Suspicion
After nightfall, Zhao Fu entered the front hall.
"Gentlemen, let's have something to eat."
The soldier placed the bowl on the table, and Jiang Yi turned her head to look; there were only three steamed buns.
Are you trying to fob me off like a beggar?!
Qi Shuangyun had never suffered such humiliation in her life. She seemed to think that even looking at it would bring bad luck, so she simply closed her eyes to rest and pretended not to hear it. Su Tong sat in the chair without moving, her hands folded in front of her, her demeanor dignified and her eyes fixed ahead. As a prisoner, she would never accept food offered with contempt.
Jiang Yi sneered and took a sip of the cold tea beside her: "General Zhao, you should take it away, in case you poison it."
“Young Madam, you don’t need to worry about that. Without the Prince’s order, I wouldn’t dare to do such a thing even if I had the guts of a bear and the gall of a leopard.”
"Really? That's hard to say."
Just as Jiang Yi placed the cup back on the small table beside her, something gleamed in the candlelight from the belt around her waist.
Zhao Fu, with his sharp eyes, feared that something like a dagger might jeopardize his lord's important business, so he strode over, grabbed Jiang Yi's arm, and pulled her up forcefully.
"What are you doing?!"
Zhao Fu did not answer, his large hand gripping her arm tightly, while his other hand reached towards her waist.
Jiang Yi screamed in surprise and fear, baring her teeth and claws as she tried to shake him off. Seeing this, Su Tong hurriedly got up and tried to pry Zhao Fu's hands off to free Jiang Yi. Qi Shuangyun was also surprised and stood up abruptly.
In the chaos, a clump of hair fell down Su Tong's forehead as she shouted, "Stop! Let her go!"
Qi Shuangyun slammed her hand on the table: "Outrageous! Zhao Fu, are you insane? How dare you do such a thing in my General's Mansion?!"
Zhao Fu reached over and groped around Jiang Yi's waist, finally managing to pull the item out from the belt.
He breathed heavily for a few moments, then raised the golden feather he had just received high, widened his eyes, and circled it halfway around, so that they could see clearly why he was doing this.
Jiang Yi wanted nothing more than to pounce on him and bite him to death, and shouted angrily, "Give it back to me!"
Zhao Fu ignored her and walked to the lamplight to examine it carefully. Then he suddenly turned to Jiang Yi and asked through gritted teeth, "Where did you get this?"
Jiang Yi's gaze fell on the golden feather and looked at it. Under the light, it shimmered with a golden luster, lifelike and extremely beautiful.
"I found it!"
Zhao Fu was furious. He stepped forward, grabbed Jiang Yi's arm, and said fiercely, "Nonsense! This is clearly a token of Yu Ling Pavilion! Moreover, it has an owner, young mistress, look carefully—Chen!"
Jiang Yi looked closely and saw that there was indeed a small "Chen" character engraved at the base of the golden feather.
Is his eye a magnifying glass? He actually saw such tiny words!
Zhao Fu sneered, "Do you know what this 'Chen' represents? It means that this Jin Yu belongs to Xi Chen, the head of Yu Ling Pavilion! Men, tie her up and bring her before the Prince!"
Jiang Yi was stunned. Holy crap, who the hell is Xi Chen? Isn't Jin Yu He Lin's?! How could he be related to some sect leader?!
Ugh, He Lin is such a troublemaker! He dared to give her other people's things! Now she's going to be taken away to see the ultimate boss!
Heavens above, earth below, who will save her!
Along the way, Jiang Yi was like a puppet, letting them lead her to a room. It was a long and complicated process, and they changed carriages at least three times.
Hmph, to put it nicely, Ma Zhang is mysterious and cautious; to put it bluntly, he's just afraid of dying.
Jiang Yi was too lazy to remember any routes. She had come to terms with it and always believed that she was the main character and wouldn't die. Since she wouldn't die, what was there to be afraid of?
She's barefoot, why would she be afraid of someone wearing shoes? What a joke!
The room was extremely quiet, the charcoal fire was burning brightly, and the room was very warm.
A moment later, steady footsteps sounded outside; someone had entered.
Zhao Fu turned around, clasped his hands in a salute, and said, "Your Highness."
The man took off his black fur cloak and handed it to Zhao Fu, then slowly walked to the stove to warm his hands.
Jiang Yi didn't turn around, but heard a deep voice: "Is this the emergency you were talking about?"
"Yes, Your Highness, please take a look."
