It was quiet all around.
The sky was still gray, as if covered by a layer of haze. The rain fell slowly, gradually getting heavier, dripping down the eaves.
The yard was already muddy.
Gao Wenyang fell to the ground in a panic, struggling to retreat, staring at the figure in front of him with his eyes almost popping out in disbelief.
Zhou Huiguang is not dead?
How, how is this possible?
How could he not be dead?!
He had clearly seen it with his own eyes...
But, but who is this person in front of me? !
Gao Wenyang was already in a state of fear and panic due to Lin Jiangnian's repeated verbal provocations and threats. In addition, Zhou Huiguang suddenly appeared in front of him after "coming back from the dead". Gao Wenyang was scared and his soul was scattered. Under the double stimulation, his brain completely short-circuited. He had no time to think at all and spoke almost without thinking.
Then, the surroundings suddenly fell into a brief silence.
"Don't you know it's poison?"
Lin Jiangnian's voice came again: "Then what do you think it is?"
"I, I thought it was just drugs..."
Gao Wenyang spoke subconsciously.
"So, Zhou Huiguang was poisoned to death by you?"
Lin Jiangnian looked at him with a smile: "You finally admitted it!"
"Poison, poison to death?"
Gao Wenyang was startled, and then suddenly realized something, his body trembling with fear: "You, you..."
He realized something was wrong, his face turned pale, and he turned to look at 'Zhou Huiguang' under the eaves, his pupils shrinking: "You, you are not Zhou Huiguang?!"
Gao Wenyang was not a fool. He was indeed panicked out of fear just now. But when he heard Lin Jiangnian's words, he calmed down for a moment and instantly realized that something was wrong.
Zhou Huiguang is dead!
He had personally confirmed that he was indeed dead beyond death, so how could he be resurrected?!
This 'Zhou Huiguang' in front of me, is he fake? ! !
At the same time, Zhou Huiguang, who was standing under the eaves, suddenly moved, reached out to his neck, and under Gao Wenyang's frightened gaze, tore off a silk human skin mask, revealing a completely unfamiliar face.
This person is indeed not Zhou Huiguang.
"Your Highness, my mission has been completed. It's time to return and report."
The man bowed to Lin Jiangnian in the yard.
Lin Jiangnian nodded and said, "Give my regards to your young lady and thank her for her help."
This person bowed respectfully to Lin Jiangnian and quickly disappeared into the courtyard.
Lin Jiangnian turned around and stared at Gao Wenyang with a smile: "You guessed right, he is indeed not Zhou Huiguang. But it's too late!"
Gao Wenyang trembled all over, staring at Lin Jiangnian with a ferocious and angry expression: "You, you're trying to trick me?!"
How could Gao Wenyang not realize at this moment that he had fallen into Lin Jiangnian's trap!
The other party deliberately provoked and threatened him, took advantage of his panic and loss of consciousness to show his chicken feet, and then tricked him into talking...
Thinking of this, Gao Wenyang was filled with anger.
"You don't have to be unconvinced!"
Lin Jiangnian glanced at Gao Wenyang and shook his head slightly: "I had prepared a lot of meals for you, but I didn't expect you to confess so quickly... It's really a bit unexpected..."
Gao Wenyang: “…”
mean!
How could he fall for such a low-level trick?
Too careless!
Gao Wenyang was filled with shame and anger. His already ferocious face flushed red. He stared at Lin Jiangnian intently, then seemed to have thought of something. A sneer flashed in his eyes: "Even if you knew, so what? What can you do? Who would believe it?"
Lin Jiangnian looked at him quietly: "Are you not pretending anymore?"
Gao Wenyang sneered. Now that his true identity had been exposed, he decided to throw in the towel.
"Do you think you can still turn things around? Even if you tell others now, who will believe you?!"
Gao Wenyang grinned grimly, glaring at Lin Jiangnian through gritted teeth. "They've all long since determined that you killed Zhou Huiguang, and everyone hopes for this outcome... It's useless for you to keep trying. You must take the blame for Zhou Huiguang's death!"
