Yi Qing was right. It was almost impossible to reverse a decades - old case that involved so many people. If the investigation was too thorough, even the emperor would be left without any support.
"It's almost impossible to clear Mr. Song Zhiyu's name, but we can make an exchange," Xiao Jinghan reminded Yi Qing.
Yi Qing suddenly realized, "You mean the emperor can use this case as leverage to force those people to support this matter."
Xiao Jinghan nodded.
"Then wouldn't Mr. Song Zhiyu be wronged in vain?" Yi Qing thought it was unfair.
"The dead turn to bones, and their merits and demerits will be judged by later generations. To bring about change, there must always be sacrifices." Xiao Jinghan understood this most profoundly, as he had fought his way through.
In the afternoon, Deng Xiao came directly to the General's Mansion with a stack of rosters. Xiao Jinghan looked at him with a solemn expression.
Deng Xiao pretended not to see Xiao Jinghan and said to Yi Qing with emotion, "You didn't see it. This morning when Xiao Jinghan heard that Song Zhiyu came to see you, he rushed out in a hurry without caring about anything."
"My general just cares about me," Yi Qing said, hugging Xiao Jinghan's arm.
Xiao Jinghan immediately lifted the corners of his mouth, unable to hide his pride.
Deng Xiao turned to the side. The taste of this "love food" was good, but it was a bit overwhelming.
"You guys go on with your business. I'll ask the kitchen to prepare some food for you," Yi Qing didn't want to stay with the two of them. It was too tiring.
Watching Yi Qing leave, Deng Xiao took out a booklet from the stack and handed it to Xiao Jinghan. "Mr. Xue Bozheng, Song Zhiyu's teacher, might have been killed. The emperor has ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guard to secretly investigate."
Xiao Jinghan took the booklet and looked at it. "It seems that the incident back then was very complicated."
"The emperor is worried that Song Zhiyu might be in danger and has asked him to stay with you for the time being," Deng Xiao couldn't help but smile.
Xiao Jinghan thought Deng Xiao must have come to see his joke. "Since you know he might be in danger, what are you doing here?"
"So you've agreed?" Deng Xiao folded his arms. "I thought you'd drive him away."
Xiao Jinghan did want to drive Song Zhiyu away, but this was an important matter.
Song Zhiyu closed the opera house, paid homage to his teacher, and then started preparing for the debate. With his current identity, he couldn't participate in the debate in person, but he could make preparations.
The reason he chose to be an opera performer was that this identity allowed him to come into contact with many powerful and wealthy people, so he could find out their weaknesses and prepare for this matter.
Fortunately, God rewarded his efforts. Finally, he got such an opportunity, and he must fulfill his teacher's last wish.
"Sir, hurry up!" Xiu Zhu rushed into the room covered in blood and blocked the door with his body.
Someone outside was ramming the door hard, causing Xiu Zhu to vomit blood continuously.
"Xiu Zhu!" Song Zhiyu looked at Xiu Zhu's state.
"Sir, go quickly," Xiu Zhu wouldn't let his teacher get close.
Song Zhiyu picked up the organized materials on one side and was about to jump out of the window. However, the door was rammed open. Xiu Zhu died under the black - clothed man's sword but still hugged the man's leg tightly.
The black - clothed man couldn't break free for a moment, so he threw his sword out, trying to kill Song Zhiyu. Song Zhiyu bent over to protect the booklet in his arms.
The sword cut across his back, leaving a long wound.
Just as he was about to jump out, he heard dense footsteps outside. When the black - clothed man heard someone coming, he didn't care about Song Zhiyu and turned to run. Unfortunately, he was blocked by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and committed suicide.
Song Zhiyu slumped on the ground, gasping for breath. He didn't expect this matter to bring him a near - death experience.
"Mr. Song, our commander has ordered you to stay in General Xiao's mansion for the time being," the Embroidered Uniform Guard ordered.
"Please take Xiu Zhu to the public morgue," Song Zhiyu said as he took out a bag of silver.
The Embroidered Uniform Guard took a look and accepted it, then ordered his men to carry Xiu Zhu's body away.
"Dead?" Deng Xiao looked at his subordinate. "Where's the body?"
"It has been carried back to the Embroidered Uniform Guard."
Deng Xiao glanced at Xiao Jinghan and left with his men. He felt extremely embarrassed this time. If he hadn't come to Xiao Jinghan's place to tease him first, this wouldn't have happened.
"I'll go with you," Xiao Jinghan thought this matter was serious.
Xiao Jinghan didn't know much about the incident back then. The files only recorded what had happened and how many people had died. But a scholar who hadn't experienced it at that time might not understand the danger.
Xiao Jinghan and Deng Xiao went to the Embroidered Uniform Guard together. Yi Qing asked someone to treat Song Zhiyu's wound. The wound was not deep but a bit long. After applying medicine and bandaging, it would be fine.
"Do you know who wants to kill you?" Yi Qing asked curiously.
Song Zhiyu shook his head. "I'm just a low - class opera performer. Who could I have offended?"
"Then it must be because of the petition of the poor scholars this time?" Yi Qing guessed. "It shouldn't be necessary to kill you. Think about whether there's anything related to your teacher."
Song Zhiyu frowned and thought for a long time. "No. My teacher passed away in prison, and I wasn't by his side."
Yi Qing thought this matter was a bit strange. "Then you can stay here in peace and slowly think about whether your teacher ever said anything strange before he died."
"Before my teacher was arrested, he always looked up at the sky and sighed, then smiled bitterly. When I asked him, he didn't say anything," Song Zhiyu only remembered this.
Yi Qing thought for a while. "Did your teacher know that something bad was going to happen to him?"
Song Zhiyu thought for a while. "It seems so."
Yi Qing thought this was interesting. She guessed that there was another person weighing the pros and cons. "You should take good care of your injury first."
After giving these instructions, she left. Anyway, with Xiao Jinghan and Deng Xiao around, she didn't need to worry.
Xiao Jinghan and Deng Xiao examined the body. There was a poison pill hidden under the man's jaw. As long as he was in danger, he would take the poison.
"Is it necessary to go to such extremes to assassinate an opera performer?" Deng Xiao folded his arms and looked at the body on the ground. "He doesn't look like someone from the capital."
Xiao Jinghan squatted down to examine the dead man's hands and moved his neck, then saw a strange tattoo. "A Japanese."
"A Japanese?" Deng Xiao immediately became solemn. If it involved the Japanese, the matter would be serious.
"He should just be a Japanese assassin," Xiao Jinghan stood up.
Although the Great Jin and the Japanese were at odds, there were still some Japanese in the capital. They usually hid in the most chaotic places and did some shady business.
"Even if Song Zhiyu promoted the petition of the poor scholars, it shouldn't be necessary to kill him," Deng Xiao analyzed.
"Unless Song Zhiyu has something more important in his hands, or the other side suspects that he does," Xiao Jinghan also thought it was unnecessary to kill Song Zhiyu.
"Then you should ask Song Zhiyu carefully," Deng Xiao was going to follow the clues of this Japanese assassin to investigate.
Song Zhiyu really didn't know anything. Although his teacher recommended things to him, he didn't let him know other things. Maybe his teacher had a premonition at that time.
Xiao Jinghan didn't get any useful information either. They could only wait and see if the Embroidered Uniform Guard could find any more clues.
"Without Song Zhiyu to organize things for them, will those poor scholars be okay?" Yi Qing was a bit worried. "Do you think they killed Song Zhiyu because they knew he was the backbone of the poor scholars?"