Chapter 172.2: Doubts Coming in A Continuous Stream
The three heads in the horse carriage were already taken down. Yu Zhong Qing casted a glance, yet he inadvertently saw on the earlobe of a certain head, a small red mole. His pupils instinctively shrunk, the reason being that in the previous assassination attempt, one of the assassin precisely had such a mole———–that one that got beheaded alive by Jin Qinwang. Yu Zhong Qing didn’t believe this was a coincidence. Moreover, the face was all covered in blood, yet only the ears were clean. If he remembered correctly, the ears of the female corpse during the Dragon Boat Festival had all gotten sliced off. Yu Zhong Qing felt his head going somewhat numb. He kept feeling that this was practically specially left for him to see.
Yu Zhong Qing’s hand on the handle of sword at his waist couldn’t help but tighten.
After an investigation, they very quickly discovered that the Ruan family was missing three courtyard guards.
Yu Zhong Qing’s palm pressed against his forehead, his brows rigidly locked in a frown. If these three really did belong to the Ruan family and were really also the three assassins that tried to assassinate Jin Qinwang, no, should be Luo third miss, and Jin Qinwang had someone secretly send them back, even specifically targeting the Ruan family young miss, then didn’t this mean, Jin Qinwang already knew this matter’s whole story from the start? And the reason he did this, perhaps can be considered for the sake of that person he cared about. However, these can actually all be temporarily set aside. The crucial point was that the Ruan family’s courtyard guards were actually even stronger than the imperial guards and a qinwang’s bodyguards. This problem was big. One has to know, for an ordinary official, the courtyard guards they raised were nothing more than ordinary people that were a bit stronger in comparison.
Furthermore, Jin Qinwang knew these three people’s identity, yet framed it on rebel traitors, and from the start, just severed everyone’s thought of searching for the assassins among the carriage fleet. He knew the Ruan family had problems, yet didn’t reveal it, why?
The reason why Yu Zhong Qing believed they were framed, instead of suspecting that the rebel traitors were among the Ruan family was because he was also present when the three assassins were searched, even personally setting to the task himself. Clearly there was nothing.
Then, how come the people by Jin Qinwang’s side would have the command plaque of the rebel traitors? And even carried on them at all times?
Questions came one after the other, yet each and every one were also extremely secretive matters. The more one knew, the faster one died, or…………
Yu Zhong Qing recalled the death god like Jin Qinwang, his head splitting in pain. He had unintentionally learned some things, and then was just forced to learn even more. Even if Jin Qinwang wants to rope him in, wasn’t his guts a little too big? Never mind completely not letting him declare his position, he even made him learn even more frightening things. Was he really not scared of him reporting to his Majesty?
That red mole on the earlobe can be considered a pretty good mark. These three people were determined to be the Ruan family’s guards.
As for where their bodies were, and in what kind of manner were their heads sent onto Ruan Fang Fei’s carriage, the former question was left unsolved. People were sent to the nearby areas to search, but there was nothing, and they also didn’t see any place that was like a crime scene. Thus, they gave up just like that, who let the three of them just be servants. It simply wasn’t worth going through the troubles. As for the latter question, they’d inquired quite a few people. There were three that claimed they’d gotten knocked out and didn’t see anything. The rest further didn’t even see a single shadow.
Yu Zhong Qing looked to that patch of forest in the distance. Clearly he’d also said there were three assassins, but why didn’t anyone have these two matters linked together? Why didn’t anyone mention going there to search? In the end, it was merely because it was just three courtyard guards, just some lowly lives. If they were switched with three that had noble status, afraid would’ve long gone and searched.
Yu Zhong Qing spat out a turbid breath, and in the end, didn’t say anything. He also cherished his life, he was also selfish, and he wasn’t just living for himself.
Speaking of which, Ruan Old Madam really did just pretend to faint, and after her people had the matter explained to her in detail, she tightly clenched her fist, her nails nearly sinking into her flesh. Was it Jin Qinwang? Was it also him that day during the Dragon Boat Festival? Fang Fei was clearly always steady, so this time, how come she did something like this? But, seeing how in nearly a month’s time, she went from a proud daughter of the heavens, to not just ruining her beauty, but even becoming like ‘a mouse crossing the streets’[1], being compelled to this degree, for her to do this kind of thing, she really couldn’t blame her.
However, some things, she also didn’t dare go confirm. If that person hidden in the dark really is Jin Qinwang, then this concealed enemy was much scarier than what they’d anticipated. She simply wasn’t his opponent.
Jing Wan on the surface appeared pretty good, but it was still her first time witnessing that kind of scene after all, so she momentarily wasn’t able to completely recover that quickly. After drinking the nerve calming soup, and while they were still parked, she just slept for a while in the horse carriage. Gong mama and her wet nurse took turns fanning her. As for the servant girls, Jing Wan also let them drink the nerve calming soup and go sleep for a while. Jing Wan actually slept pretty well, just Luo Old Madam had ordered them to not disturb her, so she miss the afternoon meal. However, it didn’t really matter. She didn’t have an appetite to begin with anyways, and after waking up, she can just randomly fix up something simple to pad the stomach.
The servant girls woke up before her, and appear to all be in pretty good spirit. Actually, they were mainly frightened by the terrifying aura on Li Hong Yuan. Towards that bloody scene, they’d immediately shifted their gaze after a glance, so the influence wasn’t big. Li Hong Yuan, in the end, was just a living person, and didn’t do anything specifically targeting them, so once the dark aura scattered, it wasn’t likely to leave any shadows in their hearts.
This while, they quickly prepared food for Jing Wan.
Prior to sleeping, she’d applied a bit of ointment on her lips. It originally was just a bit red and swollen, so this while, for the most part, it was barely noticeable. At this time, while eating, the peculiar feeling was already gone. Jing Wan only ate until half full and didn’t eat anymore.
The people by her side all knew she suffered hardship from carriage-sickness, so eating too much would only make her feel even more unwell, thus they didn’t urge her to eat more either.
Afterwards, Jing Wan noticed something wrong, “Judging by the time, the stop over time should’ve long passed, right? How come we still haven’t moved?”
“An incident occurred, so probably still need to wait another hour.” Qing Zhu replied.
“What happened?” Since she was all able to encounter assassins on a walk, then waking up to an incident after a nap seemingly wasn’t anything strange either. Jing Wan lowered her head and took a sip of the heat-dispelling soup. Unable to receive a reply from them, she lifted her head, seeing them all wanting to say but hesitating. She immediately got curious, “What’s wrong? Could it be that it has something to do with me?”
“It’s rather unrelated to miss, just miss previously suffered a fright, so those ear-tainting things, no need to bother hearing.” Gong mama came over and explained to Jing Wan.
Jing Wan’s heart slightly stirred. For her, it was because she saw that bloody scene, and further because she witnessed Li Hong Yuan cold-bloodedly killing someone, if it was just an ordinary matter, how would it affect her? Nine times out of ten, it was another bloody incident, or someone directly dying.
This trip really was quite not that peaceful.
“Where’s elder sister-in-law, is she taking an afternoon nap?” Since Gong mama didn’t want her to know, then she won’t ask anymore, so as to avoid getting disgusted.
“Third young madam is indeed still napping, and has been pretty well the whole time, so no need for miss to worry.”
[1] Mouse Crossing the Streets – a target of scorn; someone that’s detested by all
T/N: The Commander of the Imperial Guards, Yu Zhong Qing, is sort of an important character, and if I remembered correctly, his backstory will come up in a much later chapter. It’s pretty complicated too, like I’d say it’d rival the backstories of male leads in other novels. Well, most the characters’ backstory in this novel are pretty unique.
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