Public opinion in Beijing has already fermented. Even if Lin Jiangnian knows the truth now, what can he do?
"This prince doesn't have the habit of taking the blame for others."
Lin Jiangnian looked at him pitifully and shook his head gently: "As for you, I'm afraid you will have to take the blame for your Third Prince."
Gao Wenyang's smile froze slightly: "What do you mean?!"
Lin Jiangnian ignored him, slowly stood up, turned around and glanced behind him: "Master Zhou, now you should believe me, right?"
Gao Wenyang felt his head buzz and looked up in disbelief. Several figures appeared in front of him.
The leader is... Zhou Yao!
In an instant, Gao Wenyang's head was spinning and everything in front of him was almost black.
It’s over!
This was the last thought in Gao Wenyang’s mind.
…
In the rain, Zhou Yao took heavy steps, one step at a time, and approached Gao Wenyang, then stopped in front of him.
Dressed in a pitch-black robe, he looked incredibly gloomy, like a volcano about to erupt.
At this moment, the calmness on Gao Wenyang's face completely disappeared, and he explained in panic:
"Uncle Zhou, please listen to my explanation... This is not the case... Lin Jiangnian deliberately framed me, this is not the case..."
Zhou Yao looked down at him coldly, his voice emitting from his throat: "Why did you kill Hui Guang?"
Gao Wenyang trembled all over and said in fear: "No, it's not what you think, uncle, it's..."
"Hui Guang treated you as his best friend, so why did you have the heart to kill him?"
Zhou Yao's eyes were red, his gaze was cold as if he wanted to eat him, and his voice was trembling and angry.
"Uncle, I, I..."
“Bang!”
Zhou Yao waved his sleeves and slapped Gao Wenyang hard in the face.
Crisp, loud and deafening!
Gao Wenyang screamed, covering his face and struggling on the ground mixed with mud and water.
Zhou Yao grabbed Gao Wenyang by the collar, lifted him up, and stared at him fiercely: "Why did you kill my son? Why?!!"
"I……"
“Bang!”
Another hard slap, as if to vent all the pain of losing a son.
Gao Wenyang screamed and wailed in pain.
But no one sympathized.
There was silence all around as everyone watched the scene quietly.
Lin Jiangnian admired it quietly for a while, then turned around and saw a familiar figure appear in the crowd.
"Chen Kuishou."
Chen Changqing's gaze fell on Lin Jiangnian. The two looked into each other's eyes, and everything was said without words.
Lin Jiangnian said, "Now that the real murderer of Master Zhou has appeared, the next step is to hand it over to Chen Kuishou!"
Chen Changqing's expression remained calm as he nodded, "Don't worry, Your Highness. The real culprit has been apprehended. I will definitely clear Your Highness' name!"
Lin Jiangnian nodded, and looked at the people behind Chen Changqing, as well as some "important people" who appeared in the yard.
At this moment, their eyes were extremely complicated, looking at the scene in front of them in disbelief.
The murderer who killed Master Zhou was actually someone else?
Lin Jiangnian didn't pay any more attention to it. He raised his eyes and saw Zhiyuan standing under the eaves not far away, looking at him quietly.
Lin Jiangnian walked quickly towards her.
"Solved?"
Zhiyuan glanced at Zhou Yao in the yard who was venting his grief over the loss of his son.
"I guess so."
"If we create a fake Zhou Huiguang to scare him, he'll be exposed..."
Lin Jiangnian sighed with emotion: "It was so simple, and it went so smoothly that it was unexpected."
Zhiyuan was silent, then looked up at him again: "How did you know he had a problem?"
"intuition."
Lin Jiangnian had just opened his mouth when he saw Zhiyuan staring at him calmly again.
"What's wrong?"
Zhiyuan had a blank expression on her face. After a long pause, she said, "Did Miss Zhao tell you?"
Lin Jiangnian: “…”
"Absolutely not."
Zhiyuan looked forward and asked, "Then why did Miss Zhao send such a strange person who could disguise himself to help you?"
