Chapter 16 Chapter 16 My brother is useless, don't worry about me
That day, after Min Hanyu fell into a coma again due to the poison, Yin Jinglong immediately asked the court physician to take her pulse. Only after confirming that her life was not in danger did he feel relieved.
It happened that the next day was Princess Chaoyang's husband's birthday, and the princess asked someone to invite the regent to her house for a banquet. Yin Jinglong also happened to have a score to settle with the princess.
Before leaving the palace, he ordered Hanyu and the spider to be imprisoned in the palace dungeon. He threatened the spider, saying, "If you dare to touch her before I return, you will never leave this secret room alive."
The spider hooked its finger and smiled: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty. My Thousand Silk Spider is still inside her body. How could I bear to let your people die?"
Her interested eyes revealed a hint of pride after prying into a secret, which made Yin Jinglong particularly unhappy.
Yin Jinglong knew very well that this woman from southern Xinjiang was not a good person. When he was looking for someone who used Gu in southern Xinjiang, this spider happened to appear. She seemed to be unintentional, but in fact she approached him intentionally. If he said that she had no ulterior motives, I'm afraid even a ghost would not believe it.
Although he did not know the true intentions of this mysterious woman, given the circumstances at the time, he could only bring her back as planned.
Now she is under strict guard in his territory and will probably not cause any trouble. The only person who can really threaten him right now is Princess Chaoyang who set up the Hongmen Banquet for him.
Three days ago, Yin Jinglong brought the rebel general Li Yu to the princess's mansion to attend the birthday banquet of the prince consort. At that time, the princess's mansion was crowded with guests. In addition to the royal family members and ministers in the court, there were also many wives of officials in the Beijing circle who were on good terms with the princess.
As Princess Chaoyang's nephew and the head of the royal family, Regent Yin Jinglong had to come to the banquet out of both moral and legal reasons, no matter how many conflicts he had with the princess.
What's more, the fact that he had discovered the rebel general Li Yu who had been hiding in the palace for many years was also known to Princess Chaoyang, who was behind the scenes. The princess had not given any explanation in these days. It was no wonder that he openly brought the rebel general here to confront his powerful aunt.
Yin Jinglong's carriage was on the way to the princess's mansion. Inside the carriage, he took out a small golden cup hidden in his sleeve. When he opened the cup, he saw a black spider as big as a fingertip inside.
He picked up the spider and slowly put it into Li Yu's nostrils.
Li Yu's limbs were tied up and he couldn't get rid of the black spider. He struggled with a ferocious expression and could only watch the small black spider crawl into his head.
Only then did Yin Jinglong untie the hemp ropes from Li Yu's hands and feet, and threatened him in a sharp tone, "I've infected you with the Soul-Dispersing Gu, the King of Gu from Southern Xinjiang. Don't underestimate this tiny spider. It's eating away at your brain bit by bit. It won't let you die immediately, but it won't let you live comfortably either."
"I'm at the end of my rope now. Your Majesty, why don't you just kill me? Or hand me over to the princess to be executed? Why use the poisonous insect to control me?"
"Killing you is not what I want. Since you can become the secret guard placed by the princess's side and have earned my trust for so many years, why can't you become a spy placed by the princess's side?"
Li Yu knelt on the ground and begged for mercy: "Please, Your Majesty, have mercy on me and let me go! The princess is very thoughtful and has a sharp eye. How can we, the young ones, deceive her?"
"So... you are unwilling to do this last thing for me?"
Yin Jinglong's eyes were filled with resentment. He lazily shook the black-gold copper bell on his wrist. When the bell rang, Li Yu fell to the ground in pain, scratching his head and cheeks, and kept shouting, "Enough, Prince, please let me go!"
"Let you go? Are you willing to help me?"
"Yes... yes... yes," Li Yu answered reluctantly.
Yin Jinglong didn't believe that he didn't have the ability to deceive the princess. After all, there were only a handful of people who could lurk around him for several years and become his confidant.
He took back the black gold bronze bell and said, "Later, you will enter the palace through a side door, away from everyone. Find a way to meet the princess privately and tell her that you escaped while I was away. Then, find a way to convince the princess not to kill you and to continue to trust you. Tell me, can you do it?"
"I... I'm not completely sure, but... I'm willing to give it a try."
"Very good! You've been by my side for over ten years, so you should have learned some tricks. This is your chance to redeem yourself. If you're willing to be a spy this time, I can forgive you. After all, you've been with me for so many years, and you still have some feelings for me. You're the only one who understands that I'm not as cold and heartless as people say."
Yin Jinglong lowered his eyes for a moment, a brief look of sadness appeared on his face, and then he drove Li Yu out of the carriage with a cold face and continued to drive towards the princess's mansion.
The carriage arrived in front of the princess's mansion. Through the curtains, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar figure that he didn't want to see.
The accompanying servant, Steward Xu, recognized the person as Li, a close confidant of Prince Xian's wife. He cautiously asked, "It seems the old prince is here too. Are you still going to the banquet?"
"Humph! He knew I would come, yet he still dared to come?"
Yin Jinglong's fingers stroked a heart-shaped lock on his chest, and his fingertips caressed the copper bell on the golden lock. He had actually expected that man to come, so he specially wore the relic left to him by his mother.
"Why not go? I want to see with my own eyes how my mother's murderer will face me."
