Gao Taibao had something important to report and was rushing to Jiuhua Palace. He didn't expect to hear the news from Jiuhua Palace when he was halfway there that the imperial concubine had been assassinated and disappeared, and His Majesty was furious. He didn't dare to delay and rode at full speed day and night, finally rushing to the palace at the fastest speed.
When he arrived, it had been almost three days since the Imperial Concubine disappeared. Everyone in the palace was pale and trembling with fear. Gao Taibao walked through the courtyard and smelled a bloody smell coming from the side hall. He looked over there and saw a bloody smell at the door of the side hall.
Walking into the back hall, Gao Taibao saw Sima Jiao's body in a mess, with veins bulging on his forehead and neck, and his eyes were bloodshot. He knew that he must be extremely angry to have a seizure at this time.
He asked worriedly, "Your Majesty, did you take the medicine?"
Sima Jiao pressed his temple hard, "I ate it yesterday."
Gao Taibao was shocked. If he had eaten yesterday, why was he still in such a state today? He thought about it and understood. He had to persuade carefully: "Your Majesty, you must not be angry and hurt your body. The imperial concubine will be safe. When the troops are mobilized to come here, even if they have to climb over this mountain, they will find the imperial concubine back."
Sima Jiao said, "I'm afraid she is no longer here."
He looked at the bloodstained coat at his feet, his eyes filled with more hostility. He raised his hand, grabbed it and threw it on the table. "I found it under the cliff this morning. She was wearing this coat on the day she disappeared."
The tear in the clothes clearly showed that he was wounded by an arrow, and the injury was probably serious. The blood almost soaked through the clothes. Even if he didn't die, he was probably half dead.
Looking at the glaring bloodstains on his clothes, Sima Jiao's expression became even more horrifying. This kind of oppressive feeling of being extremely angry but holding back made him feel suffocated. Gao Taibao was also shocked, thinking that Concubine Liao could move His Majesty so much, which was far beyond his original expectation.
It would be fine to show some pampering just to pass the time, but now it seems that it actually has a bit of "take care" meaning.
Gao Taibao's attitude became more cautious. "Then has your Majesty found out who is behind this?"
Sima Jiao said nothing and threw him several confessions. Gao Taibao read them carefully and found that the incident that day was caused by several parties acting at the same time. It was a coincidence that led to the situation. The masked assassins were the most numerous and well-trained, and their purpose was to kill people.
There were also several palace servants who were instructed to monitor the emperor and the imperial concubine. They had no intention of killing the imperial concubine, but when they saw the assassins were about to kill her, they saw a rare opportunity and wanted to take her away in the chaos. In the end, two of them took the imperial concubine and fled into the forest. Her body has been found. The others were caught and tortured, but they did not find out who was behind the scenes.
Finally, there were a dozen ruffians, who were desperate criminals who roamed around and committed crimes. They were also hired to kill people, but they waited in the woods for a while without finding an opportunity. In the end, they encountered a large number of masked assassins and were almost wiped out. Only one or two escaped. It is said that the imperial concubine was taken away by one of them.
After watching, Gao Taibao thought: "These masked assassins are well-trained, and they will never reveal the mastermind even when tortured. I'm afraid they are the kind of assassins that are raised by the government."
"And those few palace servants were able to arrange spies around His Majesty, which is something that not many people can do. As for those thieves behind, their tactics were very crude, and it seems that they succeeded by coincidence."
Sima Jiao said coldly: "There is no need to investigate the assassins in the palace."
Seeing that he looked gloomy and breathed heavily, Gao Taibao guessed that he must have something to do with these two groups of people.
"Go find those desperate criminals. No matter how many there are, find them all for me. I will trample them into pulp."
Gao Taibao thought to himself that if something really happened to the imperial concubine this time, many people would probably die. He remembered the original intention of coming to Jiuhua Palace and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, I have another thing to do."
"explain."
"The victims of the disaster in Tuzhou have revolted and have now become a considerable force. They are growing too fast and must have someone supporting them. Your Majesty, do you think we should send troops to suppress them?"
Sima Jiao put down his hand that was supporting his forehead and suddenly sneered, "No, they are just a few disaster victims. They can't make a difference and will soon become a pile of loose sand. Go, tell the Prime Minister to gather the army. I want to attack King Qinnan."
Gao Taibao was startled again. "Your Majesty, the King of Qinnan has guarded Yaozhou for generations. If you raise an army for no reason, he might just rebel..."
Sima Jiao laughed out loud, "I am a tyrant, and a tyrant doesn't need a reason to kill people. That restless old thing must die whether he rebels or not."
Gao Taibao saw his crazy state and realized that there was no way out, so he simply followed the order. But when he saw the words "Prime Minister of the Capital" on the order, he couldn't help but wonder, was your majesty's move aimed at the King of Qinnan or the Prime Minister of the Capital? Did your majesty suspect that the assassination of the concubine was related to the Prime Minister of the Capital, and guessed that the incident in Tuzhou was caused by the King of Qinnan, so he couldn't stand these two people
But is your majesty really not afraid that the Prime Minister will be forced into a corner and simply join forces with King Qinnan, or is your majesty forcing these two people to rebel? The more Gao Taibao thought about it, the more he could not understand what your majesty wanted to do, and his brows could not help but frown. In the final analysis, your majesty's move was still too impulsive. It seemed that his illness was too serious, causing him to lose control of himself.
Passing by a palace, Gao Taibao heard bursts of sobbing coming from inside. He stopped and asked the eunuch guarding the gate, "Who are the people imprisoned in here?"
The eunuch guarding the gate hurriedly replied, "Taibao, they are the maids serving the imperial concubine."
Gao Taibao raised his eyebrows slightly, "Your Majesty didn't execute these people directly?"
