Chapter 436: Just how many true culprits lie behind the Moon Noble Consort's death!

He used a rope to tightly tie Zongzheng Wuheng to a tree.

Only then did the group walk far away.

"Speak."

"However, you'd better not play any more tricks."

"If I see through you… Zongzheng Wuheng, which body part do you want to lose next? Feel free to try."

Zongzheng Wuheng: "You vicious, cruel woman!"

Li Qingluo played with the small knife in her hand.

"You don't even want your tongue anymore?"

She said the incredibly cruel threat in a light tone, forcing Zongzheng Wuheng to blacken his face and shut his mouth.

Even though he had cursed her to death in his heart, he didn't dare utter a single foul word.

After all, this woman had literally crushed his feet!

Although he could have died from the pain, she had people rescue him back.

Her goal was to make him suffer while alive, and die without a quick death!

What Zongzheng Wuheng regrets most in this life is provoking Li Qingluo, this poisonous woman!

Watching large raindrops drift down from the treetops above and smash onto her eyelashes, she didn't even blink.

Just like that day when his blood splashed into her eyes.

Under all kinds of humiliation, Zongzheng Wuheng had no choice but to say: "The Moon Noble Consort of DaLiang is the princess born of the main wife of Great Chu, and thus my paternal aunt."

"You should know about this, right?"

Li Qingluo: "I know."

"I've heard that the Great Chu emperor doted on his own blood sister from a young age."

"Back then, their birth mother was harmed by treacherous people and died miserably in the cold palace; the two siblings relied on each other for two years, nearly starving to death before the former emperor of Great Chu remembered they still had these two children."

"But so what?"

"He still ruthlessly sent his own blood sister far away to DaLiang."

"Even the closest blood ties become sacrifices to these monarchs' political interests."

Zongzheng Wuheng gave a cold smile: "It's true that Aunt was favored by the father emperor."

"But back then, her decision to marry far away to your DaLiang was her own stubborn choice."

"How can I blame my father emperor?"

Li Qingluo: "Why exactly did Duan Rongshi let you return to Great Chu? Is it related to the Moon Noble Consort's death?"

Zongzheng Wuheng's raised eyebrows slowly lowered: "Since you've guessed it, why must you come up and ask for clarification?"

"Wouldn't it be fine to just let me return to Great Chu?"

"Or are you still afraid that this cripple of mine could someday take revenge on you?"

Li Qingluo: "Stop the nonsense!"

"If you want to die happily, just keep talking!"

Li Qingluo didn't fall for his tricks, nor did she want to keep going in circles with him.

She grabbed Zongzheng Wuheng's collar, looking at his handsome yet gaunt face now turned deathly pale, without a trace of pity.

Defeated in her hands, Zongzheng Wuheng had also suffered greatly; now he truly just wanted to get free quickly.

Afraid that this poisonous woman might think up some other way to torment him, he could only say: "It's Duan Rongshi, who wants me to return to Great Chu to help him investigate who was behind his birth mother's death back then."

Li Qingluo blinked slightly: "You mean… someone in Great Chu also took part in killing the Moon Noble Consort?"

Zongzheng Wuheng: "……Yes!"

"Just how many true culprits lie behind the Moon Noble Consort's death?"

"The entire former court and harem of DaLiang."

"Now Great Chu is also involved."

"What heinous crime did she commit back then that so many people cannot tolerate her?"

"And let her die so miserably!"

Li Qingluo felt awful just thinking about it, let alone how Duan Rongshi must feel.

"What clues do you have? Also, why does Duan Rongshi trust you?"

"If you return to Great Chu, you will no longer fulfill your promise to help him investigate the murderer; what will you do then?"

Zongzheng Wuheng: "He gave me a letter."

"Besides the heading with Aunt's name, the letter also contains a verse: 'When will longing and meeting know? This moment, this night is hard to bear.'"

"I've seen it; that's the father emperor's handwriting."

"A bolt of lightning just then sliced across the night sky."

"It illuminated Li Qingluo's shock in her eyes, clear as day."

"Although she had only studied for a year, it wasn't hard to understand the word 'longing' mentioned in every character of that poem!"

"Why would the Great Chu emperor use such a poem to long for his own sister?"

"If this got out, wouldn't it be like pouring a basin of filth onto the Moon Noble Consort, impossible to explain?"

"Such intimacy that invites misunderstanding, even between blood siblings, is hardly tolerable in the world."

"Wait a moment!"

"A misunderstanding… a misunderstanding!"

"Seventeen years ago, the Yan Emperor, who originally loved the Moon Noble Consort so deeply that all the concubines in the palace wished only to favor her alone, suddenly changed his face overnight."

"I've heard that since the Moon Noble Consort married into DaLiang, after Duan Rongshi, no more princes or princesses were born in the harem."

The sixth prince, Duan Rongshi, was also the first prince Consort De successfully bore two years after Consort Yue's death.

And during those years when Consort Yue was favored, it was rumored that Emperor Yan never favored any other concubine!

Li Qingluo believed that during those years, Emperor Yan must have had genuine feelings for Consort Yue.

Otherwise, an emperor would find it extremely difficult to achieve such a degree.

But he suddenly turned cold-hearted, even allowing the entire palace, top to bottom, to cause Consort Yue's death……

Even later he became decadent and licentious; toward Duan Rongshi he went from being a kind father to being utterly indifferent, and eventually he only saw him as a tool, a knife to be used.

