While attending his own funeral, Zhu Yunwen carefully searched for Zhao Qingzhu in the surrounding area.
Although it was difficult for Zhao Qingzhu to accept her own death, she was unable to return to the capital because she was searching for Zhu Yunwen, or rather, Zhu Yunwen's body.
However, a memorial service is also being held here, so Zhao Qingzhu will definitely come.
It's one thing to not believe Zhu Yunwen is dead, but it's another to accept reality.
So she was bound to come, but Zhu Yunwen searched everywhere and couldn't find her.
This disappointed Zhu Yunwen. If he couldn't find Zhao Qingzhu, she would likely remain immersed in grief.
This was not what Zhu Yunwen wanted to see, so he continued to search around the area.
After searching for a long time, he suddenly noticed a figure dressed in all black and wearing a straw hat.
The figure appeared to be a woman. With a tentative attitude, Zhu Yunwen slowly stepped forward, approached the woman, and then spoke:
"Hello, young lady..."
The woman dressed in black remained completely still, offering no response whatsoever to Zhu Yunwen.
Zhu Yunwen took a deep breath. He had a feeling that the woman in front of him was Zhao Qingzhu.
Then he cautiously inquired:
Are you looking for someone?
Upon hearing this, the figure in black finally reacted, slowly turning around to look at Zhu Yunwen, who had already disguised himself, through a layer of black veil.
She stared at Zhu Yunwen through the black veil, and for a moment she seemed a little confused.
The man in front of her seemed to have a familiar feeling to her, yet his face was so unfamiliar.
Zhu Yunwen also tried his best to see the face hidden inside the black veil on the bamboo hat.
Unfortunately, this is difficult:
Who are you?
Zhao Qingzhu, who was shrouded in a bamboo hat, finally spoke. As soon as she spoke, Zhu Yunwen breathed a sigh of relief, because he was very familiar with that voice; it was Zhao Qingzhu.
Zhao Qingzhu was staring intently at Zhu Yunzhu. She felt that Zhu Yunzhu's voice was somewhat familiar, but his appearance was completely unfamiliar.
This feeling is strange.
Then Zhu Yunwen slowly spoke:
“It’s me, I…I am Zhu Yunwen.”
Upon hearing this, Zhao Qingzhu's body jolted. She took a step forward with some excitement, but immediately became alert and said:
"No...you're not him, you don't look like this. Tell me, who are you? Why are you impersonating him? No? That familiar voice, that...that feeling, what's going on? Who are you?"
Zhu Yunwen gave a wry smile and said:
"I disguised myself to conceal my identity. This is not the place to talk. Come with me."
After Zhu Yunwen finished speaking, he turned and walked away into the distance. Zhao Qingzhu followed him without hesitation.
Her intuition told her that the person in front of her was Zhu Yunwen, only his face was strange.
She followed Zhu Yunwen a long way, to the outskirts of town, to the thatched hut where Zhu Yunwen had previously lived.
Zhang San and Li Si followed along from beginning to end. After arriving at the thatched hut, Zhu Yunwen, Zhang San, and Li Si all tore off the fake skin used to disguise their faces.
Then Zhu Yunzhu rubbed his face, and when he turned around, Zhao Qingzhu instantly burst into tears and rushed over, hugging Zhu Yunzhu tightly.
Immediately, Zhao Qingzhu cried out repeatedly:
“I knew it…you weren’t dead…I knew it…you were that god-like man of the Ming Dynasty, the grandson of the Ming Emperor, a legend. How could you die so easily? I knew you had fooled everyone, you had fooled the world, but you couldn’t fool me…”
Zhu Yunwen also felt a lump in his throat, and after comforting Zhao Qingzhu for a while, he told her the whole story.
After listening, Zhao Qingzhu turned around and looked at the burly assassin from Chechi Kingdom who had changed his name to Zhang San with surprise.
At that moment, the hatred in her heart vanished, and she said to the burly man:
"Thank you, thank you..."
Zhao Qingzhu thanked him for not actually killing Zhu Yunzhu, while Zhang San gave a bitter smile and said nothing.
At this moment, Zhao Qingzhu asked Zhu Yunwen:
When will you reveal your identity and let the world know that you are not dead?
Zhu Yunwen smiled and then said to Zhao Qingzhu:
"Everyone in the world thinks I'm dead, and perhaps some problems will be exposed. So, since things have already come to this point, we might as well play along."
Let me see if there are still any treacherous people within the Ming Dynasty, and also see if the surrounding countries and western countries still hold the same attitude towards the Ming Dynasty.
Some people may behave themselves out of respect for my presence. But if I ever become incapacitated, they might reveal their true colors.
This is a good opportunity to test the waters; any problems that arise can be exposed and resolved as soon as possible—it's like reshuffling the deck.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Qingzhu suddenly realized what was going on.
Zhu Yunwen's thinking made sense; after all, when Zhu Yunwen woke up, everyone in the world already thought he was dead.
In that case, whether you explain sooner or later, whether you let everyone know he's not dead sooner or later, it doesn't really make any difference.
On the contrary, this incident has allowed us to see some things that were not easily seen before.
As the saying goes, death is a test, and one's own death is also a test for others.
Regardless, Zhao Qingzhu was very happy. In the past few days, she had visibly lost a lot of weight, and her lips were pale, making her look malnourished.
Zhu Yunwen was also very distressed, so he immediately asked Zhang San and Li Si to help hunt some wild game in the mountains, saying that he had to cook some good food for Zhao Qingzhu to nourish her body.
In fact, Zhao Qingzhu hadn't eaten much properly all this time. When she was hungry, she would just eat some steamed buns and drink some spring water when she was thirsty, but she never stopped searching for Zhu Yunzhu.
This resulted in her being somewhat malnourished. After eating and drinking her fill of roasted pheasant and rabbit, Zhao Qingzhu finally regained some of her health.
Then, Zhu Yunwen inquired about Zhu Yuanzhang's situation.
After all, if Zhu Yuanzhang knew that I had died, he would definitely be in great pain.
Zhao Qingzhu also sighed and said:
"Indeed, my grandfather fell ill because of this, but thankfully his health is not seriously affected. However, he locks himself in the Imperial Study every day, and is very worried."
Oh, and speaking of this, there's something else. The Third Prince, Prince Jin, Zhu Gang, has been submitting memorials lately, wanting to visit his grandfather in the capital. He says he's very worried about his grandfather's health…”
Upon hearing this, Zhu Yunwen paused for a moment, then sneered:
"Zhu Gang? It seems that some of the barbarian kings are getting restless after learning of my death. When I was here, they were all well-behaved, but now that I'm gone, their ambitions have started to stir again."
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