Chapter 36 Uncle is not an uncle

It is the middle of the night, when everything is completely quiet.

Qi Yuning, wearing a thick fox cloak, followed Lu Ze through the large royal mausoleum.

There were withered weeds growing beside the mausoleum, and every step they took made a slight sound.

When they arrived at the tomb, Qi Yuning still didn't understand why he followed Lu Ze to investigate the tomb in the middle of the night.

"who!"

The guards guarding Prince Duan's tomb heard the noise and shouted loudly.

But after a while, Lu family's secret guards covered his mouth with a knockout drug and he fainted for a while.

Lu Ze opened the mechanism of the mausoleum, the stone door opened, and the passage inside was pitch black.

Lu Ze said to Qi Yuning: "If you are afraid, just wait for me upstairs."

Qi Yuning had come this far, so naturally her curiosity overcame her fear. She straightened her back, took out the night pearl from her sleeve and said, "Go in."

Lu Ze saw the night-shining pearl in Qi Yuning's hand, which was brighter than the lantern held by the guard in front of him.

After all, Prince Duan was a prince, and the mausoleum he built was very spacious. Inside the first exquisitely carved stone gate, there were clay-made boys and girls placed on either side. Their faces were extremely pale, which was quite horrifying.

Qi Yuning stepped forward and grabbed Lu Ze's sleeve.

Lu Ze looked back at Qi Yuning and asked, "Are you scared?"

Qi Yuning said: "The Third Prince was very kind to me when he was alive. What should I be afraid of?"

Lu Ze glanced at Qi Yuning who was pinching his sleeve, but did not expose her.

After entering the first stone door, you can see where the mechanism is.

Lu Ze easily broke the trap. "Fortunately, Princess Duan will have to live here a hundred years later, so the trap is not that powerful."

Qi Yuning followed Lu Ze into the second tomb door and found that there were two rooms here. The smaller room was filled with women's belongings.

Inside were filled with exquisite clothes, beautifully embroidered brocade shoes, and more than twenty sets of headwear, all adorned with precious gems.

Lu Ze asked, "Third aunt is still alive, and you have already prepared the burial objects?"

Qi Yuning said, "No, the burial objects here seem to be for young girls. This red coral necklace, which Lu Baozhu and I were unable to buy, was originally found here."

After Qi Yuning put down the burial objects, he and Lu Ze entered the last tomb chamber.

Inside was a wide sarcophagus, exquisitely carved.

Lu Ze said to Qi Yuning, "Princess Qi, please turn around. We need to open the sarcophagus."

Lu Ze signaled the guards behind him to come forward and lift the sarcophagus. Qi Yuning's boldness was exhausted here, and she turned around and didn't look.

The lid of the sarcophagus was heavy, and Lu Ze and several guards could only move it a little bit. It took a while to open the sarcophagus.

Qi Yuning smelled a strange odor and she even covered her nose with a handkerchief.

Lu Ze looked inside the coffin and asked, "Why are there two bodies?"

Qi Yuning took a closer look and saw two corpses, one large and one small, covered in rotten flesh.

Just when I was feeling so frightened that my hair stood on end, I heard a female scream!

"What are you doing here? Aaaah!"

When Qi Yuning saw the long-haired woman in white appearing in front of her, her face turned pale instantly, and the night pearl in her hand fell to the ground.

Lu Zelian stepped forward, held Qi Yuning's hand, and pulled her into his arms.

Seeing Princess Duan standing in front of him with disheveled hair and dressed in white, Lu Ze asked, "Aunt, why are there two corpses here?"

Qi Yuning felt the warmth from his fingertips and looked into the sarcophagus again.

The sarcophagus was very large, with two corpses lying inside. One was wearing a brocade python robe, and he was obviously a powerful prince. The other corpse was smaller, and was dressed in a palace dress, which was of a princess' rank.

The guards around Lu Ze went to check the corpse in women's clothing, only to see Princess Duan rushing over like crazy, "Don't touch my Shan'er! No one is allowed to touch my Shan'er!"

Princess Duan stared at everyone in the tomb with red eyes, "Lu Ze, this is your uncle, how dare you open the coffin!"

Lu Ze said, "Aunt, it's because of my uncle that I want to know the cause of his death. Also, why is my cousin Shan, whose body is missing, here? Looking at her skeleton, she doesn't look like she was ten years old when she disappeared. She should be twelve or thirteen years old, right?"

Princess Duan was not afraid of the corpse with rotting flesh. Looking at the two people in the sarcophagus, she helplessly reached out to hold the sarcophagus and said:

"I have dodged, why can't you let me go? I don't know anything. I just want to live well with my Jie'er."

"Jie'er is all I have!"

"You also have a daughter. My Shan'er, whom I loved and pampered for ten years, died tragically. Why, why, why won't you let me go!"

Qi Yuning broke free from Lu Ze's hand and walked to Princess Duan to support her. "Princess, it's not that we won't let you go, but do you really not want revenge?"

