Chapter 211
C211 – Is It Appropriate?
The huge mansion had suddenly turned into a dead land. It was imaginable what kind of commotion it had caused in Ye City. Even the officials in the imperial court were discussing it.
The murder took place in the night. The people around did not hear anything. However, when they woke up the next morning, they smelled the pungent smell of blood. Only then did someone follow the smell and see the tragic scene.
Headless corpses fell to the ground in a mess. The blood condensed into a small ditch, and a few stray dogs nearby barked in the surroundings. They wanted to approach, but didn’t dare to.
The screams woke up the neighbors. The Prefecture Lord’s Mansion was located in the middle of the imperial court, and the moment they found out, they immediately reported it to the heavens.
However, the king’s attitude was really intriguing. Although he had ordered people to investigate the case and was extremely furious, he did not take any compensation measures. Even when everyone asked about Old Prince’s whereabouts, King of South Jin did not say anything.
However, King of South Jin still gave the order that no one was allowed to enter or leave the Prefecture Lord’s Mansion. Every night when it was quiet, the people in the vicinity would always hear some strange sounds. Gradually, rumors spread, saying that the family of Prefecture Lord’s Mansion had died with their eyes wide open. They had stayed in the mortal world for a long time and didn’t want to be reincarnated.
After the news spread, many people automatically scanned the outside of the Prefecture Lord’s Mansion. Officials who were old friends with Old Prince had also invited eminent monks to come and visit. They hoped that this place would return to normal as soon as possible.
Within a day, the palace burned down a Huai An Palace. The entire Prefecture Lord’s Mansion outside of the palace was destroyed. Some people suspected that there was some connection between these two incidents, but they couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard they tried.
When Tang Yue heard this news, he was stunned for a long time. “Is this the work of the king?”
Crown Prince Zhao nodded. In Ye City, Who else could have slaughtered hundreds without alerting anyone?
Although Old Prince’s children had withered, there were many descendants of the branch. He had selected a few talented disciples who he wanted to personally train, and in the future, he would become the right-hand man of the Prefecture Lord’s Mansion. These people could bring their families and live here, so the population of the Prefecture Lord’s Mansion had increased.
“This is too terrifying. Did Old Prince really collude with Madam Ying?” Tang Yue couldn’t figure it out. As a woman favored by the king, why would she take a fancy to an old man outside the palace?
If Madam Ying had an affair with some prince, he would think it was normal.
But thinking about Madam Ying’s age, there must be no prince who did not have eyes for her.
“I don’t know if there is an adulterous orphan, but that secret passage does exist. Even if the two of them don’t have an affair, there is still some secret relationship between them.”
That’s right. There were three entrances to the secret passage, but both of them had one bedroom. No wonder King of South Jin had gone mad when he said he didn’t contact anyone.
“I’m afraid that it will take more than a year or two to build such a secret passage. How did Old Prince do it?” If he was really that capable, did that mean that he was against South Jin?
Crown Prince Zhao passed the secret report to him. “According to the investigation, the secret passage underground in Prefecture Lord’s Mansion was not dug this year. I’m afraid that it has been hundreds of years of history. Some places have been altered and some places have been dug out. That’s why it has become so big.”
“The Prefecture Lord’s Mansion was rewarded by Royal Father. I think that Old Prince must have accidentally discovered the secret tunnel underground and secretly modified it. That’s why today’s incident happened.”
Tang Yue still had many questions. For example, how Crown Prince Zhao found the secret tunnel and reported it to the king. Also, what was the relationship between Old Prince and Madam Ying?
“It’s not a good thing to be so curious.” Crown Prince Zhao pinched Tang Yue’s cheek and teased him, but Crown Prince Zhao would tell him anything.
It was an unexpected surprise to find the secret passage. The secret guards chased a suspicious person out of the city and accidentally entered the exit outside the city.
Then, they followed the secret passage and came to the underground of Prefecture Lord’s Mansion. This was incredible. The guards were no longer busy catching people. They hurried back to report to Crown Prince Zhao.
Crown Prince Zhao naturally did not expect that there was a third exit in the secret passage. He sent a few of his trusted aides to follow the secret passage several times and drew a detailed map. When he found the location of the third exit, he was in a bad mood.
His first reaction was the same as King of South Jin. This secret passage must have been dug by Old Prince to meet with Madam Ying. Even though he later found out that the secret passage wasn’t entirely made by Old Prince, he didn’t stop suspecting them.
As for the treasures and weapons in the secret passage, they had been there for a long time. Old Prince must have benefited from it as well. However, he did not move these things back home. Instead, he stayed in the secret passage. He probably thought that this place was safer and did not know that it would be leaked one day.
