Nan Shiying was slightly silent, looking at the face in the dungeon that was strikingly similar to Yu Chengxuan.
Was this the狸猫 (li mao - civet cat/look-alike) that Ji Hong wanted to swap for the Crown Prince?
She touched her chin. Yuwen Yi's strategist, Cheng Ji, had committed suicide to atone for his mistakes. After his death, Yuwen Yi dispatched a delegation to Lin Yuan for talks, and the delegation was currently en route. Ji Hong intended to detain the real Yu Chengxuan before the delegation entered the capital, either to convert this fake Yu Chengxuan or to have someone impersonate him.
From the current situation, among Yuwen Yi's imperial princes, Yu Chengxuan, who had the support of his maternal relatives, was closer to the throne. If they released the fake Yu Chengxuan and secretly supported him, then once the fake Yu Chengxuan inherited the throne, Lin Yuan could annex Da Li.
The plan was sound, but its execution was somewhat difficult!
Setting aside whether this death warrior impersonating Yu Chengxuan could be converted, Nan Shiying felt that the difficulty of this plan lay not in the subsequent arrangements, but in the first step.
Before Hu Yan Jue's rebellion, he had sent a message to the Da Li envoy stating: "The court is in turmoil, and Lin Yuan will be in chaos." The Da Li envoy was restless and wanted to escape. Hui An said it was Yu Chengxuan who stopped everyone, uttering only one sentence: "If you want to live, don't move!"
At that time, Liu Zizheng led hundreds of imperial guards to surround the entire post station. Not to mention people, even a fly flying out would have been cut in half!
Unfortunately, the considerable military force she had deployed outside the post station was rendered useless because of Yu Chengxuan.
This seventh prince of Da Li was not simple, nor was he easy to deal with. And regarding him, Nan Shiying always felt an indescribable contradiction about him, and she had a fleeting sense of familiarity.
Lost in thought, Nan Shiying glanced at an indistinct object in the corner of the adjacent cell. She asked Ji Jinmo, "What is this lump of thing?" Of course, she knew it was a person, but she was somewhat amazed by his tenacious vitality.
He was still alive despite being tortured to such an extent!
"Qin Qiancheng!"
Nan Shiying looked at Ji Jinmo. Qin Qiancheng's matter had also not been mentioned!
Ji Hong instinctively took a step back, feeling as if his Imperial Aunt’s gaze could cut people.
Ji Jinmo remained silent. Why should these irrelevant things disturb the time he had finally waited for his wife to spend together?
"This is not important!" Ji Jinmo took Nan Shiying's hand and looked down into her eyes. His eyes, which normally held shards of ice, now seemed like spring water rippling with the wind, sparkling and luminous. Setting aside everything else, his current demeanor alone was enough to melt the hearts of women all over the world into water.
But Nan Shiying was not just any woman; she was an Empress.
Not only did her heart not soften, but she couldn't help but exclaim: Ah, it's a shame he's not a male courtesan!
Nan Shiying flicked Ji Jinmo's hand away and walked up to the fake Yu Chengxuan. She examined him from all angles, front, back, left, and right. She truly couldn't discern any flaws. The other party was not wearing a human skin mask. Besides twins, how could two people look so alike?
Ji Jinmo looked down at his empty hand, and a chilling wind seemed to emanate from him. The dungeon was already cold and sunless, but the wind was all-pervasive. The flames of the candle lamps embedded in the walls along the corridor swayed in the wind, their flickering shadows like demonic tentacles. The place was already eerie and terrifying, and Ji Jinmo was acting as a human ice machine, which was simply maddening.
Nan Shiying checked the fake Yu Chengxuan's wounds and then turned to ask Ji Jinmo and Ji Hong, "Did he confess anything?"
Ji Jinmo had already tucked his hands into his sleeves. Hearing her question, he replied, "No, he's very stubborn!"
"You'd better find someone to impersonate him!"
The injuries on this person would not heal in a short time. Even if she and her master joined forces to completely heal him within a limited timeframe, given the current situation, this death warrior, who hadn't revealed a single word even after being tortured to this extent, could not be converted.
Rather than wasting time on him, it would be better to make other plans.
The advantage of conversing with intelligent people was that there was no need for extensive explanations. Nan Shiying understood why Ji Hong had called her to the dungeon to see the fake Yu Chengxuan. Ji Hong and Ji Jinmo also understood the implied meaning of her words.
The three did not linger in the gloomy dungeon and returned to the study.
Nan Shiying raised a detail regarding finding someone to impersonate Yu Chengxuan: "Yu Chengxuan has the scent of irises on him."
Ji Hong: "..."
He was standing next to Nan Shiying at the moment, and his nostrils were filled with the fragrance of irises. He cast a surprised glance at Nan Shiying, then looked at Ji Jinmo without fear of causing trouble, his eyes clearly conveying the sentiment: 'Uncle, the green grassland is verdant.'
Ji Jinmo shot him a sharp glance, and Ji Hong immediately withdrew his gaze and lowered his head in thought.
Seeing their silence, Nan Shiying added, "I asked Hui An. Although she didn't have much contact with Yu Chengxuan, she said that Yu Chengxuan does indeed have the scent of irises on him, so it can be confirmed that Yu Chengxuan with the scent of irises is the real Yu Chengxuan."
"Of course, it's not impossible that Yu Chengxuan has been hiding in the shadows, having his personal guards impersonate him since childhood, but this possibility is extremely slim."
After all, finding someone who resembled him was already quite difficult. Without the aid of a human skin mask, Yu Chengxuan could not possibly have another double.
Therefore, if someone were to impersonate Yu Chengxuan, that person would have to be thoroughly seasoned.
Nan Shiying didn't actually know where the scent of irises on her person came from. She had only been Nan Shiying for less than half a year. Even if there were irises by her bedside, her body wouldn't have absorbed the fragrance of irises. That scent seemed to have invaded her soul, taking root, sprouting, blooming, and swaying in full glory.
"Mm!"
Ji Jinmo didn't want to discuss this topic. Just thinking of Yu Chengxuan made him inexplicably agitated.
Ji Hong cast a discreet glance at Ji Jinmo, feeling that his Imperial Uncle's expression was somewhat off. Under the frantic warnings of past tragic memories, Ji Hong quickly took his leave and darted into the secret door, leaving behind a polite farewell of "Imperial Aunt, I'll see you tomorrow" before disappearing from their sight.
His movements were so swift, as if he were being chased by a dog.
Nan Shiying felt that at times, Ji Hong didn't seem like an emperor who could cooperate with Ji Jinmo to manipulate civil and military officials. He looked exactly like an unlucky child afraid of his elders.
"Why did you scare him?"
Ji Jinmo looked somewhat wronged: "... I didn't!"
His stern phoenix eyes slightly drooped. His face, which was unanimously acclaimed by the officials of the capital and noble ladies as the most infamous and cold in the world, showed a hint of softness, like a large dog with its ears drooping.
Nan Shiying: "..."
She was silent for two seconds before reaching out and stroking his head.