Chapter 29

The exchange between Xue Jin'an and Lu Bingzhu ended in a short while, but the amount of electricity consumed was almost equal to that of an assassin fighting dozens of times, mainly because the difference in their combat strength was too great.

If "assassin" is an idiom, you can analyze it to find its origin, allusions, and stories. Lu Bingzhu, on the other hand, is a classical Chinese text containing countless idioms and allusions, like a compressed file.

In the critical moment, in order to parse the compressed file and analyze the results as quickly as possible, Xue Jin'an's body reacted, and the CPU speed reached the limit that his body could currently withstand. At that moment, he even felt his body temperature rise.

As a result, Xue Jin'an's already low battery level became even more precarious. He urgently needed to recharge. His original comment was just a tentative response after receiving information from Li Hechun. As for the outcome... he would find out eventually.

After posting, Xue Jin'an immediately closed the live stream, waved to the two people in front of her, and turned to head straight for her power bank.

They completely ignored the emperor who was intently and calmly waiting for his next words.

"Hey, wait a minute, the Seventh Prince is running too fast!" Li Hechun suddenly remembered something and was about to speak when he saw Xue Jin'an's impatient departing figure. He patted his forehead and said, "Master, you forgot to tell him that the Empress Dowager appointed Cui Xiang as the Seventh Prince's tutor."

Lu Bingzhu said "Oh," put his hands in his pockets, looked up at the sky, and said slowly, "I've been forgetting things lately. I'm really getting old and useless. I can no longer share the burden for the Empress Dowager. It's time to promote some new talents."

"Although Lian Po is old, he can still wear armor and defend against enemies. Master, what are you saying?" Li Hechun understood that Lu Bingzhu's words had a hidden meaning. He was not saying that Lu Bingzhu could not serve the Empress Dowager. He was clearly referring to the Emperor.

The Emperor has the Imperial Guards in the open and the Imperial Guards in the shadows, with plenty of people at his disposal. Why would he need Li Hechun to personally invite Lu Bingzhu out for a mere test of the Seventh Prince's martial arts skills and internal strength? It's just that the Emperor doesn't want Lu Bingzhu to be confined to Cining Palace as an old eunuch, so he's looking for an opportunity for Li Hechun to contact and persuade Lu Bingzhu.

"Over the years, my body has become too lazy; it'll fall apart if I move around too much. It's better not to exert myself," Lu Bingzhu politely declined again.

Li Hechun sighed inwardly and wisely stopped bringing up the topic. He tugged at his white hair, pointed to his face, and said with a worried expression, "Master, look at me. When I stand next to you, they don't even know who is the master and who is the disciple."

"Serves you right for not practicing martial arts properly." Lu Bingzhu mocked mercilessly, then waved him away, "Alright, stop getting in my way and go back to report."

The emperor had anticipated the outcome of both events and simply nodded without saying anything. Only a master of internal strength could transmit his voice into someone's ear. Because of the princes' feigned youthful voice, he had many suspicions about them, believing that the forces behind them were colluding with martial arts practitioners to confuse the public.

After learning about the hardships Xiao Qi had endured in the palace over the past two years, he had little doubt about her. However, upon discovering the striking similarity between the two voices, he still had someone test her. As expected, they found that Xiao Qi only knew a few basic external martial arts moves and had no internal strength whatsoever.

The Zhou family is nearly extinct, and Xiao Qi can only rely on Zhou Yushu now. Zhou Yushu can be described as a man of both literary and martial talents. Apart from his poor health and slightly left-leaning temperament, he has almost no flaws. If it weren't for his desire to return to Dianzhou to raise insects, the emperor would actually be very happy to promote him.

Xiao Qi can only rely on Zhou Yushu. The way Xiao Qi has lived these past two years also shows that Zhou Yushu is not in the capital.

The emperor had tested each of his sons. Those whose voices matched their age did not have the ability to recruit and command martial arts masters, such as the seventh and eighth sons. Those who did have this ability did not meet the other requirements, such as the third son.

