The plaque in the hand of员外 Chen was that of the Prince Xuan's Mansion. The soldiers of the Pei Family Army were all familiar with it, so they let him pass upon seeing it.
Inside the room, Xiao Yixuan and Xiao Wuchen were looking through the account books seized by Xiao Jingcheng from the salt merchants in Ningzhou. When they learned that 员外 Chen was seeking an audience with them in a hurry, Xiao Yixuan frowned deeply first, and then said, "Let them in."
He was dissatisfied with 员外 Chen's sudden visit. However, when he saw 员外 Chen appear before him in a sorry state, he was shocked and had a premonition of something. He suddenly stood up from his chair.
Xiao Wuchen was taken aback and asked, "Brother Emperor?"
Xiao Yixuan tightened his fist hidden in his sleeve and sat down again as if nothing had happened.
Meeting Xiao Yixuan's gloomy eyes, 员外 Chen felt terrified. Before he even reached him, he knelt on the ground.
"Please, please, Your Highnesses, do justice for this commoner!" he wailed and kowtowed three times forcefully towards Xiao Yixuan.
Xiao Yixuan squinted his eyes and said nothing. It was Xiao Wuchen beside him who said, "员外 Chen, tell us in detail what grievances you have."
员外 Chen knew that it was not a good time for him to come, but the situation was urgent and he didn't have time to think much. He bowed his hands and began to cry and complain:
"Your Highnesses may have heard that my son suddenly passed away some time ago. In order to avoid offending the noble guests, I had to temporarily place my son's body in the mansion. It was not until four days ago that I was able to bury him peacefully."
"I thought that from then on, my son would rest in peace. Who would have thought, who would have thought that early this morning, the guards in the mansion reported that my son's grave had been dug open in just a few days, the nailed coffin had also been opened, and my son's body had disappeared without a trace. Inside the coffin..."
He raised his head and said in a trembling voice, "Inside the coffin, there was nothing left!"
"What did you say?!" Xiao Yixuan was extremely shocked and blurted out subconsciously. Then he immediately realized that his reaction was too strong. He said coldly:
"Under the bright sky, with us guarding Dongli Town, such an absurd thing has happened. This is simply not putting the royal dignity in the eye!"
Xiao Wuchen was also surprised, but his reaction was not as intense as Xiao Yixuan's. "The grave was dug open just after the burial. It looks like a premeditated act."
Xiao Yixuan coldly asked, "It has been raining these days. The wet soil will turn into mud, which is very likely to leave footprints. Have you checked carefully? Have you found any useful clues at the gravesite?"
员外 Chen looked ugly. "This is the strangest part. There were no footprints at the scene. The body seemed to have disappeared into thin air. The only strange thing was that on the night of the burial, there were wild wolves near the gravesite..."
He didn't dare to hide anything and told them about how several guards had encountered wild wolves in the mountains and had been chased by them and fallen into a mountain depression.
"I don't know who is so crazy that they won't even let a dead child go!" 员外 Chen cried and kowtowed a few more times. "Please, Your Highnesses, do justice for this commoner!"
Xiao Yixuan's fingers tightly grasped the armrest of the chair. "No one in this world can dig open a grave out of thin air. Those wild wolves that appeared on the night of the burial must have been instigated by someone. Someone took advantage of this opportunity to use the wild wolves to drive away all the guards around the gravesite so that they could act conveniently."
Xiao Wuchen didn't really want to bother with such a small matter in his heart, but seeing that Xiao Yixuan seemed to be very concerned about it, he also echoed, "You're right. This must be a man-made incident, and it's probably done by someone familiar with the 员外. In my opinion, we should gather all the people who attended the funeral that night and question them one by one to see if there are any suspicious points. Brother Emperor, what do you think?"
Xiao Yixuan said in a deep voice, "员外 Chen, you go and send someone to call all the people who attended the funeral that night immediately. I will question them personally!"
...
"So, this is the whole story?" Ye Wanmian listened to Zhou Wang's retelling and lowered her eyelashes to cover the deep thought in her eyes.
As soon as they found that the grave on the mountain had been dug open and the body in the coffin had disappeared, 员外 Chen immediately returned to the town and reported this matter to the Prince Xuan and the Prince Ning. It seemed that one of these two people was the mastermind behind the conspiracy to harm the crown prince.
She just didn't know whether it was the Prince Xuan or the Prince Ning.
The Ye Family had frequent interactions with the Prince Xuan's Mansion. In Ye Wanmian's usual perception, this cousin who had no blood relationship with her was gentle, elegant, knowledgeable, and kind to others. He was very popular.
If the emperor had not already established a crown prince, with Xiao Yixuan's talent, he would also have a chance to compete for that position.
However, to be fair, although the crown prince Xiao Jingcheng had a feud with her, he was not completely useless. Except for his cold and unapproachable personality, there were actually no major mistakes in him. He was a qualified crown prince.
As for Xiao Wuchen...
He often followed Xiao Yixuan and had met Ye Wanmian a few times, but they had never spoken to each other. They were not familiar with each other. In her memory, this person was too low-key and didn't seem to have any particularly obvious strengths.
Even after he was enfeoffed as a prince and left the palace to build his own mansion, he still closely followed Xiao Yixuan's side, as if showing his loyalty. But Ye Wanmian knew that the dog that doesn't bark bites the hardest.
Whether it was Xiao Yixuan or Xiao Wuchen, they were not easy to deal with.
If it were someone else, they would have been in a complete mess and extremely panicked by now. But Ye Wanmian's identity as the former young lady of the Ye Family was actually an advantage.
After all, who in the capital didn't know the story of Ye Wanmian, the former young lady of the Ye Family, being publicly humiliated and ridiculed by the crown prince for her improper background and her attempt to climb up the social ladder?
Anyone might save Xiao Jingcheng, but Ye Wanmian definitely wouldn't.
Compared with Ye Wanmian, Qi Wen was much more nervous. However, when he turned his head and saw Ye Wanmian looking calm and composed, his heart also calmed down.
If Lady Jiang wasn't afraid, what was he afraid of?
He just didn't believe that they really dared to spread the news that the crown prince's body was missing all over the world! If they did, wouldn't it prove that the previous body was fake?
When Zhou Wang brought Ye Wanmian and Qi Wen to the Liuxiang Tower, there were already a lot of people gathered outside. Besides the servants of the Chen Family, there were also many townspeople who had gone to the funeral of Young Master Chen that night.
After a while, Steward Chen was holding a booklet in his hand and calling out the names one by one, checking the people on the scene. The atmosphere was extremely solemn.
Ye Wanmian joined the crowd and stood there waiting with Qi Wen with her hands hanging down.
"... Jiang Mian from Qingyu Alley."
After a while, Steward Chen called Ye Wanmian's name. Ye Wanmian stepped forward and bent slightly. "Yes, sir, I'm here."
Steward Chen ticked off her name in the booklet with a pen. The next name he called was Qi Wen.
There were more than thirty people crying at the funeral that night. Including the guards and the coffin bearers, there were a total of 160 people registered in the booklet. After confirming that everyone had arrived, Steward Chen closed the booklet and said with a straight face, "Wait here obediently and wait for the princes to summon you."
After saying that, he waved his hand and entered the building.