"Right now, I have no choice but to beg you."
Rong Shuang'er's face was filled with anxiety. "Even if you didn't beg me, I'd still help Ming Ruyi," Song Jinyu comforted Rong Shuang'er. No matter how calm and composed Rong Shuang'er used to be, her true feelings were evident at this moment.
Finally, she waited for Zhongli Mingye and expressed her hope to visit Ming Ruyi. "It's no problem for me to make an exception. But..."
"You're not allowed to go! Rong Shuang'er can."
"..."
Song Jinyu looked at him helplessly. Ming Ruyi was not an outsider.
In the dungeon, there were many bloodstains on the damp ground. Ming Ruyi had just been whipped and was now lying on the straw. Gone was his former high - spirited self; instead, he looked sickly and delicate.
Rong Shuang'er felt extremely heart - broken. She had brought a lot of golden sore medicine, which Song Jinyu had given her.
She hurriedly applied the medicine on Ming Ruyi, but unfortunately, the blood still kept flowing...
Zhongli Mingye looked coldly at the jailer. "My lord, it's the Emperor's order. I dare not disobey!"
"The matter has not been finalized yet, and you've already tortured the Imperial Uncle."
"Are you tired of living?"
His voice was cold, and in the gloomy cell, it sounded even more menacing. "I certainly dare not..."
"You're a smart man. You know what to do. Don't let me see any more wounds on the Imperial Uncle, or..."
"You'll lose your life!"
Rong Shuang'er stared blankly at Ming Ruyi. The man who used to mock her casually was now covered in wounds.
"What are you looking at? Haven't you seen a handsome man before?" Ming Ruyi felt uncomfortable under her gaze. When he looked back and saw Zhongli Mingye was also looking, he gave a pale smile.
"I told you a few days ago. That's the way it is. I don't care now. If he wants to kill me, so be it!"
He stretched out his neck, as if ready to face death. Ming Ruyi turned away helplessly. Suddenly, Rong Shuang'er hugged him.
"I don't want you to die!"
"..."
Ming Ruyi was stunned. He felt her tears falling. He didn't know how to react for a moment and just let her cry. After a long time, he said, "You'd better not fall in love with me." He sighed, not knowing how to respond to Rong Shuang'er's feelings.
"Why aren't you asleep yet?"
Zhongli Mingye walked into the bedroom. The person on the bed was sitting blankly, as if in a daze.
Song Jinyu looked at him seriously. "The assassination was a play, wasn't it?" It was because Zhongli Mingye had arranged it himself that he had gone to great lengths to keep her. It was just to protect her.
"Mingye, I don't understand."
She was not a weak woman and didn't want to just hide behind him. Zhongli Mingye put his arm around her. "Don't worry."
"It's just to confuse the Emperor's judgment!" He lowered his voice. "As soon as the Imperial Uncle had an accident, I couldn't get away with it."
"The assassination of the young heir of the Chengqin Prince's Mansion would also be linked to me by those with ulterior motives." So, he had no choice but to take a risky move.
Song Jinyu carefully examined the wound on his arm. Her heart ached. How much pressure must he be under to be so hard on himself?
She hugged him even tighter. When Song Jinyu wasn't looking, Zhongli Mingye had been silently bearing so much. He never let her know.
But this wasn't what she wanted. "I made a lot of poisons a few days ago and sorted them out."
"They're something that has never appeared on Tianmen Mountain, so you can use them with confidence."
"Also, I want to know the details about the case of Ming Ruyi's assassination of the Queen." Zhongli Mingye smiled. "Isn't it good to just stay at home and read storybooks?"
"Why..."
Looking into those bright and beautiful eyes, he understood. Song Jinyu loved him, so she was willing to share his worries. "Okay!" Then Zhongli Mingye gradually revealed the details of the Queen's assassination case to her.
Song Jinyu stood up, took a pen, and wrote down the suspicious points.
"Right now, besides finding the real culprit."
"The most important thing is to clear Ming Ruyi's suspicion."
"The Queen has been in the middle palace for thirty years, and every word and deed of hers has been recorded." "My lord, have you read it?" Zhongli Mingye thought for a while. "Of course I have, but... they're just trivial things, like having meals and drinking tea."
"There are also records of punishing the palace servants."
She lowered her head and looked at him seriously. "Don't underestimate these trivial matters. Maybe there are clues that we haven't noticed."
"You're right. I'll bring it to you tomorrow."
For now, he wanted to sleep! He pulled her over. "My love, it's getting late. Go to bed."
Go to bed, go to bed. As soon as he said that, she suddenly remembered that night when they had camped in the mountain villa.
The next day, Zhongli Mingye came back early on purpose. "Here! What you wanted..."
She instantly perked up. "The daily records are really detailed!"
"On the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, the Emperor and the Queen got up together." Song Jinyu showed it to Zhongli Mingye. "It even records clearly the days when the Emperor and the Queen stayed together."
"Of course! To ensure the purity of the royal bloodline." It was a pity that the days when the Emperor and the Queen slept together were few and far between.
Zhongli Mingye suddenly grinned wickedly and leaned closer to her. "Our daily life is also recorded in the Prince's Mansion's daily records."
What? Song Jinyu opened her eyes wide in disbelief. Suddenly, she remembered those times, and her face turned red again.
"Yes, as you can imagine, it's recorded clearly and in detail."
She angrily closed the "Daily Records of the Queen" and made up her mind to destroy the "Daily Records of the Prince's Mansion".
As if seeing through her thoughts, Zhongli Mingye hugged her. "Don't even think about destroying it, or I'll..." He whispered a few words in her ear, and Song Jinyu's ears turned red all the way to the roots.
This bastard! Lecher!
"I'll keep you in bed all day!" Then he'd turn the "Daily Records of the Prince's Mansion" into a pornographic storybook to be passed down through the ages!
She ignored him and continued to read the daily records. "In the past five years, the Queen's temper has become more and more irritable."
"The number of times she punished the palace servants has gradually increased, while the number of times the Emperor visited has relatively decreased, and the number of times he stayed overnight is even fewer."
Originally, the Emperor should have stayed in the Queen's palace on the first and fifteenth days of each month, but... in the past five years, the Emperor seemed to have ignored this ancestral rule.
What's so good about being a queen?
Watching her husband stay in other places day and night, she had to guard the palace alone, and her youth was gradually fading away.
Zhongli Mingye pointed to a certain place. "Look, something strange happened five years ago."
"A stunning palace maid suddenly disappeared from the Queen's palace."
"Here it is!"
"At that time, it caused quite a stir. After that, the Emperor and the Queen began to drift apart." Zhongli Mingye thought for a while. He had some impression of that palace maid. She was indeed a beauty.
But not long after, she disappeared.
"Did the rift between the Emperor and the Queen start because of this beauty? Is there any concubine in the palace who looks like this beauty?" The two looked at each other and decided to investigate carefully.
"Do you know about the East Palace?"
Song Jinyu shook her head. "Zhongli Xianya has moved into the palace and was granted the title of Princess Xianya."
"What about Chen Mingzhu?"
"Father won't let the Crown Prince go to pick her up... She's still in the Duke's Mansion of the Assistant - State."