Chapter 36 Chapter 36 Why is she so unlucky!

The rain stopped overnight.

The cold weather makes people particularly nostalgic for the warmth of the brocade quilt. Nie Xiangyi stretched out his body, unwilling to get up like a sleepy kitten.

Xie Zhi's collar was always arranged meticulously, even covering most of his slender neck.

But the more abstinent and indifferent he looked, the more Nie Xiangyi could recall his lustful and seductive appearance at night.

Such a contrast that it seems that just seeing him can easily make people blush.

Xie Zhi looked at her furry head emerging from the quilt, her cheeks flushed, and she looked at him with sleepy eyes.

"The grass is slippery today. If nothing else, just stay in the tent," he instructed calmly. "If anything happens, send someone to find me."

Nie Xiangyi nodded like a chick pecking at rice, looking very well-behaved, and watched Xie Zhi leave the tent.

After Xie Zhi left, she rolled around on the couch for a while, then called Han Xu in to help her wash up.

"Since you have nothing to do today, why don't you sleep a little longer, Madam?"

Nie Xiangyi winked slyly, "Even though we're not going hunting, there are other things we need to do."

He tilted his head and looked at Hanxu, his eyes full of excitement, "Did you find what I asked you to find?"

Hanxu nodded. "The kitchen couldn't find this thing. I had Yangqiu go to a distant market to buy it for me."

As he spoke, he handed Nie Xiangyi a yellow paper bag.

Nie Xiangyi took the paper bag, chuckled mischievously, and quietly walked out the door, "Don't tell anyone! Do you hear me?"

She tiptoed to the kitchen.

In the middle of the morning, the palace servants were busy preparing lunch. When Nie Xiangyi entered the kitchen, she heard some of the palace servants chatting.

"The Imperial Concubine always prepares meals for the Emperor herself. Why didn't she come today?"

"I heard it rained yesterday and your Highness caught a cold and couldn't get up."

"No wonder... But it's good that I don't have to be so restrained today like usual."

As soon as they finished speaking, they saw Nie Xiangyi come in. Their expressions changed and they all bowed and greeted, "Greetings, Third Prince's Consort."

"Just go about your business, don't worry about me." Nie Xiangyi smiled and waved his hand, saying only an excuse, "I have nothing to do today. I just wanted to prepare a few meals for His Highness."

Everyone understood her purpose.

Nie Xiangyi's eyes rolled. "My cooking skills are not very good. Yesterday, I saw a very exquisite dessert on Miss Pei's table. I wonder which chef made it. Could you teach me?"

The cook replied with a smile, "That's made in the kitchen next door that serves the officials. We serve meals here exclusively for the royal family."

Nie Xiangyi understood, "Then I'll go take a look."

She clenched the paper bag in her hand, determined to make Pei Lang suffer today!

Pei Lang had targeted her time and again, and even mocked her in front of all the officials yesterday. How could she swallow this?

This bag of croton powder is guaranteed to make her legs go weak!

The thought of Pei Lang's miserable appearance came to Nie Xiangyi's mind, and before she could do anything, she burst into laughter.

Then he seemed to feel that he had lost his composure, so he pretended to be serious and went out to the kitchen next door.

"Oh no! Oh no!" Before she could do anything, she suddenly heard hurried and chaotic footsteps outside, "The emperor was assassinated in the hunting ground!"

The sudden change startled Nie Xiangyi.

She couldn't care about anything else for a moment, and hurriedly asked outside, "How did he get assassinated? What's the current situation? Where is the Third Prince?"

The palace servant was merely delivering messages, so how could he answer so many questions? He simply shook his head and said, "I don't know! I only heard that several hidden arrows were shot from the hunting grounds just now! Now all the Divine Strategy Guards have rushed over!"

Nie Xiangyi immediately became worried about Xie Zhilai.

She didn't care about croton powder at all and ran to the hunting ground.

As she walked out of the kitchen, a big hand suddenly grabbed her tightly from behind.

"Don't move!"

The emperor was assassinated, and it was the first time in several years that he had been assassinated during the autumn hunt.

The footsteps of the Shen Ce Guards were like the shaking of iron chains, and in a blink of an eye, they had surrounded the entire hunting ground.

