The air was filled with a faint, still-fresh smell of blood and a chilling atmosphere.
These things were all too familiar to Shang Xiye and his accompanying guards who had just returned from the battlefield.
"Your Highness, the people on this estate..." Wuying frowned.
"Yes, they're all dead," Shang Xiye concluded in a low voice.
Gao Chengwei also had a furrowed brow.
Although this matter appears to be aimed at the Ninth Prince, Song Family Village is so close to the capital that it is practically under the emperor's nose. The fact that those people dared to wipe out the village shows just how arrogant they are!
Upon hearing Shang Xiye's words, Yu Ying, who was in the carriage ahead, was terrified and frantically called out "Father, Mother, Elder Brother" repeatedly before stumbling and running towards the manor.
Shang Xiye, Ji Fengyao, and the others followed Yu Ying into the village and found that the village was indeed littered with corpses and rivers of blood.
Yu Ying ran straight into a well-maintained courtyard. Not far from the gate, a young man covered in blood was lying on the ground. Judging from his posture, he had tried to run away, but he didn't have time.
In the center of the courtyard lay a man covered in blood, about forty years old, both of them lifeless.
Yu Ying squatted down beside the young man, shaking and crying out "Brother" a few times. Then she ran to the middle-aged man, shaking and crying out "Father" a few times. Finally, she ran out and rushed into the courtyard next door.
In the courtyard next door, several people lay covered in blood: an old woman, two maids; and in the house, on the sickbed, the emaciated woman was also dead.
When Yu Ying saw that the woman on the sickbed was also stabbed multiple times and her flesh was mangled beyond recognition, she finally couldn't hold back and collapsed to the ground, wailing, "How cruel you are! How cruel you are! You didn't even spare my mother! Empress...!"
Before she could even finish uttering the word "Empress," a short arrow suddenly shot from the top of the wall and pierced Yu Ying's throat.
Yu Ying covered her broken throat in disbelief, staring blankly ahead.
"Chase!" Wu Shang gave the order, and immediately a squad of guards gave chase to the man who had shot the arrow.
Ji Fengyao quickly walked up to Yu Ying and, seeing the short arrow that had almost pierced through her neck, knew that she was beyond saving.
Seeing the pleading look in Yu Ying's eyes, Ji Fengyao sighed softly: "Although you have the intention to harm me, I promise you that I will give you and your family a proper burial."
Yu Ying's lips twitched a few times, forcing a self-deprecating bitter smile, wanting to say something but unable to utter a word.
She struggled to release the hand that was covering her throat, and with her last breath, she pointed tremblingly towards the bottom of the bed.
Ji Fengyao glanced in the direction she pointed. The bed was an earthen kang (heated brick bed), which was not suitable for hiding anything.
Could she be referring to the space under her bed in the Spring Trace Pavilion?
Ji Fengyao calmly pulled Yu Ying's hand back, straightened her body, and stood up to order, "Give Fourth Madam and her family a proper burial, and bury them together in one place."
"Yes, Your Highness," several guards immediately responded and began to collect the bodies of Yu Ying and her mother.
Just as Ji Fengyao was about to return to Shang Xiye's side, one of the two "dead" maids in the courtyard suddenly jumped up from the ground, raised the short dagger in her hand, and stabbed straight at her back.
"Your Highness, be careful!"
"Miss!"
Shang Xiye and Xique exclaimed in unison.
Ji Fengyao nimbly slid to the side, easily dodging the fatal blow.
She then turned around and kicked the female assassin in the stomach, sending her flying into a pillar under the eaves, where she bounced and fell to the ground, the dagger in her hand flying far away.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
