嫩草影院地址一二三

Chapter 223 - 223:223. Arrange it clearly and understandably

Duanmu Chen looked at the few Forbidden Army soldiers kneeling on the ground, and an elderly man in ragged prisoner clothes, his face indescribable.

Duanmu Yi’s face was somber, “Those two, were killed by Su Liang?”

The leader of the Forbidden Army squad sent to Xunyang City said, his face looking awful, “If there was danger, they should have stated their purpose in time.”

“A bunch of trash!” Duanmu Yi sneered, “Get out!”

“Your Majesty, this criminal…”

Duanmu Yi’s gaze was icy as he looked at the trembling old man, “Send him on hie

Soon, only Duanmu Yi and Duanmu Chen, father and son, were left in the Imperial Study.

Duanmu Chen sighed deeply, “I didn’t expect that Eldest Brother would use such means to kill Su Liang, and he almost succeeded.”

The old man was brought before Duanmu Yi, so he couldn’t tell a single lie.

“If I had known earlier, I would have sent him to accompany Second Brother sooner!” Duanmu Yi said coldly.

Originally, with Duanmu Ao’s contrast, although Duanmu Sheng didn’t seem as outstanding as Duanmu Chen, he was still a qualified Crown Prince.

But up to now, Duanmu Yi was utterly disappointed in him.

When Duanmu Yi wanted to destroy the Wan family, one of his goals was to cut off Duanmu Sheng’s thoughts and prevent his son from turning against him.

Duanmu Yi had thought that after so many things, Duanmu Sheng would have learned his lesson and would stop causing trouble. This was also the premise of Duanmu Yi shielding Duanmu Sheng.

However, it was clear that Duanmu Sheng and Su Liang had a fatal relationship. This was not something Su Liang decided on her own; Duanmu Sheng’s intention to kill her was even stronger.

Hearing Duanmu Yi’s words, Duanmu Chen didn’t dare to interrupt and just said solemnly, “Father, judging from the time Eldest Brother arranged the assassins to kill Su Liang, his accident happened the day after Su Liang was attacked. With the distance between the capital city and Xunyang City, it couldn’t have been Su Liang’s retaliation after being attacked.”

Duanmu Yi’s eyes narrowed slightly, “But it cannot be ruled out that Sheng’er was involved in Su Liang’s affairs.”

“At least, it couldn’t have been her personally,” Duanmu Chen said. “If she had sent a master to the capital city to capture Eldest Brother, it would mean that she and Eldest Brother tried to kill each other at almost the same time.”

Duanmu Chen believed that Duanmu Sheng’s accident must have something to do with Su Liang, but he always subtly defended Su Liang, using a seemingly objective approach.

Duanmu Chen also wanted to know, if Duanmu Sheng and Su Liang intended to kill each other at the same time, would Duanmu Yi think that Su Liang should have endured it instead of taking action?

“If Su Liang knew that Sheng’er wanted to kill her…” Duanmu Yi frowned, only saying half of the sentence.

Duanmu Chen sighed, “In my opinion, this matter is quite obvious.”

Moreover, the fact was that if Su Liang had thought so, it would have been completely correct and reasonable, cautious.

“You think Su Liang hasn’t done anything wrong?” Duanmu Yi looked at Duanmu Chen, his gaze like a torch.

Duanmu Chen shook his head, “At present, it is only certain that Eldest Brother wanted to kill Su Liang, sending more than one group of assassins, and almost succeeded, seriously wounding a servant of the Ning Family. But whether Eldest Brother’s disappearance is due to Su Liang is still uncertain. If it is her, her abduction of Eldest Brother would naturally be an act of disrespect to the imperial authority. But what I want to say is that perhaps in Su Liang’s eyes, Eldest Brother cannot represent the Qian Country’s Royal Family. Please forgive my frankness, after so many things, I cannot recognize any imperial majesty that is worthy of the subjects’ awe in Eldest Brother’s actions.”

Having an affair with his sister, wantonly killing people, murdering his younger brother, plotting against important officials. These acts were not ordinary moral corruption. Even if the royal family always has its dark sides, Duanmu Sheng’s evil deeds had already come to light, not merely greedy, vicious, and shameless, but also very incompetent.

Duanmu Chen bravely advised Duanmu Yi, hoping that he would not protect Duanmu Sheng anymore and not alienate Su Liang, a valuable talent.

After all, Duanmu Chen hadn’t even sat on the position of Crown Prince yet. If the Qian Country Royal Family gave up on Su Liang, she might join another country. For Duanmu Chen, who had determined that the throne belonged to him in the future. this was unacceptable.

After a long silence, Duanmu Yi rubbed his weary brow, “Things have come to this point. As long as she can prove that Sheng’er’s disappearance has nothing to do with her, I will no longer hold a grudge.”

