He had led a life of frustration and didn’t wish for his descendants to experience the same, so no matter how much his parents urged him, he never married or had children.
Time slowly slipped by, and Dugu Fuxing remained tight-lipped.
Just when everyone thought he wouldn’t speak, Dugu Fuxing suddenly asked, "Princess Chen, how did you save Long Qingcang (the Emperor’s taboo name)?"
"Why do you ask such a question?" Yang Mengchen feigned surprise.
Gazing calmly at Yang Mengchen, Dugu Fuxing smiled faintly and said, "Because those five poison recipes were designed by me intentionally for the Duke of Wuguo to obtain, and I also specified that the combination of the five extreme pains would make the poison even more domineering and incurable."
The five prescriptions were all secret formulas of the former dynasty’s royal family and had never been lost to outsiders; the one who had developed them had long since passed away. How did Princess Chen cure the poison?
"How about this? I answer a question, and you answer one in return," Yang Mengchen smiled and offered, "Rest assured, I will only ask questions you are capable of answering. If you don’t know, then don’t answer. I always believe in a fair trade. What do you think of this arrangement?"
Long Xuanmo was silent the whole time, while Hai Tang and the others couldn’t fathom what the princess was driving at with her actions.
Dugu Fuxing did not agree, nor did he oppose.
"If you do not oppose, then I shall take that as your consent," Yang Mengchen said nonchalantly. "May I ask how old you actually are this year?"
The crowd really wanted to collapse, as they hadn’t expected the princess to ask such an unbelievably simple question. How could this be of any use in an interrogation?
Dugu Fuxing was also quite surprised, but he still answered truthfully, "Thirty-nine."
Yang Mengchen nodded, "Since you answered my question, I’ll answer yours. I gave my father a piece of Spirit Jade, which changes color when it encounters poison, and my father has always worn it on his person, thus remaining unharmed."
One look at Dugu Fuxing’s expression was enough to know he didn’t believe it at all. freewebnoveℓ.com
"That’s the truth, whether you believe it or not," Yang Mengchen said with a calm expression. "Second question, are you truly of Former Dynasty Royal descent?"
Dugu Fuxing closed his mouth, refusing to answer.
Yang Mengchen leisurely asked numerous insignificant questions, Dugu Fuxing answered a few, and likewise seized the opportunity to ask a few himself. Yang Mengchen’s answers were half true, half false; she often spoke in a way that hid as much as it revealed, leaving room for boundless speculation.
"Princess Chen, I desire to know who you really are?" Dugu Fuxing stared intently at Yang Mengchen.
A peasant girl, even with the guidance of a great teacher, couldn’t possibly be capable of everything like this. It was just a pity that they investigated for so long and came up empty-handed.
Yang Mengchen laughed, "Surely you don’t really believe those rumors, thinking that I am a fairy descended to earth?"
Before they realized it, two hours had gone by, and Yang Mengchen stopped asking Dugu Fuxing any questions. She then turned and glanced at Long Xuanmo, who immediately ordered Mo Yun and Mo Lei to secretly take Dugu Fuxing back.
At the doorway, Dugu Fuxing suddenly turned back to look at Yang Mengchen, his eyes filled with wariness and confusion.
If Princess Chen had interrogated him like those other officials, he might have felt more secure.
But Princess Chen only ever asked irrelevant questions, which was truly baffling, and he couldn’t grasp her train of thought; this made her even more difficult to deal with than those officials. It was Long Xuanmo’s great fortune to marry such an impressive princess, the kind you might only find after several lifetimes of good karma.
Seeing some signs of fatigue between Yang Mengchen’s brows, Long Xuanmo stood up, walked behind her, and started massaging her to alleviate her weariness, applying just the right amount of pressure.
Yang Mengchen closed her eyes slightly; chatting with Dugu Fuxing seemed simple, but in fact, it was very draining.
After a while, Yang Mengchen gently tapped Long Xuanmo’s hand to indicate that he should sit down, and she looked at him with certainty, "The real mastermind behind the scenes is that Former Dynasty Princess. Dugu Fuxing is just a puppet used to distract us."
Before, Long Xuanmo had always believed that Dugu Fuxing was the mastermind; but after hearing the conversation between his beloved wife and Dugu Fuxing, he too sensed that Dugu Fuxing did not seem like the true mastermind.
Hai Tang and the others were utterly baffled. Why would the princess say that Dugu Fuxing wasn’t the mastermind?
"Have you noticed that Dugu Fuxing bears a resemblance to a certain individual?" Yang Mengchen suddenly hinted.
Upon hearing this, Long Xuanmo and the others furrowed their brows in contemplation. After a moment, with a serious voice, Long Xuanmo said, "Are you speaking of Prince Jing?"
Hai Tang and the others were startled, then nodded in agreement. They hadn’t noticed until the princess mentioned it, but now it seemed that there was indeed a strong resemblance between the two.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
