Isolated town in northern border region

The doctor arrived quickly.

Xiao Xiong rode his horse at breakneck speed, dragging over the three best doctors in Youzhou City.

The three of them took turns taking each other's pulses, which took up most of the hour. In the end, they looked at each other, unable to come up with a solution.

"Your Highness, the First Prince's pulse is erratic, and his breath is barely a whisper. This... this is a case of utter exhaustion and heart failure!"

"Heartbreak?"

Xiao Lie's brows furrowed into a knot.

"How could a heart attack occur when it's clearly poisoning?"

The doctor stared at him blankly, stammering for a long time before finally answering.

"The eldest prince shows no signs of poisoning, but his heart has undoubtedly broken down!"

Xiao Lie waved his hand, signaling them to leave.

He walked to the bedside, looked at Xiao Yu's pale face, closed his eyes, and his mind raced.

What ancient poisons could cause symptoms of cardiac arrest? Aconite? No, aconite poisoning causes vomiting and diarrhea.

Arsenic? No, that's not right either. Arsenic causes bleeding from all seven orifices.

Gelsemium elegans? Symptoms include persistent abdominal pain.

He thought for a long time, but none of them matched.

What's more troublesome is that Xiao Yu didn't leave any samples of the poison at all.

He was determined to die, not even giving him a chance to detoxify.

"Your Highness."

Chen Hu stood at the door, lowering his voice.

"General Shen, Mr. Zhou, and Princess Jing are all waiting in the front hall. Should we…?"

"Let them in."

When Jiang Min came in, Xiao Lie was sitting motionless on a chair next to Xiao Yu's bed.

She skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the point.

"Your Highness, you and the First Prince share a deep brotherly bond, but you must not let this jeopardize important matters!"

"The most important thing right now is to make public the evidence that the Chu Emperor sent someone to poison His Highness."

She took the secret letter from her sleeve and placed it on the table.

"I intercepted this letter along the way; it bears the Chu Emperor's personal seal."

"As long as Your Highness proclaims this letter to the world, the Emperor of Chu will be seen as a tyrannical ruler who murdered members of the royal family and persecuted loyal officials."

"Your Highness is the only son of Emperor Wu, and Emperor Xiao Mu of Chu had previously promised to pass on the throne before Emperor Wu's spirit tablet."

"With the moral high ground, coupled with the iron cavalry of the Northern Frontier and His Highness's unparalleled military talent, great things are within our grasp!"

"As for money and provisions, Your Highness need not worry. Our Jing Kingdom is wealthy enough to support Your Highness in reclaiming the throne!"

Shen Chongyuan and Zhou Xun exchanged a glance, their eyes flashing with an unusual light.

Shen Chongyuan stepped forward and whispered.

"Your Highness, I believe the princess is right."

"The Crown Prince is powerless to reverse the situation; we cannot let him down!"

Zhou Xun nodded as well.

"Your Highness, General Shen is absolutely right. Moreover, this matter should be addressed sooner rather than later. If the Emperor of Chu were to pin the blame for the Crown Prince's death on us, we would be in deep trouble!"

Since ancient times, no merit is greater than saving the emperor or following the emperor. Shen Chongyuan has been deeply involved in the northern frontier for more than ten years, and Zhou Xun is full of ambition and has a heart that is higher than the sky. They both want to put Xiao Lie in that position and win a fortune for their descendants.

But what about Xiao Lie?

He just stared silently at Xiao Yu's pale face without turning his head.

Xiao Lie remained silent for a long time.

Then, he spoke calmly, as if telling a very ordinary story.

"Do you know what Xiao Yu was like when he first came to the Northern Frontier?"

The hall fell silent.

Jiang Min frowned slightly.

"When I first arrived, I was tortured to the point of wishing I were dead by Luo Daniu every day. I thought I was deliberately torturing him."

A bitter smile appeared on Xiao Lie's lips.

"But my elder brother is proud and refuses to back down."

"I just gritted my teeth and practiced until I threw up."

"Later, he learned from his brothers in the Trapped Camp that I had trained in the same way."

"How could someone like him admit defeat?"

"I trained myself to the point of exhaustion, and eventually reached the average level of the Trapped Camp."

"He did it."

Xiao Lie's voice began to choke.

"Later, the Trapped Battalion began patrolling the streets."

"Helping the people build roads, dig ditches, and harvest crops."

"When Xiao Yu was first given an egg by an old lady, she was stunned for a long time."

"I know he has found the most comfortable way to live."

Xiao Lie's eyes reddened, but he didn't cry.

"He changed after that."

"No longer acting like a prince, no longer having a mind full of scheming."

"He mingled with his comrades, and although life was tough, he was happy every day."

Xiao Lie turned his head and looked at Shen Chongyuan.

"General Shen, what do you think Xiao Yu's true feelings are?"

Shen Chongyuan opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word.

Xiao Lie then looked at Zhou Xun.

"Tell me, what do you mean by 'filthy water'?!"

Zhou Xun lowered his head.

Xiao Lie stood up, faced the crowd, and stared intently at Jiang Min.

"He's my brother!"

