Chapter 77 "You are just like your brother, except that..."
"You won't tell me, so this matter is related to me?"
Feng Mian's gaze was sharp and fixed on Feng Ciyan.
Under her relentless and piercing gaze, Feng Ciyan silently looked away, refusing to make eye contact with her.
“Oh, or rather, it’s related to my father.” Her tone was low, but each word was clear.
The confident tone made Feng Ciyan frown. "Are you determined to get to the bottom of this?"
He believed that a certain degree of tacit silence was still necessary.
But Feng Mian didn't like being kept in the dark. Admittedly, some deception might be well-intentioned, but this matter concerned lives and the truth, and she instinctively felt she had to get to the bottom of it.
"After you disappeared eleven years ago, did you try to infiltrate the Alna tribe?"
Feng Ciyan remained silent, tacitly agreeing.
Baili Xunzhou gritted his teeth and slammed his hand on the table in a fit of rage. "No wonder the Alna tribe has been causing trouble all these years. Sure enough, there are dwarves behind them!"
"..."
The somewhat solemn atmosphere in the room was somewhat diluted by this unexpected "dwarf's guidance." Feng Ciyan glanced at him speechlessly and had to defend himself, saying, "I did not devise any strategy for them against Dayong."
These words relieved Baili Xunzhou. He thought that Feng Mian probably also found it hard to accept that his uncle was helping foreign tribes invade the people of Dayong, which was why he asked this question on purpose.
Feng Mian lowered her eyes and pondered for a moment. When she looked up again, her gaze was clear as snow. She looked directly at Feng Ciyan and said in a soft but firm voice, "So Father's death was not simple, was it?"
"What happened in the previous generation is none of your business." Feng Ciyan began searching the room for any other place to sit; he really didn't want to sit at the same table as this child.
These words were so cold and harsh that everyone present stared at him in astonishment. Although they knew he didn't want Feng Mian to get involved in some troublesome matter, the way he said them was really too callous.
Feng Mian was also somewhat angered. She grabbed his sleeve and pressed him down, leaving him nowhere to escape. She angrily asked, "It was my father who died. How can it be unrelated to me?"
"Did he ever support you?" Feng Ciyan suddenly asked in a cold voice.
A gasp rippled through the crowd. Clearly, no one had expected Feng to utter such callous words.
The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Gu Chunwen and Baili Xunzhou exchanged a glance, finding themselves on the same side for the first time. Just as they were about to say something, Feng Ciyan continued.
"He only spent three days with you. For those three days, why should you bear hatred because of his death? That's not fair to you."
Baili Xunzhou and Gu Chunwen exchanged a glance, then sat down without saying a word.
“If Father’s death was murdered, it involves the imperial court and is not merely a personal vendetta. Moreover, even without the debt of raising me, there is the debt of giving me life. Father said it wasn’t that he didn’t want to keep me by his side, but rather…” Feng Mian’s words abruptly stopped, his face turning deathly pale, his pupils dilating in shock, his lips trembling slightly, “Is Father’s death related to Uncle?”
A suffocating silence enveloped the entire room.
Baili Xunzhou quietly grasped Feng Mian's cold hand under the table.
Feng Ciyan sighed, "You and your brother are alike; you just don't want to be a fool."
The air around him seemed to freeze into ice, so cold that Feng Mian could hardly breathe.
"I can't be sure if he tampered with it."
Upon hearing this, Feng Mian finally felt she could breathe again. Baili Xunzhou, standing beside her, was even more impatient: "What do you mean?"
Feng Ciyan knew that even if he wanted to keep it a secret, Feng Mian would not give up. If she couldn't get the information from him, she would investigate elsewhere. Why should he bother her anymore? So he simply told her everything.
“My brother made a pact with the King of Dingbei to completely drive out the northern barbarians outside Yongxue Pass.”
Upon hearing that his father was also mentioned, Baili Xunzhou leaned forward warily.
“He led his troops to ambush Qinyun Ridge outside Yongxue Pass the night before. But the plan was leaked, and the Alna tribe learned of his location and surrounded him in one fell swoop.”
"My brother led his troops in a bloody battle, intending to hold out until reinforcements arrived the next day, but the Dingbei Army has yet to arrive..."
"Impossible!" Baili Xunzhou stood up abruptly. "Father is not a man of broken promises, and he would never delay such an important military matter!"
"Sit down," Feng Ciyan said calmly. "What's the rush? I haven't finished speaking yet."
Baili Xunzhou patiently sat back down, his brows furrowed, and listened as he continued.
“I fell off a cliff and miraculously survived, remaining unconscious for over a month. When I woke up, I learned that such a battle, full of suspicious details, had been glossed over with a single sentence, with the only explanation being that my brother was defeated and killed by the Alna tribe.”
"I didn't trust anyone around me, so I decided to fake my death and disappear to investigate in secret."
He glossed over the past eleven years with a single, understated sentence, but everyone who heard it knew how much danger and suffering had taken place within it.
Baili Xunzhou recalled the information he had received earlier: the person the Alna tribe was looking for "had a scar on his face that ran from the upper right to the lower left." He looked at the man's now seemingly smooth face with suspicion. "So, the scar on your face when you were in the Alna tribe..."
"I have accompanied my brother to the battlefield a few times and clashed head-on with the Alna tribe, so naturally I need to put on some disguises," Feng Ciyan explained calmly. His brother had once praised him for his good looks, so he wouldn't hurt himself because of that.
"Over the years, I have painstakingly managed the Alna tribe and discovered that they have no connection with the Prince of Dingbei, but have been secretly dealing with certain forces in Shengjing."
"Therefore, I speculate that the Prince of Dingbei was also kept in the dark about what happened back then. Perhaps someone interfered and misrepresented the military orders."
