Chapter 353: Chapter 343: High Fever
Xie Xun and Lin Helin both understood that their conversations in Jiaozhou had already reached an impasse; now, they were merely making a final effort to force their way through. Lin Helin felt uneasy in his heart, and how could Xie Xun feel any better? Fengyu could empathize with Xie Xun’s emotions and accompanied him in silence. Although the heavy rains had delayed their arrival in Zhongzhou, separation was inevitable. The next time they met would be a matter of life and death.
"Cousin, I’ve always wanted to ask something. When Yuwen Jing plotted this conspiracy during my elder brother’s wedding, did your uncles truly know nothing about it?" Xie Xun’s smile carried a trace of coldness.
"What do you mean?" Lin Helin narrowed his eyes.
"Puzzled," Xie Xun replied. "When the new policies were first implemented, my grandfather supported them wholeheartedly. His stance represented the Lin Family’s attitude. Yet Second Uncle had multiple heated debates with Second Brother over matters concerning the new policies. His words were sharp. He never wanted the reforms, only to protect the Lin Family’s authority and interests among the clans. After the incident, Second Brother and I avoided discussing these matters, but deep within, I was puzzled by one thing: How did Yuwen Jing manage to quietly orchestrate such an ambush without anyone noticing? Did your uncles tacitly approve of his targeting the Marquis Mansion and allow the slaughter?"
Lin Helin’s eyes flared with obvious anger. "You suspect your uncles—my father and my second uncle—of colluding with outsiders to annihilate my aunt’s entire family? Xie Xun, what are you thinking?"
"Because I don’t understand!" Xie Xun responded, their prior conversations having remained civil despite their differing positions, yet neither had broached the subject of the ambush. "The Jinyi Guard and Forbidden Army are filled with young men from prominent families, including sixteen youths from the Lin Family alone. Yuwen Jing may have incredible reach, but could he really plan such a large-scale operation without raising alarm? Could Lin Cheng and Zhang Bolan truly be so capable of keeping it hidden from everyone? Or perhaps some Lin Family youths noticed Jun Xin’s changing demeanor but dared not report it to the clan leader—or worse, some of them did report, but someone chose to feign ignorance and approve of it all."
"Father, Second Uncle, and Aunt were siblings born of the same mother, sharing deep affection since childhood. How could they ever perpetrate such harm against their own kin?"
"Indeed, they wouldn’t deliberately harm their own kin. But perhaps they thought: as long as my father dies, it will suffice. Once he is gone, they could convince my mother to steer our brothers away from court politics and retreat to Ningzhou. My father wasn’t their blood relative, so they didn’t have to care about him." These doubts had long plagued Xie Xun, yet he had never dared to discuss them with Xie Jue.
If this speculation proved true and the Lin Family truly condoned it all, how deeply burdened Second Brother’s guilt would be. He would chastise himself for being too domineering and rigid in implementing the new policies, inadvertently causing a massacre.
"Zhixu, my father wouldn’t do such a thing," Lin Helin said sluggishly. "If he knew earlier, he couldn’t have allowed it."
He let out a heavy sigh and spoke softly, "The Beiman Sixth Princess placed a cursed insect into the late emperor, causing his mind to deteriorate, making him quick-tempered and irrational. The cabinet had already been made aware of the pulse diagnosis before the incident but chose to bury it. My father speculated that on that fateful night, perhaps Cousin Sister said something that provoked the Emperor, leading him to stab her with his sword in his rage. Witnessing this, Uncle was overcome with fury, thus causing the tragedy."
Xie Xun and Fengyu’s hearts sank. They had previously probed Dugu Jing at Mudan Building about the cursed insect and were aware of it. However, they originally thought the insect targeted the Marquis; they never imagined it had been placed in the late Emperor.
So it was Beiman!
The Sixth Princess had indeed not accompanied Dugu Jing to the Capital City without reason—Beiman had been secretly plotting this conspiracy all along.
