Chapter 433: The Second Year of Yonghe
The forest was extremely quiet for a while. After a while, the crows on the branches flapped their wings and flew away.
Empress Lu then stiffened her face and hissed, "Xiao Yan, cross the river! Destroy the bridge!"
Xiao Yan raised his eyelids slightly and asked, "When has this governor ever been with you before?"
"you!"
Queen Lu didn't expect him to change his attitude so quickly, and her burned face became hideous.
"How dare you deny it?!"
"You clearly said that if I help you take down the Lu family and clear the name of the He family, you will help my son take the throne. You said you would cooperate with me and even swore an oath to me with the dead members of the He family!"
"You're going back on your word now, aren't you afraid that their wronged souls will be unable to rest in peace, and will be condemned to eternal damnation after death..."
He family!
The eyelids of the three members of the Song family jumped, and Song Jinxiu, who was trapped in the coffin, also suddenly widened his eyes.
Who else could make Queen Lu say this and exchange the throne for clearing her name except the He family that was wiped out more than ten years ago?
Xiao Yan is actually from the He family? !
Song Hong was the first to react, his face turned pale instantly. He wished he could cover his ears and tear Queen Lu's mouth.
How could they still be alive today after hearing such secrets?
Xiao Yan, however, seemed oblivious to the Song family's expressions. He simply sneered lazily, "I did promise you, but I didn't guarantee he would survive to ascend the throne. Don't worry, I'm a reasonable man. If you and your son die tonight, I will send your son's remains to the throne in the future, so that you can finally get what you wished for."
"Xiao Yan, you are shameless!" Empress Lu's face twisted. "Aren't you afraid that I will tell His Majesty that you are a member of the He family..."
Xiao Yan suddenly laughed: "Your Majesty must know that the Queen is still alive."
Queen Lu was horrified: "What do you mean?!"
Canglang stood aside and said kindly, "The Empress doesn't know yet. You resented His Majesty for banishing you to the cold palace and ordering the death of the Fourth Prince. You also knew that your affair with Prince Cheng was exposed and you would die. So you set yourself on fire in the cold palace tonight and died."
"A wind blew up in the capital last night. The fire could have burned down half the palace. I imagine the corpses in the cold palace should have been burned to charcoal by now..."
After hearing this, the intact half of Queen Lu's face turned extremely pale, and she stared at Xiao Yan with wide eyes and trembling.
“You…you guys…”
Xiao Yan was too lazy to say more to her and only said, "Why did Song Xi and his wife die in the second year of Yonghe?"
Queen Lu's breathing suddenly stopped.
Song Hong and his mother also lost all color.
Xiao Yan said indifferently: "I don't want to ask this question a second time."
Empress Lu trembled, "What do you mean, Lord Xiao? What does the Song family's affairs have to do with me? Besides, everyone in the capital knows that the Second Master and his wife of the Song family died in an accident..."
"Was it an accident? Wasn't it because you were searching for Taizu's relics that my mother discovered you and murdered you?"
Tang Ning's words made Queen Lu feel cold all over.
The mountains in August were not as hot as before, and the chill in front of the graves was terrifying.
Queen Lu didn't even care about the pain in her body and looked up in shock.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I've known your mother for a long time, and I have a very close relationship with the Rong family. Your mother and I were good friends when she was still young. Later, when Taifu Rong passed away, she entrusted you to me, and that's how the marriage with the Lu family came about..."
Empress Lu did not dare to show any strange expression, and tried her best to speak calmly:
"I don't know who told you what, but I've never heard of any Taizu relics, let alone harmed your parents..."
She was halfway through her words when she saw Tang Ning throwing a box at her.
Queen Lu stepped back reflexively, and the box fell to the ground in front of her with a "bang", then turned over. A severed hand with a white jade and red rope tied on it rolled out and fell right at her feet.
“Zheng’er!!”
Queen Lu recognized the severed hand instantly.
The white jade Guanyin on the red string was something she had personally requested for the Fourth Prince. The red string was also the peace locket she had woven for him on his seventeenth birthday. Because the knot had broken once, the Fourth Prince had pestered her to re-weave it.
Queen Lu knelt on the ground, holding her severed hand. She raised her head and screamed at the top of her lungs, "Song Tangning, you're crazy! How dare you hurt my son, you lunatic!"
"Whether I'm crazy or not depends entirely on the Queen."
Tang Ning lowered his eyes indifferently: "I don't like listening to your nonsense. Answer my questions. If there is even a lie, I don't mind sending your son to you piece by piece."
Queen Lu wanted to curse and say that she dared, but when she looked up, she met Tang Ning's dark eyes. Looking at the tall figure standing next to her, she knew that what she said was true.
They had known about Song Xi and his wife for a long time, and they had no intention of letting them go when they came to her and the Song family tonight.
If she didn't tell the truth, Song Tangning would really torture her son and even make him unable to die.
Queen Lu was trembling all over, and the courage in her heart receded like the tide. She only secretly hated why she was not killed at the beginning. She collapsed to the ground with a dejected look on her face, holding the severed hand in her hand.
"I'm telling you, if you spare Zheng'er, he won't know anything..."
"Canglang, go chop off one of the Fourth Prince's legs!"
After Tang Ning finished speaking, Canglang turned and left.
Empress Lu no longer bothered to negotiate terms. She knelt down and took a few steps forward, shouting, "Don't go, don't go. Don't touch Zheng'er. I'll tell you everything!"
Canglang stopped and Tang Ning just looked down at her condescendingly.
Empress Lu swallowed her saliva at the gazes of the few people and asked, "How did you know about Taizu's relics?"
Tang Ning's eyes turned cold.
Empress Lu did not dare to ask any more questions and only whispered:
"Even the late emperor was kept in the dark about what Taizu left for the Crown Prince. It was too late for the late emperor to find out. After the Crown Prince's death, he searched the entire Eastern Palace but couldn't find it."
"Rong Qian'an was the closest to Crown Prince Li, but for some reason the late emperor was extremely wary of the Rong family. Even before his death, he didn't dare to search the Rong family's home."
"After I accidentally learned that the thing was most likely in the Rong family, I went to look up old things. After accidentally learning about the Crown Prince's treason case, Madam Rong had visited the palace. Later, she left the capital for a while and disappeared. I wanted to ask Madam Rong for information, but who knew she would know."
As she spoke, she looked up at Tang Ning.
"I really didn't want to kill them. I just wanted to send someone to secretly bring them back to the capital. But who knew they would try their best to escape and happened to encounter a landslide. By the time they were found, Song Xi had already died."
"Madam Rong was still alive at the time. I was afraid that if they were taken back to the Rong family, there would be trouble, so I had no choice but to contact the Song family. I only asked them to pretend that they were dead and take the coffins and 'bones' back to the Song family. I didn't want to kill Madam Rong."
"Madam Rong was still alive when she was sent back to the Song family. I simply asked the Song family to help me find the whereabouts of Taizu's relics..."
"It was them! The Song family killed Madam Rong!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com