Many days after stepping out of the secret prison in Jingbo Tower, Xiao Nanhui still could not forget what Bai Yun had said.
Huozhou, Heimu County, a private letter.
Long ago, she had found the text recorded by the Censorate. She had never told anyone about this, and Bai Yun naturally didn't know about it, but he told her almost the same information.
In other words, she was very close to the truth.
At that time, she should have wondered: Why did the Censorate, having clearly noticed the unusual letter, fail to record its contents? Was the letter lost and irretrievable, or was it deliberately erased by someone?
Xiao Nanhui felt that he was close to the center of all the mysteries, but he was trapped in this vortex of secrets.
How should she investigate? Should she seek the Emperor's help?
There is a taboo behind this that she dare not touch, which is what role the royal family played in the events of that year.
After some thought, Xiao Nanhui decided to put the matter aside for the time being. If she couldn't find any useful information in Chizhou before the spring hunt, she would have to go to Huozhou in person the day the ice on the river was broken at Dafengdu.
Every day she still assisted Ding Weixiang in tracking down Puhuna and Zou Sifang, and secretly found opportunities to break into Prince Shuo's old mansion on Yukun Street and began to search and sort through several rooms where old items were stored.
According to Uncle Chen, when Xiao Zhun moved out, he left the old house untouched. Everything in the General's mansion today was newly acquired. General Xiao Zhun sealed all his memories of the past in the overgrown yard, never touching it again since the day he left.
How could Xiao Nanhui not know the emotion behind this? Therefore, she did not dare to alarm others.
Among the countless complicated letters and manuscripts, she would occasionally get a glimpse of Prince Shuo Xiao Qing's past.
This prince of the opposite sex, with his distinguished military achievements and legendary status, was originally the only son of the Xiao family, but he had a younger sister when he was 19. This woman, who was later doted on by her father and brother and married at the age of 26, was Xiao Zhun's aunt, Xiao Dai, now known as Aunt Dai.
Aunt Dai's biological mother died young, leaving her virtually unmentioned in the family tree. Her husband's family wasn't imperial nobility, but rather a silk merchant family from a distant land. Years after her marriage, Aunt Dai had a son, Yuhuan. While he didn't receive the same rigorous upbringing as his cousins, Xiao Zhun, he was nonetheless well-mannered, and the family enjoyed a happy and contented life.
Aunt Dai often missed her family and would bring her son back to Quecheng to visit her parents during every festival. Around the time of the spring hunt that year, Prince Shuo was celebrating his fiftieth birthday. After some consideration, Aunt Dai decided to bring Yuhuan with her to celebrate his brother's birthday.
This changed my life.
The bloodbath that took place more than a decade ago destroyed everything this woman had. If she still remembered what had happened, she would be the living being in greater pain than the dead.
In addition to the correspondence between Aunt Dai and Prince Shuo, Xiao Nanhui also tried to search for traces of past dealings between the Xiao family and the Bai family. However, perhaps because Xu Zhi, the Chief Justice, had sent people to search after the incident, she hardly found much useful information.
Before Bai Yun mentioned that incident, she had speculated about the closeness of the two families based on Xiao Zhun and Bai Yun's friendship, but she had never imagined that Bai Heliu and Prince Shuo were such close friends. Perhaps the word "close friends" wasn't enough to describe such a relationship. What kind of friendship would lead one person to entrust another with a letter that concerned the lives of their entire clan?
That letter must contain a shocking secret, and what she has to do is to uncover it.
What is the moment that brings people together most? It's when they share secrets.
Yao Yi always told her: Everyone has secrets. Some are easily exposed, while others are carefully hidden, never to be seen. And only when you know a person's deepest secrets do you truly understand them.
In this way, those who have more secrets actually hold the power to control the closeness of relationships.
For example, Su Wei.
Xiao Nan recalled his experiences over the past few months and found that the beginning of his closeness with the other party was when he shared his first secret.
His secrets were so numerous that she was overwhelmed and amazed. Just like the mountains shrouded in clouds year-round, the calm yet bottomless lakes, and the ancient Buddhas who had weathered thousands of years of wind and rain and remained silent, they were always unfathomable and revealed without a single flaw.
His secret brought her an unprecedented wonderful feeling, like stepping into a world she had never set foot in, starting a conversation that no one could interfere with, and falling into the arms of someone she knew nothing about.
He occupied her heart with his secrets.
As for Xiao Nanhui, she only has one secret.
Her love for Xiao Zhun was once her only secret.
But why did he become further away from her when she shared this secret with him?
There must be something different here, but Xiao Nanhui couldn't figure it out for the moment.
She has become accustomed to avoiding problems that she cannot understand, debts of gratitude that she cannot resolve, and changes that she cannot face.
Whenever this happened, the closer the person was to her, the more she would hide away.
She tried not to mention what happened in Jiaosong County, and she hadn't told anyone about her inability to draw a bow. Shrike was a shallow person, unable to contain such heavy things, and even less able to understand her many emotions. Yao Yi, on the other hand, was too shrewd to hide many things from her. She was already wounded and didn't want to be questioned or mocked. Hao Bai was the right person for the job, but unfortunately, he was too close to the emperor, which was a bit daunting. And there was no need to mention Wu Xiaoliu, a fat man who only cared about three meals a day.
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