The Fifth Princess’ wedding was being held officially.
Because it was a marriage between the two countries, the ceremony was not completed until the Fifth Princess returned to the Yan Kingdom from the Qin Kingdom.
The Fifth Princess wore the wedding dress and covered the red bridal veil. Then, she was supported to the sedan obediently, which was quite rare. The Empress stood in the high and looked in tears at the sedan going far away
“Princess, all the Empress’ servants have returned to the palace.” Inside the large and beautiful wedding sedan, a palace maid lowered down the unveiled curtain and said softly to the Fifth Princess in the red bridal veil.
The red bridal veil was ripped down, revealing the Fifth Princess’ venomous and crazy face. In the red bridal dress, her face looked distorted and atrocious.
“Have you brought the things all?” She looked outside and asked sharply in a low voice.
“Ye… ye… Yes.” The palace maid shivered and took a dagger and a bottle of medicine out of her arms. She begged nervously, “Your Highness, could you please not do this? It will incur something terrible. I… I…”
“Shut up. If you dare to say more, I will kill you!” The Fifth Princess snarled and took a cold glance at the palace maid. Then, the Fifth Princess took the dagger and opened the porcelain bottle. A faint fragrance floated out of it and blended into the pollen. It was impossible to smell something unusual.
She drew out of the dagger adroitly, poured down the medicine from the small porcelain bottle on the tip of the dagger, and then said to the palace maid coldly, “Wipe it evenly!”
“Yes… yes!” The palace maid quivered and reached out her hand to wipe the liquid medicine at the tip of the dagger.
“You, hurry up!” The Fifth Princess ordered impatiently, as she curved her red-painted lips coldly. Seeing the palace maid acting so cautiously and lightly, the Fifth Princess got angry and demanded. “With more strength. It is not painful!”
It was not painful, but lethal!
As long as the skin was excoriated, and stained with the medicine, it would take away anyone’s life. The palace maid had seen it a few times, so how could she not know about it? But she did not dare to disobey the Fifth Princess’ urgent order and had to move her fingers a bit faster in tears and terror. However, the sharp dagger accidentally struck her finger.
Blood gushed instantly.
“Your… Your Highness!” The palace maid screamed in horror as she looked at the gushing blood on her fingertips turning black.
“Why are you screaming?” The Fifth Princess’ attention was completely not on her palace maid. Looking at the black blood coming out, the Fifth Princess felt relieved and thought that the medicine seemed to work well, though it had been out of use for a long time.
“Your Highness…” The palace maid fell beside with her hands and feet twitching and her eyes turning black. She just looked imploringly at the Fifth Princess’ face with beautiful makeup, but the palace maid’s lips became black and she was unable to speak.
The Fifth Princess did not pay any attention to the palace maid. Instead, she drew the dagger wiped with the flower liquid into the sheath, put it back into her new sleeve and tied it carefully to the bottom of the sleeve. When she finished, the palace maid had lain on the ground motionlessly with a dark face.
The Fifth Princess kicked the palace maid’s body, reached out her hand to feel the maid’s breath, and then showed a complacent smile.
She took out a cup from the shelf on the side, poured the remaining medicine in the medicine bottle into the cup, and shook it. Then, the water inside was as clear as before.
She grabbed the palace maid’s hair to raise her head and poured the water from the cup into her slightly-opened mouth. Although most of it fell to the ground, a small part still flowed into the palace maid’s mouth. Then, the Fifth Princess pushed the palace maid away, threw the cup in her hand heavily and let out a scream.
The woman’s sharp scream and the sound of broken things startled the wedding procession.
Before anyone could react, a screech rang out of the sedan, “Hurry up! Come on! Help… help!”
The woman’s frightened voice came out with a slight trembling sound of panic.
Bai Yichen was the first to react, and he quickly jumped from the horse to the carriage where the sedan was on. He pulled the red curtain in front of him, but unexpectedly, the oncoming was a shiny dagger…
The wedding procession of the Yan Kingdom left the Qin Kingdom. Another princess married to the Yan Kingdom far away from her home.
There had been no war between the Qin Kingdom and the Yan Kingdom for several decades, so common people did not pay too much attention to the marriage. It seemed to be an unquestionable moral truth that the princess married the prince. Especially, two decades ago, there was once a case. Therefore, the grand ceremony today did not create much of a stir. But the wedding ceremony of two decades ago could create waves of emotions.
At that time, the friction between the Qin Kingdom and the Yan Kingdom was so apparent that several small-scaled wars were taken on the borders from time to time. Therefore, Princess Royal Yunruo’s imperial marriage had a different meaning.
But it seemed to have little to do with Mo Xuetong now.
She was now taking Mo Ye and He Xia to select the embroidery in the Xiuning Workshop. A few days later, it was the date for her marriage. So she should not have come out personally at this time, but the sudden message sent by He Xia made Mo Xuetong disguise herself as a common lady and take out Mo Ye who was good at martial arts and He Xia who had clues.
The three did not go to see the shopkeeper. Instead, they walked into the Xiuning Workshop slowly with their faces veiled up.
There were still a lot of customers in the shop, and most of them were women and some from the official families. Among them, some wore veils as Mo Xuetong did while others did not.
“Miss, this way.” Mo Ye pulled Mo Xuetong’s sleeve secretly. Sure enough, they saw Shopkeeper Xing talking to a person in the dark corner of the stairs. The person was dressed in a dark robe. But his face was invisible, because he stood in the shadow, facing the crowd diagonally.
