Chapter 364 – The Third Man
“Then why didn’t you do it!”
Facing the emperor’s ensuing questioning, Huo Xiu took a deep breath, “Perhaps to a child in his teens, I simply didn’t know how to harden my heart back then.”
His eyes gazed at the moon, “It was not long after I learned that secret, and my heart was filled with hatred. You were the ones who left me without a mother, so who would I go after if not you? But I didn’t really think about what to do.
“I also know that I shouldn’t come at you, but it just so happened that day, I found out that you took sister Yu to sneak out, and actually didn’t even tell anyone, what if something happened? That’s my only sister.
“In my anger, I lured you guys over there. When you guys were in the cave, I was not far away, I watched the sky darken a little bit, and tried hard to find out a little bit of pleasure from the bottom of my heart, but I couldn’t find it.
“I knew that in the end there was a good chance that you would perish there, and that your death would be a pain in your mother’s heart forever, but I lost Sister Yu as well. So in the end I let the others bring you up and back.”
“So you also regretted it?”
The emperor let out another kind word.
Huo Xiu looked as if he hadn’t heard and continued on, “After that, I pressed down my thoughts of revenge for the time being, knowing that I didn’t have the ability to do so at that time either. Over the years, I doubled my diligence in studying and got the opportunity to leave the capital. I was just afraid that I would go crazy sooner or later if I stayed here day and night.”
“What have you done all these years?”
“Don’t worry, all my moves were made after the late emperor’s death.” Huo Xiu looks at him, “Sometimes I don’t understand what is the right thing to do. After that, my heart was only conflicted and entangled. But one thing is very clear in my heart, mother died too unjustly, she must have been murdered to death.”
The arrow clutched in the emperor’s hand, has been clenched in the palm of the hand out of the temperature.
He couldn’t refute Huo Xiu’s words – if the arrowhead was indeed found in the body of the Princess, then Huo Xiu’s statement would not be wrong, three thousand battalions as a forbidden army, absolutely not dare to make a mistake, and could not make a mistake, turn the weapon to their side of the main general.
Even in the unlikely event that there is such a situation, the generals of the three thousand battalions cannot afford to take the blame and will definitely take the initiative to report it.
But everything was not.
So far, Empress Lu and he both thought that the death of the eldest princess did not exist a doubt worth exploring.
“Do you have evidence to prove that this arrowhead was removed from your mother’s body?”
“I wasn’t there when it happened, and my father is no longer alive. But even if he is still alive, if you don’t believe it, you still won’t believe it.”
The emperor did not comment.
Without evidence, everything is not easy to say.
“So you have already decided that the Empress Dowager is the murderer, your purpose now is to seek revenge from the Empress Dowager.”
“She is the ruler and I am the subject, I can only act in a roundabout way, can’t I?”
“But I do not think she is the murderer.” The emperor’s gaze was fixed, “If she is the murderer, this arrow given is too obvious. Although the empress dowager has never ruled, the meticulousness of the mind is not inferior to you and me. If she wants to do it, she will never leave such a big hole! Even if there was a loophole at the time, she would have tried to smooth it out afterward. Also, have you ever thought about what the Empress Dowager had to gain by killing your mother?”
“With all the achievements she had saved up through her life, and marrying my father, who was also a meritorious official, who else in the world would have such a strong and powerful family? They are feared by the court, isn’t that enough? After all, we’ve heard too many stories about the death of a rabbit and the cooking of a dog!”
“Our old Song family won’t do that!” The emperor said sternly, “There are so many honored officials in the dynasty, which one have you seen us get rid of? I was once like a brother to you, how dare you treat me like this?”
“I don’t want to be suspicious at all, I just want to seek justice for my mother!”
The clear wind and moon in the courtyard turned into a thunderstorm.
The emperor looked at him for a moment, then suddenly put the arrowhead into his bosom, and then stepped out of the courtyard without a word.
Zhao Su and the others were outside the door, obviously, they had heard the conversation inside.
Looking at the emperor standing outside the door of the cold face, all people are afraid to speak, Zhao Su tried to speak first: “Now, how to deal with?”
Huo Xiu crime is exposed, no matter how to say have to fall a penalty. How to punish, although Zhao Su think the emperor is not a good choice, but also can not be as if nothing happened.
The moonlight on the emperor’s broad shoulders, a white blanket, so that he seems to have a layer of snow on his back.
“Go back to the city first.”
After putting down these words, the emperor strides under the carriage, then looks back at the courtyard gate and commands, “Zi Yan and Han Jun escort him back! From now on, the Weiyuan Marquis is under a grounding order.”
“Yes, sir!”
Zhao Su and Han Jun exchanged glances, and immediately entered the courtyard.
The emperor glanced at Zhao Su, who then got on the carriage.
Her heart is also full of shocking waves at the moment. Huo Xiu’s suspicion can not be washed this is already her number, that all kinds of events are from his hand, there is nothing strange. But the emperor ten years ago in the paddock in danger that time is also Huo Xiu do, this is enough to her surprise, ten years ago, Huo Xiu is only a child of ten years old! He was able to do this kind of thing, then he should have suffered a lot of pain in his heart at that time! And ten years later, his pain will only deepen and not subside, for the behavior, he really ready to deal with it? What is he going to do when he is exposed?
“What do you think?” She asked.
The Emperor sighed, clenching his fist against his tightly locked brow. The emotional ups and downs with Zhao Su he had handled smoothly without suffering a bit of confusion, but he had never expected to fall on his hand.
However, the emperor is still the emperor, after silence, he said: ”Things still need to go back and ask the mother. But imperial aunt’s death is suspicious, I am now convinced. If my aunt didn’t have full confidence, she shouldn’t have told Huo Xiu with certainty. They are both men who have seen it all before and know what this kind of thing can do to a teenage boy. This is the only son they have, and he wouldn’t jeopardize him like this.”
“But they don’t have direct evidence of the Empress Dowager’s murder either.”
“So if Huo Xiu isn’t lying, then there must be a third person behind this. This person is the real murderer, he killed the Imperial Aunt, and then sowed the seeds of suspicion between the old Wei Yuan Marquis father and son and the Empress Dowager. And the accident that happened when Huo Xiu and I were practicing swordplay in the Qianqing Palace must have come from this person as well.”
“A guard?”
“No,” the emperor looked over deeply, “it must be someone with a much higher status than the guards. He at least has the power to dispatch certain guards, or has the opportunity to establish a personal relationship with a certain portion of the guards.”