After Xie's mother was captured several years ago, Qi Lingfeng and her brother's family disappeared from Xie County. Later, a businessman who traveled all over the country said that he had seen Qi Lingfeng's brother during the years when Dong Chaoting was in Dongdu, and he seemed to be a minor official there. Later, Dong Chaoting retreated to Huaiyang, and he fled with him in a hurry. However, because he was corrupt and perverted the law when he was an official, he aroused public resentment. On the way, his family was recognized and killed in the chaos. In this way, Qi Lingfeng should have died in the war.
In fact, in the past few years, Mu Fulan has never thought of this person again. Qi Lingfeng and the things she did are so far away from her. She didn't expect that many years later, she would meet this person from the past in this place.
Before she recovered from her shock, the held mother Xie finally recovered her breath, struggled desperately, and trembled and scolded: "Qi! You hurt me in the beginning, but later I still remembered your kindness. I thought you did something wrong because you were confused for a moment, and I couldn't bear to kill all of your Qi clan, so I asked my son to let your clan go. Your conscience has been eaten by dogs, and now you still treat me like this, where is justice?"
Before she could finish her words, Qi Lingfeng spat at her.
"You old thing! What did you promise me in the past? How did you treat me later? In order to save you, I even lost my own mother. I served you wholeheartedly. Do you think I, Qi Lingfeng, am a beggar? You say you don't want me and you want to get rid of me just by giving me some money? It's not that easy!"
She looked at the green tiles, red roofs, carved beams and embroidered pillars in the firelight in front of her and gritted her teeth.
"You guys, one is the Queen Mother, the other is the Empress! Do you know how I have been through these past few years? I hid in this palace, exposed to the wind and sun, enduring humiliation, doing the most menial and rough work every day! I don't have a good life, and none of you can expect to have an easy life either! If we have to die, we'll die together!"
She cut a bloody mark on Xie's mother's neck with her hand holding the scissors. Xie's mother was terrified and in pain, and she choked on the smoke and kept coughing. Qi Lingfeng held her tightly and she fainted again.
"Mu! Your position originally belonged to me! What right do you have to take everything from me? Isn't this old thing your mother-in-law? If you don't come over, I will stab her to death! If she dies, I won't be at a loss!"
The distance was a bit far, but even so, Mu Fulan could still clearly feel the two resentful gazes directed at her.
A team of palace guards rushed over. The leader told Mu Fulan to retreat to a safe place and said he would lead others to rescue the queen mother immediately.
When Qi Lingfeng saw the palace guards coming, she shouted and dragged Xie's mother in front of her, and ordered them to move away immediately, otherwise she would stab her to death.
From her words and her intuition, Mu Fulan guessed that she must have been arranged by Zhao Xitai to sneak into the palace when Empress Liu was still alive a few years ago. Zhao Xitai's purpose was obviously to target Xie Changgeng. But Qi had been lurking in the palace for so many years, not moving early or late, and suddenly jumped out just two days after she became the queen.
Her actions today did not seem to be instigated by Zhao Xitai, but rather it seemed that she was provoked, which gave her the idea of dying together with him.
She was afraid that something might happen to Xie's mother, so she quietly asked the team leader to lead the others to withdraw from here as instructed, and immediately go around to the back. She bought time to stabilize Qi Lingfeng, and they thought of a way to sneak in from the back hall as quickly as possible and subdue her when she was not prepared.
The team leader was worried about keeping her here, but seeing that she was not panicked at all and her tone was calm, and without a better solution for the moment, he immediately withdrew as she said.
Mu Fulan covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief, and walked slowly into the palace from the other side door that was not on fire with a palace maid, saying, "Qi, I am sorry for you, and the Queen Mother and the current Emperor are also sorry for you. You are an innocent person, a pitiful person, and it is natural for you to hate me, but Ah Mao has never harmed you before. If you kill her today, Yama will also pursue you in the underworld. Please let me take Ah Mao out, and I will stay. If you have anything to say, just tell me."
She moved inch by inch to Ah Mao's side, asked the palace servants to drag Ah Mao out on the ground, and then stopped.
Qi Lingfeng stared at her: "Come here, come closer, and I will let this old thing go!"
Mu Fulan said: "Release the Queen Mother first."
She saw a figure swaying in the back hall, and knew that the palace guards must have sneaked in, so she continued, "Qi, you just said that I took your position. In fact, what you said is not wrong. You have been in this position before, and you are the mother of the country, respected by everyone. You have always been very visionary and capable, much more capable than me. If you really want to be the queen, it's not too late now. You have saved your mother to His Majesty, and he won't really do anything to you. You should stop now and don't hurt the Queen Mother. I will give you this position..."
