Chapter 188 Killing Two Birds with One Stone
The cold wind howled in the mountains.
Meng Yuan looked at Jing Cheng's face which was red from the biting winter wind. Her eyes were wet but warm. In this cold winter, her heart was extremely soft.
"I'm sorry." Jingcheng whispered again.
Meng Yuan couldn't care about anything at this moment. He stepped forward and held her hand. It was very cold, cold to the bone. He held it tightly, looked at her and said in a deep voice: "Come with me."
"Third brother, she can't go with you now." Meng Ze said with a half-smile, "If you knew her identity, you would be too scared to be scared of her. You remember her kindness, but she only wants our lives."
Meng Yuan said: "You have evidence"
Meng Ze said: "Third brother, she is a spy planted by the Hu people beside you. She deliberately sent the leaked questions to me in your name, hoping that you and I would fight to the death. The situation in Dayan is unstable, and the Hu people can take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack."
"She didn't do it. If you want to take her away, you have to put the evidence in front of me first." Meng Yuan said calmly, and then looked at Jing Cheng, "Come back with me first. If you have any hidden secrets, tell me."
Meng Ze couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. His taciturn third brother turned out to be a romantic man. He originally suspected that he was also involved in this matter, but he was so open about it that he was probably just deceived by this Hu girl. Otherwise, he should have protected himself at this time.
Perhaps it was because Meng Yuan was disabled, and this Hu woman just gave him some warmth and made him dizzy.
"Third brother, when father does things, he always looks at the evidence. If she was not a Hu girl, father would not send me to arrest her. Moreover, her accomplices who have met her many times have been caught red-handed." Meng Ze said.
He also didn't want to offend Meng Yuan for no reason. If this girl was not a Hu girl and his father had given the order, Meng Ze would not mind giving Meng Yuan face.
Meng Yuan looked at Jing Cheng and said: "You did it"
Jingcheng knew that what he meant by asking was that she had forged the accomplice, not that he suspected her.
He never doubted her.
Just like, she never doubted that he would give up on her at this moment.
Jingcheng always thought that he was a cold and indifferent person with no extra expressions, which was unlike Zong Si's coldness. The latter was completely different when facing Afu from usual. However, Meng Yuan always looked calm no matter in front of others or behind others.
But at this moment, he held her tightly, his brows furrowed, he looked very angry, and he was also afraid.
He cares about her, very much.
Jingcheng thought to herself that she would treat him well in the future.
"Third Prince, I am sorry for you." Jing Cheng did not look up at him, but swallowed a pill while he was not paying attention, then pushed him away with force, turned around and jumped down.
In the mountain fog, in just a moment, it disappeared completely.
Meng Yuan's expression suddenly changed, and he was about to jump down with her, but was stopped by "Fang Qing", who said, "Protect the Third Prince!"
"Let go." Meng Yuan said coldly.
"Your Highness, Third Prince!"
Meng Ze also stepped forward to stop him and said, "Third brother, at this point, what else do you not believe? If she was not a Hu girl, why would she commit suicide out of fear of crime?"
"I told you to let go." Meng Yuan seemed to have heard nothing.
"Third brother, no matter how good she is to you, it's all fake. Why don't you be so confused?" Meng Ze advised.
Meng Yuan wanted to speak again, but he vomited blood and fainted the next moment.
Meng Ze lowered his head and realized that his disabled leg was covered in blood. He was probably hurt because he had just ignored the consequences and forced himself to ride the horse.
"You guys, send the third brother back to the palace. As for the others, wait until the fog clears and then go down the cliff to look for the body. My father has ordered that if he's alive, we must find the person; if he's dead, we must find the body." Meng Yuan ordered.
After thinking about it, he also wanted to let his people share some credit in this matter so that he could climb up in the future, so he said, "Lord Li has been facing mountain bandits for many years and is familiar with this terrain. Please ask Lord Li to help."
Fang Qing said, “Yes.”
In just a moment, Li Qiu Sheng rushed over. The top scholar was wearing a dark red brocade robe. He was still high-spirited and humble.
"The mountain is steep and foggy, and your lives are precious. Since Miss Hu has taken poison, and the mountain is steep, there is no chance of survival." Li Qiu Sheng said, "Let's wait a while before going down to look for her."
"Thank you Lord Li for your concern." The guards said gratefully.
"Fang Qing" couldn't help but look at him again. This number one scholar was a man who was good at winning people's hearts, and he must have a lot of tricks in his mind.
"It's strange today. The fog hasn't dissipated for a long time." Someone wondered.
Li Qiu Sheng didn't say anything. After an unknown amount of time, he said, "The fog is about to clear. Let's get started."
However, that "Fang Qing" took off the mask on his face after he descended the cliff and disappeared into the crowd. This person was none other than Qu Yang.
