Chapter 28 The Thief is Here

At this critical moment, Luo Jince suddenly remembered that his sister had also tasted the pastries in the food box. This thought scared him so much that he hurried out to look for someone.

"Do you know where the princess took my sister?"

Luo Jince was still feeling uneasy, so he hurriedly asked again.

Sun Honglei had already turned around and was about to leave, but when he heard this, he pointed towards the inner courtyard.

Luo Jince glanced and found that the direction he was pointing to was the inner courtyard, and his heart rose to his throat again.

Hearing that the Crown Princess had also eaten the cake, Lord Pei had ordered the inner courtyard to be completely sealed off, and he had no way of entering to look for his sister at the moment.

Thinking that his mother was still in the inner courtyard, Luo Jince became more and more anxious. He prayed secretly: Sister, I hope nothing will happen to you!

…

In the inner courtyard room, Luo Zhaohan chopped the man's wrist with his backhand.

The celadon vase shattered, and she grabbed the broken pieces and slashed them at the man's throat. The man tilted his head back, and the pieces of porcelain scraped sparks off the beams.

"Go!" Luo Zhaohan roared at Chao Yinzhen, blood oozing from the corners of his mouth.

The effect of the medicine surged in her body, and she began to see double.

Chao Yinzhen, carrying the Crown Princess on his back, stumbled and bumped into the screen, causing the jade-inlaid nanmu screen to fall to the ground with a loud bang.

The man shouted and wanted to chase him, but Luo Zhaohan raised his leg and swept it across, and his embroidered shoes popped out and hit his lower body directly.

"Get out of here!" Chao Yinzhen kicked open the back window, and the cold wind rushed in, blowing away the incense in the room.

As her right foot crossed the window frame, the man suddenly threw a copper candlestick. Luo Zhaohan leaped forward to block it, but the candlestick grazed her shoulder, leaving a scorch mark on her silk shirt.

Chao Yinzhen took the opportunity to climb out of the window, and his embroidered shoes got stuck in the mud.

The Crown Princess in his arms suddenly groaned and tore open her clothes. The golden peony bellyband stung her eyes so much that it hurt - this was the betrothal gift from the Crown Prince at his wedding.

"Hold on!" Chao Yinzhen stumbled toward the bamboo forest, her golden hairpin catching on a dead branch. She gritted her teeth and tore the pearls apart, sending them tumbling into the fallen leaves.

There was a sound of fighting behind him, and Luo Zhaohan actually led the man in the opposite direction.

Inside the side room, Luo Zhaohan leaned against an antique shelf, panting. Jade artifacts jingled in the treasure chest. She grabbed a bronze beast statue and smashed it into the man's face. He ducked, and the beast statue smashed the brick into a deep chasm.

The black-clothed man's repeated attacks were blocked by Luo Zhaohan. His eyes were bloodshot with anxiety and he roared hoarsely, "You're looking for death!"

Luo Zhaohan pursed her pale lips, the sword still locked at the opponent's throat. Every time she blocked, a tearing pain surged through her chest, but the burning sensation in her body grew higher and higher like kerosene poured on hot coals.

She had to grit her teeth tightly, fearing that she would collapse to the ground if she relaxed.

The sounds of fighting in the distance were mixed with the angry shouts of men, but the huge Prince Duan's Mansion was as silent as death.

Luo Zhaohan felt a chill in his stomach. The servants in this mansion had surely been sent away, perhaps even the gatekeepers had been replaced. It seemed as if today's plot had already thoroughly infiltrated the Prince Duan's mansion.

Luo Zhaohan finally breathed a sigh of relief, figuring the princess and the crown princess had already escaped two miles. As he relaxed, a sweet and fishy sensation suddenly surged through his dantian, and his hands began to tremble.

"Bitch!" The man seized this fleeting flaw, somersaulted out of the encirclement, and ran towards the western corner gate without looking back.

As he ran, he tore open his clothes, revealing the Eastern Palace pattern embroidered on his inner garment. If someone saw him running out of the Crown Princess's resting room in this state, and then shouted the Crown Princess' maiden name at the top of his lungs, even if he failed to catch the adulterer, it would be enough to cause a huge uproar among the noble ladies.

Seeing the figure about to disappear around the corner of the corridor, Luo Zhaohan suddenly ducked and rolled onto the mud.

The dirty water stained with moss and dust smeared on her face, and her originally beautiful face was instantly blurred beyond recognition. She tugged at her hair and screamed at the top of her lungs: "Catch the thief! A thief has broken in!"