Princess Duan cried bitterly, "Revenge? How do I take revenge?"

Qi Yuning said: "Prince Lu will find the real murderer for you."

Lu Ze nodded and said, "Aunt, I will seek justice for my uncle."

Qi Yuning pulled out a decorative hairpin from her head, went over to help Princess Duan put her long hair up, and asked, "Princess, why is Princess Shan here?"

Princess Duan was heartbroken and shed tears helplessly.

Lu Ze said coldly: "If the princess doesn't want to talk about it, I will report it to His Majesty and ask the Dali Temple to investigate this case. After all, the death of the princess is not a trivial matter."

Qi Yuning also said softly to Princess Duan: "Princess, Sister Shan also needs justice."

Princess Duan said helplessly: "You must first promise me not to tell His Majesty and not to tell anyone about this."

Qi Yuning and Lu Ze looked at each other and nodded.

Princess Duan cried bitterly, "Shan'er disappeared when she was ten years old. Many people said they saw her fall into the river. We searched everywhere along the river but couldn't find her body.

Later, my mother, my parents and I all advised the prince and I to have another child while we still could.

But Shan'er is our baby. Even if we have other children, they will no longer be Shan'er.

After we had Jie'er, the prince and I never forgot Shan'er and never gave up looking for her. We wanted to see her alive or dead. It was not until three years after Shan'er disappeared that Wang Tao found us. "

Qi Yuning asked: "Wang Tao?"

Lu Ze signaled the guards to bring Wang Tao over.

Princess Duan nodded and said, "Wang Tao handed us a female corpse. Although three years have passed and my Shan'er has grown from a child to a young girl, the prince and I recognized the female corpse as Shan'er at first sight.

That’s our Shan’er. The birthmark on Shan’er’s body is still there. Shan’er’s body is covered with…”

Princess Duan was trembling so much that she couldn't speak at all, and her throat was sore.

Qi Yuning hugged Princess Duan and said, "Princess."

Princess Duan cried loudly, "Shan'er was covered in traces of humiliation, and died a very tragic death. The prince couldn't accept it and asked Wang Tao about the origin of the body. Wang Tao said that one of his comrades-in-arms brought it out from the Shu Palace. At that time, Wang Tao's comrade-in-arms had already died, so he couldn't get anything out of him."

Princess Duan was distraught and said, "That night, the prince wanted to go to the Prince of Shu's mansion to question me. I was stupid and foolish. I didn't want everyone to know that Shan'er was humiliated. I just wanted Shan'er to leave with a clear conscience. So I stopped the prince and didn't let him make a big deal out of it. I was really stupid."

Princess Duan was so grief-stricken that she slapped herself angrily.

Qi Yuning held Princess Duan's hand again and again: "You are right, Princess Shan died innocently."

This is how the world is. No one will think a woman is innocent when she is bullied. Even if she is a high-ranking royal princess, if she is bullied to death, she will be laughed at in secret.

Princess Duan had no choice but to make her own choice.

Princess Duan choked up and said, "When we found Shan'er's body, it was during the sacrificial ceremony. We planned to announce that we had found Shan'er's body after the sacrificial ceremony, and hold a funeral for Shan'er so that she could rest in peace.

Who would have thought that the prince could not come back, and actually fell into the lake and died!"

Princess Duan was extremely sad and said, "The King of Shu and Concubine Xian are very powerful. What can I do? Do I really want to ignore Shan'er's reputation and ask the King of Shu to avenge his life without any evidence?"

"I can't kill the King of Shu by myself. I still have Jie'er here. I can't really kill the King of Shu and leave Jie'er alone!"

“Many people saw the prince’s death. He was dragged down by a water ghost and drowned. No one saw my Shan’er’s death. Even if we want justice, there is no evidence.

I can only let everyone see my Shan'er's body after being humiliated, let her suffer humiliation again, let her be laughed at by the world, I don't want that!"

Qi Yuning looked at Princess Duan with heartache. Her beloved daughter and husband were both dead. It was no wonder that Princess Duan left the prosperous Shengjing and lived in seclusion here.

Qi Yuning sighed, and when he saw Lu Ze's men escorting Wang Tao into the tomb, he asked, "Wang Tao, did Princess Shan's body really come from the Shu Palace?"

Wang Tao said, "Yes, Princess Shan's body was given to me by General Huo Anhuo. After General Huo gave me the body, he died."

"Uncle Huo!"

Qi Yuning was shocked, Huo An was her grandfather's disciple and the most loyal one.

Qi Yuning thought he had died a long time ago, dying with his parents in the battle fourteen years ago.

Wang Tao said: "For some reason, General Huo has been hiding his identity in the Prince of Shu's Mansion all these years. He told me to give Princess Shan's body to Prince Duan. Before he died, he said, "Uncle is not uncle..."

(End of this chapter)