All the ancestors in the capital begged me to be a substitute

Xu Yuanshan is dead.

In the form of a face swollen into a pig's head, the ancestor of the Duke of Zhen who had been defrauded of his corpse pierced his neck with a short dagger in public and died.

Even after his death, no one knew that the "Zhen Guo Gong" was dead.

Everyone only thought that the person who died was the assassin who assassinated the prince.

The people surrounding the courtyard were only talking about it. The Zhenguo Duke's Mansion was indeed a first-class general in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Even after the death of his ancestor, he could turn into a corpse and join forces with the princess to rescue his granddaughter and kill the assassin.

Because of this incident, they uncovered the death of Xu Yuanshan, the second master of the Xu family.

"Xu Yuanshan died the most useless one. He got angry with his sister-in-law, complained to his eldest brother, and even ran to the enemy camp and was arrested. He is simply hopelessly stupid."

"I heard that before he died, he begged Sangmeng to spare him. He was really cowardly and weak-minded."

"Ham, isn't it just soft bones? I was born very weak, unable to lift my shoulders, unable to lift my hands, and still have such a strong temper. Didn't I just respond to the sentence, 'The heart is higher than the sky, and the life is thinner than paper'."

"Fortunately, he died early. If he had lived, I don't know how much he would have burdened the Duke's government."

What's the best way to take revenge on a man who is smug and has spent half his life dreaming of having power over the world?
Let him die quietly.

After his death, he was stabbed in the spine, saying that he was stupid, cowardly, cowardly, and a disgrace to his people.

This is the storybook Xu Yuanshan wrote for himself when he abandoned his identity, cut off his brother's head, and decided to become Xu Yuanda.

Now that he has died as a pig-headed assassin, he will naturally be known as "Xu Yuanshan" to the world.

Seek kindness.

No one will know in the future that he lived as Xu Yuanda for six years.

Even in these six years, in order to be better than his brother, he practiced hard and worked hard to be the "gong of the country".

But a stolen life, no matter how glorious it is, is still a stolen life.

Shen Lingxi watched coldly, Xu Yuanshan's soul floated up from the corpse, and because of the criticism of him from everyone's mouth, he became furious and furious, but could not defend himself.

It really made the onlookers like them feel very relaxed.

As long as Xu Yuanshan's soul lingers, he will gradually know that after his death, "Duke Zhen Guo" will continue to live.

A kind and righteous general should never die under such a conspiracy. He should not be mentioned with only pity and regret.

Chu Yan would implore the emperor to conceal the news of Xia Zhen Guogong's death, acquiescing to Xu Huan and Xu Ziyao, pretending that his father was still alive in Yunjiang.

This was the last thing Chu Yan did for Xu Yuanda, the Duke of Zhenguo who stood side by side with him and saved his life.

In the future, the world will only know——

"In the winter of the third year of Yuanyou, Xu Yuanda, Duke of Zhen, died of his mother's illness, and stayed in Dingyou, Yunjiang, for three years.

The emperor seized his son Xu Huan's request from Ding You and ordered him to command the 40 Zhenyuan army on his behalf. "

When the right opportunity comes, they will arrange for the town to die in an upright manner, die on the battlefield, and die for the country and the people.

Or, he died in the admiration of the people.

This is his final destination in the eyes of the world.

It was also the ending of "Duke Zhen Guo" that Shen Lingxi discussed with Chu Yan after hearing the old ancestor tell the truth that night.

*
Shen Lingxi admired Xu Yuanshan's dead soul for a while, furious, then let the blood-covered ancestor's soul follow him, and stopped paying attention to the movements of their mother and son for the time being.

Regarding what Mrs. Li Er said, there are still many doubts about Xu Yuanshan's motivation and process of killing Longpo.

After handling so many cases, neither Shen Lingxi nor Chu Yan would ever believe that Xu Yuanshan, who was suspicious and thoughtful by nature, would be so stupid that he "accidentally entered" Zhanlongpo and was captured by Sangmeng.

