auspicious time has come

After a moment of surprise, Yan Ming smiled: "That's right, Xiao Hou and Xiao Shiqi have such a heart-to-heart relationship, Xiao Hou must be very clear about what Xiao Shiqi knows."

"If Xiao Hou is interested in Yan's life experience, he can ask him directly. There is no need to go to such painstaking efforts to investigate secretly."

Yan Ming lowered his eyes to look at the slightly swaying clear tea soup in the teacup in his hand, and said with a half-smile: "Yes, I lost my parents when I was young, and I was lucky to be rescued by Duke Shu and his son. It's all to seek justice for the innocent souls of the Shi family who died in vain—the purpose and intention of this is nothing that cannot be clearly stated with Xiaohou."

Xiao Mu looked at him, and said in a low voice, "I didn't know that you have been carrying these burdens all these years. You were only ten years old when you left Duke Shu's mansion and returned home—"

Yan Min narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling that something was wrong, and retorted subconsciously: "So what about ten years old? Shi's family is the place to save me and raise me. There are elders who are better than my biological parents, who protect me and teach me to read and write." , my elder brother who grew up with me... As for leaving Shu Guogong's mansion to 'go home'?"

He laughed sarcastically: "Yan family... What kind of family is the Devil's Nest that designed to kill my parents for the purpose of seizing the family property? So, Xiao Hou said it wrong——"

He looked at Xiao Mu, and corrected slowly: "When I was ten years old, I left home instead of returning home."

After finishing speaking, he raised his eyebrows with great interest: "I just don't know, in the old case of Shi's family, Xiao Hou found out something worth mentioning, which can be said by Xiao Shiqi that it will make Yan Mou regret it too late." eh'?"

Looking at the person who couldn't hide his obsession and hatred when he mentioned the past, Xiao Mu's eyes were full of emotions: "When my father sent you back to the Yan family, it was because he didn't want you to be involved in the disaster of the current family. -"

Yan Ming's expression froze, he looked at Xiao Mu for a moment: "——Father?"

He squeezed the cup in his hand tightly, and there was a dark surge in his eyes.

There is something strange, and he has not been unaware of it for a long time.

But the reason why delusions are delusions is because they clearly know that they will not become reality——

Therefore, even if there is a momentary delusion, I will choose to avoid it out of instinct, and I dare not let myself indulge in it, in case that the extremely difficult line of defense collapses, and I will completely become a lunatic.

No, he didn't completely avoid it...

He insisted on choosing to cooperate with the person in front of him. Subconsciously, why wasn't it because the other person had a trace of his older brother?

But that's not all!
"The road ahead is long, and there will be a return. When everything is settled, we will meet again." Xiao Mu looked at him, with a hint of shame in his eyes: "I failed to keep my promise to take you home. I broke my promise."

Yan Ming's pupils trembled, the teacup in his hand dropped, and he stood up abruptly.

"Why do you know the parting words that my brother gave me back then!"

He looked incredulously at the young man whose face was very different from what he remembered, and driven by his turbulent emotions, he finally asked tentatively: "...Brother, is that you?"

In the line of sight, I saw that figure slowly getting up.

"Ajin—" he called him as he did when he was a child, and said to him, "It's been a long time."

Yan Ming's eyelashes trembled, and his eyes turned red immediately.

He walked towards that figure step by step, every step seemed to be stepping on the broken light and shadow of the past.

"Brother..."

His voice suddenly softened, and he didn't dare to let his expression shake too much, so as not to disturb anything and shatter the dream in front of him.

Xiao Mu raised his hand, landed on his shoulder, and looked at him with a smile: "When you were young, you were weak due to injury, and you have been raised for a long time, but you haven't seen the sprain for a long time. At that time, you were worried that you would not grow taller."

Hearing this, Yan Min pulled up the corners of his mouth and smiled with red eyes.

"Sure enough, it's brother..." He finally dared to show a trace of rejoicing, and stretched out his hand to tightly hold Xiao Mu's arm: "Brother is still alive!"

Holding that arm, like a drowning man, he finally grasped the life-saving driftwood again: "Brother is still alive...God has treated me well!"

He found a trace of thoughts in this huge surprise: "It's just... all these years, why didn't brother have a word with me? Why did you even keep it from me?"

Xiao Mu answered him truthfully: "I am the son of a traitor, so I should not be involved in you. Later I heard that you have taken charge of Yan's firm. As long as everything is going well for you, I don't want to involve you in the past."

Yan Jin looked like crying or laughing, bitter and helpless: "My brother is really the same as when I was a child..."

As he said that, he suddenly thought of something, supported Xiao Mu's arms with both hands, and asked nervously: "Brother was poisoned before, how is his body recovering now? Are there any sequelae left behind!"

"It's all right."

"It's not going to be a serious problem! My brother has been poisoned for a long time, and the poison is so strange..." Yan Ming blamed it: "It's all because of my stupidity, but I used poison on my brother... After I go back today, I will ask someone to find the best one." Physician, treat and treat my brother!"

