Shadow Guard stand-in

He Jue almost couldn't help touching Jin Jiuye's neck. When his breaths were close and intertwined, he narrowed his eyes and suddenly found a bloodstain that was hard to distinguish with the naked eye.

"What's going on?" He Jue asked.

Jin Jiuye raised his head, showing the vitals of his throat in front of others without any precautions. He moved his position a little to make himself more comfortable.

"It's okay, it's just that I was scratched by the blade, and a little blood came out, it's not even considered an injury."

He Jue's eyes turned red, and he asked, "Does it hurt?"

Jin Jiuye shook his head, "It doesn't hurt."

He Jue didn't speak, and looked at the man quietly for a while, as if he wanted to carve him into his bones. After a long time, he said hoarsely: "Almost, brother Ye, almost I will never see you again .”

His voice seemed to be crying, but if you listen carefully, it's not, it's just trembling slightly.

He leaned on the man's chest, trying to avoid pressing on the other's wound, and only tightly grasped Jin Jiuye's shoulders and hair. The familiar breath lingered on the tip of his nose, and he felt heart palpitations. And mixed with a little rejoicing.Fortunately Jin Jiuye was able to avoid that fatal blow, and fortunately I can still see this man now.

"It's okay, master, I'll be back." Jin Jiuye reached out and hugged He Jue's head, comforting him gently.

"Are you tired?" He Jue came back to his senses, "Then let's go to bed quickly, and I will accompany you."

"Okay." The two lay flat on the bed together, and He Jue held Jin Jiuye's hand beside him, pulling him tightly by his side, and suddenly felt at ease in his heart.

Jin Jiuye didn't break free, and let He Jue pull him, and the time flowed quietly like this, neither of them spoke, nor fell asleep.

After a while, Jin Jiuye began to bring up the case of Duke Yang's family, "The Yang family may be related to the Seventeenth Prince or the Sun Moon Temple."

He Jue paused and asked, "How should I say it?"

Jin Jiuye said: "Yang Guogong's family all died unexpectedly. It is a typical murder to silence the mouth. When the subordinates arrived, the killers hadn't left. It was obvious that they were pressing the Yang family, but I don't know if they got the result."

"What can the Yang family know?" He Jue asked almost to himself.

Jin Jiuye was not clear either, and only expressed what he saw, "None of the Yang family members were killed with a knife, and there were many wounds. They must have struggled for a long time before dying, but Yang Guogong himself was heartbroken, and there was nothing left at the scene."

"Took away?" He Jue asked sensitively.

"Yes." Jin Jiuye was also very surprised at this point, "The thirteen people who did it are all dead, but the subordinates have not found them. They may still be able to respond."

He Jue didn't speak, as if he was thinking about something.

Jin Jiuye thought for a while, and then said: "This subordinate thought they might be looking for the Seventeenth Prince of Northern Qi."

He Jue asked, "Have you found any traces of the Seventeenth Prince?"

Jin Jiuye shook his head, "No, it's very clean."

He Jue thought: "That's it, even you haven't found out, so it can be seen that the seventeenth prince is hiding very deeply. If the seventeenth prince has nothing to do with the Sun Moon Temple, they don't have to be so frantic to destroy Yang Guogong's family. It's very involved...Brother Ye, don't you think this is a chase?"

Jin Jiuye followed He Jue's train of thought, "So is the Prince of Northern Qi going to hunt and kill the Seventeenth Prince, or the Sun Moon Temple going to hunt and kill him?"

"If it's the former, then the Temple of the Sun and Moon is Lang Yao's secret weapon. If it's the latter, it can only mean that the civil strife in Northern Qi has reached an uncontrollable level." He Juejiu is a high-ranking person with a very keen sense of smell, and soon thought, "Where's Doctor Bai?"

Medical officer Bai started contacting Jin Jiuye during the Jin Xiaoshou case, and Xuan Yisi got a lot of clues about the Sun Moon Temple from her, and she happened to be from the Yang family.

"She is not included in this trip." Jin Jiuye said, "Since the two killers were captured last time, the subordinates have sent people to follow her, and she is currently in the Xuanyi Department."

"You put her in Xuanyi Division?" He Jue was a little surprised, and turned his head to look at Jin Jiuye.

Jin Jiuye nodded, "Yes, she provided all the clues about the Sun Moon Temple, and my subordinates have to be vigilant."

He Jue said: "Fortunately, you sent someone to follow her, otherwise there would really be no one left in the Yang family."

"Yes, this subordinate is going to interrogate her. Maybe she knows more about the Sun Moon Temple than we imagined." Speaking of this, Jin Jiuye couldn't wait to get up and go to Xuanyi Division to inquire about the situation, and explained, "Your subordinate will come back soon." Hearing that the master was in a hurry to find him, he immediately came to the Qinzheng Palace, before interrogating that person."

