Read Novel Full Chapter 886 - 30: Suspecting Bage
Chapter 886: Chapter 30: Suspecting Bage
He Lianfang did not stay long in Zhao Yao’s study and left shortly after.
Tong Xi noticed that after He Lianfang left the study, Zhao Yao neither read books nor handled official duties, but instead was in a daze with a heavy hearted expression. Feeling somewhat worried, he asked, "Your Highness, are you alright?"
Zhao Yao snapped back to reality upon hearing Tong Xi’s words and shook his head gently at him, "I’m fine."
"Your Highness, are you really alright?" The look on His Highness’s face was not good at all, not the appearance of someone who is fine. "Did something happen in the capital?"
Zhao Yao spoke with a heavy tone: "My older brother’s entire family has died."
"What?" Tong Xi was shocked by these words, asking in horror, "The deposed Crown Prince’s whole family?"
"Yes, they are all dead, even my elder brother’s youngest son was killed." Whether it was Prince Dai or Prince Jing, they were both exceedingly ruthless, exterminating my brother’s whole family, sparing not even a few-month-old infant. To say nothing else, my brother’s children were their own nephews. And besides, the nephews were innocent.
Tong Xi gasped in shock, "This... who could be so utterly heartless to kill the whole family of the deposed Crown Prince?!"
"Perhaps it was Prince Dai, or possibly Prince Jing, but..." At this point, Zhao Yao paused, frowning slightly, his expression somewhat solemn, "I feel that this matter is not so simple on the surface."
Tong Xi didn’t understand Zhao Yao’s meaning: "Your Highness, are you saying it wasn’t Prince Dai, nor Prince Jing who killed the deposed Crown Prince?" But didn’t Your Highness just say it was Prince Dai, or Prince Jing who killed the deposed Crown Prince?
Zhao Yao kept a solemn face without speaking.
Tong Xi saw Zhao Yao’s pensive look and didn’t dare to speak anymore to disturb him.
Zhao Yao suddenly asked, "Where is Xiao Jin?" Xiao Jin was not in the study. Usually if Xiao Jin was home, it would stay in the study with Zhao Yao.
"Xiao Jin went out with General Hu and hasn’t returned yet." Tong Xi asked, "Should we send someone to find them?"
"No need, I’ll have Lai Qian find them." Zhao Yao walked to the window and shouted "Lai Qian" several times out the window.
Soon, Lai Qian appeared before Zhao Yao.
While stroking Lai Qian’s little head, Zhao Yao instructed it, "Lai Qian, go help me bring Xiao Jin and General Hu back, I have something to discuss with them." Back when the animals that followed Zhao Yao were still alive, they all came to Lingnan with him. Those that didn’t, like Lai Fu and Lai Wang, didn’t come because their lifespans had ended.
Lai Qian grumbled in dissatisfaction: [Yao Yao, those two are always disappearing. You should really give them a good scolding.] It wasn’t the first time Lai Qian had been sent by Zhao Yao to find Xiao Jin and General Hu.
Zhao Yao felt that Lai Qian’s words were reasonable and nodded in agreement, "I’ll definitely scold them when they come back."
Only then did Lai Qian leave in satisfaction, flapping its wings as it flew away.
More than half an hour later, General Hu swaggered through the gates of the Han Prince Mansion, carrying Xiao Jin on its back and a puppy-like or wolf-like creature in its mouth.
The guards of the Han Prince Mansion had long been accustomed to this scene. Though still afraid of General Hu, they no longer screamed in fear as they did initially.
When Zhao Yao first appeared at the Swamp Prefecture with General Hu, it had scared many commoners. Lingnan was full of large mountain forests, home to countless dangerous beasts like giant snakes, tigers, wild wolves, and leopards.
Some of the people in the Swamp Prefecture had seen tigers in the mountains, and every year, quite a few people were eaten by them. The people of Lingnan’s fear of tigers could be described as "turn pale at the mention of tigers."
When Zhao Yao punished the corrupt officials of the Swamp Prefecture, General Hu played a role too. As for the specific details of how General Hu contributed, they are not elaborated on here.
The people of the Swamp Prefecture grew more in awe of Prince Han upon seeing that he had tamed such a big tiger so obediently.
At the door of Zhao Yao’s study, General Hu and Xiao Jin did not barge in. Xiao Jin pecked at the door with its beak and then called out: [Yao Yao, we’re back.]
Soon, Zhao Yao’s voice was heard, "Come in."
Xiao Jin knocked open the study door and flew to Zhao Yao first.
General Hu carried the wolf cub to Zhao Yao, released it from its mouth, and then gently patted the wolf cub’s head with a paw, seeming to boast to Zhao Yao: [Yao Yao, the wolf cub, I caught it, and it’s for you.]
"Wolf cub?" Zhao Yao was momentarily surprised, then hurriedly picked up the wolf cub and held it up for a closer look. The wolf cub that General Hu brought back was pure white, without a trace of mixed fur, looking like a little snowball. The wolf cub had a pair of blue eyes, extremely beautiful.