Chapter 415

"Yan Song?"

Zhu Shoujing frowned, pulled the corpse out from under the ruins, and turned the head to distinguish it carefully.

"Really dead?"

Zhu Shoujing's eyes widened.

This corpse was thin and long, its complexion, which had originally been like cold iron, was now a bizarre pale blue, three strands of gray-white long beard were scattered on its chest, and a pair of long, narrow, gloomy eyes were wide open, emitting a strange light like a dead fish.

The figure, appearance, clothing, and even every wrinkle were exactly like Yan Song's, without the slightest difference.

This Senior Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, who had led half of the civil officials to force the Emperor yesterday morning, the important figure Li Miao had restrained Zheng Anqi Sheng to kill and let the Emperor take the risk of facing Ji Tianrui to kill, seemed to have really died so unclearly.

Zhu Shoujing waved his hand, and the soldiers around immediately dispersed and left the courtyard. He carried the corpse and walked quickly to the Dragon Chariot, saying in a low voice.

"Your Majesty..."

The Emperor lifted the curtain, stepped down slowly, raised his hand, absorbed the corpse into his hand, and scanned the corpse up and down with true energy as if it were real.

A moment later, his brows furrowed.

Zhu Shoujing's heart skipped a beat, and he said in a low voice.

"Your Majesty, if it's a fake body, I will..."

The Emperor frowned and waved his hand.

"It's not a fake body."

"It is indeed him, not a disguise, nor a substitute. I have had many contacts with him, and Minister Zhu has also planted people around him... come and see."

The Emperor raised the corpse's right hand.

"He is used to holding the pen with the belly of his middle finger when writing, and the bones have deformed over time. And the wrinkles on his body and corners of his eyes, these details are accumulated from long-term habits and cannot be forged."

"He is indeed dead."

Hearing this, Zhu Shoujing first breathed a sigh of relief, and then became nervous again.

"But... it shouldn't be..."

"Yan Song should be an extremely important partner for both the Eastern Depot and Yingzhou; if not for this, when Lord Li came to kill Yan Song that day, Zheng Anqi Sheng would not have come personally to protect him."

"Even if the Yingzhou people are not good at planning, Liu Jin should have expected someone to come to kill him tonight... not even leaving a Heaven-Man guard, just smashed to death by the ruins like this?"

The Emperor shook his head slowly.

"He didn't die at your hands; he was already dead before we came."

Zhu Shoujing's eyes widened abruptly.

"How could... how did he die?"

The Emperor said in a deep voice.

"Gu, Gu insects."

He threw the corpse on the ground and scanned the surroundings.

After watching for a while, he walked slowly to the side of the ruins cut out by Zhu Shoujing, blasted open the collapsed roof beam with a palm, reached out and sucked, and pulled out a corpse from inside.

A corpse that looked extremely similar to Li Miao, wearing a simple long robe.

Zhu Shoujing exclaimed.

"Yingzhou!"

The Emperor said in a deep voice.

"Also died of Gu poison."

"Under the ruins, there are at least three corpses of Yingzhou Heaven-Men."

Zhu Shoujing pondered for a moment and cleared his thoughts.

"So, they didn't give up on Yan Song, and Liu Jin also expected Your Majesty to come, and also left Heaven-Man guards, but these people couldn't stop Your Majesty... so the person they used to block Your Majesty was Ji Tianrui."

"But Ji Tianrui suddenly turned against them; she not only killed all the Yingzhou Heaven-Men here, but even killed Yan Song in advance."

The Emperor nodded.

"Since Yingzhou and the Eastern Depot were willing to hand Yan Song over to her for protection, it means she had already gained their trust, and the degree of trust was not low; I suppose they had been cooperating for a long time... Why did she suddenly turn against them?"

"What exactly does she want, betraying Yingzhou; Li Miao and I cannot accept her cooperation, what exactly is she trying to do?"

As the Emperor spoke, his expression became increasingly gloomy.

Although his personality and stance had been changed, the experience of being calculated by Ji Tianrui from head to toe still made him feel a headache when he thought about it.

He exerted force unconsciously, breaking the cervical spine of the Yingzhou Heaven-Man's corpse, sticky blood and flesh splattered all over his hands with a squelch, which also awakened him from his emotions.

The Emperor suddenly clenched his fist.

"Not good."

"Li Miao and Zheng Anqi Sheng are restraining each other, I am here, Ji Tianrui is free... The Imperial Palace! The remaining offerings and Heaven-Men cannot stop Ji Tianrui! She's going to swap bases!"

"Go! Return to the palace!"

There was no time to ride the Dragon Chariot; the Emperor and Zhu Shoujing jumped onto the roof with a flash and rushed toward the Forbidden City like lightning.

————————

Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Zai stood in front of a map, frowning and thinking.

This was a map of Shuntian Prefecture, with more than a dozen labels hanging on it, with various names written on them.