He Jue's heart warmed when he heard that, but he held the man down in time, and said in a tone that could not be refused, "You rest first, because you are in Xuanyi Division, even if you want to die, you can't escape. Naturally, you can interrogate him at any time."

Seeing that Jin Jiuye did not speak, He Jue said again: "Besides, she is an orphan of the Yang family, your interrogation method is not good, I will go to see her in person later."

Jin Jiuye had no choice but to obey He Jue's instructions, He Jue leaned over and kissed him on the cheek again, and said softly, "Close your eyes and don't think about anything."

Blindfolded for others, after a long while, seeing that Jin Jiuye was breathing evenly and calmly, he let go of his hand, he was also sleepy, so he allowed himself to close his eyes and rest for a while.

Shoukang Palace.

The Ninth Princess of the Northern Qi Dynasty knocked on the palace door, and the servants led the people into the main hall. The concubine was sitting on it, her clothes were still elegant and luxurious, and her bun was meticulous, as if she had never torn her face like the current majesty.

She still stubbornly retains the honor of the concubine, but there is a lot of unwillingness and jealousy in her eyes.

"You see, His Majesty let the princess of Northern Qi come to see the Ai family because he was concerned about the dignity of the royal family. Even for his own face, he couldn't really treat the Ai family." The concubine looked at the nine princesses from afar. Walking in, she whispered to the confidant next to her.

The palace man replied yes, there was nothing extra to say.

The Ninth Princess walked into the hall and bowed her head in salute, "Northern Qi Langqing has seen the Empress Dowager."

The concubine smiled and said, "Please get up and sit down."

The Ninth Princess sat at the first place on the right hand side very close to the concubine, and looked at the concubine with a smile, and the concubine also smiled back: "Your highness, the princess, is graceful and graceful, and it is better to meet you than to be famous. She's a real beauty."

"It's not as gorgeous as the concubine." The nine princesses said modestly, "Lang Qing thanked the concubine."

"I heard that Northern Qi intends to marry us in Southern Tang?" The concubine casually mentioned what happened in the Jiaotai Palace. Although she was in Shoukang Palace, her eyes and ears were still sharp, and even every word Lang Di said was learned by the palace servants. she listens.

She laughed when she heard it, and she couldn't express the joy in her heart. She didn't know if it was for Bei Qi or He Jue or Jin Jiuye. In short, these people were not her favorite, and arguing with each other was considered a joke for her. Bad breath.Now that the nine princesses are coming, how can the concubine give up?

Originally, this matter was quite embarrassing, especially for women, if it was just an ordinary greeting, the concubine should not bring it up, just say something casual and let the person go.But the concubine refused, she just wanted to embarrass Lang Qing.She has never had a good impression of people in Northern Qi, so much so that He Jue didn't invite her to the banquet last night, and she didn't think there was anything wrong with it. In previous years, she would have found it troublesome on such occasions. They were just flattering each other to save face, so it's better not to go.

It would be a pleasure to make things difficult for the Ninth Princess right now, anyway, He Jue doesn't care about embarrassing the other party, so why not make it ugly?She has to keep pace with the emperor.

However, when Princess Jiu heard such words, her face remained unchanged, her expression was very natural, and she only said: "This is what the prince brother meant, the princess's marriage has always been decided by herself."

"Oh?" The concubine was surprised that the ninth princess was so frank, and she dared to tell the truth in front of someone who was ready to ridicule her at any time, so she was naturally not polite, "It seems that there is no brother-sister relationship between your highness the princess and the crown prince of your country? "

"Brother-sister love does exist, but it's just about how thick it is." Ninth Princess said indifferently, "It's like the mother-child relationship between the concubine and your majesty. It must be almost the same."

Gently poked the knife, and directly hit the tongfei's vital point, the toffee responded with a half-smile: "Your Majesty is the biological son of the Ai family after all."

The Ninth Princess smiled lightly and said: "The concubine sees it this way, but His Majesty doesn't necessarily think so, just like the Lord Shadow Guard who favors the sixth palace, even the concubine doesn't pay attention..."

"You..." The concubine was still hiding the matter, even Li Qingyu from the Ministry of Internal Affairs only knew the general idea, and all the palace servants in Shoukang Palace were silenced by her that day, so naturally they dared not spread it to the outside world.How did the Ninth Princess from Northern Qi know?

There are traitors!The first concubine reacted, but suddenly she felt that something was wrong. There were Habayashi Wei and Xuan Yisi guards in the palace, which were like an iron bucket. Could it be that the nine princesses were bombing her?

The concubine regained her expression and said with a smile: "Your Highness, you can eat indiscriminately, but you can't talk indiscriminately."

