Chapter 280 The Key to Seeking a Chance of Survival

Inside Fengyi Palace, warm fragrance is floating in the air.

The charcoal burned so fiercely that it was almost sweltering.

Xie Zhenrong ordered the palace maids to send away several ladies who came to pay their respects. She rubbed her brows tiredly and sent back the other ladies of lower rank.

She was puzzled as to why her mother did not bring any of the women in the family to the palace to see her today.

Luoxia brought a bowl of bird's nest, wanting to remind her to eat something.

Xie Zhenrong waved his hand: "Let it go for now."

Luoxia didn't dare to persuade him anymore. She placed the bird's nest where Xie Zhenrong could reach it and quietly stepped aside.

Xie Zhenrong twisted a string of warm South China Sea pearls between her fingertips, twisting them intermittently.

She listened quietly to the faint sound of firecrackers coming from outside the hall, symbolizing the end of the old and the ushering in the new.

At this moment, she only left a few personal maids in this empty palace. They held their breath and were so quiet that it made people feel uneasy.

At this moment, a young eunuch slipped in almost close to the ground, his face as pale as paper, his lips trembling, and he fell to his knees on the thick ground.

His voice was extremely low, but every word was like a needle, piercing Xie Zhenrong's eardrum:

"Mother...Mother...Manager Luo...he...he has news."

Xie Zhenrong's fingers, which were twisting the beads, suddenly stopped, her heart skipped a beat for unknown reason, and an ominous chill instantly overwhelmed the heat of the charcoal fire.

She forced herself to remain calm, her phoenix eyes glaring coldly at him, "Why are you hesitating? Luo Zhao is back from his mission? Why did you take so long? Did you say anything? Let him come in and give you an answer!"

The young eunuch began to tremble all over, his head almost buried in the ground.

"Reply... Reply to Her Majesty... Manager Luo... Last night... I was buying fireworks at the 'Tianxing Fireworks Shop' at the end of Changping Street... The shop exploded... Manager Luo... he..."

"What's wrong with him?" Xie Zhenrong's voice suddenly rose, with a sharpness that she herself had not noticed.

The young eunuch's voice was trembling. "Both arms reached the shoulders... and his left leg below the knee... everything... everything is gone! When the guards brought him back, he was only breathing... The imperial physician said... he couldn't speak or see... he was like a living dead! Now he's only hanging on to half a breath in his throat..."

“Snap!”

The string of priceless South Sea pearls was smashed to the ground, and the round beads rolled everywhere in an instant, making a small and messy sound.

The hall was dead silent.

The palace maids who were standing quietly were so frightened that they froze in place, not daring to breathe.

Xie Zhenrong stood up suddenly, and the wide cuffs of her phoenix robe flipped over a Ru kiln celadon teacup on the low table next to her.

The thin-bodied porcelain fell on the hard floor tiles, making a crisp and sharp cracking sound.

The warm tea mixed with tea leaves splashed everywhere, staining the gorgeous carpet.

"Waste!" Xie Zhenrong roared, his voice distorted by panic and anger, hurting people's eardrums.

"A bunch of useless people! You can't even do your job properly! Get out! Get out of here! Get out!"

The palace maids retreated tumbling and crawling as if they had been pardoned.

The heavy palace door closed silently, isolating the inside and outside.

The hall suddenly became empty, leaving only the queen's heavy and suppressed breathing.

After Luo Zhao left last night, there was no news from him, and he didn't even send anyone to report to her how things were going.

Why was he being carried back by the Imperial Guards now? What had he revealed?

Also, my mother didn’t enter the palace today. Is it related to this matter?

Xie Zhenrong stood there stiffly for a long time like an anxious trapped beast.

Then she turned abruptly and strode out of the hall.

In the row of duty rooms in the southeast direction of Fengyi Palace, many palace maids and eunuchs were blocking the door of the first room in the left row.

There were a few dim palace lanterns lit in the room, and the light was dim.

Lying straight on a narrow couch was a 'thing' wrapped in layers of white cloth, almost unrecognizable as a human.

The thing made an extremely weak and slow "ho...ho..." sound, like the sound made by an old bellows being pulled with great force.

The strong smell of blood and burnt flesh mixed with the smell of medicine filled the air, making people feel sick.

This person is Luo Zhao.

When the palace servants who were watching saw the elegant figure approaching from the hanging flower gate in front, they all fell silent.