The real Fang Qing was following Jingcheng and was dealt with after he wrote a secret letter to Jingwen.
Qu Yang returned to Prince Xuan's palace.
Nymph had been waiting for him for a long time, and when she saw him she asked anxiously: "Is everything going well?"
"Ms. Jingcheng is probably already in Li's mansion now. The Crown Prince's wife guessed correctly. The Sixth Prince asked Lord Li to go down the cliff to look for the body." Qu Yang said, "But the Third Prince couldn't stand it and fainted."
Ning Fu did not guess that Meng Ze would use Li Qiu Sheng, but she had planned it out. She asked Zong Si to mention Lu Xingzhi in front of him, intentionally or unintentionally. The appointment of officials is based on actual performance.
If Meng Ze wanted to make use of his subordinates and prevent people from gossiping, he had to create opportunities. Next to him, the top scholar Li Qiu Sheng was in the limelight. He had carefully shown him the prescription from the palace before, which gave him a good impression of loyalty.
As for the rest, there are many who are trying to please both sides. Meng Ze urgently needs to cultivate his confidants, and Li Qiu Sheng is naturally a good candidate.
As for those Hu people, Zong Si was going to deal with them too. There was someone else who was the contact person. After dealing with the real Hu woman, he arranged for Jing Cheng to go in. And because the real Hu woman had been in Dayan since she was a child, Jing Cheng's poor Hu language skills did not arouse suspicion.
But Ningfu was still a little suspicious. How did Zong Si make the Hu people believe that the exam questions were leaked?
Zong Si returned home in the middle of the night.
Nymph had already fallen asleep. When she heard the noise, she opened the curtains and looked towards him.
Zong Si undressed while whispering: "I woke you up."
Ning Fu wanted to talk to him, but she was not in a hurry. After he washed up and got on the bed, Ning Fu said, "How can the Hu people not be suspicious of Jing Cheng's use of the Third Prince's name to leak the test questions?"
Under the quilt, Zong Si hugged her waist, rubbed it twice, and then said: "Yue Niang was once a spy for the Hu people. There are also many who were once spies for the Hu people. They defected to her. It is not difficult to forge a Hu person to plant Yao Yao in the Third Prince's mansion."
Ning Fu understood that although many people were spies, they were not necessarily double-dealers. There were many people who played both sides, and it was not always black and white.
"How could a Hu girl get the leaked questions?" Ning Fu asked again.
She was most focused when she was asking questions. Even if he was very intimate, she would not avoid him. Zong Si had some thoughts in mind, but he also knew that if he didn't explain it to her clearly, she would definitely be unhappy, so he explained: "Among the people who asked the questions, there are also spies from the Hu people."
Ning Fu was a little surprised. She couldn't help but look at Zong Si again. He probably knew it a long time ago, but he just didn't take any action. After all, it was a matter of the palace examination, and he couldn't interfere now.
"I have done my best to help the Third Prince clear the suspicion of coveting the throne by saving Jingcheng," she said.
Zong Si held her and turned over, and she fell asleep on his chest. Then she heard the man say: "I just got home, and you didn't even talk about me. You only remembered Jingcheng and Mengyuan."
Ning Fu said: "I am naturally happy to see the prince return."
"Where is your book of erotic paintings?" Zong Si suddenly asked, "I didn't look at it carefully before, so why not study it carefully tonight?"
Ning Fu thought for a moment and said, "Why does the prince like me to be on top?"
"I like you to take the initiative. I want to see that you care about me." Zong Si said truthfully.
Ning Fu paused. Was Zong Si the same in the previous life? Recently, she kept thinking about the previous life. In fact, in comparison, after the two of them consummated their marriage in the previous life, although he didn't talk much, he was actually quite clingy.
For a while, whenever he had time, he would come to see her. They didn't talk much, but he could sit in Jinghuaju for an entire afternoon, watching her weeding and planting flowers.
Maybe he no longer trusts anyone after being betrayed by his father and brother, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to be loved at all.
Ning Fu sometimes wondered, if she had not been angry with him in her previous life and had been more tolerant of him, would his iceberg have melted and he would have taken the initiative to question him about Meng Ze instead of waiting until she died to regret it.
But she also felt that it was difficult to change a person's nature, and that fate had shaped his character. If it happened again, she would not be his savior.
"What are you thinking about?" Zong Si asked when he saw that she was distracted.
"you."
In the darkness of the night, Zong Si smiled and kissed her.
“It’s true that if one thing in life changes, everything will change.” Nymph couldn’t even imagine that Zong Si in both lives would be the same person.
Her thoughts were drowned in Zong Si's enthusiasm.
Inside Jinghua Residence, the garden is full of spring colors.
