Zheng Qiao looked at Chen Tang with complicated, probing eyes.
His eyes did not miss a single detail.
I don’t know what Tong Kong was thinking about, but he suddenly realized something.
After a while, as his chest rose and fell, he let out a joyful laugh. His laugh was pleasant at first, but soon became wanton and crazy, his eyes sharp as a pair of blades: "Chen Youli, Chen Youli, how do you know what kind of wealth I gave you? I, Zheng Qiao, boasted of being smart, but I didn't expect that my cleverness would backfire... Interesting, very interesting!"
Chen Tang has always had the national seal in his hands!
I had guessed the truth before but I denied it myself. Now I think that Chen Tang must have used some method to avoid the mutual induction between the national seals and misled me. At this moment, Zheng Qiao really wanted to strangle himself to death.
Chen Tang said: "You are too kind, it's just a clever move."
Zheng Qiao and Qi Cang had no intention of taking action or running away. Instead, they seemed to have too much time to spare and started chatting with Chen Tang. With a look of interest on his face, he asked Chen Tang, "Is this why Yan Xingning chose to help you?"
Shen Tang replied: “Probably not.”
"no?"
Zheng Qiao obviously didn't believe it.
He had to convince himself that Yan Xingning chose the ordinary Chen Tang purely because the latter was passionate, kind and loving. Even when he was transferred to Longwu County, he was able to do what he loved and make profits for the people instead of for himself.
Zheng Qiao found it mysterious at the time.
Is this still the corrupt human heart that he understands
Is this still the world where everyone is busy pursuing profit
Chen Tang said truthfully: "I asked him if he thought I was acting as the ruler of the country when I was guarding Longwu County. He said, Defend the country and die for the country. His incarnation 'Zixu' replied, 'A wise ruler should love the world.' Since he has put me in this position and thinks I can do better than you, why shouldn't I go? Compared with a mere Heyin County and the world, which is more important?"
Zheng Qiao said: "If you don't have the national seal..."
Chen Tang said in a loud voice: "Even if there is no national seal, if I have to guard Longwu County, I will still go."
"Even in death?"
Chen Tang asked back: "Does death scare you so much?"
The only thing missing is to ask Zheng Qiao if he is a coward who is afraid of death.
"Oh, putting life and death aside..." Zheng Qiao's facial nerves were twisted and twitched by Chen Tang's stimulation, and his eye sockets were covered with red bloodshot. Who let the chat expert hit his sore spot with just a few words, "What a noble and upright Shen Youli."
Chen Tang smiled instantly.
He said shamelessly, "Being praised by an opponent is better than a thousand compliments. I love to hear your words, my lord. I will say a few more words before I die."
Qi Cang: “…”
He didn't dare turn around to see the king's expression.
Unexpectedly, Zheng Qiao not only did not go crazy and rage, but instead looked at Chen Tang and sighed: "I have met many ladies in my life, some are beautiful and some are plain, some are ladies from wealthy families and some are heroes, but I have never seen anyone like Lady Shen."
Qi Cang glanced at Chen Tang's Wen Xin monogram.
Has the king been so stimulated that he can't tell the difference between men and women
And Chen Tang
"The king can tell whether I am a man or a woman at a glance. Just based on this unique eyesight, I will give you a quick death!" Chen Tang has become numb to the misunderstandings about his gender over the years, and even found a secret pleasure in watching the show.
It is rare that Zheng Qiao does not have any stereotypes.
"Ms. Shen, you are too kind. It's hard to misunderstand your face." He turned his gaze to Ning Yan, nodded, and lowered his eyes. There were ripples in his eyes, and he sighed, "... So, is this the truth about Senior Sister Ning's concentration of literary mind?"
Chen Tang said, “Yes.”
"Senior Sister Ning, are you here today to avenge Senior Brother Yan?"
Ning Yan said indifferently: "Yes."
Zheng Qiao was not panicked by the threat to his life, nor was he afraid of being imprisoned. Instead, he smiled happily: "Ms. Shen is willing to sacrifice her life, and I cannot let future generations laugh at me. I cannot escape today, so I will not struggle. But before I die, I have one last request, and I hope that Ms. Shen can allow me..."
His attitude was quite cooperative.
Chen Tang exchanged glances with Wei Shou and Jiang Sheng, and was sure that Zheng Qiao was not trying to delay the battle, so he asked him, "Tell me."
Zheng Qiao pointed at Qi Cang and said, "Let Yan Qing go."
Qi Cangtong was shocked: "Lord?"
Zheng Qiao continued, "Everything he did over the years was driven by me, and I was the mastermind. Yan Qing is a 16th-level great master, and you can't stop him if he is determined to leave. If Lady Shen refuses to agree, you and I can only see the truth in action."
Chen Tang was on guard in his heart, but he said, "Okay."
Qi Cang said anxiously: "Lord!"
Zheng Qiao replied calmly: "Let's go."