Duanmu Chen left the palace and arrived at the Fourth Prince’s Mansion’s entrance, where he saw a carriage parked.

Chang’an immediately asked, “Who is it?”

The middle-aged man standing beside the carriage quickly bowed and had two tied-up men dragged out from the carriage, “Fourth Prince, I am the steward of the Ning Family, surnamed Zhao. Our master caught two assassins in Xunyang City and ordered me to deliver them to you as soon as possible.” The night was dark and deep.

Duanmu Chen looked at the two “assassins” with their mouths gagged and felt a twitch in his forehead. Without even asking, he knew that these two were the Forbidden Army soldiers sent by Duanmu Yi to test Su Liang but had lost contact with them.

“Steward Zhao, you must be tired. When will your master return to the capital?” Duanmu Chen asked.

Steward Zhao respectfully said, “Our master is on the way back to the capital, but we don’t know when he will arrive.”

Duanmu Chen understood. The people who were watching Su Liang had left Xunyang City with her, but had lost track of her as soon as they left the city last night.

There was nothing much to say about this, as Su Liang didn’t know who the spies were working for. It was normal for her to shake them off after noticing them. This could only prove that the ability of the people sent by Duanmu Yi was so limited.

Duanmu Chen felt that Su Liang should arrive in the capital soon, so he didn’t ask further. He only asked Chang’an to give the men some rewards and let them leave.

“Master, how should we deal with this?” Chang’an asked.

Duanmu Chen also rubbed his brows, “Take them with us. I’ll go to the palace again.” In order to avoid suspicion, they couldn’t stay with him for too long. If they needed to speak, they could go directly to Duanmu Yi.

Thus, Duanmu Chen returned to the imperial palace once more, bringing with him the two Forbidden Army soldiers that Duanmu Yi had “lost.”

After they confessed their experiences in Xunyang City, Duanmu Yi scolded them, “Useless!”

Duanmu Chen sighed softly, “It’s normal for Su Liang to be on guard since she’s faced a series of assassination attempts lately and has almost harmed the people around her. She just used some sedatives because of her excellent medical skills.”

Duanmu Yi thought about it and still couldn’t find any suspicious points in Su Liang’s actions. Thus, he let Duanmu Chen leave.

After returning to the capital from Xuanbei City, Wan Shan, who had a stroke, had been under the treatment of Imperial Physician Gao, and had recently shown significant improvement. Although his body was still weak and needed a wheelchair, he was no different from a normal person in other respects.

Wan Shan’s younger son Wan Lin died mysteriously, and his elder son Wan Cong was publicly executed half a month ago for killing Ning Jing, an official of the court. With the death of the Second Prince, Duanmu Ao, the Wan Family still lived in the General Mansion, but they had lost their past glory.

The disappearance of Duanmu Cheng was even more heartbreaking for the Wan Family.

Duanmu Yi believed that Ning Jing was killed by Duanmu Cheng, and the Empress Dowager and the Empress agreed. Even though Duanmu Cheng defended himself, the two Empresses felt guilty about Wan Cong’s death and felt sorry for the Wan Family.

But Wan Shan knew clearly that Ning Jing was killed by Wan Cong. Although he

was heartbroken over his son’s death, he didn’t blame Duanmu Cheng. As his health gradually improved, he pinned all his hopes on Duanmu Cheng, hoping that he could regain the position of crown prince.

However, Duanmu Cheng disappeared!

Now, the person Wan Shan hated the most was Su Liang, without exception. He believed that the downfall of the Wan Family and his two nephews was all her fault!

One day, just after seeing off Imperial Physician Gao, Wan Shan began cursing Su Liang in foul language in the study.

A guard rushed in and said that someone had sent an urgent letter to Wan

Shan, asking him to open it personally.’

Wan Shan quickly received the crumpled letter, dismissed the servant, opened it, and saw the familiar handwriting. He sat up straight, his eyes wide, and read it incredulously from beginning to end. He read it again, then stared blankly for a while before his eyes suddenly brightened, and he laughed wildly, “Excellent! Excellent!”

The people of the Wan Family were puzzled by Wan Shan’s sudden good mood, but he didn’t explain anything. He just said that he had had a nice dream, and then asked about the recent situations of the Fourth Prince Duanmu Chen and the Sixth Prince Duanmu Che out of nowhere.

That night, Duanmu Chen received another summons from the palace, feeling that something significant had happened. He ordered his subordinates to keep an eye on Su Liang, but she had not returned to the capital today.

When Duanmu Chen saw Duanmu Yi in the palace, he saw that his face was full of anger.

Duanmu Chen cautiously asked if anything had happened.

Duanmu Yi threw a crumpled piece of paper at Duanmu Chen, “Look at the good deed this evildoer has done!”

The paper fell to the ground, and Duanmu Chen picked it up, slowly unfolding it. The handwriting was also familiar to him, but it shocked him to the core. It was actually written by Duanmu Cheng! He had thought Duanmu Cheng was dead!