Crown Prince Zhao only needed to spread the news. Once King of South Jin heard that there was a secret passage underground in Prefecture Lord’s Mansion, he would send people to check it. It would be strange if he didn’t think it was wrong when he found the three exits.
That was why the matter of burning the Huai An Palace and the massacre of Prefecture Lord’s Mansion happened.
King of South Jin did not feel that he had done anything wrong. He had also sent people to investigate the relationship between the two. Although the results did not specify that the two were involved, it was more or less the same.
It turned out that before King of South Jin ascended to the throne, Madam Ying had met Old Prince in the prince’s manor. The two of them had met a few times and had a good impression of each other, but because of King of South Jin, they didn’t dare to take a step further.
It was only when Old Prince discovered the secret passage that he used it to enter Madam Ying’s bedchamber through the secret passage. He forced Madam Ying into the dark night and threatened that she would not reveal this matter. Madam Ying had a good impression of him, so she forced him to maintain a low-profile and long-term relationship with him.
When the two of them grew older, Madam Ying lost her youth and beauty, and the relationship between the two gradually faded.
None of them had expected that the secret passage would be discovered one day. How could the furious King of South Jin allow them to live in this world and sully their eyes?
In a remote palace in the palace, Old Prince was locked in here in a sorry state. Surrounding him was a dark and murky water prison. His limbs were pierced through by iron chains and stared at the wall. He had long lost the will to live.
King of South Jin did not kill him like he did Madam Ying. Instead, he imprisoned him here and tortured him slowly. When all the courtiers guessed Old Prince’s whereabouts, he was not far away from them.
Tang Yue had also asked Crown Prince Zhao about Old Prince’s whereabouts out of curiosity. Crown Prince Zhao only replied with four words, “It’s better to die than to live!”
Tang Yue felt a chill all over his body. He could roughly guess how miserable his fate was.
From then on, he knew that this person would never appear in this world again.
“What does the king think of Wang Zixu? Does he suspect that Wang Zixu is not his biological son?” Tang Yue thought about this matter with a normal mind. He felt that Wang Zixu would not be able to live a good life.
“He hid in the ancestral temple and did not come out. He said that he sincerely prayed for the people and Royal Father. Originally, Royal Father had planned to call him back during the New Year Festival and wanted to entrust him with an important task. Who would have thought… Ah, even if Royal Father did not say it on the surface, he would still have a thorn in his heart.”
“But I see that King is not such an irrational person. Wang Zixu’s appearance is somewhat similar to King. It can be seen that he is his biological son, but it is inevitable that he will vent his anger. I think he will not be put in an important position for a long time.”
“That’s true. First Prince looks like Royal Father the most among all princes. He is also the eldest son, so he has been pampered since he was young. But Royal Father pampered him in the past, and he will hate him in the future. A cuckold is not something that can be taken off easily.”
From now on, whenever King of South Jin saw Wang Zixu, he would definitely think of his dead mother. When he thought of that woman, he would naturally think of him and Old Prince. How could he be in a good mood then?
If King of South Jin was in a bad mood, First Prince’s life would definitely not be good.
“Then we can kill two birds with one stone?” Tang Yue was really envious of Crown Prince Zhao’s luck. He had easily defeated their current opponent.
It had to be said that the secret passage had been discovered in time.
“At least for the time being, there won’t be any flies watching us.”
“It’s a pity that the treasures and weapons in the secret passage, why didn’t His Highness bring those things back first?” That was a huge sum of money.
Crown Prince Zhao stared at him with a strange expression. “How did you know that I didn’t bring those things back?”
“Didn’t you say… the king found those things in the secret passage?” The news came from the palace. It couldn’t be fake, could it?
Crown Prince Zhao patted his thigh and asked Tang Yue to sit on it. He then pointed at his lips. When Tang Yue unwillingly kissed them, he said, “A large part of the treasure has the official seal of the previous dynasty. It’s not good to bring it back. I only chose a portion that can be used at any time. And those weapons, I only picked the useful parts. The rest are either rusty or too backward. It’s not very useful at all.”
Crown Prince Zhao blinked complacently. “We can’t just drag a bunch of useless trash back. We’ll just occupy the place for nothing.”
Tang Yue’s mouth twitched. He thought to himself, “You don’t want to bring the trash back and give it to you, Royal Father. Is it appropriate for you to do this?”
Luckily, King of South Jin kept those things in his inventory. It was as if a pie had fallen from the sky. He did not know that those were all trash that his son did not want.
While Tang Yue was mourning for King of South Jin, he also felt that it was not worth it. He had raised so many sons, but none of them were sincere towards him. It was truly sad and pitiful.