After the funeral procession stopped, Jing Yan dismounted and had the coffin opened. The people who brought the coffin were all from the palace, and they knew perfectly well what this procession had been used for before.
He dared not argue and urged the people to open the coffin lid.
The moment Jing Yan saw clearly, there was only Zheng Yutong's stiff corpse inside.
He immediately ordered his men to open the box containing Zheng Yutong's belongings one by one, and after looking through it all, they found no trace of Yue Jiang.
Jing Yan held the sword to the neck of the person leading the coffin and asked coldly, "Have you seen Jing Lu?"
"Didn't King Li go to drink poison?" The coffin bearer trembled, his long sword at his side, sweat pouring down his face.
To have kept this a secret for so long, someone in the palace must have been helping Jinglu. It could have been Empress Dowager Zheng, or it could have been a spy hidden in the palace.
That half of An Chenghuan's seal was indeed genuine, but it was something that the old eunuch couldn't possibly know.
Jing Lu deliberately revealed a flaw beforehand to confuse Jing Yan's judgment, all in order to buy himself time, and this was also the case here.
Jing Lu is at his wit's end and is probably using Yue Jiang as a bargaining chip on his way to surrender to An Guo.
He deserved to die for treason and for capturing Yue Jiang.
After Jing Yan cleared his mind, he closed his eyes deeply, and when he opened them again, his eyes were filled with frost. He said in a stern voice.
"Take the coffin back and send it to the Longevity Palace. Tell them that Jing Lu is alive, but it doesn't matter. I will execute Jing Lu on the spot in accordance with the law."
"Ah," the coffin bearer was startled and, unintentionally meeting Jing Yan's cold, hard eyes, quickly nodded and bowed, "Yes, yes, it's His Highness the Crown Prince."
Jing Yan immediately sheathed his sword and mounted his horse. Now he should think about what methods Jing Lu would come up with to get to Anguo.
We must save Yue Jiang.
***
Yue Jiang followed Jing Lu relentlessly. Seeing him working day and night like this, Yue Jiang gradually guessed that Jing Lu's painstaking efforts to abduct her were not simply to save his life and hide his identity; he had a greater purpose.
Yue Jiang didn't want to confirm it, but a voice kept telling her that Jing Lu wanted to take her to Anguo.
Jing Lu kept drugging her. Yue Jiang had been in a daze for more than ten days, and her mental state was very poor. She had no strength to resist anything.
Jing Lu could also see that Yue Jiang was not a reckless or troublesome person, and gradually began to feel more at ease with her.
When they stopped to rest in the dilapidated temple, they were willing to talk to her a few more times.
"Don't worry, sister-in-law. Once we get past the next mountain, I won't let you sleep in a coffin anymore. This trick won't work if you keep using it."
"Once we get over this mountain, and walk for another ten days or so, I won't be afraid of anything anymore. Someone will come to meet us."
Yue Jiang raised the corner of her eye slightly, mockingly saying, "You are cunning and meticulous in your calculations, but An Guo deceived your grandfather, and you still believe what the An Guo people say. You don't seem like someone who colluded with An Guo right there on the battlefield."
"Your Highness has been investigating the Anguo spies in Jing Palace. Perhaps you encountered them there long ago. Otherwise, how could you still be alive after drinking the poisoned wine?"
“You are a traitor who has long been guilty of treason. It is the spies who are helping you. They are the ones who led you, a prince of Jing Kingdom, down this path, and they are the ones that Your Highness can never guess, no matter how hard he tries.”
"She must have an extraordinary status, and she's the least likely to be... perhaps it's Empress Zheng's grandmother?"
Jing Lu paused, the wooden stick he was using to draw on the soil in his hand. He tilted his head and glanced at Yue Jiang expressionlessly, then suddenly grinned.
"Is my sister-in-law trying to trick me? But you can't escape my grasp now, so I might as well tell you."
“I’m afraid An Chenghuan will go back on his word. The death of my grandfather is a bloody example. That’s why I’m holding you hostage. You don’t know it yet, do you? You have amnesia. You were originally the Crown Princess who married into the Kingdom of An.”
“My good brother kidnapped you, severed your marriage with An Chenghuan, and tricked you into coming to the Jing Kingdom.”
"I went to great lengths to bring you to Anguo, purely out of kindness to reunite you with your original husband, An Chenghuan."
