Chapter 69 Chapter 69 What if the Prince Su's initial claim of liking him was true...

Earlier, the Dali Temple's coroner examined the bodies in the Hezhou case and preliminarily determined that the headless man found near the well was not from the Li Dynasty, nor had he previously heard of any foreigners living in his household.

Late at night four days ago, Qin Xiao, having reviewed the coroner's documents regarding the Xu Family Back Mountain assassination, secretly left Beijing for Hezhou.

He promptly retrieved the city entry and exit registers maintained at the prefecture government. Two days before the Hezhou massacre, two foreign names appeared in the records. Numerous foreigners had also entered and exited Hezhou before and after, but one individual had no record of leaving the city, and no trace of this individual had been found within Hezhou.

The headless man's skeletal structure bore a striking resemblance to the foreign assassins in the Xu Family Back Mountain assassination, yet also differed from those of the Li Dynasty.

Qin Xiao preliminarily concluded that the Xu Family Back Mountain assassination and the Hezhou massacre were the work of the same group of individuals.

The more she read, the deeper the frown deepened.

After reading the memorial from the Dali Temple, she fell silent for a long time. A thousand words finally dissolved into one: "Why?"

She didn't understand, and couldn't understand.

Neither she nor the Liu family involved in the Hezhou massacre had any grudge against Jing Qing. Why would he attack them, even disregarding the friendship they'd shared growing up together?

"To silence them." Fu Huaiqing's eyes raked over her knuckles, which were faintly reddened as they gripped the edge of the memorial tightly, prying them apart one by one. "The Liu and Bian families must have noticed something, something that could ruin what they're doing and push them into the abyss."

Biezhi suddenly raised her eyelids. "Is he and Zhang Yan spies for the Xilan Kingdom?"

Fu Huaiqing's expression was indifferent.

He closed the memorial and set it aside.

"Rather than being spies for the Xilan Kingdom, they're more like subordinates of Helan Daisong," Fu Huaiqing's face darkened. "They're not loyal to the Xilan royal family, but to Helan Daisong."

Biezhi's breath hitched at this.

As she hesitated, she suddenly remembered what Fu Huaiqing had said to Huyan Daji half an hour ago. "The person you just asked Huyan Daji for was Helan Daisong?"

She guessed quickly. Fu Huaiqing raised an eyebrow, but remained noncommittal.

Biezhi shook her head. "He won't give it to you."

She didn't even need to think.

According to Huyan Daji's words, he was aiming for that position. If he did, even if Helan Daisong wasn't on his side, he wouldn't hand him over for the sake of Xilan.

If he did, he would be a sinner for Xilan.

"Of course he won't give it to you," Fu Huaiqing said nonchalantly.

Helan Daisong wasn't what he really wanted, either.

"If we poke a hole in his roof right away, and then we take a step back and just tear down one of his windows, he will be happy to do it."

Biezhi blinked.

Why did she feel that this theory seemed a little familiar? It was

like when she knew that Ji Ran was the master, the sky had fallen, and then she suddenly realized that the master was Prince Su

. It seemed that the sky had fallen, but in fact there was still some room for maneuver. What if the liking that Prince Su said at the beginning was from the heart?

At this moment, the carriage suddenly stopped.

Biezhi suppressed her erratic thoughts, stood up first, lifted the curtain and walked out.

She didn't wait for the guards to bring a stool, she simply jumped off the carriage, and didn't wait for Fu Huaiqing to get off the horse, she ran towards the Dali Temple at a lightning pace.

The guards on duty at the door of the Dali Temple saw the girl getting off the carriage of Prince Su's mansion, and naturally did not dare to stop her. One of them hurried inside to report, for fear of being too late.

Her eyes met Qin Xiao who was coming towards her, and Biezhi slowed down her pace.

Qin Xiao's slightly raised lips softened as he caught sight of the tall figure behind the girl. With an indescribable expression, he looked at Biezhi, whose expression remained the same as it had at the Qin family. He bowed to the newcomers and stepped aside to make way for them. "His master is with him."

Hearing that his master was also present, Biezhi's round, almond-shaped eyes narrowed for a moment.

With a complex expression, she glanced back, meeting the man's dark, slightly soothing gaze. Instantly, the lingering air of unease dissipated slightly. She urged, "Hurry up, let's go and take a look together." "

We.

Together.

" As those words fell into his ears, Fu Huaiqing's eyes shifted.

Biezhi, unaware of anything amiss, urged him again, wishing she could walk the walk for him.

She was anxious to find out.

She couldn't rest until she understood Jingqing's purpose.

A burning heat lingered in the dim dungeon, like candlelight, or charcoal.

Seeing the figure bound and tied to the rack, Biezhi paused as she descended the stairs. Her clear, almond-shaped eyes shone with an indescribable emotion. She lowered her gaze to her master, who sat quietly before the rack, his eyes closed, resting. His long black hair hung nearly to the tip of his nose, revealing him to have been awake for days. The

echoing sound of footsteps in the empty prison caught the man's attention. He looked up, their eyes locked for a moment, his gaze tracing her body. Then, with a soft smile, his tense body suddenly relaxed.

After a long pause on the steps, Biezhi descended.

She looked at the man on the rack, then at her master, whose face was suddenly filled with fatigue, having suddenly woken.