The only one who was capable and whose age mostly matched was Xiao Jiu, but Xiao Jiu was not yet six years old and was a child he would often take with him and play with. He was very familiar with everything about Xiao Jiu, so he easily ruled out this candidate.

Then there are only two possibilities: either the other party's cultivation method is evil, causing him to revert to childhood; or the other party has ventriloquism skills and is deliberately imitating a child's voice to confuse his judgment.

Regardless of the reason, the fact that the other party was lurking in the palace watching him remained unchanged; he was a dangerous and arrogant individual.

The emperor, who had been thinking this way, received words like "check-in," "sprinkling flowers," and "paws," which were completely different from what he had imagined.

Humans have a tendency to overthink, especially intelligent people.

The emperor was a clever man. He was completely unfamiliar with these three words and could only guess their meaning from the individual characters. He felt that the person who came and went in such a hurry must have left behind these six words with some profound meaning.

The Emperor thought about those six words when he was discussing important matters with the Empress Dowager, when he listened to the concubines exchanging witty remarks, and when he was alone reviewing memorials... until he lay in bed late at night with his eyes closed, his mind was filled with those six words.

As dawn broke, the emperor, who had spent most of the night lying in bed with his eyes closed and sporting dark circles under his eyes, suddenly sat up in bed, startling Li Hechun, who had tiptoed in. "Your Majesty?"

"Summon Jiang Wen to come and see me." The emperor ignored him and, wearing a bright yellow undergarment, walked barefoot to the table.

After giving instructions to the young eunuch, Li Hechun, with keen insight, immediately stepped forward and deftly laid out the paper and ground the ink.

There was still half an hour before the court session (5 o'clock), but the ministers had to wait at the Meridian Gate at the hour of Yin (3-5 AM), so the eunuch quickly found Jiang Wen.

The emperor specifically summoned him for a private conversation during the morning court session, which was clearly unusual. Jiang Wen recalled the assassination attempt that had caused such a stir yesterday, which not only injured two princes but also implicated two empresses, and he couldn't help but shudder.

When he rushed into Qianyuan Palace at top speed, the emperor had just finished writing his calligraphy and, before it could dry, had Li Hechun hang it on the roof beam.

Although Li Hechun didn't understand why the emperor got up so early to write this, he could tell that the emperor valued it very much. He personally took a long pole and hung the calligraphy up. Then, he turned around and saw a little eunuch sneak into the inner palace. When he came out, he was holding a dragon robe hanging on a clothes rack.

"Your Majesty, the weather is cold, please take care of your health," the young eunuch said with concern, stepping forward to help the emperor undress.

Li Hechun's expression was slightly cold. It was always Li Hechun who did the job of undressing the emperor. It wasn't that Li Hechun was domineering, but rather that the emperor had a very keen sense of smell. Because of their castration, many eunuchs had the smell of urine on them, especially the young eunuchs who were not very good at handling this matter.

Li Hechun carefully selected the eunuchs who entered the Qianyuan Palace, and even prepared sachets for the eunuchs on duty to use every day. Even so, the emperor did not like his clothes to be touched by other eunuchs.

Just as Li Hechun was about to step forward and reprimand the arrogant eunuch, the emperor merely gave the eunuch named Xiazi a deep look, raised his hand to stop Li Hechun, and walked behind the screen with his arms outstretched.

Xia Zi was overjoyed and followed him inside.

"What are you standing there for? His Majesty wants to undress." Li Hechun flicked the whisk at the eunuch beside him, and they began to move as if waking from a dream.

Li Hechun wore a smiling face, and no one knew what he was thinking. All they saw was him flicking the whisk in his hand twice.

Jiang Wen arrived at this time. The atmosphere in Qian Yuan Palace was somewhat subtle, but not very tense. He immediately felt relieved, knowing that even if something happened today, it wouldn't be anything serious.

