Cang County—
Leader Du finally arrived at the destination, where his subordinates had already impatiently grabbed a few children at the entrance of the town: "Hey, kids, do you know of soone here who’s really good at opera, from the Rongsheng Opera Troupe, nad Lan Xiaolou?"
The children exchanged glances, and one of them took the copper coins they offered: "Yes, yes, Lan Xiaolou. You go from here, turn left at every fork, and after passing three villages, you’ll find it. But, sir, he hasn’t been back for a long ti. If you’re looking for him, you might not find him."
The guard shoved the child: "Go on, why are you ddling? Take the money and scram."
The children ran back into the alley, divided the money, and scattered. The guard then stepped forward to lead Leader Du.
"No rush!"
Leader Du was more cautious. He opened his tired eyes and said, "Go ask the adults at the stalls. Children’s words aren’t reliable."
The guard hurried over and pulled out a pouch of copper coins: "Madam… could I ask you sothing?"
"Madam what?"
"Madam?"
"What madam?"
The old woman was hard of hearing!
After much effort, the guard finally made himself clear, and the old woman pointed in the sa direction as the children.
Only then did the guard return to report. Leader Du flicked his horsewhip: "Let’s hurry."
The Emperor must be growing impatient.
"Clip-clop, clip-clop…"
Ma Yiyang felt like an eternity had passed before he heard the muffled sound of hooves. He quickly made a hand signal, and Xiao Zhong and Luo Cheng vanished in an instant.
"Whoa—"
"Damn it!"
Soone cursed: "Those kids and the old woman dared to deceive us. The neighboring village is clearly Ji Family Village. They wasted so much of our ti. When we go back, I’ll make sure to catch them and give them a beating."
Leader Du was especially irritable. He kicked the guard who had been muttering about the directions: "Is this Lan Xiaolou’s ho? Let’s go in and see."
If he really had a cousin who had been with him since childhood, there should be traces of a woman’s presence in this house.
"Creak—"
The dilapidated wooden door was pushed open, and the latch on one side broke. Dust fell from above, making Leader Du and the others cough.
The room was dim and dusty. Two guards stepped forward and opened the windows, causing another cloud of dust to rise.
Leader Du waved his hand to clear the air and finally took in the scene inside.
There was a simple wooden bed, but above it hung a pale green gauze canopy. On the bed was a wedding quilt embroidered by a woman.
How did he know it was embroidered by a woman?
Because in The Great Yan Dynasty, n didn’t embroider, and the patterns on the quilt were far from skillful, clearly the work of a beginner who had put in a lot of effort.
In the center of the room was a round table with a teapot and cups.
Looking around, the woman’s dressing table seed relatively new, possibly well cared for by its owner.
"Crash!"
The sound of wood breaking startled Leader Du, who was observing the surroundings. The guard quickly explained: "Leader, there’s won’s clothing here."
It was a set of red wedding attire.
Wrapped in black cloth, it had faded slightly over the years, but it was the only clean item in the room.
Leader Du used the scabbard of his sword to lift the wedding dress and examine it. The garnt seed larger than the Empress’s… pff pff pff… he couldn’t disrespect the Empress.
Muttering an apology, he ordered the guard to take the dress as evidence: "This is proof. Take it back for the Emperor to decide."
"Leader, co quickly! There’s a grave here that’s been dug up."
Soone had dug up a grave?
Leader Du rushed out the back door in an instant, only to find a scene of chaos.
The coffin had been forcibly pried open, and the remains inside were gone. On the ground lay a wooden tombstone broken in two, inscribed with "Beloved Wife… Dong… sothing… of the Tomb?"
The na on the tombstone had been scratched beyond recognition, but it was clear that soone had tried to change the character "Dong" to "Jiang."
This was a deliberate attempt to fra the Empress! That’s why those children had misled them.
Fortunately, Leader Du had been sharp enough to realize they were on the wrong path when they saw the villagers outside Ji Family Village. He quickly turned the horses around and headed for Lou Family Village, as the villagers had directed.
Lan Xiaolou’s stage na was Cuiyulou, which included the character "Lou," so it had to be Lou Family Village.
Leader Du felt as if a veil had been lifted from his eyes. He grabbed the broken pieces of the tombstone and ran: "Quick! Return to the palace and inform the Emperor that the Empress has been wronged."
It was Concubine Tong who was trying to harm her!
If he had been more observant, he would have noticed that the soil dug up from the grave was freshly disturbed.
Jiang Xinyue had instructed Jiang Yankun to send people to Cang County not to create a fake tombstone—that would have been too obvious. They weren’t so powerful as to conjure up a set of remains and build a grave that looked three or four years old.
So, how could they create a new grave that wouldn’t be recognized as such?
Jiang Xinyue’s letter explained: have soone dig up the non-existent grave, remove the coffin, and steal the non-existent remains.
The soil dug up from the ground was fresh, and no one could tell how old it was.
Whoever wanted to harm her would have to bear the bla for desecrating the grave of Lan Xiaolou’s "fiancée."
After another six hours of hard riding, Leader Du and his n returned to the palace, dusty and exhausted. They presented the evidence to the Emperor and said: "Your Majesty, the Tong family is truly despicable. They dug up soone’s grave and stole the remains. If we hadn’t realized the deception in ti and rushed to Lou Family Village, they would have even altered the na on the tombstone."
"Dong?"
Lan Xiaolou’s parents had died long ago, and he had no other relatives except for this cousin, who also had no family. There was no way to verify their identities.
But no one could have laid the groundwork for such a lie so far in advance, so it must be true.
The clothing Leader Du brought back was two sizes larger than Jiang Xinyue’s, clearly not hers.
The Emperor knew then that Jiang Xinyue had always loved him.
The Tong family was truly despicable.
"Wang Dequan, issue my decree: Tong Bingchen, Minister of Works, is to be dismissed and investigated imdiately for slandering and framing the Empress. Let this serve as a warning to others."
Whether the Empress would fall from grace, Wang Dequan didn’t know, but he felt the Emperor was on the verge of collapsing.
The Emperor had been frequently summoning officials to the study for days and hadn’t returned to Chengqian Palace to rest.
The harem speculated that he was nursing a broken heart and had thrown himself into state affairs.
The concubines were all waiting for the Empress to lose favor, each vying for the Emperor’s attention with their own sches.
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