Ma Zhang picked up the golden feather and examined it closely. He raised his eyebrows and looked surprised: "Chen?"
"Exactly."
"That's interesting. How did Xi Chen's things end up on her?"
Zhao Fu turned his head to look at Jiang Yi not far away and replied, "The young mistress said she found it."
"Found it?"
Zhao Fu nodded.
Ma Zhang then burst into laughter: "If Xi Chen's Feather Token were so easy to pick up, he should have been replaced as the Pavilion Master long ago."
The series of laughs sounded like the laughter of a rich person, but Jiang Yi felt utterly disgusted and wished she could cover her ears.
Ma Zhang walked up to Jiang Yi and asked kindly, "Miss, are you the wife of He Lin, the second young master of the General's Mansion?"
Jiang Yi closed her eyes and stood there, seemingly asleep, her refusal to answer was obvious.
Ma Zhang persisted, "It's fine, if you don't say anything, I'll take it as a yes."
He lowered his eyes and gently stroked the golden feather in his hand, then continued, "In the eighth year of the Chunhe era, Emperor Taizu established the Yuling Pavilion as His Majesty's henchmen, with the authority to monitor all officials. It has been a hundred years since then, and no one has ever seen them. Even His Majesty's summons is always done behind a curtain. These people roam every corner of the capital. Whether you can see them or not, there are spies and informants from the Yuling Pavilion everywhere."
"...And this golden feather has 'Chen' written on it, which belongs to Chen, the current chairman of Yu Ling Pavilion. Miss, this belongs to He Lin, right?"
Jiang Yi's heart skipped a beat. So that's what the old fox was waiting for all this time!
Trying to get anything out of her? No way!
"No, I already said, I found it."
Ma Zhang wasn't in a hurry. He chuckled and stroked his beard twice, saying, "If you say you picked it up, then you picked it up. It's not important. What's important is that you're in my hands."
Jiang Yi only opened her eyes to look at him now. This man had a standard square face, deep-set eyes, a straight nose, and a beard that was half black and half white. He must have been over fifty years old. Especially when he wasn't smiling, he gave people a sense of authority without anger. No wonder he had been a prince for decades.
Jiang Yi asked calmly, "What do you want to do? Are you going to use me as a hostage to threaten He Lin?"
Ma Zhang cast an admiring glance at her and said, “Smart. Miss, even if you were in the General’s Mansion, you would eventually become a hostage to me, which is no different from being here. However, you may be my trump card that I cannot easily reveal, so please bear with me for a while.”
“Your Highness has misunderstood. Threatening He Lin with me won’t work. I’m just a lowly concubine’s daughter. He wouldn’t care if I live or die. Besides, this marriage was bestowed by His Majesty. There’s no affection between us. He even said he wanted a divorce a while ago. Your Highness’s wishful thinking is going to fall through.”
Ma Zhang understood perfectly well that Jiang Yi was playing coy with him, subtly protecting He Lin in her words and trying to distance herself from him. But so what? This golden feather showed that she must be very important to He Lin. Otherwise, why would Xi Chen give the Feather Token to a woman for no reason?
"It doesn't matter, whether it comes to nothing or not, we should at least give it a try."
After a moment, Jiang Yi gave a fake smile and extended a hand towards him with her palm facing up: "Then I wish Your Highness all the best. Please return my things."
"I will return the golden feather to you, but not now. I'll borrow it for a couple of days to play with it."
His words were unquestionable and left no room for discussion, as if he were merely issuing a notification and had no sense of being the plunderer.
Jiang Yi narrowed her eyes, remaining outwardly calm, but inwardly she was experiencing a storm of emotions.
What does he want to do with He Lin's golden feather? Could it be that it's incredibly useful? That's terrible, she might have unintentionally harmed He Lin, right?
"Since I'm going to be the prince's hostage, I can't starve to death for at least this period of time, don't you think, Your Highness?"
Ma Zhang was stunned, seemingly not expecting that she would still care about his meals under these circumstances.
"That's natural."
"Um, so, where's the food?"
Ma Zhang smiled and shook his head: "I had forgotten about that. Miss, I haven't eaten yet. If you don't mind, why don't you have a meal with me?"
After hearing this, Jiang Yi nodded without the slightest hesitation: "Okay."
He wouldn't poison her food, so she felt safe eating it.
Ma Zhang told Zhao Fu to go and prepare, while he himself slowly walked to the stove to warm his hands. Although he was in a warm room, his eyes were like a deep, unfathomable, and icy pool.
