Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 236 Ren Yuan's Background
The continuous cloudy days due to plum rains have covered the pillars of Shuiyuexuan with a layer of crab shell green.

The dripping water from the tiles formed strings of beaded curtains under the eaves. In the box sat the haggard-looking Prince Consort Xie Xi, gazing at the misty Xuanwu Lake and sighing.

Suddenly, the door of the box was opened by the attendant, and a young man and woman in casual clothes, looking very heroic, came in.

"Ren Yuan, the chief of the Gou Chen Division, greets the Prince Consort." The leading man was Ren Yuan. He crossed his arms and saluted, saying, "We met the day before yesterday. I wonder if the Prince Consort still remembers us?"

Ren Yuan originally wanted to give Xie Xi a try and asked him to meet up, but he didn't expect that the appointment would come up so quickly.

"I remember you. Please take a seat." Xie Xi looked at Ren Yuan deeply and said slowly, "There are not many people I can remember, but you are an exception."

"It's my honor." Ren Yuan sat down opposite Prince Consort Xie and heard him say:
"Because you resemble an old friend of mine."

"Oh?" Ren Yuan was a little surprised. He thought the other party would remember him because of his performance that day. Unexpectedly, it was because of his appearance. "They both have the same nose and two eyes. It's not surprising that they look alike."

"No, they look exactly like you." Xie Xi shook his head and said, "We were in the same Imperial College 20 years ago, and he looked exactly like you now."

"Oh?" Ren Yuan became interested and asked softly, "May I ask the name of that person?"

"Your Majesty." Xie Xi looked at Ren Yuan and said.

Seeing that Ren Yuan had no reaction, Xie Xi frowned and said, "Haven't you heard of this name?"

"Never." Ren Yuan shook his head.

"How could that be? His last name is Ren and yours is also Ren. This surname is not common." Xie Xi said in a deep voice: "Anyway, I have never met another family like this."

Ren Yuan handed in the visiting card in advance, so the other party knew his name.

"But I haven't heard of it." Ren Yuan probably guessed something, but still shook his head. He didn't want to discuss his life experience with others, especially with the surname Xie.

"Then I would like to ask...what is your father's name?" Xie Xi asked again.

"I have no memory of the past." Ren Yuan still shook his head and said, "I am not interested in the past either."

"Your family has gone through that kind of hardship, so it's normal to have such thoughts." However, Xie Xi seemed to have a preconceived idea and had already determined that he was another person.

"I don't have any ideas." Ren Yuan smiled bitterly. These noble lords said one thing after another, and they were all self-righteous.

"Okay." Xie Xi looked at him for a while, and seeing his firm attitude, he sighed and said, "Let's talk about business."

"Okay." Ren Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, "I asked the Prince Consort to come out because I wanted to talk to you about the princess again."

"..." Xie Xi was silent for a moment before asking, "Did the Gou Chen Division make any new discoveries?"

"No." Ren Yuan shook his head and said, "The princess is currently considered missing."

"In other words, no one has been seen alive, and no one has been seen dead?" Xie Xi asked.

"Yes." Ren Yuan nodded and said, "We can only confirm that the princess is still alive, but we can't find her whereabouts no matter what we do."

"You want to find the princess's whereabouts from me, but I'm afraid you're asking the wrong person." Xie Xi smiled bitterly and said, "You should know that I don't live in the princess's mansion, and I don't know as much as you do about what happened that night."

"But you and the princess have been married for many years, so you must know something that I don't know." Ren Yuan insisted, "Please tell me everything about the princess, maybe we can find some clues and find her as soon as possible."

After a pause, he raised his voice slightly and said, "And maybe, we can find the prince back with him!"

"You said the prince might still be alive?" Xie Xi asked in surprise.

"We can't rule out this possibility." Ren Yuan nodded and said, "Since the princess is fake, then the prince may also be fake." "It's indeed possible." Xie Xi also nodded.

"So, open your heart and talk to each other. Maybe it can inspire us to find them back." Ren Yuan pleaded again.

Prince Consort Xie hesitated for a long time, and finally lowered his eyelids and said, "Okay."

~~
In the box facing the lake.

"How is your relationship as husband and wife?" Ren Yuan began to ask.

"Normal, right?" The princess' husband sighed and said, "Of course, for a princess and her husband, it's not as normal as an ordinary couple."

"How do you mean?" Ren Yuan asked.

"It's not good, nor is it bad. It's hard to be a son-in-law of the royal family." Xie Xi sighed again, "To put it nicely, it's a prince consort, to put it bluntly, it's a son-in-law. It's a reversed yin and yang, you have to be cautious, you have to hold it in when you get angry, and you have to bear it when the princess is unhappy. It's common to be turned away and be caught in the middle."

"I understand." Ren Yuan nodded gently and asked, "If the prince consort wants to see the princess, does he need to make an appointment in advance?"

"That's not necessary. You can come anytime." Xie Xi said with a wry smile, "Of course, if the princess doesn't want to see you, you have to go back home honestly."

"Do the prince consort and the princess meet often?" Ren Yuan asked again.

"It's okay. We see each other a few times every month." Xie Xi replied.

"How many times exactly?" Ren Yuan asked.

"Two or three times." Xie Xi frowned, but still answered softly.

"That is to say, you only see each other once every ten days at most, or maybe even once every two weeks?" Ren Yuan pondered for a while, then asked in a low voice: "Do you have sex every time you meet?"

"Married life?" Xie Xi was stunned for a moment before she understood what he meant. She couldn't help but asked shyly, "What does this have to do with finding a princess?"

"It's a big deal." Ren Yuan said seriously, "Please answer truthfully. Don't worry, we will keep it a secret."

"..." Xie Xi's expression changed from gloomy to bright, and then he said in a muffled voice: "After giving birth to the prince, the princess has been in poor health, and we have not slept together again."

"How old is the prince?"

"Seven years old."

"That is to say, you haven't had sex for at least seven years?" Ren Yuan sighed and said, "It's been seven years. Has the princess' body never recovered?"

"It's not just a physical problem, it's caused by many reasons." Xie Xi finished speaking, and finally couldn't help but get angry and asked: "Are you doubting me?"

"Although everyone is a suspect before the truth is found out, I believe that the possibility that the prince consort is the arsonist is very small." Ren Yuan answered calmly.

Xie Xi's expression eased a little, but he let Yuan change the subject and said, "But judging from the performance of the Prince Consort, there seems to be another hidden story. Please tell me the truth."

"What secrets can I have?" Xie Xi waved his hand irritably and said, "I only allowed you to ask questions because you are the son of an old friend. If you continue to make trouble and keep pestering me, don't blame me for not cherishing our friendship."

"Of course I have a basis for my claims." Ren Yuan remained calm and said, "That day in the princess's mansion, I only said that the princess was fake, and I didn't say that the prince was also fake. But from beginning to end, you never asked whether the prince was real or fake, and no one even cared about the child's body afterwards."

"If an uncle is like this, I can understand it, but if a father is like this, I really can't understand it!" After a pause, he looked at Xie Xi and said:
"And he's your only son. Shouldn't we do our best to find him as long as there's a glimmer of hope?!"

Prince Consort Xie was suddenly speechless.

(End of this chapter)