Plotting with You: The Forensic Scientist in Ancient Times!

Chapter 676 - 675: One After Another

Faced with this question, Lin Kun hesitated slightly, glanced at Chang Yu, and then said, "The Princely Heir indeed had some disputes with the Prince before the incident happened.

After the Divine Doctor’s death, the Prince was severely affected, appearing somewhat listless. The Princely Heir and several princes were worried about the Prince’s health and wanted to find another famous doctor to treat him, but the Prince refused.

Then the Prince suddenly made a decision, saying that the medicines he needed when he was sick were hard to find in Lan Country, which was very inconvenient, so the people should grow more medicinal herbs, especially rare ones.

After these words, some people started using the Prince’s name to privately seize the people’s land, changing fields originally for flowers, dyes, or grains to plant medicinal herbs, even if they were rare and likely never needed by ordinary people in their lifetime.

A year or so later, the Prince again sent people to enclose land for planting precious and rare spices, claiming these were favored by nobles in the Capital and that without their favor, peace in Lan Country couldn’t be achieved.

At that time, because of the large-scale planting of medicinal herbs, Lan Country was already experiencing a grain shortage, and given the poor harvest that year, there were beginning to be refugees in various places. The idea of planting costly spices seemed inappropriate.

So, the Princely Heir was the first to step forward to persuade and obstruct, and the Second and Third Princes expressed the same concern.

But even though the Princely Heir and the two princes were determined and argued with reason, they still couldn’t persuade the Prince, leaving some rift between father and sons due to this issue.

Within a few months, the matter of planting rare spices indeed stirred up widespread resentment, and when the Princely Heir was working to calm the people’s grievances and solve the problem of widespread hunger, an accident happened shortly after.

Within half a year, other princes also successively passed away...

Lin Kun knew what Lu Qing meant by asking so he paused and, with a slightly confused expression, said, "Though it’s said that even a tiger doesn’t eat its cubs, that doesn’t always hold true, yet even so, the Princely Heir, Second Prince, and Third Prince cases might be understandable...

But... but what about the Young Prince? At the time of the incident, he was still young and had never been involved in Lan Country’s affairs. Doesn’t that seem a bit illogical?"

"To my knowledge, the Holy Emperor was not informed about the accidental death of the Princely Heir in Lan Country. Lan Country never wrote to explain this matter, nor have they asked the court to appoint a new Princely Heir.

After the Princely Heir’s incident, the other princes shouldn’t have been so mediocre that Prince Lan couldn’t choose among them, right?" Lu Qing posed another question.

When asked this, Lin Kun recalled another event, "After the incident with the Princely Heir, someone indeed asked the Prince to report the matter to the court and to let the Second Prince take over the Princely Heir’s position.

But the Prince didn’t pay attention and instead privately called the three princes into the study individually, telling them that now that their elder brother was gone, they all had the opportunity to compete for the position of the Princely Heir, and only the most outstanding son would have the chance to obtain this identity.

The Young Prince was young at the time, and the other two princes were equally unwilling to compete with their brothers, so the private talks with the Prince did not affect their fraternal feelings.

We all thought the princes were brotherly and courteous, not competing for the position of Princely Heir, and that the Prince would naturally petition the court to make the Second Prince the Princely Heir, but... then the three princes also successively met with mishaps...

The Heir’s Consort became somewhat cautious and proposed to return to her family’s home temporarily with the Young Master, and the Prince did not make any effort to keep them, agreeing readily.

Previously, we were deeply concerned about the Princely Heir’s incident, feeling that with his skills, he wouldn’t have met with such an accident, including the incredible notion that amidst his busyness, he would go hunting on horseback. Learning that the Heir’s Consort wanted to take the Young Master on a long trip back to her family, we felt even more uneasy.

So we steeled ourselves, made prior arrangements, escaped, and lay in wait secretly, only to indeed find someone disguised as mountain bandits attacking the Heir’s Consort’s convoy halfway.

Sadly, those people were intent on killing, and despite our utmost efforts, we couldn’t save the Heir’s Consort and could only take the Young Master to hide deep in the mountains.

From then on, there was no going back to the Prince Mansion. We’ve been protecting the Young Master, waiting for the right moment, which took over ten years, until now..."

Recalling all the past events, Lin Kun couldn’t help feeling sorrowful, with a heavy heart.

Zhu Yu had listened for a while and was increasingly convinced of her suspicions. She glanced at Lu Qing, who was also looking at her.

Seeing that Zhu Yu seemed to have something to say, Lu Qing nodded at her, "Chief Historian Yu, feel free to speak your mind."

Zhu Yu’s identity had been something Lin Kun and the others speculated about in their hearts, and with Lu Qing’s words, they felt the "mystery was solved."

"I want to ask Brother Lin," Zhu Yu began, subtly changing her address, which was beneficial given Lin Kun’s candor, "you must have had quite a bit of prestige when you were a guard at the Prince Lan Mansion?"

Lin Kun did not deny it and showed no resistance to Zhu Yu’s subtle change in address, nodding, "I was the Guard Commander in the Prince Mansion then. However, this was only the task assigned by the Prince. Usually, I and the brothers divided and guarded the duties equally without any difference."

"When you took so many brothers with you to escape, the numbers weren’t too many nor too few. Wouldn’t this affect the Prince Mansion’s defenses, leaving them vulnerable?"

"Not really. After the Divine Doctor’s death, the Prince, for some unknown reason, became very concerned about his safety and massively recruited guards, multiplying the number of guards in and out of the mansion several times.

Many of those people we didn’t know or were not familiar with, so before leaving, we secretly got in touch only with trusted brothers for the sake of safety.

Even after we left, the number of guards in and out of the mansion at the time was more than sufficient."

Lin Kun was a bit puzzled, unsure why Chief Historian Yu seemed so interested in these matters.

Zhu Yu wasn’t surprised by his words and continued to ask, "After you hid, did Prince Lan post any notices to search and apprehend you widely? Especially you, Brother Lin, were you ever had your portrait posted everywhere for capture?"