"What did you say?" Lin Mushen's eyes widened, his eyeballs seemed to pop out of their sockets, and his eyes instantly turned blood red, as if they could breathe fire.
The fierce and incredulous gaze was fixed on the person in front of him, sending a chill down his spine.
"The Taoist priest... isn't dead?" he said, enunciating each word clearly, his voice low and deep, as if it came from the deepest hell, filled with boundless anger and astonishment.
"Yes! Your Highness, I am incompetent and beg your forgiveness!" the guard replied tremblingly, his body shaking uncontrollably.
He knew he had made a grave mistake and might face extremely severe punishment, but at this moment he had no choice but to plead guilty.
With a loud bang, the guard was sent flying like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily to the ground.
Blood gushed from his mouth, staining the ground a shocking red.
Seeing that he was still alive, Lin Mushen immediately delivered a final blow with his sword.
Sadly, that guard had already lost his life.
"Drag him away, you piece of trash!" Lin Mushen roared furiously, his voice echoing throughout the room.
His chest heaved violently; he was clearly furious.
The guards walked forward expressionlessly and skillfully dragged the corpse out of the house.
They were already used to such scenes.
The Prince of Jin is tyrannical; no one knows if they will be the next to die.
"Go, go and call your uncle here!" Lin Mushen was still furious and roared loudly.
He was filled with remorse. If he had decisively killed that Taoist priest back then, perhaps he wouldn't be in this mess today.
However, there's no going back now, and all we can do is hope that my uncle can come up with a solution.
When Duke Zheng arrived in a hurry, what he saw was Lin Mushen slumped in the grand chair.
His face was as pale as paper, his eyes were empty and lifeless, and he seemed to have lost his soul.
Duke Zheng's heart sank suddenly, and he thought to himself: What kind of troublesome matter has he encountered?
The King of Jin had not summoned him so urgently for a long time.
Judging from his distraught appearance, he must have made a huge mistake.
"Uncle!" Lin Mushen's eyes welled up with tears when he saw the Duke of Zheng, just like a child.
here we go again……
Duke Zheng sighed in frustration.
Looking at his nephew, he couldn't help but feel disgust.
This nephew seems to never grow up, acting willfully and recklessly all day long, with no sense of order or method whatsoever.
What's even more unbearable is that he's also an ungrateful person.
Whenever he needed something from the Duke of Zheng, he would sweetly call him "uncle"; but once he had nothing to ask of him, he would forget all about everyone else.
Even so, what could he do? After all, the future of the entire Zheng family now rested on his shoulders.
"Shen'er, what brings you here today?" Duke Zheng suppressed his anger and tried to make his tone sound as calm as possible.
"I was the one who poisoned Father Emperor," Lin Mushen said expressionlessly.
"What?" Upon hearing this, the Duke of Zheng, who had just sat down, was struck as if by lightning and jumped up from his chair.
His eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at Lin Mushen, his finger trembling as he pointed at him. "You, you, you, you are absolutely audacious! You dared to poison the Emperor! This is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family!"
"My nine generations of relatives include the Emperor!" Lin Mushen said expressionlessly.
He seemed unconcerned about the Duke of Zheng's anger, and calmly said, "The person who gave me the poison has been caught by the Emperor."
These words struck Duke Zheng like a bolt from the blue.
He felt his legs buckle, and he slumped weakly into the chair, muttering to himself, "It's all over, it's all over..."
Upon seeing this, Lin Mushen frowned slightly and said impatiently, "I came here to discuss countermeasures with you, not to listen to your discouraging remarks."
Just a moment ago he was calling me "uncle," but now he's immediately referring to himself as "this king." The speed of his attitude change is astonishing.
Duke Zheng could no longer suppress his anger. He stood up abruptly and roared, "Why didn't you consult me before you poisoned me? Now that something's happened, you think of me? What do you take me for? Your lifeline?"
After his outburst of rage, Lin Mushen has gradually calmed down.
He stared coldly at the Duke of Zheng and slowly said, "I was the one who managed to get the poison into the palace, while my mother was the one who administered it."
Upon hearing this, the Duke of Zheng was speechless for a long time.
Because he knew very well that if this matter was not handled properly, the entire Duke's mansion would probably become a grave offering for the mother and son.
After a long while, Duke Zheng finally came to his senses, took a deep breath, and asked, "Has the Emperor begun to suspect you?"
He simply couldn't understand why this mother and son were so audacious as to do such a stupid thing.
Moreover, they even left the Taoist priest behind when they poisoned him. Weren't they afraid that the emperor would find solid evidence?
Lin Mushen shook his head and replied with a solemn expression, "It's not just me he suspects; Prince Yu is certainly one of the people His Majesty suspects as well."
Duke Zheng disagreed, saying, "King Yu should personally lead men to arrest the Taoist priest. In this way, he will be cleared of suspicion."
Lin Mushen continued, "But the Taoist priest was already unable to speak when he was captured, and his hands and feet were all broken. To this day, he has not uttered a single word."
Upon hearing this, the Duke of Zheng finally calmed down a bit.
In this sense, it could be said that Prince Yu did it because he was afraid that Prince Yu would reveal the truth.
As for why Prince Yu didn't take the opportunity to kill the Taoist priest, it was because he wanted to dispel Emperor Rong Sheng's doubts.
After a moment of silence, the Duke of Zheng asked, "So where is this person currently being held?"
"He was taken to the Ministry of Justice by the Emperor's personal guards."
"Leave it to me, you don't need to get involved anymore." Duke Zheng stood up.
He never imagined that Lin Mushen would be so foolish, and that Consort Zheng would also follow his foolish ways.
It would have been bad enough if they had poisoned the emperor, but then the emperor himself caught them as witnesses.
The person who should be eliminated is the Prince of Yu, who is currently enjoying great power and influence.
Once Prince Yu dies, the position of Crown Prince will be easily within his grasp.
As Duke Zheng left the Jinwang Mansion, he felt a chill run down his spine.
Thinking of the way Emperor Rongsheng looked at him when he first woke up, he always felt that the emperor knew who had poisoned him.
He shook his head, banishing the absurd idea from his mind.
If the Emperor knew, he would have chopped off Lin Mushen's head long ago.
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