What's more, later on, Xu Yuanshan, in his capacity as the Duke of Zhenguo, falsely conveyed the imperial edict of the late Emperor, and instigated Yun Hongshan to secretly bewitch the Emperor, use Yun Xi as a human sacrifice, and curse the Chu royal family to die.

This matter also involves the truth that Chu Yan’s father and the emperor’s three sons died one after another.

These are the key points that Shen Lingxi will explore through the soul of Xu Yuanshan in the future.

She vaguely felt that this matter was not as simple as it seemed.

Right now, the top priority is to revive Mrs. Cao who is dying.

In Mrs. Cao's case, the ancestors still had sins to atone for.

Shen Lingxi also has questions that Mrs. Cao needs to solve.

Chu Yan signaled Xu Huan to take away the personal guards, and ordered the black-armored guards to drive away the people watching outside the courtyard.

The yard finally returned to calm again.

Before going to the east wing, Shen Lingxi took the ancestor's body and walked back to the upper room.

After Mrs. Li Er witnessed the corpse of her ancestor and the process of killing Xu Yuanshan with one knife, she was so frightened that she hid in this room.

She huddled in the corner, holding her shoulders in fear and trembling all over.

Just now, although Shen Lingxi ducked to avoid the blood spurting from Xu Yuanshan's neck, the blood sprayed all over the ancestor's corpse.

It made the ancestor's corpse look even more hideous and terrifying.

"Don't...don't kill me." When Mrs. Li saw them coming in, she knelt on the ground in horror and kowtowed "Boom, boom, boom", "Old ancestor, daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law never thought of harming you, daughter-in-law's crime Not until death..."

Shen Lingxi walked up to her, bent down, and smiled at her.

"Didn't the Second Madam just say that she wanted to cleanse the body of our ancestor and bury him?" She said in a light and authentic voice, "Now that our ancestor has finished his earthly affairs and left, shouldn't it be time for the Second Madam to fulfill your promise just now? ?”

Mrs. Li Er looked at her ancestor whose face was covered in blood, and was so horrified that she almost fainted.

Her face was pale, her lips were trembling for a long time, and she couldn't say a single word.

Li Huai, who had been guarding her all the time, saw this, bowed to Shen Lingxi, and said sternly: "Prince Princess, please leave this matter to me. I will watch over my aunt and let her clean up for our ancestors."

Shen Lingxi glanced at him, smiled and nodded, "Then there's Lao Shaoqing."

After all, he gently opened his ancestor's hand.

This time, the old ancestor's body was completely limp on the ground, leaning stiffly against Mrs. Li's body.

Mrs. Li Er was so shocked that she almost jumped up, but she didn't dare. She could only close her eyes tightly and support her ancestor's body with trembling hands.

Only Li Huai looked calm.

He watched Shen Lingxi take off a long silk thread from her fingertips.

The other end of the silk thread was tied with the ancestor's hand that had just held the dagger to kill.

Yunjiang's silk puppet technique.

In the past few days in Yunbian City, Li Huai has heard a lot about the saintess, so he naturally knows a little bit about it.

It seems that the fatal blow to Xu Yuanshan just now was done by controlling the corpse with silk thread.

Li Huai lowered his eyes, hiding the shock in his eyes, and tried his best to maintain a calm expression on his face.

However, the trembling sleeves exposed the panic in his heart.

"Don't be afraid." Shen Lingxi whispered to him, "As long as your heart is open and honest, evil spirits will naturally not invade."

These words seemed to calm the fear in Li Huai's heart a little, "Thank you very much."

Shen Lingxi smiled, turned and left.

After she left, Li Huai breathed a sigh of relief, and then said warmly to Mrs. Li Er: "Aunt, although you did not harm our ancestors, you have also become Xu Yuanshan's accomplice. Although I don't know how His Highness will deal with you, the Crown Princess has arranged for you Purifying and burying the body of our ancestor must have given you a chance to atone for your sins, so please start as soon as possible."

Second Mrs. Li closed her eyelids tightly, jumped a few times, and opened her eyes as if mustering courage, with tears in her eyes, she nodded...