…
Meng Yuan had a dream.
In the dream, Jingcheng looked at him with bright and clear eyes, smiling at him sincerely and brightly, but she said with a little disappointment: "You always look calm and composed. Will I never see you anxious again in this life?"
She sat by the bed, stroking his eyebrows, lovingly and affectionately, and said: "If I die, will you be panicked?"
Meng Yuan's heart tightened and he said, "Don't do anything stupid."
Then he opened his eyes uncomfortably. There was no Jingcheng beside him. Instead, there was Emperor Jingwen sitting there, and Concubine Zong was also sitting on a couch not far away.
"Awake." Emperor Jingwen said.
Meng Yuan gasped, then remembered something and his face turned pale.
"You slept for two days, and Yaoyao's body was found. If you really can't bear to leave, you can go and take a look." Emperor Jingwen looked at him deeply and said meaningfully, "However, since she is a spy of the Hu people, her kindness to you is all fake."
Concubine Zong also said, "Third brother, if you want any woman, mother will find one for you in the near future. That Hu girl was almost used by you. Mother will definitely keep a close eye on her for you. It is not a pity that the Hu girl died."
Concubine Zong couldn't help but feel a bit of contempt in her heart. A little Hu girl actually dared to set her sights on the Sixth Brother. She really deserved to die.
Meng Yuan lowered his head and clenched his hands into fists at his sides.
He remembered that when his mother died, his mother had used the same tone, saying that she was just a concubine and that she was dead and that was it.
She has always been like this, aloof and never caring about the people he cares about. For Meng Ze's future, she doesn't mind sacrificing him.
"I want to go see her." Meng Yuan said in a hoarse voice.
Emperor Jingwen looked at him meaningfully. He felt relieved that the third brother did not avoid suspicion. As for his feelings for a maid, it was nothing more than lack of love. Someone was so caring and thoughtful, which filled the void in his heart.
It is difficult for ordinary people to get into his heart, and I don’t know what kind of ability this Hu girl used.
Along the way, Meng Yuan lost the ability to speak, and he looked lifeless, with a hint of hostility.
He had tried his best to restrain himself, but now he couldn't hold it back.
The reason why Emperor Jingwen asked him to personally reveal that Jingcheng was a Hu woman and was trapped in the mountains was simply to warn him that he was the emperor and controlled the life and death of everyone.
If Meng Yuan did anything, his fate would be the same as Jing Cheng's.
And Jingcheng, perhaps guessing that Emperor Jingwen suspected her, sacrificed herself to clear her of suspicion.
Meng Yuan hid her carefully, fearing that she would leave him one day, but he still failed to keep her.
But after seeing Yaoyao's body, he paused.
Then he looked away.
Not Jingcheng.
However, Meng Yuan's eyes were still bloodshot, as if he had suffered a serious blow.
"I have discovered it a long time ago. It was Fang Qing who was beside you who quietly put the leaked test paper into Old Six's mansion. At first I thought it was you who instructed me to do it, but that is not true. You have no contact with the person who set the test paper, so how could you get the leaked test paper?"
Emperor Jingwen said, "Now the truth has come to light. It turns out that there were spies from the Hu people in setting the questions. That's why this Hu woman easily got the leaked questions. She also ordered Fang Qing to do this in your name, in an attempt to cause unrest in the court of Dayan."
Emperor Jingwen naturally checked the other people around Meng Yuan and found that they had no collusion with the Hu people, so he was so confident in him. If Yaoyao was just Meng Yuan's subordinate and it was him who was related to the Hu people, there must be other people around him who negotiated with the Hu people on his behalf.
What's more, his sadness and pain don't seem fake.
Moreover, Emperor Jingwen had already dealt with the ministers who were close to him, so even if he had two minds, he would not be able to cause any trouble.
Meng Yuan remained silent, but he understood in his heart that Fang Qing was the person that Emperor Jingwen had placed by his side a long time ago.
Fortunately, Meng Yuan never had the habit of personally giving orders for tasks. He also had another identity, that is, his confidant. If he needed to assign a task, he would appear in the guise of this confidant.
"Yaoyao is just a weak woman. She has always taken care of me wholeheartedly on behalf of Doctor Mu." Meng Yuan still seemed to find it hard to believe.
"That's her strength. She coaxed you into falling in love with her." Emperor Jingwen patted his shoulder and said, "You are my son. No one is worthy of a woman who will be truly devoted to you in the future."
Meng Yuan remained silent.
Emperor Jingwen knew that he would not be able to come out for a while, so he did not say anything else, but said: "Now that we have met, your health is important, go back and rest."
Meng Yuan was helped into the carriage. The moment the curtain was lowered, his expression became extremely gloomy.
Then it eased again.
I don’t know where Jingcheng is now.
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