The hall was deathly silent.

"He shouldn't be a pawn; no one is born to be someone else's pawn!"

"He just found the way of life he likes, why should he be driven to his death!"

Xiao Lie's gaze was like a knife, so cold that Jiang Min dared not look him in the eye.

"Princess, the conditions you've offered are very tempting, but you shouldn't be saying them to me at this time!"

"Although I am also a man of power, a mere dragon throne is not enough for me to use my brother's life as a pretext to rebel!"

Jiang Min's eyelashes trembled slightly.

She never expected Xiao Lie to react this way.

Jiang Min had imagined that Xiao Lie would be furious, that he would cry hysterically in front of others to show how much affection he had; that he would give Xiao Yu all the honors he could, to demonstrate how benevolent he was, even treating his former enemy so kindly.

But Xiao Lie simply spoke calmly about...family affection?

Born into the royal family as well, Jiang Min naturally understood the survival rules: family ties... were the most luxurious burial goods!

When Jiang Min was young, he knelt for five days and four nights to become a disciple of a great Confucian scholar. Was he really just eager to learn?

Is it really just a hobby that he takes charge of the Bureau of Gathering Information and collects intelligence from all over the world?

It's just adding weight to one's own position. To gain royal favor, one must first have the qualifications to be favored!

Jiang Min paused for a moment, then suddenly changed the subject.

"Your Highness, there is something I wish to say, but I am not sure if I should."

"explain."

"My Bureau of Folklore has received a piece of information, but it has never been confirmed."

She paused.

Did Emperor Wu of Great Chu also die of a heart attack in the northern frontier?

These words exploded like a bomb in the hall.

Shen Chongyuan suddenly stood up, and Xiao Xiong's face turned pale instantly.

"What did you say?!"

Xiao Xiong's voice was trembling.

Jiang Min did not back down.

"I am merely asking whether it is true."

Shen Chongyuan closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them again.

"Yes. Back then, when the late emperor was marching in the northern frontier, he suddenly fell ill, and the accompanying imperial physician diagnosed him with a heart attack."

Xiao Xiong gritted his teeth and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"What the princess is saying is that the late emperor was because..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but everyone understood what he meant.

Jiang Min did not speak again.

She said everything she needed to say, and left the rest to Xiao Lie to figure out himself.

Xiao Lie stood there, his mind a complete mess.

There is no doubt that the Chu Emperor wanted to kill him.

But Jiang Min intercepted the letter halfway...

Princess Jing, the controller of Jing's intelligence network, is she really here in the Northern Frontier for a blind date?

It's hard to say who's behind this and what they're planning!

He couldn't tell the difference.

All he knew was that he couldn't act impulsively at this moment.

The lives of millions of people in northern Xinjiang rest on his shoulders.

He could not let his anger plunge this hard-won land back into war.

"Princess."

Xiao Lie spoke, his voice returning to calm.

"What you have said is of great importance."

"What I need is not speculation, but evidence!"

"You say the late emperor was poisoned, where's the evidence? You imply the current emperor was the poisoner, where's the evidence?"

"To be honest, whether I rebel or not depends entirely on whether I want to or not."

"But the lives of the men of the northern frontier should not be wasted because of a lie or a conspiracy!"

Jiang Min remained calm.

She seemed to have expected this.

"When Emperor Wu fell ill, he had only one personal guard by his side."

"The guard carried Emperor Wu out of the tent and handed him over to the army doctor. After that, the guard disappeared."

"After Emperor Wu's death, the imperial physician who accompanied him was executed by Emperor Chu on the grounds of 'ineffective medical treatment'."

She looked at Xiao Lie.

"If we can find that guard, find out who Emperor Wu had contact with and what he ate before he fell ill, and then compare that with the eldest prince's symptoms..."

"Whether it's the same poison or not, we can find out by asking."

Xiao Lie turned to look at Shen Chongyuan and Xiao Xiong.

Shen Chongyuan frowned and thought for a long time.

"There was indeed such a person by the side of the late emperor."

"His surname was Tie, I forgot his given name, he had dark skin, was strong enough to lift a cauldron, like Luo Daniu."

"The late emperor liked him very much and always kept him by his side. After the late emperor passed away... he indeed disappeared without a trace."

Xiao Xiong nodded as well.

"I remember now!"

"That was a true hero, utterly loyal to the late emperor, who once shielded him from dozens of blows on the battlefield!"

Xiao Lie withdrew his gaze and landed on Jiang Min's face.

"Princess, is your Bureau of Folklore truly all-pervasive?"

Jiang Min readily admitted it.

"Yes."

"Alright then."

"I will not ask why your Bureau of Folklore is investigating the cause of death of the late Emperor of Great Chu."

"I only ask you this: if you help me find this guard, proving that the late emperor was poisoned by the current emperor, what does your Jing Kingdom want?"

Jiang Min did not hesitate.

"I've come to the northern frontier solely to find my beloved!"

Xiao Lie stared at her for a long time.

"snort!"

"Find that guard, confirm that the Chu Emperor murdered his brother and usurped the throne, and I will immediately raise an army!"