Chapter 36 Uncle is not an uncle The third watch in the middle of the night is when everything is silent.
Qi Yuning, wearing a thick fox cloak, followed Lu Ze through the large royal tombs.
The weeds growing beside the mausoleum make a soft sound when you take a step.
When he reached the tomb, Qi Yuning still didn't understand why he followed Lu Ze to the tomb in the middle of the night to investigate.
"Who!"
The guards guarding King Duan's tomb heard the sound and shouted loudly.
But after a while, the Lu family's secret guard covered his mouth with sweat medicine, and he fainted for a while.
Lu Ze opened the mausoleum's mechanism, the stone door opened, and the passage inside was dark.
Lu Ze said to Qi Yuning: "If the princess is afraid, just wait for me up there."
Qi Yuning had already reached this point, so her curiosity naturally overcame her fear. She straightened her back, took out the night pearl from her sleeve and said, "Go in."
Lu Ze saw that the luminous pearl in Qi Yuning's hand was brighter than the guard holding a lantern in front of him.
King Duan was a prince after all, and the mausoleum he built was very spacious. The first exquisitely carved stone door upon entering was filled with boys and girls made of clay. The boys and girls looked pale and frightening.
Qi Yuning stepped forward and pinched Lu Ze's sleeve.
Lu Ze looked back at Qi Yuning and asked, "Are you scared?"
Qi Yuning said: "The third prince was very kind to me when he was alive. What am I afraid of?"
Lu Ze glanced at Qi Yuning, who was holding his sleeve, but did not expose her.
After entering the first stone door, you can see where the mechanism is.
Lu Ze broke the trap easily, "Fortunately, Princess Duan will live here a hundred years later, so the trap is not that powerful."
Qi Yuning followed Lu Ze into the second tomb door and found that the layout of the place was two chambers. One of the smaller tomb chambers was filled with women's belongings.
It is filled with sets of exquisite clothes, as well as beautifully embroidered brocade shoes, and more than 20 sets of headgear, all covered with precious gems.
Lu Zedao: "Third aunt is still alive, so have you prepared the funerary objects?"
Qi Yuning said: "It's not like that. The funerary objects here seem to be for young girls. This string of red coral necklaces, neither Lu Baozhu nor I could buy them, was originally here."
After Qi Yuning put down the funerary objects, he and Lu Ze entered the last tomb chamber.
Inside was a broad sarcophagus, extremely beautifully carved.
Lu Ze said to Qi Yuning: "Princess Qi, please turn around, we are going to open the sarcophagus."
Lu Ze motioned to the guards behind him to come forward and carry the sarcophagus. Qi Yuning's boldness was exhausted here, and she turned away from looking.
The lid of the sarcophagus was heavy. Lu Ze and several guards moved it only slightly while carrying it. It took a while to open the sarcophagus.
Qi Yuning smelled a strange smell and covered her nose with a handkerchief.
Lu Ze looked inside the coffin and said, "Why are there two corpses?"
Qi Yuning took a closer look and saw two corpses, one large and one small, hanging with rotting flesh.
Just when I was feeling fear and my hair was rising all over my body, there was a female scream! "What are you doing here? Ah!"
When Qi Yuning saw the long-haired woman in white appearing in front of her, her face instantly turned pale, and the luminous pearl in her hand fell to the ground.
Lu Zelian stepped forward and took Qi Yuning's hand, pulling her into his arms.
Lu Ze saw Princess Duan in front of her with disheveled hair and dressed in white and said, "Third Aunt, why are there two corpses here?"
Qi Yuning felt the warmth coming from her fingertips and looked into the sarcophagus again.
The sarcophagus was large, with two corpses lying on it. One was wearing a brocade python robe, and he looked like a high-ranking prince. The other corpse was smaller and was dressed in palace attire. In terms of rank, it was the palace attire of a princess.
The guards beside Lu Ze went to check the corpse in women's clothing, and saw Princess Duan rushing over like crazy, "Don't touch my Shan'er! No one is allowed to touch my Shan'er!"
Princess Duan stared at the people in the tomb with red eyes, "Lu Ze, this is your uncle, how could you come to open the coffin!"
Lu Ze said: "Third aunt, it is because of my uncle that I want to know the cause of his death and why cousin Shan, who has no body left, is here. Judging from the appearance of her skeleton, she does not look like she was ten years old when she disappeared. You must be twelve or thirteen years old, right?"
Princess Duan was not afraid of corpses with rotting flesh. Looking at the two people in the sarcophagus, she helplessly stretched out her hand to support the sarcophagus and said: "I've avoided it, why can't you let me go? I don't know anything. I just want to live a good life with my Jie'er."
"I only have Jier!"
"You also have daughters, my Shan'er. The Shan'er I loved for ten years died miserably. Why don't you let me go!" Qi Yuning broke away from Lu Ze's hand. , walked to Princess Duan and supported her, "Princess, it's not that we won't let you go, but do you really not want to take revenge?"
