On the fourth day of the ninth lunar month in the thirty - third year of Yuanzheng in Great Ye.
The Crown Prince, Song Chengyuan, and the Princess of Nan'an led troops to suppress the rebellion in the Qin and Jin regions.
A few days after the Crown Prince set off, Aunt Mei led a thin - looking middle - aged man into the Snow Bamboo Residence in the Western Third Courtyard.
Lü Baiwei stroked the soft fur of the Persian cat. Looking at the man kneeling on the ground, she sized him up for a while before saying, "Is this Caiyu's eldest uncle?"
Aunt Mei replied, "Yes. After the former subordinate of the master in Hainan received the empress's letter, he immediately went to rescue the person, but it was already too late. The people from the Eastern Depot had arrived earlier. At that time, there was another group of people fighting with the Eastern Depot. It is said that all of them were highly skilled in martial arts. Our people couldn't even get close. Finally, they managed to snatch a comatose person on the side, and that's him."
Li Zhonggui knelt on the ground, shivering.
Since the Li family was exiled to Hainan due to the disaster, he had been living in constant fear. He never expected that someone would still want their lives after four years.
Lü Baiwei asked, "What about the other members of the Lan family?"
Aunt Mei said, "I heard that the two sides fought fiercely. Later, somehow a fire broke out, and everyone was burned to death. None of the people on either side managed to walk out alive."
Lü Baiwei couldn't help but smile. "Heaven is helping me. Doesn't that mean he's the only one left in the Lan family?"
Aunt Mei didn't understand why Lü Baiwei was so happy. But seeing her in a good mood, she also felt happy. "Exactly. He's the only one left in the Lan family."
Lü Baiwei sized up Li Zhonggui again.
She saw that the man was timid and his eyes were evasive. Obviously, he was a coward who was afraid of death.
Just as she wanted.
She slightly curled her lips. "Aunt Mei should have told you before coming why I want to save you, right?"
Li Zhonggui quickly nodded. "She did, she did... Your Majesty, please rest assured. The Lan family's house was just separated from mine by a wall back then. We lived very close. Caiyu liked to come to my place when she was a child. I had a very good relationship with her. She will definitely believe me."
"Good. When you see Caiyu then, tell her that the Emperor ordered His Highness the Prince of Yan to personally kill all the members of the Lan family." There was a malicious look on Lü Baiwei's beautiful face. "After you succeed, I will surely fulfill my promise. I will give you a new identity, allow you to marry and have children again, and bestow upon you fertile fields and mansions."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Li Zhonggui quickly kowtowed. "I will surely live up to your trust!"
After Aunt Mei waved her hand to let someone take him away, she looked at Lü Baiwei in confusion. "Your Majesty, why do you still want to sow discord between Caiyu and the Prince? This old servant thinks that Caiyu's existence is no longer important!"
In Aunt Mei's opinion, Lü Baiwei had already reached an agreement with Song Yinghuai, and the Crown Prince was about to die soon. If Song Yinghuai detected their scheme to sow discord at this time, all their efforts might be in vain.
But Lü Baiwei didn't think so.
"Caiyu and Xuan Yao already have a rift between them. If I strike while the iron is hot and sow discord between them again, Caiyu will surely be completely disheartened with Xuan Yao. Then there will be no possibility for them to get back together."
"You also know that Caiyu, that woman, doesn't get along with me. In the future, whenever I do something, if she stands up to stop me, I will be hindered. It's better to let them separate completely!"
Aunt Mei was a bit frightened. "If Caiyu really believes that the Prince of Yan killed the members of the Lan family, won't she hate him to the core? What if she wants to take revenge..."
Lü Baiwei scoffed. "If Xuan Yao could be killed by Caiyu, how could he be called the God of War?"
She played with the Persian cat and analyzed slowly. "Moreover, I just want her to know that Xuan Yao was acting under the Emperor's order. When the Emperor orders a subject to die, the subject has no choice but to obey. Xuan Yao had to carry out the order, and the Lan family also had to die under the order!"
There was a fierce look on her smiling face. "Caiyu is a sensible girl. She will surely figure out that the destruction of the Lan family was caused by her. She can't blame Xuan Yao for this. She won't try to assassinate Xuan Yao."
Aunt Mei suddenly understood. "But anyway, the Prince personally ended the lives of the Lan family members. The hatred for the destruction of the family is irreconcilable. No matter how sensible, magnanimous, and in love with the Prince of Yan Caiyu is, she can't share a bed with the man who destroyed her family!"
Outside the Snow Bamboo Residence, the autumn wind suddenly rose, blowing the bamboo shadows in the yard. The shadows on the oil - paper windows overlapped with each other.
