"That man came from Beilie, but he was unlike the typical ferocious men of Beilie. He was gentle and refined in his manners, and I heard that he was once a doctor who saved lives..."
Listening to the jailer's description, Cheng Liang slowly exclaimed in astonishment, "If it's true, as Your Highness predicts, that the woman in Changning Palace is the Princess Consort, then the only Northern Lie people who know her are the brothers Tuoba Ze and Tuoba Hong. Everyone knows Tuoba Ze's cruelty and ruthlessness. If it's not him, then...could it be Tuoba Hong?!"
The jailer was still clearly shaken: "If that young lady hadn't arrived in time and taken him away, that man would have been beaten to death!"
Hearing this, Cheng Liangdun snapped out of his thoughts and asked, "You mean, the one who rescued that man was a young woman? A palace maid?"
The jailer recalled, "She didn't seem like a palace maid, but she also didn't seem like a mistress of the palace... That woman had a pair of extremely beautiful phoenix eyes, a gentle and kind personality, and a very beautiful appearance, as if she had not grown up in this world!"
Cheng Liang immediately understood and angrily scolded the jailer: "Idiot! That's our prince's bride, whom he personally welcomed with three letters, six rites, an eight-bearer sedan chair, and a ten-mile-long red bridal procession. You don't even recognize her? You've really messed things up!"
Upon hearing this, the jailer's eyes widened in shock: "What? She's our Princess Consort?"
But he also felt wronged and innocent: "I have been lying low in this prison for years, how could I have had the chance to see our Princess Consort!"
For a moment, Cheng Liang seemed unsure how to explain himself to his master. Yi Shangyun was right under the noses of his own people, yet they hadn't noticed.
At the palace gate, in a secluded corner.
Xuanyuan Han was resting with his eyes closed, sitting quietly in the car, waiting for news from Cheng Liang.
A voice suddenly came from outside the carriage: "Your Highness, an urgent secret letter!"
A pair of large, well-defined hands reached out through the car window and took a confidential letter that was being held high above someone's head.
Upon unfolding it, Xuan Yuanhan stared wide-eyed at him with his unfathomable eyes.
Just then, someone reported, "Your Highness, General Cheng has come out!"
Xuanyuan Han finally came to his senses and reached out to lift a corner of the car curtain.
From afar, watching Cheng Liang finally slowly walk out of the palace gate, she seemed to finally feel at ease.
As he approached the carriage window, Cheng Liang was about to speak, "Your Highness..."
Before he could finish speaking, a cautious voice came from inside the carriage: "Let's go back to the manor first..."
So the group mounted their horses and headed back towards the Qin Prince's residence.
We arrived at Chenghua Hall.
Xuanyuan Han then asked, "How did it go? Have you seen Dingxiang yet? What did she say?"
"Dingxiang, she..."
Seeing Cheng Liang's somber expression and hesitant manner, Xuan Yuanhan asked him again, "What's wrong with Dingxiang?"
Cheng Liang recalled what he had just seen and heard, and said, "Your Highness, Dingxiang has not been in the Imperial Pharmacy these days."
Upon hearing this, Xuanyuan Han immediately questioned him, "What happened?"
Cheng Liang seemed to still have some doubts, saying, "Although the sudden rainstorm a while ago did cause flooding in several places in the suburbs of the capital, it wasn't enough to warrant the use of the Imperial Hospital. However, I just heard Zhang Zhiyuan say at the Imperial Hospital that Dingxiang had been sent to help with disaster relief."
"Dingxiang has been sent to disaster relief..." Xuanyuan Han seemed to be quite puzzled by this as well, so he repeated it.
After thinking for a moment, he said, "Do you suspect that Zhang Zhiyuan is deliberately hiding something?"
Cheng Liang pondered for a long time on the way, and a stronger and stronger sense of foreboding grew stronger. At this moment, he muttered to himself, "Could it be that Dingxiang really knew something about what happened in Changning Palace, and was killed to silence her?"
Upon hearing this, Xuanyuan Han said angrily, "Send men to investigate this matter. I demand to see the person alive or dead..."
"yes"
Cheng Liang immediately accepted the order.
Hesitating for a moment, Cheng Liang then showed a troubled expression.
But in the end, he had no choice but to speak again, first laying the groundwork by saying, "There is one more thing, Your Highness, please don't be too angry!"
They finally found a clue, but then it went cold.
At this moment, what could be worse than this? Suppressing his disappointment, Xuan Yuanhan asked in a deep voice, "What is it?"
Just hearing that sound was enough to send chills down Cheng Liang's spine and make him tremble with fear.
Silently swallowing, Cheng Liang finally steeled his resolve and slowly said, "After failing to find anything at the Imperial Hospital, I originally intended to go to the Imperial Prison to inquire about the man who was previously sent to Changning Palace. I wanted to see if there were any clues that could lead to another lead. But Your Highness, guess who that man is?"
Xuanyuan Han seemed to have lost interest, so he casually asked, "Who is it?"
