C76

Qiao Qiao still walked out of the throne room and let out a long sigh of relief. She had long guessed that someone in the imperial court would make use of the matter of Xiyue's disappearance to make use of this opportunity, but she didn't expect that it would actually be Prime Minister Luo.

Could it be that the disappearance of Xiyue was related to Prime Minister Luo? That old fox couldn't help but reveal his fox tail?

Joe was still frowning, but he couldn't figure it out.

"Qingwu, where is Yingyue?" Qiao Qiao continued to sigh. Now that Xiyue was in trouble, besides her worry about her sadness, it must be Yingyue's fault.

"Reporting to the Emperor, Yingyue has been following the Embroidered Uniform Guard in searching for Xiyue's whereabouts." Qingwu replied.

"Hmm, it will be difficult for her." Qiao Qiao said worriedly.

"Your Majesty, this servant has already retrieved the silver needle from the head of the deceased palace maid." As she spoke, Qingwu took out a sealed silver needle from her sleeve and handed it over to Qiao Yifeng.

Qiao Qiao accepted it and looked carefully. It was only an ordinary silver needle, without any clues.

"Forget it." Qiao still placed the silver needle back into his sleeve and continued to ask, "Is there any news about the matter that I've sent you to investigate?"

"Reporting to your majesty, the footprints on the palace wall were indeed left by a corpse." Qingwu replied.

"Looks like everything has gone as I expected." Qiao Qiao's lips were still pursed into a slight smile. Indeed, Luo Qinglun had been used by someone. However, it was unknown just who had secretly helped him place the corpse into Ji Mingyuan's inner courtyard without anyone knowing. Could it be that Luo Qinglun's palace has many people with excellent martial arts skills? If that was really the case, then the harem was truly surging with undercurrents.

"Your majesty, your majesty!" From afar, a young eunuch continued to rush towards Qiao Qiao.

Qingwu's face turned cold, she pulled out her sword from her waist and placed it in front of Qiao Yifeng to protect him.

"Your majesty!" The little eunuch knelt down and called out loudly, "The Embroidered Uniform Guard has found Aunt Xiyue!"

"Really?" When Qiao Qiao heard that it was still Xiyue's news, he hurriedly pulled away Qingwu's arms and moved forward.

"Your majesty!" Qingwu saw that the emperor wasn't prepared at all, so she anxiously called out. Although they were within the palace, they still had to be on guard against people of unknown origins.

"Reporting to the Emperor, it's in the cold palace's side courtyard." The young eunuch glanced up and saw that Qiao Qiao was still getting closer. He pulled out a hidden dagger from his sleeve and fiercely stabbed at Qiao Qiao's neck.

Qiao Qiao's eyes were still sweeping the room as he moved to the side and dodged. He quickly pulled out the hairpin above his head and fiercely pierced it into the young eunuch's temple.

The young eunuch raised his arms high up. Before he could put his dagger down, his eyes widened and he died on the spot!

"Clean it up!" Qiao Qiao's cold eyes were still slightly narrowed and her tone was soft. She elegantly tossed the blood-stained hairpin in her hand away, as if what happened just now wasn't her doing.

Qingwu was stunned for a moment. It turned out that when the Emperor stepped forward, he had not been caught unprepared, but had seen through the other party's intentions. When the other party relaxed, he could have used a single move to subdue her.

"Qingwu?" Qiao Qiao still frowned, but seeing that there was no reaction, she lightly coughed.

"Your servant is here. Your servant will send people to clean up the mess." Qingwu came back to her senses and immediately said. At this moment, Qiao Qiao was no longer the master she had to protect under the orders of the late emperor. Instead, she truly wanted to follow and be loyal to him.

"Follow me to the cold palace." Qiao once again narrowed her eyes. She didn't believe that the young eunuch was speaking nonsense.

"Does the Emperor really believe him?" Qingwu asked suspiciously.

"Yes." Qiao Qiao said with determination.

Qingwu paused for a moment, looked at the people around her, then caught up with Qiao Qiao.

At this moment, the cold palace was no longer the desolate and desolate Desolate Hall of the past. In this small side courtyard, it was momentarily filled with people.

It was just the scream from a palace maid just now that attracted quite a few people. It didn't matter if they didn't come, but when they looked at the crowd, their faces were filled with fear.

"Heavens! Who the hell are these people? How did they die so miserably?"

"Yeah, he's dead, he's dead."

"Could it be an accidental death?"

Accidental death? It was unknown who said this, but everyone looked at each other in dismay. What kind of person would accidentally die and lose a layer of skin? Their flesh was badly mangled and their bones were faintly visible. There were not even any skin left on their faces, making it difficult to see their facial features.

"What are you all looking at? It's just a little servant girl from the Cold Palace who accidentally died. The old mama, who was in charge of the imperial harem, walked up. As soon as she finished speaking, her entire body trembled and her hair stood on end.

"Disperse, disperse." Disperse, disperse. Since the mama was already old, she naturally knew that it was unavoidable for a few people to die in the harem. However, she had probably never seen someone die in such a tragic manner in her entire life.

The surrounding palace maids trembled as they retreated, as if they would have nightmares if they looked at the corpse again.

Qiao Qiao still saw a few palace servants walk out from the cold palace from afar. He thought to himself that things were not good, and quickly walked to the cold palace entrance.

