Chapter 336 She Misses Her Brother
Tang Ning looked surprised: "Brother hasn't arrived in the northern border yet." How come you sent me a letter so soon?
Cang Lang seemed to know what she wanted to ask: "The governor has just arrived in Anxi. It seems that he encountered some problems and will stay there for two days. I ordered the secret guards to send this letter back to you through the post station as soon as possible. I don't know what happened, so I'm sending it to you first."
Tang Ning's face changed slightly when he heard this. He thought that Xiao Yan had encountered some trouble on the way, so he hurriedly took the letter and opened it to read. After he read the contents of the letter clearly at a glance, he suddenly relaxed.
"Girl, has the Governor encountered any trouble?" Canglang couldn't help but ask.
Tang Ning shook his head, his expression relaxed: "It's not a trouble, it's a good thing."
She handed the two pages of the letter to Canglang. After Canglang finished reading it, he was immediately delighted: "The Governor actually met people from the Zhen'an Army in Anxi?"
Tang Ning also had a smile on her face. After she knew Xiao Yan's identity, she understood why he went to the northern border this time. She was originally worried that he would be in danger if he joined the border army alone, but she didn't expect that when he arrived near Anxi, he actually met people from the Zhen'an Army.
The letter said that not long after Xiao Yan and his party left the capital and headed northwest, they discovered that people with strange words and deeds were appearing in counties and prefectures along the way. Xiao Yan led his men to capture two of them and pried out from their mouths that those people were actually spies from Beiling, who were searching for the wife and family of Di Shuangcheng, the general of the Zhen'an Army.
It was heard that Mrs. Di was returning home with her children to visit her relatives, but was intercepted and killed by spies from Beiling. General Di's eldest son Di Tao was seriously injured while trying to protect his mother and sister, and most of the accompanying guards were also killed or injured.
Beiling has been in conflict with Wei for many years, and countless people were killed and wounded in the battles. They have long intended to move south, but have been repeatedly repelled by the Zhen'an Army.
This time, a large number of spies were sent in an attempt to capture the mother and son of the Di family in order to use them to threaten Di Shuangcheng. After Xiao Yan knew about this, he temporarily slowed down his trip to the northwest and detoured to Anxi, hoping to rescue the mother and son of the Di family.
Canglang held the letter and said, "But so many Beiling spies haven't found the whereabouts of the Di family mother and son. Can the governor find them?"
Tang Ning frowned slightly when he heard this. "Brother said that the Di family mother and son were attacked several days ago. The people from Beiling are blocking the road to the northwest. They are seriously injured and it is impossible for them to return rashly. If brother really can't find them in the Anxi area, then they are most likely heading towards the capital."
She thought for a moment, then looked up at Canglang and said, "Tell someone you trust to secretly leave the city and head north to investigate. Don't alert anyone else."
Canglang said solemnly: "Yes."
Tang Ning thought about it and realized that if the Di family members were attacked, they would not easily trust the people who came to rescue them. Moreover, if he approached them rashly, his identity would be exposed. What if the Di family members were not good people? It would endanger his brother's safety.
My brother is going to the northwest for military power, and the Di family may not still be loyal to the original "king". What if... I don't know how my brother will deal with these.
Tang Ning was worried and looked up to ask Cang Lang, "How's the investigation going with Jinyun?"
Canglang said, "We have some clues. The two coroners who performed the autopsies on the soldiers after the shipwreck twenty years ago are both dead. However, the secret guards found the son of one of the coroners and found some evidence from him, but that alone is not enough to convince the public."
"What about the burning and massacre of Rongjiang?"
“I haven’t found anything useful yet.”
Canglang pursed his lips, his expression somewhat grim. "Back then, rumors of an epidemic spread through Rongjiang. Crown Prince Li was forced to return to the capital and ordered the city to be sealed off. All the records that can be found indicate that Rongjiang was wiped out by the plague, and then a natural disaster and flood submerged the entire county. There's no news of arson or massacre at all."
"Where were the officials from the nearby prefectures and counties back then?" Tang Ning asked.