Cheng Liang gritted his teeth and said, "Our people haven't been able to find any news about Tuoba Hong. We heard that since the fall of Beilie, he has been living alone, almost without a fixed abode. The last time we heard from him was after his big argument with Tuoba Ze, and then we haven't heard from him since..."
Xuanyuan Han could hardly believe his ears: "You mean, that man is very likely the missing Tuoba Hong!"
As expected, upon hearing this, even Xuan Yuanhan himself widened his eyes and asked him repeatedly in surprise.
You said he is...
"Tuoba Hong?"
"Tuoba Hong..."
"He's dead..."
Cheng Liang nodded cautiously and very seriously: "According to the description given by the person we planted in the prison, that person is very likely Tuoba Hong! Moreover, he also said that the person who took Tuoba Hong away from the prison to Changning Palace for treatment was indeed a woman."
As he was speaking, Cheng Liang suddenly stopped, as if he didn't dare to continue.
"and……"
"and……"
"Furthermore, my subordinates have also inquired, and according to the descriptions given by our people, that woman is most likely the Princess Consort."
He hesitated for a few times before finally speaking.
After a while, seeing that his master remained silent, Cheng Liang continued, "In other words, it was indeed the Princess Consort who brought Tuoba Hong to Changning Palace. From beginning to end, the only man and woman in Changning Palace were the Princess Consort and Tuoba Hong."
At this point, Xuanyuan Han finally realized the truth.
In an instant, the pent-up anger exploded, and he roared, "Why did it take so long to report all this?!"
Upon seeing this, Cheng Liang immediately knelt down with a thud.
He explained, "Your Highness, please calm down. It is that person who does not recognize the Princess Consort, which is why he has come here."
In Xuan Yuanhan's deep, cold eyes, it seemed as if a thousand sharp swords were about to shoot out: "How did you manage to do your job?"
Cheng Liang was already filled with regret, wondering why he hadn't thought of investigating the prison earlier. Now, however, he seemed to have nothing left to say in his defense.
The room was silent.
It was as if even the surrounding air had stopped moving.
At this moment, what Xuanyuan Han was thinking was...
"He's dead..."
"Why him?!"
"Why him of all people!"
Based on Tuoba Hong's past care for Yun'er in Beilie, his feelings for her, and the affection between them, she would definitely try her best to avenge him after his death.
If you're after revenge, why leave?
Even if it was to avenge him, there was no need to sever ties with her, pretending to be complete strangers.
What puzzled him even more was that if Emperor Jing really knew that Yun'er was the descendant of the Guardian, how could he bear to let her leave so easily?
But Yun'er has now truly left the palace.
Could it be that Emperor Jing has a weakness for Yun'er?
In this way, even if Yun'er leaves, she will still go back.
He must have threatened her with something...
So what exactly is it?
The master and servant remained silent, each lost in their own thoughts, for an unknown amount of time.
Xuanyuan Han suddenly handed the secret letter he had just received to Cheng Liang: "Take a look at this?"
Cheng Liang then dared to get up, stepped forward to take it, unfolded it, and was immediately astonished: "Tuoba Ze has returned to the grasslands!"
After a moment's thought, he said, "Didn't our people already find out that he allied with Princess Yongle, intending to use Dongning's power to help him reclaim the grasslands? Now, before we've even received a reply from Dongning, why has he already gone back to the grasslands alone?"
Xuanyuan Han thought for a moment and said in a cold voice, "There must be something more important than this that forces him to return to the grasslands first."
Cheng Liang pondered, puzzled, and said, "Tuoba Ze is an ambitious man who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. What could possibly make him abandon something so important?"
Suddenly, Cheng Liang had a flash of inspiration and exclaimed in surprise, "He and Tuoba Hong are blood brothers, could it be that he sensed something?"
Upon hearing this, Xuan Yuanhan felt his heart skip a beat: "What did you say?"
Cheng Liang continued his analysis: "Your Highness, please think carefully. That day, the palace maid said that of the two people living in Changning Palace, the man died and the woman left. But after the Princess Consort left the palace, she did not return to her residence, nor did she go to the Yi Mansion in the west of the city. So where did she go?"
Xuan Yuanhan pondered, still unable to figure out why Yi Shangyun would fake her death, and said, "Could it be that she went back to her motherland, Dongning, because she had nowhere else to go?"
Cheng Liang shook his head: "Since the death of the King of Dongning, Your Highness knows that there is no longer any attachment to the Queen Consort there, so why would she go back? Moreover, if she wanted to avenge Tuoba Hong, she should stay in the palace to make plans."
Xuanyuan Han pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized, "Could it be that Yun'er is going to send Tuoba Hong back to the grasslands?"
Following Xuan Yuanhan's thoughts, Cheng Liang also said, "That makes sense. So, could it be that Tuoba Ze sensed something about Tuoba Hong's death, and that's why he rushed back to the grasslands?"
As his thoughts continued to wander, Cheng Liang was suddenly startled by his own idea: "Oh no, could it be that he's set his sights on the Princess again?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com