“An Chenghuan has no reason to discard me after I’ve served my purpose. My sister-in-law should thank me. As long as I’m alive, my former status as a prince of Jing Kingdom can still cause trouble for Jing Yan’s future. Why would An Chenghuan want to kill me?”
Jing Lu confidently revealed the secret that Yue Jiang was unaware of, a secret that Jing Quanguo had been keeping from her, and she did not react for a long time.
Without a trace of disbelief or surprise, Jing Lu's smile faltered slightly on his face.
Suddenly, he slowly stood up, burst into laughter, laughing so hard that tears welled up in his eyes and he couldn't stop.
Jing Lu pointed at Yue Jiang excitedly: "So, my sister-in-law didn't lose her memory. We were fooled by you." He asked curiously, "Brother, does brother know?"
Jing Lu asked and answered himself: "At first, he definitely didn't know, otherwise, given that you married An Chenghuan, he should have dealt with you. But since you, my sister-in-law, could keep it from my brother, it's not something you can easily say. If you give it to me, I won't tell you."
"Your Majesty surely doesn't know."
After Jing Lu finished his rambling and nonsensical rambling, he guessed that Yue Jiang definitely hadn't said it, and the next moment he laughed at An Chenghuan, clicking his tongue.
“An Chenghuan also thought you had amnesia and that you were deceived by your elder brother. You said you didn’t have amnesia, so how did he treat you when you arrived in Anguo?”
Jing Lu suddenly had an idea. He squatted down in front of Yue Jiang and flattered her.
“Sister-in-law, let’s not tell him, okay? I’ll keep your secret. He’s still resentful of you, so he’ll definitely grant you any request once you go. If you help me gain his trust, how can we, as uncle and sister-in-law, not work together to undermine Anguo?”
"Once we take Anguo, I'll send you back to my brother, the Emperor. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
"Hmph, now that Anguo has been sidelined, I'm not far from death."
Yue Jiang turned her face away. Jing Lu was a ruthless man, and the fates of Cheng Suyun and Zheng Yutong, who were deceived by him, were still fresh in her mind.
If Yue Jiang truly believed Jing Lu's terrible idea and hoped that he would dream of returning to Jing Yan's side, she would be manipulated by Jing Lu for the rest of her life.
Jing Lu knew that it would be a miracle if Yue Jiang agreed so easily, so he wasn't disappointed. He straightened up and put away his smile.
"Fine, I don't care if you don't agree. At least I have something on you. Let's see how An Chenghuan treats you."
Yue Jiang scoffed, "She can admit it, but she can't deny it to the death."
She never expected that the spy hidden in the Jing Palace for many years would actually be Empress Dowager Zheng. She looked up, wanting to ask for more details.
"Empress Dowager Zheng and the late Emperor have loved each other since they met. She has never been treated coldly by the late Emperor. How could she be so cruel as to harm him?"
Jing Lu sneered and glanced down at her: "Isn't this just women fighting over a man? She wanted to harm others, but she ended up getting tricked and harming the Emperor's grandfather instead."
"King Li, it's time to eat," a servant called to Jing Lu as he prepared the meal. Jing Lu didn't say anything more to Yue Jiang and stepped out.
Yue Jiang was the only one left in the side room. She deduced from Jing Lu's words and from the series of words Zheng Yutong had previously mentioned, such as cocklebur, asarum, eucalyptus leaves, burdock seeds, physalis, cassia seeds, and prunella vulgaris.
Combining the previous character "害" (harm) with the "先" (first) in "马先篙" (Ma Xiangao), it means that Empress Dowager Zheng harmed the late emperor.
The Anguo disaster of that year was caused by Empress Dowager Zheng.
Yue Jiang has learned a terrible, earth-shattering secret and must find a way to inform Jing Yan. She cannot let Jing Lu go to Anguo, as Empress Dowager Zheng can still act as an inside agent in Jing Palace.
As soon as they set off, Yue Jiang would be drugged by Jing Lu.
However, she had been in a coma too many times in the past few days and could sense that Jing Lu had given her less medicine. Yet, it was still difficult for her to do anything in the coffin, and she had to make sure that Jing Yan discovered what she had left behind.
Yue Jiang moved her bound body and suddenly touched the purple jade on her wrist. Perhaps she had a way to gamble on it.
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