After reading the contents of the letter, Duanmu Chen was also dumbfounded, “How could this be…?”

In his letter, Duanmu Cheng wrote that his disappearance was part of his plan. The Wan family was in decline, and he did not have the upper hand in competing with Duanmu Chen. With Duanmu Yi’s scrutiny, he could not do anything, even having to wait until Su Liang was in Xunyang City to make an attempt on her life. The letter also detailed his plan to assassinate Su Liang, and he was quite proud of using the poison ploy from the grandfather-grandson duo, claiming it was a brilliant idea that came to him suddenly.

Duanmu Cheng stated that in order to gain the throne, he had to find another way. He did not consult with Wan Shan or the Empress Dowager and Empress beforehand, simply for the sake of caution. He killed two of his trusted followers who knew a lot of his secrets, creating the illusion that he had been abducted and went to a secret hideout.

Next, Duanmu Cheng hoped that Wan Shan, the Empress Dowager, and

Empress would take advantage of the fact that Duanmu Yi, Duanmu Chen, and Duanmu Che were no longer on guard against them, and find a way to eliminate them all!

His plan was simple: once everyone in the Duanmu royal family qualified to take the throne was gone, as the eldest prince who had disappeared, he could make a strong comeback. Who else would the throne belong to?

Duanmu Cheng also suggested to Wan Shan that he should try to sow discord between Duanmu Yi and Duanmu Chen, as it would yield double results with half the effort.

Duanmu Yi had previously placed spies to keep an eye on the Wan family and had not withdrawn them. This letter was today’s harvest, successfully making Duanmu Yi’s anger reach its peak.

“ No wonder he’s neither alive nor dead!”Duanmu Yi gritted his teeth, “Chen’er,

you were right. I made a huge mistake by still protecting him after all the outrageous things he has done!”

Duanmu Chen looked again at the letter and sighed deeply, “I was wondering earlier, if it was Su Liang’s doing, given her feud with my eldest brother, he should have been killed instead of disappearing. Disappearing means he can always come back.”

Duanmu Chen spoke very slowly in the last sentence, with a meaningful tone.

This letter also made him doubt that Duanmu Cheng’s matter might really have nothing to do with Su Liang. The reason for doubt is that such a clever means,

Duanmu Chen felt Duanmu Cheng seemed not to have such a brain…

But obviously, Duanmu Yi had already been convinced.

At this moment, Duanmu Chen was thinking, what if everything was designed by Su Liang? Intentionally abducting Duanmu Cheng, not leaving a body behind, and then sending this letter…

Duanmu Chen felt that this was indeed a brilliant plan, and something Su Liang could come up with.

But perhaps he was overthinking, the truth might be just what they saw Duanmu Cheng had been cunning and playing shady tricks, now hiding somewhere, waiting for them to die before coming back.

Duanmu Yi took a deep breath and said with a dark face, “The Wan Family cannot be spared!”

Duanmu Chen said seriously, “Father Emperor, eldest brother may still be in contact with Wan Shan. Why not wait a little longer, and follow the trail to find his hiding place.”

Duanmu Yi nodded, “That makes sense. I will have someone keep an eye on the Wan family. Has Su Liang returned yet?”

As soon as the words fell, the eunuch outside reported, “Your Majesty, Su Liang and General Su are requesting an audience outside the palace gate.”

The timing matched up with when she had left Xunyang City, assuming normal rest during the journey at night.

“Summon her!” Duanmu Yi said coldly.

Duanmu Chen returned the crumpled letter to Duanmu Yi, “Should I leave,

Father?”

“No need,” Duanmu Yi said, “I will have the Imperial Astronomical Observatory choose another auspicious day to hold the Crown Prince Enthronement Ceremony.”

Duanmu Chen’s face lit up with joy, and he quickly knelt down to offer his thanks, “Long live Father Emperor, long live, long live forever!”

As he stood up, Duanmu Chen thought to himself, Su Liang was truly a lucky star sent down by heaven to help him! Everything was unbelievably smooth!

Su Liang entered the Imperial Study, carrying a bundle in her hand. After offering her greetings and being told to rise, she did not get up, “Please, Your Majesty, do justice for your humble servant!”

Duanmu Yi narrowed his eyes, “What matter do you require justice for?”

“I was attacked in Xunyang City, and the assassin confessed to being ordered by the Eldest Prince. If it wasn’t for the loyal servant sacrificing himself, I would likely be dead!” Su Liang said with her head down.

Originally, Duanmu Yi was going to wait for Su Liang to return to the capital to question her about whether she had captured Duanmu Cheng, but the situation had suddenly reversed.

“Where is the assassin then?” Duanmu Yi knowingly asked.