"Without Yuwen Jing’s collusion, how could they have implanted the cursed insect into the Emperor?" Xie Xun asked. "It was also Yuwen Jing who killed the Emperor, not my father."
"Yuwen Jing’s patricide and regicide are merely rumors without solid evidence," Lin Helin said. "Grandfather personally witnessed Uncle kill the Emperor. How could such a charge be washed clean?"
"Fine, even if my father did kill the Emperor, Yuwen Jing’s alliance with Beiman to implant the insect still couldn’t be wrong." Xie Xun sneered coldly. "The Emperor was in his prime; if not for Yuwen Jing’s ambition to usurp power, how could he have been driven to commit such deranged acts?"
"And where is the evidence?" Lin Helin rubbed his forehead wearily. "The Emperor was poisoned with the curse during a hunt at Xiyanshan. Dugu Jing had ample opportunities to act. That was when Yuwen Jing noticed the Emperor’s bizarre behavior and summoned the Imperial Hospital for a diagnosis, discovering the insect. From that day onward, the cursed insect in the Emperor’s body was kept under control."
"You’re defending him because Yanyang cannot have a ruler guilty of patricide and regicide. So the truth becomes irrelevant."
"After the incident, Yuwen Jing ascended the throne as Emperor, gaining full control over the Jinyi Guard and Forbidden Army. Rumors of his crimes did circulate in the Capital City for a time, even becoming popular ballads among commoners. What harm did it do to him?" Lin Helin said helplessly. "We couldn’t expose him immediately. Once he ascended, the truth was buried. If we pursued it further, the city would overflow with blood. He has already purged a batch of ministers—how many more lives do we want sacrificed?"
Xie Xun wanted to argue further, but Fengyu tugged on his sleeve and gently shook her head.
Lin Helin was right.
Yuwen Jing had become Emperor, wielding significant power through the Jinyi Guard and Forbidden Army. The truth no longer mattered; pursuing it would only lead to senseless deaths. As the rightful Crown Prince, no one could challenge him.
Lin Helin said, "Zhixu, my father didn’t know."
"Very well. Since Cousin Brother says so, I’ll believe you."
This resolved some of the doubts in his heart; otherwise, the burden would have been unbearable.
"Regardless of whether he committed patricide and regicide, his methods are utterly inhumane. With someone like him beside Cousin Sister and Abao, how can you sleep peacefully?"
"What choice is there?" Lin Helin asked. "In this world, there exists no deceased Empress, only ones who divorce."
No one could foresee the future. When selecting a spouse for Yushu back then, their grandfather had chosen Yuwen Jing for his gentle and refined demeanor as a man of virtue. Who could have predicted that within a few short years, human hearts would change so drastically, rendering him unrecognizable?
Since Lin Yushu married Yuwen Jing, the Lin Family and the Yuwen Family were bound together on the same ship—to prosper or perish as one.
Zhongzhou.
Torrential rain poured as the nighttime temperature abruptly dropped. Fang Chuning felt both clammy and overheated, struggling in agony until midnight, when she could no longer hold out and sent the Deputy General to summon a physician.
"You should’ve listened to advice from the elderly. Now you’re paying the price, aren’t you? Caught a cold, huh?" The Deputy General remarked sarcastically as he dispatched someone to fetch the physician. "In this freezing weather, you exert yourself sweating in the courtyard, then wash with cold water afterward. If you didn’t catch a cold, who would?"
Sickness strikes like a mountain collapse!
Fang Chuning, robust and healthy since childhood, had rarely fallen ill—even enduring a battlefield arrow piercing her shoulder without developing a fever. Now she felt the spinning of the earth and the burning agony of her throat.
"Is this physician incompetent? Why doesn’t the fever go down after drinking the medicine?"
"Mistress, you’ve just taken the medicine," the Deputy General replied. "Should I inform the Second Young Master?"
"You dare!" Fang Chuning’s voice, hoarse with fever, barked in threat. "I’ll kill you myself."
The Deputy General dared not provoke her and fell silent.