Pei Jue and Xie Zhi were both accompanying the emperor at the time.

Several hidden arrows were shot out from the dense forest and headed straight for the emperor.

Perhaps the assassin's aim was poor, or perhaps the emperor was riding his horse at full speed, but in any case, several arrows were fired, but none of them hit the target.

Only two arrows hit the horse's back, causing it to jump up in fright and run for several miles carrying the emperor.

"Your Majesty!" "Father!"

Just when everyone was nervous, the emperor clamped the horse's back hard, raised the reins high, and pulled the frightened horse out of control in the galloping wind.

He dismounted, his face livid at the sudden change. "I've fought on the battlefield for years, and I've seen all sorts of battles! How dare a mere petty thief commit such a heinous act!"

He seemed to have been greatly provoked. With a gloomy face, he fiercely pulled the arrow from the horse's back. "Sure enough! A bunch of rabble! Still refusing to give up!"

Xie Zhi lowered his eyes and saw the iron arrowhead. He recognized it at a glance, "It's the remnant of King Jin."

The King of Jin secretly stored iron ore, and the other evildoers used it to make weapons and caused endless chaos.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me!" Pei Jue, the deputy commander of the Divine Strategy Division, simply bowed and apologized. "Not all of the Divine Strategy Division members accompanied us this year, which led to lapses in garrison. I will definitely strengthen the garrison and apprehend the rebels."

These words made the emperor's face darken even more.

Why didn't all the Shen Ce Guards accompany him this year? It's because the Crown Prince was stationed in the capital, so half of them were taken away.

To put it nicely, it was to guard the capital, to put it bluntly, it was simply because the prince was unable to accompany him.

An official then advised, "The Divine Strategy Guards are the Emperor's personal guards, but now, because of the Crown Prince, the Emperor has been assassinated. Isn't this a case of losing the greater for the smaller?"

If the words were more harsh, I'm afraid people would say that the prince was overstepping his bounds.

For the first time in his life, the emperor felt dissatisfied with the prince's illness.

"Back then, I annihilated the lineage of King Jin, leaving it dormant for years. But in recent years, the remnants have revived and are causing chaos! They are so cunning that it's hard to find their leader!"

With a cold expression, he turned to look at Xie Zhi, "Ruheng, investigate with Pei Jue! Make sure to find the leader! Behead him and display his head to the public!"

The officials suddenly had different thoughts.

The Crown Prince had only been in charge of the Divine Strategy Department for a few months when the Emperor delegated power to the Third Prince. Furthermore, the Third Prince had the support of the Great General Anxi.

The autumn wind and rain come suddenly, and I'm afraid the weather is about to change.

After the Divine Strategy Guards escorted the emperor away and the officials also left, Pei Jue smiled softly and looked at Xie Zhi, "Congratulations, Third Prince."

His tone seemed to be just an ordinary courtesy, and Xie Zhi's expression remained the same, "I also have to thank Master Pei for being willing to risk the world's disapproval."

Just as the two were exploring the nearby dense forest, a palace servant suddenly came running over, looking anxious.

"Oh no! Third Prince! Oh no!"

"What's the rush?"

"The Third Prince's Consort... The Third Prince's Consort has been abducted by the rebels!"

Xie Zhi, who was usually indifferent, suddenly changed his expression.

Pei Jue beside him also had a sudden change of expression, no longer showing his usual gentle smile, "Why has it come to this?"

The palace servant must have hurried over and replied breathlessly, "The Third Prince's wife just went to the kitchen, and in the blink of an eye, she was kidnapped!"

Xie Zhi curled his fingertips tightly, "What is she doing in the kitchen?"

Didn’t we tell her to stay in the tent?

The palace maid replied timidly, "The Third Prince's wife just said that she wanted to prepare some food for His Highness..."

Xie Zhi suddenly felt a surge of mixed emotions. Anxiety, anger, regret, and guilt...

He curled his fingertips tightly. If it weren't for him, she wouldn't have been kidnapped... Moreover, what happened today could have been avoided...

"To the kitchen!"

