Upon hearing this, He Jingyan's Adam's apple bobbed, and he resolutely rejected He Yunce's offer:
“I was not the only one at the crime scene; several high-ranking officials, the wives of those who were close to me, and even many ordinary people also witnessed the crime scene.”
“We heard Zhizhi’s cries for help with our own ears and witnessed the Crown Prince committing the crime. The facts are irrefutable, and there is no need for an autopsy!”
And after saying this, he suddenly raised his eyes, his gaze scrutinizing He Yunze: "Besides, I don't want to see Zhizhi disemboweled and left without a complete corpse..."
As he spoke, he couldn't help but shed tears, causing those present to involuntarily have tears in their eyes as well.
Upon hearing his elder brother's words and feeling He Jingyan's scrutinizing gaze, He Yunze immediately lowered his eyes and even seemed unsteady on his feet.
Seeing that the atmosphere had reached a fever pitch and everyone present looked indignant, He Jingyan, in order to stir up the crowd and obtain the tiger tally as quickly as possible, gritted his teeth and continued:
"He is the Crown Prince, yet he did such a thing to Zhizhi, and in General Zeng's temple no less! How can he face Zhizhi? How can he face General Zeng? How can he face the people of the world?"
Upon hearing He Jingyan mention "General Zeng," He Yunze seemed to instantly recall something, and then tentatively asked He Jingyan:
"Brother, why did you all suddenly go to General Zeng's temple? Even His Highness the Crown Prince and many ministers from the court went there?"
He spoke unclearly and used gestures for half of his speech.
He Jingyan lowered his eyes slightly: "It was His Majesty's order. His Majesty trusts the Crown Prince, and also misses General Zeng. Considering that it is the hundredth day since the Marquis of Zhongzhen's death, he sent Zhizhi along... But who knew..."
He Jingyan's words, spoken amidst his grief, made everyone feel even more that the Crown Prince was shameless, despicable, and deserving of death!
What kind of wicked person could commit such an inhumane act on the anniversary of the death of the Marquis of Loyalty?
The people in the mourning hall all cast sympathetic glances at He Jingyan and criticized the Crown Prince. He Jingyan just shook his head with a bitter smile and then looked meaningfully in the direction of Marquis Anding.
He Yunze didn't notice He Jingyan's gaze; he was only recalling He Jingyan's words, and his heart sank little by little.
General Zeng's temple...
Fengning County...
His Majesty's orders...
How could he not have thought of that? How could he not have thought of that?
He was so heartbroken by Zhizhi's death that he didn't realize something was wrong, that Zhizhi had died in Fengning County.
Because... he also died in Fengning County in his previous life!
He Yunze was horrified when he thought about it, and cold sweat broke out all over his back.
In his previous life, he served as prime minister, became a favorite of the emperor, and was also the emperor's most trusted person.
In the last years of his life, the emperor hinted that he should investigate the cause of his uncle's death, saying that his uncle had taken away his most precious possession.
He Yunze initially had no idea how his uncle died, nor did he know what the "most precious" thing His Majesty spoke of was.
He searched through all of his uncle's belongings and found a square black seal among them.
So he could only rely on that square black seal to investigate the secrets within the military ranks.
It turns out that not only his eldest uncle, but also some of His Majesty's close and trustworthy military generals had this square black seal.
What's even stranger is that the generals who possess the four black seals are all related to General Han, who was "traitorous and his entire family was executed." They were all fellow disciples who fought side by side.
Finally, he found some clues from a tomb repairman, so he went to Fengning County to pay homage to General Zeng, and through the four black seals given to him by the emperor, he found his uncle's remains in the cenotaph.
He brought his uncle's body back to the capital, but unfortunately he hadn't figured out the whole story yet. So he wanted to go back to Fengning County, but on the way he encountered bandits and his carriage fell off a cliff.
He used to think it was just bad luck, but now he realizes it wasn't an accident at all.
His death was definitely related to the matter His Majesty had entrusted to him.
In this life, His Majesty sent the Crown Prince to Fengning County, and the Crown Prince and Zhizhi went together.
The fake Zhizhi "died suddenly," and His Highness the Crown Prince became the real culprit who raped and murdered the woman, despised by everyone in the world. Both of them disappeared without a trace.
This must be just like his past life!
It must be that Zhizhi and the Crown Prince discovered something, and were then silenced by some unknown force.
But for some reason, the corpse in front of them wasn't Zhizhi's...
So... Zhizhi is still alive?
Thinking of this, He Yunce suddenly felt a surge of hope.
His heart pounded even louder, and his bleak, lifeless existence suddenly shone brightly at that moment.
But in just a moment, He Yunze thought of something else, and his heart suddenly sank.
He didn't understand. If Zhizhi wasn't dead and the corpse in front of him was fake, then why didn't His Highness the Crown Prince appear?
...Unless His Highness the Crown Prince has also discovered this and is searching for the real Zhizhi.
Zhizhi is in the hands of bad people, in the hands of the bad people who killed her in her past life!
At this moment, He Yunze felt that his mind had never been so clear.
Thinking of this, he tried hard to control his convulsing expression, and slowly raised his head to look at He Jingyan in front of him.
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