Chapter 285 The Truth Revealed (Third Update)

The room was pitch black, without a single ray of light, and a faint medicinal fragrance emanated from the incense burner.

Tang Ming was wrapped up like a rice dumpling and fell into a painful, unconscious sleep, completely unaware that a dark shadow was quietly approaching him.

The shadowy figure silently approached the bedside, raised the dagger in its hand, and the dagger flashed, reflecting in Tang Ming's eyes.

Tang Ming suddenly opened his eyes: "Who?!"

The man covered Tang Ming's mouth with one hand, gripped the dagger tightly with the other, and stabbed Tang Ming hard in the stomach!

Tang Ming struggled, but with his serious injuries, he had no strength left.

Just as the knife was about to plunge into his body, in the blink of an eye, the window was suddenly smashed open, and a dart flew in, striking the man's wrist.

The man's wrist was cut, and in the intense pain, his fingers loosened, causing the dagger to fall to the ground.

Seeing that things were not going well, the man turned and ran, but as soon as he opened the door, Gu Jiao blocked him at the doorway.

He stared in horror at the black-clad masked man who had appeared out of nowhere, then turned and ran toward the window. Gu Chengfeng jumped in through the window.

With nowhere to retreat, his body trembled, and in a flash, he suddenly bent down, grabbed the dagger on the ground with his intact left hand, and slashed at his own neck.

"Heh, trying to commit suicide? Not so easy!" Gu Chengfeng threw another dart, deflecting the dagger from his hand.

Gu Chengfeng walked to the wall and pulled out his darts one by one. Then he came to the bedside and, under Tang Ming's terrified gaze, pressed Tang Ming's speech acupoint: "Listen carefully, who exactly wants to kill you?"

Gu Chengfeng had met Tang Ming before. Back then, Tang Ming was arrogant and haughty, but now, where was his arrogance? He was incredibly cowardly.

Gu Chengfeng ignored Tang Ming and instead slowly looked at the person who had been captured alive. This person was dressed no differently from the servants of the Tang family.

Gu Jiao had seen this person when she was treating Tang Ming's injuries openly; the person was one of the servants who served Tang Ming.

I don't know her name, Gu Jiao.

Gu Chengfeng kicked him to his knees: "Who sent you?"

"Who are you?" the servant asked.

Oh, you're about to die and you still have the nerve to ask who they are?

Indeed, one wouldn't dare to murder Tang Ming if they weren't bold enough.

Gu Chengfeng cleared his throat, crossed his arms, and looked down at him, saying, "We are the Marshal's secret guards sent to protect the young master."

"Young Master?" The servant laughed. "Master never calls him Young Master; he always tells us to call him Young Master."

Each household has its own customs and titles. For example, the Ding'an Marquis's household uses the title "Young Master," which is why Gu Chengfeng always uses that title when he speaks.

Gu Chengfeng's lips twitched. It collapsed so quickly? Can't we at least let the number one thief in the capital have a go at being a bodyguard?

The servant sneered, "No matter what you ask, I won't say a word. Kill me or torture me as you please. If I utter even a single word, then you've got guts!"

Gu Chengfeng's teeth were aching. This was his first time interrogating someone, and he'd run into such a tough nut! Couldn't they just reason with him?

Gu Jiao didn't say anything. She went directly to the servant, flicked her wrist, and a syringe slid out of her sleeve and plunged into his back shoulder.

"What is this?" Gu Chengfeng asked, his eyes wide.

“Hallucinogens,” Gu Jiao said.

There were also some other things added to it, things that the organization in my previous life used to train agents or interrogate opponents, but they didn't work for everyone.

Some people have such intense hallucinations that they are unable to communicate with the outside world, making it impossible to get any information out of them.

However, the servant in front of him didn't seem to be in such a bad state. His eyes became unfocused, but he could still hear the two people's voices.

"Who sent you?" Gu Jiao asked.

"Master," the servant said blankly, then chuckled foolishly.

"So effective!" Gu Chengfeng's phoenix eyes widened, and he pressed his advantage, asking, "Which master?"

servant: "Master...Master."

Who else could be addressed as "Master" by the servants of the Tang family?

Gu Chengfeng was stunned. Wasn't Tang Ming the eldest master's biological son? How could a father harm his own son?

Gu Chengfeng had experienced firsthand his father's favoritism, but even if Lord Gu was biased, he would never have ill intentions towards his own son. As the saying goes, even a tiger doesn't eat its cubs. Has Lord Tang gone mad?

He went to look at Tang Ming on the bed and saw that he had already fainted at some point and probably hadn't heard what the servant said.

Gu Jiao's reaction was calmer than Gu Chengfeng's. After all, she had died once, and her parents in her previous life were the kind of people who could push her into hell.

She walked over and picked up the dagger from the ground.

