Forced to be a third person: I turned around and left the palace to marry a villain

It seems that His Royal Highness Prince Gong also agrees with this idea.

Indeed, once Xiao Huan died, Linyi would be free from suffering.

After all, can the royal family just let it go after killing a prince? When the investigation comes, will they be able to hide?

It would be fine if he died, but if his family was implicated, he would become a sinner who would be cursed for all eternity.

If I do it, the risk is too great and I'm afraid it will implicate the whole family; if I don't do it, my sweetheart will suffer and jump into the fire pit.

This contradiction, entanglement and distress cut Nan Jingxing's heart like a knife.

"Jingxing, there is a past event that I want to tell you about. Perhaps after listening to it, your attitude will change. Then tell us your decision." Seeing that Nan Jingxing didn't say anything for a long time, Xiao Zhan knew how upset he was. After thinking about it, he decided to reveal this secret.

"Ninth sister, and Miss Lu, if you are interested, come and listen together." Xiao Zhan glanced at Xiao Gui and Lu Linyi and politely extended an invitation.

It is said that many years ago, the boss of Beiling Chamber of Commerce was not the current Fang family, but the famous Jiang family.

Looking at the ten countries, only in Beiling do merchants and chambers of commerce have a higher status. The other nine countries are ranked according to scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, but in Beiling, it is scholars, merchants, farmers and artisans.

Therefore, in Beiling, the leaders of the Chamber of Commerce are all influential and their words have influence.

Looking at the prosperity of the Wan family today, the Jiang family was no less powerful back then.

"The master of the Jiang family was originally a juren, had been in officialdom for a while, and had extensive connections in the court. This was also the key to the Jiang family's ability to gain a foothold in the Chamber of Commerce and grow stronger." Speaking of the Jiang family, Xiao Zhan felt a sense of nostalgia. The mistress of the Jiang family was the empress dowager's cousin, and she had even held him in her arms when he was a child.

Nan Jingxing also fell into reminiscence, and every little detail about the Jiang family poured out from his memory like a spring.

The Jiang family was extremely wealthy back then, and it was widely rumored among the people of Beiling that the Jiang family was Beiling's secret treasury.

Because of this, the Jiang family's wealth became the target of jealousy of the Beiling royal family.

"The master of the Jiang family has been operating with integrity for decades and has a great reputation. He often does charity and helps the poor. His reputation has spread throughout Beiling. Even chambers of commerce in other countries are familiar with the Jiang family and have come to Beiling one after another just to cooperate with the Jiang family."

"Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. During a Chamber of Commerce cooperation, the Jiang family offended the greedy Xiao Huan in order to gain more benefits for everyone. As a result, they suffered unprecedented blows and retaliation." At this point, Xiao Zhan's eyes fell on Nan Jingxing.

What I am going to say next can disturb his heart.

At that time, Beiling and Yingyuan were fighting fiercely, the border was in chaos, and people in Yujing City were also in panic. From time to time, there were roving bandits who came into the city to cause trouble. The situation was simply terrible.

The Nan and Lu families' armies all went to the front lines to fight to the death, leaving the city defense troops to barely defend Yujing. At this time, Xiao Huan saw the opportunity and took advantage of the chaos to kidnap Jiang Xuan, the eldest daughter of the Jiang family, from Zhuyuxuan. The girl was picking out jewelry when she was dragged into this matter.

Xiao Huan threatened the master of the Jiang family with Jiang Xuan's life, forcing him to give up the benefits of the Chamber of Commerce cooperation. For the safety of his daughter, the master of the Jiang family agreed to all the conditions and signed a contract with Xiao Huan.

But he didn't know that this contract not only took away his business interests, but also destroyed all the assets of the Jiang family.

By the time Master Jiang came to his senses, everything was over.

As soon as the contract was signed, a group of soldiers rushed into the Jiang family and killed hundreds of people in their family. As for Jiang Xuan, she had been tortured beyond recognition by Xiao Huan before the contract was signed, and died almost at the same time as her family.

Lu Linyi noticed that when Nan Jingxing heard about Jiang Xuan, he was extremely excited. His eyes were bloodshot and his fists were clenched so hard that they made a cracking sound. He looked like he was going to fight someone to the death.

She knew in her heart that there must be a complicated story between Jiang Xuan and Nan Jingxing, otherwise he wouldn't react so strongly.

After hearing this story, Jiang Xue felt full of sympathy for Jiang Xuan, whom she had never met, and asked about the follow-up.

Yun Che mentioned Jiang Xuan's tragic ending, and she guessed that Jiang Xuan should be Nan Jingxing's fiancée who died young.

Ever since she found out that Lu Linyi was interested in Nan Jingxing, she had mentioned to Xiao Zhan the idea of ​​bringing them together. Xiao Zhan told her about Nan Jingxing's past, and only then did she understand why he was so cold towards her cousin.

"I have also thought about pairing them up. After all, a marriage between the Lu and Nan families will benefit me. But if Nan Jingxing doesn't resolve his emotional knot and can't get out of the shadow of the past, there will be no hope no matter how hard we try to bring them together." These were Xiao Zhan's original words.

Xiao Gui raised his hand and recalled: "Hundreds of Jiang family members were killed. This incident shocked the whole city. All the common people and people from the Chamber of Commerce who had received favors from the Jiang family came out to support them and asked for redress for the Jiang family. At that time, the emperor arrested a group of bandits, saying that they broke into the Jiang family and robbed them during the chaos. They were convicted on the spot and were beheaded directly at the entrance of the vegetable market. Their heads were also hung on the city wall for several days."

"Bandits? Aren't there troops guarding the city outside? How could so many bandits get in? Isn't this dereliction of duty on the part of the guarding troops? Shouldn't they be punished?" Lu Linyi was full of questions.

"Those people are just scapegoats for Xiao Huan." Xiao Zhan said, "The Jiang family is very popular in Yujing City. If the common people knew that it was the royal family who killed the Jiang family, the public opinion and public anger would overwhelm Xiao Yan. So he found an excuse to get away from it, and he could also win the hearts of the people and gild himself by claiming to have eliminated harm for the people."

This was not the first time that Xiao Yan had acted so shamelessly. Xiao Zhan looked down on such a shameless person.

"As for Xiao Huan, I collected a lot of evidence and reported it, but it was all suppressed by Xiao Yan. I had no choice but to bypass him and send the evidence directly to the Empress Dowager." The Jiang family was the apple of the Empress Dowager's eye and had always supported her. Now that this matter was brought to her, Xiao Yan couldn't suppress it even if he wanted to.

"So that's how it is. No wonder the Empress Dowager was so furious and said she wanted to execute my seventh brother." Xiao Gui finally understood why things turned out the way they did.

After the Jiang family's issue was resolved, the Empress Dowager suddenly became furious and had the Seventh Brother dragged into the palace, shouting that she wanted his life. However, she was stopped by the Emperor's father who came in a hurry. The two of them closed the door and talked in secret for a long time. In the end, the Seventh Brother escaped death, but was thrown into the bitter and cold ice prison.

"Why... the Empress Dowager has clearly issued a death order, and the Emperor has gotten what he wanted, so why is he still trying to protect Xiao Huan? Is Xiao Huan's life more valuable than gold? Are the lives of my fiancée and her family, over a hundred in number, worthless?"

The truth came like a bolt from the blue, and Nan Jingxing was extremely shocked. The emperor that his Nan family was loyal to turned out to be such a guy who assisted evil and treated human life as worthless.

The three words "fiancée" were like a sharp knife, stabbing deep into Lu Linyi's heart.