·
When Gu Ziyu found He Lin, he had already met up with Yin Zhaobai and they were discussing countermeasures in a private room of the teahouse.
"Young Master!"
He had been wounded in the abdomen by an arrow and rushed in, clutching his wound.
Shan Yanzhi frowned, then immediately took a clean pair of scissors and cut open his clothes to check the injury.
"Non-toxic".
He Lin breathed a sigh of relief: "What happened?"
Shan Yanzhi deftly pulled out the broken arrow, quickly poured wound medicine on it, and then wrapped it with gauze. These actions were performed in one go with great skill, showing that he was a veteran.
"Something happened in the manor. The two ladies and the young mistress were all captured by Ma Zhang's men. After I escaped, I went to the military camp to find you, but I never expected to fall into an ambush."
Hearing this, He Lin frowned, strode out without saying a word, leaving everyone in the room looking at each other in bewilderment. Finally, Yin Zhaobai was the first to react and instructed, "Yanzhi, hurry, take a few people and follow. Your young master is probably going to fight someone to the death."
...
The general's mansion was heavily guarded, with many patrolling soldiers, and most of the people were concentrated near the front hall.
The group quietly lay on the rooftop observing the movements below. He Lin made a hand gesture, and Shan Yanzhi understood. He led the group away quietly, their figures disappearing into the darkness.
In the front hall, Qi Shuangyun propped her head up on the table and dozed off. Su Tong found a cloak and draped it over her, then sat down beside her and sighed softly.
I wonder where Jiang Yi was taken, and whether she is in danger.
"Still worried about her?"
When the First Madam suddenly said this, Su Tong was slightly taken aback and nodded.
"Yes, I wonder how Yi'er is doing."
Qi Shuangyun tore off her cloak and threw it to Su Tong, saying, "Didn't Zhao Fu say that he was just taking her to see Ma Zhang? They won't touch her easily until they figure out what Jin Yu is."
"Madam, do you know what kind of place Zhao Fu is referring to, Yu Ling Pavilion? How could Yi'er be involved with that place?"
Qi Shuangyun narrowed her eyes, her long, narrow phoenix eyes revealing shrewdness.
"That's a question for you, Su Tong."
"What does the First Madam mean by this?"
"Hmph, Jiang Yi only went out for a short while, and when he came back he was carrying Xi Chen's feather token. He works specifically for my imperial brother. Tell me, when did these two people, who are worlds apart, ever become friends?"
Su Tong gripped the cloak in her hands tightly and suddenly stood up.
"Madam, please don't talk nonsense. Yi'er is a good girl. She is Lin'er's wife. She would never do such a thing."
Qi Shuangyun raised an eyebrow, unsure whether the person in front of her was feigning ignorance or genuinely didn't understand her meaning.
What she actually meant was that her son, He Lin, had a problem.
The boy entered the General's Mansion when he was about ten years old. Although he was He Wei and Su Tong's illegitimate son raised outside the mansion, she always had doubts about He Lin's identity.
Qi Shuangyun knew He Wei too well. Back then, His Majesty forcibly arranged a marriage for him, forcing him to marry her and tearing him and Su Tong apart. Therefore, He Wei could not get over it for a long time and did not like her.
Later, she even used her military merits as a condition to ask the emperor for permission to let his beloved woman enter his mansion as a concubine. For this, she even had a big fight with He Wei.
There is no doubt that the general likes Su Tong.
But if he truly loved her, how could he bear to let their own flesh and blood wander outside? Shouldn't they have brought them into the family to be recognized as ancestors as soon as possible?
Qi Shuangyun did investigate what happened back then.
She once suspected that He Lin was not He Wei's son, and that it was just an excuse for him to marry Su Tong. Unfortunately, she could not find any evidence. Whenever the blood test was mentioned, He Wei would have a big argument with her, and they would end up parting on bad terms.
Logically speaking, Jiang Yi has always been with He Lin, and she also has things related to Xi Chen. In other words, she has things related to He Lin. Therefore, Xi Chen is He Lin, and He Lin is Xi Chen!
Qi Shuangyun seemed to have discovered a huge secret, but she still didn't show it on her face. People who come from the palace are usually good at hiding their emotions.
It seems that now that this matter is settled, it's time to investigate his identity.
If Su Tong really cheated on the general with another man, she would never let the mother and son off easily!
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