“He was sentenced to death at the Xunyang City Government Office, but was rescued on the day of his execution!” Su Liang said, “It must be his accomplice.”

Duanmu Yi looked at Su Liang and asked, “Do you know that the Eldest Prince has gone missing?”

Su Liang frowned, “Two suspicious assassins claimed to be carrying the emperor’s orders, saying that the Eldest Prince is missing. I cannot confirm their identity, so I ordered them to be sent back to the capital and handed over to the Fourth Prince.”

Duanmu Chen did not speak.

Duanmu Yi sneered, “Those were the people I sent to find you. You’ve been on leave for a long time, and it’s time for you to return.” Su Liang respectfully replied, “Yes. Has the Eldest Prince been found yet?” “What will you do if he is found?” Duanmu Yi countered.

Su Liang bowed his head, “I dare not do anything to the Eldest Prince. I can only ask the Emperor to administer justice!”

Duanmu Chen saw a hint of embarrassment on Duanmu Yi’s face. He would not tell Su Liang about certain “family matters.”

“I understand. Let’s wait until the Eldest Prince is found,” Duanmu Yi said, “You have just returned to the capital. Take a rest today and go to the Military Camp to train soldiers tomorrow! I heard from Marquis Zhong Xin that your new training methods have been very effective in Xuanbei City. I have high hopes for you, and I will inspect your work in a few days. Don’t disappoint me!” “I will do my best to serve Your Majesty,” Su Liang nodded.

As she got up to leave, Duanmu Yi stopped her and casually asked, “Ning Jing used to have a master by her side. Is that person with you now?”

Su Liang hesitated for a moment, nodded, and shook her head again. “Yes, there was a senior who was indebted to the Ning Family. After Ning Jing was expelled from her family, he found her, helped her take revenge, cleaned up her house, and protected her for several months. He once offered his help to improve my martial arts skills. But…” Su Liang took a deep breath, grief on her face, and her eyes dropped, “Previously, when I went to Xuanbei City, Ning Jing insisted on having that senior protect me, but she ended up in trouble herself. That senior felt very guilty and blamed me because it was I who insisted on staying after Ning Jing took her office. He sacrificed everything for me, but in the end, he harmed her…”

Duanmu Yi frowned, “Where is that person now?”

“He left,” Su Liang said, “Our mood was terrible back then, and we had terrible quarrels. She left in a rage and probably won’t care about me anymore.” “What is that person’s surname and name?” Duanmu Yi asked.

Su Liang hesitated for a moment, “Can I not say? He was originally a recluse. At this point, I don’t want him to be involved in any of my affairs. We originally had no relationship.”

“Never mind,” Duanmu Yi waved his hand, “You can go.”

“Yes, this humble official takes her leave,” Su Liang said, and turned to leave the Imperial Study.

On the way home alone, many people who saw Su Liang recognized her. Soon, word spread throughout the capital that she had returned.

Upon returning home, Su Liang closed the front door and headed to the main courtyard.

Everything was very familiar, as if she had never left.

Entering the courtyard, Su Liang carried her pack and went straight into the room where “Ning Jing” used to live, closing the door behind her.

Gu Ling emerged from the inner room, “How did it go?”

Su Liang’s lip curled slightly, “My plan worked. The emperor saw and believed the letter I sent to Wan Shan. Great God, did you deliberately throw Duanmu Cheng out of the city and into the river just so you could have a way out?”

Gu Ling shook her head slightly, “No. At that time, I just wanted him to die without a place to be buried.”

If Duanmu Cheng’s body had been left in the Eldest Prince’s Mansion, he would have been buried with great honor in the imperial tomb. But if he was thrown into the river, his corpse would soon be unrecognizable. Even if someone fished it out, no one would ever know it was the Eldest Prince, because Gu Ling had destroyed his clothes and belongings. The final outcome of Duanmu Cheng was predictable.

The letter Su Liang sent to Wan Shan imitating Duanmu Cheng’s handwriting was an idea that came to her on the way back to the capital. It wasn’t Gu Ling’s initial plan.

“Then it’s just our perfect collaboration!” Su Liang happily said, “But Great God, you have to be careful in the future and not let anyone find out that someone is with me. I don’t know how Uncle Liang and your grandfather are doing at this point. If your identity is restored, you can return to Qian Country’s capital city.

I will fall in love at first sight with you in the street, but you will refuse me. Then, no matter who wants to arrange my marriage, I will say that I have someone in my heart. After seeing the beauty Gu, I can’t look at anyone else. Our collaboration will continue, and everything will be perfect!”

When Gu Ling heard “falling in love at first sight on the street, ” his eyes flickered. When he heard the last part, he silently turned around.

“Great God, where are you going?” Su Liang asked.

Gu Ling’s back faced Su Liang as he entered the inner room. His voice was calm, “Your arrangements are very good. I am looking forward to how you will fall in love at first sight with me on the street..”