Chapter 281 Dogs Fighting Dogs

Chapter 281 Dogs Fighting Dogs

The Prince of Nanyang and his wife, preoccupied with washing away their shame and venting their anger, unknowingly relaxed their continued surveillance of the Princess of Nanyang.

Many of the people who were originally sent to monitor the Princess of Nanyang and her trusted subordinates were reassigned by the two men to other tasks that they considered more important.

Unbeknownst to the two, the Princess of Nanyang was waiting for this perfect opportunity when they lowered their guard.

When Xie Wanniang led the village head and tenants to prepare for spring plowing the following spring, a shocking piece of news that had been delayed for a long time before reaching her shocked her and took her a while to come back to her senses.

She stared at Jiang Yuan, confirming with him incredulously, "You said the Prince of Nanyang has been poisoned and is now unconscious?"

Jiang Yuan nodded, "And the old Princess Consort of Nanyang, she suffered from a stroke and is now bedridden, unable to get up. They say she has contracted rheumatism."

Xie Wanniang clicked her tongue, "That old lady looks perfectly healthy to me. I thought she could live at least another twenty or thirty years."

As for the Prince of Nanyang, "Do you know what kind of poison the Prince of Nanyang was given? And who poisoned him?"

Jiang Yuan had found out the details before telling Xie Wanniang. When Xie Wanniang asked him about it, he gently told her the whole story.

Xie Wanniang only realized after hearing this that the Prince of Nanyang had been poisoned by Old Madam Tong.

Tong and her lover, her cousin, both died in the Prince's mansion. How could Tong's parents not know? This must be because the things they did in private had been discovered by the Prince of Nanyang, the cuckolded prince.

The Tong family parents would never dare to seek justice for their daughter and nephew, and strictly speaking, they didn't really have any justice to seek.

Attempting to confuse the royal bloodline is such a serious crime. If the Prince of Nanyang and the old princess hadn't wanted to avoid losing face, they could have openly and honestly killed all those involved.

The reason they're acting so secretly now is simply because they can't bear the shame.

For the sake of their own lives, Tong's family not only had no intention of avenging her, but also packed their belongings and planned to move to a place beyond the reach and interference of the Prince of Nanyang and the old princess.

Anyway, thanks to Madam Tong, they had already received a lot of benefits from the Prince of Nanyang's mansion some time ago. With the valuables and precious items that Madam Tong had sent back, they could live a good life even if they went to other places.

They had a brilliant plan, but the Prince of Nanyang and the old princess did not give them a chance to escape their control.

On the day the Tong family was preparing to leave their homeland with their packed bags, the parents of Tong's cousin, who was also her lover, along with the rest of the family, stormed into the Tong family's door.

In their view, their son was gone, and because of the Tong family's bad idea, the Tong family should be held responsible. Not to mention that their family had become a thorn in the side of the Prince of Nanyang and the old Princess, so the Tong family had even less reason to abandon them and leave alone.

They demanded that the Tong family take them along as well. If the Tong family refused, they would have to give them half of the benefits the Tong family received from the Prince's Mansion as compensation.

What this group didn't say was that even if the Tong family agreed to take them with them, they would still demand that the Tong family share half of their wealth when they went to new places with the Tong family.

The Tong family never expected that this group of people, whom they had temporarily fooled, would come to their front door to intercept them at this critical moment.

They dared not let their neighbors hear the news, as it could very well prevent them from leaving the neighborhood.

With forced smiles, the Tong family ushered the family inside, attempting to continue their persuasive tactics.

This time, however, the family seemed to have suddenly become much more cunning. No matter how the Tong family tried to persuade them, the family remained unmoved.

But the Tong family can't really carry such a bunch of burdens. Who would willingly give half of their good fortune to another family?

Besides, if their child hadn't been so foolish and impulsive, running off to the Prince of Nanyang's mansion and getting caught red-handed by the Prince, their two families wouldn't be in this predicament today!

Yes, in the Tong family's mind, the one who was wrong was not their family, but their cousin's family.

However, they had already benefited, while the other family hadn't even gotten a single penny. They were wary of the other family being unemployed while they themselves were wearing shoes, so they didn't dare to directly confront them.

The two families argued back and forth in the Tong family's house for a long time, but they couldn't reach a conclusion.

As a result, the Tong family's departure time was delayed.

As noon approached, the Tong family not only couldn't leave, but they also had to reluctantly invite the family that refused to leave to have lunch together.

However, it was this meal that led to the near-total extinction of the Tong family.

The family that refused to leave was even more unlucky than the Tong family. Everyone in their family who ate lunch at the Tong family's house died from the poison, and their deaths were exactly the same as those of the Tong family.

Only Tong's mother, who was in charge of preparing meals in the kitchen with the servants, escaped the disaster because she was not seated at the table.

The deaths of more than a dozen people from two families on the same day, all because of a lunch, would undoubtedly be a major case anywhere.

Local officials intervened in the investigation immediately, but unfortunately, they were unable to find out who had poisoned the person.

Tong's mother, along with several female servants who prepared lunch for her and two male servants responsible for purchasing, were all arrested and imprisoned by the authorities and thoroughly interrogated.

However, after such a drastic change, Tong's mother had already become somewhat delirious. She was in a daze, either crying and screaming or staring blankly at a certain spot, showing no reaction to anything happening around her.

As for the servants of the Tong family, they were all bought by the Tong family after Tong Shi became pregnant. Each of them had a clean background. Although they were not necessarily loyal to their new master, there was really no reason for them to be so heartless as to kill these two families.

Furthermore, since the constables did not find any residual poison or suspicious paper packets in the Tong family's residence, this extremely heinous family annihilation case became an unsolved mystery.

All the suspects who had been arrested and imprisoned by the authorities were released one after another after the case was reluctantly shelved.

Among them was Tong's own mother, a middle-aged woman who had lost all her family overnight and was now somewhat insane.

As the sole survivor of the Tong family, the government arranged for constables to keep an eye on her every move. However, the constables' surveillance range was limited, and they couldn't possibly keep the woman in their sight all day long.