Lin Jiangnian was silent for a moment, then sighed, "It does have some connection with her, but... not much."
After returning from the Zhao residence yesterday, Lin Jiangnian had a rough outline of today's plan. It was indeed related to Zhao Xi, but not entirely.
As early as when Zhou Huiguang was murdered at the Lu family wedding, Lin Jiangnian had already suspected Li Qianlin and Gao Wenyang.
These two were Zhou Huiguang's closest confidants and the most likely to have poisoned him. Zhou Huiguang's look of disbelief before his death also suggested he was likely murdered by someone close to him.
Lin Jiangnian initially placed his suspicion on Li Qianlin, who had a close relationship with the Third Prince. After confirming that the Third Prince was the mastermind behind this incident, Li Qianlin was naturally the most suspicious person.
But Lin Jiangnian's secret investigation revealed that Li Qianlin's reactions during this period were quite normal. Gao Wenyang, on the other hand, had been staying at home since the Lu family wedding, which was quite different from his usual behavior and seemed a bit abnormal.
It was not until yesterday when he learned some accurate information from Miss Zhao that Lin Jiangnian confirmed his guess.
The one with the problem was indeed Gao Wenyang.
Thus, the plan against Gao Wenyang was laid out quietly.
It wasn't a very clever plan. After all, the frame-up against Lin Jiangnian wasn't that clever either.
Gao Wenyang had been hiding at home for the past few days, perhaps out of guilt and fear of being exposed, so he simply pretended to be dead. But today was the day of Zhou Huiguang's burial, and as a good friend of Zhou Huiguang, it would seem suspicious if he didn't come.
Lin Qingqing had been keeping an eye on him ever since he showed up at the Zhou family's house. She had originally planned to wait until after the funeral to strike, but she hadn't expected him to leave mid-sentence to tip her off, giving her an opportunity.
According to the original plan, whether Gao Wenyang confessed today or not was irrelevant. Lin Jiangnian never needed evidence to act. Furthermore, Gao Wenyang, a playboy, wouldn't be afraid of him continuing to deny his guilt if he fell into Lin Jiangnian's hands.
"I overestimated this guy."
Lin Jiangnian sighed: "I thought he could hold on for a while."
Zhiyuan ignored Lin Jiangnian, her beautiful eyes fixed on the courtyard. After a long pause, she asked, "What should we do next?"
"Gao Wenyang has been exposed. Even if he denies it, it's useless. Zhou Yao now knows who killed his son, and he will definitely not let it go. All we have to do now is wait and see..."
"The little one has been exposed, and now it's time to settle the score with the big one."
Lin Jiangnian's gaze fell in a direction outside the courtyard, and he said meaningfully.
Zhiyuan's gaze also dropped.
"Let's go."
Lin Jiangnian put his arms around Zhiyuan's round shoulders. Zhiyuan was a little uncomfortable with this and glared at him, as if trying to struggle, but Lin Jiangnian held her tighter and tighter and walked towards the door.
"Don't make a fuss, don't move around, be good... Come on, accompany me to meet him."
“…”
A quiet courtyard.
In the room.
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince seems to have noticed something and has instructed the Princess to change the deployment of the palace's imperial guards. This isn't very favorable for us..."
"Don't worry about that. The palace will take care of it when the time comes. The only thing to worry about now is Li Piaomiao..."
When mentioning this imperial sister, the third prince frowned slightly, seeming a little worried.
Situ Yan sighed: "In fact, if the princess can marry to Linzhou, it will be a good thing for us."
The Third Prince shook his head and said in a deep voice, "There's no way my sister would marry Lin Jiangnian. I know her! Besides, if she really did marry Lin Jiangnian, and she got help from the Lin family, she would become an even greater threat..."
The third prince's eyes flickered, and it was unknown what he was thinking.
Seeing this, Situ Yan just sighed secretly, and said nothing more. He looked up at the window and said, "It's getting late, Your Highness, it's time to go back!"
