Qi Huang

Among the ten court ladies, nine continued to walk in the direction of Rongchun Palace.The remaining one left the team halfway, and quietly followed Master Li Zheng, the servant of the Ministry of War, to walk in another direction.

The two of them kept their eyes on the whole way, and walked forward in an extremely tacit understanding, but always kept a little distance. When they reached a remote courtyard, Li Zheng, who was leading the way, stopped.

There is a peach tree planted in the courtyard, but it has withered long ago.Even in the mid-autumn season when everything is in full bloom, there are only dead branches that are about to die, and the bark is old and damaged.

Li Zheng raised his eyes and looked around, seeing that there was no one around, he closed the courtyard door with his backhand, and said in a deep voice, "Why are you hurt?"

The maid...that is Xie Xuan, he is no longer wearing the one Qin Ting chose for him.After entering the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the system must be unified. Although it is newly replaced, it looks quite dusty.When you get close, you can still smell the distinctive smell of heavy wood on his body.

Xie Xuan didn't wear a sachet, and she never had any strange smells on her body. Even if she wanted to pretend to be a court lady, she shouldn't have chosen such a pungent aloes.

It's almost like saying it's used to cover up some flavors.

Xie Xuan tugged on the tightly bound front of her upper body, and let out a long breath: "It's nothing, just a small injury."

The process of his return to Bianliang from Yongzhou was not smooth. Along the way, the pace of assassins never stopped, especially when he first left Yongzhou.

Xie Xuan noticed for a moment that there were more than one group of assassins.

In other words, there was more than one party who wanted to kill him.

Li Zhengcai didn't listen to Xie Xuan's own words, he had to see it with his own eyes.

The court ladies of the Great Zhou Dynasty uniformly wore bright colors with simple buckles and thin materials.With a tug, Li Zheng tore off the silk ribbon hanging around his neck.

Most of the skin on the chest and neck was exposed in an instant.

Xie Xuan wanted to stop her, but her wrist was pinched, and she had to lean back hastily, frowning and saying, "You... hiss!"

Li Zheng has an unimaginable sensitivity to blood energy, as if he just pulled it casually, the wound really appeared in front of his eyes.

The wound is not long, but it appears to be deep.The scent of heavy wood on Xie Xuan's body was probably used to cover up the smell of the medicine. Although most of the wound had healed, and even half of it had scabs, the wound on Xie Xuan's body still looked shocking.

Li Zheng looked at it for a long time, then suddenly lowered his head and approached, and slightly pressed his lips near the wound. While being careful, the strength of the fit was a little too greedy.

The medicinal powder has the effect of cooling and relieving pain, and Li Zheng's lips were like a burning fire, the collision of ice and fire made Xie Xuan faintly feel the burning pain again.

He struggled to escape, but Li Zheng refused.

"How did you get hurt?" He buried Xie Xuan's chest, wrapped his hands around his waist, and his voice shook from the position where the two of them were close together, "Is the guard next to you inferior? Who sent it? Qin Ting or Feng Jiuyuan? It's better to kill such a waste."

Xie Xuan thought he couldn't escape, so he was forced to look up and said helplessly: "I don't blame them, I dismissed some of them on my own initiative."

This injury was added on the eve of entering Beijing.

People will always relax when they are about to reach their destination, especially this is the journey along the way, and the guards protecting Xie Xuan have no chance to stop at all.Xie Xuan wanted to get closer to Bianliang, the guards in the city would be stricter, and the assassins would be relieved that they had no chance to attack.

Unexpectedly, at the foot of the imperial city, those people dared to blatantly show their knives.

In fact, Xie Xuan even wanted to go to Beijing alone at first.The more people there are, the more conspicuous the target is, and the easier it is to assassinate.But due to the continuous stream of assassins, the guards refused to let Xie Xuan leave alone, and finally chose such a compromise method.

Unexpectedly, there was an accident—of course, it was expected for Xie Xuan.He was surrounded by so many people, wouldn't it be a pity for those who did everything behind their backs to put him to death if he didn't get hurt.

Besides, since there are assassins on his side, then the Supervision Department must not be able to hide it.

Being hugged by Li Zheng so attached, Xie Xuan was a little lazy and didn't want to move, so she said a little more: "Actually, when I was close to Bianliang, there were a lot fewer assassins. But after entering the city, there were more and more for some reason. up."

