The noisy crowd fell completely silent.
Those commoners who still wanted to question finally shut their mouths silently at Jiang Ning's words, "Come and have a cup of my wedding wine."
Hun Yuan stood stiffly, not daring to turn back even a bit.
He knew Jiang Ning too well.
Because of this understanding, he knew that what Jiang Ning said was not only to save herself. More importantly, it was to redeem his reputation.
After all, although the commoners blamed everything on Jiang Ning, they all clearly knew his feelings. Even if they didn't say it out loud, in the future, the slightest movement or the smallest mistake would make everyone suspect that it was because of his impure Dao heart.
But also because he knew Jiang Ning so well, Hun Yuan knew very clearly:
His A Ning was really going to get married.
It wasn't just an excuse. She would make good on what she said today and prove it to the commoners of the world. So she had to get married.
Just like the divination he had made for Jiang Ning when he returned to the capital that year:
In early spring, she would marry a good man. Only by leaving the capital could she find peace.
He had never dared to tell Jiang Ning about that divination and the peach blossom hairpin.
A trace of blood oozed from the corner of his lips. Hun Yuan closed his eyes and let the tears in the corners of his eyes fall as his body fell backward.
For the last time, he fell into Jiang Ning's arms.
A large group of armed soldiers rushed up, shouting at the crowd to disperse quickly.
Yun Xi felt a lump in her throat. She waved and told Yun Qi and the doctors behind him to come and help quickly.
The situation was finally under control.
Yi Yuan gave a signal to Mian Xiao Lin An. All those "ringleaders" who had tried to slip away in the crowd were captured.
Lian Yi's official apprenticeship ceremony, after many twists and turns, finally came to an end.
Hun Yuan was taken back to the palace.
The Emperor Zhao Huan, who was already extremely angry because of Yi Zhen's matter, was so furious that he smashed three cups in a row and ordered Ye Jueyao to be executed immediately.
As for the other people who had incited the commoners, they were to be sent to the Supreme Court of Justice. No matter what kind of punishment was used, they must find out the mastermind behind the scenes!
Actually, if they wanted to find out the mastermind, calling Man Ping would be the best option.
It would be both fast and accurate.
However, Xie Huaiyue, who had received the order, kept silent.
The Emperor Zhao Huan wasn't stupid, but he still gave such an order. His real purpose wasn't to find out the mastermind, but the process of torture.
Although the matter between Hun Yuan and Jiang Ning had been temporarily resolved, the matter between Zongzheng Fengyi and Yi Zhen had reached a dead end.
A literal dead end.
Because Yi Zhen would rather die than marry Zongzheng Fengyi.
Zongzheng Fengyi's attitude was: Since things had come to this, he could give up Yun Xi and propose to Yi Zhen to take responsibility as a man.
After all, for him, Yun Xi had read their important secret by design. It was hopeless for him to force Yun Xi to pretend to be himself with the Yang Gu worm.
But his plan hadn't been fully laid out yet. He couldn't leave now.
To stabilize the current situation, he had to take responsibility for Yi Zhen.
But he didn't expect Yi Zhen to be so determined.
Moreover, the Emperor Zhao Huan didn't seem to want Yi Zhen to marry a foreigner either.
For all these reasons, Zongzheng Fengyi was temporarily "invited" to stay in the palace.
Yun Xi and Yi Yuan, who were staying with Jiang Ning in the Zhaogan Hall to take care of Hun Yuan, finally had time to sort out all the information they had obtained today.
Yun Xi sat at the table, her slender and well - proportioned fingers tapping on the ancient tabletop gently. She said,
"I'm very sure that what Zongzheng Fengyi thought in his heart at that time was the Holy Master. And it didn't seem to be a slip of the tongue."
"After all, it was what he thought in his heart. There should be no such thing as a slip of the tongue."
Yi Yuan nodded in agreement:
"No wonder I always felt that the national teacher was acting weird during our previous fight, as if he was hiding something. Now it seems that he was probably afraid that I would discover his identity from his moves."
"Combined with what Xiao Xi said, that national teacher should be the Holy Master without a doubt."
"However, there is one thing,"
Yi Yuan frowned tightly, looking quite puzzled and saying:
"Zongzheng Fengyi claims to be the grandson of the Holy Master. He is already about twenty years old. The Holy Master should be at least forty or fifty years old. And from my fight with him before, he was indeed an old man."
"But now his appearance and voice look and sound almost the same as Zongzheng Fengyi's."
"Even if he used the art of disguise to change his appearance and took a voice - changing pill to change his voice, a person's hands can never be completely hidden."
"But the hands he showed during this period were no different from those of a young man. How did he do it?"
None of them could figure it out, and even Ling Yan was deeply curious.
"And their plan,"
Yun Xi continued:
"Zongzheng Fengyi clearly said that they wanted to unify the world, and they had been planning it for twenty or thirty years."
"Great Yin should be their first target. But at that time, something went wrong with their plan. The plague was resolved by the Master Qingyi; and on the border, my grandfather fought with his life on the line and blocked their invasion, so they didn't succeed."
"We just don't know what kind of plan Zongzheng Fengyi and the Holy Master have this time."
With a sigh, Yun Xi angrily pounded the table:
"What a pity for such a good opportunity. That Zongzheng Fengyi is so determined that he didn't reveal any important information.
"Now that we've fallen out with them, they'll be more on guard, and it will be even more difficult to read their minds."
Reaching out to hold Yun Xi's fist that was clenched in anger, Yi Yuan said:
"Don't worry. Chong Shuang is not useless. If we can't get the information by asking, we'll investigate."
"They can't make trouble without leaving any traces. The Qiri Manor that Shen Zhou mentioned last time is very suspicious. I'm going to send more people there to watch. We'll surely find some clues."
"And in the palace,"
Hun Yuan, who had woken up at some point, suddenly interrupted:
"Since the late Concubine Qing was one of them, and Lan Chu is still in the palace. It's very likely that there were other people left behind at that time."
"They planned for twenty or thirty years but didn't take action until fourteen years ago. Presumably, during this period, they managed to get in touch with someone in the palace."
"But Concubine Qing entered the palace more than twenty years ago. With the late emperor's favor for Concubine Qing, it shouldn't have taken her five or six years to gain a foothold in the palace. They waited for such a long time before taking action. There must have been something that went wrong. It's just that we don't know which side the problem lies with."
"Also, when the late emperor went on a southern inspection, there were so many people protecting him. How did he just happen to meet Concubine Qing at that time? Concubine Qing was from the Ying State. Who forged her identity and helped her enter the palace?"
Hun Yuan said a long paragraph in one breath, his face as pale as a ghost.
Feeling heart - ache, Jiang Ning quickly went to get the pills left by the imperial doctor and brought some water for him to take.
Yun Xi and Yi Yuan glanced at each other:
It seemed that besides the possible remaining Ying people in the palace, there were also people in the court colluding with the Ying State!
Moreover, that person should be in the court!
After all, during the time when the Holy Master had been hiding in the capital, he had disappeared without a trace like a fish in the sea. Even with Yi Yuan's methods and the help of the Supreme Court of Justice, they hadn't been able to find any trace of him.
They simply didn't believe that he could do this without any help.