*
Shen Lingxi came out of the main room. Liu Meiren floated beside her and asked doubtfully, "Are you going to let her go like this? She drugged her mother-in-law and helped Xu Yuanshan to frame her mother-in-law's death. It’s for Mr. Cao.”

"As she said, what she did is not a crime that deserves death." Shen Lingxi paused, and said meaningfully: "If you want to fish, you have to put the bait first."

Liu Meiren's eyebrows instantly rose, "I'll keep an eye on her for you."

After finishing speaking, before Shen Lingxi could speak, she turned around and floated into the room again.

Shen Lingxi washed her hands and went to the east chamber.

At the door, the imperial physician was reporting Cao's situation to Chu Yan in a low voice, "...the minister has already used golden needles and bloodletting to expel most of the poison. It is supposed to wake up, but Mrs. Cao's pulse has recovered. , but her body didn't react at all... I guess Mrs. Cao is depressed and doesn't want to live anymore." When Shen Lingxi heard this, her eyebrows moved slightly.

From Mrs. Cao's perspective, the whole thing was disliked by her mother-in-law and rejected by her husband.

What's more...if she knew that the poison on her body was caused by her "husband" before she fell into coma.

As a woman who has been suppressed for six years in such an environment.

It is understandable that he cannot bear the blow and loses the will to survive.

Shen Lingxi sighed slightly when he thought of this.

If Xu Yuanda is still alive.

At least Zhen Guogong and his wife are a couple who really love each other.

It's a pity that good luck makes people.

One would have died long ago.

A person who does not yet know that the person he loves is no longer in this world.

I wonder how Mrs. Cao will face it when she wakes up and knows all this.

Shen Lingxi felt very sad just thinking about it.

No one knows which will come first, tomorrow or the accident.

All you can do is cherish the present moment.

In this way, there will be less regrets in the future under the underworld.

In this room, Chu Yan was standing with his arms around his chest. Seeing Shen Lingxi approaching, he stood up straight and waved at her, "Are you injured? Come and let the imperial doctor show you."

Shen Lingxi stood quietly in the cold wind of winter night, looking at Chu Yan's concerned eyes under the warm candlelight of the wind lantern in the distance.

A slight warmth rose in her heart.

There is a saying in Buddhism: From love comes sorrow, from love comes fear.

Comparing her feelings with her own, the last thing she wanted to see now was for Chu Yan to put himself in danger.

Presumably the same is true for Chu Yan.

But today he knew that she wanted to deal with Xu Yuanshan personally, so he still cooperated with her silently and assisted her plan.

Throughout the whole process, his eyes never left her for even a moment.

The worries and concerns hidden in it are self-evident.

Shen Lingxi's eyes were fixed on his delicate fingertips for a moment, then she walked over as if nothing had happened and put her cool little hand into his warm palm.

Chu Yanshang hadn't noticed anything strange yet, so he naturally wrapped her hand in his palm to warm it, and looked her up and down with concern.

Shen Lingxi felt her ears begin to feel hot again, "I'm fine, he didn't touch me at all just now...I cherish my life very much now."

As she spoke, she pretended to be calm and opened her eyes to look at the imperial doctor, "But can we find out what kind of poison Mrs. Cao was poisoned with?"

The imperial doctor tried his best to avoid looking at the hands of the two people who were holding hands, and said respectfully: "Back to the princess, it should be Yunjiang's unique soul-breaking grass juice. The grass juice is colorless and odorless. After taking it, it can last for at least an hour, or more. In three hours, she would bleed from her orifices and die. Fortunately, the other party did not give much medicine to Mrs. Cao, and she could still be saved. But... if Mrs. Cao does not want to wake up, the remaining poison cannot be discharged, and there will be another In three to five days, I'm afraid there will be no way to save the day."

If Xu Yuan had made good use of Da Zhou's poison, Shen Lingxi might not have been interested.

Since he used Yunjiang's poison, there was nothing she couldn't undo.

"Let me give it a try." Shen Lingxi said with a faint smile.