Yin Jinglong clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white, and the resentment in his heart was like the magma under a volcano, ready to erupt at any moment.
The princess's mansion had changed from its usual solemn atmosphere and was now extremely lively. The prince consort, Mrs. Sun, personally welcomed the guests at the mansion gate. Most of the ministers attending the banquet came with their wives. While they were greeting the prince consort politely, they ordered their attendants to bring gifts.
Upon seeing the Prince Regent arrive, Prince Consort Sun's face suddenly changed like a thunderstorm. His smile faltered as he straightened his clothes and said, "I didn't know Your Highness was coming. I'm sorry I didn't come to greet you."
In the past, Prince Consort Sun had never been invited to his birthday party. This time, if the princess had not insisted on inviting her unrelated nephew, Prince Consort Sun would have reluctantly sent someone to deliver the invitation.
However, after sending the invitation for many days, there was no reply from the Regent to attend the banquet. Prince Consort Sun thought that he would not come. The only one who would come to the banquet without saying hello was this cold-faced and cruel prince.
Yin Jinglong waved his hand and asked Steward Xu to present the gift. "In previous years, the Prince Consort's birthday banquet never considered this nephew. I don't know what happened this year, but I received an invitation written by my uncle himself. After thinking about it, although I am busy with government affairs, I haven't visited my aunt and uncle for a long time, so I came here to congratulate them without hesitation."
He leaned forward slightly and looked inside, but the princess seemed nowhere to be seen.
"Why did Auntie ask you to be alone outside the door to greet the guests? Is there an important guest to entertain inside?"
"Distinguished guest? Oh, you mean Prince Xian, right? Your Highness, don't you know that Prince Xian has arrived? The princess hasn't seen him for a long time, and they are reminiscing about the past in the inner hall! Your Highness, please hurry in too! Prince Xian just mentioned you. I imagine you and your father haven't seen each other for a while. You are usually busy with government affairs, so why not take advantage of my birthday banquet to have a good chat with your father today."
When the word "father and son" was mentioned, Yin Jinglong's face darkened and he stared at Prince Consort Sun with a pair of sharp eagle eyes. The discord between him and Prince Xian was known to everyone in the capital. This Sun was obviously bringing up something irrelevant and trying to anger him on purpose.
Even the people around him were secretly pulling at Prince Consort Sun's sleeves, hinting to him not to mention Prince Xian in front of the Regent. However, the Prince Consort pretended to be kind and tried to reconcile the father and son as an elder. Even when facing the murderous look from Yin Jinglong, he shrugged nonchalantly and made a gesture to invite him in.
Yin Jinglong didn't even want to look at him, and walked into the princess's mansion with a wave of his sleeves.
The servants in the mansion saluted him one after another. Yin Jinglong ignored them and walked straight to the princess: "It seems that my aunt still remembers my nephew."
He glanced coldly at the virtuous prince who was sitting upright beside him, and was unwilling to call him "father" at all.
"How could I forget you, the dignified Regent? By the way, I heard not long ago that the Regent had found the long-missing General Heng. Why didn't you bring him to the banquet today?" Princess Chaoyang clapped her hands and called the maid to help the Regent to take a seat.
Yin Jinglong pushed away the teacup brought by the maid and angrily said, "Huh? I wonder if Aunt is worried about Brother? Or is someone trying to use Aunt to question me about Brother's whereabouts?"
The virtuous prince who had remained silent at the side finally couldn't help but scold: "He is my son. I just want to know whether he is alive or dead, and how he is doing. Is there anything wrong with that?"
"Is my brother your only son? You are not wrong to favor my brother, but isn't it wrong to treat me badly and kill my mother?"
"Don't talk nonsense, you traitor!"
Prince Xian slammed the table and stood up, angrily scolding Yin Jinglong. This action frightened the guests inside and outside the mansion so much that they dared not breathe.
The prince consort probably guessed what had happened inside, so he hurried in to smooth things over and asked all the guests to take their seats.
Princess Chaoyang rebuked the two men: "The grudges between you and your son are your own family affairs. Why do you have to bring them to my house?"
"Wasn't it you, Aunt, who asked about this first? Aunt, you previously claimed that we were on the same side, yet you secretly planted spies around me. Shouldn't you also give me an explanation for this matter?"
"Does Prince Yin intend to ruin Prince Consort's birthday banquet today?"
Yin Jinglong sneered, "Since Auntie didn't want to embarrass the Prince Consort, why did she invite me to a banquet after the spy affair was exposed? Don't you know what kind of character I am?"
"Don't say that! It's me, my father, who asked the princess to invite you to the banquet."
Prince Xian calmed down and said to him earnestly, "Long'er, do you know how many years you haven't been home? Do you really want to have no contact with me until you die? Before Heng'er disappeared, he often came to visit me and told me a lot about you. But after his accident, you stopped communicating with me. How can I, an old father, live like this?"
He stepped forward and grabbed Yin Jinglong's sleeve, begging him with pitiful eyes: "Can you let me see your brother? At least let me know whether he is dead or alive!"
From childhood to adulthood, his father rarely cared about him, and never spoke to him in such a humble manner. It seemed that this time he was really anxious and anxious to know the whereabouts of Yin Jingheng.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you. My brother is not in good condition. Although he has been found and is still alive, he has become a disabled person."
When these words were spoken, everyone present was stunned. They couldn't believe that the once powerful general would end up like this?
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