The little soldier named Xiao Zhuzi turned out to be a foreigner who hated the Celestial Empire. He had been hiding in the military camp for so long. After knowing that Qi Changyi was a prince from the Celestial Empire's royal family, he actually had the courage to poison him.
The previous medicines were all monitored under Wu Quan's nose and there was no way to tamper with them.
This medicinal bath gave him an opportunity. After he arranged everything, he sneaked away, which gave Pei Zheng the opportunity to enter Qi Changyi's barracks.
Xiao Zhuzi knew that the most dangerous place was also the safest place. After running out of the military camp, he hid directly in the city. Unexpectedly, he was found by Chengfeng who came to capture him.
He wanted to secretly swallow poison to commit suicide, but Chengfeng pinched his jaw and dislocated it.
Now he was forced to kneel in the barracks and could only yell "hmm" and "ah" randomly.
Pei Zheng raised his hand, and Chengfeng pinched his chin and pressed it back hard. Xiao Zhuzi immediately broke out in a cold sweat due to the pain.
"Tell me, where is the antidote?"
Xiao Zhuzi smiled with a pale face, "Hahahaha, there is no antidote for this poison. Once you are poisoned, you can only wait for death. Anyway, I heard that he is about to die, so a few days won't make a difference..."
Before he could finish his words, Pei Zheng kicked him to the ground, and then a black boot stepped on his fingers.
"Then you should have heard of me. If you keep talking back, I can make you the first to die."
Xiao Zhuzi's fingers were in so much pain that he lost feeling. He was afraid that they had been stepped on and broken.
"I've heard... I've heard... Haha... Aren't you just a running dog of the Celestial Empire? I... I'm not afraid of you... If you have the guts, just... kill me..."
"Kill you? That's too easy for you." Pei Zheng raised his lips coldly, "If you still refuse to hand over the antidote, I will let you know that death is the only way to be relieved."
Xiao Zhuzi gritted his teeth and said, "I told you... there is no antidote..."
Pei Zheng suddenly exerted force with his feet, and the bones in the already broken palm were shattered. The owner of the palm fainted from the pain.
At this time, several soldiers carried a large wooden barrel into the barracks, and the barracks were immediately surrounded by a strong smell of medicine.
Several soldiers picked up the small pillar and threw it directly into the wooden barrel. The already cold water immediately woke him up. After he found himself soaked in the medicine barrel, he finally showed some fear.
"You... what are you going to do..."
Several soldiers held his hands and feet tightly and pressed him to the edge of the barrel, ignoring his struggles and shouts.
Another soldier came in with a torture device. It was a very long funnel that could be inserted directly into the stomach. It could be used to pour food into the mouth without any delay in swallowing, and the prisoner had no room to resist.
"Trick him into drinking."
"yes!"
The whole process went very quickly. After just pouring a small bucket of medicine into his body, the little guy started to have tears streaming down his face and began to retch and cough up blood.
He looked like he was about to lose consciousness from fear. If a few small buckets of medicine were poured into his stomach, he would die from the medicine's bursting stomach without waiting for the poison to take effect.
When someone filled the small bucket with medicine and was about to pour more medicine into him, Xiao Zhuzi's defense was finally broken and he burst into tears without caring about anything.
"I... what I said is true... This is the secret recipe of poison passed down from our ancestors, used for self-defense... There is really no antidote... I... I just want to kill the royal family of the Celestial Empire to avenge my people..."
Now that things have come to this, what he said must be true.
There really is no antidote.
Pei Zheng stood up and walked to the wooden barrel, and the small pillar shrank back.
"Revenge for your people? Then do you know that this Celestial Empire royal family you mentioned actually has foreign blood as well?"
"What? Impossible! Impossible! He is from the Celestial Empire and a member of the royal family. How can he have foreign blood?" Xiao Zhuzi couldn't believe it and kept shaking his head, "You must be lying to me!"
"Why is it impossible? His mother..." Pei Zheng paused, "She is a foreigner."
