"Princess...I..."
Xie Yu was about to say something more, but Jing Ning raised her hand to stop him, "There's no need to say anything. I know very well that this is my fate..."
After saying this, Jingning left Dali Temple.
Watching Jingning's lonely figure leave, Xie Yu felt deeply guilty and resentful. This was the first time he had seen such despair on the princess's face, and he was powerless to do anything about it.
A deep sense of powerlessness pressed on his chest, making it hard for him to breathe. A suppressed resentment and anger filled his heart.
At this moment, Xie Yu gritted his teeth inwardly, as if he had already made a decision in his heart. He secretly vowed that he would never let the princess become a pawn to be manipulated, and he would be willing to pay any price in the future.
Su Yan returned to the house and saw Shen Yao staring blankly at a jade pendant, looking as if his soul had been taken away. She called his name several times, but Shen Yao did not respond.
Su Yan immediately noticed that something was wrong with Shen Yao, and quickly stepped forward to pat Shen Yao's face, trying to bring him back to his senses. "Shen Da'er, what's wrong with you? I'm timid, don't scare me!"
Perhaps due to external factors, Shen Yao's thoughts drifted back, his eyes regained their light, and he stared blankly at Su Yan, asking, "Why did you hit me?"
Seeing that Shen Yao had returned to normal, Su Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Lord Shen, you scared me to death just now! I thought you were possessed..."
Shen Yao didn't say anything, his gaze fell on the jade pendant in his hand, and he looked at it with a complicated expression.
"Su Yan, do you think there are really people in the world who look exactly alike but have no blood relation?"
Su Yan couldn't understand what Shen Yao was saying, but judging from his expression, she guessed it must be something serious.
“There are many people who look alike. In the case of the courtesan, Xu Cuiyun was killed precisely because she resembled Xin Yunniang. But if they were to look exactly alike, apart from twins, it seems unlikely that they would be unrelated. Of course, the world is full of wonders, and there might be exceptions…”
After hearing Su Yan's words, Shen Yao's expression became complicated. He gripped the jade pendant in his hand tightly and said in a deep voice, "But there is only one jade pendant in this world..."
Su Yan was confused and looked at the jade pendant in Shen Yao's hand. However, it could not be considered a jade pendant. It should be an uncarved jade stone, shaped like a fish leaping out of the water, with a small hole drilled in the tail and strung with a red string. It was indeed unique.
Su Yan noticed something was wrong with Shen Yao as soon as she entered the door, and she also heard the presence of another person outside the door.
Ye Qingzhu?
Su Yan racked her brains but had never heard of this name before. However, judging from Shen Yao's expression, this woman seemed to be very important to him.
"Sir, is the jade pendant in your hand Miss Ye's?" Su Yan asked curiously.
Shen Yao nodded, stroking the jade in his hand. Its surface was already smooth and round, shining with luster.
Speaking of which, Ye Qingzhu was Shen Yao's savior. The northern frontier was bitterly cold and constantly ravaged by war. At that time, in order to seize the initiative on the battlefield, Shen Yao launched a surprise attack on the enemy camp. Five hundred soldiers went with him, but only five or six returned.
In the northern frontier, there was a vast desert. Shen Yao lost his way and got lost in the desert. When he ran out of ammunition and food and was at his wit's end, he watched helplessly as his comrades, who had shared life and death with him, fell in the desert and never woke up again.
Shen Yao originally thought the desert would be his burial place, but fate brought him together with the herb gatherer Ye Qingzhu.
Shen Yao was thus rescued, and thanks to Ye Qingzhu's familiarity with the environment as she grew up on the northern border, the Liang army, as if divinely aided, defeated the barbarians and reclaimed the fiefdom belonging to Liang.
As the two spent more time together, Ye Qingzhu suddenly confessed her feelings to Shen Yao. Shen Yao didn't understand what romantic love was, but he knew that whatever his purpose was, he already owed Ye Qingzhu too much.
Therefore, Shen Yao agreed to marry Ye Qingzhu.
When they returned to the capital in triumph, both of them had bright futures ahead of them. However, because of Princess Jingning, Shen Yao did not become the Grand General, and Ye Qingzhu suddenly committed suicide.
After hearing the story of Shen Yao and Ye Qingzhu, Su Yan felt something was off. If Ye Qingzhu was killed because Shen Yao refused to marry her, then Sheng Ze, for the sake of the royal family's reputation, did not behead Shen Yao, but demoted him.
Logically, since her merits and demerits had already balanced out, the royal family wouldn't make things difficult for Ye Qingzhu, yet Ye Qingzhu still committed suicide.
This was something Su Yan couldn't understand at all.
"Lord Shen, did Miss Ye really commit suicide?" Su Yan pressed.
Shen Yao nodded, "The Dali Temple has already examined the body, and it is indeed a case of suicide by hanging, but..."
Shen Yao hesitated, looking at the jade pendant in his hand with a puzzled expression. "I did put this jade pendant in Qingzhu's coffin, but now it has seen the light of day again. Just now, the princess told me that she saw someone who looked exactly like Qingzhu among the Rouran envoys who came to the capital."
Su Yan rested her chin on her hand, lost in thought. According to Shen Yao, these were people who had clearly died, yet they had reappeared in the world.
Thinking about it carefully, it's even more terrifying than Su Yan's own rebirth. After all, she was only reborn in someone else's body, while Ye Qingzhu was resurrected from the dead.
However, Su Yan also considered another possibility: perhaps Ye Qingzhu was not dead at all...
"Impossible, I buried Qingzhu myself..." Shen Yao immediately denied Su Yan's guess.
Su Yan wasn't annoyed by Shen Yao's anger towards her. Instead, she smiled and said calmly, "Lord Shen, now that the jade pendant is in your hands, I'm sure you can't convince yourself right now."
Shen Yao did not answer Su Yan's question or refute her words. At this moment, he felt very confused. Ye Qingzhu was like a thorn in his heart, and he could not find peace whether she was alive or dead.
Seeing that Shen Yao remained silent, Su Yan suddenly thought of a brilliant plan.
"Lord Shen, why don't we go and perform an autopsy..."
"An autopsy?" Shen Yao looked bewildered, unable to guess what Su Yan was up to.
Su Yan nodded, "Since Lord Shen buried Miss Ye's remains himself, although the body will decompose after death, the bones probably won't. Whether it's ten years or a hundred years, the remains can't just disappear out of thin air. As long as we dig up Miss Ye's grave, everything will be clear. However..."
Opening the coffin is no small matter; we'll have to see what your opinion is, sir…
After listening, Shen Yao frowned, feeling hesitant. Su Yan's suggestion was indeed a good idea, but opening the coffin was no small matter.
After a long silence, Shen Yao thought that instead of guessing all this time, it would be better to face the truth directly.
Shen Yao gripped the jade pendant tightly in his hand, his gaze resolute as he said in a deep voice, "Fine... I also want to see who's playing tricks..."
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