vrcanaries Chapter 1384 Trouble
Chapter 1384 Trouble
The man in black's words clearly hit her weak spot.
"Go ahead," Lin Yiwan's voice remained cold, but she had already relented.
"Let me go," the man in black said, enunciating each word clearly. "Give me a horse, some dry rations and medicine, and let me leave this mountain forest so I can fly far away from here."
Yingyi immediately objected: "Madam, you mustn't! This man is impersonating an imperial guard and falsely conveying the Emperor's secret letter. If we let him go, he will surely become a future problem!"
The man in black sneered, "I am already seriously injured. Even if you let me go, I won't be able to cause any trouble."
Lin Yiwan remained silent for a moment, her gaze sweeping over the man in black. She knew that Ying Yi was right; letting a tiger return to the mountains would lead to endless trouble.
But if she doesn't let him go, she will never know who the mastermind is, nor will she be able to unravel these mysteries.
“I can let you go,” Lin Yiwan said slowly, “but you must tell the truth first. If I verify that what you say is true, I will send someone to escort you out of the mountains.”
The man in black seemed to have expected her to say this, and immediately nodded: "Alright. What I want to tell you, Madam, is that the secret letter was written by Prime Minister Meng."
Lin Yiwan's eyes darkened. This answer coincided with the booklet in her hand, but she always felt that things were not that simple.
The man in black continued, "That's right, Meng Xiang colluded with the Wolf Head Gang to embezzle disaster relief funds. He was afraid that Madam would obtain evidence and present it to His Majesty, exposing his crimes, so he came up with this vicious plan. He forged His Majesty's handwriting to write that secret letter, and then sent us to assassinate Madam and seize the register!"
He paused for a moment and then continued, "If it succeeds, he can use the list to blackmail those officials and gradually take control of the government. If it fails, he can shift the blame onto His Majesty, causing the Lady to turn against His Majesty, so that he can reap the benefits."
These words sounded reasonable and were completely consistent with Yingyi's previous analysis. However, a trace of doubt still lingered in Lin Yiwan's mind.
"Meng Xiang is a cunning and shrewd man. How could he let a mere assassin like you know so many secrets?" Lin Yiwan pressed.
The man in black gave a bitter laugh: "I am not some nobody. I was originally a captain under the commander of the Imperial Guards, but because I refused to submit to Meng Xiang, he fabricated charges against me and threw me into prison. Later, he sent people to rescue me from prison and forced me to serve him, otherwise he would kill my wife and children who were far away in Jiangnan."
As he spoke, a flicker of pain crossed his eyes. "I was forced into this situation. If you don't believe me, Madam, you can check the Imperial Guard's roster and see if a captain named Shen Qing is missing."
Lin Yiwan's doubts lessened somewhat. She looked at Ying Yi, who immediately understood and whispered, "This subordinate will send someone to investigate immediately."
Lin Yiwan waved her hand, her gaze returning to the man in black. "No need. I'll trust him this once. Yingyi, prepare a horse for him, and fetch some medicine and dry rations."
Although Yingyi was unwilling, he still bowed and replied, "Yes."
Before long, Yingyi brought over a horse and handed the wound medicine and dry rations to the man in black. The man in black struggled to his feet, but due to the severity of his injuries, he stumbled and almost fell to the ground.
Yingyi snorted coldly and stepped forward to help him onto the horse.
The man in black sat on horseback, looking down at Lin Yiwan, and said in a hoarse voice, "I, Shen Qing, will never forget your great kindness, Madam. However, Madam must be careful in your future actions. Meng Xiang is a treacherous and cunning man, no ordinary person. His henchmen are everywhere in the court and the country. Madam and the Marquis must be very careful!"
Before he could finish speaking, his face suddenly turned pale, and he clutched his chest, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Lin Yiwan's expression changed drastically: "What's wrong with you?"
The man in black looked up, his eyes filled with disbelief and terror. He stared at his palm, which was stained with dark red blood. "That medicine was poisonous!"
Lin Yiwan suddenly looked at Yingyi, who also looked surprised: "This subordinate didn't have any. This subordinate only took the wound medicine commonly used in the Marquis's residence. There is absolutely no problem!"
The man in black looked at Lin Yiwan, the light in his eyes gradually dimming. "I knew Meng Xiang would never let me go!"
His voice grew weaker and weaker, his body went limp, and he fell off his horse, crashing heavily into the snow, where he never made a sound again.
Lin Yiwan quickly stepped forward, squatted down, and checked his breath; her fingertips were icy cold.
The person is already dead.
In the snow, the dark red bloodstains stood out starkly against the backdrop of the white snow.
Yingyi's face was extremely grim: "Madam, what, what exactly is going on?"
Lin Yiwan slowly stood up, her gaze fixed on the depths of the dense forest, her eyes filled with solemnity.
She finally realized that she had fallen into someone else's trap.
This man in black, Shen Qing, was acting from beginning to end. He feigned a confession, pinning everything on Meng Xiang, and then used a self-inflicted injury to gain her trust.
The poison had probably already been administered to him, and he was just waiting for him to say those words before he succumbed to the poison and died, leaving her with no way to verify it.
A dream?
A storm raged in Lin Yiwan's heart.
If all of this was indeed Meng Xiang's doing, then his scheming is far too profound.
But what if there are other people pulling the strings behind the scenes?
Lin Yiwan dared not think any further.
The cold wind swirled snowflakes, which landed on her shoulders, chilling her to the bone.
Looking at Shen Qing's body in the snow, and recalling the forged secret letter, she felt as if an invisible net was slowly closing in on her and on the Marquis of Zhanyi's mansion.
But she still doesn't know who wove this net.
Seeing her grave expression, Yingyi said in a low voice, "Madam, what should we do now?"
Lin Yiwan took a deep breath, a resolute glint in her eyes. "Return to the Marquis's residence."
Her voice sounded particularly firm in the cold wind. "Since someone wants to muddy the waters, then I'll stir them up completely!"
She wanted to see what kind of conspiracy the person behind this was hiding.
We'll see just how treacherous the inner palace and the imperial court really are.
The snow is falling heavier and heavier.
Lin Yiwan mounted her horse and rode off towards the Zhanyi Marquis's residence.
The horse's hooves trod across the snow, leaving a trail of deep hoofprints, which were quickly and quietly covered by the swirling snowflakes.
The world was a vast expanse of white.
The biting wind whipped up snowflakes that stung my face.
The dense forest behind her gradually faded from her memory, but the image of the black-clad man, Shen Qing, dying from poison lingered in her mind.
His last words, filled with terror, "Meng Xiang will never let me go," were like an ice-cold dagger, piercing deep into Lin Yiwan's heart.
The journey has been fraught with traps and deadly dangers.
From the forged secret letter to Shen Qing's feigned confession, and finally the sudden onset of poisoning, the events were all intricately linked and perfectly executed.