C156

The crown prince's residence was located at the east side of the palace. After exiting the mansion, only a single gate leading to the main hall was left in the main hall of the imperial palace.

followed Gao Lang into the crown prince's residence as he tilted his head to look at the wide and imposing plaza beyond the palace gate.

"It's like a cage." Gao Lang suddenly spoke up.

Jin Xiaolou retracted her gaze, looked towards the tall palace wall, and said softly: "There are still people digging their way in."

Just as he finished speaking, the two of them had already stepped into the main entrance of the crown prince's residence.

A row of imperial court guards stood in front of the door and welcomed them. They greeted Gao Lang with a bow, "Seventh Prince, please follow this old servant."

This inner official surnamed Li had already served in the crown prince's mansion for ten years, and now, he was bringing Gao Lang and Jin Xiaolou to the main hall.

The Crown Prince's coffin was placed within the main hall, guarded by layers of guards.

When the three of them passed through the gate, they heard a loud noise ahead of them, causing Li Nie Shangguan's face to change, he immediately turned back and apologized to Gao Lang: "Please forgive me Seventh Prince, the ones crying were all the crown prince's old friends, they cried and were unwilling to leave.

With that, Inner Elder Li led Gao Lang towards the left side of the main road, which had white jade railings.

However, Gao Lang stopped in his tracks. "Go and see them."

Minister Li was shocked and quickly bowed. "They are overly sorrowful, and their words and actions are unorthodox. They are afraid that they might offend Your Highness!"

Gao Lang ignored him, and directly walked towards the direction of the noise.

Gao Lang had long received news that the crown prince was injured, and that it was from a beauty beside the crown prince. This beauty's name was Xi Shu, and it was said that she was a zither girl who sold songs on the boat. When the crown prince saw her, he immediately brought her back to the manor.

had purposely arranged for Xi Shu to be on the waterway that the crown prince had to pass through. Originally, Gao Lang had wanted to send her to rest by the crown prince's side to protect him.

The Crown Prince had been sent back to the capital safely, yet it was hard to defend against an arrow shot or shot. The Crown Prince was still dead, dead under the Imperial Capital at the feet of the Son of Heaven.

Since he was going to investigate the death of the crown prince, he would have to find out who the speaker was as well as the corpse that could not speak.

Passing through the corridor, he saw a semi-open inner courtyard. Dozens of people stood under the emerald colored glazed roof at the top of the mountain. Most of them were extremely beautiful women, except for a man in green robes.

With her sharp eyes, Jin Xiaolou instantly recognized that the man was He Guangkun!

He Guangkun's face was filled with anger, he pointed at the nose of the little official in front and scolded: "I am a close friend of the crown prince, the crown prince said that he will make me his prime minister in the future! Which one of you dares to chase me away? "

The official was not in a good mood, "Since you insist on staying at our crown prince's residence and refuse to leave, then go and accompany the crown prince!"

"You, what do you mean by that!" Beside He Guangkun, a woman wearing a ruyi full moon dress peeked her head out.

"Aren't you two devoted to the crown prince? Then we shall follow the funeral procession and serve His Highness in the underground palace. This way, the Crown Prince won't be left alone without a word. " The young official raised his chin and looked at the group of people, "Who would cry and not want to leave? It will be followed by death! "

The moment he said that, the three to five crying women immediately stopped crying, turned around, and walked back into the house to clean up.

"Wait!" Gao Lang suddenly called out to the group of women who were about to leave.

He then raised his hand and pointed at one of the long, black hair. "You stay."

The woman had a small, peach-like face, and at the corner of her lips was a pair of tiny dimples, known as the "Love Sisters".

Xi Shu bowed and stood in place without moving. Jin Xiaotao, who was beside her, actually shouted loudly, "You! Aren't you the foolish hubby Jin Xiaolou?! "

Just as he finished, he saw Jin Xiaolou behind Gao Lang.

Jin Xiaotao still didn't know about Gao Lang's identity, but he was already shocked speechless by his imposing aura. How could that foolish Hubby change his body, produce such a noble appearance?

Just as Jin Xiaolou raised her hand to point at Gao Lang, the official in front of her slapped her until she fell onto the ground, and immediately knelt down and kowtowed to Gao Lang: Seventh Prince, please forgive me, this woman is a peasant girl from the countryside.

The three words "Seventh Prince" fell onto Jin Xiaotao's ears like a thunderclap. With her mind thrown into turmoil, she did not even care about the pain on her face as she looked up with eyes full of disbelief, "You … You are a prince? "Impossible, how is this possible?"

