Chapter 33: Disguise
The prince looked away as if to avoid it, his voice a little stiff: "Nonsense!"
"So, Your Highness doesn't believe it?"
"Past and present lives are illusory, fabricated to deceive ordinary people. What's the point of talking about them?" The prince avoided answering, saying, "Now that Kucha has overcome its difficulties, the important matter here is over. After you pay your respects to the royal family, we should pack up and return to Chang'an to report. Lingling, we came here together and we will return together."
"No, I still have unfinished business, so I'm afraid I can't return with Your Highness." Qian Deng shook his head. "After defeating the Western Fan army, I was cleared of my grievances, but the true culprit behind the theft of the three sacred artifacts and the accusation against me has yet to be identified. Moreover..."
Qiandeng picked up the two letters in front of the Buddha and showed them to him: "I have obtained the letter from Second Uncle Wang, and I have confirmed the truth about my mother's death and the real culprit."
Her suddenly cold gaze and voice caused a surge of blood mixed with panic in the prince's heart.
But he was no longer the innocent boy he once was. His voice was heavy as he asked, "Lingling, what nonsense are you talking about? Wasn't the case of Madam Qi's death already closed, and the murderer, Su Yunzhong, executed? What else do you need to confirm?"
"Your Highness was also at the manor that day. Have you forgotten? After Su Yunzhong accidentally injured my mother, Uncle Fu diagnosed that her heart and lungs were not seriously damaged. As long as she found a good doctor, she still had a chance of survival. That's why I immediately left the manor to find Aunt Liao. But when I returned, Aunt Liao had already determined that my mother was beyond help. I couldn't even find the letter she left for me before her death."
The prince's eyes fell on the letter in her hand. "Yes, I was so busy that I forgot to ask you, how did you find this letter?"
Seeing him ask, Qiandeng's face showed a trace of absurdity and ridicule: "Your Highness, don't you know? This was found in the gap between the cabinets, under the drawer."
The prince pondered for a moment, "So, when you were pulling the drawer, it happened to fall out of the gap at the back and got stuck in the crack. So, by some strange coincidence, you only discovered it a long time later?"
"I think the murderer wanted me to think this way, so he set up this elaborate scheme to explain everything."
Her merciless words made the situation in front of her suddenly become stiff and cold.
The prince opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
Qian Deng seemed oblivious and continued, "After finding this letter, I actually thought that the thing I'd been dreaming about had finally come to fruition. After all, this letter was so perfect. It addressed everything from the reason for its disappearance, to why my mother didn't discuss it with me sooner, and even to why she stopped me from marrying the Uighurs. It explained everything I had been puzzled about."
"If that's the case, why do you doubt it?"
"Because the person who forged this letter knew the Northern King of Kucha very well, and also knew my mother and me very well, but he didn't understand the relationship between us—or rather, he didn't understand the relationship between ordinary people."
Qian Deng clenched the letter in her hand and slowly approached him. "The only person in this world who could forge this letter that perfectly explains everything is the real murderer. But this murderer only understands the relationship between monarch and subject, and subordinates. He doesn't understand that after my father and grandfather passed away, my family's political relationship with the Northern King was severed, and what remained was an uncle-nephew relationship. When an uncle wants to rely on affection to persuade his niece to marry for the family, he shouldn't sign it with the royal seal, and certainly not in that tone."
The prince hesitated for a moment, then finally said, "But...as the Northern King, it's only natural for him to use the royal seal. After all, you've already found the manuscript of the letter among the Northern King's belongings, so the letter should be authentic."
"No, the appearance of this letter draft only helped me confirm the identity of the murderer. Your Highness, ever since I received this letter, I have kept it safely locked away and never let anyone see its contents. The only person in this world who knew I was going to find the draft of this letter was you." Qian Deng raised the two letters in her hands, staring at him intently, and spoke word by word, "Then, a draft with contents almost identical to this letter actually appeared among the Northern King's relics."
The prince's face turned pale, and he realized that he had made a mess of things and stepped into the trap she had set.
"Your Highness, my Bai family is full of loyal and valiant men. Our fathers and grandfathers fought bravely and sacrificed their lives for the Tang Dynasty. My mother and I are the only two women left in the Changhua Palace. We have been cautious in our conduct, never getting involved in court politics, and have no ambitions for power. But why... why do you treat us like this?"
The veil covering the filthy darkness had been torn open, so she was no longer afraid or hesitant, and even took two steps forward, as if she wanted to see him thoroughly without missing a single detail.
She was clearly a delicate young woman, but the burning grief and anger on her face filled the Crown Prince with a wave of fear and sadness. He subconsciously took a step back, his voice trembling slightly. "Lingling... why are you so delusional? Why are you so obsessed with believing that letter was a forgery? Why are you pinning such a horrific accusation on me? I... I've always been close to you. You know my feelings for you so well. How could you possibly suspect me of such a thing?"
"Because Uncle Fu—Does Your Highness remember him? He was the old steward of the Bai family farm. After his death, we found a burnt piece of blood-stained paper in his arms."