Qi Lingfeng's eyes were wild and her face was distorted. She shouted, "Mu Shi, you bitch, if it weren't for you, I would have married my brother-in-law a long time ago! You have hurt me to this point, and you still want to lie to me!"
She let go of Xie's mother and rushed towards Mu Fulan. Almost at the same time, the leader of the palace guards, who had quietly approached, took a few of his men and leaped up, as fast as an eagle, and pushed Qi Lingfeng to the ground from behind, snatching the scissors from her hand.
Qi Lingfeng lay on the ground like a catfish, screaming in anger and despair, staring at Mu Fulan with a face full of resentment. "If I die, you won't live either!"
The leader of the palace guards then discovered that there was a quiver of hidden arrows tied to Qi Lingfeng's arm.
"Queen beware!"
He was shocked and wanted to stop it, but it was too late.
Almost at the same moment when the scissors were taken away, a sleeve arrow shaped like a small dagger flew out from Qi Lingfeng's sleeve and shot towards Mu Fulan three feet away.
The smoke in the hall was getting thicker and thicker, and Mother Xie fell to the ground motionless, not knowing whether she was dead or alive. Mu Fulan was relieved to see Qi Lingfeng was restrained, and was about to ask someone to immediately transfer Mother Xie, and was about to leave, but she heard the roar of the leader of the palace guards.
Before she could react, someone rushed up from behind and threw her to the ground. The man followed and pressed on her.
Everything happened so fast, like a flash of lightning.
Mu Fulan fell on her back. When she opened her eyes, she realized that the person who had thrown her to the ground was Xie Changgeng.
He had come here too, and was now lying on top of her, his face pressed against her neck, not moving.
Mu Fulan knew something was wrong. Her heartbeat suddenly quickened. She raised her hand and tentatively touched his back. Near his lungs, she felt a sticky, warm liquid.
"Thank you Chang Geng!"
She was shocked and screamed.
His shoulders moved, and he whispered "I'm fine", then slowly got up from her.
The palace guards had already tied Qi Lingfeng's hands behind her back and held her tightly. The leader held a quiver that he had taken out of her sleeve, knelt in front of Xie Changgeng, and kowtowed in fear: "I have failed in my duty, Your Majesty, please punish me!"
Qi Lingfeng's face was completely distorted and deformed.
She hated Xie's mother for going back on her word, but compared to Xie's mother, she hated Mu the most. She was full of hatred and endured humiliation in the palace for several years, turning herself into a ghost, all for revenge. When she learned that she was taken into the palace to become the queen, she hated her even more and couldn't control herself. With the heart of preferring to die in glory rather than live in disgrace, she chose to take action today. She hid the arrow in her sleeve, and in order to be able to kill with one shot, she wanted the woman to be closer and closer to her.
However, she didn't expect that the arrow from the sleeve would hit him.
For the sake of that woman, he actually blocked the arrow with his own body.
She opened her eyes wide and stared at the man in the dragon robe in front of her - she had always believed that he had a bright future and that he would be her man.
Now that he is the emperor, the woman by his side is not himself.
Her gaze fell from his face to the place on his back where blood was slowly oozing out, and suddenly, she burst into tears.
"Brother-in-law! I didn't mean it! Zhao Xitai said that palace maids don't attract attention, so he arranged for me to enter the palace. He also gave me this thing, saying that it could help me get revenge. He told me to wait and obey his orders in the future. He originally wanted me to assassinate you... Now I know that I don't want you to die... As long as I can stay by your side, even if I can see you from a distance, I will be satisfied..."
"Brother-in-law, I saved the Queen Mother before, have you forgotten? In order to save the Queen Mother, I even lost my own mother. Yet you are so cruel to me. What merits did she have? Why can she be your Queen..."
Qi Lingfeng struggled desperately on the ground, crying heart-wrenchingly.
Xie Changgeng looked indifferent, turned around and said to Gong Wei: "Kill him."
More and more places in the hall were on fire. A curtain nearby was also ignited by the flames, and the flames rose suddenly and rolled over fiercely.
After he finished speaking, he reached out and pulled up Mu Fulan, who was still sitting on the ground, and protected her as she walked around the fire and quickly led her out of the palace gate.