So many questions she had once wanted to ask now seemed unnecessary.

She didn't need to question why he disregarded their friendship, nor did she need to inquire whether he remembered her master's kindness in his actions, nor did she need to know if he remembered the fellow disciples who had fought so hard for him.

After a moment's silence, Biezhi slowly spoke.

"You killed me on Zhang Yan's order, right?"

These words that came straight to the point plunged the prison into a dead silence.

Fu Huaiqing lowered his gaze half an inch and fixed it on the back of the girl who stood straight as a pine tree. A faint smile rose in his deep and clear eyes.

What annoyed her most were the twists and turns.

Jing Qing's eyes narrowed slightly. He didn't expect that she already knew about his relationship with Zhang Yan. He looked past Biezhi at the figure of the man hidden in the darkness. The man was like a towering mountain, standing quietly in the dark. He remembered the secret guards who ran for her that night. It was only later that he learned that the secret guards were all from the Su Wang Mansion.

So, the man hidden in the dark was the current Su Wang.

With the Su Wang around, it seemed that there was nothing to worry about.

After a long time, he retracted his gaze and said lightly: "It's him."

"Why?" Biezhi asked.

"From his tone, you look a lot like an old friend of his." Jing Qing didn't fully understand this, but he was certain that if Zhang Yan couldn't deal with Biezhi, it would only incur the wrath of his superiors.

Biezhi frowned. "Who is it?"

"I don't know. He just blindly gave orders without reason." Jing Qing had recently recalled the people he had met through Zhang Yan over the past ten years, and hadn't encountered anyone who looked like Biezhi. "The old friend he mentioned must have met ten years ago."

Ten years ago.

Fu Huaiqing glanced thoughtfully and passed a glance to Jiang Yue behind him.

Jiang Yue bowed and accepted the order.

He took three or four steps back, and his mind flashed. He suddenly remembered what the guard had said to him just now, and frowned. He couldn't tell if there was something fishy, or if it was another spy sent by someone else to secretly investigate Biezhi. He paused for a moment and stepped forward to whisper.

Hearing this, Fu Huaiqing's indifferent expression sank in half a breath.

He opened his thin lips slightly: "Investigate."

Biezhi really couldn't imagine who this old friend who looked similar to her was. She had been in Xianyun Tower ten years ago. Pushing forward... Her eyes flashed, and the knuckles hanging by her side couldn't help trembling a few times.

She suddenly turned around and looked at Fu Huaiqing in the dark.

The girl looked straight at her, her expression full of astonishment, wanting to confirm whether he had heard it.

With just a glance, Fu Huaiqing saw what she was thinking.

They looked similar, so similar that Zhang Yan could recognize them at a glance. This required a resemblance of nine and a half out of ten.

Only close relatives could achieve such a matching appearance.

Jing Qing stared intently at his junior sister, who was running briskly towards the darkness. The corners of his mouth twitched for a moment, and he called her name. But in an instant, she turned around, her expression still full of joy, and a hint of anxiety, as if she was in a hurry to share something with others.

Their eyes met, and he shook his head, "It's okay."

The loneliness and helplessness in the man's eyes almost overflowed, making it impossible to ignore. Biezhi's joy gradually subsided as his emotions overflowed. She also understood that if she was really convicted in the future, this would most likely be the last time they would see each other.

Her throat moved slightly, and the moisture moistened her dry lips. For a long time, she didn't know what to say.

At this time, Ling Feng, who had been silent for a long time, stood up.

He took a half step forward, blocking their line of sight, and said to Jing Qing, whom he had personally escorted back and tied to the rack, "If you have anything, just tell me."

Jing Qing understood his meaning and smiled with a lowered gaze.

The sound of footsteps echoed beside him, and he raised his eyes to look at the girl who occasionally glanced back. A drop of light escaped from the corner of his eye, quickly sliding past without leaving a trace.

His little junior sister was the brightest sunlight on a summer day.

Her entire body seemed to be covered in flames, and wherever she went, she was a source of excitement. Wherever she was, there was no dull moment. Whenever she appeared, others stopped to linger, or subconsciously wanted to approach, to absorb the energy that surrounded her.

He was the same.

Those trapped in the extreme cold thought they had finally grasped the sunlight.

In reality, the sunlight could fall on everyone, not just him.

He was just one of many.

"Did you hear what he said?" Biezhi couldn't help but speak as soon as she walked out of the dungeon. The sunlight slowly falling on her body dispelled the biting cold under the dungeon. She turned around and looked at the man who was climbing the stairs, "The person who looks very similar to me might be my parents."

The sunlight all over the sky fell on the girl, and light and shadows lingered all around. Fu Huaiqing walked towards her and nodded.

The words "father and mother" were very unfamiliar to Biezhi.

Since she could remember, she knew that she was an orphan and her only support was the grandmother who picked her up. Apart from that, she had no other relatives.

When she was young and ignorant, she envied the children in the village for having parents.

She didn't understand why she didn't have parents.

Everyone can have them, but she didn't.

"At that time, I was thinking, how great it would be if I also had a father and a mother." Bie Zhi couldn't help laughing when she recalled herself as a child hiding behind the treetops and watching other people's parents holding their children home. She said to him, "I still remember that time, I was so envious that I drooled."