Reborn as the Crippled King's Beloved
Chapter 315: Alive, they must be seen; dead, their bodies must be found

Chapter 315: Chapter 315: Alive, they must be seen; dead, their bodies must be found

Jun Yuyan immediately caught Murong Jiu, preventing her from collapsing to the ground.

Murong Jiu could barely stand, and her voice trembled, "Chang Chonghai, what happened to my elder brother, what happened?"

Everyone in the room was intently watching him.

Chang Chonghai’s eyes were filled with sorrow. He didn’t want to tell the Princess Consort, fearing the shock it would cause her, but she would find out sooner or later.

He said, "The eldest son encountered mountain bandits on his way back to the capital and was slashed by a sword. He also fell into the turbulent river. Right now, General Fu and his men are searching for him, but they have only found his pair of boots..."

Murong Jiu’s breathing became rapid. Suddenly, she pointed at the antidote, and Jun Yuyan understood immediately. He quickly brought over both halves of the antidote and placed them into her mouth.

Murong Jiu forced herself to swallow it down, trying to calm the emotions in her heart.

It couldn’t be such a coincidence that my brother happened to encounter mountain bandits, and was even slashed. My brother’s martial arts skills are extremely powerful. Even on the battlefield, he only ever sustained minor injuries. Ordinary bandits cannot hurt him!

It must be someone’s doing, perhaps Consort Qin and The Fourth Prince. They want to agitate me, to make the poison act faster.

Moreover, my brother is so outstanding that he would be a great support to the Prince in the future. They would definitely want to find a way to get rid of him.

"Ah Jiu..." Jun Yuyan grasped her shoulders, looking into her eyes, "Ah Jiu, look at me, listen to me. Your elder brother might not be in danger. He is a good swimmer, and maybe someone has rescued him. We will send people to search thoroughly, and we will definitely find him."

Chang Chonghai began to speak and then stopped himself, because the slash had landed on the eldest son’s neck, and he feared...

I can’t say it, I can’t go on. We must let the Princess Consort accept it slowly; we can’t agitate her.

Jun Yuyan immediately called his people to arrange for a search for Fu Heng.

The manpower from General’s Mansion was definitely not enough, which was why Chang Chonghai had come over. They must have sent someone from General’s Mansion to ask for help, so they couldn’t keep it from Ah Jiu.

"Let me go. I want to go. If we find my brother, my medical expertise could be of use."

Murong Jiu clutched tightly at Jun Yuyan’s sleeve.

Divine Doctor Zhai sighed, "Let her go. She has taken the antidote and is not in critical condition."

Fortunately, the girl had controlled her emotions just now and decisively took the antidote, or else...

It’s better to give her something to do. Waiting in the Prince Mansion for the news will only lead her to overthink, which is bad for her health.

Miao Wuxie said, "Go ahead. Master and I are here, and we are confident now."

Divine Doctor Zhai nodded.

Because the antidote corresponding to the first poison had already been painstakingly developed by Miao Wuxie, working on the second antidote was relatively easier, as it built upon the progress made with the first. Once they developed the second poison, they would have more confidence in the subsequent antidotes.

Eventually, they might very well develop the true Thin Line Heaven.

Jun Yuyan didn’t delay any further and had Chang Chonghai lead the way.

They didn’t take a carriage but rode horses out of the city gate. Even so, it took them a good two and a half shichen before they arrived at the place where Fu Heng was attacked.

This meant that Fu Heng had encountered the mountain bandits last night. General Fu and his men had wiped out the bandits, but they couldn’t find Fu Heng. Without hesitation, they sent someone to the Prince Mansion to report and seek assistance.

When Murong Jiu saw General Fu, he seemed to have aged ten years. His usually meticulous hair was disheveled, revealing streaks of white.

To say he went white overnight wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Fu Sheng and Fu Han, the two brothers, had bloodshot eyes with red veins, and their bodies bore signs of being slashed. Their clothes were soaked with blood, though it was unclear whether it was their own or the bandits’.

Upon seeing Murong Jiu, they hurried over.

"How could you let Xiao Jiu come!"

Did they mean, how could they not keep it from Xiao Jiu, letting her find out?

There was a hint of reproach towards Jun Yuyan in their tone.

Murong Jiu quickly said, "I overheard it. How could you keep this from me, when my elder brother met with trouble while looking for herbs for me? Keeping it from me only makes me feel more guilty. What about now, is there any news of my elder brother’s whereabouts?"

General Fu tried to comfort his pale-faced younger daughter, "Xiao Jiu, don’t panic just yet. If he’s alive, we need to see him, and if he’s dead, we need to see his body. No news is the best news, which means your elder brother could still be alive. You shouldn’t feel guilty either, because even if it weren’t for the herbs, we could have been ambushed. The enemy lurks in the shadows, always hard to guard against."

Murong Jiu struggled to hold back her discomfort, wanting to dress their wounds.

All three had injuries, big and small, that they had simply bandaged up to stop the bleeding, but the wounds had reopened during their movements.

Jun Yuyan had Chang Chonghai stay behind to protect Murong Jiu and personally led people downstream to search.

General Fu was right; no news was good news.

But he was also aware that it had rained a few days prior, which made the river’s current even more turbulent than before, and there were many large rocks beneath the surface. In the worst-case scenario, it wasn’t impossible that someone could be trapped amongst the rocks.

Therefore, it was necessary not only to send people downstream to search but also to dispatch those skilled in swimming to dredge the river.

After Murong Jiu finished bandaging her father and brothers’ wounds, she went to the place where her elder brother had fallen into the river. When she saw the blood sprayed across the ground, her heart felt like it was being tightly clenched by a hand, and her breathing became labored.

"Where did that knife strike elder brother?"

She asked, trembling as she clutched her third brother’s sleeve.

Fu Han, regretting that he hadn’t managed to cover up the bloodstains on the ground, finally told her the truth.

The neck... he had been cut on the neck... Murong Jiu felt her ears ring and her vision blur as she nearly fell straight down into the river below.

Fu Sheng and Fu Han quickly grabbed her hand.

Fu Sheng said, "Xiao Jiu, it’ll be alright, remember Master Hui Jue? The last time he met elder brother, he said that elder brother is blessed and can turn misfortune into fortune!"

"Really?"

Murong Jiu trusted Master Hui Jue a lot as, after her rebirth, she had met many monks and only Master Hui Jue had seen something unusual about her.

Fu Sheng nodded seriously to her, "Really, it’s definitely true!"

Murong Jiu also nodded, "Then that’s good, that’s very good."

But where didn’t she know that among the three brothers, it was the second brother who least believed in ghosts and gods, and never prayed to Buddha. Although the second brother was a warrior, he had a delicate heart. He was probably saying this on purpose because he didn’t want her to worry.

Perhaps Master Hui Jue had never said such a thing at all.

Murong Jiu vigorously twirled the Buddha Beads on her wrist to calm herself and continued searching for her elder brother with everyone else.

If they could find elder brother, she could help, right? She could help treat his wounds, couldn’t she?

However, by nightfall, they still hadn’t found any trace of Fu Heng.

Besides the pair of boots found at the beginning, no other belongings related to Fu Heng could be found.

When the Emperor heard about this, he was deeply grieved and specially sent The Fourth Prince to assist.

Upon seeing The Fourth Prince, Murong Jiu, already on the brink of collapsing, fell forward.