CH 112.2

Yuan Ci Xian became more and more uneasy as she thought about it, and proposed: “Father, the rumors released by Xi Ju forced His Sixth Highness to attack the emperor earlier. There must be deeper intentions that I can’t figure it out now. But as long as Xi Ju alive for a day, we have to fall into passivity for a day. I mean, can we strike first by using the trump card in our hands?”

The trump card she was talking about was the previously dead Old King.

At the beginning, Yuan Yi Zhi directly helped the Old King to fake his death, and then smuggled the “corpse” out of the city and placed him in Diannan.

Yuan Yi Zhi frowned deeply: “The old king of Nanzhao experienced a fake death, and he was greatly injured, his body recovered very slowly. Afraid right now he can barely recuperate. In Zishu’s original plan, when we deal with Great Zhou’s mess Xi Ju would definitely unable to sit still. When he left the imperial city and headed north, we would arrange for the old king to take over Nanzhao. Then on this side, His Sixth Highness would restrain Xi Ju.”

The situation in Nanzhao was truly unprecedented. In order to regain the throne, a former king who did not die had to return from the death.

Yuan Ci Xian asked: “If Xi Ju doesn’t leave the imperial city, does the old king have a chance?”

Yuan Yi Zhi shook his head: “In the past few months, Xi Ju has tried his best to eradicate dissidents. If the old king goes back alone, I’m afraid that he will only be killed by his son once again.”

She frowned: “Then force Xi Ju to leave the imperial city. Take what he wants most, and force him to leave the imperial city.”

Yuan Yi Zhi met her gaze directly: “Ci Xian, do you mean…”

She nodded: “I want to go south to lure him. How much he wants to get rid of Shi Qing, how much he wants to catch me. You can’t do it, brother can’t do it. Only I can.”

“Nonsense!” Yuan Yi Zhi scolded, “Apart from the fact that Father doesn’t believe that His Sixth Highness is in trouble right now, even if he were truly in danger, it shouldn’t be up to a young girl like you to step up!”

She begged: “Father, if His Sixth Highness fails to ascend the throne smoothly, then all the painstaking efforts we have put in and all the infamy we bear will be in vain. I don’t want to fail Shi Qing. Yuan Shu and Yuan Zhen haven’t been weaned yet, so I won’t let anything happen to me, I’m sure I will return with my whole body intact!”

Seeing that the father and daughter were arguing fiercely, Shi Cui who stood on the side offered herself: “Lady, this maid will go.”

Yuan Ci Xian suddenly turned her head to look at her.

“Since it’s just a bait, why do we have to use real thing?” She said with burning eyes, “Whether it’s you or this maid, Nanzhao may be suspicious, so it’s better to let this maid take your place. This maid knows everything about you and will not be easily exposed.”

Seeing Yuan Ci Xian seemed to want to refuse, Cao An on the other side also stepped forward: “Lady, Shi Cui is right, this servant will go with her, so there is someone to cooperate all the way. We just need to buy some more time for the old king, and it’s not too hard.” He said with a smile, “Two heads are better than one. Although this servant and Shi Cui are not smarter than you, at any rate we’re not that bad. Just now you said that you are sure to return with a whole body intact, so do we. Right, Shi Cui?”

Shi Cui nodded desperately.

Yuan Ci Xian shook her head, and said coldly: “I don’t agree. None of you can replace me. Just pretend I didn’t say anything about this matter, and I will think of other ways to lure Xi Ju out.”

After she finished speaking, she stepped out of the room with a cold face. At night, she turned on the lamp and leaned over the desk, while analyzing the situation in Great Zhou, while looking for ways to lure Xi Ju. Until the second half of the night, she couldn’t hold her eyelids anymore, and fell asleep on the edge of the table.

Feng shi got up at night and visited her once. Seeing that she was not wearing a robe, she hurriedly asked someone to carry her back to the bed. After she withdrew, she saw Yuan Yi Zhi poked his head on the door, and asked her in a low voice: “Finally willing to sleep?”

He was referring to Yuan Ci Xian.

Feng shi nodded, followed him out, and sighed, “Has Shi Cui set off yet?”

Yuan Yi Zhi said “um”: “Cao An left with her overnight. I left some people in the south, they will help them.”

When Yuan Ci Xian woke up the next day, Shi Cui and Cao An had already left Huihu, and it would be unrealistic to chase after them.

She sat in the room, holding Yuan Shu and Yuan Zhen in her arms for a long while before finally cheered herself up. The matter had come to this point, it was a waste of time to beat herself, just believe that they can protect themselves.

After such a depressing day, Yuan Ci Xian was entangled in a dream again at midnight.

It was a scene she had heard before. On the Lu bridge, someone’s fists shot in the rain, making Zheng Zhuo groan.

But this time, the dream didn’t stop abruptly. After she heard it for a long time, the sound of the fist stopped. Amid Zheng Zhuo’s rapid panting, the owner of the fist finally gritted his teeth and said, “Fight back.”

She trembled slightly. This voice was too familiar.

It was Lu Shi Qing.

Sure enough, only him.

Zheng Zhuo smiled feebly: “What fight back? I didn’t protect her well, I deserved it.”

Lu Shi Qing didn’t speak for a long time.

Zheng Zhuo continued panting and said: “Before you returned to the capital, I had already rescued her from the prison. According to the letter you sent, I was going to send her to your hometown in Luoyang to settle down. But His Majesty kept watch at her too closely, after discovering the clues, he hung the corpses of her father, mother and brother at Yanxing Gate to threaten her and lure her back… She couldn’t just walk away, she turned back halfway, wanting to bury them.”

“She remained calm and intelligent, not displaying any reckless courage. She had planned everything thoroughly with the help of my manpower, but I never expected that her sister-in-law would betray her…”

After that, the two men fell into silence.

After a long while, Lu Shi Qing laughed at himself: “I’m not qualified to hit you, if it wasn’t for me…”

Zheng Zhuo interrupted him: “If her fiance was you, you wouldn’t have left the capital, give up your hand to support Huihu. Zishu, does she like you too?” He smiled wryly, “You should have told me earlier…”

It seemed that because Lu Shi Qing didn’t answer, he continued: “It’s hard for a girl like her not to like you.” He let out a long breath, “Zishu, the Yuan family was defeated, and I was also exposed. His Majesty already meant to confine me, but because of face, he didn’t want to be laughed at by the world. He was betrayed by his son once again, so he planned to deal with me secretly after the limelight of the Yuan family has passed. Great Zhou… I can only leave it to you.”

After he finished speaking, he smiled lightly: “Don’t protect me, you can’t protect me, let me be free. But don’t worry, I don’t like her that much. Even if I see her before you, I won’t take the lead, you can stay at the top for a few more years, at least get revenge for her.”

When he said this, he seemed to walked away, but stopped again after walking a few steps, and said: “By the way, she left a note. At first, I thought it was for me. Now it seems that she left it for you.”

Lu Shi Qing Finally she said, “What note?”

Yuan Ci Xian didn’t hear the voice for a while, thinking that Zheng Zhuo took out the note and showed it to him.

Immediately afterwards, she heard Lu Shi Qing’s violent coughing, followed by a muffled “bang”, as if he couldn’t hold on anymore, and his knee hit the bluestone slab.

She felt uncomfortable and wanted to help him, but she couldn’t jump out no matter what. When she opened her eyes in a hurry to wake up, she found that tears were streaming down her face.

At the same time, there was an urgent knock outside the door: “Lady, something happened to Daming Palace!”