Divide into two groups
Xie Yan picked up the lotus-root-colored palace dress with both hands, examined it carefully from front to back, and then fixed his eyes on the pale yellow flower on the chest of the dress. He then said with a serious expression, "It is indeed yours. You were wearing this when you came here."
Gu Jinghong suddenly felt a headache.
A scene seemed to float through her mind: a little girl in a light purple palace dress, wiping away tears, being comforted by an uncle as she arrived at Zhuoyue Tower and met Guo Da.
So… Gu Jinghong suddenly opened her eyes—this man couldn’t possibly be her father!
She suddenly felt the heavy weight on her chest disappear, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
So, is she really Gu Ning?
Gu Jinghong picked up the lotus-root-colored palace dress from Xie Yan's hand and examined it closely.
After a while, Xie Yan couldn't help but ask, "Ah Hong, have you remembered anything?"
Gu Jinghong continued to examine the palace dress, seemingly trying to understand it carefully, her expression serious: "The material of this palace dress is very special. It is made of very thin gauze, and this gauze should be water silk gauze, which is particularly light and soft."
Xie Yan listened and subconsciously reached out to touch it as well, then frowned—is there a difference?
Gu Jinghong continued, “The weather in the capital is not hot, and people here rarely wear gauze clothing, let alone water silk gauze. Water silkworms are insects that are unique to the southwest, and the silk spun by water silkworms especially needs a warm and humid climate. If it is left in the capital for a long time, it will definitely be damaged.”
Xie Yan reached out and rubbed it: "It's been over ten years and it hasn't gone bad. It seems it's not a water silkworm."
Gu Jinghong pulled out one of the threads, rubbed it gently, and then blew on it.
As the ashes settled, the thread gleamed faintly with a bright yellow luster in the candlelight.
"It's an embedded gold thread."
Xie Yan took another one to look at, and blew on it just like Gu Jinghong had done. Sure enough, it was a thin, soft gold thread.
He laughed and said, "Ordinary families can't afford clothes like this. Ah Hong, it seems you are a noblewoman."
Gu Jinghong pondered for a moment, then her gaze suddenly settled on the empty space in front of her, and her red lips trembled as she uttered two words: "Nanfeng".
The voice was too soft for Xie Yan to hear clearly, so he asked, "What did you say?"
Gu Jinghong turned to look at Xie Yan and murmured, "I might, I might know why."
Xie Yan: "What? Why?"
Gu Jinghong didn't reply to him, but instead began to examine the lotus-colored palace dress. She then used her inner strength to strike the dress.
Xie Yan was shocked to see Gu Jinghong's only palace dress, which held her memories, turn to ashes in front of them. She couldn't help but exclaim, "Gu Jinghong, what are you doing!"
The lotus-root-colored powder drifted down like fine snowflakes, instantly transforming the palace dress into a golden robe woven from gold thread.
What was being protected by that golden robe was actually a piece of paper.
Gu Jinghong reached out and took out the paper, unfolding it. Inside was an introduction to Gu Ning, a royal princess of the Southern Wind Kingdom.
"Gu Ning was born in the ninth year of Chonghua in Longyue County, Nanfeng. She was the daughter of Emperor Gu Xu of Nanfeng."
Her mother's identity remains a mystery, which is why Gu Ning is little known. She was able to escape the bloody purge of the Nanfeng royal family in the nineteenth year of Chonghua and ended up in Yongchao.
This girl almost perfectly inherited her father Gu Xu's extraordinary talent in mechanical arts. She was born with a pair of hands that were different from ordinary people, with delicate fingers, skin as smooth as fine white porcelain, and an extremely sensitive touch.
She has an almost instinctive understanding of mechanical structures and material properties, and has shown a talent for ingenious machines since childhood.
He is prone to alcohol poisoning, and has a very faint birthmark behind his left ear.
Xie Yan, who saw the paper together, was stunned. This...this Gu Ning is Gu Jinghong.
