Chapter 58 Chapter 58 Are you leaving now? Then who will give me...
The jailer tremblingly took out a set of torture instruments for dealing with death row prisoners, and looked at Yin Jinglong with an embarrassed look.
"Your Highness Prince Yin, I'm sorry."
He took out the iron chains and tied Yin Jinglong to the iron chair. When he was about to take out the soul-sucking whip to execute him, the suicidal Minister Gong was not very satisfied with it.
Minister Gong pointed to the red-hot branding iron in the adjacent cell. "What kind of punishment is a soul-whipping? It's just itchy, not painful. You're definitely not going to get anything out of me. If we have to use that, we'll have to use the most painful branding iron. I want to see how tough Prince Yin is. Can he withstand this branding iron punishment?"
The jailer never dared to take action.
His trembling voice rang out, "Lord Gong, why don't we just not do this? After all, he hasn't been convicted yet. If it's found out he's been wrongly accused, wouldn't we have accidentally injured someone? Furthermore, if His Majesty learns of this abuse of lynching, we'll be in trouble too!"
"What do you mean by lynching? To deal with a ruthless person like him, you must be even more ruthless than him! Otherwise, if you and I can't find the Jade Seal today, we will still be punished by His Majesty."
Yin Jinglong sarcastically said, "I've remembered the appearance of you snakes, insects, rats, and ants. If you ever fall into my hands, I'll pay you back double!"
Hearing his threats, Minister Gong felt the chills run down his spine. After all, Prince Yin's viciousness and cruelty were obvious to everyone. If he ever turned the tables in the future, the consequences would be unimaginable...
Just as he was hesitating whether to carry out the execution, someone outside the prison asked to see Prince Yin.
He asked the jailer, "Is this the old prince?"
"No, it's a young and beautiful lady who claims to be Prince Yin's...sister-in-law?"
"Sister-in-law? General Heng hasn't returned yet. When did he get married? Bring her in for a look!"
Hanyu came with a food box to visit Yin Jinglong, who was imprisoned in the Imperial Palace's Sky Prison. If no one had arranged for her to do so, she would have been stopped at the first gate into the palace. How could she have had the opportunity to enter this prison?
Minister Gong glanced at the plainly dressed woman, scrutinizing her figure with lustful eyes. He thought, "She's certainly young and beautiful, but what a shame she's General Heng's woman!" Even if he wanted to get his hands on her, he'd have to consider whether he'd die at the hands of General Heng.
"Are you General Heng's wife? I don't recognize you. How did you manage to get into this deep palace all by yourself?"
"Your Excellency, thanks to the wise prince's help, I was able to enter the palace."
Upon hearing this, the jailer urged Minister Gong to be more restrained and stop torturing Prince Yin. If he offended the Yin clan, he would have no chance of surviving in the capital.
"Since it was the old prince who let you in, then I will allow you two to meet alone for the old prince's sake. You will only be allowed one stick of incense. Young lady, please go in quickly!"
Minister Gong took the jailer with him and temporarily stepped aside to give the two of them some space to be alone.
Seeing Hanyu coming to serve him, Yin Jinglong's face showed no joy at all. Instead, he turned his face against her and told her to leave quickly and leave this dangerous place.
He also heard that it was Prince Xian who helped her arrange the palace guards. He had always been arrogant and was even more unwilling to accept his father's mercy and charity.
Hanyu took out the food from the lunch box and placed it in front of him one by one.
"I know you don't want me to see you in such a miserable state, but I'm the only one who can help you right now. Just tell me what you want, and I'll do my best to help."
"Didn't you previously resent me for killing your beloved and slaughtering your people, and have been trying to assassinate me for revenge? Why are you thinking of saving me now? If it's just out of pity, then please leave immediately. I don't need anyone's pity!"
Yin Jinglong sighed to the sky and smiled bitterly, perhaps blaming God for always letting her see her at her most miserable.
He wanted to drive her away, but Hanyu refused to give up.
"It's not that I've never felt pity for you. I just can't bear to see you being misunderstood and dying in prison. And I believe that Ah Jiang doesn't really want to harm you. There must be someone behind this, trying to sow discord between you two brothers!"
Hanyu didn't understand why Ah Jiang did this. If he hated Yin Jinglong, he would have had the ability to kill him back in Nanjiang Mian Village. Why did he forge a letter of rebellion and go through such a long detour to execute him?
"At this point, you're still speaking for him? What do you want me to do? Find the person who's causing this trouble, and then reconcile with my brother? Even if I'm willing, have you asked my brother if he's willing?"
"You are his biological brother. If he wanted to kill you, why did he let Mr. Lai treat your leg?"
Seeing how persistent she was, Yin Jinglong thought that there was no way to escape at the moment, so he might as well place his hope on Hanyu for the time being.
He guessed that one of the people who wanted to deal with him this time must be Princess Chunyu. The persecution of his biological mother had hurt the Chunyu family, and she held a grudge for it.
Since Mr. Lai mentioned that Bai had left letters that could prove Chunyu's crimes, he wanted Hanyu to secretly go to Shaoxiang in the south of the Yangtze River.
After hearing this, Hanyu hesitated for a long time before agreeing. After all, she was a foreign woman who came from the snow-capped mountains and was not very familiar with the Central Plains. She also had to avoid being seen by everyone, which was a bit difficult for her.
