I'm just hoping for the best.
The old woman was stunned. Cheng Junshi continued in a low voice, "She passed away a long time ago."
"Second Aunt, she also..." Jin Jibai's eyes were filled with disbelief.
Cheng Junshi looked up at the old woman again: "I came here for my mother. I want to find out the truth about her death."
"Your father... allowed you to come?"
“My father knows,” Cheng Junshi said.
The old woman paused for a moment, then laughed and said, "You're getting senile. If he didn't want you to come, how would you have found this place?"
Tang Qi sensed something amiss in those words. He gave Cheng Junshi a meaningful look, and the latter quickly understood, asking, "Did my father know you were here all along?"
The old woman didn't speak, which was taken as tacit agreement.
Cheng Junshi's face darkened. His father really did know everything.
Seeing that he was in a bad mood, Tang Qi immediately stepped forward, grabbed his hand, patted it twice to comfort him, and continued to ask on Cheng Junshi's behalf: "Grandma, when the Crown Prince died, the Jin family suffered a disaster, but you just said that the Crown Princess helped you escape to Jinnan. Are the Jin family and the Crown Princess so close?"
The old woman glanced at him, then looked at Cheng Junshi, and fell silent, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't. Sensing her meaning, Tang Qi raised his hands frankly and said, "Alright, I'll be the gatekeeper."
As he was about to leave, Cheng Junshi grabbed his hand.
"He is not an outsider."
Jin Jibai listened to these words and fell silent for a moment. What kind of talk is this? Friends are friends, why say we're not outsiders?
If not an outsider, then what could they be? An insider?
Jin Jibai was amused by his own sudden imagination. When the three of them looked over, he coughed in a serious manner.
“It’s not that the Jin family and the Crown Princess have a deep relationship; it’s that she feels guilty towards An He,” the old woman finally spoke.
Tang Qi and the others listened quietly as the old woman recounted that obscure past.
“Anhe and the Crown Princess were once close friends, but their contact gradually decreased after Anhe became the Crown Princess. Then one day, Anhe was invited to the palace by the Crown Princess to reminisce about the past. That was the day…” She suddenly stopped, her face filled with grief again.
The old woman didn't continue speaking, but Tang Qi and the others understood.
On that very day, Jin Anhe was forced to become the birth mother of the Ninth Prince. From that moment on, she lost her freedom forever.
"At that time, His Majesty was only the second prince. The Jin family was weak. He refused to marry Anhe as his heir and forced her to be a concubine. Anhe almost wanted to die..." The old woman paused, suddenly feeling so sad that she could no longer continue.
Her Anhe.
She should have been Anhe, free and unrestrained.
"Later, when the second prince ascended the throne, my aunt was imprisoned in the palace. She died not long after giving birth to the ninth prince," Jin Jibai added the last part for her.
"So the Crown Princess helped you escape to Jinnan back then because she felt guilty towards Aunt Anhe?"
The old woman nodded.
Something's wrong. Something's definitely wrong.
Tang Qi glanced thoughtfully at Cheng Junshi.
It was the crown prince who died.
How could a crown princess risk being killed to ferry them to Jinnan out of guilt?
"Did the Crown Princess also pass away in the end?" Cheng Junshi asked.
The old woman continued to nod.
Therefore, not a single person connected to the former crown prince was spared. Tang Qi's eyes darkened.
From his father to the Jin family, and then to the Crown Princess, everyone connected to the late Crown Prince was dead.
A suspicion suddenly arose in Tang Qi's mind, a suspicion that made him tremble all over.
—The death of the former crown prince may be related to Your Majesty.
He suspected that the former crown prince had not died of illness, but rather at the hands of Emperor Ming. Perhaps not just the crown prince, but even the former emperor—
Tang Qi suddenly stopped. If this was indeed the case, Jin Ye, as a historian, was the most likely person to know and record it.
Therefore, for Emperor Ming, Jin Ye had to die. Even the entire Jin family could not be spared.
He slowly turned to look at Cheng Junshi, Jin Yanzhao...
They also share the surname Jin.
No wonder Cheng Du was unwilling to continue the investigation, and no wonder he repeatedly obstructed Cheng Junshi.
Tang Qi dared not think about it any further. Looking over, she saw that the expression of the person next to her had changed.
If he could think of this, so could he. Cheng Junshi clenched his fist, a sudden surge of hatred rising in his eyes.
“Junshi,” the old woman suddenly spoke, addressing Jin Jibai and Cheng Junshi together, “your father allowed you to come here because he felt you deserved to know the truth. After knowing the truth, he certainly doesn’t want you to do anything, and neither do I.”
She pulled Jin Jibai aside, looking at him and Cheng Junshi with affection: "My Yan Zhao, they have suffered so much. Grandma is powerless to protect them. Junshi, I'm telling you this only because I don't want you to be troubled by those answers anymore. Don't seek revenge, don't do anything. I just want my two grandsons to be well, to live well, that's all."
The old woman shed another stream of cloudy tears. She was so old that she could no longer make out their faces, but vaguely, Yan Zhao seemed to be right there, as did her daughter, and An He, her beloved An He.
The world is unjust, taking away so many of her children. She couldn't fight back, nor could she fight back; she was simply too old. She always thought, "So be it, injustice is injustice," but—
“Grandma, I want to go,” Cheng Junshi said.
