Chapter 85 Return
Qian Deng suddenly realized something and subconsciously looked towards the Daming Palace, asking, "So, where is it?"
Ling Tianshui had no objection and simply said, "The Emperor seems to still have some affection for this aunt. Although he has confiscated her property and destroyed her mansion, and stripped her of her title, he won't go so far as to take action against her daughter."
Qiandeng naturally understood what he meant. The one who was not the emperor, but could mobilize the imperial guards and kill Princess Changyi, must be none other than Her Majesty the Queen.
Qian Deng knew that the Queen hated Xiao Fuyu to the core, but after all, she was the granddaughter-in-law favored by the late Emperor, and she had a deep relationship with the Crown Prince. It was chilling that she was ruthlessly beheaded in the wild.
But on second thought, perhaps it was because the prince had a deep affection for her that the queen ended the relationship quickly, to prevent the prince from taking their old feelings into consideration and changing his mind.
She sighed in her heart and signaled the guards of the Eastern Palace to come forward and lift Xiao Fuyu's body off the car.
The corpse soaked in a pool of blood was turned over. The brocade seat underneath was soaked with blood. The blood spread along the pattern under the seat, forming a blood-red square pattern.
It turned out that there was a secret compartment hidden in the intricate and gorgeous carvings below. It was usually hidden in the lines and could not be seen, but the blood flowed through the gaps and revealed it.
As expected, the people who came were good at killing people, but not good at disguising themselves as robbers. They didn't even search the secret compartments on the carriage.
Qian Deng and Ling Tianshui exchanged a glance. He remained motionless, waiting until the guards had carried the body away before he quietly pulled open the door under the seat.
Inside the secret compartment was a rosewood box inlaid with various treasures, which was quite heavy to hold.
When the lid of the box was opened, gold, jade and pearls shone brightly. Inside was stacked many extremely gorgeous jewelry. Pearls, tourmaline and cat's eyes were stacked layer upon layer on the golden flowers and jade leaves, which was magnificent and dazzling.
This kind of luxurious style of jewelry is not suitable for a young woman like Xiao Fuyu, but it is similar to the gold foil bead flower that caused Ming Jiu trouble.
Qian Deng recalled what Aunt Su Wan had said before and raised her eyebrows slightly. "Could this be the jewelry that was allegedly stolen from the Princess's Mansion? It looks like it is indeed something that Princess Gao liked."
Ling Tianshui naturally remembered: "At that time, they said that the rare duck-cheek feather cloak was also stolen."
"But the duck-cheek feather cloak was burned in Zheng's house, but the jewelry appeared in the carriage that Princess Changyi used to escape..." Qian Deng pondered, raised his hand to fiddle with the jewelry for a few times, closed the box again, glanced outside, and let out a low "hmm".
Although the box inlaid with mother-of-pearl is polished very smoothly, there are always tiny gaps.
At this moment, there was a crack with a tiny bit of green mixed in, which was submerged in the colorful mother-of-pearl pattern. It was almost invisible but clearly emitted a different color.
Qiandeng picked up the tiny, silk-like strand of light and examined it carefully.
As her fingers moved slightly, sunlight slid across them, and as they turned, the indigo-colored fur overflowed with a emerald green glow, causing Qiandeng to subconsciously murmur, "Duck Cheek Feather."
Suddenly, a bright light flashed through her mind. An idea that she had not yet grasped but had already vaguely formed finally took shape in front of her at this moment.
It was as if there was an inner story behind a layer of gauze, vaguely fluctuating in front of her, like rippling water, which blinded her and made her unable to see through what was hidden under the water.
And now, holding this tiny feather, she felt like she was about to step into the threshold, but was blocked by a layer of gauze.
It was obvious that she could just raise her finger to pierce it, but she was unable to find the point to attack and was unable to get in.
Ling Tianshui waited for her quietly beside her without saying a word.
Qiandeng stood in front of the blood-spattered carriage, with soldiers beside her cleaning up the bodies of Princess Changyi and the coachman. The smell of blood enveloped her, and her surroundings seemed to be plunged into silence.
In the breathless silence, Ling Tianshui suddenly frowned slightly.
Immediately, Qiandeng's ears also heard a dull knocking sound, coming slowly and with difficulty, Dong-Dong-
Before she could figure out where the sound came from, Ling Tianshui had already placed one hand on the long sword at his waist and leaned down to look warily at the bottom of the carriage.
Under the carriage, between the wheels, there was a large, thick camphorwood box tied tightly with ropes and hanging under the carriage. Because there was a mud barrier under the carriage, blocking their view, they had never noticed that there was such a large object hidden underneath.
There was something in the box that was struggling to move, trying hard to hit the wall of the box to make some noise.
Ling Tianshui recognized the sound inside and swung his knife to cut the rope without hesitation.
The moment the box fell to the ground, he leaned under the carriage, slowing the impact of the box on the ground, while also pulling it out and opening the lid.
Squirming inside the box was a tightly tied-up young man with a black cloth hood covering his head.
Everyone gathered around after hearing the noise. Ji Linyou took off his hood and saw the man inside. He was so surprised that he tore off the rag gagged from his mouth and shouted, "Shangluo, I finally found you!"
The young man hidden under the carriage was Shangluo, whom they had been searching for for many days.
Shangluo was unconscious, his eyes glazed over, and he banged his head against the box, driven only by his instinct for survival. If he hadn't just regained consciousness at that moment, he would have died in the box under the carriage in a day or two, completely disappearing from this world without anyone noticing.
Everyone quickly helped him untie the ropes and gave him some water to moisten his throat.
Shangluo half-opened his eyes in a daze. His eyes, which had not seen the sunlight for a long time, were blurry and blurry. It took him a long time to finally recognize the person in front of him.
He saw the county lady's face gradually appear before his eyes. There was joy and worry in her eyes, just like the sunlight shining on him at this moment, dispelling his nightmares of many days.
He couldn't hold back his tears and murmured hoarsely, "County Master, am I... dreaming? Am I still alive..."
Qian Deng raised her hand and gently stroked his messy hair, her smiling eyes moist with relief: "It's not a dream, you are fine now."
Shangluo responded and raised his hand to wipe away his tears, but his hands and feet had been tied up for days and he had lost his strength and could not lift them at all.
His mind was buzzing, but he knew something was wrong. He asked blankly, "Why...can't I move my hands?"
As he spoke, he tried his best to raise his hand, but despite all his strength, he could only move his fingertips twice.
Ji Linyou patted his hands and feet: "Nonsense, he must be numb after being tied up for so long!"
Qian Deng held his hand, massaged his joints, and comforted him, "Don't worry, just move around more."
"Yeah, don't worry. Rest well for a few days and you'll be a lively and naughty boy again." Ji Linyou picked him up and said, "Let's go. The smell of blood is too strong here. Let's take you back to the palace first!"
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