In the blink of an eye, she had walked quite a distance. Qi Wen could only swallow hard and followed her, muttering to himself.
Even in such a situation, she still insisted on going back to the new tomb. It seemed that the jade pendant left by her dead husband was really important to her.
However, when Qi Wen climbed up following Ye Wanmian and saw many dogs frantically digging at the new tomb of Young Master Chen, his jaw almost dropped in shock. He quickly grabbed Ye Wanmian who was still about to move forward.
"Madam Jiang, be careful. These wild dogs might have smelled the blood and come here to dig for food. Don't get close. Be careful not to get hurt by them accidentally."
Ye Wanmian just smiled. Instead, she tightly grasped Qi Wen's arm and pulled him forward. "Don't worry. It won't happen."
The dogs noticed someone coming. They all stopped their actions and looked back at the two of them. Their greenish eyes scared Qi Wen so much that he broke out in a cold sweat. He subconsciously wanted to run, but the next moment, the dogs all wagged their tails at them and then lowered their heads to go back to what they were doing.
"What... What's going on?" Qi Wen was extremely shocked.
Ye Wanmian didn't answer him. Instead, she looked around.
These dogs were naturally brought by her big yellow dog. She had already discussed with Big Yellow. On the day of the funeral, she took the opportunity of mourning to enter the Chen Mansion and left the smell of her soles there.
On that day, when the Chen Mansion was going to send the coffin away, the main gate of the mansion must be wide open. Then Big Yellow could lead its dog friends to sneak into the Chen Mansion and follow the smell of her soles to find the real trace of the Crown Prince.
Dogs have a sensitive sense of smell and can smell scents that humans can't. The fake corpse was found by Big Yellow's friends. They must be very familiar with the smell of the Crown Prince's clothes on the fake corpse. Based on this, they could confirm the whereabouts of the Crown Prince.
The fact that the dogs chased here proved that her conjecture was right.
The Crown Prince was hidden in that black coffin just now.
During the funeral, she had been observing the coffin bearers. Young Master Chen was only twelve or thirteen years old, just a child. Even if the coffin itself was very heavy, how could it need six strong adult men to carry it?
Moreover, they changed the bearers four or five times on the way, which showed that the coffin was heavier than expected.
If there were actually two people in the coffin, everything could be explained.
But where was Big Yellow?
The visibility was too poor. She couldn't find the familiar figure of the yellow dog for a while.
Big Yellow should be nearby. Maybe it was chasing those guards.
Forget it. She didn't have much time left. She'd better hurry up.
"Rumble—" The dark clouds above were hanging lower and lower, and the thunder was getting louder and louder. Ye Wanmian walked around the tomb. Her eyes lit up. She stepped forward and picked up two shovels that were thrown on the grass, and threw one of them to Qi Wen.
Qi Wen stared blankly at her. "What does this mean?"
Ye Wanmian walked in front of the tomb. The talisman drawn by Taoist Yuan Qi with chicken blood had been almost destroyed by the dogs. The traces were already indistinguishable. So the little bit of fear in her heart was gone.
No matter how much she disliked that high - and - mighty Crown Prince who had unjustly accused her without distinguishing right from wrong, she just said a few bad words about him behind his back and cursed him to die earlier. She couldn't really kill someone.
But these people, in order to hide the real whereabouts of the Crown Prince, had also killed another innocent person, disguised his body as the Crown Prince's, and invited a Taoist priest to draw this so - called talisman. She didn't know what bad intentions they were hiding.
"I suspect that Young Master Chen didn't die of a sudden illness. He was strangled to death. I want to dig open the tomb and open the coffin to take a closer look."
After saying that, she waved the shovel in her hand and shoveled at the tomb, making a gap in the newly - piled tomb.
Qi Wen's face turned green. "Shouldn't such a thing be reported to the officials?"
"Stop being so wordy. Hurry up and dig. Those guards were chased away by the dogs. We don't know when they'll come back. It looks like it's going to rain. We don't have much time left."
This... This... He was greedy for money, but he couldn't do such a thing as digging someone's tomb!
Qi Wen now began to regret agreeing to Ye Wanmian to earn this money from the dead with her. He really wanted to throw away the shovel in his hand and turn around to run away, but looking at Ye Wanmian's hard - working back, the sense of justice in his heart was also aroused by her.
He loved listening to operas. The operas he listened to not only had the passionate love stories between princes and noblemen and rural women, but also the chivalrous stories of heroes in the green forest robbing the rich to help the poor and doing justice, as well as the detective stories of upright officials solving strange cases, clearing the common people's names, and bringing corrupt officials and unscrupulous merchants to justice.
Now, he was also going to experience what the heroes in the operas had experienced!
Isn't it just digging a tomb? For the truth, who's afraid of whom!
Qi Wen gritted his teeth, rolled up his sleeves, and joined Ye Wanmian, working hard to dig the tomb soil.
The soil of the newly - built tomb was loose. It was easy to dig with one shovel. With the two of them working together, in less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the shovel touched the black coffin, making a crisp "clang" sound.
Ye Wanmian's eyes lit up. "We've found it!"
The two of them speeded up their actions. Soon, the lid of the black coffin reappeared in front of them. But facing the black coffin with nine nails in it, Ye Wanmian frowned again.
Qi Wen had been busy for a while and was sweating all over, but the blood in his body was also boiling. He pushed Ye Wanmian away and shouted, "Let me do it!"
He waved the shovel in his hand and hit the coffin lid. There were "clang", "clang", "clang" sounds on the spot. Fortunately, there was also the dull thunder in the sky, which covered up the noise they made.
Qi Wen was a man after all. Although he was a bit young, he was much stronger than Ye Wanmian. Under his hard - hitting, the nails on the coffin lid became much looser. Then Ye Wanmian used the shovel in her hand to pry, and easily got them out.
The nine nails were soon pried open by the two of them. Then they lifted the coffin lid together—
The corpse in the coffin was exposed, and the stench of decay came with it.
Ye Wanmian was well - prepared. She took out a handkerchief soaked in medicinal liquid and covered her face, and threw another one to Qi Wen.
"You come with me to carry the body out."
Qi Wen was full of enthusiasm. Without saying a word, he covered his face and stepped forward. He and Ye Wanmian each grabbed the head and the feet of the body that was only half the height of an adult in the coffin, carried it out, and put it aside.
Qi Wen remembered what Ye Wanmian had said just now. He immediately squatted down to check the cause of the body's death.
And Ye Wanmian went back to the coffin. She lifted the cushion inside and knocked on it.
"Thud, thud." The sound came from under her palm, with an echo.
There was another layer below!
She quickly searched around and found a gap. She reached out and grabbed it, then lifted the partition board!
"Crash!"
A thunderbolt exploded in the sky. The thick lightning illuminated the whole world and also illuminated the bottom of the coffin—
An adult man was lying quietly in it, only wearing a white inner robe. His eyes were tightly closed. On that cold, heartless but extremely handsome face that had appeared in Ye Wanmian's dreams countless times, there were complex talisman patterns drawn with red cinnabar.
She saw clearly. It was the Crown Prince, Xiao Jingcheng.