Bai Lixunzhou's brow relaxed slightly.
Feng Mian said softly, "Perhaps... even Uncle doesn't know?"
Which emperor would leave behind a traitorous minister who colludes with the enemy and betrays the country, and let him run rampant for so many years?
But Feng Ciyan was unreasonable: "Who knows? His Majesty has always disliked my brother. Even if he knows there is a problem, he may not be willing to investigate it thoroughly. Covering up a crime is the same as the crime itself."
That's prejudice.
"You don't understand the grudges of your elders. His dislike is not just ordinary dislike."
"You were only fourteen years old back then, three years younger than I am now. How much could you possibly know?"
Feng Ciyan reached out and poked her forehead with his finger. "Then I know more than you, you silly girl."
Feng Mian had never been the only one to laugh at Chu Jinglian for being stupid. This was the first time someone had poked her head and called her stupid, which made her cheeks puff up with anger.
"Have you found any other evidence? You must have found clues about the people colluding between Shengjing and the Alna tribe, which is why you're taking your leave today?"
Feng Ciyan, attempting to gloss over the matter with a joke, asked, "Why do you still remember this?"
Feng Mian remained silent, only staring intently at him until he sighed in surrender: "There are only some clues. We can only devise concrete evidence after we arrive in the capital."
He still didn't say what clues he had found.
"You came to the capital alone like this, didn't you ever think that if the person behind the scenes found out, they would kill you!"
I've thought about it, so that's why I've come to say goodbye.
Feng Ciyan only dared to think these words in his heart, afraid that if he said them out loud, he would make his little niece jump up and down in anger.
Initially, he didn't pay much attention to this niece he had never met. However, upon returning to Dayong, he unexpectedly heard about Fengmian. When his elder brother was alive, he often heard him mutter "Xiaoman is long, Xiaoman is short," so he thought he would come along to check on his brother and have something to say when they meet in the afterlife.
When they met, he discovered that Feng Mian was very similar to his elder brother in many ways: decisive and courageous, and as gentle and kind as his sister-in-law.
He was twenty years younger than his elder brother. His father had passed away before he was born, and his mother also passed away soon after giving birth to him. The phrase "eldest brother is like a father" truly describes his life.
During his rebellious teenage years, he and his older brother were constantly at odds, and at their worst, he even ran away from home. It was his sister-in-law who mediated and gently melted away his sharp edges.
He felt luckier than Fengmian, and therefore felt even more guilty and pity when faced with the only living relic left in the world by his elder brother and sister-in-law.
Seeing that he remained silent for a long time, Feng Mian knew that he had no intention of returning alive. She was immediately furious and was about to throw a tantrum when she saw him suddenly take out something from his sleeve that he hadn't been able to hand to her before. He presented it to her. It was a jade ring, one half of which was carved with a locust flower. The carving stopped abruptly at the junction, while the other half of the jade ring was smooth and flawless.
"I originally intended to carve a jade ring for you to play with, but I only finished half of it. I hesitated for a long time and still haven't finished it..."
Feng Mian took the jade ring, feeling its warmth against his skin. He ran his fingertips over the carved locust flower patterns on its surface, stopping at its abrupt break. Suddenly, he asked, "Did Father ever teach you how to make locust flower wheat porridge?"
Feng Ciyan paused for a moment, then nodded: "Of course I have taught you."
"I want to eat your locust flower and wheat porridge for my birthday next year," she suddenly demanded, her tone resolute.
When she was a child, her father took her out of the palace for three days and personally made her a bowl of locust flower and wheat porridge, saying that her mother also loved this flavor the most, and she remembered that sweet taste for many years. Although she would ask different chefs to make a bowl of locust flower and wheat porridge every year when the locust flowers were in full bloom, she had never tasted the same flavor that her father made back then.
Since Feng Ciyan had learned it, he naturally had to make her a bowl.
What she really meant was that he wasn't allowed to go to the capital alone and risk his life; he had to live to see her birthday next year.
Feng Ciyan: "...No."
Waiting until next year is too long.
"Why are you in such a hurry?" Feng Mian frowned. "Your uncle is still alive and well, and the Great Yong Dynasty won't collapse overnight. You have plenty of time to seek justice. Besides, you're not alone now, and it's not time to risk your life yet. Why are you rushing to Shengjing to die?"
Why sacrifice your life for nothing when there is a safer path to take?
Feng Mian didn't voice the unease that was lurking in her heart. Feng Ciyan's words that her uncle hated her father were not a joke. If her uncle really knew that there was something wrong with her father's death but did nothing about it, what should she do?
Shengjing, the Imperial Palace.
"Princess, please slow down. I heard that His Highness the Crown Prince is also here today. I'm afraid it would be inappropriate to disturb him..."
Beneath the palace walls, Bitao trotted after Chu Jinglian.
"It would be even better if they were here. My elder brother, the Crown Prince, always takes good care of Feng Mian. I want to ask them if it's true that Feng Mian contracted the plague!"
Chu Jinglian grabbed the hem of her skirt and ran as fast as she could.
Actually, she didn't believe it. Although Feng Mian had been frequently ill since childhood, she had never had any serious illnesses. Because she was an extremely frugal person, how could she let herself fall into such danger? If the epidemic got bad, people could really die! And they would die a very ugly death. She was, after all, a princess of noble birth. Who would dare to let those patients get close to her?
She ran without stopping until she reached the Mingxin Hall, where the head eunuch guarding the entrance hurriedly reached out to stop her: "Princess, you mustn't..."
Suddenly, a loud crash of a memorial being smashed echoed from inside the hall. The chief eunuch was momentarily distracted, and Chu Jinglian ducked under his grasp.
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