Yin Jinglong told her, "After I was arrested and imprisoned, His Majesty withdrew the soldiers surrounding the palace. You can sneak into the palace at night and ask for help from Manager Xu. If you need anything, just ask him and he will help you. And take the dungeon guard Xin Da with you. At least he can protect your safety along the way."
Hanyu nodded. This was all she could do at the moment.
As she turned to leave the prison, she heard Yin Jinglong shout, "You're leaving now? Who will feed me then?"
He shook the chains on his hands and feet and looked at her with a helpless expression.
Although Hanyu was reluctant, she obediently picked up the chopsticks and fed him mouthful by mouthful.
Yin Jinglong tasted it and it seemed to be different from what he usually ate in the palace, so he asked casually: "This wasn't made by someone in the palace. Could it be that you, Ah Yu, made it yourself?"
She nodded and replied, "I heard from my father that people in the Central Plains have a custom whereby before a prisoner is executed, his family will bring him his favorite meals. I remembered you once said that your father doesn't love you, your mother doesn't care for you, and your brother hasn't returned yet, so you feel like you have no home. I couldn't bear to see you go to the guillotine with regrets, so I made some for you myself. I wonder if you like it."
Yin Jinglong had just asked casually, but he never expected Hanyu to cook for him herself and admit it so readily?
He jokingly said, "If I had known that Ah Yu cared so much about me, I should have been executed more often!"
"Are you crazy? Can you joke about losing your head?"
She rolled her eyes, fed him a few mouthfuls, and put down her bowl and chopsticks. "One stick of incense is up, I should leave now. Take care of yourself here!"
After Hanyu left, Yin Jinglong sat on the iron chair, staring at the dishes on the table for a long time without saying a word.
It had been a long time since he had felt the warmth given by others. At this moment, he wished that Hanyu was his lover, not his nominal family member.
Han Yu listened to him and slipped into the palace while the emperor was withdrawing the soldiers surrounding the palace and the palace guards were lax. At this time, Xin Da was also sent back to the palace dungeon.
At this moment, Manager Xu was in his study, wiping away tears while collecting scattered memorials. A maid came and reported:
"Mr. Xu, there's a Miss Min outside who wants to see you."
"Miss Min? The prince has been arrested, why is she still coming to the palace?"
"She didn't say what she wanted to do, but she seemed very anxious. Do you want to see her?"
Manager Xu packed up the memorials, wiped his tears with a handkerchief, and walked out of the study with heavy steps. When he saw Hanyu, he couldn't help but recall the days when the prince was still in the mansion, and couldn't help but burst into tears again.
"I lost my composure, young lady. I'm sorry to have embarrassed you."
"Mr. Xu, I know you are loyal and devoted, and you are the only one who can help the prince escape. That's why I came to you. Can I have a word with you for a moment?"
Hanyu signaled him to ask everyone around him to leave, leaving only the two of them to have a secret conversation. She told Manager Xu what Yin Jinglong meant.
Manager Xu opened his eyes in confusion and shook his head, saying, "I don't think this method is feasible! Not to mention that the fastest journey to Jiangnan would take at least half a month. Even if we reach Shaoxiang and find the Bai family's old house, it has been so many years since then, and it is very likely that the letters have been lost. By then, not only would our efforts be in vain, but we would also miss the best opportunity to rescue the prince."
"Then according to Mr. Xu, what should we do now?"
Manager Xu mentioned that the palace was invaded by thieves a few days ago. The thief was wearing a mask and his appearance could not be seen, but the guards who saw him in the dungeon said that the thief's body shape was very similar to that of a person.
"Who does Mr. Xu think that masked thief is?"
"I'm afraid it's the rebel general Li Yu who walked out of the palace."
Hanyu was shocked.
"But I heard from the prince that when Li Yu was hiding in the princess's mansion, he was executed by the princess and thrown into a mass grave because he secretly informed the prince. How could it be him?"
Manager Xu was also puzzled by this.
"But who else could be more acquainted with the palace's secrets than he? He broke into the prince's study that day and searched high and low, probably looking for the prince's jade seal. Fortunately, the seal wasn't in the palace, but I never imagined that a thief could steal the seal even though it was on the prince's person. What thief is so audacious?"
Hanyu whispered back, "The thief who stole the jade seal is none other than the General Heng you're talking about."
Manager Xu's jaw dropped in shock. "Miss Hanyu, you're not mistaken, are you? General Heng disappeared on the summit of the snowy mountain three years ago, and there's been no news of him since. How could he possibly have stolen the prince's jade seal?"
"He just disappeared, not died. Three years ago, he accidentally lost his memory and wandered in the snowy mountains. I rescued him later. But three months later, on the night of our wedding in the snowy mountains, he mysteriously disappeared again. I didn't see him again until that night at the Southern Xinjiang Posthouse."
Although Manager Xu did not completely believe Hanyu's words, the important thing at the moment was not to verify the matter, but that they should split their troops into two groups, one to go to Shaoxiang in the south of the Yangtze River to look for Bai's letter, while the other would sneak into southern Xinjiang again to look for the general's whereabouts.
"The person who tied the bell must untie it. If we want to save your prince, we have to find out who truly wants him dead. Only then can we come up with a solution."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