It was like a group of ferocious demons laughing wildly.
Two days later, Han Fen, who had been away from the capital for many days, secretly returned.
The man was covered in wounds and blood. The murderous aura rolled strongly in the air. "Your Highness, this subordinate failed in his task. The members of the Lan family are missing."
Song Yinghuai's body trembled, and he blurted out, "What?"
Han Fen showed a sad expression. "Your Highness, all the men I took with me died... There were too many people from the Eastern Depot. They were all ruthless, and their hidden weapons kept coming. The brothers couldn't hold on. Moreover, the members of the Lan family were also involved in the fight, so the brothers were restricted."
"Since the attackers came up and started killing, the Lan family didn't dare to trust our men easily. So the three sides fought with each other. Finally, the old Marquis of the Lan family set a fire and said that they should all perish together..."
"I don't know how many people were burned to death in the fire. I was lucky to escape. The other brothers all died."
As Han Fen spoke, he was almost in tears.
More than sixty brothers who had shared life and death with him died one by one in front of Han Fen.
His heart was filled with grief. He even privately blamed Caiyu in his heart.
If she hadn't angered Emperor Guangwu in front of the palace and caused the destruction of the Lan family, the Prince wouldn't have ordered him to rush to Hainan secretly to rescue them.
They were all dead!
Song Yinghuai closed his eyes tightly. The Buddhist beads on his wrist were almost crushed into powder.
After a long time, he opened his eyes and slowly said, "Treat the families of the brothers well. From now on, they are all my personal followers."
Han Fen choked with sobs and replied.
Song Yinghuai then asked, "How many corpses of the Lan family were there in the fire?"
"I can't count them." Han Fen said. "Later, I secretly hid in the crowd and watched the prefect of Hainan lead people to count the list of the dead. All the corpses were charred black. It was impossible to tell whether they were from the Eastern Depot, the Lan family, or our people."
"Later, I sneaked into the morgue. I managed to count all our people by counting the waist tags on the corpses."
Han Fen, a seven - foot - tall man, wiped his tears. "Your Highness, more than sixty brothers are all dead..."
Song Yinghuai felt as if a mountain was pressing on his shoulders. Listening to Han Fen crying, he asked, "Your Highness, when do you plan to tell Miss Caiyu about the Lan family's incident?"
Song Yinghuai's body trembled. He didn't know how to handle this matter.
The members of the Lan family had an accident, and he failed to protect them. How could he tell her?
---
On the thirteenth day of the ninth lunar month, a major event that shocked the court and the public took place.
As soon as the Crown Prince, Song Chengyuan, arrived at Mizhi County, which was at the junction of the Qin and Jin regions, he was attacked by a large number of rebels.
The Crown Prince and the Princess of Nan'an fought desperately. Finally, the Crown Prince was shot dead on the spot in the valley.
The Princess of Nan'an led the troops to break through the encirclement. Fortunately, she met the Great Master Guangzhi, who was promoting Buddhism in the Qin region, and his group of martial - arts - practicing monk believers. With their joint help, she managed to break through the encirclement.
After that, with the help of the Great Master Guangzhi and the local loyal troops, the Princess of Nan'an led the troops to attack the Qin Prince's Mansion. The Prince of Qin was beheaded on the spot.
Three days later, the Princess of Nan'an led the troops into the Jin region and shot the Prince of Jin dead on the spot in the territory of Datong.
The rebellion in the Qin and Jin regions was quelled with lightning speed.
On the day when the troops broke through the encirclement, someone was sent to transport the body of Song Chengyuan back to the capital in an ice - filled coffin on a fast - running horse.
On the twentieth day of the ninth lunar month, Song Chengyuan's coffin arrived in the capital.
Emperor Guangwu rushed out of the imperial city regardless of his status. He saw the dark and heavy coffin outside the Shence Gate.
The Crown Prince, Song Chengyuan, was covered in ice all over his body. His eyes were wide open, and the bloodstains on his lips were still there.
When Emperor Guangwu saw his most beloved son lying in the coffin, pierced by countless arrows like a hedgehog, he immediately spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted.
The Crown Prince of Great Ye passed away, and the Emperor was in a coma in bed. All matters were temporarily in the hands of the Prince of Yan, Song Yinghuai.
White mourning flags were hanging all over the capital, fluttering in the air. The paper money was fluttering down like elm leaves.
Caiyu looked up, reached out to catch a piece of paper money, and then threw it back into the wind. She asked Qingqing, "Where is the Prince?"
The Crown Prince was finally dead. She needed to find the whereabouts of her younger brother!