Xiao Mu smiled: "No need, the best doctor is already at my residence."

"The person who detoxified my brother back then?" Yan Ming was extremely guilty: "I really deserve to die, but I almost killed my brother. My brother was stabbed and seriously injured at that time. If I can't find the person who detoxified in time, I'm afraid..."

Thinking of this at this moment, he felt cold all over his body—what stupid things he did!
If elder brother really lost his life because of his stupidity, even if he died ten thousand times, it would be irreparable!

Seeing that he was emotionally agitated and self-hateful, Xiao Mu said: "There is no need to mention this matter, let's sit down and talk."

"Brother, I am really shameless—"

"Sit down." Xiao Mu interrupted him, pressed half of his shoulders, and asked him to sit down.

His attitude is tolerant and gentle, still like the towering tree that shelters the wind and rain in the memory of a little child - this gradually calmed down Yan Ming's emotions, and smiled with red eyes: "Brother is now a lot more taciturn... For the rest, nothing has changed."

"Ajin, you have changed a lot." Xiao Mu also sat down.

"I..." Yan Min smiled bitterly: "That's true."

He suppressed the tears in his eyes and looked at Xiao Mu: "Brother... what have you experienced in these years? Can you tell me about it?"

"I'm not in a hurry, I'll talk to you slowly in the future." Xiao Mu looked at him: "Why don't you talk about yours first."

"My..." Yan Ming smiled complicatedly: "I suddenly saw my brother, and I didn't know where to start... Why don't you ask me, let me answer."

"Okay." Xiao Mu then asked: "When the King of Jin rebelled, was there your instigation and instigation behind it?"

Yan Ming was stunned for a moment: "It turns out that brother already knows..."

He said truthfully: "When the King of Jin was stationed in the North, he already had dissatisfaction in his heart, and also couldn't let go of what happened to the Shi family, so I persuaded him a little bit, and promised to help him with food, grass and horses... and he agreed."

Xiao Mu didn't comment on anything, but asked again: "At that time, Yun Chao was poisoned and killed in the Jin army camp, was it also your fault?"

"No." Yan Ming shook his head: "Jiang Jialang was not my victim—even though his father, Jiang Zhengfu, was an accomplice of the court, but I knew he was a close friend of my elder brother, and his actions to persuade King Jin to surrender also showed that he was a person of great affection. How could you attack him so easily?"

"It can be seen from this that other than you, there were also people who secretly contributed to the flames, trying to make King Jin have to rebel." Xiao Mu asked, "Do you know who the person who poisoned Yun Chao was?"

Yan Ming shook his head again: "I tried to track it down, but King Jin never found out anything. I'm a merchant, so naturally I haven't found anything."

"You encouraged King Jin to rebel. In the final analysis, it was because you were dissatisfied with the current imperial court—" Xiao Mu asked again: "Why are you so sure that the emperor must be the one who caused the family's disaster?"

Yan Ming couldn't help frowning: "If it wasn't the emperor, who else could it be? If it wasn't for the emperor, why didn't he even investigate the case of the Shi family back then, and rushed to convict and execute him?"

"The emperor is certainly not innocent, but what I'm referring to is the one who conspired to frame his father's collaboration with the enemy—"

Yan Ming's eyes trembled: "Brother, you mean...the murderer is someone else?!"

"Yes." Xiao Mu looked determined.

"Who could it be!" Yan Ming's eyes repeated: "Who would have such a skill...Jiang Zhengfu?"

"I used to suspect that it was him." Xiao Mu said, "But now all the clues are gradually pointing to another person."

"Who?" Yan Ming asked calmly.

Xiao Mu: "By your hand, those who incite King Jin to rebel—"

Yan Ming was puzzled: "Brother... what do you mean by this? The matter of King Jin is my own idea."

"Even if there is no explicit guidance, invisibly seducing is still being used, and the people who are being used will not realize that they have been used by others." Xiao Mu looked at Yan Ming and asked, "After you returned to Yan's house, in just a few years That is to say, to take over the position of Patriarch, and make Yan's firm the No. [-] firm in Dasheng, is it entirely up to you alone?"

Yan Ming paused, and replied: "It was Her Royal Highness the Eldest Princess who secretly helped me a lot, which made it so smooth..."

Hearing this expected answer, Xiao Mu's eyes no longer fluctuated: "Then you know, after I left Beijing that year, when I escaped from Beidi by feigning death, who helped me?"

Yan Ming frowned, extremely surprised: "Could it be His Highness too?"

Xiao Mu nodded: "The eldest princess knows everything about me all these years—"

"But... why did Your Highness never mention to me that my brother is still alive?" Yan Ming's mind was momentarily confused: "Is it the order of my brother?"

"No, I don't know that you have had a lot of secret contacts with her over the years."

Yan Ming was stunned for a moment: "Why..."

Xiao Mu said calmly: "One chess piece naturally does not need to know the existence of another chess piece. Otherwise, it will not be easy to be completely controlled."