The Queen actually came to visit Eunuch Luo in person?

Everyone was surprised and retreated.

The queen walked into Luo Zhao's room and saw what he looked like with her own eyes.

She took a step back, and her pale face no longer showed any elegance, but only panic and fear.

She stared at the blurry, charred outline on the couch, especially the place where the arms and left leg should have been, but now only the bleeding stumps, barely wrapped in linen, remained.

The living dead on the couch didn't respond at all.

The face that was originally quite handsome was now half burned to charcoal.

His eyelids drooped, revealing eyeballs that were gray and turbid, without any spirit, as if covered with a thick layer of deathly ash.

His lips were cracked and purple, slightly open, letting out a faint breath with a rusty smell.

The hall was dead silent. The monotonous, faint, yet leeching "ho...ho..." sound stubbornly drilled into Xie Zhenrong's ears and brain, endlessly.

The mobilization of three hundred assassins, the plot to assassinate Wen Li'er, the banknotes used to bribe Zhou Tong, the explosion that attempted to silence him...

Each one of them was enough to bring her to ruin.

A cold fear, enough to freeze the soul, slowly and clearly gripped Xie Zhenrong.

"Luo Zhao!"

She screamed the name, her voice shrill.

"You useless piece of shit! Idiot! I asked you to clean up the mess, not blow yourself up like this! If you can't even die cleanly, what use do I have for you!"

“Huh…huh…”

Luo Zhao on the bed seemed to hear the queen's voice.

He tried to open his eyes, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't.

Just two lines of clear tears slowly flowed from the corners of his eyes.

Before Luo Zhao personally lit up the 'Tianxing Fireworks Shop', he was already prepared to die if he failed.

He believed that if so many firecrackers in the fireworks shop were to explode at the same time, the Jingzhao Prefecture Heavenly Prison in front might be blown up as well. Even if it failed to be destroyed, it would definitely cause a fire.

At that time, the people he arranged would be able to take the opportunity to sneak into the prison and kill people to silence them.

He even tied a large bundle of powerful "Thunder" into one of his empty sleeves.

The purpose is to eliminate the sword marks on the broken arm.

Even if there was only one corpse left, he couldn't let anyone discover that he was the killer whose arm was chopped off by the emperor.

But he made a mistake. The exploding firecrackers injured more than 20 innocent people. However, the dungeon of Jingzhao Prefecture was extremely strong and only the outermost wall was destroyed.

And he is not dead yet.

But he also knew that he was not far from death.

Listening to the Queen's heart-wrenching accusations coming from the bedside, Luo Zhao couldn't hold back his tears.

He is useless.

Your Majesty, I'm sorry. I've tried my best...

Gradually, his already unclear consciousness became completely blurred, and he knew that he was going to die completely.

Well, it’s better to die early and be buried early. I look like a ghost now, so I don’t want to scare my master.

Seeing that the "ho ho" sound originally made by the person on the bed had completely disappeared, Luo Xia, who came with Xie Zhenrong, reached out her hand tremblingly to check Luo Zhao's breath.

Soon, she pulled her hand back as if it was burned.

"Empress...Empress, Eunuch Luo is dead!"

Xie Zhenrong had a cold expression and was not sad about losing a trusted father-in-law.

She was just worried at the moment, worried that the emperor had discovered something.

If he found out but still kept silent and didn't rush into Fengyi Palace to capture her immediately, it was definitely not because he had any consideration for the relationship between husband and wife!

There is a New Year's Eve banquet in the palace today, and all the ministers and their wives will enter the palace. If we get angry today, it will damage the reputation of the royal family.

Given the emperor's temperament, he will wait, wait for a more appropriate time, wait for more conclusive evidence!

Wait until the dust settles, then give her a thundering blow!

No! She couldn't just sit there and wait for death!

At this moment, a trapped and almost crazy light burst out from Xie Zhenrong's body.

She can't die! She is the queen of Dayan! The most noble woman in Dayan!

She wants to sit firmly on the throne of Queen, and when her son ascends the throne, she will become the Queen Mother!

An idea suddenly flashed through Xie Zhenrong's confused mind.

The key to her survival is to get rid of the person who wants to kill her first!

Once this idea took shape, it grew wildly like a vine. Xie Zhenrong himself felt weak and his mind was shaken.

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