Canglang said, "Some were executed long ago for failing to provide disaster relief, some have disappeared for years, and two or three have been promoted. The governor has sent people to investigate them, and secret guards have already infiltrated their mansions."
"Then continue investigating. As long as they know about it, we can always find loopholes."
For such a big thing, those who can survive are either completely unaware of it, or they must have been in cahoots with the Lu family and Emperor An.
Twenty years have passed, and everyone thought that the matter was over. The current emperor was the culprit who benefited back then, and the Lu family became the head of the aristocratic families and sat firmly in the court. Those people got the benefits and enjoyed wealth and prosperity for many years, and they probably wouldn't be on guard against someone else exposing the matter. In this case, it might not be impossible to pry open their mouths by using some means.
Tang Ning fumbled with the letter paper in his hand: "I will write a letter later, you can ask someone to send it to my brother."
Canglang nodded: "Okay."
Tang Ning stood up and walked around the green gauze cabinet. She went to the study to prepare her writing brush and ink before she spread out the letters sent back by Xiao Yan on the table.
Apart from the two letters that mentioned the Di family and the Zhen'an Army, the other piece of letter only had a few words, all asking her how she was.
He said that he had only been away from Beijing for a few days when he felt the pain of missing his hometown.
He said that when he passed by Yangping, he saw a very beautiful lotus with two stems. He wanted to pick it and send it back to the capital, but he thought that with her personality, she would definitely say that he did not know how to cherish flowers. So he took advantage of the night to rest while on the road and carved a lotus with two stems with his own hands and sent it back.
It was clearly the same handwriting, but the words on the paper seemed gentler, as if her brother was whispering lazily in front of her.
When Tang Ning took out the envelope and poured out the things she had touched earlier, she saw the small peach wood lotus hairpin and couldn't help but frown.
She touched the not-so-delicate lotus on the hairpin with joy, then tried it out by inserting it into her hair. She played with it for a while before calming down and starting to reply.
After briefly writing about the events in the capital and the academy, she mentioned the Di family's affairs. The people of Beiling were still determined to kill the Di family if they failed to capture them alive. She told Xiao Yan to be careful about everything. She would also send people to keep an eye on the events outside the city. If they found any trace of the Di mother and son, they would secretly stop them as soon as possible.
She talked about Jinyun's investigation in Jiangnan, and also mentioned that Lu Yin had come to her before. She wanted to provoke him to investigate the affairs of Guan and Prince Cheng, and treat him as a secret agent left in the Lu family.
After writing all this, she hesitated for a moment before writing down the commotion at Yinghe Lake tonight.
"Le Yang is trying to insult my innocence, and Empress Lu is using someone else's knife to kill me, hoping to seize Rongsheng Academy for the Fourth Prince. I don't want to sit and wait for death, so I want to throw bait to lure them into another attack. The Lingyun Temple Ullambana Festival is the best opportunity."
"If they don't move, it's fine. But if they do, I will make them suffer the consequences. Then things might change with the Fourth Prince and Empress Lu..."
Tang Ning didn't want to hide it from Xiao Yan, and Queen Lu and her son were part of their plan. Before Xiao Yan left Beijing, he said that although they wanted to use Queen Lu and her son to attract the Lu family's attention temporarily, they didn't need to worry about their actions being too extreme. However, in order to be safe, Tang Ning would try not to touch Queen Lu.
But this doesn't mean she can't touch others.
After Tang Ning carefully wrote down what he was thinking, the cold and sharp pen strokes finally softened.
"My brother, wherever you go, there are dangers everywhere. The journey to the northwest is not easy. I hope that my brother can get what he wants and return soon."
"Tang Ning."
She lowered her eyes to look at the letter for a moment, then stood up, picked up a small branch of blooming jasmine from the window, and put it between the letter papers.
After sealing the letter with red paint and handing it to Canglang, Canglang quickly had someone deliver it.
Tang Ning held the hairpin and looked at the dark night sky outside, her fingertips stroking the lotus flowers on it.
She has some.
I miss my brother.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