He hurried to the kitchen to check for any traces. Pei Jue seemed to want to go with him, but he flatly refused, "The assassin hasn't been found yet. If I leave my post without permission, I'm afraid my father will blame me."

Arriving at the kitchen, they saw the messy traces of a fight all over the floor. Hanxu, standing nearby, tears welling up in her eyes, suppressed her tears as she said, "Those assassins were extremely well-trained! Yang Qiu's martial arts were formidable, and they knew they couldn't defeat him. So they used a few of them to hold Yang Qiu off, while the rest fled with their wives!"

Xie Zhi knew that Yang Qiu was Nie Xiangyi's secret guard, and frowned tightly, "Why was there only one Yang Qiu at that time! Where are the others!"

"The Emperor has been assassinated... All the Divine Strategy Guards have rushed to the hunting grounds..."

Xie Zhi vaguely felt that something seemed to be wrong.

"Where's Yang Qiu?"

Han Xu replied with red eyes: "I went to chase the assassin."

Xie Zhi's brows darkened. "Tell Master Pei to seal the mountain."

On this side, Nie Xiangyi was blindfolded by the group of assassins. He didn't know how long it had been. When he opened his eyes again, he seemed to be in a cave with no way out.

It was pitch black all around, lit only by a faint light on the rock wall. She felt as if she were in the belly of a mountain, and could faintly hear the sound of dripping water.

Several assassins with ferocious expressions were masked with black cloth around her. They seemed to be quite old, with wrinkles all over their faces. They only squinted their eyes to look at her.

"How come she looks so young?"

"Don't you know? All the ladies in the palace are like this! If they don't take good care of themselves, how can they please the old emperor?"

Empress in the palace? To please the emperor?

Nie Xiangyi's hands were tied behind her back, and she was sweating from nervousness.

The more dangerous the situation, the calmer she became. Although her chest was pounding and her heart was beating wildly, she did not scream or cry, but stared at the assassins intently.

These assassins didn't seem to be out to kill her, otherwise they wouldn't have gone to the trouble of bringing her here. It seemed they had some ulterior motive, something they had been planning for a long time.

"She must be frightened!"

Nie Xiangyi's brain had almost never worked so hard before.

She felt something was wrong in their words and spoke cautiously, "Did you... catch the wrong person..."

As soon as he opened his mouth, Nie Xiangyi realized that his voice was extremely weak and he was shaking almost uncontrollably.

"Hmm?" The assassins couldn't help but look at each other, "Who are you?"

Nie Xiangyi almost choked on his breath.

Why did you arrest me if you don’t know who I am?

"I am Nie Xiangyi..."

The assassin immediately showed a puzzled look, as if he also realized that something was wrong, and whispered, "Go inform the general."

General?

After an unknown amount of time, Nie Xiangyi became increasingly nervous as the sound of steady footsteps approached from afar.

Who exactly is the general they are talking about?

Under the dim light, a thin figure appeared.

Nie Xiangyi's eyes suddenly widened.

Even though the person was covering her face with a black scarf, she could still clearly tell that it was a woman.

She was not tall, and judging from her features, she was not young, perhaps in her fifties. However, her eyes were very sharp, like an eagle's in the dim light.

As soon as she saw Nie Xiangyi's face, she turned around and scolded the assassins, "Idiots! You caught the wrong guy!"

"She's not Bai Xi?" The assassin couldn't help but frown, "But we caught her in the kitchen!"

Bai Xi? Isn't that the imperial concubine's maiden name?

She remembered that the Imperial Concubine had been in the kitchen for the past few days, and she immediately understood. Could it be that these people wanted to capture the Imperial Concubine, and ended up making her the scapegoat?

How unlucky she is!

At this point, she even had the leisure to think that she really didn't want to provoke Pei Lang again! Every time she got into trouble, she was the one who got into trouble.

Regardless of what they intended to do with the imperial concubine, Nie Xiangyi only said awkwardly, "Well...if we've arrested the wrong person...can you please let me go..."

The general looked at her coldly with his sharp eyes.

Nie Xiangyi's heart skipped a beat. "I...I won't tell anyone! I didn't see anything!"

"Since it's not that bitch Bai Xi..." The general seemed too lazy to say more to her and just looked at his men beside him.

"Kill her."