strictlysupreme Chapter 463 Prove Yourself (Bonus Chapter)
Chapter 463 Prove Yourself (Bonus Chapter)
"Get up." Xie Yanli helped him up. "However, don't call him 'Little Prince' anymore. There is no Gao Qiyuan in this world, and there is no 'Little Prince' either."
Gu Qing was taken aback for a moment, then understood what he meant.
Everyone knew that the eldest prince, Gao Qiyuan, had already fallen off a cliff and died.
Xie Yanli is now of impeccable status, the heir of the Xie family.
If the truth is not revealed, then all of this will forever remain buried in our hearts, never to see the light of day.
Gu Qing nodded with red eyes, "Yes...Young Master Xie."
The night is dark.
Chu Yi leaned back on the couch, but his gaze fell on the guards in front of him.
"Go ahead."
The guard bowed and reported, "Today I discovered something. The Xie family has a teacher named Li Qiubai. This person has been frequently seen recently, going between bookstores, archives, and the Imperial Academy's archives, secretly collecting a lot of records about the eldest prince."
"Li Qiubai?"
“Yes,” the guard continued. “He only claims to be a schoolteacher, and we don’t know why he’s investigating these things.”
Chu Yi fell silent.
After a while, he slowly sat up straight and looked at the candlelight with a deep expression.
The eldest son of the emperor, Li Qiubai, Xie Yanli, Meng Ze...
What exactly is the relationship between these people?
Two days later.
The afternoon sun was blazing. A faded cloth curtain hung in front of a simple tofu shop, which was deserted inside.
Chu Yi, dressed in a coarse cloth short jacket and wearing a worn-out straw hat, walked in at a leisurely pace.
"Shopkeeper, two pieces of tofu, please."
Chu Yi knew that the Xie family wouldn't let their guard down so easily.
So two days later, he disguised himself as a tofu buyer and came to Li Yingcheng's tofu shop.
Li Yingcheng was wiping the table with his head down when he casually replied, "Okay, please wait a moment."
But when he turned his head and saw those eyes, his body suddenly stiffened.
Those were extremely cold eyes, pitch black, calm, and devoid of any emotion...
"Can we sit inside?" Chu Yi asked casually.
"Yes, that's fine." Li Yingcheng felt something was off, but he didn't dare to refuse.
Chu Yi stepped over the curtain and entered the small hut where he was resting.
The room was simply furnished with an old wooden table, a long bench, and a pot of tea that hadn't cooled down yet.
Li Yingcheng hurriedly followed him in, "Please have a seat, sir. This room is simple, please don't mind..."
Before he could finish speaking, Chu Yi pulled a short knife from his robes.
A flash of cold light from the blade.
Li Yingcheng's expression suddenly changed, and he took a step back in fright.
"What did your mother, Granny Li, say to you after she came back?"
“W-nothing was said…” Li Yingcheng shook his head subconsciously.
"Say it again!"
Li Yingcheng gritted his teeth, "I really didn't lie to you. My mother... she just told me a few things about the past, she didn't mention anything else..."
"Hmm." Chu Yi responded with a half-smile, and the next moment, his hand swiftly brought down the knife.
"Ah—!" A shrill scream rang out in the room.
Li Yingcheng's left index finger was severed, and blood gushed out, staining the tabletop red.
He collapsed to his knees, trembling violently.
Chu Yi's expression remained unchanged. "I don't like nonsense."
Li Yingcheng almost burst into tears, trembling as he kowtowed, "I'll talk! I'll talk!"
"My mother said she's gone mad because of a man named Gu Qing... That's all! That's all!"
Chu Yi slowly stood up, looked at the bloodstains on the ground, and said calmly, "Thank you."
He walked to the door, then suddenly stopped. "Oh, right, there's one more thing."
"You, is there anything else you need..."
Chu Yi turned half his face, his eyes cold and icy. "This morning, we invited your wife and son to rest for a while."
"If you dare utter a single extra word, or attempt to go to the Marquis's residence to file a complaint—"
"Then the next time you see them, it will be in a coffin."
Li Yingcheng's eyes widened. "I wouldn't dare! I wouldn't dare! I won't tell anyone, I won't tell anyone!"
-
Gu Qing?
Chu Yi repeated the name in a low voice.
There is one more person.
Chu Yi slowly turned his head and said to the person standing in the shadows, "Go investigate a person named Gu Qing."
The subordinate frowned slightly. "This is difficult to investigate. Gu Qing is such a common name; there are hundreds of people with the same name on the household registration. If we don't know her identity, I'm afraid..."
"Then start with the Crown Prince's inner circle. Investigate his former subordinates, confidants, guards, and servants, even those who were briefly by his side. Screen them all."
"Yes!" The subordinate accepted the order and left.
night.
"We've found it," the subordinate reported in a low voice.
"In the old files of the Crown Prince, there is indeed a person named Gu Qing, who was one of his close attendants since childhood. He followed the Crown Prince from the age of thirteen until the year the Crown Prince had his accident, when he suddenly disappeared."
“There’s another coincidence,” the subordinate paused, “when Prince Xie exposed the Duke of Zheng’s embezzlement of land, the head of the household who stood up for the people was also named Gu Qing. Now, Prince Xie has placed him in the Marquis’s residence.”
Chu Yi frowned deeply after hearing this.
I just felt that things had become more complicated.
Meng Ze, Xie Yanli, the eldest prince, Gu Qing...
Chu Yi strung these names together in his mind.
He closed his eyes, remained silent for a moment, and then the fragmented details in his mind suddenly came together in an instant.
One thread leads to another, and the blurry outline begins to take shape.
Chu Yi suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze sharpening.
A chill suddenly ran through him, but he couldn't tell if it was shock, anger, or...excitement.
Suddenly, he chuckled softly.
"So that's it."
-
The main building of Qinglan Courtyard was shrouded in darkness.
Meng Ze sat at the head of the table, his expression calm, the scars on his face even more noticeable in the candlelight.
Xie Yanli and Qin Jiuwei sat facing each other, both with solemn expressions.
After a moment of silence, Xie Yanli spoke, "Father, have you ever thought about clearing your name? Or seeking justice for Mother?"
His biological mother... died so unjustly.
Meng Ze lowered his eyes and after a long while, he spoke softly, "Of course I want to."
"But I can't remember anything now. The name Gao Qiyuan is also unfamiliar to me. I can't even remember what he liked to eat or what his hobbies were."
"If others ask me, I can't answer. If others question me, I can't prove myself."
"How can someone who doesn't even remember their past claim their identity? And what gives them the right to dredge up old grievances and stir up trouble?"
He spoke very slowly, but every word was powerful and resonant.
The next day.
The night was deep, and the former residence of the eldest prince was long abandoned, with the mottled gate tower hidden in the shadows.
“Father, this is your former residence.”
The most important thing now is to help my father regain his memory as soon as possible.
Perhaps going back to my old place might help me remember something.
The mansion had been uninhabited for many years, but Xie Yanli had secretly renovated it, and many of the furnishings had been restored according to the old style.
A night breeze blew through the courtyard, stirring up dust, while moonlight slanted across the stone steps, casting dappled shadows of trees.
Meng Ze looked at everything very carefully, trying to awaken a dormant memory in his mind.
No matter how hard he tried, his mind remained blank.