He waited shrewdly for the emperor to emerge from behind the screen, fully dressed, and was surprised to find a young eunuch following closely beside him, while Eunuch Li Hechun simply stood aside, smiling.

Jiang Wen paused for a moment before stepping forward to pay his respects. The emperor waved his hand, dismissing the formalities, and pointed to the painting, saying, "Minister Jiang, someone told me these six words yesterday. What do you think they mean?"

Jiang Wen looked up and saw the characters, written in a vigorous and elegant style, falling on the fine Xuan paper sprinkled with gold leaf. The six characters, “打卡、撒花、按爪”, were written with an unstoppable sharpness and momentum.

"This..." Jiang Wen was completely baffled, but he thought that the emperor must have his reasons for asking him to look at these six words. Instead of admitting that he didn't understand, he chose to drag his colleague into it. "Your humble servant remembers that Minister Chu is quite accomplished in the matter of coded messages."

The reason that human trafficking case was solved was because Chu Wenjing deciphered the code they used to notify each other of transactions, successfully found their hideout, and wiped them all out.

So, after an incense stick's time, Chu Wenjing looked at the words before him and the emperor's outrageous demands, and fell into a long silence: "..."

I was able to solve the case because I found the book the other party used to set up the code. I just came up with six words out of thin air. I couldn't have figured them out no matter how hard I tried!

Jiang Wen winked at Chu Wenjing: It's okay if you can't solve it, call for reinforcements! As long as there are enough people who don't know how, then the problem won't be yours, but the problem with the situation.

Having successfully received his gaze, Chu Wenjing remained silent for a moment, then, with the belief that it was better to die for his friend than for himself, he shook hands with the heads of the other two departments of the Three Judicial Offices, namely the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review and the two Censors of the Censorate.

The group huddled together and said some ambiguous things, then turned around and summoned the other six ministers...

And so, a group of ministers dressed in scarlet official robes crowded in front of a calligraphy scroll, their faces serious and focused as if they were studying some difficult problem.

*

Since Xue Jin'an started exercising with Helian Cheng's fitness channel, she would get up early every few days to exercise. And since she learned that Helian Cheng would give out money, she started doing it every few days, which turned into every day.

Although military pay wasn't issued until the end of the month, and Xue Jin'an hadn't received any more wages, he gradually received a set of rattan armor, a spear, a small crossbow, and a bird whistle...

Xue Jin'an didn't want to get up early either, but he gave her so much that she ended up like this without realizing it.

However, when he got up early this morning for his morning exercise, Xue Jin'an used the split-screen function to open both the fitness app and the live streaming app, because he wanted to watch the morning court session live.

The assassination attempt yesterday caused such a stir that today's morning court session will surely be very lively, giving him the opportunity to gather information.

Xue Jin'an was quite interested in this operation that was aimed at him.

However, when he opened the live streaming app and refreshed the page, he saw a whole bunch of live streams with unusually angled covers. This paparazzi-like style was hard to forget once you'd seen it.

When Xue Jin'an looked, he saw that they were all live streams from the agents of the Imperial Guard. To be honest, this was the first time he had ever seen their live streams during the day.

It's not that the agents of the Imperial Bodyguard only work the night shift, but rather that they all have their own identities to maintain during the day. Some are living their real family lives, while others are undercover agents. In short, in order to avoid revealing their identities, they would never pass on any information at this time unless absolutely necessary.

This was the first time Xue Jin'an had ever encountered such a large-scale scene of people acting as spies in broad daylight. He didn't even need to click on the link; just by looking at the details on the cover, he could tell that these people were gathered in the same place.

Red walls, golden glazed tiles, roof ridge beasts bearing the nine sons of the dragon... Xue Jin'an immediately recognized that this was the Qian Yuan Palace, the emperor's superior, the residence of the spies.

First, we can rule out the possibility that the spies are having a company team-building activity, so it's time to trap them.

