332 Background
There was an oil lamp burning in the central room. Uncle Yang took out a few pieces of paper that contained information about the recent situation in the Wu Kingdom.
“Nangong Huai is dead,” Uncle Yang said.
The reason why Nangong Huai suddenly attacked Yan Guangmao was because Song Jingchen had sent him the evidence of the Yan family sending slaves from Great Xia to the Third Prince of the Wu Kingdom.
Nangong Huai knew that he had been deceived by the Yan family, so he was naturally furious.
Coupled with the fact that the emperor of the Wu Kingdom had always favored the Third Prince, he was worried that his position would sooner or later be taken away by the Third Prince, who had the support of the Yan family.
Therefore, Nangong Huai simply drugged Emperor Wu and controlled him. Then, he lured Ghost Face back to the capital.
However, he did not expect Ghost Face and Yan Guangmao to be rescued.
Yan Guangmao never intended to help Nangong Huai.
Nangong Huai’s outcome had actually been decided a long time ago, but because of their help, he died a little earlier.
After all, without the secret letter, he would not have suddenly attacked. Even so, he had still lost.
Originally, as he had said to Ghost Face, Song Jingchen indeed didn’t intend to care about the affairs of the Wu Kingdom, but those people had provoked him several times.
It was fine if Ghost Face had simply appeared to test him during the Dragon Boat Festival.
The reason why Song Jingchen attacked was because he had been pursued by Ghost Face’s men all the way to Xunyang City.
Even though the men in black were disguised as the people of Great Xia, Song Jingchen still noticed something.
The people of the Wu Kingdom were used to using knives, which was different from using swords.
When they fought, he only suspected it. Later on, he sent a letter to Shopkeeper Wang to investigate and confirmed that those men in black were sent by the Yan family of the Wu Kingdom.
He did not know why the Yan family hated him so much, but it did not stop him from causing trouble for them.
It was said that the enemy of an enemy was a friend, but it was obvious that Nangong Huai wasn’t smart enough.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been kept in the dark by the Yan family.
“Who took his place?” Song Jingchen wasn’t surprised by this outcome. He was more curious about whether the Yan family would ascend the throne themselves or let a puppet take over.
“He’s Nangong Huai’s youngest son. Yan Guangmao is assisting the Regent.”
Nangong Huai had many sons, but all of them died unexpectedly. In the end, only his youngest son, who had just turned five, was still alive.
Song Jingchen sneered. “It seems that the Yan family has already planned this.”
Now that he thought about it, it was all thanks to the Yan family that Nangong Huai’s sons died early.
They secretly supported the Third Prince, making him think that Yan Guangmao was one of them. This way, the Third Prince thought that he had a bargaining chip to fight with the Crown Prince.
However, both of them were being used by the Yan family.
When the sandpiper and clam fought, the fisherman benefited.
This was the true motive of the Yan family.
“Have you found out who Ghost Face is?” Song Jingchen roughly read the contents of the letter and handed it to Shen Yijia.
It was nothing more than the so-called “truth” that the Yan family had shown the citizens of the Wu Kingdom.
They blamed the Third Prince for Emperor Wu’s serious illness and the assassination attempt on Yan Guangmao.
The Third Prince plotted a rebellion, and the Crown Prince, Nangong Huai, died in the palace rebellion. The Yan family had no choice but to assist the Nangong Huai’s son, Nangong Zixiao, in ascending the throne.
Uncle Yang took out another envelope and handed it over. “Eldest Young Master, have you heard of the incident at Muling Pass 23 years ago?”
Song Jingchen raised his eyebrows and pulled out the letter with his slender fingers.
Twenty-three years ago, the emperor of the Wu Kingdom, Nangong Qian, plotted to seize the throne of his brother, Nangong Ke, through a coup.
He cruelly slaughtered his brother, Nangong Ke, and his family at the palace gate, known as the Muling Pass Incident.
Uncle Yang continued, “I found out that Nangong Ke had a daughter who escaped and didn’t die. At that time, it was her personal maidservant who died.”
In other words, Ghost Face was most likely the son of the previous princess of the Wu Kingdom.
“For the sake of restoring the country? Then everything makes sense.” he thought.
“Then why didn’t Ghost Face take the throne himself?” he thought.
It couldn’t be that he didn’t like power, or perhaps there was another reason they didn’t know about yet.
Something flashed across Song Jingchen’s mind, so fast that he couldn’t catch it in time. He frowned and asked, “Where did the princess of the Wu Kingdom escape to? Who gave birth to Ghost Face?”
Uncle Yang sighed and shook his head. “The traces of the princess of the Wu Kingdom after she escaped seem to have been deliberately erased. Moreover, it’s been too long. It’s really difficult to investigate in a short time.”
The more this was the case, the more it meant that there was something going on. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have gone through so much trouble to do this. What were they hiding?
“Continue to get someone to investigate,” Song Jingchen instructed.
“Yes sir.”
The house fell silent for a moment. The candlelight crackled, and at the same time, there was a thud.
Song Jingchen was shocked. He looked in the direction of the voice and saw Shen Yijia looking up from the table in confusion. Her forehead was red.
Shen Yijia had fallen asleep as she read the letter.
As expected, other than the illustrated books, other books were used for hypnosis.
Song Jingchen was silent for a moment, his heart aching a little. He turned to Uncle Yang and said, “Uncle Yang, go back today. We’ll talk about the rest tomorrow.”
“Then about the Luo family…”
They were clearly not done chatting.
Shen Yijia waved her hand with a red face. “No need, no need. Continue chatting. I’ll go back to my room to sleep first.”
With that, she stood up, but Song Jingchen stopped her. “It’s the same even if we talk about it tomorrow. I’m here to resolve this matter anyway.”
What else could Uncle Yang say? He could only watch as his Eldest Young Master accompanied Young Madam back to the house.
It seemed that Young Madam held more weight in Eldest Young Master’s heart than he had imagined. In that case, the Luo family would probably suffer even more.
After returning to her room, Shen Yijia’s embarrassment dissipated. It could’ve been because she fell asleep earlier, but she no longer felt sleepy lying in bed.
She turned to look at Song Jingchen, who was still reading at the side, and asked, “What was the Luo family that Uncle Yang mentioned just now?”
Song Jingchen saw the curiosity on her face and the light in her eyes. He knew that this girl wouldn’t be able to sleep if he didn’t explain it clearly. He said helplessly, “I told you that my grandfather couldn’t bear to see a good general die tragically, so he secretly saved some people, including the Du and Luo families.”
There were a total of five generals in the Qilin army. Apart from the two generals, Du and Luo, the other three were promoted from the bandits in Zhao’an after Old Master Song’s examination.
Old Master Song originally thought that this arrangement would be fair to both the soldiers who had fought on the battlefield and those who came from humble backgrounds. As long as they entered, they would be treated equally, regardless of their background.
However, people were the same everywhere. Although they were all members of the Qilin Army, it was inevitable that some of them were arrogant, including Luo Yousheng.
It was fine when the old master was still alive, but once he died and Song Jingchen’s legs were crippled, it was inevitable that people would waver.
This was also the reason why he sent Uncle Yang over immediately.
General Luo thought highly of himself and often suppressed the soldiers under the other generals. He even tried to persuade the others to come out of the mountain and rebel with him in the name of avenging the old master and supporting Song Jingchen.
To the others, since the old master was gone, they would listen to Song Jingchen.
If Song Jingchen didn’t speak, no matter how hard General Luo tried, they wouldn’t do anything.
Although this was the case, many people still felt that General Luo was grateful to the old master for saving his life. He was loyal. In the long term, there would always be people who would be persuaded by him.
