The palace maid said softly: "It's nearby, Lord Marquis, hurry up and follow the servants." She looked around and looked very cautious, then led the way. Qining rolled his eyes, but still followed.
After passing through a long corridor, an archway appeared. Hanxiang was obviously very familiar with the environment in the palace, but Qining followed him leisurely, walking at a leisurely pace. Hanxiang turned around and urged him several times, passing through several corridors. After entering a courtyard at the palace gate, Qining suddenly stopped and frowned.
Hanxiang turned around and said, "Master Marquis, the princess is right here." After saying that, she pointed to the front. In front of her was an extremely exquisite house with carved beams and painted buildings. The flowers and plants in the courtyard were luxuriant, and there were even more kinds of plants all around. There was a circle of thick Phoenix pine trees that were growing extremely well. The night wind blew by, and the pine trees hugged each other.
Qi Ning sighed and said, "Your name is Hanxiang?"
Hanxiang suddenly heard Qining's question, nodded slightly and said, "Yes, I told the Marquis."
"Then I will treat you as Hanxiang." Qi Ning said: "Do you know what the crime of falsely conveying the meaning of the princess is?"
Hanxiang frowned and said, "Master Hou, what do you mean?"
"What I mean is that if the princess wants to be summoned, I naturally have nothing to say." Qi Ning was already on guard: "You said this is the princess' residence. Could it be that where the princess lives, there are always people ambush?"
"Ambush someone?" Han Xiang smelled for a while, then he smiled and said: "Master Hou, are you kidding me? Where is the person? I didn't expect Master Hou to be so courageous." He complained, turned around, twisted his waist and walked directly In the past, when he arrived at the house, he pushed the door open without knocking and walked in. Qining did not stop him, but simply said: "Since I'm already here, there's no need to hide your head and tail. Just come out."
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of footsteps. He looked back and saw that the circular arch had been blocked by five or six guards holding spears. Behind the Phoenix pines, another group of people appeared. These people were obviously They were all prepared in advance, some were holding broadswords, some were holding spears, and were wearing fine armor. Qining glanced at it and saw that it was the armor of the palace guards.
This group of guards were like wolves and tigers, and in just a moment, they had already surrounded Qining in the middle.
Qi Ning closed his eyes slightly, with a stern expression. He had been a little suspicious before, why Princess Tianxiang suddenly summoned him, but if it was really the princess who summoned him, he refused to see her and annoyed the princess, which was detrimental to the matter. He did not expect that How dare someone be so bold and dare to use weapons in this deep palace.
Who in the palace has such hatred for him that he would set such a trap for himself? He believed that it was not the king of Dong Qi. Even if the king of Dong Qi wanted to deal with him, he would have to think about the Chu Empire behind him. As the king of a country, no matter how stupid he was, he would not act like this.
At this moment, I heard a "clang" sound and saw a group of people rushing out from the house with carved dragons and paintings. It was four or five palace maids who came out surrounded by a beautiful woman in palace clothes. The beautiful young woman came out. She is nearly thirty, but her appearance is extremely charming, and her figure has not been deformed by the passage of time. She is enchanting and charming.
"Hanxiang, is this person?" The beautiful woman raised her eyes and pointed at Qi Ning and scolded her coldly.
A person came out from behind the beautiful woman in palace attire, it was Hanxiang, but she was very different from before. Her clothes were messy, even torn in several places, her spring light was slightly exposed, and her bun was spread out. At this time, the palace maid With tears on her face, she said heartbrokenly: "Yes, the noble concubine, it's him, slave... I swore to death and was almost killed by him...!"
Qi Ning understood in an instant what kind of trap this was. Instead, he remained calm and composed, and said to the beautiful woman in palace attire, "I have seen the imperial concubine."
The beautiful woman sneered and said: "Don't pretend to be here, who are you and why did you break into the forbidden palace with the intention of humiliating the palace maid?"
Qi Ning glanced around, with swords and spears pointed at him, and said calmly: "Do you want to kill me here, or do you want to meet the Holy Lord?" He said in a cold voice: "If you don't know who I am, do you want to kill me here?" And why did you send your maids to call me over?"
The beautiful woman said sternly: "It's full of nonsense. When will I call you? And who will call you?"
Qining put his hands behind his back, smiled lightly, and said nothing.
Seeing that Qi Ning was calm and composed, the beautiful woman became even more angry and shouted: "Come here, capture this audacious thief."
She gave an order and shouted several times. Several guards pointed their spears at Qining. They were about to stab Qining with their spears, but they saw Qining ducking and barely dodging. He came out, grabbed the spear, and crossed his hands suddenly inward. The two soldiers were too late to let go, and their bodies moved forward with inertia, with the spear points pointed directly at each other.
Both of them were shocked, but they had no control at this moment. They only heard the sound of "Puff", and the two spear points pierced into each other's body at the same time. Fortunately, Qining's mistake made the direction of the spear point slightly deflect. Open, although it pierced the body, it did not hit the vital point. Even so, everyone around them also changed their colors in shock.
However, the Qigong Guards are all selected elites, so naturally they will not be timid because of this. They heard shouting again, and people on both sides came forward with swords. At this moment, they heard a voice shouting: "stop!"
