Chapter 1154

He Lingchuan heard several people say in surprise:

"Wow, it looks so much like Imperial Consort Mei."

"Could it be Imperial Consort Mei? I saw her leaving the palace to give alms a few days ago, right there at the shacks in the west of the city."

"Impossible, absolutely impossible! Imperial Consort Mei is beautiful and kind-hearted, how could she harm anyone?"

Someone sneered: "Our royal relatives, our royal family, hmm hmm..."

Before the words were finished, their mouth was covered by someone: "Are you crazy? Don't you want your life?"

He Lingchuan and Dong Rui looked at each other, exited the crowd, and continued into the city.

He Lingchuan and his companion passed through as merchants and were not given a hard time.

As soon as they entered the city, they encountered an army escorting supplies. Dozens of flatbed carts, with the things on top piled as high as a small mountain.

Looking at the direction, they were being sent to the palace city.

The civilians on the side muttered: "The food in the city is about to be looted by them; are we supposed to drink the northwest wind?"

"The people in the palace are afraid of death."

"They are afraid, but are we not afraid?"

He Lingchuan understood.

Nangong Yan's death finally made the Bo King feel fear. He gathered troops and looted supplies from all over to send to the palace city; it was just sharpening his spear at the last minute.

Heh, if he had known it would come to this, why act that way in the beginning?

"What is the situation?" Entering the city, Dong Rui muttered all the way, "I thought the ones posted on the wall would be us."

"Even if they were posted, you wouldn't be able to tell," He Lingchuan said in a low voice. "The painter hasn't seen us; based solely on the Bo King's description, what they drew would at most have one or two points of similarity to us."

Dong Rui scratched his head: "Why do I feel that the changes in Imperial Consort Mei might have something to do with us?"

He Lingchuan said shamelessly: "Strictly speaking, the changes in the entire Bo Nation have something to do with us."

The Soul-Sucking Mirror suddenly reminded He Lingchuan: "A-Hao! That thug A-Hao you subdued said that the palace guards sent by the Deputy Imperial Guard Chief to collect money from their gang are very well-informed, even knowing what Imperial Consort Mei ate for breakfast!"

He Lingchuan patted his chest, I know.

They actually passed by Nangong Yan's residence first.

This person had been immensely powerful in the Bo Nation while alive, but just a few days after his death, the doors of his large mansion were already sealed.

The people inside had long since scattered.

Dong Rui, being the meddlesome one, went around to the back alley and jumped over the wall to get inside.

The mansion had been turned upside down, with overturned furniture everywhere, and the boxes and cabinets that had been pried open were all empty.

When he came out, he sighed: What if one is powerful enough to tilt a nation? After death, isn't one still stolen clean by thieves?

Leaving the Nangong mansion, He Lingchuan's next step was to go to a teahouse to rent a quiet private room, then summon A-Hao to ask him what had happened in the palace.

This little thug was actually bruised and swollen, and two of his teeth had been knocked out.

As soon as Dong Rui saw him, he asked strangely: "What happened?"

Eh, the frequency with which he asked this question recently seemed to have increased.

A-Hao's cheeks were highly swollen; a light press made him hurt so much that tears were about to fall.

Lingguang kindly gave him a small bottle of wound medicine; A-Hao applied it, and it was cool and comfortable, with the pain fading quite a bit.

"I was robbed." He had been carrying the silver rewarded by He Lingchuan, wandering around the capital to eat and play for the past few days, and even wanted to find some business to invest in, but who knew he would be targeted, dragged into a dark alley, and beaten up, with his money also robbed clean.

Dong Rui found it funny: "You have today too?"

A thug from Julu Port was robbed by a local thug from Xun City.

A-Hao gritted his teeth: "Revenge is a dish best served cold. One day, Master Hao will teach them how to be human again!"

"One day, it might come very soon," He Lingchuan glanced at him. "Xun City is not peaceful; you had better not stay here."

"I was thinking of returning to Julu Port tomorrow," A-Hao looked at him eagerly. "Master He, I beg you to give me some guidance."

He hadn't had much contact with He Lingchuan, but felt that this person was mysterious and powerful.

Nowadays, the world is in a mess, and individuals are as small as dust; he very much hoped to get advice from a strong person.

He Lingchuan smiled: "Tell me about Imperial Consort Mei first."

"Ah, yes," A-Hao said immediately. "The palace guards don't know exactly what happened either, only that the monarch suddenly wanted to arrest Imperial Consort Mei a few days ago, but there was no one in the harem. The palace servants all said she went out to give alms, but the palace guards searched the tents where disaster relief was being provided, and there was still no one."

"Then the whole city was put under martial law, and wanted notices were posted everywhere."

It seems Imperial Consort Mei committed a major crime.

He Lingchuan nodded and said to Dong Rui: "It seems the Bo King has also reacted."

"What do you mean?" Why didn't he understand?

"The Bo King has favored Imperial Consort Mei for the past two years, but suddenly turned against her a few days ago," He Lingchuan reminded him. "Have you forgotten what major events have happened here in the last twenty days?"

"Oh?" Dong Rui recalled, "Oh! We entered the palace on behalf of the Mou Nation to demand the Bright Lamp, the Shadow Tooth Guards were killed, and Nangong Yan also died!"

These were all major events that happened on the same day! "Correct. We went to their doorstep, and the Bo King naturally denied that he had sent people to intercept the Bright Lamp. But he is not stupid; afterward, he probably guessed that someone was framing him."

"Imperial Consort Mei?" Dong Rui shrieked, "No way, such a... delicate little beauty! You say she is the mastermind, this, this, how is this possible!"

He originally wanted to say, "I feel pity for her."

A-Hao was also completely confused.

"You can know a person's face but not their heart," He Lingchuan analyzed, counting on his fingers. "For someone to go to such great lengths, they must have a deep hatred for him, and their own strength must be insufficient to seek revenge from the Bo King, so they had to borrow the power of the Mou Nation."

"This person also knew that the Second Prince's illness could only be treated with the Bright Lamp, and also knew that the Bright Lamp was ripening recently, so she was either in the palace or in the home of a high official."

"These are all clues that can be easily deduced. Heh, does the Bo King not know in his heart what he has done in the past? As the person involved, if he carefully recalls and reviews, the inside story he digs up will be far more than what we have; perhaps it is not difficult to speculate who is shooting cold arrows from behind."

"At least that's what the Bo King thinks," He Lingchuan explained. "He is, after all, a monarch of a nation. As long as he begins to suspect Imperial Consort Mei, some things will not be difficult to verify."

Dong Rui made a sound: "But the wanted charge is for harming royal relatives. This royal relative...?"

"The royal family has not been peaceful these past few years," He Lingchuan said. "The source of this Bright Lamp incident is that the Bo Nation's Second Prince suffered qi deviation, which is why he needed this treasure to help him recover. Therefore, in the eyes of the Shadow Tooth Guards, the Bo King has both the motive and the ability."

Judicial capture of thieves requires complete human and material evidence, but for the Mou Nation, conclusive material evidence is enough. As long as the whereabouts of the Bright Lamp are found, that is enough.

Dong Rui's eyes rolled, and he suddenly said: "This Second Prince's insanity, could it also be the mastermind's trick?"

"Who knows?"

"That's not right either," Dong Rui thought of a paradox. "This person was able to steal the Bright Lamp from the Shadow Tooth Guards without anyone knowing; her cultivation must be remarkable. Why would you say she has 'insufficient strength'?"

(End of chapter)