After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 706 A tacit understanding
Jin Jiashu told Haitang what happened in Yunyang Prefecture with some omissions.

When Haitang heard that Jin Wu was missing, she frowned. After listening to the whole story, she came to the conclusion: "He did it on purpose. He definitely faked his death. There must be an accomplice behind him who covered up the whole process of faking his death."

"That's what I thought, too." Jin Jiashu said. "Guard Lin couldn't find him later, and he tried to go back to Yunyang City to inquire. He learned that Jin Wu had worked for a butcher for many years, and had run errands for them in the city to deliver goods, and recognized a few unfamiliar people. Although these people had no intention of redeeming him, they would invite Jin Wu to have a drink and a meal, would ask him to talk in the private rooms of teahouses, and even gave him rewards. However, most of the rewards he received were found and robbed by the butcher and his son-in-law, and he didn't keep a penny, so naturally no one would mention it in front of Guard Lin. If it weren't for a neighbor who saw the butcher's son-in-law beating Jin Wu and snatching the reward from him, and if Guard Lin hadn't seen it when he returned to the city, these words would not have reached Guard Lin's ears."

Perhaps because Jin Wu's experience in the butcher's house sounded too miserable, Guard Lin could not believe that he had deliberately escaped rather than accidentally falling off the cliff. Guard Lin felt that the good life in Chang'an that he had promised Jin Wu was a hundred times better than the life he had lived in Yunyang Prefecture. There was no reason for Jin Wu to give up the good life in Chang'an and stay in Yunyang Prefecture to suffer.

Jin Jiashu sighed, "I was afraid that the Sun family had taken Jin Wu away and wanted to use him to make things difficult for Madam Xu. I even reminded Madam Ma and Guard Lin to send a letter to the palace as soon as possible to explain the whole story! But Guard Lin seemed a little skeptical and thought I was exaggerating..."

He had a lost expression, with a little grievance in his eyes, and looked so pitiful.

Haitang felt a little pity in her heart, but she quickly calmed down and thought about the whole thing carefully: "Madam Xu in the palace should really be alert about this matter. If Jin Wu is found, the people who helped him fake his death are really sent by the Sun family, they must be preparing to cause trouble."

Jin Wu was just a child of a branch of a poor country gentry family. His parents and elders were basically dead. He was living in a foreign land without any relatives. In order to bury his parents and avoid starving to death on the streets in a strange place, he sold himself to a butcher as a child son-in-law, but was soon despised and became a laborer. He spent several years in the butcher's house, where he was beaten and scolded. What value could such a young man have to the Sun family? The only thing he could bring up was his identity as the nephew of Concubine Xu Xian's "eldest sister" husband's family.

Concubine Sun and the Sun family were able to send assassins to hunt down Jin Juren's family. They must have been aware of their relationship with Concubine Xu. Even though the emperor has done a good job of covering up in recent years and has changed Concubine Xu's life experience, the Sun family is powerful and has no shortage of people. If they really want to find loopholes, they can find them. Besides, some things don't require solid evidence. Just spreading rumors is disgusting enough.

Haitang asked Jin Jiashu: "Did Jin Wu know Guard Lin's identity before this?"

Jin Jiashu thought for a moment, "Guard Lin said that he only showed up in front of Jin Wu this year. He had been secretly observing Jin Wu's life in Yunyang Prefecture every year before, and he had never shown up. I think it's impossible for Jin Wu to know his identity. But I remember that Guard Lin had intended to kill Jin Wu to silence him, but due to some yin and yang errors, he failed to fake an accident twice. He was worried that if he did it again, people would be suspicious. The prefect of Yunyang at that time was quite capable and very good at solving suspicious cases. Guard Lin chose to stop because he was afraid of being exposed. He felt that Jin Wu would not cause any trouble in the butcher's house, so he returned to Chang'an without worry, only went there once a year, and never approached them. But Jin Wu encountered two so-called accidents that almost took his life in a short period of time. Would he really not be suspicious at all? The Jin Wu I know is not that stupid."

That's it. Jin Wu may have discovered that someone was going to harm him. Even if his parents' death was really caused by bandits, he couldn't help but be careful. People cherish their lives. He would be wary of people coming from Chang'an. It is also human nature that he would rather pretend to be dead than follow Guard Lin.

Haitang said, "If he had known someone in Yunyang Mansion who could take him to the capital, those people would not have left him to suffer in the butcher's house. So... these people either did not intend to take him away, or they intended to take him away but had not yet done so. Guard Lin went to Yunyang Mansion earlier this year than in previous years, right? If he had gone at the usual time, I'm afraid Jin Wu would have already completed the process of faking his death in Yunyang Mansion and disappeared with his accomplices. And the butcher's family didn't care about him, so they might have thought he was really dead and hastily dealt with his funeral. When Guard Lin came to the door, he would not have found that Jin Wu's death was suspicious, and would have just taken the butcher's family's words as the truth. By then, you would not have been alert to Jin Wu's disappearance. When the Sun family pushed Jin Wu out in the capital, Madam Xu would probably be caught off guard."

Jin Jiashu thought: "If it was the Sun family who went to find him, why didn't they rush to take him away?" Is it because the Sun family found out that Jin Wu didn't know anything and it didn't make much difference? Jin Jiashu didn't believe that Jin Wu had the capital to bargain with the Sun family, and he probably didn't have anything in his hand that could really threaten Concubine Xu and the Eighth Prince. The Sun family didn't want to waste their efforts, so they didn't spend money to buy him, right?

Then why did the Sun family help Jin Wu stage this fake death and fall off the cliff to deceive Guard Lin?
A light suddenly flashed in Jin Jiashu's mind: "The appearance of Guard Lin made them think that Jin Wu was very important!"

Almost at the same time as he spoke, Haitang blurted out: "Guard Lin's arrival just made them alert!"

The two of them finished speaking at the same time, looked at each other, and couldn't help laughing.

The two people did not say the same sentence, but they meant the same thing. It can be seen that at this moment, they both thought of the same thing at the same time and understood each other perfectly.

Jin Jiashu said softly, "The people sent by the Sun family found out that Jin Wu knew nothing, so they didn't take him seriously. But then Guard Lin showed up ahead of time, which made them suspicious. They thought Jin Wu might really be a treasure and very important to Madam Xu, so they would rather waste their efforts than let him go. That's why they joined hands to deceive Guard Lin and make him think that Jin Wu was dead, but in fact he was taken back to the capital by the Sun family."

The scene of Jin Wu was performed for Guard Lin. Apart from Guard Lin, there was no other audience.

Although Guard Lin was delayed in Yunyang Prefecture for a few days, he rode back and forth quickly, so it didn't take much time. Considering the complicated road conditions around Yunyang Prefecture, Jin Wu and his party might not have left Huguang Xingdusi yet. There is only one most common road from Huguang Xingdusi to the capital. If Guard Lin sent someone to intercept them in time, he might be able to stop them.

Haitang reminded Jin Jiashu: "It's better to stop it if you can. Although I don't know what the Sun family wants to do, it's better to have less trouble than more."

Jin Jiashu sighed, "I've already mentioned this to Guard Lin, and he has sent someone to deliver a letter to the capital. But the Sun family is full of tricks, and we don't know which way they will enter the capital, or which gate they will enter and exit from. If we can really stop them, that would be great, but if we can't... we have to prepare a backup plan."

Haitang raised her eyebrows: "What kind of backup plan do you plan to prepare?"

(End of this chapter)