"Send someone to inform Meng Shi." Joe still looked back and ordered.

"Yes."

Qiao Qiao still stopped walking. She knew that if the person inside the cold palace was really Xiyue, then it would be a disaster. If Xiyue was still alive, she could come and go as she pleased.

"Qingwu." She did not even realize that her voice was trembling.

"Your majesty." Qingwu saw that Qiao Qiao was still worried and she called out in a comforting manner.

Qiao Qiao still did not speak. The closer they got to this place, the more she lost the courage to face them.

"Your majesty, go in." Qingwu knew that right now, the Emperor needed someone who would be radical with her.

Qiao Qiao still turned his head to look at Qingwu and lightly nodded before walking in.

The scene before her nearly caused her to stop breathing. She looked at the bloody, leatherless corpse in the corner and her mouth gaped open, unable to recover from her shock for a long time.

Not only her, even the normally emotionless Qingwu couldn't help but sigh in admiration. She had never seen such a violent death before, and the murderer was simply insane.

"No, no." Qiao Qiao still recovered from his shock and firmly shook his head. How could this be Xiyue? His face couldn't even be clearly seen, so how could he be sure that it was Xiyue?

At the entrance of the Cold Palace, the rustling of footsteps could be heard. Ji Mingyuan and Meng Shi led the Imperial Secret Service into the palace, and as they saw the scene in front of them, they stopped and couldn't help but sigh in amazement.

"Ran Er." Ji Mingyuan quickly stepped forward and supported Qiao Yifan who was on the verge of collapsing.

Qiao Qiao's eyes were still covered by the mist. She could not hear what others were saying, and did not care about the people behind her.

"It might not be Xiyue's." Ji Mingyuan consoled her. "It's just a nameless corpse. I'll need to bring the coroner for an autopsy before I'll know." Ji Mingyuan rubbed Qiao Qiao's shoulder.

Qiao Qiao still didn't speak. She only closed her eyes and two streams of tears rolled down her cheeks. Of course, she didn't want this corpse to be Xiyue.

"Hurry up and examine the corpse!" Ji Mingyuan shouted at the coroner.

"Yes, yes." The corpse's miserable condition was such that even the coroner, who had been through countless battles and had seen countless corpses, could only recover from his shock.

The coroner's body trembled as he walked forward. He carefully probed the corpse, and heard a 'dong' sound as the heavy object fell to the ground. Qiao Qiao was shocked as he looked carefully. Wasn't that the identity token that Xiyue wore? This was the symbol of an aunt's identity token. Who else could it be other than Xiyue?

Qiao Qiao's original glimmer of hope was completely shattered. In an instant, her tears fell like rain, but she did not let out a single sound.

"Back to the Emperor, this person suffered a great deal of torture while he was alive. It seems like he had been whipped, and there are also marks left behind by branding iron, but the cause of death is probably being skinned alive." Back to the Emperor, this person suffered a great deal of torture while he was alive, and it seems like he had been whipped, and there are also marks left behind by branding iron. In fact, no one would be able to examine such a corpse without vomiting and feeling disgusted. However, the coroner's certificate was specially designed by the royal family, so it was naturally nothing compared to the others. It was alright to pretend to be calm on the surface.

Everyone was shocked as they heard the coroner's voice. They didn't expect someone to be so ruthless towards a small palace maid. It was a loss of humanity!

Qiao Qiao took two steps back, and her body shook as she left Ji Mingyuan's grasp. She slowly walked over to the nameless corpse.

"Ran Er!" Ji Mingyuan worriedly called out.

When he got closer to the corpse, he slowly squatted down and picked up the identity token on the side that fell to the ground. He held it tightly in his hand and slowly raised his head.

Meng Shi wanted to step forward to stop him several times, but he was blocked by Ji Mingyuan. He knew that Qiao was still in need of his peace and quiet.

"Xiyue, I'll definitely avenge you." Joe continued to grit his teeth, saying 'I' instead of 'I'.

Qingwu stood behind Qiao Zhuang and her eyes were covered by mist. In these past few days, she had served the emperor together with Xiyue. It would be false to say that they had no feelings for each other.

"Your majesty, Xiyue has a soul in heaven. She definitely doesn't wish to see you doing this for her." Qingwu stepped forward and softly comforted.

Qiao once more stared quietly at the person before him, as though he wasn't looking at a corpse, but at Xiyue's delicate and pretty face.

"I will definitely find the culprit and make her pay a hundred times the price!" Joe continued to bite his lip, each word coming out between her teeth.

"Someone, bring Xiyue down and bury her!" Joe still stood up, closed his eyes and ordered.

"Yes." Meng Shi received the order and waved his hands. Then, two or three people came forward and carried the body out of the cold palace.

"Don't let Yingyue know that Xiyue died in such a manner. Just let her know that Xiyue is leaving peacefully." Since Xiyue had gone all out to protect this little sister while she was still alive, she would protect her in the future.

"Yes." "Yes." Qingwu replied. It seemed the Emperor truly treated these two sisters with sincerity. For a servant to receive such kindness from his master in his life, what was there to fear?

Thinking like this, Qingwu raised her head to look at Qiao Qiao. She wondered if the Emperor also regarded her as such an important person.