There were Li Miao, Zheng Anqi Sheng, Yan Song, the Emperor, and Ji Tianrui.

And in the upper right corner of the map, there was a thick stack of labels, all written with the two characters "Liu Jin," about twenty or so.

Zhu Zai recalled what Li Miao had told him.

"Guard Commander, Liu Jin's method of forcibly splitting himself without cultivating Nature Cultivation must not be able to create too many clones. According to my estimation, at most thirty-four or thirty-five. Subtracting the ones that died before, there are at most about twenty left now."

"But these twenty clones are pervasive, difficult to detect, and may appear beside you or your family members at any time... If I and the Emperor are not here, you cannot eat anything, nor can you contact any strangers alone."

Zhu Zai sighed and tapped lightly on the stack of labels.

At this moment, three light sounds came from outside the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

One long, two short.

It was precisely the knocking method Li Miao had agreed with him to use when it was inconvenient; when the Emperor summoned the clan members to the palace before the Battle of the Imperial Mausoleum, Li Miao used this secret signal when talking to him at night.

But Zhu Zai's expression darkened abruptly.

"Who?"

He spoke loudly, but secretly waved his hand.

Attendant Ruan Mei, who was hiding in the dark in the room, drew the Emei daggers from her waist and came to the door silently with a flash.

"Lord Zhu, the Lady is worried that you are working hard day and night, so she made some soothing soup herself and let me bring it to you."

A clear and sharp voice came from outside the door, answering respectfully.

A cold smile appeared on Zhu Zai's face.

He and Lady Zhu had been married for decades and knew each other like the back of their hands. He had a quick temper, and once he was anxious, he couldn't eat anything, let alone some soothing soup; how could Lady Zhu come to disturb him at this critical moment?

Outside the door was Liu Jin.

Attendant Ruan Mei had already placed the Emei daggers against the door, turned her head to look at Zhu Zai, ready to smash the figure outside the door along with the gate at any time.

Zhu Zai shook his head and said loudly.

"Come in."

The gate was pushed open slowly.

A young eunuch with a delicate appearance carried a food box, walked in slowly with his head down, and bowed to Zhu Zai after seeing him, but the food box was steady and didn't spill a drop.

"Lord Zhu."

Zhu Zai turned his back to him, looking at the map with his hands behind his back, looking like he was deep in thought, and pointed casually to the side table.

The young eunuch walked over quickly and put down the food box.

Attendant Ruan Mei followed him like a shadow, silently, with two Emei daggers pressed against the back of his head and heart, ready to kill him at any time.

And the young eunuch seemed completely unaware, opened the food box, really took out a bowl of soothing soup from it, and put it on the table along with a few side dishes.

"Lord Zhu, please enjoy."

Having said that, he was about to bow and retreat.

Zhu Zai turned around abruptly and said coldly.

"Where are you going?"

The young eunuch's footsteps paused.

"Naturally, to report back to the Lady... Lord Zhu."

Once these words were spoken, Zhu Zai was absolutely certain that this young eunuch was Liu Jin.

He sneered.

"Are you trying to harm my family?"

The young eunuch answered respectfully.

"I dare not." He turned his head slowly, his delicate face reflected by the candlelight... there was a sorrowful look like a woman's on it.

"It's just that I had a brief encounter with the Young Master, my life is coming to an end, so I came to settle it, seeking peace of mind."

As he spoke, his eyes really turned red.

Zhu Zai felt a chill and couldn't help but take half a step back.

"Are you crazy?"

The young eunuch nodded.

"I suppose so, Lord Zhu."

"Without cultivating Nature Cultivation, forcibly doing this kind of thing will naturally be backlashed. Every time one of my clones dies, I become thinner, and the influence of the clones becomes stronger."

"Although Young Master Zhu is trash, he was raised by you hand in hand; if Liu Jinyi didn't really love him, how could Liu Jin hide beside him without being detected?"

"Just like the Emperor, is it Zhuang Zhou dreaming of a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming of Zhuang Zhou, who can tell?"

Zhu Zai felt nauseous.

He seemed to see a monster formed by the flesh and blood of dozens of corpses, with facial features, hair, fingernails, and teeth all mixed together, vibrating its flesh and making human sounds at him.

He finally understood where Liu Jin's inexplicable fanatical loyalty to the Emperor came from... Liu Jin was a madman.

Before being split by Zheng Anqi Sheng, before sneaking beside Zhu Yijing under the pseudonym Liu Jinyi, he was already a madman. And precisely because he was a madman, he could withstand Zheng Anqi Sheng's splitting.

In Li Miao's previous life's words, he was a "Stockholm Syndrome" patient who would uncontrollably fall in love with his abusers and enemies.

Because the Emperor made him a eunuch, he fell in love with the Emperor and was loyal to him; because he had to pretend to be a woman to sleep with Zhu Yijing, this humiliation made him fall in love with Zhu Yijing.

He was a complete madman—now he had become a monster.

