This discovery made Ye Wanmian's heart skip a beat.
She took out the silver hairpin from her head and carefully picked out the black dirt from the corpse's nails with the sharp end of the hairpin. Then she wrapped it in a handkerchief.
After that, she put the corpse's palm back in place.
Xiao Jingcheng watched her do all this. He was surprised by her meticulousness, and his perception of her was refreshed once again.
He didn't expect that such a hidden detail could be discovered by her. She was more intelligent than he had imagined.
His ears twitched. A faint sound came from afar. Xiao Jingcheng scratched Ye Wanmian with his paw and let out a low whine towards the outside. Ye Wanmian immediately understood. She quickly grabbed the yellow dog and got under the shelf bed where the corpse was placed. She covered herself and the yellow dog with a white cloth.
The footsteps outside passed by this room and gradually faded away. It must be the guard on duty coming in for a patrol.
Ye Wanmian didn't dare to go out for the time being. Lying on the cold ground, she stared at the darkness in front of her, and her thoughts gradually spread.
Since this corpse was not the crown prince, why was it dressed in the crown prince's clothes and its age and stature matched those of the crown prince? Did the crown prince find a look - alike as a substitute before his death to avoid the pursuit?
Or...
Did someone want to confirm the death of the crown prince and had already prepared a substitute?
Ye Wanmian was more inclined to the latter. After all, the disappearance of the crown prince had been making a lot of noise recently. If the crown prince was still alive, he wouldn't have hidden himself so well.
If this corpse in front of her was not the crown prince Xiao Jingcheng, then where was the real crown prince?
She gently patted the yellow dog in her arms again and again.
Thinking carefully, if even she could find such details and realize that this corpse was not the crown prince, what about others?
The Right Guard Captain of the Eastern Palace, the Prince Mu who was both the crown prince's teacher and uncle, as well as the Princes Xuan and Ning...
Did they really believe that the crown prince was dead?
Or perhaps, announcing the "death" of the crown prince was exactly what they wanted to see. Despite the many doubts about the corpse, no one bothered to dig deeper.
Thinking of this, Ye Wanmian broke out in a cold sweat.
She found that she seemed to have accidentally touched a big and untold secret.
Suddenly, the footsteps came towards this place again. She slowed down her breathing and tried to make herself as unnoticeable as possible. The next moment, the footsteps entered the room. Through the white cloth, Ye Wanmian saw that it became brighter outside.
There were two people coming. They held torches in their hands and inspected the surroundings. Finally, they came to the corpse.
One of their feet even stopped only a few inches away from Ye Wanmian's arm through the white cloth. If it took one more step forward, it would touch her.
Ye Wanmian was so scared that she held her breath and didn't dare to make a sound.
And Xiao Jingcheng, who was being held in her arms, tensed up his body, ready to attack at any time.
"I didn't expect that His Highness the Crown Prince would die an untimely death at such a young age. It's really a pity," a sigh came from outside. One of them suddenly spoke, sounding quite regretful.
Both Ye Wanmian and Xiao Jingcheng were stunned.
"The crown prince was not married yet and didn't even leave a single heir. With his death, everything is in vain," said the other person.
Hearing these two nobodies discussing his own life and death, and even mentioning his marriage, Xiao Jingcheng felt a sense of absurdity in his heart.
He couldn't help but roll his eyes and look at the woman holding him.
"Speaking of which, His Highness the Crown Prince is already at this age. Why is he still not married?"
Gossiping about others' private affairs is human nature. The two of them actually started chatting on this topic.
"There are so many women in the capital who want to marry His Highness the Crown Prince. However, I heard that our crown prince has some special hobbies. There aren't even any serving maids around him..."
"Ah?! Is he a homosexual?!"
"Shh! Don't be so loud. What if we disturb the soul of the crown prince?"
Under the shelf bed, Xiao Jingcheng and Ye Wanmian: "..."
Xiao Jingcheng was so angry that he wanted to jump out and bite each of these two people. Ye Wanmian tried her best to suppress her laughter.
The crown prince was a homosexual?
It was not impossible. Before the incident two years ago, she really had never heard that the crown prince was close to any woman. If this rumor was true, it would not be difficult to understand why he was so angry after seeing that love letter.
Because of the torch lit in the room, Xiao Jingcheng clearly saw the upturned corners of Ye Wanmian's lips. He became even angrier!
The two people outside didn't notice that their conversation had been overheard. They got closer, and their voices became much lower.
"By the way, I heard that there are doubts about the crown prince's birth."
Before they could recover from the news that the crown prince was a homosexual, Ye Wanmian and Xiao Jingcheng hiding under the shelf bed were forced to take in another big piece of gossip.
Ah?
"What doubts?" The other person asked the question in Ye Wanmian and Xiao Jingcheng's hearts.
"I heard that Her Majesty the Queen actually had a marriage contract with His Highness the Prince Mu back then. But later, somehow, this marriage fell to His Majesty instead."
"His Majesty and Her Majesty had a very good relationship at first. His Majesty even invited His Highness the Prince Mu to teach the crown prince. But later, for some reason, the emperor and the queen gradually fell out of favor, and His Majesty doted on the imperial concubine instead."
"Therefore, some people speculate that the crown prince is actually not His Majesty's blood, but the child born by Her Majesty the Queen and His Highness the Prince Mu."
The other person was shocked: "Really? Is this true?!"
Ye Wanmian under the shelf bed was also extremely shocked. But then she found that the yellow dog in her arms was trembling violently and making growling sounds from its throat.
Ye Wanmian knew that this was its angry reaction.
Afraid that the yellow dog would jump out and pounce on those two people, exposing her presence here, Ye Wanmian hugged the yellow dog tightly and gently stroked its back again and again.
The two people outside continued, "Shh! Don't be so loud. I don't know if it's true or not. I just accidentally heard such a rumor. If this gets out, our heads will be on the line."
"I know. I won't tell anyone."
"Are there any less secrets in the royal family? When the State of Chu still existed, wasn't there a scandal that the King of Chu snatched his daughter - in - law? For such a rumor to spread, there must be some truth to it."
"Tsk tsk," said the other person. "No wonder His Highness the Prince Mu, even though his health is so poor, still volunteered to go south to look for His Highness the Crown Prince. If that's true, everything can be understood."
This is sheer nonsense!
Listening to their conversation, Xiao Jingcheng was so angry that his head throbbed.
How could his mother and his uncle be in such a relationship? How could he be the child born out of their affair? It was absolutely impossible! It must be a trap set by others to ruin his and his mother's reputations and make them completely lose the position of the queen and the crown prince!
It's absolutely impossible, absolutely impossible...
But... what if it's true?