Since she chose to reveal the truth today, she had naturally prepared everything.
She took out a small silver makeup box from her sleeve and opened it. Inside was not rouge, but three thin, brittle pieces of old paper with burnt edges.
Because the center overlapped during the burning, the area around the paper was brownish-brown, licked by the flames, but the center was not completely burned, and the knife marks in the middle still remained.
"This was found by Uncle Fu among the incense ashes in a room on the farm after my mother passed away. We took refuge on my farm that day due to the rebellion, and everyone's house had been freshly cleaned, so naturally there wouldn't be any old incense ashes left. So these pieces of paper must have been burned on the night my mother died. What could they have burned in such a hurry?" Qian Deng stared at him, her eyes flickering with a cold flame. "I believe that His Royal Highness, like him, will immediately think of the letter my mother wanted to give me before she died, which I have never found."
The prince stared at the paper, finally seeming to grasp something, and asked, "If it's that letter, why are there knife marks on it?"
"Because this wasn't a fragment of the letter, but another envelope with a similar cover that had been placed in the drawer with the letter. Time was short that night, and the other party didn't have time to open them and identify which one my mother was referring to. They could only take both away and examine them when they returned to their room, and thus burned them together.
"Because that letter was more important, they naturally took great care to completely shatter the ashes during the burning. However, this letter was wrapped in layers of carving knives, so His Royal Highness did not notice it. The overlapping parts were too thick and did not burn through, leaving only fragments."
"With so many people at the manor that day, anyone could have sneaked in, stolen the letter, and burned it. Without any evidence, Lingling, why are you so determined to point the finger at me?"
"Yes, there were ten young men, along with Cui Shaoqing and His Royal Highness, staying at our manor that day," Qian Deng said coldly. "But except for the Nanyu Shoushan Corridor, the young men were all three to a room. No matter who wanted to burn the letter, it would have been seen by the roommates. Naturally, it was impossible to do it in the incense burner in the room, and there would be no fragments left in the room for the people at the manor to find when cleaning. What's more, as the manor's steward, Uncle Fu would clean up the room himself during the busiest time, so naturally, the only room he would clean up would be your room, Your Royal Highness!"
The prince opened his mouth, but in the end, no word came out.
"After Uncle Fu discovered these fragments, he thought of the letter my mother had intended to give me before her death, so he secretly hid them. But before he could give them to me, you dispatched someone to murder him. The murder weapon was the carving knife wrapped in that paper package—after all, how could Uncle Fu continue to live? When my mother was injured, he examined the wound and deemed it non-fatal. But by the time Doctor Liao diagnosed my mother, she was already beyond saving. If Uncle Fu had any doubts and compared the inconsistent injuries with Doctor Liao, then your manipulation would be untraceable and would be immediately exposed."
At this point, she could no longer contain the grief and indignation in her heart. Although her voice trembled, it was still sharp. "Why? Your Highness, tell me why? What was written in that letter that made you kill my mother and my second uncle?"
"I didn't kill the King of the North!" The prince's face turned pale and he denied it flatly.
"Then why is it such a coincidence that when I had an appointment with him and was bound to ask about the letter, he died in front of me for no apparent reason?"
"Even if I wanted to kill him, I would never bring suspicion upon you! Besides, I've traveled all this way to inspect the northwest for the sake of stability. What good would killing him do to me or the Tang Dynasty? I could definitely put pressure on him and negotiate with Kucha. There's a better solution!"
He spoke so confidently, but Qian Deng was not about to let him go. "Okay, you didn't kill the Northern King. After all, you couldn't kill him the way you did. But you killed my mother and Uncle Fu, forged the letter, and to cover up your crimes, you killed Shi Jingning and Ji Linyou. These are undeniable facts!"
"Lingling, you've disregarded our past friendship and are making such assumptions about me. I'm truly disappointed." Admitting guilt would be irreparable, so how could the Crown Prince relent? He gritted his teeth and spoke resolutely, "The deaths of Madam Qi, Uncle Fu, and even Shi Jingning were all your private speculations, unfounded. How could you possibly distrust me so much? As for that letter... it was indeed found by the clerk I sent, so it's a clue. There are only a few people capable of forging and tampering with the letter. Once I return and thoroughly investigate, I'll definitely catch the perpetrators and give you an explanation."
Seeing that he was still stubbornly resisting, not only refusing to admit his guilt but also trying to use a clerk as a scapegoat, Qian Deng became even more grief-stricken and indignant. He stared at him intently and asked again, "Your Highness, are you really unwilling to admit it?"
"It wasn't me! Why should I admit it if it wasn't me?" Although they were just in a cave, the prince had never been forced into such a situation before. His voice was filled with anger that was almost a roar. "Your reasoning does make sense. These things seem to have happened around me. So someone around me must have been behind this! Lingling, believe me!"
Despite his resolute denial, Qian Deng remained unmoved. She slammed the two letters onto the altar and sternly said, "Your Highness, there's no need to go to such lengths to cover it up! Don't forget the two words Shi Jingning left on my palm before he died!"
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