The eunuch said, "These few have been serving the Imperial Concubine for quite some time. They are usually very much loved by the Imperial Concubine. They were not with her that day, so His Majesty said to lock them up temporarily so that they can continue to serve her when she returns."
If the imperial concubine doesn't come back, these people will probably have to sacrifice themselves along with those who planned this.
Liao Tingyan was completely unaware of all this bloody storm. She had not woken up since she met Chen Yun on the mountain road that day and fainted. The arrow wound on her shoulder had been treated, and she was changed into clothes and placed in a carriage. There was a maid serving her, feeding her medicine and soup every day.
Liao Tingyan was drowsy and woke up for a moment, but as soon as she woke up, the maid immediately gave her water. After a while, Liao Tingyan felt dizzy and couldn't stand it and fell asleep again.
The carriage was heading towards Yaozhou. It looked like an ordinary carriage and did not attract much attention. When Liao Tingyan finally woke up, she found that the carriage was almost at the border between Gengzhou and Yaozhou. Hexia, where she had lived for many years, was in Gengzhou, and she had walked this road when she went to Luojing, so of course she had an impression of it.
So what happened? Why did she seem to have been unconscious for so long? Not only was her whole body stiff, but her head and arms also ached. Perhaps because she had slept for too long, her mind was not very clear. She was groggy and it took her a while to figure out her current situation.
Then she was shocked. After the hero of the original novel rescued her, he didn't hand her over to the emperor, but secretly took her home? What kind of operation is this
The maid who had taken care of Liao Tingyan for a long time lifted the carriage curtain and saw that she was awake. She smiled unnaturally and brought water over, "Miss, you are awake. Drink some water first."
Liao Tingyan didn't answer. Really, she just didn't understand politics and couldn't figure out the twists and turns of intrigue, but she wasn't a fool, she still had common sense and vigilance. She had been unconscious for so long, how could she believe that the people who took care of her didn't give her random drugs? She now felt that there must be a conspiracy.
Liao Tingyan climbed up with the help of his arm and leaned against the wall of the carriage. He stared at the maid, "Is Chen Yun here? I want to see him."
After saying this, seeing that the maid didn't show any strange expression, Liao Tingyan knew that her guess was correct. It was indeed Chen Yun who brought her here. Anyway, it couldn't be Sima Jiao, because this carriage was too hard and too simple, and it gave her a headache.
The maid didn't seem to be a very smart person. She kept urging Liao Tingyan to drink water, which was so obvious that it made people more suspicious.
Seeing that Liao Tingyan refused to drink, the maid had no choice but to go out. After a while, Liao Tingyan saw Chen Yun.
The original hero still had a graceful and upright look on his face, looking at her with a happy and sincere smile, "Miss Liao, you are really awake. You have been in a coma these days due to your serious injuries. I was really worried."
Liao Tingyan looked at him carefully, and for some reason, she felt that this original hero was subtly different from the one she had met before. She recalled the time she met Chen Yun again on the mountain road, and how he killed that man swiftly and neatly. Compared to the first time they met and he saved her, when he just knocked out that bandit, this man had indeed changed.
She is a bit like the decisive hero in the middle of the original novel. But what does all this have to do with her? No matter how you think about it, she shouldn't be here!
"Hehe, you should know my identity, why did you bring me here?" Liao Tingyan had a guess in his mind when he asked this question.
Chen Yun sighed and said, "The current emperor is cruel and immoral. Now God is warning and punishing us. The people are following the will of heaven and raising the flag of rebellion. King Qinnan is also willing to help the people overthrow the tyrant's dictatorship. When the uprising army reaches Luojing, the tyrant will surely be doomed. Miss Liao was forced into the palace in the first place, and now she should not be implicated by the tyrant's evil deeds. I... I can't bear to see the girl suffer this, so I took the liberty to bring her back."
Liao Tingyan: “…” There’s something really wrong with the male protagonist in the original novel. His eyes and words are sticky.
Chen Yun waited for Liao Tingyan's reaction, but found that she had no reaction at all. If she hated Sima Jiao as much as he expected, she should be happy to escape from the clutches of the devil after hearing this. On the contrary, if she liked Sima Jiao, she should not be so calm after hearing this.
Liao Tingyan said in a steady tone: "Are you going to send me back to Hexia now?"
Chen Yun was stunned, then smiled and said, "Of course not. After all, Sima Jiao has not been overthrown yet. If you go back to Hexia now, and he really sends people to look for you, I'm afraid you and Envoy Liao will be in trouble. After all, with his cruelty, there is nothing he can't do. For your sake, you should follow me to Yaozhou to settle down, hide for a while and wait for the day. Don't worry, I will definitely take good care of you."
Liao Tingyan couldn't help but think of the plot of the original novel. At this point in time, it seemed that in the original novel, the heroine chose to leave because the hero wanted to marry Qin Wuxia, and was brought into the palace by the supporting male character. But now, the situation is reversed. The heroine who was originally with the supporting male character was brought to the hero's side.
Chen Yun was thinking that he could take advantage of these days to develop a good relationship with the heroine. It was just a woman, and it was easy to get her. At this moment, a panel suddenly appeared in front of him, and a line of plot deviation prompts was displayed on it.
—"Hint: Sima Jiao took the initiative to attack King Qinnan, and the plot shifted."
This Sima Jiao is really mentally ill. The timing is not even right, but he just wants to fight! Chen Yun, who had finally managed to turn the big and small plots around and was waiting for the situation to develop smoothly, cursed Sima Jiao in his heart.
Chen Yun was so busy cursing that he didn't notice Liao Tingyan's momentary loss of composure.
Liao Tingyan: Damn! What is that panel that suddenly appeared in front of the original hero? !
The author has something to say: La.
(I'm dying to squeeze out three more chapters