Seeing this indifferent gaze, sharp enough to tear his thoughts apart and lay them bare under the sun, Zong Ruichen’s hand hidden in his sleeve quickly clenched.
He used almost all his strength to restrain himself from showing a hateful expression on his face.
A month ago, the day before Zong Chengsi was to be executed, Zong Ruichen had visited his Fourth Imperial Brother in the imperial prison for the last time.
It was during this last visit that he learned of a shocking secret.
Zong Ruichen would always remember, in that dark, bottomless prison, the once casual and unrestrained Fourth Imperial Brother’s pupils were burning with fierce flames, looking as miserable as a defeated dog.
His tongue had been pulled out, and he could only spit out bubbles of blood. His pupils were filled with horrifying bloodshot eyes, staring at Zong Ruichen, almost popping out of his eyes in ecstasy.
He desperately made gestures to Zong Ruichen, even going so far as to dip his toes in the blood he had spat out and write words on the ground with difficulty.
“Ah,” Zong Ruichen stepped back two steps, feeling that this Zong Chengsi was extremely terrifying.
He still held vigilance in his heart, unwilling to believe what the Fourth Imperial Brother said at this time. Because in those blood-red pupils, what flickered was the flame of revenge and torch.
However, because he hesitated for a second and did not turn around and leave quickly.
The blood words combined one by one, finally forming two words, successfully making Zong Ruichen stay.
Rong family.
When he was very young, the wet nurse had told Zong Ruichen about the Rong family.
Concubine Rong was in the palace and could not communicate with the outside world.
But she also knew that the Rong family, no matter how confused, would absolutely not confront Emperor Yuan at this juncture. Moreover, in such a major event, even if they wanted to rebel, they would absolutely not fail to contact her, who held the position of an imperial concubine in the palace.
From the rebellion to the end of the conviction, Concubine Rong knew nothing until the imperial guards rushed into the Shuyu Palace.
After giving birth, while the servants were bathing the little prince, Concubine Rong pulled aside her most trusted wet nurse, who she had brought from the Rong family, and whispered her last words in a broken voice.
When Zong Ruichen was old enough to understand, the wet nurse knew her days were numbered, so she repeated it over and over again, using it to lull the little prince to sleep. Regardless of whether he understood or not, Zong Ruichen could almost remember every word.
“Imperial concubine said, there may still be doubts about the matter of the Rong family.”
“She told you this, not to let you take revenge for the Rong family. The rebellion is a done deal, the only thing that can be done is to find out the truth of that year. Why did the Rong family act with confusion and put all their eggs in one basket.” (TL: a metaphor for devoting all your strength to take risks in a critical moment.)
“Imperial concubine is innocent. Before she died, she begged His Majesty to spare your life, otherwise this old servant would have followed the Imperial concubine.”
Over the years, Zong Ruichen had been an invisible person in the palace. Although the Rong family was exterminated, an old branch still lurked in other countries.
Coincidentally, knowing that he had no advantage in the country, Zong Chengsi extended his hand beyond the Great Yuan. He cooperated with many merchant groups, relying on the identity of the prince of the Great Yuan, he got a lot of good things and met some people.
These people, although they were not of much use to Zong Chengsi’s great cause, did indeed reveal a lot of secrets to him. For example, the matter between the Rong family and the Yu family.
At that time, it was the Yu family who acted as the pusher behind the scenes, conspiring with the Rong family to steal the country.
However, seeing that the situation was already lost, the Yu family simply and neatly betrayed the Rong family, even adding fuel to the fire to destroy the evidence.
Zong Chengsi knew about this.
It’s just that he originally wanted to sell a favor to the King of Beining with this matter, but he didn’t expect that Yu Beizhou didn’t appreciate it at all, and even sent him to the imperial prison and pulled out his tongue.
Now that he was dying, he didn’t have much feeling for Zong Luo who deceived him, but he hated Yu Beizhou who killed him in his previous life and this life.
Zong Chengsi knew that Zong Ruichen was Zong Luo’s good imperial brother.
Yu Beizhou didn’t let him tell the secret of the true and false prince. Okay. Zong Chengsi then made the best of the situation.
Zong Ruichen stepped back two steps. “Fourth Imperial Brother, you–”
He wrote in blood.
A bird is about to die, its song is sad; a man is about to die, his words are good. What is said today is true.
(t/n: It means that when people are about to die, they will want to forget the pain and evil of being a human being, and yearn for the remaining joy and purity.)
But no one could deny that everything Zong Chengsi said was true.
The dying man convulsed all over, spitting out blood, and continued to write like a madman.
Shenji Crossbow. Zong Ruichen saw Zong Chengsi write these three words.
Even if he died, Zong Chengsi wanted to drag Yu Beizhou down with him.
Zong Ruichen was not unaware of this.
Even Zong Ruichen knew very well that at this time, what Zong Chengsi said was more of incitement and exploitation.
But he couldn’t ignore it.
It’s about the Rong family, the evidence was as solid as a rock, the Yu family did such a thing. He was the last blood of the Rong family and could only take revenge on the last living person of the Yu family.
This was a clear plot.
Just as Zong Ruichen thought that Yu Beizhou was going to see something from the calm expression on his face, the latter suddenly smiled ambiguously and shifted his gaze.
“Okay.” The red-clothed general answered casually, throwing the bamboo stick in his hand into the tube.
Such a disregard for others made Zong Ruichen feel a surge of anger.
But it will be over soon.
He had already sent a message to Ye Linghan, who was far away in the Imperial City of the Wei Country. Soon, the right camp would be subjected to the most fierce attack. He would retreat safely with his Third Brother.
Zong Ruichen did not fake the military report. He even entrusted Ye Linghan to convey false information, making the Wei team think that the crown prince was in the right camp, protecting the safety of the Third Brother. This matter could be said to be done without revealing anything, even if all the communications between him and Ye Linghan were obtained, his problem could not be found.
However, Zong Ruichen still didn’t understand why Zong Chengsi emphasized the three words “Shenji Crossbow” before his death, and wanted the King of Beining to be within the range of the Shenji Crossbow.
But now, he had a vague guess that was most terrifying
Oh no
Uh. YBZ killed the Yu family. Use your brains. 😅