“Miss, this is the man. I thought his figure was rather familiar when I noticed him come in. In the past, when Madam asked me to reconcile, I once saw him. I guess he should be a guard or something, because sometimes in the shadow is that man.” He Xia said with certainty.
“Miss, the man is very strong. Please do not come any closer. He is in a good position where he can see others clearly, but others cannot. Obviously, he is vigilant. If you come closer, he will notice you.” Mo Ye said in a low voice, as she pulled Mo Xuetong’s hand and pretended to pull her to see the embroidery beside.
Mo Xuetong pretended to glance unconsciously over the man’s side face, and it was just a common face without any special features. He was thirty years old or so, and anything else about him was rather invisible. The man did choose the right place, as if he had calculated before. He did not reveal any more information, just like a common person talking to Shopkeeper Xing.
“Miss, should we go and see clearly?” He Xia picked up a small embroidered handkerchief, put in front of Mo Xuetong, and asked in a low voice.
“Don’t go there. That person is watching here.” Mo Xuetong looked serious and sensed that there was absolutely a secret in the Xiuning Workshop. The secret was even concealed to Mo Xuetong’s closest maid. So what did her mother try to hide?
Mo Xuetong thought, “It happened more than 30 years ago. Even if my mother was King Jin’s daughter, judging from the mother’s age, she had been born for a short time, or just born. Then, mother fled away as the legitimate daughter of Fu General Manor. But there were no more details later. With mother’s age at that time, she was unable to escape alone.
“If Mother did not escape alone, who helped her? Where was the person? Why have I never seen the person for so many years!”
In other words, there was another possibility, which shocked Mo Xuetong more!
Perhaps, King Jin’s Consort had not died at that time!
If King Jin’s Consort gave birth to Mo Xuetong’s mother during her fleeing, where had she gone later?
The desolate yard flashed inexplicably through Mo Xuetong’s mind. Though deserted, it faced her mother’s yard right, from where it was clear to see every movement in Mother’s room. So, did someone spy on mother, or lean against the window to watch mother tenderly? The thought surged up as tempting as having roots in Mo Xuetong’s mind.
The King Jin’s Consort, Mo Xuetong’s real grandmother, was not dead at the time, but was just hidden.
Because of the mother’s affairs, Mo Xuetong had secretly inquired that when the King Jin rebelled and was sentenced to death by the previous Emperor, the King Jin, the King Jin’s Consort and their daughter at an early age were killed together. It was said that the King Jin’s Consort was pregnant and about to give birth to the baby. So would it be possible that the baby was Mo Xuetong’s mother?
“If my mother could survive at that time, did it mean that the King Jin’s Consort secretly escaped? But how about the King Jin?”
Mo Xuetong glanced at the guard’s face and a chill rose up in her heart. She gripped the handkerchief. Why did her second uncle show her the jade token? Was the current Emperor, Emperor Zongwen, still investigating his uncle’s conspiracy case? Was it the root cause of the fall of Fu General Manor in the last life?
Emperor Zongwen was an excellent king, so why did he still cling to the old case 30 years ago? Since the chief plotters had been executed and no offspring had escaped, why did he bring it to the spotlight now? Emperor Zongwen still cared about the old case, so in the last life, Mo Xuetong’s grandfather’s family was involved. And then, was it the reason that the jade token was needed to be found from the jade flower?
A thread of thought began to emerge.
The former Emperor knew that the King Jin’s Consort had escaped and thought the baby in her belly was a boy, so the former Emperor wanted to cut the weeds and dig up the roots, leaving no chance for hope!
But it was not right. Mo Xuetong thought. Judging from her mother’s words, her mother had been suspected and living in the panic. That is to say, someone investigated what had happened, and even tracked to mother. However, Mother was a woman and posed no threat to the current sovereignty. Why did those people not let go of her?
Mo Xuetong’s mind was in a mess, and she could not give shape to her idea. She wondered what she missed so that she could not find a thread out.
“Miss, that man is leaving!” He Xia pulled Mo Xuetong’s sleeve and said anxiously.
Exactly, after exchanging some words, the man took out of copper coins and handed it to Shopkeeper Xing. And Shopkeeper Xing smiled, took out of cloth bag from the counter and handed it to the man.
Everything seemed normal. And there was nothing unusual. It was just an ordinary business.
The man looked around at the people in the shop and took the cloth bag in hand when seeing nobody notice him. Then, he smiled and nodded at Shopkeeper Xing, and strode out.
“Follow him.” Mo Xuetong watched the man walk past her, winked at Mo Ye and said voicelessly.
Mo Ye nodded and followed.
Shopkeeper Xing, like a common businessman, weighed the money bag in his hands and threw it to the accountant, about to leave. But he noticed the girl in front, raised his head and narrowed his eyes. It was hard to see the face under the veil, but a pair of bright and watery eyes.
“Shopkeeper Xing, are you busy? Is there any good embroidery? I come to select some new embroideries. I wonder if it is proper.” A sweet and gentle voice came into the Shopkeeper Xing’s ears.
Shopkeeper Xing could not help tightening himself, and a trace of acridity flashed in his eyes. But he grinned to a wide smile instantly, saluted her and said, “Your Highness, this way, please. There are some new goods. I plan to send some to your manor. And what a coincidence! Your Highness, you come to my shop, and I don’t need to send them now.”
