Gu, who had it mass produced in hopes to save those affected by the dangers of the drugs.

She sent them to General Tang so that if anything happened, he would have a way to reverse the effects of the drug.

He and his men continued the investigation with no leads until one day, a letter was sent to him from Madam Gu.

Although she knew it was Wu Dingxiang behind the illegal drugs, she wanted him to uncover this case himself. After all, she wasn't supposed to be involved in state or military affairs as a woman.

In the letter, she told him specifically that he had to report the case to the emperor on Princess Shuchun's birthday. If something were to happen, his men would follow him.

He didn't expect that Wu Xingxie would give him such an important scroll, so General Tang made a note to himself that he had to meet this young girl again no matter what to clear up some matters.

***
After the antidote was taken by everyone, the emperor didn't want to hold anyone in the hall any longer. He quickly dismissed those who weren't court officials to return home so that the situation could be further discussed.

On her way out, Wu Xingxie smirked at Wu Yunxia who glared at her with jealousy because of how she managed to convine the emperor of what was really happening.

He wanted to embarrass her so much but remembered his father's words. For now, she was still useful to the family which was why they kept her.

"Yun'er, let's go. Don't look at her." Madam Gu comforted him before escorting him to the carriage. She didn't want to see Wu Xingxie's face at all.

Wu Xingxie held Yuyan's hand as she climbed into her own carriage, her lips curled into a satisfied smile.

From her calculations, the emperor would certainly order a search of the officials' manors. Then, one of Wu Dingxiang's allies would be the scapegoat for today's incident.

To destroy someone, you must first cut off their wings.