Yan Ming looked up at him suddenly: "Brother...what's the meaning of this?!"

He suddenly got up from his chair and said decisively: "No...impossible!"

"The elder brother would like to ask you—" Xiao Mu pointed out, "Is it true that she didn't know anything about you poisoning me back then?"

Yan Ming's body, which was trembling slightly due to excitement, suddenly froze.

Although she didn't signal that matter, she did know about it...

What he has done all these years has never been hidden from her.

So, at the beginning, she acquiesced to him and poisoned her brother? !
"Now that I think about it, she has been taking advantage of the affairs of the Shi family to use you and me invisibly to deal with the current court. It's just that I stick to my own opinion and haven't been able to do what she wants, so she let you poison me and push me away." Put it." Xiao Mu said: "But at first your plan didn't go well, so she assassinated me in Yingzhou again, and blamed Pei family, so that I found Jiang Zhengfu through Pei's family. The court has impeached me a lot, under such circumstances, it is almost reasonable for me to feel rebellious—"

Yan Min shook his head in a daze: "How is it possible..."

Xiao Mu continued: "In that assassination, Ah Heng accidentally found a crucial clue."

"What clue..." Yan Ming asked with almost every nerve tense.

"Aheng has been secretly investigating the truth about Mr. Qinghan's death. In the robbery nine years ago, she had recorded the tattoo pattern on the inner side of the murderer's wrist." During my assassination, she found the same tattoo on an assassin."

"The reason why Mr. Qing Han was robbed and killed was because he noticed that someone was plotting against his father at the border of the Northland. After sending the letter back to Beijing, he was silenced on the way."

"That is to say... the person who killed Mr. Qinghan was the one who framed the collaborating case?" Yan Ming's face was almost bloodless: "But how can you be sure, those assassins with special tattoos are behind their backs?" The owner must be His Royal Highness the Eldest Princess?"

"The prince was killed in the city, and some of those assassins also had this tattoo." Xiao Mu asked him: "The prince only left the palace temporarily when he heard that the eldest princess had an emergency and was in critical condition. When the assassins attacked, Just avoided the patrol of the guards in the city, and prepared fire oil early, and ambushed at the necessary place to leave the Princess Yongyang's mansion—Ajin, do you think that in this capital, the critical moment of the change of the throne, Could there really be such a coincidence?"

He really came to this conclusion after the prince was assassinated yesterday.

Some long-unsolved mysteries, as long as you find a key clue, you can peel off the cocoon, connect the past and one thing, and then get the real answer.

No matter how unbelievable and unbelievable the answer may seem—

Yan Ming's voice became straight and slow: "According to this, Mrs. Xiao's matter...is also her handwriting, isn't it?"

"My mother is definitely not such a careless person. The one who can lead her away from everyone's sight alone must be someone she trusts very much. Although my mother has rarely met the eldest princess, she has always been grateful and regarded her as a benefactor."

Speaking of this, Xiao Mu lowered his eyes slightly: "It was also from that night that Ah Heng and I really began to suspect her."

"She took advantage of her mother's death to force the prince to choose between Turks and me—the more chaotic the situation, the better for her." Xiao Mu recalled: "The case of King Hedong put me in a difficult situation and forced me to choose between me and Turks." The anti-Lu Longjun heart has never died, and now it seems that it is what she did for it-the person who is willing to bear all these crimes is my father's old department. Before he died, knowing my identity, he wrote in my hand. The identity of a person, one horizontal above one short vertical, first vertical and then horizontal, is the character 'Li', and it may also be the character 'Yong'."

"The eldest princess led the army with her father in the early years, and she was quite prestigious in the army. She is the only one who can drive father's old army."

Having said all this, Xiao Mu has no intention of going any further.

There is no need to say more.

Follow this answer to deduce and think carefully, and everything will become "logical".

Because the answer is the truth.

Only the real truth can withstand such scrutiny, unlike when he was suspicious of Jiang Zhengfu before, he always felt that there was still something strange everywhere.

Yan Ming stood there, and looked at Xiao Mu again after a long time: "But, why... why did she attack the Shi family?! And why did she do all this? She is weak, has no power in her hands, and even has no children... Elder brother, among them... is there any misunderstanding? Could it be someone else's trap, deliberately planted on her!"

Xiao Mu didn't answer, just looked at him.

"I don't believe it, I don't believe she was the one who made the arrangements from the beginning to the end..." Yan Ming's eyes were red: "I'm going to ask her personally!"

Xiao Mu raised his hand, blocking his way.

"Since I killed the prince, I can't wait to get what I want. You don't need to ask, just watch what she does next, and you will know whether my guess is right or wrong."

Yan Ming paused, his clenched hands trembling slightly.

The wind passed through the bamboo forest outside the window, and there was only rustling around.

……

The next morning, Hengyu insisted on entering the palace regardless of the persuasion of her elder sister and sister-in-law out of worry.

When she arrived, there was a panic in the East Palace.

"What's the matter?" Heng Yu stopped a familiar maid and hurriedly asked.