Plotting with You: The Forensic Scientist in Ancient Times!-Chapter 226 - 225: Turning the Tables

The dark-faced man indeed looked like he had seen much of the world in the capital, and he laughed when he heard the old man’s sigh.

"No wonder you folks who live in the countryside can’t make sense of anything day by day." He pointed to his coarse cloth clothes, "You see the eldest young master in a purple robe, doesn’t that show the Prince has already decided that he is the heir apparent, the future king of Shuo Land!"

"Hey! Don’t speak recklessly!" The white-bearded man was startled upon hearing this, quickly stopping the dark-faced man from speaking nonsense, fearing it might accidentally cause trouble and implicate himself, "How can we commoners randomly comment on matters inside the Prince’s household!

Now, it’s the second young master who’s bringing people to work. If your words that the eldest young master will become the heir apparent were to reach the second young master’s ears, what then!

I see that the second young master is also a very good person.

These past few days, while we’ve been working here, we’ve been housed well, fed well, never lacking a meal. Although we haven’t seen the second young master in person, didn’t he give all the orders for everything? He has no intention of mistreating us at all!

In the future, regardless of whether it’s the eldest or the second young master who becomes the heir, I reckon we’ll all have good days..."

As the white-bearded man spoke, he kept glancing around anxiously as if he was really feeling this or if he was afraid that the dark-faced man’s words might have been overheard by the second young master’s people, leading to trouble later.

The dark-faced man pursed his lips: "I never said the second young master is bad. With how good our treatment has been these days, I can see that the second young master is kind-hearted by nature. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

But whether he can become the heir doesn’t just depend on his kind-heartedness!

Everyone in the capital knows that the most powerful in Shuo Land is the Pang Family. If the Pang Family stamps their foot, the whole Shuo Land would shake thrice!

Though the second young master seems pretty good, he hasn’t caught the eye of his maternal family. The Pang Family has been supporting the eldest young master from the start to the end. Otherwise, how do you think all those promising and lucrative positions have fallen to the eldest young master?

Let’s put it this way, the sons in the Prince’s family, even if they’re not all extraordinary, they’re pretty close. Still, who becomes the new ruler of Shuo will depend on who the Pang Family is willing to support."

Zhu Yu glanced again at the dark-faced man.

His words were far more serious than the old man’s earlier mention of Zhu Jie’s purple robe.

If wearing a purple robe was overstepping one’s status, then the dark-faced man’s words were much more excessive.

By saying repeatedly "who will be Shuo’s future king depends on the Pang Family," it’s tantamount to saying the Pang Family is the real authority in Shuo Land, and Zhu Cheng is merely a puppet or a figurehead.

Strangely though, such rebellious words elicited no concern from those around; they even showed no extra reaction.

So... in the eyes of the Shuo citizens, not praising the eldest young master under the watchful eyes of the second young master’s people is a cautious choice, but the fact that Shuo’s future king depends on the Pang Family’s decision, they all seem to accept as a truth.

Zhu Yu felt a little faintly alarmed and even somewhat angry.

She had never had the opportunity to learn about these things outside; she only knew of the Pang Family leveraging power within the mansion and never expected it to have developed to the point of overturning control.

And her old father, still oblivious, was engrossed in crafting some ultimate weapon.

Perhaps Zhu Cheng does not mind the Pang Family supporting whoever, as all his sons are from Pang Yuzhen, and whoever the Pang Family supports maintains the long-standing good relations between the two families, and regardless of which son, with the Pang Family’s backing, needn’t worry about being weak when taking over everything.

But he hasn’t realized at all, that now with the Pang Family’s enormous influence, what they really want might no longer be standing behind Prince Shuo.

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but secretly rejoice, thankful for the suspected privately manufactured weapons flowing out of Shuo Country that made Lu Qing feel the necessity to come to Shuo Land to investigate, otherwise if the situation were allowed to continue to develop unrestrained, the matter of whether Shuo’s future king’s surname remains Zhu would not be the scariest outcome.

The scariest thing is if the Pang Family, intoxicated by ambition, does something foolish, the Zhu Family would have to take the fall, the entire family would face disaster.

If then, someone with intentions fanned the flames from the shadows and involved Lu Qing, everything would truly be destroyed.

While Zhu Yu mused over these thoughts, the elderly group’s idle chat continued.

"If the Pang Family so favors the eldest young master, that must mean compared to the second young master he has more outstanding traits, right?" The red-cheeked man curiously inquired to the dark-faced man, "You’ve returned from making a living near the capital and surely know more than us, could you tell us?"

"I couldn’t really say..." When truly questioned, the dark-faced man who was so eloquent before became a bit awkward, "I was just working for relatives then, and wouldn’t have been privy to anything major.

Moreover, the actions of nobles are different from ours.

The eldest young master in the capital goes everywhere with an entourage, always making a grand impression.

But when it really comes to getting things done, it’s always the Pang Family people doing it.

The nobles wouldn’t possibly handle everything in person; they naturally order others below to do the work!

Since the Pang Family is so formidable, if they agreed the eldest young master is capable, then surely he is!"

Saying this made sense to the others, for it if there were someone today among the stone-gatherers speaking confidently about the Shuo Prince’s two sons, that would truly be strange.

"But speaking of it, the Pang Family is really formidable." The red-cheeked man, seeing the dark-faced man had nothing more to say, thought back and forth, feeling a bit stifled as if he had been outdone during their earlier chat and was not very happy with it. He racked his brain and finally remembered something to contribute to the conversation, "I used to work at the biggest butcher shop in our town.

One day, the owner asked us to deliver goods to the Pang Family’s villa in town, saying the Pang Family suddenly occupied a villa untouched for years and brought several distinguished guests, planning a grand feast there, instructing us to deliver plenty of quality meat.

The boss had us drive the cart loaded with rare delicacies he meticulously gathered, not normally seen goods, all delivered to the Pang Family villa.

I initially thought the Pang Family was hosting the Prince or someone from the Prince’s family, hoping to catch a glimpse of nobility, but was stopped at the kitchen, told to leave everything in the backyard and then leave.

I overheard kitchen staff chatting, saying their hosts were entertaining distinguished guests from Lan Country."