Emperor Yan, toward this son, had completely lost any paternal affection.

Then, was it the same for Consort Yue?

A sudden shift from love to hate must have been triggered by a major event that turned his love into hatred!

"There is an expert beside Empress Gao who can imitate others' handwriting."

"It is said that even the real person would find it hard to tell true from false."

"This letter was forged by Empress Gao!"

Zong Zheng Wuheng stared at her silently, thinking: Although she is a ruthless and vicious poisonous woman, she is also a keen and intelligent person.

To think of this so quickly, her mind is indeed sharp.

"I heard that this letter was found by Duan Rongshi in Consort De's palace."

"After Duan Rongshi handed me the handwriting for me to identify, he got the idea of sending me back to DaLiang to investigate this matter for him."

"After all, I am a disabled prince; even if I were to return alive to DaLiang, no one would still fear me or take me to heart."

Li Qingluo nodded, understanding Duan Rongshi's intention.

"He had you investigate where these handwritings came from?"

To imitate someone's handwriting, you must first have the original.

And where did these originals come from? That is indeed worth investigating.

Zong Zheng Wuheng: "He says he clearly remembers that, when he was young, whenever a letter arrived from DaLiang, his birth mother would always read it and then burn it completely clean."

"Moreover, since his aunt returned to DaLiang for a visit and took away Qin Yu that time, for some unknown reason, correspondence with DaLiang was cut off thereafter."

"So, the letter that was found must certainly be a forgery."

"But if someone wanted to imitate the father emperor's handwriting to write this letter, then there must still be someone who brought the emperor's script to DaLiang."

"Who could that person be?"

"Only someone close to the emperor of Chu!"

Chu, there really is someone who wanted to kill Consort Yue!

Who could that person be?

Duan Rongshi and Li Qingluo, who know nothing about Chu, cannot guess.

So, he must send Zong Zheng Wuheng back to Chu.

There is no one more suitable than Zong Zheng Wuheng for this task.

As for Consort Yue being misunderstood by Emperor Yan as having an improper relationship with her own brother back then, Li Qingluo finds it hard to imagine what her situation was like.

Countless slanders and insults would have driven that once pure and noble princess to whatever hell.

Could it be that Emperor Yan even doubted Duan Rongshi's lineage?

She could not bring herself to ask that.

In the darkness, she again fixed her gaze on Zong Zheng Wuheng: "Did he give you poison?"

Zong Zheng Wuheng chuckled softly: "You are indeed his future consort."

"You even guessed that?"

Li Qingluo: "The Prince Su's manor originally wanted Grandfather Luo to intervene, then they sent Doctor Du to pose as a white‑haired, masked figure…… to let you know that a divine doctor had diagnosed you, confirming you were truly beyond cure……"

"But this act might still have been performed for my benefit."

"He wanted to release you to investigate the accomplices who killed his mother, yet he could not go back on the promise he personally made to me."

"Thus, the Prince Su's manor staged the scene of you being rescued!"

Li Qingluo said, and even she gave a cold laugh, her voice tinged with a few notes of sorrow.

"Duan Rongshi, you really went to great trouble."

"First the Zheng siblings, then Zong Zheng Wuheng."

"You also know that I have been making concession after concession."

"But if you don't speak, how would I know……"

She stopped speaking, instead turning her gaze to Zong Zheng Wuheng again: "What poison did you take?"

Having come this far, Zong Zheng Wuheng had nothing left to hide.

He replied calmly: "It is the Ten‑Ingredient Deadly Powder."

"Supposedly, one must take the antidote each month; if a dose is missed, the victim will suffer agonizing pain until the intestines rupture and death follows."

"If I do not obtain the antidote in half a year, he will immediately stop sending it."

"Do you really think he is a good person?"

Li Qingluo: "Do you even have the nerve to mock him?"

"When you gave me the medicine earlier, you later wanted everyone in Jinling City to take poison—how could you not think you would have today?"

She said, rising to her feet, and looked at him as if he were a corpse: "You deserve it!"

After speaking, she picked up a nearby wooden stick and struck him with a blow that knocked him unconscious.

Before Li Qingluo climbed onto the carriage and fell asleep, she ordered the killers: "When we reach Yangzhou, find a reliable escort bureau and send him back to Chu."

Then she had the assassins capture Ping Qinghong, who had had enough of watching the show.

Finally, she instructed not to bury herself, and then she fell asleep.

Facing Pei Qinghong's skepticism, Li Qingluo coldly retorted, "What's it to you?"

She also betrayed herself.

She had not fulfilled the need to kill Zongzheng Wuhen to avenge herself, Hudie, Deng Mama, and even the innocent villagers of Wanjiacun who were implicated.

Her heart softened.

Not toward Zongzheng Wuhen.

But toward Duan Rongshi.

She also wanted him to uncover who truly harmed his birth mother back then.

She also wanted the truth behind Consort Yue's death to be revealed.

Then let Zongzheng Wuhen live a bit longer...

But she didn't know how to face Duan Rongshi.

She didn't know whether she would keep compromising her principles and interests for him in the future.

Li Qingluo felt afraid.

Moreover, she was about to go to MiaoJiang.

So this is why the assassins hid her first.

She wanted to wait until she woke up to think about these matters.

But unexpectedly, this sleep lasted five days.

After driving away Pei Qinghong, Li Qingluo asked a few more questions about the situation in Jinling.

Before hearing two sentences, her chest suddenly tightened.