Xiao Zhuzi completely collapsed. The person he had gone to so much trouble to poison, even at the risk of his life, turned out to be a member of his own tribe.
Among so many members of the Celestial Empire's royal family, he chose this one who was from the same clan as him.
Then what is the meaning of this desperate revenge
Xiao Zhuzi fell into the wooden barrel, holding his head in pain. This psychological blow was even more unbearable than the physical pain.
After a long silence, he closed his eyes and said, "In fact, it is said that there is someone who can cure this poison. It is a doctor named Jiang in the palace. It seems that the emperor of the Celestial Empire also had this poison, and it was he who tricked the emperor into curing it."
Jiang Yubai
Pei Zheng thought about it and it seemed that this incident did happen. At that time, the emperor was poisoned by some unknown poison, and Jiang Yubai spent a lot of effort to neutralize the poison. Since then, he became the chief physician of the Imperial Hospital.
Turning his head to look at the little man lying on the bed, Pei Zheng immediately gave orders and set off back to the imperial capital.
"Master, what should we do with this person?"
Chengfeng refers to the small pillar that is still sitting on the wooden barrel.
"Give him a quick death."
Knowing that Pei Zheng was going to return to the imperial capital immediately and take Qi Changyi with him, Wu Quan wanted to stop him, but he couldn't ignore the life and death of His Highness. But now the general hasn't come back yet, is he going to let them both go
Pei Zheng had already carried the thickly wrapped little guy onto the carriage, and Luo Yu followed beside him, taking care of him carefully. All the guards were also ready to set off at any time.
"My lord! Please wait a little longer. The battle ahead is over and the general will be back soon! At least let him see His Highness again!"
Pei Zheng sat on the horse, his handsome face full of gloom.
"Departure."
The troops then left the military camp in an orderly manner.
Qi Changyi was placed in the carriage. After spitting out a few mouthfuls of blood, he was weak and had been sleeping ever since.
As the carriage drove onto the road, the sound of horse hooves suddenly came from afar, coming closer and closer with great enthusiasm and rapidity.
Wu Quan heard the sound and ran out of the barracks. When he saw the figure rushing over, he shouted, "It's the general! The general is back!"
As he was speaking, Zhao Litang had already arrived at the entrance of the military camp on horseback. As soon as he got off his horse, he drew his sword and pointed it at Pei Zheng. The emotions that he had been suppressing for many days were no longer suppressed and burst out directly.
"Pei Zheng! This is a military camp, not the imperial capital! What are you going to do!"
Pei Zheng tightened the reins, his figure remained motionless, "What should I do? Why not ask your good subordinates?"
Zhao Litang glanced at Wu Quan, and Wu Quan immediately leaned over and whispered in his ear the story about Qi Changyi's poison.
Zhao Litang's eyes, which were already bloodshot, suddenly became even angrier.
"Where is the person now?"
Wu Quan replied, "It has been dealt with by Lord Pei."
"Lock up everyone who has had contact with this matter and punish them severely!"
"yes!"
Wu Quan received the order and led his men back to the military camp.
Zhao Litang put away the sword and looked at Pei Zheng, "Where is Chang Yi? I want to see him."
"I'm afraid not."
Pei Zheng jumped off his horse and stood opposite Zhao Litang.
"If you have the ability to snatch him away from me, then you must have the ability to prevent me from snatching him back. Otherwise, I will never let him see you again."
"Pei Zheng!" Zhao Litang gritted his teeth, "You only have this little ability. You rely on your power to play with others. If you lose your position as prime minister, you will be alone!"
Pei Zheng's eyes darkened a little.
Alone
"You think you can control him physically, but can you control his heart? Do you know how happy and free he lives every day after leaving you?"
Happy and comfortable
"Yes, he likes you and loves you, but that was all in the past. After all the torture and pain you've gone through, you can ask him what his feelings are for you now, and whether he's willing to go back with you and stay by your side without regrets. If you don't dare to ask me, I can tell you that he's unwilling to do so..."
