Chapter 165: The reason for the death, the tragedy
Jiang Ning looked at the two drunks in the room, sighed, and prepared to clean up the mess.
First, she poured a cup of spiritual spring water to Liu Mingan, and after waking him up, Jiang Ning pointed at Zhou Yi and said, "Brother Zhou, sleep on this couch, and say hello to the waiter. We will go back tonight."
When Liu Mingan heard "go back first", he thought Jiang Ning had not gotten any information out of him, so he nodded and did as he was told.
After a while, the two of them took a lantern from the store and slowly walked towards the yard on Wandong Road.
"Aning, today is the ninth day of the first lunar month. The day after tomorrow I will go to take the imperial examination. Then we will be separated for nine days again..."
Jiang Ning could hear Liu Ming'an's reluctance to leave. She originally planned to ask Nangong Muyan about Zhou Yi tomorrow. Now it seems that it doesn't matter if it's a day earlier or later. She will accompany Liu Ming'an tomorrow.
After returning to the courtyard, Liu Ming'an washed up and lay on the bed. He stretched out his hands and hugged Jiang Ning tightly in his arms.
After sleeping alone on a thin quilt for so long, he could finally sleep with the person he loved again. Liu Ming'an was very happy and said with a smile: "Aning, tell me what happened when you went to Qushui City."
"Okay."
Jiang Ning also responded with a smile, and then recounted her experience during the separation period from beginning to end in detail.
Of course, there is no need to talk about the killing of a pervert in Jinzhi City.
Liu Ming'an sighed after hearing this, lowered his head and kissed the forehead of the person in his arms. In the dark night, his voice was softer than the spring breeze: "If I were a man and couldn't go to Fuling Temple, I really want to thank those nuns one by one, thank them for bringing 'Xiao Ling'er' into this world."
The three words "Xiao Ling'er" were said in Jiang Ning's ear, and the warm breath sprayed on her skin. Jiang Ning felt her ears were burning.
"Don't shout!" Jiang Ning stretched out her hand and hit Liu Ming'an on the shoulder: "They are my elders and can call me Xiao Ling'er, you are not allowed to call me that." It
was too corny. Jiang Ning felt uncomfortable when she thought of Liu Ming'an calling her like that.
"Okay," Liu Ming'an was very obedient and immediately changed his words: "Mrs. Liu."
"You--ah!"
A hot kiss fell, blocking all the unspoken words.
After the kiss, Liu Ming'an felt that his lovesickness for these days was compensated.
"Tell me about what happened in the capital."
Jiang Ning nestled in Liu Ming'an's arms and spoke.
"Okay!" Liu Ming'an agreed quickly.
Liu Ming'an's own experience is actually nothing to say. Every day is very regular. During the day, he went to the Royal Academy to attend classes. After school in the afternoon, he went to the house where the three top scholars took turns to open the stove. In the evening, he returned to the yard to accompany Zhou Yi to drink. Every day was like this, with almost no changes.
"By the way, after you left, the Prime Minister came to look for you. When he found out you were not there, he asked me about it. I just said you left the capital for something and didn't tell him anything else." Liu Ming'an remembered this and reported it to Jiang Ning.
"Well, OK," Jiang Ning replied casually, and then asked about something she was more concerned about: "Do you know the inside story of the appointment of the crown prince? And I heard that Prince Rui died. Are the two related?"
"Your Majesty is obsessed with power, so he has been reluctant to appoint a crown prince, and deliberately created a situation where Prince Lin, Prince Rui and Prince Xiang were in a three-way balance of power..."
Although Liu Ming'an was surprised that Jiang Ning would be curious about this, he still told her everything he knew.
"Prince Xiang was assassinated in Jinzhi City. It was Prince Lin who did it, and the emperor found out. Prince Lin was the one with the strongest backstage among the three princes. Therefore, the emperor pushed the death of Minister Zhu's son onto the father of one of Prince Lin's concubines. On the one hand, he took the opportunity to break one of Prince Lin's arms, and on the other hand, he made Zhu Shangshu and Prince Lin turn against each other and weaken Prince Lin's power."
"My grandfather told me that the emperor's move was almost equivalent to cutting off Prince Lin's possibility of ascending to the throne, so from then on, only Prince Xiang and Prince Rui were left fighting in the court."
"But some time ago, Prince Rui died. Although Prince Rui's biological mother, Concubine Jing, was of low status, the emperor liked her the most. Prince Rui was also the prince the emperor loved the most. He even appointed the prime minister's legitimate daughter to be his princess in order to help him consolidate his power."
"When the news of Prince Rui's death came, Concubine Jing took a look at the corpse and was frightened crazy. The emperor also fainted on the spot and was unconscious for a day and a night. After waking up, he was probably disheartened. Two days later, he issued an edict to appoint a crown prince."
Jiang Ning focused on another thing: "I heard that Prince Rui died tragically? How tragically?"
She planned to analyze Nangong Muyan's psychological activities based on the degree of torture of Prince Rui.
Based on Jiang Ning's understanding of Nangong Muyan, if she simply didn't want to get married, she would just kill Prince Rui with a knife and would never torture him to death.
Prince Rui must have done something to anger her!
"Aning, it's too cruel and inhumane. You'd better not know it." Liu Mingan was still frightened when he thought of those descriptions.
"Tell me quickly..." Jiang Ning hugged Liu Ming'an's neck and gently rubbed his chin with her cheek.
Acting coquettishly was still very effective, at least Liu Ming'an had no resistance at all.
"Prince Rui's eyes were poked out blind, his ears, nose, and tongue were cut off, his ten fingers were chopped off one by one, and more than 500 pieces of meat were cut from his body. The murderer also stuffed some of the meat into his mouth, and maybe forced him to eat himself... Anyway, it was a horrible death, even the coroner couldn't start the autopsy."
"Where did Prince Rui die?" Jiang Ning asked again.
"He died in his own bedroom, and one of his concubines also died at the same time. But the concubine was stabbed in the throat, and was not tortured."
This is the correct way to kill someone, Jiang Ning thought.
Nangong Muyan, like Jiang Ning, is a person who hates trouble. If something can be solved with one knife, they will never do it twice.
At present, it seems that the time of King Rui's death is very close to the time when Zhou Yi first came to Liu Ming'an to drink, and it just so happens that these two people are related to Nangong Muyan.
Jiang Ning knows that there is a secret behind this, but she knows very little. She racked her brains and couldn't figure out what was going on. She
must ask Nangong Muyan in person!
Jiang Ning doesn't care whether King Rui is dead or alive, but she cares about Zhou Yi very much.
"Aning, it's too late, go to bed." Liu Ming'an reached out and touched Jiang Ning's hair again and again, and said softly.
Jiang Ning said "um", put aside all distracting thoughts, and fell asleep peacefully in Liu Ming'an's arms.
March 10th, the last day before the imperial examination.
Liu Ming'an and Jiang Ning did not go anywhere that day. They just stayed in the courtyard and enjoyed the quiet time alone.
A peaceful and warm day passed quickly. On the morning of March 11, Liu Ming'an went out with the official document proving his status as a father.
"An Ning, wait for me at home."
Liu Ming'an said this before leaving.
Jiang Ning nodded, grabbed Liu Ming'an's collar and kissed him on the face, then smiled and said, "Go, I'll wait for you."
When Liu Ming'an disappeared from sight, Jiang Ning locked the door, followed him out of the yard, and walked towards the Prime Minister's Mansion.