Although he had given Qi Cang a place to stay by chance, and was somewhat kind to the latter, Qi Cang had been willing to be the sharpest knife in his hand all these years because he was generous enough.
Zheng Qiao handed the bird and the small fish to Qi Cang and said, "Take them out and see the vast world."
Qi Cang's lips trembled and he closed his hands with difficulty.
"This general... respectfully sends the king off!"
After saying this, he turned and left the bamboo house, but did not go away completely. Instead, he stood at the gate of the academy with his back to everyone.
"Why is Miss Shen looking at me like this?"
Zheng Qiao watched Qi Cang leave before looking away and meeting Chen Tang's inquiring eyes: "I just find it strange that when the king faces someone who wants to take your life, you don't struggle?"
Maybe one or two can be rescued and live a few more days
Zheng Qiao simply said calmly: "I originally chose this place as my burial place. In order to prevent myself from regretting it, I took a deadly poison in advance and waited for the drug to take effect. If that's the case, why do I have to go to the trouble of struggling to survive?"
Chen Tang: “!
!”
Ning Yan gripped the hilt tightly: "Zheng Qiao!"
Zheng Qiao opened his hands wide, his red eyes were filled with madness: "In my life, I have been a hostage and a favorite, and I have been the crown prince of a country. I have been scorned and despised by millions of people, and I have also enjoyed the power of being at the top of the world! I have killed my father and king, harmed my brothers, executed loyal ministers, and killed good generals. If anyone makes me unhappy, I will make his nine clans cry like ghosts and wolves! Life and death are all in my control!"
"What about propriety, righteousness, integrity, filial piety, loyalty and trustworthiness! What about self-discipline, self-cultivation, valuing the virtuous and the talented! What about benevolence! All of it is bullshit! I am the ruler of the country, only those who obey me will prosper and those who disobey me will perish! I have tried everything, so naturally nothing means anything."
Chen Tang just watched Zheng Qiao go crazy quietly.
I couldn't help but interrupt and pour cold water on him: "No, you didn't."
Zheng Qiao looked at her coldly: "What?"
Chen Tang counted on his fingers and gave him examples one by one: "There are so many things you haven't tried. You have never loved your people, you don't know what 'political stability and social harmony' means, you have never shared weal and woe with them, so you have never been praised and loved by them, and you have never been firmly chosen by them. As a monarch, you are violent and arbitrary, and you kill innocent people indiscriminately, so you have never been fully trusted by your subjects! You killed the only senior brother who firmly chose you, and you don't know the love of brothers. Ask yourself, Zheng Qiao, do you really have no regrets?"
He didn't know whether it was the onset of the poison that made him feel a vague pain, or whether every word from Chen Tang touched his sore spot.
He said proudly: "I have never disdained such a thing!"
His eyes were filled with cruelty: "The world has let me down!"
Chen Tang asked, “So you’re taking revenge on society?”
Zheng Qiao lost control and said angrily: "Why not!"
He looked at Chen Tang and regretted letting Qi Cang leave early. Chen Tang's innocent face and his innocent words made him feel sick! No wonder Yan Xingning got along well with Chen Tang. They were birds of a feather!
Clearly having never experienced his pain personally, he was able to easily persuade him to reconcile with the pain. How fantastic!
How could he not hate this!
"It was the old king of Xin who destroyed you. He was the mastermind, but you used the pain you suffered as a legitimate way to fall. Because of everything you experienced in the past, you have a reasonable and legal reason to do evil. In your opinion, all your words and deeds are revenge on your enemies and compensation for your past. What an arrogant and conceited idea. Zheng Qiao, is there any causal relationship between your pain and the world? You just use pain as an excuse to squander the power in your hands and satisfy your selfish desires."
Zheng Qiao sneered.
His brows knitted together as the pain in his body became more and more severe.
"You're trying to reason with a madman?"
Chen Tang crossed his arms and looked at Zheng Qiao, shook his head, and said calmly: "Crazy? But I think you are still quite sober."
Zheng Qiao was clearly going crazy while being awake.
“Hehe—Puff—”
Zheng Qiao was about to sneer when his abdomen suddenly ached. The pain instantly spread to his limbs and bones. His throat spasmed and he vomited a mouthful of thick black blood. His face turned visibly pale, and his fingernails dug into his palms as he tightened his fists.
He took a few deep breaths, shaking all over.
With a hoarse voice, he looked up at Chen Tang, veins popping out on his forehead as he tried hard to suppress the painful groan that was about to come out.
He seemed to want to see through Chen Tang's eyes the people who died in his hands. Even in death, he was proud and resolute: "Even if I am, I am a born bad seed, a Jie Zhou - so what? I am not the court judge, what's the point of saying that every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt has its creditor? Hahahaha, the winner is the king and the loser is the bandit, don't you understand this? In this world, pfft - can we have a good beginning and a good end if we work hard to govern it?"
The last sentence was asked to Chen Tang.
Chen Tang also knew that he was asking himself.
She said, "I can do it! If I can't, I have a clear conscience."
