Chapter 605 His Hidden Thoughts

Chapter 605: What Weighed on His Mind

After all, Anqi and Long Yin were the people Luo Junhe trusted most, and they were also the top two commanders of the Longyue Army.

Losing these two was like cutting off Luo Junhe's right and left hands, dealing a massive blow to his strength.

Clearly, the person behind this wanted not only to frame Luo Junhe, but also to strip away the forces and support around him.

They wanted him alone and defenseless, easy to bully and crush.

And later, when Nanny Xu tormented him so brutally, he didn't have a single person to stand up for him.

If Anqi and Long Yin had been around, he never would've been treated like that.

Ji Yuntang's heart ached for Luo Junhe at the thought. She asked, "So what about them now? Have you gotten any word?"

Luo Junhe pursed his thin lips and said, "Even though I'm paralyzed, I've had my eighth brother digging up news on Anqi and Long Yin all these years."

"The officials were scared Anqi and Long Yin would bolt during their exile, so they deliberately dosed them with bone-softening powder and slapped them in shackles and chains. It took them a solid month and a half just to reach Liangzhou."

"Once they got there, the soldiers took control of them. They not only forced Anqi and Long Yin into hard labor, but also got a kick out of torturing them every single day."

"Half a month ago, my eighth brother came by to tell me he'd gotten word from a contact there that Anqi and Long Yin had already been tortured so badly they were barely recognizable. If things kept up, he was afraid they wouldn't last two more months before dying in Liangzhou."

"So I have to go save them and bring them both home."

Luo Junhe clenched his fists, his tone firm, but his deep, dark peach blossom eyes blazed with barely concealed fury.

Sure, it was called exile, where hard labor was supposed to lessen your crimes, but the soldiers there hadn't let a single day pass without torturing them.

Luckily, both Anqi and Long Yin had been trained as shadow guards, so they were tough as nails. Otherwise, with torture like that, they'd have died at those beasts' hands long ago.

Seeing the hatred written all over his face, Ji Yuntang quickly grabbed his hand and comforted him, "A He, don't worry. We'll definitely get Anqi and Long Yin out of there."

She'd been married into the Prince Ye mansion for a year, and even though she'd never met Anqi and Long Yin, Ji Yuntang was fiercely protective of her own people.

In her book, anyone Luo Junhe protected was someone she'd protect too.

No matter who it was, messing with her people was a no-go!

Warmth flooded Luo Junhe's heart. He pulled Ji Yuntang into his arms, nuzzling his chin against her shoulder.

"A Tang, thank you."

Ji Yuntang said softly, "Between us, you never have to say things like that."

She figured that just as Luo Junhe wanted to save them, they had to be thinking of him too, desperate to see him.

As long as they were still breathing, she could fix them up.

Ji Yuntang had total faith in her medical skills. With that in mind, she started hashing out a rescue plan with Luo Junhe.

From the capital to Liangzhou was over a thousand kilometers, and they'd have to make the trip themselves.

But as for what was actually going on over there, they were completely in the dark.

And the contact Luo Sinian had planted in Liangzhou was too low-ranking to get inside the city lord's mansion, so he couldn't get his hands on much important intel.

Plus, with that kind of distance, by the time news traveled from Liangzhou back to the capital, it was already over ten days stale.

So the info they had on Anqi and Long Yin might as well have been a month old.

Luo Junhe knew this all too well, and it was exactly because they couldn't get fresh news that he was so worried and anxious.

Ji Yuntang mulled it over, then said, "A He, right now we've only got two ways to save Anqi and Long Yin."

"The first is to storm the prison and fight our way in to get them out. But then Prince Ye's mansion would definitely be the court's first suspect, and they'd never be able to show their faces openly by your side again."

"The second way is to dig up proof that this batch of salt had nothing to do with them, clearing their names and proving they're innocent."

The first option was simple and blunt, but it was quick and easy.

After all, Ji Yuntang had plenty of experience busting in to save people.

She'd managed to help Hua Feixue wipe out those four hundred thousand troops right under Empress Dowager Yuan's nose, and pull Emperor Chu out of that hidden chamber.

So now, she could do the same for Anqi and Long Yin in Liangzhou.

Ji Yuntang refused to believe Liangzhou's garrison could outnumber the guards in the Xishu Kingdom's imperial palace.

The second option was clearly the best, but it was also the hardest.

The upside was that it would clear Anqi and Long Yin's names, so they could stay by Luo Junhe's side like normal people, no more living in the shadows.

The downside was that there might be a mastermind behind this case, and whoever it was probably had serious clout.

Three years ago, Luo Junhe's rep as the War Prince was at its peak, and yet this person wanted him gone.

The only people Ji Yuntang could think of who'd be that wary of him were the ones in the palace and his own brothers.

If the person who framed Luo Junhe really was one of her guesses, then digging into this case would be a nightmare.

Even if they did find clues pointing to that person, the punishment they'd get probably wouldn't be all that harsh.

The biggest problem was that the officials had found that salt in Luo Junhe's villa three years ago.

And Emperor Jingyang had already sent soldiers to confiscate the salt.

So hunting for clues would be next to impossible.

Ji Yuntang mulled it over, then suggested, "A He, can you take me to that villa of yours on the outskirts of the capital first?"

If they got lucky and found some clues, maybe they could follow the trail and smoke out the person behind it all.

If that didn't pan out, they'd figure out something else.

Luo Junhe was thinking the same thing. He hadn't set foot in that villa in years.

He said, "Alright, A Tang, give me a second."

Luo Junhe got up and went back to his room. He dug through an old box where he'd stashed things and finally found the key to the villa.

He tucked it away, came back out, and took Ji Yuntang's hand.

"A Tang, let's head out."

"Hold on." Ji Yuntang stopped Luo Junhe. She studied his face for a beat and suddenly realized something was off.

The fact that he could stand again wasn't public knowledge yet. If he went out looking like that, with a face that gorgeous, it'd be way too flashy.

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