On the high courtyard wall, a row of assassins emerged with a clicking sound.
Inside the courtyard, Chu Junyi was ordering his men to carry the silver out of the pond. Suddenly, he sensed a killing intent surging in the dark. He turned his head and saw.
Countless sharp arrows rained down on them thickly.
Chu Junyi and his trusted subordinates could still dodge those arrows, but Hao the steward and the others who were tightly tied up by them were all killed under the indiscriminate shooting.
The assassins were still afraid that they couldn't get rid of them completely, so they threw a torch into the courtyard.
The fire shot up into the sky and quickly spread to both sides.
Chu Junyi tightened his fist. After weighing the pros and cons, he could only order to "retreat!" first.
But at this time, the assassins on the courtyard wall rolled down one by one, either hitting the ground, or the rockery, or falling into the lotus pond.
Chu Junyi stopped and looked. There were also arrows in their backs. Judging from the arrows, they were the arrows of the Princess Mansion and the Crown Prince Mansion.
That is to say, the princess and the crown prince were secretly helping him.
After Yin realized that the matter was exposed and feared that his family might be exterminated, he quickly came up with countermeasures. First, rebel to fight for a glimmer of hope; second, escape with his family.
But the incident happened suddenly. His main army was all outside, and half of the mansion guards had been sent out to intercept and kill Chu Junyi.
The remaining guards had to withstand the attacks of the imperial guards, the Lin family, and the Murong family. In this way, the possibility of a successful rebellion was extremely low. It would be better to escape quickly.
So, he directly led his whole family to escape through the secret passage.
But the secret passage was only long enough to get out of the Lin Mansion. After leaving the Lin Mansion, they had to hide and flee.
It was already night and it was pitch black. There were few people on the poor street where they were. Only a swill cart ready to leave the city was parked in the alley, and the owner of the cart was eating at a roadside stall in the distance.
Yin Hong gritted his teeth and led his wife and children to hide in the swill barrels, just waiting for the cart driver to finish eating and take them out of the city.
However, they waited for so long that they were almost fainted by the stench of the swill, but the cart driver still didn't come to pull the cart.
Finally, he realized something was wrong. He lifted the lid and saw that the swill cart had been surrounded by Li Xinyue and her trusted subordinates.
"Lord Yin!" Li Xinyue had two pieces of paper stuffed in her nostrils. She tilted her head and looked at Yin Hong, who was covered in filth, with a smile.
"You, you, you... are despicable!"
"I'm afraid others aren't qualified enough to capture you, so I came here myself. Surprised? Unexpected?"
Li Xinyue winked at Hongxiu.
Hongxiu then snatched their youngest son from Lady Yin.
Yin Hong and his wife nervously watched their son being taken away from them, but they were helpless.
"Your Highness the Princess, what can we do to make you spare our whole family?"
Yin Hong looked at his son in Hongxiu's hands. He was so anxious that his eyes were red and his body was trembling slightly.
Li Xinyue tilted her mouth, looking at Yin Hong half - smiling, "I don't lack anything, and you have nothing. What do you think you can do for me?
Moreover, the Yin family embezzled the disaster relief funds, causing the deaths of millions of disaster victims. This is a serious crime. If I let you go, won't I get into trouble?"
Li Xinyue originally sent people to look for Chu Junyi because of the matter of the Chu couple. But she first learned that Chu Junyi was in the Yin family's manor. She was afraid that the Yin family would kill him and that Yin Hong would run away. So on the one hand, she sent people to support him, and on the other hand, she used the same method as Chu Junyi used to capture the King of Nanxun. She first blocked the whole city and then left him a glimmer of hope. Then he would come out by himself.
Sure enough.
"What if I exchange the truth about Concubine Fu's framing with you?"
Li Xinyue's smile froze. She looked at Yin Hong sharply, "It's really strange. Why do one person after another know about my mother - concubine's matter, but I don't know anything about it. What's the reason for this?"
Fu Tonghuai knew, and Yin Hong also knew. If everyone knew, why hadn't the framer been found yet?
"Unless -"
"You were the one secretly operating my mother - concubine's matter, or this person is someone you know, so you know the truth!"
Her gaze tightened, and her eyes were like knives, slowly torturing him. She wanted to see if it was really as she guessed.
Yin Hong subconsciously avoided her gaze, but then he thought that doing so would be like telling her the answer. So he pretended to be calm and steadied himself, then raised his eyes to meet her inquisitive gaze.
"Your Highness the Princess, I heard that the parents of the imperial son - in - law sued him for being unfilial. Why didn't Your Highness deal with the family matters first but came here instead?"
Li Xinyue frowned. She didn't need to look to know who that annoying voice belonged to.
The reason why Lin Wei came to rescue Yin Hong was probably that he was afraid that if the Yin family fell, the Lin family would be next. So just like the lips and teeth being interdependent, no matter whether they were enemies or friends before, they would unite at this moment.
Li Xinyue sneered coldly in her heart. Just as she was about to turn around and retort, unexpectedly, another person followed closely behind Lin Wei.
"Uncle, I have something to tell you."
The crown prince patted Lin Wei's shoulder meaningfully. His smiling eyes were unfathomable.
Then, he exchanged a glance with Li Xinyue.
Li Xinyue lifted the corner of her mouth and then looked back at Yin Hong.
At this time, in the Yin family's manor, all the assassins had been eliminated, and the fire had also been extinguished.
Under the moonlight, Chu Junyi held a torch and shone it on the silver. The official characters engraved on the bottom of the silver proved that this batch was exactly the disaster relief funds allocated by the court. That is to say, they had now caught both the culprits and the evidence.
Everyone laughed excitedly. The tense nerves of the past few days could finally relax.
Chu Junyi pointed to the empty carts brought by Boss Qiao and told them to load the boxes onto the carts and take them back to the capital. The remaining people would stay to deal with the bodies of their brothers.
He thought that those assassins could assassinate them so blatantly, which meant that the brothers guarding outside had all sacrificed their lives.
"My lord!" Someone came on horseback. Before the horse stopped, he had already dismounted and couldn't wait to tell Chu Junyi that Yin Hong had been captured by the princess but was being obstructed by Lin Wei.
Chu Junyi frowned and immediately mounted his horse and rode ahead.
"Does Your Highness the Crown Prince plan to be like your father, promoting the poor - born scholars and abandoning the aristocratic families? Does the Crown Prince think that the aristocratic families are in the way and hindering the imperial power?
Don't forget, it's thanks to whom you have your current status. If it weren't for the aristocratic families, would you have become the crown prince!" Lin Wei stared coldly at his ungrateful nephew and was so angry that he said everything bluntly.
He even wanted to scold this unworthy descendant for enjoying the rights brought by the aristocratic families but still wanting to kick them away.
"You've enjoyed the blessings brought by the aristocratic families, so you should naturally bear the disasters they bring!" So what if the aristocratic families hinder the imperial power! Isn't this supposed to be the case! Their Lin family had supported two emperors to the throne. Couldn't they enjoy special privileges!
To put it bluntly, if their father and son wanted to be emperors, they had to support the Lin family and bear the anger of the Lin family. Otherwise, someone else would sit on the throne!
Among the many princes, there were many who wanted to be emperors, and there were plenty of people who wanted to curry favor with the Lin family.
If this brat didn't want it, then don't be the crown prince. Get out of here!
The more Lin Wei thought about it, the angrier he got. He kicked a pebble on the side of the road away.