Everyone was startled by this earth-shattering sound. They followed the sound and saw the prince standing at the archway with his hands behind his back, followed by several eunuchs. The deacon and eunuch who had led Qining into the palace before was also among them. Next to the prince, stood a girl who was fifteen or sixteen years old. She was dressed in brocade, with a delicate appearance and fair skin. Her eyes were like stars in the night sky, very bright. She was looking at the scene in front of her with her eyes wide open. .
The beautiful woman snorted coldly when she saw the prince, but the guards looked at each other and didn't know what to do.
The prince shouted coldly: "Who is leading the team?"
Then a man who looked like a general stepped forward, bowed and said, "I have met Your Highness, Huang Sheng. This humble general is on duty here today."
"Huang Sheng, you are so brave." The prince said coldly: "This is Jin Yihou, the envoy of Chu State. How dare you use a knife or a gun against Jin Yihou? How many heads do you have?"
Huang Sheng knelt down and said, "I don't dare, I just...!" Before he could finish speaking, the beautiful woman had already said, "What is the prince doing here?"
The prince glanced at Huang Sheng coldly, then stepped forward, passed by Qi Ning, nodded, and then raised his hand to the beautiful woman and said, "I have met Concubine Chen!"
"The prince wants to know why?" The beautiful woman sneered: "Then I tell you, this envoy of the Chu State, in this deep palace forbidden garden, intends to humiliate Hanxiang. Prince, although Hanxiang is despicable, he is the The people around the palace and the envoys of Chu State are so rude. Not only does this palace have a shameful face, but also the entire Qi State cannot bear such shame."
The prince frowned and glanced at Hanxiang beside Concubine Chen. He saw Hanxiang's clothes were disheveled and his eyes were filled with tears. He frowned and said, "Is this really happening?"
Hanxiang knelt down and said, "Reporting to Your Highness the Crown Prince, I was originally ordered by the empress to go to Eunuch Song to get some fabrics, but I didn't see Eunuch Song. When I came back, I saw...!" He looked at Qi. Ning glanced at it and said sadly: "I saw this... This envoy was suddenly not far away. The servant was afraid of collision, so he quickened his pace and came back. But the envoy stopped the servant and said... that he was in the palace. While taking a walk, I lost my way and asked my servant where the Immortal Palace was."
Qi Ning had a smile on her lips, thinking that Concubine Chen had already planned it, and the person she chose was just right.
The prince asked: "What happened next?"
"I didn't dare to be rude, so I pointed out the way." Hanxiang said with tears: "After I finished speaking, I wanted to leave, but the envoy from Chu State told me that he was a distinguished guest in the palace, and asked me how old I was, and then asked What's my name, slave... The slave answered one by one, but... But he suddenly asked...!" He lowered his head, sobbing, but did not continue.
Concubine Chen said coldly: "You can tell the truth, but don't be afraid, I will make the decision for you."
Qi Ning saw that Concubine Chen was not pretentious in front of the prince and looked confident. She frowned slightly and suddenly thought that Chi Danmei had mentioned to him that the king of Eastern Qi had three sons, the prince Duan Shao and the king of Taishan. They were all born of the queen, but King Linzi was born to a noble concubine. Now that I think about it, King Linzi's mother seems to be Concubine Chen.
The prince was afraid that King Linzi would become his rival. The reason was precisely because the king of Dong Qi loved Concubine Chen very much. Now it seems that it was not without reason. Although Concubine Chen was not young, she was fair-skinned and beautiful. She is beautiful, with a charming air, plump body but not fat, and her whole body is filled with the charming charm of a mature woman. It is no wonder that the king of Dong Qi is extremely fond of her.
Knowing that Concubine Chen was the mother of King Linzi, Qining felt relieved and understood.
King Linzi was killed in Xuzhou, and Concubine Chen naturally knew about it. Concubine Chen was naturally heartbroken over the loss of her son, but since King Linzi died unexpectedly, Concubine Chen would certainly look for the truth.
There is no doubt that the death of King Linzi has been shrouded in mist. There are different versions, and the prince will try his best to cover up the truth. But as we all know, King Linzi drank the imperial wine sent by Chu State. The wine was poisonous, and he died on the spot. Although Later, Fang Xingzhai took the blame, but it is not known whether this matter reached Concubine Chen.
Qining knew in his heart that Concubine Chen probably believed that King Linzi died as the imperial wine of the Chu Kingdom, so she was resentful of herself as the envoy of the Chu Kingdom, so she planned to frame herself. Thinking of this, she felt relieved.
Hanxiang lowered his head and said: "The envoy... The envoy asked the slave, are you lonely in the palace... in the palace? He said... He said that as long as I am willing, he can just tell His Majesty... he can take me back to Chu. The country enjoys glory and wealth. He asked me... He asked me to follow him to the woods on the edge to...!" At this point, he covered his face and cried bitterly.
Concubine Chen said sternly: "Prince, you know what happened now. Since you are here, tell me how to deal with this matter." Looking at Qining, her beautiful eyes were full of resentment.
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