"Really?" Princess Nine raised her eyebrows, her voice was as clear as a silver bell, but with a hint of viciousness, "Lang Qing thought that the concubine always remembered how the old general Zhong Jin died back then, but it turned out that Lang Qing was wrong. , Toffee is old now and her memory is not good."

"You are not qualified to mention my father!" The concubine sternly, holding a teacup in her hand, she was about to fall over in a gaffe.

Princess Nine was still smiling, as if she wasn't talking about bloody things, but was asking if the other party was in good health.

"Haven't you forgotten, Concubine?" Princess Jiu said softly, "Lang Qing was not yet born at that time, and later she heard the old mother in the palace mention it, she almost got sick from fright, and the old general Zhong Jin died really Miserable, it is said that he was chopped alive!"

She covered her mouth, as if she was frightened, but her nimble black eyes looked at the concubine provocatively.

The concubine stared at the other party viciously, "You Northern Qi are tyrannical and ruthless, the wolf smoke rider should have died a long time ago!"

"Yes, didn't the prince's elder brother disband the wolf smoke cavalry later?" The nine princesses deliberately mentioned it, and looked at the concubine's expression intently.

The wording is focused on the five characters of the general of the country.

Toffee gritted her teeth, her whole body trembling.

After a while, she calmed down a little and asked, "What are you going to do?"

The Ninth Princess chuckled, "The Concubine Tai is really a smart person. Since I haven't forgotten the revenge of killing my father, then we always have a common enemy."

"The Ai family will never do anything that is unfavorable to Nantang." The concubine showed her bottom line, and the ninth princess said clearly, "Of course, Lang Qing is not such a despicable and shameless person. After all, I came to Xijing to find my brother. As long as I find my younger brother, Lang Qing will leave without worrying about the concubine and Your Majesty."

Toffee pursed her lips tightly and said nothing.

The Ninth Princess continued: "It's just that the shadow guard of your Xuanyi Division has hindered me too much, and has repeatedly ruined my good deeds, and I hope the concubine will help me."

"How can I help you?" The hatred in Taifei's eyes deepened, not for Princess Jiu, but for the person she mentioned.

The ninth princess was very satisfied with the performance of the concubine, and the smile on her face became more and more sincere, "It is too difficult to take his life, the concubine must have tried it a long time ago..."

The concubine heard that the force on her hands was even stronger, and the nails seemed to have carved marks on the tiles of the teacup.

"Now that he has won His Majesty's favor, if he can separate the two of them and cause him to lose His Majesty's trust, Xuan Yisi will also lose a helping hand. This will be the best for Lang Qing. Presumably the concubine has lived in the palace for a long time and knows best Their loopholes can only be tricked..." Sometimes the scheming of the harem may be more effective than the open and secret fighting of the court.

The Ninth Princess has spoken so much, there is no need to say anything else, the concubine naturally knows what to do.

But the concubine did not respond immediately, as if she had some doubts, the nine princesses didn't understand, so she could only find a direction to persuade: "As the concubine said, Your Majesty is your own son, as long as there is no hindrance from Jin Jiuye, He will always think of you as a good mother."

The concubine sneered, "You don't have to persuade the Ai family, the Ai family knows what you are hiding, if you really let His Majesty leave Jin Jiuye, can your people kill him?"

Princess Nine was stunned for a moment, but quickly recovered her expression, still smiling and said, "As long as I get the right opportunity, Lang Qing will definitely do my best."

"Okay, the Ai family will trust you once." The concubine agreed.

The ninth princess then left, and before she left the Shoukang Palace, she heard a crisp sound behind her.

The concubine angrily threw the teacup in her hand on the ground, gritted her teeth and said, "If you don't take revenge on your father, you will never be a human being!"

Qinzheng Hall.

He Jue woke up earlier than Jin Jiuye, and the man next to him was still lying neatly, without even moving his hands or feet, his sleeping face lost all sharpness, and looked more gentle and lovely.

He watched quietly for a long time, his heart was soft, he got up and left lightly, for fear of making a little noise to startle the other party.

Jin Jiuye was wounded and chased all night, and he was always in the midst of life-and-death assassination and tension. His body and spirit couldn't take it anymore, so he had to get a good night's sleep.

After leaving the Nuan Pavilion, He Jue told the palace servants to whisper softly, and make sure not to wake up Lord Yingwei.As a result, the entire Nuan Pavilion and even the surrounding area of ​​Qinzheng Hall were quiet. The palace people even endured coughing, and they came back after a long run to cough.

As soon as He Jue arrived at the main hall, Lin walked in with the armor of the Habayashi guards, making heavy footsteps, He Jue frowned when he heard it, and scolded in a low voice: "Be gentle, don't you know?"

"What...how?" Lin Chi also acts like this on weekdays. After being scolded today, he really couldn't figure it out. He turned to Zhang Fu who was at the side for help. Zhang Fu winked at Nuan Ge behind him, and said in a low voice, "Master Shadow Guard is back. , is sleeping."

