The body was covered with a white cloth, revealing only a corner of a green robe and a fair wrist.
Marquis Duan said, “This body was found by the guards in a broken-down temple. Two days ago, there was a fire in the temple, and several passersby were unable to escape because they were sleeping too deeply. The young gentleman that Your Highness was looking for was also among them. Although the body’s appearance has been blurred by the crossbeam, all its features match the portrait. Your Highness may come and verify it.”
Sui Heng’s hand, which was holding the wine cup, suddenly tightened.
He didn’t look at the corpse, but his eyes were like lightning, shooting at Marquis Duan. After a while, he sneered, “No need to look. This is not him.”
Marquis Duan said, “Your Highness, this Marquis can understand your feelings. However, there are nine out of ten things in the world that don’t go as planned. Sometimes, Your Highness needs to accept his fate.”
Sui Heng’s hand, holding the wine cup, shook imperceptibly.
But the curvature was very slight, and no one except himself could see it. Everyone could only see that the young Crown Prince’s lips were tightly pursed into a line, and a deep and sharp killing intent burst out from his eyes.
Marquis Duan unabashedly met the gaze that seemed to shatter him into flesh and blood.
“Your Highness, please pay your respects.”
Marquis Duan said.
The King of Qi narrowed his eyes and shed two false tears, saying, “Guaren is also very sad about what has happened. Guaren feels sorry towards Your Highness for what happened today. Let’s do this. Your Highness can take all these Kunjun back to the Sui Capital as compensation for Your Highness? How about that?”
“There’s no need.”
Sui Heng put down his wine cup, got up, and, as he was about to leave the main hall, he stopped his foot and glanced sideways at the body still lying quietly on the ground. After a while, he instructed Xu Qiao, “Bring the body.”
There was a click.
The person in the hall followed the sound and only then discovered that the wine cup that had just been held by the Crown Prince of Sui suddenly burst into countless cracks and turned into a pile of fragments.
That’s a pure bronze wine vessel.
The King of Qi looked at Marquis Duan and said, “Aiqing arrived late. It turns out he’s busy with this matter.”
Marquis Duan said, “After all, this matter involves diplomatic relations between the two countries, and dragging it on will cause endless trouble. This minister still thinks it’s better to resolve it as soon as possible.”
The King of Qi nodded and suddenly asked, “Is that corpse really the person the Crown Prince of Sui is looking for?”
He tried to speak as naturally as possible, but after asking, he still habitually picked up the wine cup and took a sip as a disguise.
There were turbulent waves and even a raging anger that was suppressed in the King of Qi’s heart. However, due to the involvement of a long-standing past, he did not dare to reveal it in front of Marquis Duan.
Marquis Duan did not answer immediately but looked at the King of Qi with a pensive expression. After a moment, he said in a warm voice, “Whether it is or not, let the Crown Prince of Sui judge for himself. This minister was also just trying my best to find out based on the information in the portrait.”
The King of Qi nodded and let out a “En.”
Seeing that Marquis Duan was still staring at him, he quickly cleared his throat and said, “Aiqing, don’t misunderstand. Guaren was just asking casually. Guaren knows the stubborn temper of the Crown Prince of Sui. Guaren is not short of fun and would never mess with his person indiscriminately.”
Marquis Duan nodded.
Bending down, he said, “The king is wise.”
“Ah, Shun Ying ah, you always treat Guaren so politely. Hurry up and sit at the table, taste Guaren’s new wine…”
The King of Qi was tall and powerful, cruel and inhumane, and stubborn. He even dared to kill the courtiers at will, but when facing Marquis Duan, he would restrain his temper and pretend to be virtuous.
Xu Qiao asked his soldiers to directly carry the body into the inn.
He cautiously asked Sui Heng, who was sitting on the steps wiping his sword, “Your Highness, do you want to go and test it?”
Recently, Sui Heng has been particularly fond of wiping his sword, and this action symbolizes a certain sense of danger. Xu Qiao is very worried that Sui Heng may want to kill people again.
But this is the Kingdom of Qi, not the Sui Empire. The Kingdom of Qi has a strong army and strong horses. It is not an ordinary, small country. If His Highness really engages in mass killings here, the consequences will be unimaginable.
Sui Heng said it’s not necessary and asked Xu Qiao to burn it.