Is the Emperor finally deciding to clean house and properly mend the leaky Qian Yuan Palace? But is it really alright? I have a feeling that everyone in Qian Yuan Palace except Li Hechun is a spy sent by someone else... Hmm, Li Hechun is also leaking information at the Emperor's behest...

"It's a scam..." Humans are indeed cunning. Xue Jin'an wanted to sell an anti-fraud app to each of the court officials and concubines.

Xue Jin'an quickly spotted a particularly unique person among the paparazzi's candid shots. He recognized the uploader's name: "Qian Yuan Gong Xiao Xia Zi".

His live stream title was: "Shocking! Chief Eunuch Li Hechun risked offending His Majesty to do this kind of thing..."

The live stream cover featured a group of high-ranking officials in scarlet robes, their heads huddled together, with a glimpse of the chief eunuch's robe peeking out from the corner.

Although Xue Jin'an could tell that the cover photo was an optical illusion, and that Li Hechun and the ministers were several people apart based on the size of the portraits, he still clicked on it without hesitation.

Xue Jin'an wouldn't admit that he was just curious; he must have thought the title wasn't complete enough, a case of his obsessive-compulsive disorder stemming from his coding obsession.

He clicked on it, and there was no picture of Li Hechun with a title on it. He only saw a group of ministers analyzing the six words "check-in, confetti, and paw" that he had posted yesterday.

The Minister of War said, "I think the word 'card' in the first phrase 'card-card' is key. When you hear 'card,' the first thing that comes to mind is checkpoints. This is clearly a hint that there are problems with the taxation at our major checkpoints! We must thoroughly investigate the Ministry of Revenue. This is the purpose of 'card-card'!"

The Minister of Revenue said, "Lord Xu, even if I am dismissed from office and exiled, the Ministry of Revenue will still have no surplus, and the expenses of the Ministry of War will still need to be reduced."

Left Censor-in-Chief: "I do know the origin of the words 'scattering flowers'. They are foreign words. There is a poem in the Song Dynasty that says: 'The Northern Army wants to ask for scattering flower silver, and the government is forcing the citizens to pay.' It means to offer gifts and to bribe.

Right Vice Censor-in-Chief: "If that's the case, then the claw in 'pressing the claw' is the hand, and 'pressing the claw' means pressing down the hand that is offering or accepting bribes."

As everyone chimed in with their own words, though no one explicitly named anyone in particular, all eyes turned to the Minister of Revenue.

The Minister of Revenue watched their performance quietly with his hands in his pockets, then sneered and uttered just two words: "No money."

It's obvious that everyone is just taking this opportunity to extort money from the Ministry of Revenue. After all, the Ministry of Revenue controls the nation's finances, and the Minister of Revenue is a money-grubbing glutton, so it's really difficult to squeeze money out of him.

If the emperor spoke, the Minister of Revenue would plead poverty under the enormous economic pressure of conscription reform, then kneel on the ground clutching his official hat, choking out, "It's all because this old minister is useless. Let this old minister resign and return to his hometown!"

The emperor had no choice but to give up.

Xue Jin'an also realized that all the analysis was fake; the real purpose was to ask the Ministry of Revenue for money, although he didn't know what was so interesting about analyzing those six words.

"Whatever makes you happy." Xue Jin'an switched the live stream without expression, set up automatic recording for the "Da Qi Morning Court News" live stream, and then exited the software.

Unbeknownst to him, Xia Zi, who had been shamelessly acting as the emperor's lackey, suddenly shuddered, covered his ears, and looked on in horror.

The news that Qian Yuan Palace has a master who can transmit sound in secret is actually true! The emperor actually keeps a powerful secret guard, and even the princes have prepared secret guard substitutes. It's truly terrifying!

Xia Zi is an undercover agent with two years of experience in the Qian Yuan Palace. When he received the order to investigate the strength of the emperor's secret guards, he was convinced that it was a false report. But now, his understanding has been completely overturned. Not only are there secret guards, but they are also people with extremely high martial arts skills.

He didn't sense the other person's presence. The other person's voice was transmitted to his ears so accurately. Could it be... that his identity has been exposed?