The scream startled the sparrows in the treetops and made them fly away. The man who was about to climb over the wall slipped and looked back to see the woman with a face covered in mud, holding onto the rockery and gasping for breath.

He suddenly realized that this girl wanted to protect the reputation of the Crown Princess, but she also didn't want to reveal her identity. With her crazy appearance, anyone who saw her would mistake her for a servant girl.

Finally, hurried footsteps were heard in the front yard. The man cursed inwardly and walked through the moon-shaped gate as if he was familiar with the way.

He knew that the ladies were all enjoying the view by the lotus pond, so he just had to rush in and shout, and the job would be done!

"Quickly surround the east wing!" Luo Zhaohan's voice suddenly became louder, "The thief stole the Crown Princess's jade bracelet!" She deliberately emphasized the three words "Crown Princess", and sure enough, she heard a gasp from afar.

Dong Yi used this trick to bring disaster upon himself ruthlessly - if anyone dared to mention the Crown Princess at this moment, it would only confirm the charge of theft.

The man was so angry at the accusation that he felt dizzy. Just as he was about to open his mouth to argue, a feather arrow suddenly flew from the side.

He hurriedly dodged to the side, but in this moment's delay, seven or eight guards with swords blocked his way.

"Catch him alive!"

Luo Zhaohan took the opportunity to retreat behind the rockery, shaking like a leaf in the wind.

Waves of heat surged up her body, and her legs felt like they were filled with lead. She pinched her knuckles tightly, and with her last bit of strength, she tore off a piece of skirt to cover her face - she must not let anyone in Prince Duan's mansion see her true appearance.

Her wet clothes stuck to her back, and she felt hot and cold. She vaguely heard someone shouting "Call a doctor."

The cold sweat mixed with mud and water on his temples slid into his collar. Luo Zhaohan wondered vaguely, was the Crown Princess also this cold when she was caught cheating in her previous life?

Luo Zhaohan leaned his back against the damp and cold brick wall, with a bloody smell in his throat.

The gong struck three o'clock in the morning in the distance. She clenched her hairpin and stabbed it half an inch deeper into her palm. The pain barely suppressed the surging heat in her body.

"Help... there's a thief..." Her hoarse cry for help drifted away with the night wind. She heard the sound of orderly footsteps outside the wall, and she suddenly raised her head and shouted, "The thief is here!"

"Surround the alley!"

There was a sudden sound of iron armor rubbing against each other, and more than a dozen red tasseled spears simultaneously stabbed into the cracks in the bluestone slabs.

Luo Zhaohan slid down exhausted into the weeds, his messy hair sticking to his sweaty neck.

"Keep alive!"

The cold command pierced the night.

Luo Zhaohan listened to the muffled thud of the thief being pinned to the ground, and her tense spine finally relaxed. Heat and exhaustion surged over her simultaneously, and she ripped open her collar and curled up in the half-man-high foxtail grass.

As the rough grass scraped across her cheek, a pair of dark cloud-patterned brocade boots stopped three inches in front of her nose.

The scent of pine smoke and ink mixed with the scent of night dew enveloped him, startling Luo Zhaohan so much that he shrank back using both hands and feet.

"Don't come over!" The broken ending tone trembled.

The dark cloak suddenly covered his head, blocking out all light.

Luo Zhaohan was breathing rapidly in the darkness, and the remaining body temperature on the fabric made her eyes sore.

This smell of pine smoke and ink...is it a man?

"Sir, the thief has committed suicide by biting himself!" Rapid footsteps approached, "Men from the East City Military Affairs Division are sneaking around outside the wall!"

"Who is the leader?"

"Deputy Commander Xie Wuqi, the legitimate son of General Wuwei."

The three words "Xie Wuqi" were like poisoned silver needles piercing into the solar plexus.

Luo Zhaohan's eyes exploded with scarlet blood. In his previous life, in the Jingxi Villa, that man had embraced his pregnant sister Liu Yueli and sneered, "Luo Zhaohan foolishly begged me to intercede on behalf of the Luo family. Little did he know that I was the one who presented the evidence of their annihilation."

Memories wrapped in hatred tear apart reason.

Luo Zhaohan suddenly jumped up and slammed into the source of the ink fragrance through his cloak: "Xie Wuqi! Go to hell!"

Pei Ji was knocked back half a step, and the jade pendant on his waist hit the brick wall and broke into two pieces.