Just as Liu Jin finished saying these words, he suddenly paused, his whole body stiffened in place, like a dead object. After a while, he suddenly trembled.

After shaking, his demeanor changed.

He returned to the "normal Liu Jin" appearance like a puppet.

He bowed to Zhu Zai expressionlessly.

"Zhu—"

"Kill him!"

Zhu Zai gave an order, and Attendant Ruan Mei struck abruptly!

The Emei daggers pierced into the back of the young eunuch's head and heart in an instant, and then stirred—the young eunuch fell to the ground, twitched like a bug, and lost his breath.

Zhu Zai looked at the corpse guardedly.

After waiting for a long time, there was no abnormality.

Zhu Zai frowned and pondered for a moment, then turned his head abruptly to look at the soothing soup brought by Liu Jin on the side table.

He walked quickly to the table and reached out to take it.

"Lord Zhu! It might be poisonous!"

Attendant Ruan Mei shouted.

Zhu Zai waved his hand, brought the bowl to his chest, fanned his palm over it, and smelled the scent—the next moment, his fists clenched tightly.

This soothing soup was indeed made by Lady Zhu!

Lady Zhu knew he had a quick temper and would make soothing soup for him after he finished his official duties. But she also knew that he mostly didn't have time to drink it slowly, so she would fish out the ingredients, put in cooling medicinal herbs, and serve it to him after it cooled down.

There was absolutely no second person in the world who did this!

Liu Jin really just came from Lady Zhu's side!

Zhu Zai was anxious and shouted sharply.

"Go! Everyone follow me!"

Having said that, he rushed toward the side hall where Lady Zhu and Zhu Yijing lived.

Behind him, the Heaven-Men left behind by the Xiaolingwei, Attendant Ruan Mei, and several surrendered offerings followed him and rushed away.

————————

In the side room on the west side of the side hall, Lady Zhu was already fast asleep.

In the side room on the east side of the side hall, Zhu Yijing was still awake.

It had been three days since the Liu Jinyi incident was discovered... In these three days, Zhu Zai had not scolded him once, everything was as usual, and he even talked to him about family matters during meals.

But Zhu Zai no longer discussed official business with him.

He knew that Zhu Zai was completely disappointed in him.

Not only because he didn't find anything suspicious about Liu Jinyi, but more because his dissatisfaction with Li Miao was put on the table and shouted out.

The fundamental reason Zhu Zai gave up on him was that he felt that no matter how hard he tried, it couldn't compare to Li Miao's care for him. So Zhu Zai would rather give up on his cultivation than let him have the idea of opposing Li Miao.

He understood everything.

He might be stupid, but he understood Zhu Zai.

Because for more than twenty years, he had been thinking every moment about how to get Zhu Zai's approval. His understanding of Zhu Zai was even far better than his understanding of himself.

He understood that Zhu Zai was making the best choice for him.

But admitting this was equivalent to admitting that he would never get his father's approval.

This point made him painful.

So Zhu Yijing couldn't fall asleep at all, just stared at the roof in a daze.

Suddenly, footsteps came from outside the door.

He turned his head slowly, and the candlelight outside the door cast a figure on the door.

"Who?"

He reached out from under the pillow and pulled out a short knife, asking in a deep voice.

"Young Master... it's me."

The person outside the door replied.

Creak—

The door was pushed open slowly, and a palace maid walked in slowly.

"I haven't seen you, get out!"

Zhu Yijing said in a deep voice.

The palace maid didn't care at all and walked forward slowly.

Zhu Yijing gripped the hilt of the knife, his palms sweating.

"There are Heaven-Men on duty here, I only need to shout and they will arrive... don't throw away your life in vain!"

He shouted with insufficient confidence.

As he spoke, the palace maid came close.

Zhu Yijing gritted his teeth, the short knife ready to go.

But the next moment—he suddenly froze.

Because the palace maid raised her head and looked at him sorrowfully.

The face was very strange.

But the look in her eyes, he was very familiar with.

Love, worship, appreciation, worry.

That was Liu Jinyi's look, and also the reason he fell in love with Liu Jinyi.

But now, it only made him feel fear and disgust.

"You—"

Zhu Yijing said dryly.

The palace maid looked at him full of love and slowly opened her mouth.

"Young Master, I—"

Boom!

The next moment, the window lattice exploded with a bang!

Zhu Zai slashed horizontally with his sword, and the palace maid's head flew up.

"Jing'er! Are you okay!"

"Did he do anything to you! Did you say anything to him!"

Zhu Zai kicked the headless corpse away and walked quickly to Zhu Yijing, asking urgently.

Zhu Yijing was stunned for a moment.

"Ah... Father still cares about me..."

He thought this, but suddenly felt a numbness and itching on his back, as if something was about to crawl out from under his skin.

This feeling, although strange, was extremely slight, suppressed by his surging emotions, and did not get his attention.

He said tearfully.

"Father... I am fine..."

(End of chapter)