The palace servants had already carried the unconscious empress dowager out and sent her to another hall. The chief eunuch Cao Jin directed everyone to put out the fire, and the situation was quickly under control. The imperial physician also rushed over. Xie Changgeng ordered the empress dowager to be treated first, and learned that apart from the skin injuries on her neck and the fainting caused by inhaling some smoke, she should be fine.
He sat down slowly and let the imperial physician check his injuries.
The sleeve arrow has a special structure. The arrow shaft is light and short, but the arrowhead is flat and wide. Once it hits the target, the wound caused is deep and wide, just like a dagger, with huge lethality.
This sleeve arrow almost completely penetrated the body.
Blood slowly but continuously flowed out from the wound. The imperial physician said that this spot was close to the lungs and that there was no time to delay, and that the sleeve arrow must be pulled out as soon as possible to stop the bleeding and heal the wound.
Xie Changgeng asked: "How long will it take?"
"The sleeve arrow is completely embedded. It may take some effort to remove it..." reported an imperial physician who was proficient in trauma.
At this time, Cao Jin walked in and reported carefully: "Your Majesty, the etiquette officer came to urge that the auspicious time is coming. The crown prince, hundreds of officials, and thousands of elderly people from the public are all waiting outside the Taimiao..."
Mu Fulan calmed down and said, "Go tell the ceremonial officer that His Majesty has other important matters to attend to. The crowning ceremony of the crown prince will be cancelled and will be held on another day!"
Cao Jin glanced at the bloodstains on the emperor's robe and hastily agreed. When he turned to leave, he suddenly heard him say, "The crown prince's coronation ceremony has been decided and cannot be changed. Go and tell them that I will be coming out soon."
Mu Fulan was stunned.
The imperial physician hurriedly advised: "Your Majesty, the sleeve arrow must have injured the lungs, which is different from other parts, and the injury is deep. If it is removed hastily without proper treatment, it may be difficult to stop the bleeding. If there is a hemorrhage, the consequences will be disastrous. Your Majesty, please take care of the emperor's health!"
The imperial physician turned to Mu Fulan and said, "The queen is also an expert in medicine. If your majesty doesn't believe me, you can listen to her."
Mu Fulan was about to speak, but Xie Changgeng waved his hand and slowly stood up.
"Then wait until the coronation is over before taking the arrow. You can bandage my wound temporarily and stop the bleeding."
His tone left no room for argument.
Mu Fulan said: "Your Majesty, let's do it another day!"
Xie Changgeng looked at her and said, "There is no such thing as a trivial matter when it comes to state affairs. Besides, everyone is waiting, so it cannot be changed at will."
He paused, then slowly walked in front of her and whispered, "I've been wounded worse than this before. If I don't draw my sword, the wound won't bleed more. I can hold on. It's only a short distance from here to the Imperial Ancestral Temple. I'll take a carriage instead, which will make the journey smoother. You don't have to worry too much."
After he finished speaking, he ordered the imperial physician to stop the bleeding as soon as possible.
The imperial physician had no choice but to bandage the wound hastily and ask for blood-clotting pills for internal use. The eunuch also changed the emperor's clothes and put on a cloak to cover the wound.
He quickly packed up and stood there, allowing the eunuch to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead. He closed his eyes and walked out.
The eunuch hurried after him.
Mu Fulan looked at the slightly frozen back of the man in front of her as he stepped out of the palace gate. She was so confused that she couldn't help herself any longer and blurted out, "I'll go with you!"
Xie Changgeng stopped and slowly turned his pale face.
She walked over quickly and said, "I know I don't have to go to such occasions. I'll go over there so I can take care of you."
Xie Changgeng stared at her in silence.
Without waiting for his nod, Mu Fulan ordered the imperial physician to bring medicine and the eunuchs to bring a palanquin. She supported his arm and let him sit on it, so that he could no longer walk.
The man followed her instructions and quietly got on the sedan chair. Mu Fulan accompanied him to the Zichen Gate.
The ceremonial officer was waiting there.
Just as they were about to set off, they saw a thick smoke rising from the direction of the harem, so the emperor ordered his men to take the prince to the Imperial Ancestral Temple first, and he would return first. It took so long, and as they saw that there was not much time left, they were getting anxious, when suddenly the emperor and the empress appeared together, and the empress helped the emperor get off a sedan chair.
Although the ceremonial officer was surprised, he did not dare to ask any more questions. He saw that the emperor and the empress got on the palace carriage together, and hurriedly led the ceremonial guards in front and behind to the Taimiao.