Xiazi glanced warily at everyone's expressions, especially the emperor's, and shook his head inwardly in denial: No, impossible, I've hidden it so well that even the emperor didn't notice, how could I have been exposed!

Could it be that the peerless master doesn't completely obey the emperor? That makes sense. How could such a master lack pride? How could he willingly be driven by that scoundrel emperor? That phrase, "Whatever makes you happy," must be an implication that I can be even bolder and more unrestrained!

Xia Zi thought of many plans in an instant. However, his plans were not well thought out, and before he could implement them, he was about to face a fatal blow.

It was exactly 5:00 AM when the emperor and his court officials went to the morning court session. Li Hechun was by his side. Xia Zi was somewhat self-aware and knew that he could not really replace Li Hechun. If he did, he would suspect that it was a trap.

The emperor had left, and the Qianyuan Palace was mostly empty. Xiazi returned to his post and worked, controlling his gaze from looking at the roof.

He heard a slight rattling sound from the roof tiles. He knew it was from the spies of the Imperial Guard. This was a common occurrence, since the Qian Yuan Palace was their headquarters. They would regularly come to the Emperor to report and deliver messages. It was precisely because of these mad dogs lurking in the shadows that he hadn't been able to get any information even after two years of infiltration.

But today is different; they can be a little more unrestrained.

Wait, are there too many people today? Are they fighting on the rooftops and staging a chase? Is it because yesterday's assassin escape has made them more alert and they've started improving their light-footed skills and chase sequences? Also, are there relatively few people at Qian Yuan Palace today? Peony, Winter Spring…

Xiazi subconsciously started calling out the names of the people in the room. Some he didn't know, while others he did. In particular, there was Dongchun, who was a spy for another group of people. They had exchanged intelligence. There was also Zheng Qian. Zheng Qian wasn't an undercover agent for either side. He was purely involved in bribery and corruption. Through Zheng Qian's connections, they had planted many people in the Imperial Guard.

As Xia Zi was thinking, he suddenly saw the person he had just thought of stride up to him, looking impatient and puzzled. He lowered his voice and said, "What do you want from me? Didn't we agree not to have any contact in public?"

"I didn't—" Xia Zi's words stopped abruptly as he finally realized something was wrong.

However, it was too late. Blood-red figures emerged from the trees, in the shadows, on the beams, on the roof... some squatting, some standing, some hanging upside down, densely packed as if forming a sea of ​​blood, making it impossible to count them all.

Around noon, the noisy morning court session finally ended. The emperor sat on the dragon throne and rubbed his temples. Li Hechun stepped forward to report on the battle situation at Qianyuan Palace. All seventeen spies were captured in one fell swoop, with a few left alive, while the rest were all executed.

The emperor, a political animal with a strong desire for control, doesn't even like others touching his clothes, so how could he possibly like his palace being surrounded by spies? It's just that he deliberately lets it go, hoping to catch them.

"Where is Xiazi?" the emperor asked.

“As you instructed, he has already escaped. We will pretend to search the palace and drive him to the prince’s residence…” Li Hechun paused here.

The emperor wanted to know where the assassin who escaped yesterday was hiding in the palace, but he wanted to know even more who the empress was who colluded with the assassin. However, they were all cunning and shrewd people who would not take the bait easily, so His Majesty threw this bait to the princes.

The empresses are all cunning foxes who have become powerful over thousands of years, while the princes are still inexperienced and often reveal their weaknesses. At the same time, the princes are also bait. He will spread the news that the assassin is in the princes' quarters, and it remains to be seen whether the empresses can sit still.

It's fine if they can sit still; the prince's bait can be used more than once, and there are always restless people in the aristocratic families. So, just a little movement is enough.

A series of deadly moves have been prepared; all that's left is for someone to come and break through.

Li Hechun already knew what kind of person His Majesty was, but even now he still felt somewhat...

The emperor saw through his thoughts, glanced at him, and said, "Do you think I'm heartless?"