Pei Zheng suddenly reached out and grabbed Zhao Litang's neck. Zhao Litang had rushed back overnight after fighting on the battlefield, so he was so tired that he had no strength to resist.
But he didn't intend to resist.
"What's wrong? Are you angry because your sore spot was touched?" Zhao Litang suddenly laughed, "I didn't expect that the cold-hearted Lord Pei also has a sore spot..."
Pei Zheng's fingers slowly tightened, and the coldness in his eyes became even stronger.
"So what if you don't want to? I just want people."
Zhao Litang's breathing was a little difficult, "People? Are you coming to continue to torture me?"
Pei Zheng shook his hand away fiercely, "It's better to be tortured than to be poisoned to death here."
"Cough, cough, cough..." Zhao Litang coughed violently a few times and couldn't help but refute, "Do you think that if no one poisoned him, everything will be fine! Do you know what his body looked like when I rescued him? Do you know how much weight the four words 'no way to save him' carry? The only person in the world who could save him was Doctor Jiang in the palace. Now there is just one more reason for him to go back...
Pei Zheng said coldly, "Can you save the situation?"
Zhao Litang tried his best to suppress the fishy and sweet taste that kept rising in his throat, and finally let out a long sigh.
"Maybe this is God's will. After all these twists and turns, I have to go back. Anyway, at least I had some happy days.
"Let's go. Since you need him, go back and heal him. If there were no conditions for treatment here, I would never let you take him back. I don't ask you to treat him well, just leave him a secluded place where he can live in peace."
Zhao Litang opened his eyes, his eyes were full of bloodshot, "If, if one day, you don't want him anymore, remember to tell me, and I will pick him up.
Pei Zheng's eyes were filled with overwhelming coldness. If he couldn't control the violence in his heart, he might strangle the person in front of him to death.
Fortunately, the carriage suddenly opened at this moment, and Luo Yu anxiously stuck his head out and called out, "Sir! Please come and have a look, there is something wrong with His Highness!" The two men's faces changed, and they hurriedly ran to the carriage together.
The little man lying in the carriage had his eyes tightly closed, his lips slightly purple, his body shaking constantly, and he was mumbling something in a low voice. Pei Zheng got on the carriage, took the little man into his arms, and listened to his lips.
"Brother Pei...Brother Pei...I...I'm cold...so cold...so cold..."
The coldness in Pei Zheng's eyes suddenly faded a little. He took off his large cloak and covered the little guy with it, wrapping him tightly against his chest, and then whispered in his ear.
"Are you still cold like this?"
"Hmm... still... still cold..."
Pei Zheng immediately unbuttoned his robe, pulled the little guy out from under the layers of bedding, wrapped him in his robe, and held him tightly against his chest.
The little guy felt a warm feeling in the cold environment, and unconsciously moved towards the source of heat. He put his hands behind Pei Zheng's robe and hugged his waist, burying his little face in the clothes on his chest.
“Hmm
It seemed that the little guy had found a warm and comfortable place. He rubbed himself against it and then became silent again, falling into a deep coma again.
—Luo Yu, who was standing next to him, got off the carriage wisely and prepared to ride a horse, while Zhao Litang, who was standing outside the carriage, was stiff all over and turned his eyes away, not wanting to see the scene inside the carriage.
There is no time to lose, we must rush back to the imperial capital as soon as possible!
Pei Zheng ordered to set off at full speed immediately, and the team immediately started moving again.
Zhao Litang stood at the gate of the military camp, watching the carriage and the group of people go away.
The flying sand and dust were flying all over the sky, and it would blind you if you were not careful. The figure in the battle robe had slightly moist eyes.
Shouldering the great responsibility of defending the country and the border, he cannot leave this wild and desolate place even for a moment.
And the carriage carried his beloved ones to a distant place.
No one knows whether that glance will be the last one.