The servant took two steps forward and raised the lantern high in his hand.
"Mr. Zhao?" Qu Moying immediately recognized who this tall man was.
"It's me, Mr. Zhao. Has something happened to Fourth Miss Qu?" Young Master Zhao said with a smile. His eyes fell on the place behind Qu Moying. He noticed a pool of blood there with his sharp eyes. Although it was not very clear, it was still faintly visible under the light.
There was also a faint smell of blood in the air, and for someone like Young Master Zhao, this smell would particularly attract his attention.
"Just now... someone wanted to assassinate me, but luckily someone helped me." Qu Moying said vaguely. The bloodstains over there could not be concealed from anyone. Although she and this Mr. Zhao knew each other, they were not familiar with each other.
"Miss Qu Si, how else do you need help?" Young Master Zhao was tactful and did not pursue the topic.
"The wheel over there is stuck." Qu Moying looked at the car on the side and sighed.
"Go and help push the wheel up." Master Zhao walked over, took a look, and then instructed the servant.
The servant put down the lantern and went to help with the coachman of the Zhao Mansion. Compared with the coachman of the Qu Mansion, the coachman of the Zhao Mansion seemed to be much more experienced. After a while, he took the lead and asked the servants of the Qu Mansion to work together to pull in one direction, while he gave a push from time to time at the most critical place.
Soon the carriage was pushed up again and its position was adjusted.
"Thank you, Mr. Zhao." Qu Moying bowed sideways. She was truly grateful. It was already getting dark, and it would be increasingly dangerous to stay any longer. She didn't know if there would be any follow-up to that matter, so it would be best to return home as soon as possible.
"Miss Qu Si, you are too polite." Master Zhao smiled and bowed, then told his servant to bring over two lanterns.
"These two lanterns are brought by Miss Qu Si. It would be better to light a lantern to illuminate the road as we go down."
"Thank you." Qu Moying did not refuse. This was exactly what she needed now.
After the two sides said goodbye to each other, all the people in the Qu family got on the carriage, which moved down. Master Zhao got on his own carriage, which moved up and continued to go to Qingyun Temple.
This road has only Qingyun Temple as its destination.
"Master, someone just tried to assassinate Miss Qu Si. Why?" The servant whispered after closing the car door.
An ordinary young lady from a minister's house was not worthy of being assassinated, and judging from the commotion, there seemed to be quite a lot of it.
"I don't know." Mr. Zhao's face also darkened. There was no outsider in the carriage. The smile on his face slowly faded, and he seemed to be thinking about something.
"Master... have you found us?" The servant asked hurriedly, panicking.
It is unlikely that an assassination attempt would be made on the daughter of a minister, but if an assassination attempt was made on one's own master, then it is indeed very possible. If one knew that one's master was here, I am afraid that there would be no shortage of assassins.
There are so many people who can't stand seeing their masters doing well!
"It shouldn't be." Young Master Zhao shook his head. "If it was an assassination... I made a last-minute decision to go up the mountain. Not many people knew about it, and they were all my confidants. It's impossible."
"But... it was the young lady who assassinated the Minister's Mansion... This... This is too impossible, right?" The servant knew that what his master said was the truth, but he still found it unbelievable.
A lady from the Minister's Mansion, with this status and position, and also being Miss Qu Si, it is impossible for her to offend someone of that level.
"It's okay. Just tell people to be more careful next time. If there is any abnormality, kill them without mercy." Young Master Zhao said coldly, just like the one who just said that in front of Qu Moying.
It's completely different from his gentle and elegant appearance.
"Yes, master!" The servant didn't dare to say anything else and nodded his head.
The carriage continued to move forward. This time, the master decided to go up the mountain to meet someone...
Qu Moying had no idea that the assassination attempt on his family would cause misunderstanding among Master Zhao.
The journey down the mountain was smooth this time. After reaching the foot of the mountain, the carriage sped up and headed towards the capital.
I finally caught up with him when I reached the city gate.
As soon as she entered the city, the gate behind her was locked. If she had been delayed any longer on the way, she would not have been able to enter even if she wanted to.
The young lady of a noble family stayed overnight outside without any elders around her, and in a place like outside the city gate where all kinds of people mixed together. Even if nothing happened, it would be bad if the news got out.
As soon as he arrived at the gate of Qu Mansion, he saw Qu Zhizhen coming out with a sullen face. As soon as he went out, he saw Qu Moying's carriage, and his expression softened.
He just found out that his nephew hasn't come back yet. He had asked someone to notify Qu Minghui to pick up Qu Moying. The people in the East Palace said they would tell the eldest master immediately, but he didn't expect Qu Minghui to be not in the East Palace. They had been looking for him until now. If it weren't for the lady asking about Qu Moying again and again, Qu Zhizhen almost didn't remember about this matter.
When someone went to the East Palace to inquire again, they received news that the eldest son was not in the palace. He had not returned since he left the palace, and no one knew where he had gone.