Xu Qiao was taken aback.
Although he also didn’t look carefully, the appearance of the body really resembled that of the young gentleman. His Highness didn’t even look, did he dare not look, or did he not want to face it?
Either way, it’s not a good sign.
As the saying goes, it’s better to have a short pain than a long one. If the young gentleman was really burned to death in that broken-down temple, although it is heartbreaking, His Highness must accept this fact as soon as possible and come out of the shadows. What’s the point of always torturing himself like this?
Sui Heng said faintly, “That’s not him.”
He had touched the mold of his muscles and bones countless times.
He is familiar with every inch of his skin, and even with his eyes closed, he can still recite his various sizes.
He can determine the answer with just one exposed hand.
But Sui Heng suddenly thought of something and stood up, using the tip of his sword to pick up the white cloth and let his personal soldiers flip the body over.
He ordered everyone to turn around, including Xu Qiao, and then cut open the back clothes of the body with the sword.
On the back of the waist, there was nothing.
Sui Heng frowned.
Although he has been going crazy lately, his rationality is still there.
He originally thought that the Qi Kingdom was harboring the person in private, so they deliberately made a fake corpse to fool him. But right now, it looks like the Qi Kingdom really doesn’t know Ah Yan’s identity.
Ah Yan once stayed at Qingque Terrace. If the King of Qi really had the intention of hiding the person secretly or sending people to kidnap and forge corpses, he could not have forgotten the important mark on the back of his waist.
This body is very likely to have been carefully found by them, according to the portrait.
If not, there is no need for Qi to provoke him with a clumsy fake corpse and cause trouble.
Sui Heng was actually a bit disappointed.
Because this means he has once again lost his direction.
But he was also grateful, thankful, because just now, when he heard Marquis Duan say the phrase “he’s already dead” in the hall, his heart contracted so sharply that he almost killed people on the spot.
Without a body, it means that Ah Yan is still alive.
As long as he is alive, he will definitely be able to find him.
If he’s not in Qi, then he will just go to Wei, Chen, and other countries to find him.
Even if he digs three feet deep, he still wants to find the person.
Sui Heng put away his sword, his gaze regained its sharpness, and he ordered Xu Qiao, “Prepare and return to the capital of Sui.”
Not long after Sui Heng left the capital of Qi, the attendant beside the King of Qi came to Marquis Duan’s carriage.
The attendant whispered through the carriage door, “As soon as the Marquis left, the King summoned the leader of Qingque.”
Marquis Duan asked, “What’s the matter?”
The attendant carefully replied, “It’s related to the young gentleman that the Crown Prince of Sui was looking for. The King seems to be very interested in that young gentleman, so the leader of Qingque also secretly searching for him.”
Marquis Duan remained silent for a moment and said he understood.
The attendant did not stay long and respectfully retreat.
Marquis Duan instructed his trusted subordinate, “Go investigate and find out what’s going on.”
Jiang Yun left the capital of Qi and headed south. Three days later, he successfully left the border of Qi, crossed the Yellow River, and arrived outside the Muyun Pass.
Outside the Muyun Pass, the waves are surging and the turbid waves are emptying.
Fan Zhou and Yun Huai had already led the guards inside the pass to wait outside. When they saw the green figure finally slowly appearing in the sunset, everyone was overjoyed and knelt down together, saying, “The ministers respectfully welcome Your Highness back.”
Jiang Yun ordered them to stand up and personally helped Fan Zhou up. He smiled slightly and said, “During this period of time, Gu have relied on the Master to sit in the pass and plan for Gu.”
Fan Zhou’s eyes suddenly turned red, and he asked, “Is Your Highness alright?”
Jiang Yun nodded.
Gongsun Yang, who was standing behind, knelt down and said, “This minister deserves death for foolishly leaving Your Highness alone in the Chen capital and escaping alone.”
On the day Gongsun Yang escaped back, he was scolded hardly by Fan Zhou. It was only later that he realized that Jiang Yun was staying alone, not because he had “other plans” as he said, but because he had lost all his internal strength and was afraid of dragging him down.
Jiang Yun gently ordered him to get up.
With Fan Zhou, he said, “Gu troubled the Master to inform Gu immediately of the situation of the countries in Jiangnan.”
“Also, have Divine Physician Meng come over.”