Zheng Qiao was in so much pain that he could hardly stand up straight. He supported his knees with his hands and tried to straighten his back. His eyes were crazy and determined: "I have a clear conscience. Hahaha - death? What are you afraid of! What do I have to regret!"
"I have no regrets at all!"
"No regrets, no regrets possible!"
There were large pools of black blood on the ground.
Many of them even got on the hems of clothes.
He took a step, stumbling forward. The scenery in front of him was sometimes far away, sometimes near, sometimes real, sometimes unreal. Sometimes it was Chen Tang and the other three, and sometimes it was a crowd of people. He couldn't see their faces clearly. Zheng Qiao could no longer care about them. He half-knelt on the ground, grasping the ground with his blood-stained hands, and tried to crawl to the bamboo eucalyptus seat that once belonged to him. Enduring the severe pain, he barely sat up.
This little movement exhausted most of his strength.
He felt so painful that it seemed as if his internal organs were being squeezed into blood foam.
Zheng Qiao looked up at the countless phantoms that were walking towards him step by step, but his mood was unprecedentedly peaceful. He forced himself to activate the Danfu that was sending waves of severe pain, and circulated his spiritual energy to fight against the poison that was spreading throughout his body, so that he could speak clearly: "Senior Sister Ning, if you want to avenge your husband's murder, now is the time. Draw your sword! Remember to stab the right chest, don't follow my senior brother and stab the left chest."
He didn't see that Ning Yan loosened her whitening knuckles.
He took off the sword from his waist and threw it to Jiang Sheng.
She said, "I don't want to leave you with a complete body."
Zheng Qiao was so weak at this moment that his voice was faint.
He tried to laugh, but ended up vomiting more blood.
"Ahem - it's my duty... I didn't leave Yan Xingning with a complete body. It would be unlike you if you showed mercy!"
"I can't have a good ending, Chen Youli, can you hope for a good beginning and a good end in this world? Haha, I'm watching you!"
Ning Yan's eyelids drooped slightly as she watched her former junior brother being surrounded by deathly aura and his once vigorous vitality gradually withering.
"Junior brother, I don't even want to kill you myself."
Ning Yan's words made Zheng Qiao tremble violently.
The dark eyes were unfocused at this moment, and they looked innocent and confused, making Ning Yan think that she saw her junior apprentice from her childhood. She knew that Zheng Qiao was trying to find her with his eyes, but she still closed her eyes and spoke.
"Go first and kill them!"
Jiang Sheng quickly drew out Ning Yan's sword.
A sword beam broke through the air and slashed across Zheng Qiao's throat.
Gulu—
The beautiful head rolled to the ground.
Blood spurted into the sky and splattered everywhere.
Zheng Qiao's headless body fell forward and landed on the bamboo eucalyptus.
The bamboo house was silent for a moment.
Ning Yan looked at the head that rolled to her feet, bent down and stretched out her hand, brushing it in front of the eyes that had not yet closed: "Goodbye."
Jiang Sheng held up the sword in his hand that was still dripping with blood, and looked a little dazed: "He died just like that?"
Wei Shou asked, "What else?"
Suddenly rise up and fight with them for a hundred rounds
Wei Shou had known Zheng Qiao for some years, and he didn't dare to say that he knew him well, but he knew his personality and he disdained fake death and escape, especially since the four of them were all here. If Zheng Qiao really wanted to escape, he could let Qi Cang fight for his life.
Zheng Qiao is also a strangely proud guy.
At this moment, Qi Cang, who had been waiting outside, walked out of the bamboo house and knocked on the bamboo wall politely.
Chen Tang and the other three looked at him warily.
Qi Cang said: "The king is dead. As an old minister, it is not too much to collect his body for the sake of our past friendship, right?"
Unless Chen Tang and the others wanted to play with the corpse to vent their anger.
Qi Cang also didn't think they would be kind enough to collect Zheng Qiao's body, but it would not be right to let the body rot and become food for wild animals.
Chen Tang said, "Please do as you please."
Qi Cang took out needle and thread from his arms.
Wei Shou came forward and asked: "Why do you carry everything with you?"
The preparations are quite thorough.
Qi Cangwu took the initiative to retrieve Zheng Qiao's head and body and arranged them: "If you hadn't come, the king would have been buried here forever. I was brought here so that I could collect the body. When you are burying a body, you should bring these things with you... I thought you would just cut your own throat, humph, who knew it was beheading..."
He brought quite a complete set of things.
He used his martial energy to stop the bleeding of the wound, and sewed it up with needle and thread. He also helped Zheng Qiao tidy up the body, not caring that there were four enemies in the bamboo house. After cleaning up, he blasted a deep pit with his energy and carefully placed the body in the pit.
Wei Shou asked him, "Where is his seal?"
Qi Cang filled the pit with soil, turned his head and looked at Wei Shou and the others with a sneer: "Don't you think it's too late to ask this now? The king has passed away, and the real excitement has just begun!"