Chapter 322 The Truth

"We don't know where he's buried. He was alive and well during the day, but suddenly died at night. The princess and her maid Han Cui were very close to him. The princess wasn't sad at all when he died, and Han Cui forbade us to mention him again."

“I heard he died a terrible death. The princess was usually quite lenient with us. He must have done something unforgivable, otherwise the princess wouldn’t have been so cruel.”

"This person is very smart and learns everything quickly. He has only been practicing the flute for two months, but he plays it better than some of us who have been studying for several years."

The male concubines chattered amongst themselves, each afraid of not having provided enough detail.

Guan Yi'an had only stayed at the princess's residence for about two months and was not very familiar with them. They could only recall this much information when they thought about it carefully.

Nevertheless, Meng Lingge still keenly grasped the key points in their words.

"Playing the flute? There should be a man among you named Zheng Qingshan, I don't know his code name, but he's also skilled at playing the flute. What's his relationship with Guan Yi'an? Do you have any information about him?"

The male concubine standing in front shook his head. "We don't know the code name. We don't know which one the noble person is referring to. But very few people from the princess's residence have left. In all these years, no more than five have left. This year, only the person with the code name Nineteen left, but he is not good at music."

“Speaking of the 19th, I just remembered something. The third day after the man whom the princess called Anlang died was the day the princess let the 19th leave. Moreover, on the night Anlang died, the princess even asked the 19th to serve her.”

“Now that you mention it, I remember. Number 19 has been at the princess’s residence for several years. Because she is not good at speaking and cannot sing or dance, she was almost forgotten by the princess. But that day, the princess suddenly summoned us all and chose Number 19. We were all a little surprised at the time.”

“Number 19 was not chosen by the princess, but by Anlang at her request.”

“After Anlang chose number nineteen for the princess, he died that very night.”

The others added their comments, and the more Meng Lingge listened, the more she felt that Guan Yi'an and Number Nineteen had a close relationship. However, no one knew whether Number Nineteen was Zheng Qingshan or whether Guan Yi'an's death was related to him.

Meng Lingge glanced at Lüshui, but still asked in front of her, "Is the number nineteen you mentioned someone with above-average looks, broom-shaped eyebrows, and a string of white jade gourds on her wrist?"

One of the male concubines immediately nodded and said, "I am quite familiar with Number Nineteen. His appearance matches your description, and he always wears a string of white jade gourds on his left hand."

Upon hearing this, Green Water stepped forward excitedly, grasped the male concubine's hand, and asked, "Did he mention the origin of this white jade gourd? Did you see him again later?"

The male concubine took a step back in fright. Seeing that Meng Lingge did not stop him, he honestly replied, "He said that his family bought them, one for him and one for his sister, but the words on them are different. The words on his seemed to be 'Green Mountain.' After he left, he came back to see the princess once, but the conversation with the princess was not pleasant, and the princess had him thrown out."

“It’s him, it’s him!” Green Water said, tears welling in her eyes, looking at Meng Lingge. “Miss, it really is him…”

"Don't worry," Meng Lingge patted her hand reassuringly, "As long as he's still alive, we'll definitely find him."

Meng Lingge glanced at her male concubines, scanning them row by row. She noticed that two of them looked particularly flustered, their eyes darting around, and their bodies were trembling slightly.

“You, and you, come forward.”

The two male concubines who were chosen walked tremblingly to Meng Lingge, barely able to stand, and simply knelt down with a thud.

"Please spare my life, my sir! Please spare my life..."

Upon seeing this, Meng Lingge knew that the two men knew more than they thought. She stood up and said to the other male concubines, "I understand what you have said. I will find someone to let you leave as soon as possible. You may leave now."

The male concubines dared not question it and took their leave one after another.

Only the two male concubines that Meng Lingge had chosen remained.

"What wrong have you two committed? Why do you want my life?" Meng Lingge looked at them sharply. "Now that Princess Qiongxiao is not here, only I can save your lives. As long as you tell me what you need to say, everything will be fine. Otherwise..."

"I'll talk, I'll talk..." These two male concubines were really timid. Before Meng Lingge could even start threatening them, they hurriedly said, "The man the noble lady was looking for, An Lang, is actually not dead. The one who died was number nineteen..."

As soon as she finished speaking, Green Water's face turned deathly pale, and she stared at the two of them in disbelief.

Meng Lingge supported her and continued to ask, "Didn't they say Guan Yi'an was dead? What exactly happened?"

The two male concubines kept their heads down, still somewhat shaken by the incident.

"For some reason, Anlang seems unable to leave the princess's residence, but he still wants to go out, so he begged the princess to give him a face transplant... Number 19 was the person he chose to have his face transplanted."

"Only the two of us, the princess, Han Cui, and the old man Fu who performed the face transplant knew about this. After the face transplant, An Lang died, and he left the princess's residence on the 19th. However, the princess and An Lang did not hide their conversation from us, so we knew that the person who died was the 19th, and the person who left the princess's residence was An Lang."

This was too bizarre and terrifying. Green Water unconsciously tightened her grip on Meng Lingge's hand, shaking her head repeatedly, saying, "No, no, Miss, tell me, how could this be? My brother said he would come to find me. How could such a strange and vicious thing happen in the world? My brother isn't dead yet. These two are liars..."

Meng Lingge knew that Lushui couldn't accept the news of her brother's tragic death. She opened her mouth, wanting to say a few words to comfort her, but after a while, she still didn't say anything. She just gently hugged Lushui in her arms.

Although face swapping is indeed a mysterious and unpredictable matter.

But Meng Lingge had already believed most of it in her heart.

Because Guan Yi'an's personality was so similar to Zheng Qingshan's, whom she knew, and their peach blossom eyes were exactly the same.

How could there be two pairs of eyes that are so similar? She should have thought of it sooner, but the two faces were completely different, which made her overlook it.

If the face-swapping is true, then everything makes sense.

Why did Zheng Qingshan follow her? Why did he want to deal with the Meng family? How could he, who knew nothing about music, play such beautiful flute music?

It's because only one aspect of him is Zheng Qingshan, while his body and soul are Guan Yi'an.

It is highly likely that Princess Qiongxiao's sudden escape was due to this matter.

Wen Zhiming stormed the imperial city and became the most powerful person in the Golden Moon Kingdom. There was no place in the Golden Moon Kingdom that she and Wen Zhiming could not go.

Princess Qiongxiao knew that she would investigate Guan Yi'an and Zheng Qingshan's affairs, and worried that the face-changing would be discovered, so she took her closest maid and the doctor who performed the face-changing and fled in panic.

However, she left in such a hurry that she left behind two male lovers who knew the truth.

The two male concubines became even more anxious when they saw that Green Water was crying so hard and that they were being called liars.