Chapter 256 The Substitution of the Crown Prince: It Won't Happen a Second Time
When Li Jin came out of the Song residence, the shoulder of his outer robe was soaked.
He frowned as he watched the snowflakes gradually lessen, hesitated for a moment, turned his head and looked at the steward of the Song family: "Tell your master Zhao that he is not allowed to touch a hair on Song Zhen's head."
Seeing the steward bow in acknowledgment, Jin Shu caught up with him, looking at Li Jin with surprise at his nonchalant expression: "Is the steward of the Song family also one of the prince's men?"
Li Jin patted the snow off his shoulder: "No." He glanced at the street in front of the door, "They're from the Dali Temple."
He lifted the carriage curtain, climbed inside, and whispered, "The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Su Siyuan, and the General of the Left Dragon Guard, Xiao Chen, are both Father's men."
He took a deep breath: "Although they were all my subordinates, generals who fought their way up from the battlefield, in reality, they were all loyal to the imperial power."
The carriage moved slowly forward, crunching and creaking as it passed over the snow-covered streets.
“His Majesty is using Song Zhen on the one hand, and on the other hand, he is also wary of Song Zhen,” he said. “Even if Song Zhen doesn’t become my tool, even if he can escape the Crown Prince’s assassination attempt, when the case is successfully overturned, Song Zhen will probably not escape his fate.”
The day is divided into day and night, and things have two sides; this is indeed a universal truth.
But for royalty, the very existence of a shadow is the biggest stain on their reputation.
It was a pawn destined to be abandoned from the very beginning.
“He must have signed a death pact and bet everything to get the Emperor to help him with this scheme.” Li Jin frowned, raised his hand, and pinched the bridge of his nose.
After a long while, he gazed at Jin Shu's face and asked, "Shu'er, what do you think I should do?"
The snow fell lighter and lighter, and the sky gradually brightened.
The gloom that had been hanging over the Song family's study had lessened considerably.
But Song Zhen stood there motionless after Li Jin left those words, her whole body as cold as ice.
He Lin looked at his half-wet shoulder and turned to get him a cloak.
But as soon as he moved, Song Zhen's cold voice came: "Where are you going?"
He had his back to her, then slowly turned around.
He Lin's gaze darted away as she pointed to a side room: "I'll go get a cloak for the young master."
After saying that, she nodded, jogged over and carried a piece of clothing out of the side room, then with a flick of her wrist, she draped it over Song Zhen's shoulder.
Suddenly, Song Zhen raised his hand and pushed the snow-white cloak to the ground.
He suppressed his anger and stared at He Lin's face: "He Lin, you've been by my side for almost six years, and you know my temperament best."
He turned around, stepping on the cloak lying on the snow, his expression as cold as frost.
"I'll only ask you once." Song Zhen looked at her and said, word by word, "'Preface' case, the fire at Fang Qing's house in Yiyang, after I told you to take those secret letters he sent out, destroy all the letters in his secret room and leave, did you really do as I said?"
Hearing Song Zhen's question, He Lin lowered her eyes, and after a long while, shook her head.
She took Fang Qing's four-petal flower seal.
Song Zhen pursed her lips and said again, "Regarding the 'cross' case that Fan Yin ordered to carry out, I asked you to dispose of all the remaining mercury. Did you do as I said?"
He Lin remained silent.
Song Zhen closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and her chest heaved: "'Nine' Case, the one I asked you to destroy, the invitation to do business in medicinal herbs, did you deal with it?"
His voice grew louder and louder with anger: "The 'Eight Cases' in the Imperial Academy! Did you really do what I told you to do, burning the prescription for the Gelsemium elegans?!"
He Lin remained silent, then knelt down in front of Song Zhen.
Looking at her appearance, Song Zhen felt dizzy.
He didn't need to ask to guess that in the subsequent "seven" case, a letter was sent to send Niu's son and daughter-in-law away from the capital to purchase Shu brocade.
In the case of the number "five," he repeatedly emphasized the need to knock Yang Defa unconscious.
He Lin, standing before me, did none of those things.
A surge of anger welled up in Song Zhen's blood, and he kicked and stomped wildly at the cloak at his feet, shouting as he did so, venting his rage.
He never dreamed that He Lin would keep all the most crucial evidence.
Looking at the pale expanse of white, he paced back and forth several times before bending down, frowning, and asking her, "Where are those things? Where are they now?"
He Lin looked up at his fiery eyes, pursed her lips, shook her head, and said nothing.
Song Zhen gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. He turned around, stomped on the frozen corpse still lying in the yard, and then sat on it.
He clenched one hand into a fist and rubbed his forehead with the other.
He Lin, knowing she was in the wrong, remained silent in front of him.
Seeing that she remained silent, Song Zhen laughed in exasperation: "I really underestimated you!"
He reached out, grabbed a handful of snow from the ground, rolled it into a snowball, and hurled it at He Lin. "Why!" he roared, then rolled a second snowball. "I risked my life to protect all of you! I risked my life to wipe you all out!"
The snowball still hit He Lin in front of her with a "plop" sound.
Song Zhen threw out a third snowball, roaring angrily, "Speak up! Are you mute?!"
The third one hit He Lin squarely on the shoulder.
Song Zhen was startled and almost instinctively raised her hand towards her. But she only held it in the air for a moment before clenching it into a tight fist and swinging it down with a look of disappointment and frustration.
He glanced at the silent He Lin, then grabbed another handful of snow and rubbed it hard on his cheeks.
The icy touch could not dispel the unprecedented sense of defeat he felt at that moment.
Back then, He Lin was bought by Song Zhen from a slave trader because he valued her skills in the martial arts world.
While protecting Song Zhen, he also gave her the best teacher, teaching her the etiquette of the imperial harem and how to read and write.
So that one day in the future, when he has achieved his goals and is ready to die, He Lin will still have the ability to live with dignity.
He stared at her resentfully, yet he also loved her deeply.
He never let her do anything that would get her hands dirty, and he never let her do anything that was too dangerous.
Song Zhen propped her head up with her hand, closed her eyes, and it took her a while to calm down and regain her usual gentle and refined voice.
"Do you know that no matter what you do, I can't survive?"
He Lin paused, then looked up at him.
"The trick of substituting the prince for a cat won't work twice," Song Zhen said with a bitter smile. "I'm betting the innocence of the entire Cen family! The entire Cen family, including my own life, which is hanging by a thread!"
He lowered his head and shook his head, pointing in the direction of the imperial city: "Otherwise, do you think that the Great Wei emperor, who is so adept at political maneuvering and was able to endure until the very end in the last struggle for the throne and miraculously turn the tide, would give me such a large chessboard!"
"Why?!" He glared at He Lin's bewildered expression, his eyes bloodshot. "Why is this happening?! Is it so hard for you to simply live on, carrying my wishes?"
He Lin, who hadn't spoken for a long time, nodded emphatically at this moment.
“It’s difficult,” she said. “It’s harder than death.”
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