On a dark and windy night, Ye Feng took action.
The night clothes were essential for murder and robbery, and the destination was the apricot forest in the imperial palace. Ye Feng was good at light work, so he climbed over the eaves and walls and soon reached the inner palace.
This was the most heavily guarded area in the entire palace, with sentries everywhere, five guards in a pair, and one guard for each breath. However, he had many years of experience on duty in the palace, so these were not a problem for him.
The guard at the gate found an excuse and used his connections to make the nearby guards mistakenly believe that he was going to have a tryst with a palace maid, so for half an hour there was no one patrolling there, making it a perfect place for an affair.
From the eaves to the roof, and then to the ground, the beauty was right in front of him, wearing a lavender dress, with her back to him. Even if he hadn't seen her for several days, he would not fail to recognize that she was his girl.
"Ruotong..."
Ye Feng called softly, and the person in front of him seemed to be frightened. He turned around immediately and looked at Ye Feng with tears in his eyes.
"Brother Feng, you are here."
"Yes, I'm here. How have you been these days?"
Concubine Qi could no longer control herself and threw herself into his arms, sobbing, as if she wanted to let him know all the grievances she had suffered in the past few days and felt heartbroken.
"I'm glad to see you. I feel uneasy when I can't see you."
Ye Feng felt guilty and blamed himself for not protecting his woman.
"The Queen didn't do anything to you, did she? Are you able to have three meals a day? Those guys who look down on others, if you give them money, they will treat you like a boss, but if you don't, they will treat you like a dog."
What he said touched the heart of Concubine Qi, but she couldn't let Brother Feng know about the suffering here. He was a man who wanted to do great things. Qingwan and the emperor were still waiting for him to do things. All she could do was not to drag them down. When Fu Yuheng returned to the palace one day in the future, it would be her day to turn things around.
"Brother Feng, don't worry about me. Go help the emperor and Qingwan. The queen is crazy and mad. Anyone who provokes her will have a hard time. As long as I am careful in what I say and do, I can still survive in this deep palace. I also have Sister Shufei to take care of me. You must not let me distract you from your job. I'm waiting for you to rescue me."
Ye Feng saw the expectant look in his eyes. He really couldn't bear to see her suffer any more. However, there was no such thing as a perfect solution. Ye Feng understood this very well. After half an hour, no matter how reluctant he was, he had to leave resolutely.
"Ruotong, wait for me to come back."
After saying this, Ye Feng's heart was filled with determination. He and Li Ruotong inquired about all the news in the palace. After learning that Concubine Shu and the little princess were safe, they left in a hurry and rushed to the inn.
Concubine Qi wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and turned back.
Passing by Tianyun Palace, a maid who was in charge of the queen spotted her, a light flashed in her eyes, and she walked up to her with bad intentions.
"Whose maid is this? How dare she run around in the inner palace in the middle of the night without her master's restraint? If she offends some noble, can you bear the consequences?"
Concubine Qi secretly felt that it was bad luck, but she couldn't really embarrass the maid because of her status, so she had to swallow her anger and said all the nice things she could, but the maid refused to let her go.
"Do you think you can just let it go? Do you treat palace rules as a joke? If the Queen finds out, I guarantee you'll be in big trouble!"
Concubine Qi knew that the girl would not let her go unless she gave her some benefits today, so she simply handed the only valuable thing on her head to the girl.
"Sister, take it and buy some flowers to wear. I am out of favor today, and this is the only thing I have. Please don't despise it. When the time comes, cover it up for me in front of the Queen. It will be considered as my sister asking you to do a good deed."
The palace maid became even more complacent, and acted bossily with a sense of righteousness.
"You are quite sensible. By the way, which nobleman are you serving? Tell me, so that the queen's phoenix will not be hit by someone without warning."
Concubine Qi made up the identity of the palace maid in the laundry room at random, and the waist badge actually matched. The palace maid then left contentedly with the silver hairpin.
Concubine Qi breathed a sigh of relief.
When she returned to the cold palace, Concubine Shu had been waiting there for a long time. Seeing that she returned safely, she was relieved.
"Now we are the only two who can be considered friends, so don't do anything stupid. As long as you are alive, everything else will be fine. You still have Ye Feng waiting for you, so don't be careless."
Concubine Qi naturally agreed to all of them, turned off the lights, went to bed and didn't mention it again.
On the other side, Ye Feng waited until the middle of the night before he dared to enter or leave the inn, and did not rush in directly.
The night passed peacefully. When the sun rose again, Ye Feng was waiting outside with breakfast. Qingwan got up earlier and when she opened the door, she almost bumped into Ye Feng who had been waiting there.
"Guard Ye, you're back so soon? Why didn't you come in to call me? Didn't you sleep well last night? Come in quickly, he's awake."
Ye Feng still didn't dare, until Fu Yuheng called him from inside, he went in with the things.
"Tell me, what new discoveries have you made?"
Ye Feng quickly told Fu Yuheng everything he and Concubine Qi had said.
Qing Wan interrupted and said, "Since the little princess, Concubine Shu, and Concubine Qi are all safe, it means that the queen has not yet planned to kill them all. Or perhaps, she has other purposes."
"What kind of good heart do you think she has? This woman loves to put on airs. I was fooled by her. How could she care about those two lives? She just wants to use them as hostages to threaten us to surrender. The prince has just ascended the throne, and she has a lot of affairs to deal with. I guess she must have used ministers who I never thought highly of before to handle affairs for him. Those good-for-nothings are useless except for flattery. If the enemy country really attacks, ten Daliangs are not enough for them to cause trouble."
"Then why did the emperor allow them to stir up trouble in the court?"
Qing Wan couldn't help but mutter, Fu Yuheng glanced at her and then explained: "With me here, they never dare to violate the rules. I can also let them do things that others can't do according to my wishes. Do you really need such a clear and bright court?"
If he went deeper, he would tell Shen Qingwan, and she would not delve into it.
That was the emperor's most unspeakable secret, but Qingwan still knew her limits.
"How is Concubine Qi doing? Have other people been persecuted?"
This is what Shen Qingwan is most concerned about. She is afraid that innocent people will be killed because of her.
Ye Feng's answer finally made her feel at ease.
"My lady, don't worry. She is fine. She just lives a poor life, but her life is fine."
Qingwan suddenly felt happy, and she seemed more lively than before.
Fu Yuheng didn't want to make her worry too much, so he told Ye Feng to go back to sleep and talk about the next thing later.