Princess Duan cried bitterly: "Revenge? How to take revenge?"
Qi Yuning said: "Prince Lu will find the real culprit for you."
Lu Ze nodded and said, "Third Aunt, I will seek justice for Third Uncle."
Qi Yuning took off a decorative hairpin from her head, went over to help Princess hold up her long hair, and asked, "Princess, why is Princess Shan here?"
Princess Duan was so sad that she shed tears of helplessness.
Lu Ze said coldly: "If the princess doesn't want to talk, I will report it to Your Majesty and ask Dali Temple to investigate this case. After all, the death of the princess is not a trivial matter."
Qi Yuning also said softly to Princess Duan: "Princess, Sister Shan also needs justice."
Princess Duan said helplessly: "You must first promise me not to tell His Majesty and not to tell anyone about this matter."
Qi Yuning and Lu Ze looked at each other and nodded.
Princess Duan cried bitterly: "Shan'er was not found when she was ten years old. Many people said they saw Shan'er fall into the river. We searched and searched. We searched all along the river but could not find the body.
Later, my mother, concubine, father and mother advised me and the prince to have another baby while we could still have children.
But Shan'er is our baby. Even if we have other children, they won't be Shan'er anymore.
After we had Jie'er, the prince and I never forgot Shan'er, and never gave up looking for Shan'er. We always wanted to see people or corpses, until three years after Shan'er disappeared, Wang Tao found us. "
Qi Yuning said: "Wang Tao?"
Lu Ze motioned to the guards to bring Wang Tao.
Princess Duan nodded and said: "Wang Tao handed us the body of a woman. Although three years later, my Shan'er has grown from a half-year-old child to a young girl, but the prince and I recognized that body at a glance. The female corpse is Shan'er.
That’s our Shan’er, Shan’er also has birthmarks on her body, Shan’er’s body has been covered in..."
Princess Duan was trembling and couldn't speak at all, her throat was sore.
Qi Yuning hugged Princess Duan and said, "Princess."
Princess Duan cried loudly: "Shan'er was full of traces of humiliation and died miserably. The prince could not bear to ask Wang Tao about the origin of the body. Wang Tao said that one of his comrades brought it out from the Shu Palace. At that time, Wang Tao's comrades had already I just breathed my last and can’t ask anything else.”
Princess Duan was distraught and said: "That night, the prince is going to go to the Prince of Shu's palace to question me. It's me who is stupid. I don't want Shan'er to be insulted. I don't want everyone to know about Shan'er being insulted. I just want Shan'er to be innocent." When I left, I stopped the prince to prevent him from making this matter a big deal. I was really stupid."
When Princess Duan was in grief, she slapped herself angrily.
Qi Yuning held Princess Duan's hand repeatedly: "You are right, Princess Shan left innocently."
The world is like this. No one will think that a woman is innocent when she is insulted. Even a high-ranking royal princess will be laughed at secretly once she dies after being insulted.
Princess Duan's choice was also helpless.
Princess Duan choked with sobs and said: "When Shan'er's body was recovered, it was during the sacrificial ceremony. We plan to wait until the sacrificial ceremony comes back to say that Shan'er's body has been found, hold a funeral for Shan'er, and let Shan'er rest in peace.
Unexpectedly, the prince failed to come back and actually fell into the lake and died! "
Princess Duan was extremely sad and said: "The King of Shu and the Concubine Xian are extremely powerful, what can I do? Do I really disregard Shan'er's reputation and ask the King of Shu to take revenge and pay for my life without any basis?"
"I can't kill the King of Shu myself. I still have Jie'er here. I can't really kill the King of Shu and leave my Jie'er alone and helpless!"
"Many people saw the prince's death. He was dragged down by a water ghost and drowned. No one saw the death of Shan'er. Even if we seek justice, there is not even a single piece of evidence.
I can only let everyone see Shan'er's humiliated body, let her suffer humiliation again, and let her be laughed at by the world. I don't want to! "
Qi Yuning looked at Princess Duan with distress. Her daughter and husband who were dear to her heart were both dead. It was no wonder that Princess Duan left the prosperity of Shengjing and lived in seclusion here.
Qi Yuning sighed, and when he saw Lu Ze's men escorting Wang Tao into the tomb, he asked, "Wang Tao, did Princess Shan's body really come from the Prince of Shu's palace?"
Wang Tao said: "Yes, Princess Shan's body was given to me by General Huo Anhuo. After General Huo gave the body to me, he lost his life."
"Uncle Huo!"
Qi Yuning was shocked. Huo An was her grandfather's disciple and the most loyal.
Qi Yuning thought he had died a long time ago, and died together with his parents in the battle 14 years ago.
Wang Tao said: "General Huo has been hiding in the Prince of Shu's Mansion incognito for some reason these years. He told me to give Princess Shan's body to Prince Duan. Before he died, he also said that uncle is not an uncle..."
(End of this chapter)