Naturally, He Jue heard this too, but didn't say anything. Lin Chi walked with a stride, keeping his voice as low as possible.

"Your Majesty, the ninth princess just left the palace, and she didn't go anywhere on the way, so she went straight back to the post house." Lin Chi replied.

He Jue hummed, "Okay, let people keep an eye on Shoukang Palace, and report to me if there is any movement of the concubine. Zhang Fu, you can bring a few people to watch from the inner court, and it is inconvenient for the Habayashi guards to enter."

"Yes." Zhang Fu and Lin Chi agreed.

As He Jue walked out, he said again: "By the way, at the court prison, more people will be sent to watch, so that no one can take advantage of the loopholes. Lang Di's life, I will live now."

Lin Chiying did not doubt He Jue's guess, although in Southern Tang Dynasty, no one should want Lang Di's life except He Jue.

He was even more cautious, "If you don't lie to the sky and secretly escort people to the Xuanyi Division, the guards in the court prison will naturally be inferior to the dark guards."

He Jue glanced at Lin Chi, Lin Chi looked nervous, for fear that His Majesty would scold Habayashi Wei for his ineffectiveness.

"You can figure it out." The king did not refuse.

Lin Chi hurriedly said goodbye and hurried to another direction, while He Jue went straight to Xuan Yisi.

Since Bai Zhilan was brought back to Xuanyi Division by Lin Jiyuan in the middle of the night yesterday, she has not been able to walk freely until now. Although eating and sleeping are not prohibited, there are two dark guards watching her at any time.She was nervous and scared, and asked Jin Jiuye's whereabouts several times, but the dark guards would naturally not tell her, so she could only guess that something important might have happened.

In the afternoon, the dark guard got an order and took her to a room.

As soon as she entered the door, she saw He Jue standing upright. He Jue's gaze was examining her, almost seeing through her whole body.

"Your Majesty." Bai Zhilan bowed her head and saluted.

He Jue didn't cry out, just stared at Bai Zhilan's arched back. After a while, Bai Zhilan's body began to tremble, and then she couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, my daughter has something important to say."

"Get up." He Jue said, but Bai Zhilan didn't get up, she knelt down on the ground, her face was dripping with sweat, and I felt pity for her beautiful eyes.

He Jue thought, she was a beauty, and she definitely couldn't stay by Jin Jiuye's side in the future.

"Where is Lord Yingwei, about the subject of the courtier's daughter..." Bai Zhilan wanted to see Jin Jiuye, maybe only that cold-faced and heartless man in black could give her a sense of security.

However, this remark angered He Jue, and He Jue's eyes turned colder, "I'm here, what kind of shadow guard are you looking for?"

Bai Zhilan shivered for a moment, and lowered her eyes in panic.

He Jue snorted coldly: "Don't play tricks in front of me. No matter what secrets you have, you must vomit them all within today. I don't have much patience."

"Of course, before that, I need to inform you of the unfortunate news that your father and the Yang family were assassinated on the way back to their hometown to worship their ancestors."

Bai Zhilan's face turned pale in an instant, her pupils widened, and a look of despair appeared on her face, "All... all dead?"

He Jue nodded sadly, "Yes, there are no survivors."

"Did someone from Northern Qi do it?" Bai Zhilan asked.

He Jue said: "Yes."

Bai Zhilan closed her eyes tremblingly, two lines of tears slid down her cheeks, her crying was silent and her grief was suppressed.

"Okay, now you can say whatever you want to say." He Jue didn't give her too much time, it was obvious that the breakthrough was here, and the secret of why the Yang family died tragically also lay with her.

"Your Majesty, my daughter is guilty." Bai Zhilan bowed her head and kowtowed, and wiped off the tears on her face when she got up again, showing a determined and tenacious look.

This is determined to tell the truth.

He Juejing waited.

I saw Bai Zhilan took out a small white bottle from her cuff, about the size of a thumb, exquisite and small in appearance, but the pattern on it was a bit strange, not like something from Nantang.

"What is this?" He Jue asked.

Bai Zhilan shook her head, looked at He Jue with a wry smile, "Your Majesty, this is the truth you want."

She uncorked the bottle, reversed the bottle, poured all the transparent liquid into the palm of her hand, then rubbed all over her hands and fingertips, and then touched her neck with these hands.

After groping for a while, she slowly tore off a piece of skin as thin as a cicada's wing from behind her ear.

"You are?" He Jue was shocked.

A face that was not similar to Bai Zhilan appeared in front of her eyes, with sword eyebrows and star eyes, fair complexion, slightly tough lines, it was a man's face.

He Jue immediately stood up, pointed to the person in front of him and asked, "You, are you the Seventeenth Prince of Northern Qi?"

The man admitted: "Yes, I am Lang Wan."