Jing Yan looked in the direction of the sound and saw Jing Shuo being carried out of the dense forest, covered in blood.
Jing Lu was disheveled and his panic was hard to hide. He could only stand up with the help of others.
Jing Yan frowned and stepped forward: "What happened?"
"Your Highness, there's a problem with the stone formation. The Second Prince somehow triggered the most dangerous boulder and couldn't dodge it, so the boulder landed on his leg."
Rong Ying glanced at Jing Shuo's bloodied right leg and frowned: "The boulder has an independent mechanism. Even if the Second Prince crashed into it, it wouldn't fall down. How did it end up hitting him?"
The soldiers stammered and couldn't speak.
"First, take the Second Prince away for treatment," Jing Yan waved his hand and ordered people to carry Jing Shuo away. He then turned to Rong Ying and ordered her to check into the dense forest.
Finally, looking at Jing Lu who was trembling uncontrollably, he calmly questioned, "What happened between you and your second brother in the forest?"
Large tears streamed down Jinglu's face as he stammered, "My second brother threw my things away first..."
***
"pain!"
Jing Shuo was dazed, his lips moving slightly.
Jing Yan, who was standing guard nearby, heard the noise and lowered his eyes to say, "She's awake."
"Brother, I... am I trapped under a big rock? Why do my legs hurt so much? Uh, why can't I lift them?"
Jing Shuo took a while to react. He struggled to move his right leg, but no matter what he did, he couldn't move it.
"Stop fussing over it. The imperial physician said the bone is injured and you'll need crutches in the future," Jing Yan said coldly, picking up the herbal soup beside him and stirring the steam with a spoon.
Jing Shuo couldn't believe it. He struggled even more, but before he could lift his right leg, he gasped in pain and collapsed onto the bed.
Jing Shuo, his eyes bloodshot, gritted his teeth and said, "You're the one who ruined me?"
Jing Yan calmly retorted, "What reason would I have to harm you?"
Jing Shuo suffered a sudden accident and his right leg was seriously injured. The imperial physician said that he might be unable to walk properly in the future.
Jing Yan's original plan was not to let him end up like this, but only to give him a taste of hardship first.
But things have developed to this point. He had Rong Ying investigate the stone formation and then personally questioned Jing Lu.
It turned out that Jing Shuo had a dispute with Jing Lu in the dense forest, and later he even tricked Jing Lu into going ahead to scout the way.
Jing Lu encountered a poisonous snake midway, and in a panic turned around and knocked Jing Shuo down. The two of them ended up in a sorry state in the stone formation.
That boulder was a key piece in launching the hidden weapon; it was supposed to calm things down after shooting off the rubble, but instead it landed squarely on Jing Shuo's leg.
Afterwards, Rong Ying did not discover any problem with the boulder, and the soldiers who accompanied him were also unaware of the details.
Jing Yan thought that either Jing Shuo or Jing Lu must know the truth.
"Because I... no, that's not right, it's the Crown Princess, I know her secret, she's the one who wants to harm me."
Jing Shuo suddenly realized and became agitated: "Brother, you've been bewitched by her, haven't you?"
“She is my wife, the Crown Princess of Jing Kingdom, and your brother’s wife,” Jing Yan corrected solemnly.
"What Crown Princess? She's definitely not a real princess. Brother, you've been with her day and night, didn't you notice anything strange about her? Didn't you find that she has a strange fragrance?"
"She is clearly..."
"Shh," Jing Yan said impatiently, no longer able to hear a single word from Jing Shuo that could slander Yue Jiang.
His eyes held an unyielding command as he stared unblinkingly at Jing Shuo: "The Crown Princess's fate is none of your concern; only I am qualified to worry about it."
Jing Shuo suddenly realized what was happening and burst into laughter: "Brother, you actually knew all along!"
Knowing that his crown princess was no ordinary woman, knowing that she was full of secrets, he still willingly pretended not to hear.
Jing Yan: "I'm not stupid, do you need to remind me? Since I snatched the Crown Princess, whatever her status was when she came from Yue Kingdom, she deserves the same status after marrying into Jing Kingdom."
"As for you, you've forgotten your place. I won't spell out your feelings for the Crown Princess, lest I embarrass you."
"I only need you to remember that when you see the Crown Princess again in the future, remember your boundaries and don't think about anything sordid or outlandish."
"Nothing about her is something you think you can use against her; she has someone to protect her."
Jing Shuo was stunned when his innermost thoughts were exposed and he was completely seen through.
Jing Yan continued speaking slowly: "There's something I felt I shouldn't have doubted you about, but did you take advantage of your suspicion of Yue Jiang to secretly do anything detrimental to her?"
“She’s even better at deceiving people than my brother, what can I do?” Jing Shuo sneered.
Jing Yan suspected that the anonymous letter he wrote on his wedding night with Yue Jiang might have been tampered with by Jing Shuo.
He glanced at Jing Shuo's bandaged leg. The injury was quite severe; even with a thick layer of gauze, large patches of blood were still seeping through.
If he had silently sown discord between me and Yue Jiang back then, he wouldn't have been foolish enough to expose himself today.
It's not Jing Shuo.
Jing Yan shook his head and mocked, "Isn't joining the Xuanjia Army something you've been eagerly seeking? I gave you the opportunity, but you proved useless."
"Even the first thing you did when you woke up was to ask who hurt you. How could you be so badly injured and have no clue what happened?"
“If I were to harm you, you wouldn’t be lying here in the first place.”
Every moment Jing Shuo is awake now, his leg injury is throbbing with pain. When he thinks about what happened in the forest, the image of Jing Lu suddenly pops into his mind.
He pounded the bed and cursed angrily: "Jing Lu, it must be that bastard Jing Lu."
Jing Yan: "You could say that you took his things first and forced him to scout the way for you. Father Emperor will not punish Jing Lu just because you were seriously injured. You will only suffer the consequences of your own actions."
Jing Shuo's face turned ashen with frustration.
Jing Yan sighed almost imperceptibly and handed the medicine bowl to Jing Shuo.
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