Gu Chengfeng was still incredulous: "Did he make a mistake? Or is there something wrong with your medicine?"

Gu Jiao said, "My medicine is fine, and he shouldn't have made a mistake either."

How could such a thing be wrong? He was a servant in the manor. Master Tang was paralyzed in bed, so his meeting with Master Tang must have taken place in Master Tang's room. Gu Chengfeng's use of the word "young master" gave him away, which shows that he was not someone who could be easily fooled.

Gu Chengfeng was completely bewildered: "But why would Master Tang kill his own son?"

"Who knows?" Gu Jiao wasn't interested in the Tang family's internal strife; she only cared about how she got the dagger. She remembered that in her dream, it was Gu Changqing's dagger.

"Does this dagger look familiar to you?" She handed the dagger to Gu Chengfeng.

Gu Chengfeng took it and examined it closely: "Oh dear, isn't this my elder brother's dagger? How did it end up here? Was he... was he planning to use this dagger to assassinate Tang Ming just now?"

This is terrifying! The eldest brother isn't in the military camp, and his dagger has been found at the crime scene. It looks like his eldest brother is going to be in deep trouble no matter what!

"Who gave it to you?" he asked the servant.

The servant muttered, "Master..."

Gu Jiao asked, "Does your older brother often carry it with him?"

Gu Chengfeng shook his head: "No, it's not that. This dagger was given to my eldest brother by our grandfather when he turned twelve. He cherished it and kept it in his study. He rarely used it, but my third brother and I would occasionally borrow it to play with."

"How come you remember being twelve years old?" Gu Jiao asked purely out of curiosity.

"Because there's a birthday banquet when you turn twelve!" Gu Chengfeng said.

In the Zhao Kingdom, not every birthday is celebrated in a grand manner. Besides the first birthday, the next major birthday is the twelfth birthday, the third is the fifteenth birthday for girls, and the twentieth birthday for boys.

Gu Jiao said "Oh," because the original owner of this body had never turned twelve, so she didn't remember this custom.

Gu Jiao asked, "Master Tang has been paralyzed for many years. How did he get his hands on this dagger?"

It's not surprising that he can order around a servant, but he probably doesn't have the ability to extend his reach into the Marquis of Ding'an's mansion.

"You mean there's someone else behind this?" Gu Chengfeng frowned.

Master Tang wanted to kill Tang Ming, and Gu Chengfeng couldn't figure out his motives. However, the fact that someone was working with Master Tang to frame Gu Changqing made the purpose quite clear.

Someone is deliberately trying to sow discord between the Marquis of Ding'an's residence and the Marshal's residence.

The Marquis of Ding'an's residence is His Majesty's left arm, while the Marshal's residence is Empress Dowager Zhuang's right arm. In other words, someone wants to see His Majesty and the Empress Dowager fight each other.

Gu Jiao found a dagger belonging to Tang Ming in the room and placed it in the servant's hand: "Let's go."

Gu Chengfeng looked at the servant and said, "Are we just leaving like that? What will happen to him?"

Gu Jiao carefully put away Gu Changqing's dagger: "The effects of the medicine will last for another hour or two. Let Tang Yueshan discover it for himself."

Gu Chengfeng thought it was feasible and planned to leave with Gu Jiao, but he quickly closed the door as soon as he opened it!

He said nervously in a low voice, "Someone's coming!"

Gu Jiao looked around: "Go to the wardrobe."

Tang Ming's wardrobe is big enough that it can comfortably hold both of them.

The wardrobe had a cutout pattern, and they could see into the room through the openwork.

It was Madam Tang who arrived.

It was very late, but her son was seriously injured, and as a mother, it was normal for her to be unable to sleep and come to check on him.

As soon as she entered the room, she saw a servant kneeling on the ground, looking dazed, holding a dagger in his hand, muttering something incoherently.

Her expression changed, and her first reaction was to rush to the bedside to check if Tang Ming was alright: "Ming'er!"

Tang Ming had already fainted and was unable to respond to her.

Tang Yueshan, who had just returned to his residence, heard her cry and rushed over.

When he entered the room, Madam Tang had just snatched the dagger from the servant's hand.

Tang Yueshan's eyes widened when he saw Madam Tang holding a dagger. Almost instinctively, he went to the bedside and blocked the unconscious Tang Ming: "Ming'er is your son! What are you doing!"

Gu Chengfeng frowned.

Tang Yueshan's reaction was strange. Besides Madam Tang, there were two other people in the room: Tang Ming and a servant.

Madam Tang was holding a dagger. Even if Tang Yueshan suspected that she wanted to kill someone, why did he suspect that she wanted to kill her own son instead of the servant?

It's past midnight! Surprised? Unexpected?

Also, are there any guaranteed monthly passes?

(End of this chapter)