She turned to look at Chu Yan and gently shook his hand, "Your Highness, please go back to the palace and bring me the Underworld Jade for use."

Chu Yanfeng raised her eyes slightly and immediately understood what she was going to do.

"I'll go now."

After that, he let go of Shen Lingxi and strode outside.

As soon as he walked out of the courtyard, Chu Yan's footsteps suddenly stopped.

The pads of his fingers lightly ran over the joints of his palms.

Only then did he realize something strange about Shen Lingxi just now.

She just... took the initiative to hold his hand?

???

Chu Yan took a deep breath, turned his head, and looked deeply toward the east chamber.

But under the light of the wind lantern, Shen Lingxi was concentrating on talking to the imperial doctor, and there was nothing strange about his expression.

It was just like Cai Cai, but it was just her unintentional move.

Chu Yan sighed slightly when he saw this.

It seemed that he was overthinking.

He pursed his thin lips slightly, put his slender finger bones back into his sleeves, turned around and strode outside.

From the corner of Shen Lingxi's eyes, she caught a glimpse of Chu Yan's figure disappearing outside the courtyard gate. She breathed a sigh of relief and her cheeks felt a little hot.

I don’t know, has he discovered it?
"Princess, do you want to detoxify?" the imperial doctor looked at the stunned Shen Lingxi and asked thoughtfully.

This is the first time that the imperial doctor has seen someone actually instructing His Royal Highness to run errands.

This princess is really not simple.

Shen Lingxi came back to her senses, saw the imperial doctor's eyes, coughed, nodded, and walked into the room.

The room was filled with a strong fragrance of medicine. Xu Ziyao was already wrapped in a thick blanket and sitting on her knees next to Mrs. Cao's bed with tears on her face.

Her eyebrows, which used to be somewhat heroic, were filled with regret and self-blame because of her reckless actions just now.

A pair of hands tightly grasped Mrs. Cao's hand, like a drowning person holding on to the driftwood to save his life, with dependence in his eyes.

"Auntie, you must get through this." She choked and said, "Now my brother and I are the only family we have. If you abandon us again, what will your daughter do?"

Such Xu Ziyao reminded Shen Lingxi of herself when her mother died.

"She will be fine." Shen Lingxi walked to her side and patted her shoulder, "Trust me."

Xu Ziyao turned her head, looked at Shen Lingxi with tearful eyes, and nodded.

Shen Lingxi took out the elixir that could dissolve the soul-breaking grass juice from her purse, turned it into water, and asked Xu Ziyao to feed Mrs. Cao to drink it. She also taught the imperial doctor to insert golden needles into several key acupoints to reduce the effectiveness of the elixir. Take it to the extreme.

Only half an hour later, when Chu Yan came back from the Yunjiang Palace, the blood color that the imperial doctor discharged from Mrs. Cao's body had turned from ink to light red.

"The poison is gone!" the imperial doctor said in surprise.

He checked carefully, paused, and shook his head again, "It's just that Mrs. Cao still doesn't seem to have the will to survive."

Shen Lingxi had expected it a long time ago, and took the brocade box containing Mingyin jade from Chu Yan, and asked Chu Yan to avoid it.

Then he opened the brocade box, took out the special sheep gut gloves from the sleeve pocket, put them on his hands, picked up the Mingyin jade in the brocade box, and put it on Madam Cao's heart.

Ming Yin Jade can expel the human soul from the body.

These are the details that Shaohua told Shen Lingxi before.

Whether it is Ming Yang Jade or Ming Yin Jade, it can only take effect if it comes into contact with human skin.

So that day outside the city, when dealing with the imperial master, Shen Lingxi used the material of the human skin mask to make gloves for Chu Yan to wear.

This is also why Chu Yan can touch the Ming Yin Jade with his "bare hands" without being affected by the Ming Yin Jade.

Now, Shen Lingxi once again used the Ming Yin Jade to drive Mrs. Cao's soul out of her body.

I just hope that this will let Mrs. Cao know the truth of the matter.

It also allows her to see the dead souls of her ancestors again...