Raising a wife? The mistress of the Hou family divorced and remarried her younger uncle

Chapter 173 A strange combination of circumstances
Su Qingwan looked at Lu Jing, and for some reason she was looking forward to him nodding his head. The dungeon was filled with a depressing atmosphere, and the dim light flickered on the wall, reflecting the cold figures of the three people.

Lu Jing said, "I have never written a secret letter to the prince. I just admire the prince's character and hope that you will be considerate. I didn't expect that the prince would be so brave and still go to the capital. In your heart, the emperor is the mastermind of the Huainan case, so why did you still go to the capital? Do you think he will be merciful and let you go?"

The King of the Southwest trembled slightly, he slowly lowered his head and fell into silence.

Those past events that were buried deep in his heart came flooding back to his mind, and he didn't know where to start.

He spoke slowly, with a hint of vicissitudes in his voice: "I thought that as long as I was honest enough and as long as I could present the truth of the past to the emperor, he would remember our old friendship and give Huainan justice. I underestimated the darkness in this deep palace and overestimated his kindness."

Seeing this, Su Qingwan couldn't help but speak up: "Father only hopes to seek justice for Huainan back then."

Lu Jing sneered, and the laughter sounded particularly harsh in this gloomy dungeon: "Not necessarily. Your Highness brought the princess to the capital, and you had long guessed that the emperor would keep the princess in the capital, but you still brought the princess to the capital, just to vindicate Huainan?" He took two steps forward, stood in front of the King of Southwest, and locked his eyes with him tightly: "Prince, you and I know that there is no simple right and wrong in the court. The conflicts of interest and power struggles behind this are far more complicated than what we see. Don't you have other considerations for taking such a risk to go to the capital?"

The King of the Southwest's face darkened and he asked in a cold voice, "What do you mean?"

An ominous premonition surged in his heart. This seemingly gentle Lu Jing seemed to know many unknown secrets. He looked at Lu Jing vigilantly, thinking to himself, what exactly does this emperor's guard want to do? Every word he said was like a knife, stabbing at his most vulnerable part.

Lu Jing stood with his hands behind his back, his aura was amazing, "You may have guessed that the emperor wanted to arrange a marriage, and he could only choose his confidant, and he was ready to sacrifice the princess, in order to buy time for his sons. Xi Nan has been thinking about it for a long time, and has been preparing for this for more than ten years."

Su Qingwan asked in surprise: "Father, is what he said true? Are my brothers planning to rebel?"

King Xi'nan said quickly, "Don't listen to Lu Jing's nonsense. Xi'nan holds a large number of troops, and the emperor is afraid of him. He is just looking for a reason to kill him. He said I was treasonous, but why would I rebel? Xi'nan is the most outstanding branch of the royal family. The emperor's son is sick and weak, and the most direct way is to kill the princes. Why would I rebel and bear the infamy for all eternity?"

Lu Jing chuckled, but there was no warmth in his smile: "Why is the emperor so sick? Why didn't the prince tell the princess?"

Su Qingwan's heart skipped a beat. She vaguely felt that there was a huge secret hidden behind this question, and this secret might completely overturn her cognition.

"Father, the emperor has been sickly since childhood, what is going on?"

In the dungeon, the candlelight flickered, the dim light barely dispelling some of the darkness, but it could not illuminate the oppressive and heavy atmosphere. The King of Southwest glared at Lu Jing fiercely and said in a deep voice: "It turns out that no matter what happened, the Jinyiwei can't hide it. The old things have been investigated clearly."

Su Qingwan's heart suddenly clenched, and she asked anxiously: "What on earth is going on, father?" Lu Jing looked calm and spoke slowly: "Although the emperor has been sick since childhood, he was almost cured by the careful care of the imperial physician. However, after ascending the throne, he was suddenly poisoned and his body quickly collapsed. Fortunately, there were many experts in the imperial hospital, and he barely saved his life. The emperor suffered such a disaster when he first ascended the throne, and he suspected that the King of Huainan was more powerful than the emperor. At that time, many spies and assassins from Huainan were found in the palace. Before their death, some of them confessed that there was a mastermind behind the scenes. The emperor suspected the King of Huainan, so he acquiesced to the civil servant group to frame the King of Huainan."

Su Qing was struck by lightning. He looked at Lu Jing in disbelief and raised his voice: "You said that my father poisoned the emperor and framed Huainan?"

Her mind was blank. In her heart, her father had always been a hero. How could he do such a heinous thing?

The King of the Southwest quickly retorted: "Absolutely not, Xiaowu, don't listen to him trying to sow discord."

His eyes were full of anxiety and worry, fearing that his daughter really believed what Lu Jing said.

Lu Jing smiled lightly and said, "How can I sow discord? The princess treats the prince as her father. You two have a deep father-daughter relationship. How can I sow discord?"

Su Qingwan's whole body was stiff. She felt a chill running from her feet to her head. It was unbearably cold. She felt that the wind in the dungeon was too gloomy. She looked at the King of Southwest with tears in her eyes and cried, "Father, tell me, this is not true."

King of the Southwest looked at Su Qingwan with tears in her eyes and spoke slowly: "The palace coup was too chaotic back then, and the poison..."

His voice was low, as if he was recalling a past that was too painful to recall.

"The poisons in the southwest are more powerful, and many of them have no antidote. The palace coup was so chaotic back then, and I also wanted to compete for the throne." The King of the Southwest paused, with a trace of struggle in his eyes. "After the death of the crown prince and several princes, I also had the hope of inheriting the throne. Originally, there was no need to do this, but I was in the southwest fiefdom and listened to the words of the spies in the capital. The late emperor loved the lineage of the King of Yan, so he poisoned the current emperor just in case. In fact, the poison was given before the emperor ascended the throne, but the poison took effect slowly. It is a chronic poison and takes effect slowly. By the time the poison took effect, the dust had settled. The emperor ascended the throne and suspected the King of Huainan. In fact, I poisoned several promising heirs of the royal family at that time, and later secretly detoxified them. Perhaps the emperor was originally weak, the poison took effect early, and there was no time to detoxify. Everything was a mistake."

Su Qingwan's hands and feet trembled slightly, and she collapsed to the ground. Lu Jing pulled her to his arms with a distressed look. The King of the Southwest looked at Su Qingwan, who was heartbroken, with red eyes.

The King of Southwest looked at Su Qingwan, his eyes full of guilt and self-blame, and spoke with difficulty: "Xiaowu, I'm sorry, father was wrong. But it was not intentional back then, and I never had the intention to frame Huainan. Obviously everything was planned well, but suddenly something unexpected happened, and the situation developed out of control."

Su Qingwan stood there quietly, her eyes as sad as water. She had never been a person who liked to look back on the past, always thinking that the past should be left in the past and people should look forward. But now, the successive changes forced her to face those secrets that had been buried by the years. These things were closely related to her, and she could no longer stay out of it.

The King of Southwest was also in pain. He had such a good relationship with the King of Huainan. Although his surname was Li, he had never thought of framing the King of Huainan, let alone using him to seize the throne. If he really had such thoughts, he would have asked the King of Huainan for help when the palace coup happened. He knew his brother's character too well. If he asked, the King of Huainan might take risks for him, but he couldn't do such a thing.

Lu Jing quietly walked to Su Qingwan's side and gently embraced her slightly trembling shoulders. His embrace was a little warm, but it could not dispel the chill in Su Qingwan's heart. Lu Jing looked calm, and looked at the King of Southwest with a faint gaze, and asked softly: "Why did the prince say sorry to Xiaowu?"