If this foolish young master was a prince, then wouldn't Jin Xiaolou have flown up the branch and become a golden phoenix?!

Amongst the three sisters in the Jin Family, she, Jin Xiaotao, was the one who had the best and the most face.

How could she bear to have the unremarkable Jin Xiaolou climb onto her own body!

No matter how much they could not believe it, they could not compare to when they looked down to see a pearl on the side of Gao Lang's boots. Such a big and smooth pearl was even bigger than the ear pendant that the crown prince had given him.

Jin Xiaotao felt as if all the blood in his body was sucked out in that instant, and his entire body felt as cold as an icehouse.

She firmly raised her head, wanting to gouge her out when Jin Xiaolou taunted her. However, she did not expect Gao Lang to lead the lady out, and together, they walked towards the exit.

It was as if they didn't know each other at all.

This neglected and contemptuous humiliation was much deeper than being ridiculed and ridiculed.

If a person was to scold and mock you, it meant that she had once hated you in her heart. The happiness in her eyes was also caused by your downfall. However, if she doesn't even look at you, that proves that in her heart, you are only an ant, a grasshopper, that can be brushed away with a single hand. It is not worth mentioning.

Jin Xiaotao was trembling from anger, but she could only tremble. Under the official's gaze, she went back to her room to pack her clothes.

Fortunately, she still had a De's Shop that she could rely on. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a place for them in this large capital.

"Open the coffin."

Gao Lang said softly.

With a rumble, the lid of the coffin was heavily pushed open by the guard, and a foul stench wafted out from within the coffin.

The weather wasn't too hot, but it wasn't too cool either. The crown prince's corpse had already slightly rotted away.

Jin Xiaolou took two bold steps forward, leaned behind Gao Lang, and peeked his head into the coffin.

Zhao Jie was dressed in jade-and-gold clothing, with a jade crown on his head and jade equipment all over his body.

His face was bruised and black, with only his face visible. His body was covered so tightly that nothing could be seen.

Jin Xiaolou frowned, if she wanted to inspect the crown prince, just looking at it like that was not enough.

Just as he was thinking, he heard Gao Lang instructing people, and before long, a middle aged man carrying a small wooden chest came out with two guards into the palace.

The man was a coroner at the yamen's office in Beijing, he had specially come to assist the Seventh Prince in investigating the case.

After the coroner and guards removed the body of the crown prince and stripped him of his jade-like clothes, only his shorts were left on the table.

The crown prince's entire body was blue and purple, his meridians were dilated in anger, the tips of his ten fingers were swollen to the point that they were swollen. His round fingernails were like withered grapes.

Gao Lang followed the coroner to inspect the crown prince's body, but there were no injuries at all.

Jin Xiaolou was stunned in place.

She still clearly remembered when the crown prince was in high spirits and the noble appearance of the crown prince, but in the blink of an eye, he appeared before her like a pile of dried wood and mud.

No matter how much gold, silver, and jewelry he had piled all over his body, no matter how magnificent the underground palace was, what was the point of it? He could no longer feel it.

Jin Xiaolou took a deep breath, and heard the coroner say to Gao Lang: "Seventh Prince, ever since the crown prince came back from the Xin Ning, he has been feeling uneasy. After going through some treatment from the imperial physicians, he said that he was too scared and his heart was weakened, so he needs to recuperate."

The coroner continued, "On the day of the Crown Prince's death, he wore an expression that lasted all night. The inner officials tried to dissuade him from doing so many times, but to no avail. "This was all investigated during the first autopsy. The imperial physician also submitted a report to His Majesty. His Highness the crown prince's death was indeed an accident."

From the looks of it, it seemed like Seventh Prince was blaming himself for causing too much of a stir while opening the coffin and inspecting the corpses.

Jin Xiaolou also went closer, holding her breath, she slowly examined Zhao Jie's corpse.

Gao Lang nodded. When he first received news of Xi Shu's death, he also said that the crown prince was shocked, that he could not think of food, and would often wake up in the middle of the night. His body was unwell, and that that person was like an oil lamp.

Although everything sounded normal, Gao Lang still felt that something was amiss.

With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the coroner and guard, leaving only Xishu by his side.

Gao Lang spoke and asked: "You were serving beside the crown prince, did you notice anything strange?"

"Seventh Prince knows about me. I've been in the martial arts world since I was young, so what kind of underhanded methods have I not seen? When I first found out that the crown prince was sick, I secretly took out the crown prince's daily necessities and tested them.

"Then what exactly happened on the day of the accident?" Jin Xiaolou looked at the crown prince, not even raising his head.