"Let's go."
When the third prince stood up and was about to leave, a hurried voice suddenly came from outside the door.
"Your Highness, someone is at the door!"
"who?"
"Lin, Prince Lin!"
The third prince suddenly looked up.
…
In the cold courtyard, several figures were stationed around the courtyard, ready for battle.
A black umbrella appeared in the yard.
Under the black umbrella, there was a master and servant dressed in black.
The charming and beautiful maid held an umbrella and stood beside the man with an expressionless face, not looking away.
A young man in a black robe stood in place, looking up at the eaves not far ahead, his eyes seemed to contain a hint of mockery.
"What? The Third Prince doesn't even dare to see this prince?"
There was a moment of silence.
Under the eaves in front, the door slowly opened.
The third prince, dressed in brocade clothes, slowly walked out of the room, stood under the eaves, looked up at the man in the yard, and their eyes met.
This was not the first time the two met. There had been conflicts between them a long time ago.
But for Lin Jiangnian, this was indeed the first time they met.
They were clearly enemies, even enemies who wanted to kill each other, but when they met at this moment, there was no trace of hatred on their faces.
The Third Prince quietly looked at the strange yet familiar figure in the courtyard, concealing the gloom in his eyes and a hint of a smile on his face: "How could it be?"
"His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince of Lin, has come to visit us. I, the King, would like to welcome you."
Lin Jiangnian raised his eyebrows: "Is this the Third Prince's welcome?"
Seeing this, the Third Prince's eyes turned slightly cold, and he glared at the guards in the courtyard: "You bastard, don't you have eyes? His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Lin has arrived, why don't you hurry and greet him?"
As he spoke, the Third Prince quickly showed a kind smile on his face again, "Your Highness, Prince Lin, it's cold outside. Would you like to come in and have a cup of hot tea?"
"There's no need for tea."
Lin Jiangnian shook his head slightly, glanced at him, and said meaningfully: "This prince is worried that it is poisonous."
A hint of coldness flashed in the Third Prince's eyes, but a smile remained on his face: "Your Highness, are you worried that I might poison you?"
"The Third Prince is quite famous in the capital and acts uprightly. Naturally, he wouldn't do such despicable things. But the people around the Third Prince may not be so... "
To speak in a roundabout way!
The Third Prince's eyes were slightly cold: "Your Highness, don't worry. With this prince here, no one dares to poison you."
"Then I am relieved."
"Your Highness, please."
The third prince had a forced smile on his face.
"Since the Third Prince has extended such a gracious invitation, I, the Crown Prince, would be remiss in not accepting it!"
As Lin Jiangnian spoke, he and Zhiyuan walked slowly to the eaves with an umbrella. He stopped and whispered something into Zhiyuan's ear.
Zhiyuan looked up and nodded slightly.
The third prince stood still, glanced at the maid behind Lin Jiangnian, and frowned slightly.
Lin Jiangnian stepped onto the roof and walked up to the third prince.
"I haven't seen you for a few years. The Third Prince has become even more handsome!"
"His Royal Highness is not bad either."
The two smiled at each other, like old friends who hadn't seen each other for a long time.
"Actually, today I came here and brought a great gift for the Third Prince!"
Lin Jiangnian looked at the third prince in front of him and suddenly spoke.
"oh?"
The Third Prince seemed a little surprised: "What gift did Your Highness bring to me?"
"Third Prince, please look."
Lin Jiangnian reached into his arms and seemed to take out something.
The third prince narrowed his eyes and moved slightly closer.
Next second!
“Bang!”
A crisp slap sounded.
Lin Jiangnian turned his fist into a palm and slapped the third prince accurately and hard in the face.
This slap instantly made the Third Prince dizzy and confused.
There was a sudden silence all around.
None of the guards present reacted and all stared at this sudden scene with dull eyes.
Lin Jiangnian stood where he was, slowly put his hand back under his sleeve, and spoke softly.
"Is His Royal Highness the Third Prince satisfied with this great gift?"
“…”