—What if Heaven has eyes?
"Don't go." The old woman was still crying.
—Does Heaven have eyes? But where is Heaven? When she looked up, all she saw was a gigantic hand, so dark that she couldn't see the sky.
“I’m going,” Cheng Junshi said firmly.
He had no other thoughts than to try and fight, whether he lost or died. Whether he made no splash or remained unknown, even if he failed in everything, he still wanted to cause trouble for that person.
Cheng Junshi wanted everyone to understand that the other person's hand wouldn't hold them back forever.
The old woman stared at him intently for a long, long time.
“Yan Zhao… Xiao Zhao… my Xiao Zhao…” she suddenly called out, cupping Cheng Junshi’s face in her hands.
Cheng Junshi was taken aback. Jin Jibai immediately stepped forward and stood between the two of them. His expression was calm, and he said with hidden emotions, "Grandma's health has been poor in recent years. She is sometimes lucid and sometimes confused. Perhaps it won't be long before she doesn't even remember me."
Tang Qi froze, and the person next to her looked at Jin Jibai and slowly said, "Then...then you..."
He had actually planned to ask them if they wanted to go to Los Angeles with him. But... Jinan was probably much safer for them than Los Angeles right now. In the end, Cheng Junshi didn't say anything.
"Then you take good care of her." That was all he could say.
Although Cheng Junshi felt he had no right to say that, Jin Jibai smiled at him and said, "I will."
＊
Before they left, they had left half a room full of firewood, which Tang Qi and Cheng Junshi had spent most of the day chopping and splitting, competing to carry back.
There is so little they can do.
When they finally left, it was already dusk. The two shadows were stretched infinitely long by the setting sun. Tang Qi looked at him and suddenly asked, "How are you feeling? Did you... feel like the sky was falling?"
Cheng Junshi glanced at him and shook his head honestly: "Before I came, I actually had some doubts. The truth now is both unexpected and reasonable."
Tang Qi pouted, looking regretful, and said, "I thought I'd get to see your face break down, Shaoqing. If you want to cry, don't hold back."
He patted his shoulder and said smugly, "It's very spacious, you can lean on it for free."
Cheng Junshi frowned and chuckled softly, "Then I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you."
"Don't be so sure of yourself. I have another guess that will absolutely shock you—do you want to hear it?" Tang Qi continued to smile at him.
Cheng Junshi gave him a look, and the latter slowly said, "Grandma, you might not be telling the truth."
"What's the meaning?"
“Do you remember what Grandma said? She said you are Yan Zhao’s child, and Jin Ji Bai is Jin Ye’s son,” Tang Qi continued.
Cheng Junshi nodded, seemingly not finding anything strange about it, but Tang Qi's next words left him stunned.
"But she calls you her grandson."
Cheng Junshi was so shocked that he couldn't speak, and a look of fear belatedly crept into his eyes as he looked at Tang Qi.
"I've always found it strange that a crown princess would help someone whose entire family was ordered to be exterminated escape out of guilt," Tang Qi continued coldly, "unless..."
“Unless one of the people she saves is someone she would protect even at the cost of her own life.” Cheng Junshi continued, then hesitated for a moment before adding, “But, is Jin Jibai enough?”
"Just because the Crown Princess and Aunt Anhe are old friends? Is that reason enough?" he continued to mutter.
Unexpectedly, Tang Qi laughed and said, "I never said it was Jin Jibai."
Cheng Junshi suddenly looked up and froze in place again.
"Do you remember when we were reading the history books, it was recorded that the Crown Princess was pregnant before the Crown Prince died. After the Crown Princess passed away, the child was not mentioned at all."
"You mean... the late Crown Prince still has any orphans alive?" Cheng Junshi was taken aback.
"If you were His Majesty, would you spare this orphan?"
Cheng Junshi shook his head.
"Therefore, there are only two possibilities for that orphan back then: either he died, or—"
"Or they were sent out by the Crown Princess!" Cheng Junshi finally said, "Jin Ye and the others who escaped from the palace back then were sent out by the Crown Princess along with the Crown Prince's orphans!"
This explains why the Crown Princess took such a great risk to help Jin Ye and the others escape.
"No." Tang Qi replied decisively, "They have the crown prince's orphan with them, they absolutely cannot escape to Jinnan."
“With the new emperor ascending the throne, he will eliminate dissidents. No matter how far he flees, let alone Jinan, there is absolutely no way this orphan can be kept alive.” His voice was cold.
Cheng Junshi was completely stunned, muttering to himself, "So, the crown prince's orphan still died back then?"
Tang Qi shook his head again: "Then it's pointless. Have you forgotten? Jin Ye didn't come to Jinnan. If you want His Majesty to lower his guard, besides real death, isn't there another way—'fake death'?"
Cheng Junshi took another breath and said incredulously, "You mean Jin Ye, he... he deliberately fled to Luoyang?"
“Two directions. If we use Jin as a target to draw their attention, it will indeed give them a better chance to escape to Jinan.” He continued to mutter.
"However, Jin Ye must have something that would make the new emperor abandon the Jinan line and keep chasing him all the way to Luocheng."
After Tang Qi finished speaking, the two were silent for a few seconds, and then suddenly looked up at the same time, speaking in unison with a sense of certainty.
"history!"
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