He moved his head slightly and looked behind Gu Jinghong's left ear.
All that was heard was a soft "Is there?"
It was Gu Jinghong who asked that.
Xie Yan had very complicated feelings, but he still said, "Yes."
His hand, outstretched in mid-air, trembled slightly as if he were trying to suppress a thought, and then he said, "Ah Hong, this is how it is, we don't want to..."
"So that's the reason."
Gu Jinghong almost breathed out those words, and her body swayed, nearly losing her balance.
Her tears fell in a steady stream, as if she were talking to herself: "So this is the reason he had to hide it."
"The entire Nanfeng royal family died at the hands of his father. Firstly, if his father knew I was a member of the Nanfeng royal family, he wouldn't have let me go. Secondly..."
Xie Yan already knew what Gu Jinghong was going to say. He held back for a long time, but finally reached out and pulled Gu Jinghong into his arms: "Don't say it, Ah Hong, don't say it."
She continued stiffly, as if she hadn't heard Xie Yan at all, "...Secondly, if I knew that his father was my father's killer, I would not have any dealings with him."
"...But senior brother, how could this be?"
Gu Jinghong is not good at expressing herself. Even when she cries, it's just tears. Her proud yet broken appearance is so heartbreaking.
At this moment, Xie Yan could feel that his shoulder was soaked.
He could only awkwardly pat Gu Jinghong on the back.
“Ah Hong, stop talking. Maybe…maybe there are other reasons.”
She pulled away from Xie Yan's embrace, her eyes red and swollen as she looked at him: "Other reasons?"
Perhaps even someone as clever as Gu Jinghong hoped that Xie Yan could deceive her and ease her pain.
Xie Yan's mind raced: "Right... do you remember that handicraft workshop in our southwest?"
"nature."
"When I came back, Jinghongwu in the southwest had just recruited a group of about three hundred people. Guess who brought that group of people?"
Gu Jinghong thought for a moment: "...Him?"
Xie Yan nodded: "Yes. Moreover, in just a few months, the vast majority of those three hundred people have already learned how to make some of the more sophisticated components in Jinghongwu."
"……you mean?"
“He is protecting you. Nanfeng Kingdom is famous for its mechanical arts, and everyone in the country knows a little bit about them. So the three hundred people he rescued from the tiger's den are very likely citizens of Nanfeng. Ah Hong, he knows who you are and what your mission is, so he is protecting you.”
“Ah Hong, Xiao Chengyan is such a shrewd and decisive person. The matter of Nanzhao Kingdom is a trap. How could he not see it? The only explanation is that he clearly saw it, but he still went. This means that he had a reason to go, and that reason is you.”
Xie Yan truly admired himself.
He started by rambling, but the more he talked, the smoother it became. After thinking it over, he even found it to be logically consistent and very appropriate.
Gu Jinghong shared the same sentiment.
After a long silence, her eyes hardened. "I'm going to find him and get to the bottom of this!"
Just as Gu Jinghong had composed herself and was about to leave Zhuoyue Tower, she ran into Liu Zhaowan.
She instinctively sensed something was wrong and asked, "Manager Liu, is there something you need?"
Liu Zhaowan said, "Sect Master, I am guilty, the Prince..."
Gu Jinghong's heart suddenly tightened; her intuition told her that something must have happened to Xiao Chengyan, but her expression remained unchanged: "How is it?"
Liu Zhaowan looked alarmed: "We thought the prince was resting, but who knew he... he already set off for the northern border three days ago!"
"The North?!"
Before Gu Jinghong could even process what the Northern Territory meant, Yun Ni appeared, her hair disheveled, her face covered in mud, and she looked anxious.
"Master, a batch of armor-piercing crossbows from Jinghongwu have been transferred away."
Gu Jinghong's eyes sharpened: "Take your time, don't rush. What's wrong? How many were in one batch? Where were they transferred to?"