Luo fainted and was sent down the mountain. After waking up, she kept crying. After Qu Zhilin returned home, he was busy comforting his wife. He was sad when he thought about his daughter's affairs and had no intention of paying attention to the affairs of the West Mansion. He even just asked where his eldest son had gone. The most important thing now was to comfort Luo's emotions.
Luo cried and fainted, and her condition was very bad.
The East Palace is in chaos now, and the servants are in a mess. This is why Qu Minghui is not in the palace, but no one went to inform the West Palace.
I can't even take care of my own affairs, so who would have the heart to take care of other people's affairs
When he heard that Qu Minghui was missing and had not been found yet, Qu Zhizhen was furious. He looked at the sky and wanted to go out of the city to check. He was also afraid that something had really happened to Qu Moying.
As soon as he came out, he saw Qu Moying's carriage coming back. He was very happy and his expression softened.
After Qu Moying got off the carriage, he took Qu Moying back to the study, wanting to ask her what happened next.
Even if he no longer cares about it, he still has to find out the follow-up of this matter. On the surface, he still has to be a good father, a good father who has been deceived by Yu for so many years.
Qu Moying finished her explanation about the ritual in a few words. She knew very well what her adoptive father was thinking. He didn't care about her mother's affairs in the first place. Her mother had been entrusted to the wrong person, so she didn't want to talk more about her mother's affairs with Qu Zhizhen in the future.
But she added more emphasis to the assassination.
"What, you were assassinated?" Qu Zhizhen's face changed drastically.
"Yes, it was an assassination. It was an assassin, an experienced assassin. I later met Mr. Zhao, and he said the same thing." Qu Moying attributed this to Mr. Zhao.
She was a "weak girl in the boudoir" with little knowledge, so of course she couldn't say something too radical, and it just so happened that there was this Mr. Zhao.
"Then someone else came out and killed one of the people who wanted to assassinate you, and another person escaped?" Qu Zhizhen's face became even uglier.
"Yes, I don't know whether we caught up with him or not, father.
Who is that person? Is he really going to kill me because of me? Who did I offend? Why would he want to kill me like this? "Qu Moying bit her lip and frowned.
"Maybe they don't want to kill you..." Qu Zhizhen tried to comfort her.
"It's possible. Master Zhao guessed that those people wanted to kidnap me, but he couldn't guess who I would offend so badly. It would have to be a mortal enemy. Father, do you think it was because of the Prince of Yun?" Qu Moying handed a ladder to his adopted father and asked him to come down.
Qu Zhi was shocked, but nodded immediately: "Maybe. Don't go out recently. Be careful in the mansion. If you go out, be sure to bring more people with you."
"Thank you, father. I understand. So what should we do next?" Qu Moying asked.
"Let your father handle this matter. You are a girl, and you shouldn't have offended anyone. It may be related to... the royal family." Qu Zhizhen said vaguely.
"Yes, father."
"Go back and have a rest first. You've been tired all day. Your grandmother was still asking about your eldest sister, but it's getting late now. Let's talk about it tomorrow!" Qu Zhizhen said, his expression softened when he saw how obedient she was.
"Father, I'll take my leave now." Qu Moying responded and bowed sideways.
Qu Zhizhen watched his little daughter leave with a gentle smile. When he saw Qu Moying's figure disappear at the door, the smile on his face suddenly faded and his eyes became gloomy.
"Someone, go and call the second young master over." He raised his voice.
A servant ran out in a hurry. Although it was already night, no one dared to go against the Second Master's wishes.
Qu Minghui came over quite quickly. When the servant of the Qu Mansion went over to call him, he was still reading in front of the window. When he heard Qu Zhizhen calling him back, he straightened his clothes and came over.
After entering the room, he bowed to Qu Zhizhen and said, "Father, why did you call me here so late? What happened?"
Before he could finish his words, a cup of hot tea hit him. Qu Mingcheng subconsciously turned his body to the side, and the cup slid past him and hit the floor tiles behind him, making a crisp shattering sound.
A piece of debris flew back and brushed against Qu Mingcheng's face, leaving a scratch on his fair face and blood oozing out.
"Father..." Qu Mingcheng subconsciously covered his face, his palms were bloody, "Father... why are you doing this?"
"Qu Mingcheng, you don't really think that I know nothing, do you?" Qu Zhizhen said sternly. His voice was not loud, but it showed his majesty and his eyes were cold.
"Father...Father, I...I don't know what you mean." Qu Mingcheng panicked for a moment, but quickly calmed down.
"Don't know? Don't tell me that the people who came down the mountain to kidnap Ying Yatou are not your people?" Qu Zhizhen said, suppressing his emotions with a chill. "If Ying Yatou has any enemies, apart from you, I really can't think of anyone else who would attack her, especially if you actually want to kidnap her!"
Qu Moying recounted the entire story, talking about the handkerchiefs in the hands of the two men in black and the subsequent assassination.
Qu Zhizhen had long understood that this incident looked like an assassination, but in fact it was more like a desperate act after a failed kidnapping attempt. The assassination was fake, but the kidnapping was real.
A girl was kidnapped like this, and it is easy to imagine what would happen to her or her family. Especially for a family like this that values rules, it would be worse than death...