Proud Feather

Chapter 107 Capture
"What do you want from me?" the shopkeeper asked irritably. "I haven't spoken to you for so many days, you can't be worried about me, can you?"

"Look at what you're saying," Fang Wu said with a smile. "I was being watched by someone before, and I was afraid of implicating you, so I didn't dare to come to you."

"So you're not afraid now?" the shopkeeper said, peeking outside and lowering his voice, "Are you sure no one's watching?"

Fang Wu said, "You don't know what happened outside, do you? Today..."

After hearing his explanation, the shopkeeper asked in confusion, "You mean the matter ends here, which is why you came to me?"

"Halfway!" Fang Wu said. "The Crown Princess's anger shows the case is almost closed. But I'm in trouble now..."

"What's wrong with you?"

Fang Wu whispered, "Someone wants to kill me."

The shopkeeper was puzzled: "Didn't we already beat you up? Now that we've let you come back, there's no need to hold a grudge. Besides, you didn't say anything bad about the Crown Prince, so you can't be considered a traitor."

“It’s not the Crown Princess.” Fang Wu said anxiously, glancing around. “It’s the Princess. I pretended to side with her, but ended up becoming her witness. The Princess is furious and plans to kill me once the case is closed…”

The shopkeeper scratched his head: "Is your information accurate?"

"Of course!" Fang Wu said, "The princess didn't have many people around her originally; they were all recently transferred. That kid Jiang Shijun gathered a lot of old people from the Eastern Palace for her, and there are our spies among them... In short, if I don't escape, I'm doomed!"

The shopkeeper understood: "You came to see me because you want to leave the capital."

"Yes." Fang Wu smiled ingratiatingly. "I know you have a way to leave. Considering we've gotten along fairly well over the years, I'll help my brother out."

The shopkeeper snorted, exposing his little scheme: "How can my connections compare to yours? Why don't you go find your master?"

Fang Wu spoke frankly: "Our master forbids us from contacting him without permission! After thinking it over, I had no choice but to come to you..."

The shopkeeper snorted, "At least you know what's important!"

He paused for a moment, then politely declined: "It's not that I don't want to help you, but look at me, I'm hiding myself! With the Dali Temple's Golden Guard and the Imperial City Guard combined, it's not so easy to escape. If I don't move, I'll be caught by their scent."

“I’m willing to take the risk!” Fang Wu said immediately. “You don’t know the princess’s temper. No one has ever disobeyed her since she was a child. I don’t dare to stay and gamble my luck. Old Cai, you actually want to escape too, right? I’ll scout out a way for you. If there are no problems, you can leave. It’s better than staying here and eating, drinking, and defecating with the donkey.”

The manager was persuaded. He managed such a large restaurant and always lived a life of luxury, but these past few days had been truly difficult for him.

"Alright!" he finally relented. "You wait here, and we'll send you away when they come tomorrow."

Fang Wu was overjoyed, then asked, "Tomorrow? Can't it be tonight?"

The shopkeeper snorted, "Are you out of your mind? The city gates are closed, how are we supposed to get out? We'll have to wait until morning at the earliest!"

Fang Wu chuckled twice: "I didn't realize it for a moment..."

"Alright, I'll make room for you. You can sleep here for the night!"

Fang Wu looked at the dark donkey shed and smelled the stench of livestock excrement, feeling disgusted. But to survive, he had no choice but to endure it and walk over…

The shopkeeper suddenly shoved him and shouted, "Who? You brought people with you?"

Fang Wu was stunned for a moment: "What? No!" Before he could finish speaking, footsteps sounded outside, and the constables burst in like wolves, shouting: "You audacious thief, surrender now!"

The shopkeeper understood the situation perfectly well. He glared at Fang Wu and then climbed up the low wall behind him.

He leaped onto the wall, only to find that there were people on this side as well. He tried to change direction, but was grabbed by the constables behind him and pressed firmly to the ground.

As for Fang Wu, he had already been beaten and was arrested with almost no resistance.

The shopkeeper was furious, and even with his head being held down, he still roared, "Fang Wu! You've ruined my life!"

The constables ignored him and turned to report, "Sir! The prisoner has been apprehended!"

Gao Mian, standing at the door, coldly swept his gaze over the two men: "Take them away!"
-
Stepping into the Funing Palace for the second time in one day was a nightmare for Fang Wu.

By this point, how could he not realize he'd fallen into a trap? He'd been deliberately released, and the information was false—Jiang Shijun! He'd truly underestimated this fat man! He'd kept a low profile while the Crown Prince was around, yet in such a short time, he'd become the Princess's right-hand man, even outmaneuvering him!

On the other side, Chu Ling looked surprised upon hearing Gao Mian's report: "It was actually him?"

Gao Mian nodded in agreement: "The evidence is conclusive."

"It was truly an unexpected turn of events..." Chu Ling's feelings were complicated as she turned back to report, "Father, the prisoner has been caught, we can proceed!"

The emperor frowned and looked at Fang Wu: "The murderer you're talking about isn't him, is he?"

Seeing Fang Wu trembling like a leaf, Chu Ling felt a pang of sadness and said softly, "I'm afraid so."

Before the emperor could ask any more questions, she looked at Lin Wenyu and said, "Minister Lin, you said that you and Lord Gao investigated the Crown Prince's whereabouts thoroughly, and ruled out everyone else, leaving only Zhu Fan with the opportunity to poison him, is that right?"

These were Lin Wenyu's words during his self-defense, and there's no way to refute them.

"Did you notice that Fang Wu was almost always present whenever Zhu Fan had the opportunity to poison someone?"

"..." Lü Chan glared angrily, "Fang Wu! The Crown Prince trusts you so much. You are just a lowly official from humble origins. Without the Crown Prince's patronage, where would your future be? Why did you want to harm him?!"

"No!" Fang Wu was covered in cold sweat and could only forcefully deny it. "Princess, I know you are angry, but I really didn't! I only stated the facts and did not say anything bad about the Crown Prince!"

Gao Mian snorted coldly and spoke up for Chu Ling: "Fang Wu, you probably don't know, but we've just obtained new evidence proving that the confession is fake and that Zhu Fan was murdered. In other words, you gave false testimony this morning!"

Fang Wu was bewildered until he saw Zhu Fanzhen's letter, at which point he was completely stunned.

It's true that he was the Crown Prince's confidant, but he only knew part of the Crown Prince's affairs. He never expected that the part he didn't know contained such a secret, which caused an irreparable loophole in the case he fabricated!

Gao Mian suddenly turned around: "Lord Lin, are you trying to say that this doesn't prove that Fang Wu poisoned him?"

Lin Wenyu opened his mouth but then closed it again after being interrupted.

Zhang Ji replied earnestly, "What Lord Gao said is quite right. Zhu Fan's handwritten letter proves that Fang Wu's confession is untrue, but there is no way to deduce that he was the one who poisoned him. You are not Minister Lin, so you probably wouldn't handle the case this way. But do you have any other evidence?"

"Yes." Gao Mian turned to the emperor. "Your Majesty, when we arrested Fang Wu, we also arrested his accomplices. I request that the prisoners be brought to the palace."