Li Hechun lowered her body even further and spoke cautiously, "This servant was just wondering who Xiaxiazi would go to see."

The emperor considered many possibilities, but when Li Hechun asked, he had a strange intuition that it must be Xiao Qi.

The emperor did not give an answer, but said, "Don't just look at who he goes to, but also who he doesn't go to."

Sometimes, the more you try to distance yourself from something, the more complicated it becomes.

*

Xia Zi did go to see Xue Jin'an, but not for those purposes; he simply wanted to find a backer.

Xia Zi was now completely convinced of the fabricated news about the secret guards, and he was also absolutely convinced of the facts he had guessed. He believed that there really was a senior with superb martial arts skills, a proud spirit, and outwardly respect but inwardly disrespectful to the emperor.

To find the senior, one must know about the secret guards, and the only secret guard he knows is the Seventh Prince's double—yes, the fact that the Seventh Prince is a double was brought along with the information about the secret guards. It is said that this double is a martial arts prodigy, but he is very bloodthirsty and full of malice towards the princes. He injured two princes as soon as he appeared.

Such a rebellious person, like his predecessors, would only outwardly submit to the emperor but inwardly harbor resentment! It's inevitable!

As for the real seventh prince, he must have already been hidden away by the emperor, and one day he will appear on stage as the crown prince—the first sentence was the information he received, and the second sentence was his own guess.

Xiaxiazi thought to herself: There must be a reason behind every rumor. The rumors that the emperor wanted to make Consort Zhen empress were so widespread back then, there must have been a reason!

It really is true love! He concluded.

Although Xia Zi believed that the "substitute seventh prince" would definitely help him, he was still cautious after his previous mishap. He didn't immediately go to Qifeng Courtyard to give Xue Jin'an a "surprise," but instead hid in Green Bamboo Courtyard and quietly observed him.

Xue Jin'an, who was accidentally replaced by a comment, was not in Qifeng Courtyard at the moment. Based on his previous experience, he packed his bags and took his repair equipment (Lotus Sword). Considering the tightness and hardness of a human skull, Xue Jin'an made a hand drill. Although it could not be powered, he could adjust the data to push the hand speed to the limit, which could barely reach the minimum speed of the electric drill.

All he needed was a drill bit, and it had to be made of metal. All he had was the Lotus Sword, which he quite liked, and losing a piece for the Fourth Prince wasn't worth it. But it was alright; the Fourth Prince had the kitchen knife he'd left behind. He wouldn't mind melting it all down to make a drill bit.

I had met the Fourth Prince yesterday and was going to see him tonight, but he was in a hurry to recharge, so the trip was temporarily postponed.

But it's alright, he's full of energy today, so we can definitely put this trip on the agenda.

Xue Jin'an adjusted his facial expression to the most standard smile and walked steadily toward Yihe Palace.

Because of yesterday's assassination attempt, the Imperial Study was closed for three days. As the highest administrator of the harem, Consort Min naturally had the obligation to investigate the assassin hiding in the harem. However, yesterday's search of the palace yielded no results, so she could only focus her efforts on the concubines.

So today, all the concubines went to Yongchun Palace to pay their respects and never returned.

The naturally lively and playful Fourth Prince was happy because he didn't see his dreadful Seventh Brother last night. Even though he could only lie on the windowsill counting ants, he didn't find it boring. At most, he would look in the direction the prince was pointing and complain, "I haven't been back for so long, why hasn't anyone come looking for me, especially Fifth Brother... Surely he didn't notice I wasn't at Suhui Courtyard!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the fourth prince suddenly shuddered, a chill rising from the soles of his feet, and his scalp tingled.

The fourth prince suddenly had a very bad feeling, and then he looked up and saw Xue Jin'an appear on the wall.

Xue Jin'an gave a standard smile: "Fourth Brother, I've come to teach you a lesson."

The Fourth Prince's soul left his body: Oh no, he's here to punish me.