Yun Ni steadied herself and said, "I'm fine. I was ambushed and imprisoned. According to my information, there were a thousand armor-piercing crossbows and 100,000 bolts in that batch, and the list says they were being transferred to the southwest."
Gu Jinghong frowned slightly: "The Southwest? The situation in the Southwest is stable now, why would we need such a huge number of armor-piercing crossbows?"
She hesitated for a moment, then suddenly looked up, a sharp glint in her eyes: "Yun Ni, what's the transport route? Where does it pass through?"
"Reporting to Your Excellency, according to reports, they are traveling west along the official road, and as usual, they would pass through Luocheng and Yuguan..."
"Yuguan Pass?" Gu Jinghong interrupted her, his voice suddenly turning cold. "After passing Yuguan Pass, should we continue south, or turn around?"
Yun Ni was taken aback, then her expression changed: "Yuguan... Yuguan has a hidden fork in the road that leads northwest, directly to... the northern border!"
Gu Jinghong slowly stood up, her previous sadness and confusion completely replaced by a suppressed calm. She walked to the window, her gaze seemingly piercing through the layers of houses, landing in the northwest direction.
"What a clever tactic of feigning one's intentions while secretly advancing another." Her voice was low. "The southwest is a decoy; their real destination is the north."
She turned around and looked at Yun Ni and Xie Yan, her expression resolute: "Gongsun Lie took my crossbow, but dared not reveal its true whereabouts. He wants to clear himself of any wrongdoing, but also wants to send this weapon of mass destruction to the Northern Border... Something big is about to happen in the Northern Border."
Gu Jinghong asked again, "Who was transferred?"
Yun Ni replied, "It was Jiang Chuan who came to deploy the armor-piercing crossbows; he came with your token."
"A token?!"
That day, after returning to the Duke's Mansion from Jinghongwu, she talked with Gongsun Lie and then went back to Chengxin Residence. Moreover, when she woke up the next day, the token was still there.
Gongsun Cheyuan is definitely not the kind of person who would steal her token; he wouldn't do such a thing.
Could it be... that he was actually outmaneuvered by Gongsun Lie?! His handing over the Zhiji Pavilion token was a feint, a strategic retreat, and his purpose was this?!
So why did he transfer those weapons to the northern border? Isn't the northern border under Xiao Chengyan's control?
If Gongsun Lie gets involved in the military affairs of the Northern Frontier, does that mean that His Majesty has nominally handed over the military affairs of the Northern Frontier to him, but in reality, Gongsun Lie is still in charge, and those subordinates in the Northern Frontier do not obey his orders at all?
Who cares! What does the affairs of the Yong Dynasty have to do with a princess of the Southern Wind Kingdom whose country has been destroyed? Why should she care about him?
She still needs to pay attention to the matter of Jinghongwu.
"Did you go after them?" Gu Jinghong asked again.
Yun Ni said, "Not yet. I feel something is amiss, so I came to report it first."
Gu Jinghong's expression was icy: "Split into two groups and go after them."
"yes."
In just a moment, Gu Jinghong reached out and pressed Yun Ni down again, his eyes thoughtful: "No, you should follow the one in the southwest. After reaching the valley, go south for fifty miles and then split into two groups. One group should continue south, take your time; the other should go north by water. If you take the waterway, bring the magnetic stones that Jinghongwu has been making for the past half month."
Yun Ni responded and left.
Just as Gu Jinghong was about to mount her horse, a servant from the Duke's mansion scrambled over, looking terrified, and knelt before her with a thud, gasping for breath as he cried out:
"Princess Consort! Princess Consort! Something terrible has happened! You must go back and see the Prince... The Prince... Something terrible has happened to him!"
Gu Jinghong's heart sank.
Gongsun Cheyuan? With his personality, what major incident could he possibly cause? Could it be... that he knew Gongsun Lie was plotting against her, and actually confronted Gongsun Lie head-on?!
After all, we had spent time together, and a trace of reluctance swept through my heart.
She turned her horse around and said in a deep voice, "Let's go!"
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