Li Zheng: "Do you have any clue about the identity of the assassin?"

But Xie Xuan changed his voice: "Mr. didn't want me to go back to Beijing at first, did he know something, or did he say..."

He thought of assassins with different identities.

If the Empress Dowager made a move, then her purpose was not just to prevent Xie Xuan from returning to Beijing, what she wanted was Xie Xuan's life.

This group of people belonged to the Queen Mother, and they were also the ones who dared to kill Xie Xuan at the foot of the imperial city.

What about the other group?

They chased Xie Xuan all the way to the foot of the imperial city from the time Xie Xuan left Yongzhou.It was also the group of guards protecting Xie Xuan who fought the most times. When they arrived in Bianliang City, they were a little bit cautious and no longer dared to act rashly.

"He's from Xiao Ling." Li Zheng said.

Xie Xuan was taken aback: "What?"

"To be precise, it's a person surnamed Xue. He controls the old Xiao family and the private soldiers he got from Li Jin. He can act without any scruples outside, so naturally he has to restrain himself in the capital." Li Zheng sneered. Said, "After all, there is still a rebellion."

Xie Xuan squinted at him: "What do you know?"

Li Zheng raised his hand to cover Xie Xuan's eyes, and sighed leisurely: "Does Your Highness want to know?"

Xie Xuan: "?"

Li Zheng: "Then let me kiss you. Your Highness looks good in men's clothes, and she is not inferior to a beauty in women's clothes."

Xie Xuan: "..."

However, Li Zheng seemed to be only tentatively saying that sentence, and did not intend to take advantage of His Highness anytime and anywhere.He casually pulled up Xie Xuan's lapel and told about Li Jin's death.

The reason why he didn't want Li Jin's personal soldiers was partly because he felt it was dirty as he said; the other part was that he had already seen that Xiao Ling might have had a slight discord with his subordinates, and the two were not fighting against each other at this time. Otherwise Xiao Ling would not have the intention to prevent Xie Xuan from returning to Beijing.

When there is no opportunity to play tricks, Li Zheng and those who covet Xie Xuan will naturally live in peace; but the opportunity is given to him, it can make Xiao Ling suffer a little bit, and cause him some trouble, why not do it? ?

But Li Zheng never expected that Xie Xuan would be injured because of this.

His eyes were heavy, and he hid his thoughts and sights together.

However, Xie Xuan was thinking about another thing at this time.

What about the third wave?

The Empress Dowager and Xiao's old department each have their own positions and goals, Xie Xuan can guess and understand, so what about the last wave of assassins with unknown origins?

No... maybe calling him an assassin is not quite accurate, Xie Xuan thought.Those people didn't really attack him at all.

Who will it be?Besides the Queen Mother and Xiao's old department, who else would not want him to return to Beijing?

Just thinking about it, Xie Xuan suddenly felt himself soaring into the air.

Li Zheng picked him up from the ground, turned around and walked out of the courtyard.

It wasn't until this moment that Xie Xuan realized that this remote courtyard was actually the cold palace where he lived in when he was a child.

All the furnishings have not changed, which proves that there has been no second person living here for more than ten years.Ever since Xie Qingshan became seriously ill, every part of the imperial palace revealed a desolate atmosphere, even in places where people lived, and in places where no one came and went, it was even more dead silent.

The peach trees in front of the court, even the roots that have been pierced into the ground, have no vitality, and they are full of moths.The three stairs behind the court were also an opportunity for him to escape from the cold palace. The blood of those two eunuchs flowed from top to bottom here.

Gradually, Xie Xuan's eyes became so clear.

Li Zheng originally thought that his unexpected action would cause Xie Xuan to be dissatisfied, but unexpectedly he waited for a long time and did not wait to reprimand him. He looked down and saw Xie Xuan's gaze was falling somewhere in the void, as if he was looking through the eyes in front of him. From the scene, I don't know which years have been lost in the past.

"I heard that the prince presided over the Chongyang Festival?" In the silence, Xie Xuan opened his mouth abruptly.

Li Zheng was keenly aware of something, but he didn't point it out: "Yes."

"Didn't you ask me if I have any clue about the identity of the assassin?" Xie Xuan lowered his eyes, "Now tell you, I have."